Tech
True bipartisanship could stop Big Tech from harming kids
Our car pulled up to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and we hopped out. It was the kind of June day in D.C. that was nice in the shade but hotter than hell without it. The breeze was encouraging, so Laura Marquez-Garrett (LMG) — an attorney who uses they/them pronouns — and I walked around the corner and found a nearby bench. We were waiting outside the FTC as its workshop, “The Attention Economy: How Big Tech Firms Exploit Children and Hurt Families,” took place inside. We had signed up for the workshop but decided at the last minute not to go.
There were many reasons we decided not to attend, the main one being internal documents showing plans for a different FTC workshop pushing anti-transgender rhetoric. This makes it hard to see the FTC as the nonpartisan, consumer protection agency it is supposed to be. Additionally, at the "Attention Economy" workshop, the FTC chose to exclude pro-industry and free market advocates from participation, suggesting that one of our nation's biggest consumer protection mechanisms may be losing sight of its purpose.
Americans don’t like censorship, and this came dangerously close, especially since companies like Meta, Snapchat, TikTok, Google, or Apple were not part of the featured speakers at the Big Tech workshop. Free speech thrives in openness. The danger isn’t when industry or dissenting voices speak publicly — it’s when they operate in the shadows, misleading lawmakers behind closed doors. We need companies to make their case in the public square, where their arguments can be challenged. Not having Big Tech representatives at the workshop only drives their machinations underground, where scrutiny disappears.
As we sat outside the FTC, our conversation turned to the difficulty of pursuing a goal many see as impossible — keeping kids safe online — while working with an administration that often seems to invalidate the existence of trans lives like my own. We talked about the discipline it takes to keep this work bipartisan. That bipartisanship is essential because right now, the only winners in our gridlocked political system are companies like Meta, Apple, and Snap Inc., while parents and children continue to lose.
This isn’t a new idea. Ralph Nader wrote in Unstoppable about how right-left coalitions can drive real change. Division isn’t just a win for certain technology companies — it’s their strategy. A paralyzed democracy can’t pass meaningful legislation.
Making real change
The most prominent kids' online safety legislation last session was the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), which would have confirmed a duty of care for social media platforms in its design. In response to the proposed legislation, social media companies claimed it would lead to the censoring and denying of valuable resources to the LGBTQ+ community. Even though the strength of the bill is evident in the bipartisan negotiations that led to its 91-3 passage in the Senate, those vulnerable communities were still afraid. Events like the anti-trans FTC workshop only reinforce those fears.
Inside the FTC’s "Attention Economy" workshop that we skipped, the event focused on “conservative family values” and aggressive partisanship. The Verge’s Lauren Finer wrote, “Republicans are barreling toward remaking the internet” and that the invited lineup might be a “targeted message at the very people who had previously stood in the way of kids' online safety reform: fellow Republicans.”
But Republicans didn’t kill KOSA. Big Tech did.
When KOSA failed to reach a vote in the House of Representatives in September of last year, LMG told Bloomberg it was about “choosing Big Tech money over children.” That same article showed bipartisan frustration with Big Tech lobbyists misleading congressional aides. “The tech companies are doing everything they can to play both sides,” said Jon Schweppe of the conservative American Principles Project.
The war on party lines only hurts kids. Big Tech doesn’t see Democrats or Republicans — just people in power who can help them profit. In Colorado, Democratic Governor Jared Polis, a former tech entrepreneur, vetoed SB25-086, a bill to protect kids from online predators. Big Tech then used gun lobby groups to flip just enough Republicans to block an override.
Big Tech wants us to believe cooperation is dead. But it’s not. The 91-3 Senate vote on KOSA proves that. So do bipartisan efforts from Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal, Josh Hawley and Ed Markey, Lindsey Graham and Amy Klobuchar. Leaders from both sides have come together to challenge Big Tech’s unchecked power. They’ve debated, amended, and compromised — all to pass a bill that could save lives.
We can’t let these companies fracture that fragile progress. The stakes are too high.
Back on the hot day in D.C., Jennie DeSerio and Amy Neville rounded the corner near LMG and I. Jennie and Amy are two parents from opposite sides of the political aisle, united in grief and purpose. Jennie lost her son, Mason, after he was targeted with suicide content on TikTok. Amy lost her son, Alexander, to a counterfeit pill sold on Snapchat. The moms had just come from the FTC workshop we chose not to attend.
