🌎 Insta Goes PG-13

Madagascar’s military has taken over the country

This will make a great Instagram post. On Tuesday, Madagascar’s armed forces took control minutes after lawmakers voted to impeach President Andry Rajoelina, who has fled the country.

Now, the leader of the military coup, Col. Michael Randrianirina, said he is “taking the position of president” and will lead Madagascar for the next two years before any elections are held.

Why did this happen?

Col. Randrianirina claims the military takeover was necessary because the previous administration under President Rajoelina had “exhausted its legitimacy” and lost public trust, which has some legitimacy:

• Rajoelina’s removal came after weeks of Gen Z–led protests that began over power and water shortages but quickly grew into demands for government accountability, social reform, and lower unemployment (see video overview).

Lawmakers also accused Rajoelina of mishandling the unrest and failing to address the frustrations of a country where nearly 80% of its 32 million citizens live in poverty.

Rajoelina, who first rose to power in a 2009 coup, ruled for seven years.

What happens now?

The military announced that a council made up of army officers will take charge of the transition and eventually appoint a prime minister to lead a civilian government.

• However, some analysts remain skeptical, noting that in past transitions under military influence in the country, promises of elections were delayed or manipulated.

Many decisions now hang in the balance, including whether the impeachment, military takeover, and dissolution of the government are considered valid by regional bodies (like the African Union and SADC) or whether major powers will attempt to shape Madagascar’s next steps.

Military takeovers are not new to the country: The latest turmoil adds to a long history of political instability in Madagascar, which has seen numerous military coup attempts since 1960.

Instagram is making all teen accounts PG-13

That means no watching The Conjuring on Reels. Instagram announced this week that it’s introducing new teen user safeguards, which will only allow teen accounts to see content that aligns with PG-13 movie standards.

Keeping it PG (13)

In the platform’s most significant change to age-specific accounts yet, the overhaul aims to create a safer and more age-appropriate environment for teenage users on the platform.

That means new restrictions on what teens can access on Instagram:

• Instagram will block teens from viewing accounts that post 18+ content (drugs, nudity, or other suggestive material) and prevent them from following accounts with inappropriate usernames or links, even if they previously followed the account.

• Teens also won’t see content with strong use of swear words and risky stunts, plus search results for terms like “gore” or “alcohol” will appear empty.

Why change now? For years, social media platforms have been under intense scrutiny from both the public and lawmakers over the adult content accessible to minors, which led Meta to roll out “Teen Accounts” for users under 18 last year (which are private, restrict certain content, and mute notifications at night).

Instagram expanded on parental controls, too: With the new PG-13 overhaul, a new "Limited Content" setting gives parents the power to further restrict content and interactions, even limiting conversations with AI.

London has a big phone-stealing problem

Bloke nicked your phone for a bit of quid, did he? London police have recently launched an operation after a record 80,000 phones were stolen across the British capital last year.

International phone-stealing syndicate

London’s soaring phone thefts have earned it the dubious title of Europe’s phone-snatching capital, a moniker local officials are not fond of (for obvious reasons). In response, police launched “Operation Echosteep,” a citywide crackdown focused on forensic tracking and cross-border cooperation.

The initiative eventually discovered that the thefts were part of an international crime network:

• A two-week police crackdown last month uncovered 2,000 stolen phones and roughly $266,000 in cash.

• Authorities found the smuggling ring shipped over 40,000 stolen devices to China, using aluminum foil to block tracking signals (after buying nearly 1.5 miles’ worth from Costco).

The first real break came when a victim used “Find My iPhone” to trace a stolen device to a Heathrow warehouse, where police found 900 stolen phones—a discovery that eventually helped detectives unravel the broader network.

Why steal phones in particular? Because it pays really, really well. Street thieves are reportedly paid about $400 for each stolen phone (more than triple a day’s work at minimum wage) and can flip them overseas for as much as $5,000 due to high demand and weaker resale restrictions.

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OpenAI signed yet another megadeal

You’re not having déjà vu—OpenAI is just going crazy. OpenAI announced it struck yet another megadeal with tech giant Broadcom this week, capping off a month of huge deals to increase computing power for its AI expansion.

It’s a bag of chips

The multiyear collaboration with Broadcom will have the two companies jointly develop 10 gigawatts of custom AI chips and infrastructure in a bid to expand OpenAI’s computing capacity.

• The deal centers on AI accelerators, or powerful processors that can complete several tasks at the same time and perform billions of calculations (see overview).

• The project breaks ground next year and hopes to be fully up and running by 2029. If successful, it will generate enough energy equal to the power consumption of around 8 million homes.

The move aims to make OpenAI less reliant on chipmakers like Nvidia and AMD by building hardware custom-made for its AI models, without cutting ties with chip partners it recently made deals with… which there are a lot of.

Deal after deal after deal

OpenAI’s agreement with Broadcom comes on the back of several megadeals the tech giant completed in the last few weeks amid the AI boom and increasing needs for computing power.

It’s safe to say the maker of ChatGPT doesn’t want to put all of its eggs in one basket:

• Last week, OpenAI announced it would buy a mountain of AI chips from Nvidia’s rival, AMD, as part of a massive data center energy deal.

• The AMD deal came just weeks after the company announced a $300 billion investment to buy 4.5 gigawatts of cloud computing from Oracle.

• Before that, OpenAI signed a multibillion-dollar deal with Nvidia for the chipmaker to invest $100 billion in OpenAI over the next decade.

Don’t pop the bubble: Experts warn that the recent wave of AI megadeals could be fueling a potential bubble, as interconnected investments inflate the market and tie these AI companies’ fortunes together.

Walmart wants you to buy groceries on ChatGPT

Am I the only one getting sick of talking about OpenAI? Walmart’s new partnership with OpenAI will allow users to browse and purchase products from the retail giant directly within ChatGPT, because why not?

Window shopping

In the near future, Walmart shoppers will be able to connect their accounts directly to ChatGPT, making it possible for the bot to suggest and even add items straight to their carts—no extra clicking required.

Under the new change:

• Users will be able to engage in natural language conversations with ChatGPT to discover products, plan meals, restock essentials, or find new items, all without leaving the chat interface.

• In addition, Sam's Club members will also have access.

The move joins part of a shift towards "agentic commerce," where AI chatbots proactively assist customers in their shopping, anticipating needs and providing personalized recommendations (and the tech companies get a percentage of the sales).

Agentic commerce is getting popular: OpenAI’s new “Instant Checkout” feature lets users purchase products directly from Etsy (with Shopify coming up next), following Perplexity’s lead with similar tie-ins to Shopify, Best Buy, and Target.

Catch up on this week’s weird news

 > A new study found that Chicago’s viral “rat hole” sidewalk imprint (see above) was likely made by a squirrel or muskrat—not a rat—after researchers compared photos and measurements to museum specimens.

 > MRI scans show premature babies who regularly hear recordings of their mothers’ voices develop stronger language pathways, offering a way to reduce the risk of language delays.

 > A new Pew Research survey shows most Americans are highly confident in their ability to do practical tasks, like cleaning a wound, growing a vegetable from a garden, and weather-proofing windows. 

 > Scientists may have found a way to develop personalized blood transfusions after growing embryo-like structures that produce human blood cells.

 > OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that users above the age of 18 will be able to sext with ChatGPT once age verification tools roll out later this year.