INTERNET
Free Starlink access for Iran seen as game changer for demonstrators getting their message out
Iranian demonstrators’ ability to get details of bloody nationwide protests out to the world has been given a strong boost, with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service dropping its fees to allow more people to circumvent the Tehran government’s strongest attempt ever to prevent information from spilling outside its borders, activists said Wednesday. The move by the American aerospace company run by Elon Musk follows the complete shutdown of telecommunications and internet access to Iran’s 85 million people on Jan. 8, as protests expanded over the Islamic Republic’s faltering economy and the collapse of its currency. SpaceX has not officially announced the decision and did not respond to a request for comment, but activists told The Associated Press that Starlink has been available for free to anyone in Iran with the receivers since Tuesday and that the company has gone even further by pushing a firmware update to help circumvent government efforts to jam the satellite signals. The moves by Starlink came two days after President Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he was going to reach out to Musk to ask for Starlink to help protesters, a call later confirmed by his press secretary, though it’s not clear if that is what prompted Musk to act. “Starlink has been crucial,” said Mehdi Yahyanejad, an Iranian whose nonprofit Net Freedom Pioneers has helped smuggle units into Iran, pointing to video that emerged Sunday showing rows of bodies at a forensic medical center near Tehran. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
TECH
Verizon outage affects tens of thousands of users, tracking site shows
Verizon said Wednesday that it was working to restore its mobile and data services, as more than 170,000 users reported outages to the website Downdetector, which tracks user reports of service disruptions. That number had dropped to about 100,000 by 2 p.m. Some users said their mobile devices displayed “SOS” in the status bar where their network signal normally appeared. Downdetector showed that the outage began just after noon. The site’s outage map showed that the most disruptions were in major metropolitan areas such as Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. It was not clear what caused the interruption in service. — NEW YORK TIMES
GOVERNMENT
Trump signs a law returning whole milk to school lunches
Whole milk is heading back to school cafeterias across the country after President Trump signed a bill Wednesday overturning Obama-era limits on higher-fat milk options. Nondairy drinks such as fortified soy milk may also be on the menu in the coming months following adoption of the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act, which cleared Congress in the fall. The action allows schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to serve whole and 2 percent fat milk along with the skim and low-fat products required since 2012. The law also permits schools to serve nondairy milk that meets the nutritional standards of milk and requires schools to offer a nondairy milk alternative if kids provide a note from their parents, not just from doctors, saying they have a dietary restriction. The signing comes days after the release of the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which emphasize consumption of full-fat dairy products as part of a healthy diet. Previous editions advised that consumers older than 2 should consume low-fat or fat-free dairy. The change could take effect as soon as this fall, though school nutrition and dairy industry officials said it may take longer for some schools to gauge demand for full-fat dairy and adjust supply chains. Long sought by the dairy industry, the return of whole and 2 percent milk to school meals reverses provisions of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act championed by former first lady Michelle Obama. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Musk’s xAI faces California AG probe over Grok sexual images
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is under investigation by the California attorney general’s office after the company’s Grok chatbot was allegedly used to create thousands of sexualized images of women and children without their consent. California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the investigation Wednesday, saying in a statement that Grok’s role in generating nonconsensual, sexualized images of women and girls on X over the past two weeks was “shocking.” Musk has been under fire by governments and regulators around the world because of Grok’s image-generation technology. Musk has so far defended Grok, arguing that the issue stems from user abuse of the tool, and not the technology itself. California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a post on X that he called on the attorney general to “immediately investigate the company and hold xAI accountable.” — BLOOMBERG NEWS
ENTERTAINMENT
Golden Globes draw 8.7 million viewers, a nearly 7 percent dip from 2025
An audience of 8.7 million viewers watched the Golden Globes Sunday, according to Nielsen, a decline of almost 7 percent from 2025 . Sunday’s telecast on CBS, hosted by Nikki Glaser, didn’t quite reach the viewership levels of the two previous Globes on CBS. In the network’s first year with the award show, the broadcast was watched by 9.4 million. Last year, 9.3 million tuned in to the show, also hosted by Glaser. CBS and the Golden Globes in 2024 signed a five-year deal to broadcast the annual ceremony following years on NBC. After a diversity and ethics scandal led NBC to drop the Globes, the show was sold to the Penske Media-owned Dick Clark Productions and Todd Boehly’s Eldridge Industries. Back in the late 2010s, the Globes typically drew close to 20 million viewers. On Sunday night, when “One Battle After Another” and “Hamnet” took top honors, many more were watching football. NBC’s telecast of the Chargers-Patriots playoff game averaged 28.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen. CBS touted social engagement for the Globes, calling it the “most social ever,” with 42 million interactions (up 5 percent from the year before), according to Social Content Ratings. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
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