Parents like Jennie and Amy, and advocates like LMG and me, are working with unlikely allies to protect kids online. Bipartisanship isn’t dead — but it’s hanging by a thread. If we want to stop kids from dying at the hands of Big Tech, we must all stay focused and disciplined. We must all prioritize child safety by design and not conflate that fundamental issue with ones designed to distract and divide. Everyone who cares about kids deserves a seat at the table.
If we’re asked to show up and do the work to protect all kids online — and do so without harming any of them — we will. The question is whether this administration will use the FTC to hold Big Tech accountable or to target the very people fighting to survive. If it chooses the former, we can make real, lasting change.
Lennon Torres is a Public Voices Fellow on Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse with The OpEd Project. She is an LGBTQ+ advocate who grew up in the public eye, gaining national recognition as a young dancer on television shows. With a deep passion for storytelling, advocacy, and politics, Lennon now works to center the lived experience of herself and others as she crafts her professional career in online child safety at Heat Initiative. This column reflects the author's opinion.
Laura Marquez-Garrett is a parent who also happens to be an attorney. They graduated from Harvard Law School in 2002, then spent twenty years building a successful litigation practice in Big Law with a specialization in electronic evidence and forensic investigation. In February 2022, Laura left the corner office to join a firm focused solely on issues of Big Tech harms and corporate accountability. They now contribute in every way possible to the goal of change and holding social media companies accountable for design-based harms to children and families. This column reflects the author’s opinion.
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it'll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
If you find yourself stuck at any step of today's Hurdle, don't worry! We have you covered.
Hurdle Word 1 hint
To creep around.
Hurdle Word 1 answer
SNEAK
Hurdle Word 2 hint
A long-legged bird.
Hurdle Word 2 Answer
STORK
Hurdle Word 3 hint
To throw.
Hurdle Word 3 answer
CHUCK
Hurdle Word 4 hint
More accurate.
Hurdle Word 4 answer
TRUER
Final Hurdle hint
They show when one smiles.
Hurdle Word 5 answer
TEETH
If you're looking for more puzzles, Mashable's got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
This summer, FX's Alien: Earth latched onto my brain like a Facehugger latches onto a new host.
Now, with the release of the show's Season 1 finale, you'd think that Facehugger would drop off and leave me be. You'd be wrong! Instead, the Season 1 finale leaves viewers with some major questions we'll be puzzling over until the show's potential return.
Here are the five biggest questions we have for Alien: Earth Season 2.
What does a Neverland run by hybrids look like?
Season 1 of Alien: Earth ends with the group of hybrids known as the Lost Boys in total control over the Neverland research facility. They've imprisoned Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin), Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), Morrow (Babou Ceesay), Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis), and Atom Eins (Adrian Edmondson). Now, with the adults out of the way, Wendy (Sydney Chandler) declares it's time for the hybrids to "rule."
But what will their rule entail? Will they stay on Neverland, or will they try to extend their authority to the rest of the world? Will they remain fast allies, or will they turn against one another and go full Lord of the Flies on their new island kingdom?
How will Weyland-Yutani and Alien: Earth's other corporations react to Boy Kavalier's plight?
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
By the end of Alien: Earth Season 1, Weyland-Yutani is closing in on Neverland in order to take back the specimens Boy Kavalier stole. But will Yutani (Sandra Yi Sencindiver) change tack when she realizes her rival is being held captive? Will she leave the island alone or try to stage a hostile takeover? Perhaps her priorities will change entirely, shifting from trying to capture the alien specimens to trying to perfect Boy Kavalier's revolutionary hybrid tech. Either way, her looming presence does not bode well for the newly independent hybrids.
Weyland-Yutani isn't the only other major corporation on the board in Alien: Earth, though. There are three other corporations we haven't truly met yet: Dynamic, Lynch, and Threshold. Could they be joining the party in Alien: Earth's future?
Don’t miss out on our latest stories: Add Mashable as a trusted news source in Google.
What's next for the loose orchid and eyeball aliens?
While the Xenomorph may be under Wendy's control, there are still several alien threats running wild on the island. In the Season 1 finale, the orchid alien (aka D. Plumbicare) revealed that it could turn into a floating, octopus-like creature and got loose in Neverland. I would not want to be walking around the island with that out there, that's for sure.
