Media Bits and Bytes — November 10, 2026
- AI’s No Good, Very Bad Election
- Tech Giants on the Hot Seat
- What Now For Data Centers?
- China’s AI Stocks Plunge
- Ignoring the Resistance
- Fox Acquires Roku
- Hackers Doxx Homeland Security
- The Brazilian Left’s Quest to ‘Tame’ Meta
- Gizmodo’s Best of Tech Awards
AI’s No Good, Very Bad Election
Truthdig
As states elected one data center critic after another on Tuesday night, shares in AI and chip companies started to fall, as did the value of the so-called neoclouds that provide “compute” to AI firms. The AI industry was already facing serious problems, but those now exist in a political world that has caught up with and reflects profound public anger and distrust.
By Alex Barrientos, Gadget Review
Democrats flipped both chambers in the 2026 midterms and moved quickly to signal where their new institutional power would land: on the technology industry and those who spent heavily to keep them out of the majority.
By Katelyn Chedraoui, CNET
Governments may continue to adopt moratoriums on new data center construction, like New York’s first-in-the-nation pause implemented earlier this year, as they try to figure out how to mitigate the harms. State and local legislators need to continue setting environmental rules, managing electricity demand and finding real community benefits.
By Amy Hawkins, The Guardian
Trillions of dollars have been wiped from China’s stock markets in recent months amid increasing anxiety about the future of artificial intelligence, as Beijing races against the United States for dominance in the sector. The precipitous drop has wiped out $2.4tn from the Chinese stock market since May.
By Dan Froomkin, Press Watch
How to explain the nearly universal absence of any mention whatsoever of No Kings – or the resistance, or the mass movement against Trump, or pro-democracy protests, or whatever you want to call it – in any of the major news-media coverage of the rout of Trump’s party on Tuesday? Not a word in print or on TV. Not from Claude. Not even in an opinion piece.
By Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter
The deal makes Fox into a major player in streaming, with two of the largest free streaming video platforms on the market in Tubi and Roku Channel, a premium streaming service in Fox One, and perhaps most importantly an install base of more than 100 million households around the world. It is no exaggeration to say that Roku is the gateway to TV for a significant chunk of the U.S.
Hackers Doxx Homeland Security
By Vanessa Romo, NPR
A hacking group cracked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's personnel files, exposing the names, phone numbers and addresses of more than 40,000 DHS agents, operatives, and associates, on Wednesday, including those involved in undercover operations.
The Brazilian Left’s Quest to ‘Tame’ Meta
By Samanta Azpurua, Global Voices
In 2026, Meta has faced significant criticism in Brazil and internationally from internet rights watchdogs over political bias, algorithmic interference, and the selective suppression of content, perceived as favoring far-right candidate Flávio Bolsonaro during the October 2026 Brazilian presidential election.
Gizmodo
The website “reviewed a truly unbelievable number of gadgets this year, constantly pushing ourselves to find and try the most exciting new tech on the market. And now we get to share with you all the products that really made an impression on us.”
By Benjamin Lindsay, The Wrap
Salon.com, the pioneering digital news website known for its political and cultural commentary, has permanently shuttered. The end came after years of downsizing in the Salon newsroom and amid widespread cuts in the entertainment and media sphere due to waves of consolidation, AI-driven change and cost-cutting efforts industry-wide.