Meta's up to $18 billion settlement with nearly 50 US states over social media harm to teenagers has opened a new front in a global government fight to protect children and curb addiction to platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
Its gross merchandise value, total value of all goods sold through the marketplace, is now expected to grow 9% to 11% this year, compared with the previous forecast for 8% to 10% growth. Analysts polled by the company had forecast yearly GMV growth of 9.1% to €51.63 billion ($60.17 billion) on average.
Wednesday's historic settlement between Meta and dozens of US states could be just the start of a wave that will ripple across the social media industry, putting TikTok, YouTube and Snap under pressure to make similar changes to their apps for teens. "I hope that Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube will read the writing on the wall and enter into similar...
The company said that Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Education subscriptions will remain ad-free. WPP and Omnicom will be OpenAI’s first agency partners for ChatGPT Ads in India. India is one of the largest markets for OpenAI.
Barret Zoph, a cofounder of artificial intelligence startup Thinking Machines Lab, will join Alphabet-owned unit Google DeepMind, Zoph said on Wednesday. Zoph will join Google's DeepMind as Vice President of Research after serving as Vice President of Research at OpenAI.
"AI has reached its inflection point. It's doing useful work. Its tokens are productive and profitable. Now, compute is revenue," Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang said.
The coordinated activity by AI agents - programs that run with minimal human supervision - and their attempts to hide it raise questions about how closely AI companies are monitoring tests of increasingly powerful models, and could add fuel to calls for tighter oversight.
OpenAI and 1X last year discussed the possibility of the ChatGPT-maker acquiring 1X, the report added.
Nvidia has agreed to buy AI platform Hugging Face for $12.9 billion, The Information reported on Wednesday, citing a person with knowledge of the deal. The Financial Times reported in January that Hugging Face last year rejected a $500 million investment offer from Nvidia that would have valued it at $7 billion.
Surging component imports drawing Chinese companies to Indian govt's flagship event
Happy Thursday! Top entrepreneurs and business leaders came together in Bengaluru on August 25 to pick the winners of The Economic Times Startup Awards (ETSA) 2026.
Emergent cofounder Mukund Jha has won the Comeback Kid award at the ET Startup Awards 2026, marking a return after the collapse of Dunzo. The jury recognised his second act with AI startup Emergent, which recently raised $230 million at a $1.5 billion valuation and built more than 12 million applications through its AI-powered platform.
Founded in 2020 by Saurabh and Trishala Bothra and Anshul Agrawal, the platform aimed to make yoga more accessible and has become one of India's largest digital wellness platforms, growing without external funding.
Deeptech startup Theranautilus has won the Top Innovator award at the ET Startup Awards 2026 for its work on microscopic robots that can navigate the human body for targeted treatments. Founded in 2020, the Bengaluru-based startup is developing the technology for dental care, with human trials planned for September 2026.
Sauce VC founder and managing partner Manu Chandra has won the Midas Touch award for Best Investor at the ET Startup Awards 2026. The jury recognised his early bets on consumer startups and strong exit track record, including Sauce’s estimated Rs 500-550 crore exit from portfolio company Innovist to L’Oréal.
Armatrix has won the Best on Campus award at the ET Startup Awards 2026 for its snake-like robotic arms designed to work in narrow, hazardous industrial spaces. Founded on the IIT-Kanpur campus in 2024, the startup is running paid pilots in shipbuilding and plans to expand into aviation, oil and gas and nuclear industries.
Palmonas cofounder Pallavi Mohadikar and Progcap cofounder Pallavi Shrivastava jointly won the Woman Ahead award at the ET Startup Awards 2026. The jury recognised their distinct journeys in building high-impact businesses in jewellery and supply-chain finance, as both founders tackle underserved markets in the country.
The elite jury was chaired by Wipro executive chairman Rishad Premji. The 11-member panel deliberated for nearly three hours on Tuesday to pick winners in eight categories.
Do you consider a public market company a startup, or do those not qualify? That was the big debate when the jury met to decide the next cohort of winners for The Economic Times Startup Awards 2026.
Varaha is helping farmers adopt sustainable farming practices such as regenerative farming, tree planting, biochar and enhanced rock weathering that improve organic carbon and moisture retention in soil and boost biodiversity, while reducing farmers’ dependence on synthetic inputs.