But that's not all: Alien: Earth's breakout star, the eyeball alien T. Ocellus, found a new host in the corpse of Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl). We've seen T. Ocellus take over a cat corpse and a human body, but now we get to see it go full zombie mode in what might be Alien: Earth's coolest development yet. But what's T. Ocellus's plan while in Arthur's body? Will it try to find a new, stronger host in, say, a hybrid? (And what would that look like?) Will it finally have a conversation with its biggest fan, Boy Kavalier? And how in the world will Dame react when she sees her beloved husband with a massive new eyeball and a burst-open chest? Bring on the zombie shenanigans!
Will the Xenomorph continue serving Wendy, or will it rebel?
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
For now, Wendy and her Xenomorph seem pretty tight. But what happens if the Xenomorph goes through a rebellious teenage phase and decides it doesn't want to serve its human mother figure anymore? Could the hybrids lose their grip on Neverland if the apex predator at their disposal decides to turn on them?
Wendy's Xenomorph also isn't the only Xenomorph on the island. There's also the specimen that burst out of Arthur's chest. As it grows, will it become territorial with Wendy's Xenomorph, or will it join the hybrid-Xeno family and view Wendy as its queen? If so, what are the odds Wendy tries to build a whole Xenomorph army?
How will Alien: Earth tie back to Alien?
The question hanging over any prequel is "how will this tie back to the original?" and with Alien: Earth, that question is especially pressing, given that it takes place two years before the events of Alien. By that point, there are no mentions of hybrid technology, nor are there any mentions of them in the sequels. So what will happen to the hybrids between then and now to render them obsolete? It's a daunting question, but it's one that Alien: Earth will certainly have to contend with as it closes in on the original films.
Alien: Earth is now streaming on Hulu.
After eight episodes of terrifying new creatures, Alien homages, and existential questions about the future of humanity, Alien: Earth Season 1 has come to a close. And what a close it was.
The finale, titled "The Real Monsters," flips the power dynamic that's been in place for the entire season. By the end of the episode, the hybrid Lost Boys, led by Wendy (Sydney Chandler), have gained total control over their keepers, including Boy Kavalier (Samuel Blenkin) and Dame Sylvia (Essie Davis). This power shift has been in the cards since Alien: Earth's first episode, but how do we get here? Let's break it down.
Alien: Earth's hybrids finally realize how strong they are.
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
From the first moment Alien: Earth introduces Wendy in her super-strong, super-fast, super-durable hybrid body, it's clear that she and her fellow Lost Boys could absolutely wreck Prodigy's Neverland security team if they wanted to. That idea doesn't cross their minds, though. Instead, the Lost Boys are still children in consciousness, and they believe Neverland to be a safe paradise for them.
However, this idea erodes over the course of Alien: Earth's first season, as the Lost Boys lose confidence in the people they've been told to trust. They're endangered and experimented on. Nibs' (Lily Newmark) traumatic memories were manipulated. Isaac (Kit Young) died while tending to the alien specimens. Morrow (Babou Ceesay) threatened to kill Slightly's (Adarsh Gourav) family. Each horrifying incident wears away at the Lost Boys' childlike innocence, turning the idyllic Neverland into a hell on Earth.
Ironically, these incidents only increase the Lost Boys' feelings of powerlessness, even though they're the most powerful beings on Prodigy's remote island. But it's also in one of those scenes of powerlessness — when Prodigy forces corner Nibs, Wendy, and her brother Joe aka Hermit (Alex Lawther) on their escape boat in episode 7 — that the Lost Boys begin to realize their power. Nibs fully rips a soldier's jaw off, leaving Hermit to shoot (but not kill) her. Here, a horrified Wendy learns two things. First: Humans, including her brother, are terrified of the hybrids. Second: They have good reason to be. The hybrids are extremely dangerous. So why not embrace that?
That's the realization Wendy comes to in Alien: Earth's Season 1 finale. "All this time, we've been afraid of them," she tells the Lost Boys as they sit trapped in a Neverland cage. "But I think they should be afraid of us."
The Peter Pan allegories come to a head in the Alien: Earth Season 1 finale.
Credit: Patrick Brown/FX
Embracing the Neverland staffers' fear of them is the final stage in the Lost Boys' loss of their childish innocence. Or, in terms of Boy Kavalier's relentless Peter Pan references, this is them finally "growing up." However, that's exactly what the Prodigy founder and the rest of Neverland don't want to happen. As Wendy puts it, "We're all in this cell because we can't be kids anymore, but they won't let us be adults."
