Techin' Geek

On Monday, social platform X revealed a new “Paid Partnership” label that creators may apply to their posts to signify they are advertisements. This feature could enhance creators’ credibility, enabling fans to discern when a product endorsement is a genuine opinion versus a paid promotion, while also adhering to regulations stipulating that advertisements on social networks require labeling.

Comparable tags have been around for years on other networks, such as Instagram, following a warning from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in 2017 for influencers to “clearly and conspicuously disclose” when content was sponsored by an advertiser, or when that advertiser otherwise provides support. Last year, Instagram built upon its Partnership Ads feature to ensure that creators could also receive compensation for written endorsements shared as comments on a brand’s social media channels.

Nonetheless, creators on X previously lacked an integrated method to label their posts, compelling them to resort to hashtags like #paidpartnership and #ad for identification.

With this new capability, creators will have the option to enable a “content disclose” setting on a post to apply the Paid Partnership label, which will appear directly below the content of the post. This label can also be applied retroactively if the creator forgot to use it when initially posting. According to X’s product head, Nikitia Bier, this feature allows creators to maintain transparency with their audience while complying with federal guidelines.

We’re excited to announce Paid Partnership labels on posts. X prioritizes providing an authentic reflection of humanity.

Encouraging entrepreneurship on X is vital, but undisclosed promotions can compromise product integrity and diminish the trustworthiness of the content… pic.twitter.com/CmrRDx5tU1

— Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) March 1, 2026

“Encouraging entrepreneurship on X is vital, but undisclosed promotions can compromise product integrity and diminish the trustworthiness of the content shared on X,” he stated in a post on X introducing the new feature.

X has attempted to appeal to creators for a considerable time, providing earnings for viral content, ad-revenue sharing, creator subscriptions, and additional incentives. However, as a platform primarily recognized for discussing current news and events, the company has faced challenges in attracting creators who often favor reaching their audiences via Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms.

The introduction of Paid Partnership labels allows the company to simplify the process for creators to adhere to guidelines without the need to clutter their posts with hashtags, which have become somewhat outdated. (When Instagram launched its Threads to compete with X, it even eliminated the hash symbol altogether.)

X has also implemented other modifications aimed at enhancing content authenticity on its platform. Last week, it disclosed that its API could no longer facilitate programmatic replies unless the original poster had mentioned the replying user or quoted them. This aims to mitigate the effects of LLM-generated spam on X. Such AI-generated replies could potentially be exploited by disreputable brands to engage with ads and creators’ sponsored posts, masquerading as genuine customers who appreciated the product in question.

A collective of hacktivists known as the “Department of Peace” has claimed responsibility for breaching the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), subsequently leaking purportedly stolen documents online.

On Sunday, the nonprofit transparency group DDoSecrets released information regarding contracts involving DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and over 6,000 firms, including defense contractors such as Anduril, L3Harris, Raytheon, the surveillance firm Palantir, along with technology giants Microsoft and Oracle. 

The hacktivists stated that the information originates from the Office of Industry Partnership, a division within DHS that acquires technology from the private sector.

DHS and ICE have not yet replied to a request for comment.

The Department of Peace elaborated on their reasons in a document shared with the hack, referencing the recent deaths of two peaceful protesters, U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renée Good, earlier this year in Minneapolis at the hands of federal agents.

“Why attack the DHS? I can think of a couple of Pretti Good reasons! I’m making this public because the DHS is killing us, and people deserve to be informed about which companies are backing them and what they’re involved in,” the hackers stated. 

since the outset of the Trump administration, DHS and federal immigration agents from ICE have launched a mass deportation initiative, apprehending individuals with largely clean criminal records and detaining them in overcrowded facilities where critics argue they are subjected to inhumane treatment. This mass deportation effort has been supported by various tech companies, with Palantir leading the way.

Security expert Micah Lee compiled the leaked information on a specialized website, making it user-friendly for searching. 

The website displays the names of the contractors, the total sums awarded to them, and contact details including full names, email addresses, and phone numbers. 

The largest contracts awarded included $70 million to Cyber Apex Solutions, a firm that asserts on its minimalist website to be “dedicated to addressing the security gaps of critical infrastructure” in the U.S.; and $59 million to Science Applications International Corporation, which offers AI solutions for government entities. Underwriters Laboratories received $29 million to deliver testing, certification, and market intelligence to clients.

Cyber Apex Solutions, SAIC, and Underwriters Laboratories have not yet provided a response to a request for comment.

The customer service sector is experiencing some changes, driven by AI. Investors and company executives have expressed concerns regarding the BPO (Business Process Outsourcing) sector. Conversely, AI-driven customer support startups like Decagon, Parloa, and Sierra have secured significant investments from venture capitalists.

14.ai, a startup supported by Y Combinator, is adopting a strategy of establishing an AI-native agency that replaces traditional customer support teams at numerous startups it collaborates with.

The firm has secured $3 million in seed capital, with Y Combinator leading the round and contributions from General Catalyst, Base Case Capital, SV Angel, along with the founders of Dropbox, Slack, Replit, and Vercel.

