Welcome to the March 27, 2026 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• Meta, Google Found Liable in Social Media Addiction Trial
• Trump Names Tech Titans To Science Advisory Council
• Judge Blocks Pentagon Order Branding Anthropic a National Security Risk
• Social Media Bans, Digital Curfews to Be Trialed on Teens in U.K.
• Melania Trump Pitches Robots as Potential Educators
• Digital Hall Passes Track Bathroom Breaks, Gather Data in NYC Schools
• FAA Seeks Input on Drone Integration at Airports
• Self-Propagating Malware Poisons Open Source Software, Wipes Iran-Based Machines
• Datacenters Are Transitioning from AC to DC
• DOL Launches ‘Make America AI-Ready’ Initiative
• Government Is Buying Your Data Without a Warrant
• Japan to Set Up Global Hubs for AI Robotics Research
• Gemini AI Agents Unleashed on the Dark Web

Meta, Google Found Liable in Social Media Addiction Trial

A Los Angeles jury on Wednesday found Meta Platforms and Google liable for damages in a social media addiction case, awarding a total of $6 million to a young woman who said their platforms harmed her mental health. The jury concluded the companies were negligent in designing addictive features and failing to adequately warn users, particularly minors, about potential risks. The verdict is seen as a test case that could influence thousands of similar lawsuits filed across the U.S.
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Trump Names Tech Titans To Science Advisory Council

President Trump on Wednesday named some of the biggest names in U.S. technology—including Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, and Nvidia's Jensen Huang—to his Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. The council will be co-chaired by Trump AI and crypto adviser David Sacks and former U.S. CTO Michael Kratsios. Other appointees include Oracle chief Larry Ellison, tech investor Marc Andreessen, and AMD’s Lisa Su.
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Judge Blocks Pentagon Order Branding Anthropic a National Security Risk

A federal judge in San Francisco blocked a Pentagon order that labeled Anthropic a national security risk. District Court Judge Rita F. Lin ruled the designation likely violated the law and may have been retaliation after the company publicly opposed certain military uses of its AI technology. The dispute centers on Anthropic’s refusal to allow its Claude system to be used for mass domestic surveillance or autonomous weapons.
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Social Media Bans, Digital Curfews to Be Trialed on Teens in U.K.

Hundreds of teens in the U.K. will have their social apps disabled entirely, blocked overnight, or capped to one hour's use daily to compare their experiences with others seeing no such changes at all, as part of a government trial. The pilot will run alongside the government's consultation asking whether the U.K. should follow Australia by making it illegal for under-16s to have access to many social media sites.
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Melania Trump Pitches Robots as Potential Educators

Escorted by a humanoid robot at the White House Wednesday, Melania Trump pitched AI robots as potential "personalized" educators for U.S. children in their homes. Seated alongside other spouses of world leaders at the Fostering the Future Together Global Coalition Summit, the First Lady said AI can help children develop "deep critical thinking and independent reasoning abilities" and achieve a "more well-rounded lifestyle."
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Digital Hall Passes Track Bathroom Breaks, Gather Data in NYC Schools

The New York City Department of Education has rolled out digital hall passes at more than 150 public schools. SmartPass tracks students' locations and how long they have been out of class, while a "hall monitor" feature lets teachers and staff see how many students have an active pass at the same time, along with their destination and the amount of time it takes them to return to class.
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FAA Seeks Input on Drone Integration at Airports

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has requested comment from aviation stakeholders as it collects information on design best practices and the operational and infrastructure needs associated with drone integration at airports and standalone facilities known as droneports. As part of the effort, the U.S. Department of Transportation plans to interview various stakeholders, with feedback used to report on operational evaluations and standard-setting.
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Self-Propagating Malware Poisons Open Source Software, Wipes Iran-Based Machines

Researchers at Belgium's Aikido Security identified a malware campaign, dubbed CanisterWorm, used by a newly identified hacking group to spread a self-propagating backdoor, and a data wiper aimed specifically at Iranian devices. The attack, thought to be an extension of the group's recent compromise of the Trivy vulnerability scanner, was later updated to automate the process of spreading the worm. An Aikido researcher said the Internet Computer Protocol-based canister used to control the worm was taken down on March 22.
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Datacenters Are Transitioning from AC to DC

Power management firms Delta, Eaton, and Vertiv are responding to the development of advanced AI chips by rolling out new designs to transition from AC-to-DC power conversions to DC configurations for hyperscale datacenters. Most datacenters are designed around AC power from the grid, with a double AC-to-DC conversion process to ensure clean and stable output AC for datacenter servers, but that process is inefficient. The firms have developed 800-V DC platforms, which eliminate most intermediate conversion requirements.
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DOL Launches ‘Make America AI-Ready’ Initiative

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has launched the “Make America AI-Ready” initiative, offering a free, text-based course designed to teach workers basic AI skills. Developed with edtech company Arist, the program delivers short daily lessons and challenges via text message, allowing participants to complete it in seven days by investing 10 minutes a day. The initiative is part of a broader plan by the Trump Administration to equip U.S. workers with basic AI skills.
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Government Is Buying Your Data Without a Warrant

The data broker industry collects vast amounts of personal information from apps and browsers and sells it to advertisers, as well as U.S. government agencies. Privacy advocates are urging Congress to address the issue during the upcoming debate over Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, set to expire April 20. After a 2015 change to the law, federal agencies are not supposed to collect data on U.S. citizens in bulk, but some now buy such data.
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Japan to Set Up Global Hubs for AI Robotics Research

Japan will establish international hubs across the country to promote research and development of AI robotics across sectors such as logistics, nursing care, agriculture, disaster response, and defense. The plan is part of the Japanese government’s proposed AI robotics strategy, which has the goal of speeding development and adoption of autonomous AI robots. The government is considering subsidies and other financial assistance to support AI robot adoption across sectors.
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Gemini AI Agents Unleashed on the Dark Web

Google has launched a dark web intelligence service that leverages Gemini AI agents to create an organization's profile, scan the dark web to identify relevant threats, and narrow the data down to the most important security risks. The service also factors in data from 627 threat groups tracked by human analysts at Google Threat Intelligence Group.
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