Nibs has another suggestion for what they are, one that's especially fitting after seeing the graves of their dead human bodies. "We're all ghosts," she says.
So what do these ghosts do? They turn Neverland into a haunted house, with Wendy using her in-built connection to the facility to manipulate video feeds, elevators, and doors to terrify every last soldier and scientist. Of course, having a Xenomorph at your beck and call helps too.
The entire episode serves as both a liberation for the Lost Boys and an identity crisis for Wendy, otherwise known by her human name, Marcy. She tells her brother, "I don't know what I am. I'm not a child. I'm not a grown-up. I'm not Marcy. I'm not Wendy. And I can't be what everyone wants me to be."
(Earlier in the season, Joe even questions whether Wendy truly holds his sister's consciousness, yet another blow to one of the pillars of Wendy's identity.)
Wendy's statement reflects the binaries in the world of Alien: Earth. Child and adult. Human and synthetic. Hybrids exist somewhere in between, blurring boundaries and creating a new kind of personhood. Wendy and the Lost Boys have spent the entire series having not just new names but entirely new identities imposed on them by exterior forces. Now, they get to make their own. Fellow hybrid Curly (Erana James) embraces her former name, Jane, as Wendy reminds each of the Lost Boys of theirs — a move the late Isaac, formerly Tootles, only enjoyed for an afternoon.
Wendy's identity crisis also explains her affinity for the Maginot aliens, whom she considers "honest." These creatures are wholly themselves, unlike liars such as Boy Kavalier. As Wendy points out, he considers himself Peter Pan, but he was never truly a boy. He was always a "mean, angry little man," just like his abusive father. Ouch. I'm not sure he'll be picking up a copy of Peter Pan any time soon after that.
"Now we rule."
Credit: Patrick Brown / FX
"The Real Monsters" ends with Wendy and the Lost Boys holding all of the authority figures in their lives hostage in the same cage they were formerly incarcerated in, prompting Wendy's declaration that, "now, we rule." Even Kirsh (Timothy Olyphant), their Prodigy synth senior, and Morrow, their cyborg antagonist, now answer to them.
The hybrids finally taking control is undoubtedly worthy of Alien: Earth's last hard-rocking needle drop. But it's certainly not the end of the Lost Boys' story. After all, the Weyland-Yutani forces are still encroaching on the island with numerous Prodigy forces still left, hinting at more conflict ahead. Plus, the alien orchid is loose, and T. Ocellus has found a new host in the chestburst corpse of Arthur Sylvia (David Rysdahl). That's a lot of threats for these still-young hybrids to deal with. How will they be able to fight off their enemies and learn how to rule their island?
That question of what it will look like for hybrids to "rule" hints at an intriguing new literary reference point for a possible Alien: Earth Season 2. If Season 1 was the Lost Boys growing up in the style of Peter Pan, then Season 2 might just see them learning to survive on an island in the vein of Lord of the Flies. With that in mind, who's Piggy, who's Ralph, and will the Xenomorph's head somehow wind up on the end of a pointy stick?
Alien: Earth is now streaming on Hulu.
21 Thrift Store Gems You Can Cash in On
How to Collect Social Security While Working (and Jobs to Consider)
Hurdle hints and answers for September 24, 2025
New Kid and Family Movies in 2025: Calendar of Release Dates (Updating)
Brooklyn Mirage Has Been Quietly Co-Managed by Hedge Fund Manager Axar Capital Amid Reopening Drama
The best sexting apps in 2025
-
Entertainment6 months agoNew Kid and Family Movies in 2025: Calendar of Release Dates (Updating)
-
Entertainment3 months agoBrooklyn Mirage Has Been Quietly Co-Managed by Hedge Fund Manager Axar Capital Amid Reopening Drama
-
Tech6 months ago
The best sexting apps in 2025
-
Entertainment5 months agoKid and Family TV Shows in 2025: New Series & Season Premiere Dates (Updating)
-
Tech7 months agoEvery potential TikTok buyer we know about
-
Tech7 months ago
iOS 18.4 developer beta released — heres what you can expect
-
Tech7 months agoAre You an RSSMasher?
-
Politics7 months agoDOGE-ing toward the best Department of Defense ever