This startup was launched by a married couple, Marie Schneegans and Michael Fester. They met in Paris over ten years ago and subsequently created their own ventures. Schneegans co-founded the corporate intranet firm Workwell, while Fester previously established Snips, a company focused on local first assistants for smart devices, which Sonos acquired in 2019.

Following this, they aimed to create a company together and relocated to the U.S. They chose customer service as the challenge to address but wanted to refrain from establishing a traditional SaaS firm. Thus, they founded 14.ai to function as a sort of AI-native customer support agency.

“We’re not just developing software for clients. 14.ai is an AI-native customer service agency. We merge software and services into one solution. For clients, managing software can be complex, particularly in customer service. We assume full responsibility for their operations and utilize our own specially designed technology for customer service,” Fester stated.

The organization claims it can synchronize with a support system within a day and rapidly begin addressing the support ticket backlog. It can track tickets across multiple platforms, including email, calls, chat, TikTok, Facebook, Telegram, and WhatsApp.

“We began working with a men’s health supplement brand named Sperm Worms, established by a former YC founder, who had a significant backlog of tickets. His customer service team was located in the Philippines and struggled to clear tickets efficiently. We took over operations on Thursday morning, and by Thursday afternoon, we had resolved tickets from all channels such as social media, SMS, email, chat, and voice,” Schneegans explained.

The company currently employs six individuals, who rotate to provide 24/7 availability for their clients. The startup mentioned that with the recent funding, it plans to expand its workforce in the upcoming six months.

14.ai exclusively hires AI engineers and aims to recruit more. The startup analyzes customer support workflows and other functions, such as sales and revenue enhancement, seeking to automate processes through its technology so that humans can dedicate less time to specific tasks.

“We are not merely a support agency, but also a revenue growth engine, as we capture various conversations early on for our clients and derive insights from them,” Fester noted.

The company seeks to eliminate three essential items from a startup’s balance sheet, which include ticketing systems, AI software add-ons, and human labor expenses. The startup serves a range of clients across sectors, such as the luxury skincare brand Yon-KA, smart glasses manufacturer Brilliant Labs, and lighting company Creative Lighting.

The startup also aims to enhance its own offerings by testing and allowing AI to manage most functions. For that purpose, it operates GloGlo, a brand of glucose gummies aimed at Type 1 diabetics, and attempts to run autonomously using AI.

Tom Blomfield, a partner at Y Combinator, believes that 14.ai finds the right equilibrium between AI and human involvement in customer service. He remarked that with proper integration, AI can automate 60% of tasks, while the remaining 40% can be managed by humans.

“As AI takes on a greater workload, the equilibrium between AI and humans will evolve over time. With current platforms, customers face repeated rounds of challenging headcount reductions,” he told TechCrunch via email.

“In contrast, 14.ai becomes both the AI and human component of the customer service department. They can reallocate customer support agents among clients at various stages of AI adoption, executing that load balancing much more efficiently,” he added.

Importantly, AI-driven agencies are among the areas that Y Combinator highlighted in its requests for startups for 2026.

On Monday, Apple introduced a new iPad Air featuring the M4 chip.

According to the company, the device is engineered to be quicker due to an enhanced neural engine and increased memory, improving its efficiency for AI applications. This Air is claimed to be 30% faster than the M3 iPad Air and 2.3x faster than the M1 version.

Nonetheless, the new model continues to be priced at $599 for the 11-inch version and $799 for the 13-inch variant. For educational customers, the price drops to $549 for the 11-inch iPad Air, while the 13-inch model begins at $749.

The iPad Air now boasts an 8-core CPU and a 9-core GPU, making it a solid option for gaming as well as image and photo editing. Additionally, the device’s unified memory has grown by 50%, now totaling 12GB, with memory bandwidth reaching 120GB/s, which Apple claims will allow users to execute AI models more swiftly than on older devices.

The 16-core Neural Engine is also reported to be 3x quicker than its counterpart in the M1, facilitating the execution of on-device AI models.

The revamped Air offers support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, running on Apple’s new connectivity chips, the N1 and C1X, for wireless and cellular functions. The dimensions remain unchanged from before, measuring 9.74 x 7.02 inches for the 11-inch model and 11.04 x 8.46 inches for the 13-inch version.

It features a front-facing 12MP Center Stage camera and a 12MP Wide camera on the back. As usual, Apple accessories such as the Magic Keyboard, Apple Pencil, or Apple Pencil Pro are compatible with this device.

The upgraded iPad Air will be available for preorder on Wednesday, March 4, on Apple.com and through the Apple Store app in 35 countries and regions, including the U.S. There are four colors to choose from: blue, purple, starlight, and space gray. Storage options available include 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB.

The new iPad is among several announcements scheduled for this week, alongside the launch of the new iPhone 17e and anticipated enhancements to the MacBook lineup. These launches are strategically planned to align with Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, where Apple’s smartphone competitors such as Samsung, Xiaomi, Honor, and others are showcasing their latest technologies and hardware.

