Global policymakers and consumers are weary of Big Tech monopolies. While excessive consolidation of power leads to privacy violations, price gouging, and stifling innovation, it poses a unique threat to free speech.Trump administration antitrust enforcers understood that threat. As Assistant Attorney General Gail Slater observed, when a handful of companies control the flow of information, “someone can be disappeared from the internet quite easily.”Digital free speech shouldn’t depend on the shifting preferences of Apple executives or Google policy teams.Conservatives increasingly see Big Tech’s ability to distort and manipulate public discourse as a downstream effect of its market dominance. In the case of the mobile internet, it takes only two companies — Apple and Google — to control the smartphone experience of nearly every American.Congress is beginning to respond. Two recently introduced bills would take on Apple and Google’s app store choke points directly. The Open App Markets Act, co-sponsored by Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and the App Store Freedom Act, sponsored by Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), aim to empower users by giving them the option to download apps from sources outside of Apple and Google’s proprietary platforms, including alternative marketplaces.Why do these technical details matter for speech? Because Apple and Google’s gatekeeper power has already been abused to silence dissent.In 2021, Parler — a social media app popular on the right — was removed from Apple and Google’s app stores for allegedly having “inadequate” content moderation policies. The timing followed reports that the platform was used to coordinate the January 6 Capitol riot. Virtually overnight, Parler went from one of the fastest growing apps in the world to a ghost town. Internet consumers move quickly, and the app’s months in Big Tech’s doghouse became a death sentence. Parler never recovered.Parler wasn’t an isolated case. Years earlier, Google banned Gab, another free speech-oriented platform, while Apple never allowed it to launch in the first place. Google also initially refused to approve President Trump’s Truth Social due to concerns over its moderation policies. And abroad, Apple has bowed to authoritarian regimes — removing apps used by dissidents in China and Russia at the request of those governments.RELATED: Upgrade to a dumbphone http://www.fotogestoeber.de via iStock/Getty Images The problem runs deeper than censorship. Apple and Google have used their dominance to dictate the design and speech choices of developers. App makers are often forbidden from communicating key information to users — such as the availability of cheaper subscription pricing outside of Apple and Google’s walled gardens.The scope of their power is staggering. Roughly 91% of Americans own a smartphone. More than 99% of those devices run on Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android operating systems. And 88% of the time spent on those phones is inside apps — not on web browsers.Without real guardrails, that bottleneck becomes a single point of failure. It’s a choke point ready to be exploited by governments, activist groups, or corporations that want to control speech.Some openly defend the current system precisely because it allows Apple and Google to keep disfavored apps off the market. Even before Elon Musk acquired Twitter (now X), Apple and Google pressured the company to increase moderation. After Musk’s takeover, activist organizations lobbied Apple and Google to ban X altogether if Musk didn’t reinstate stricter content rules.An open app ecosystem benefits everyone. Conservatives celebrating Big Tech’s apparent political shifts should remember how easily those loyalties change. Liberals worried about “tech bro” influence should support guardrails that limit partisan manipulation — regardless of who holds power.Digital free speech shouldn’t depend on the shifting preferences of Apple executives or Google policy teams. Congress must act to restore balance and ensure pluralism. The Open App Markets Act and the App Store Freedom Act offer real, durable solutions. They deserve bipartisan support.

In all my hours of playing Marvel Rivals, I haven’t been part of many successful surrender votes. If someone on your team puts one forward, every single player in your squad needs to agree to it for it to take effect, and that just doesn’t happen often. I’d argue this is a good thing, because it forces you to see a game through to its bitter end, and this can often result in a victory if you counter the enemy correctly. Going forward, however, Netease Games is changing how surrendering works in the hero shooter, and I’m not sure what to make of it. Continue reading Marvel Rivals is changing how surrendering works, for better or worse MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Marvel Rivals codes, Marvel Rivals characters, Marvel Rivals tier list

Norwegian Tourist Turned Away Over JD Vance Meme

Progressive Payday? New Mexico Democrat Probed for High-Interest Loans to Workers

Trump’s ‘Nuclear’ Button Prank in Oval Office Terrifies Vance, Ends in Big Laughs

An increasing number of reports claim Apple is planning two major display updates for the iPhone in the coming years. First, Apple will move the Face ID sensors under the display, shrinking the top cutout to a hole-punch camera. After that, the selfie camera will also go under the screen. The result would be an iPhone with a flawless display and no visible cutouts. But a few key insiders disagree on the timeline. Mark Gurman recently said the iPhone 18 will have a smaller Dynamic Island, while the iPhone 20 will debut an all-screen design with no cutouts. Ross Young responded on X that Apple will use a three-phase approach spanning up to five years. A smaller cutout is expected with the iPhone 18 series, but Face ID components will still be located in that area. Two years later, those cameras will move under the display, leaving only a hole-punch for the selfie camera. By 2030, if Young’s info is right, the selfie camera will also be placed under the screen. A developer looked at these display rumors and created two iPhone 18 Pro concepts that align with some of the predictions. Continue reading... The post Here’s what Apple’s new iPhone 18 Pro design might look like appeared first on BGR.

New York City Democrats chose 33-year-old Muslim socialist Zohran Mamdani as their mayoral candidate in Tuesday's elections, stunning his opponent, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. In what appears to be the left-leaning city's rebuke of the Democratic Party's veteran...

President Donald Trump on Wednesday once again raised questions about America's commitment to defend its allies should they come under attack as he prepared to join a NATO summit in the Netherlands.

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the damage to Iranian nuclear sites from missile strikes over the weekend was severe, though he also acknowledged that the available intelligence on the matter was inconclusive.

Pope Leo appealed to Iran and Israel on Wednesday not to pursue vengeance after 12 days of war, which the U.S. joined with airstrikes in support of Israel to target Iran's uranium-enrichment facilities. "May all logic of oppression and revenge be rejected, and may the path...