Apple typically abstains from participation in MWC or other trade shows, opting to present its products during its own events. This week, it will unveil a range of new offerings with hands-on demonstrations in select cities.

On Monday, Apple introduced the new iteration of its economical iPhone series. Priced at $599, the iPhone 17e will launch on March 11.

This smartphone features the A19 chip, which is also included in the standard iPhone 17, and is compatible with Apple Intelligence. The introductory model offers 256 GB of storage, doubling the base storage of the previous version, according to Apple.

A significant upgrade from the last budget iPhone is the integration of MagSafe and Qi2, allowing for wireless charging of up to 15W.

It comes in black, white, and a fresh soft pink hue.

Moreover, the iPhone 17e is equipped with C1X, Apple’s latest cellular modem, which the company claims is as much as twice as swift as the C1 modem in the iPhone 16e, while consuming 30% less power.

Regarding photography, the iPhone 17e includes the same 48-megapixel camera as the iPhone 16e. Its Fusion camera allows for an optical-quality 2x Telephoto, providing users with dual cameras in one for closer shots and easier composition, according to the tech giant.

The smartphone can capture videos in 4K with Dolby Vision at up to 60 fps and records video with Spatial Audio for an engaging listening experience with AirPods or Apple Vision Pro.

The iPhone 17e meets IP68 standards for water and dust resistance, with its 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display shielded by Ceramic Shield 2, which is claimed to offer three times the scratch resistance of the prior iteration.

This smartphone also supports Emergency SOS via satellite, Roadside Assistance, and the Find My feature.

Constructed with 30% recycled materials, it contains 85% recycled aluminum in its casing and 100% recycled cobalt in its battery.

In the early hours of Saturday, various cities in Iran, Tehran included, experienced significant turmoil due to a wave of airstrikes orchestrated by the U.S. and Israel, resulting in the death of the nation’s supreme leader, Ali Hosseini Khamenei, alongside high-ranking officials. Reports indicate that this military operation coincided with cyberattacks aimed at the nation, one of which inundated a well-known phone application with notifications during a widespread internet outage across Iran.

These attacks followed several days of unsuccessful talks between Tehran and Washington. The discussions were prompted by weeks of large-scale protests that left thousands dead amid the nation’s most prolonged internet blackouts.

As missiles targeted Iranian urban areas, onlookers reported a surge of unsolicited notifications from apps—not from the struggling government, but seemingly from an external source. 

Users of the BadeSaba prayer application received numerous alerts on their devices, urging a “reckoning” and offering amnesty to anyone who stands against government forces, according to Wired.

One notification stated that the Iranian regime would “face consequences for their cruel and merciless actions against the innocent people of Iran,” suggesting that the application had been hacked to provide anti-government messages.

It remains unclear who is responsible for compromising the app, which has garnered over 5 million downloads.

The Jerusalem Post noted on Saturday that cyberattacks were executed as part of the U.S. and Israeli offensive in an attempt to restrain Iran’s reaction. Both the U.S. and Israel have been suspected of instigating cyberattacks on financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges to exert pressure on Iran’s leadership, which has held power since a revolution in 1989.

The disruptions have not been confined to Iran. The conflict poses a risk of extending throughout the broader Middle East, as Iran responds with its missiles.

Amazon reported technical difficulties at its data center in the Middle East located in the United Arab Emirates shortly after Iranian missiles targeted the coastal nation. Amazon stated that the outage was due to “objects striking the data center, igniting sparks and fire.”

The ongoing conflict is also expected to interfere with crucial e-commerce air and maritime routes, as vessels transporting goods through the Strait of Hormuz near Iran come to a standstill.

Doug Madory, internet analysis director at Kentik, indicated in a post on Bluesky that internet connectivity plunged to nearly zero following the airstrikes on Saturday morning. Networking company Cloudflare also corroborated the collapse of Iran’s internet on Saturday.

Cami Tellez has made her return. 

Tellez founded Parade, a popular undergarment brand which was once seen as the Gen Z competitor to Victoria’s Secret. Established in 2019 when Tellez was merely 21, the company successfully raised millions and drew a substantial customer base before being sold in 2023 to lingerie manufacturer Ariela & Associates. Toward the end of last year, Parade announced its decision to officially shut down. 

However, it appears that Parade was merely the start of Tellez’s entrepreneurial path. On Monday, she and former TikTok executive Jon Kroopf revealed the launch of Devotion, an influencer marketing platform designed to assist major brands in managing their influence initiatives. 

Currently, numerous brands have dedicated teams manually balancing existing influencers while identifying new ones. This is a labor-intensive endeavor often hindered by the rapid pace of the industry. 

“The initial phase of the creator economy focused on macro creators, with brands engaging 15 or 20 prominent figures monthly,” Tellez noted. “That approach has proven ineffective.” Referring to a 2025 IAB report indicating that creators make up about 2% of advertising expenditure, she remarked, “The problem isn’t a lack of faith in creators; it’s about unlocking a scalable model that operates within a content-driven algorithm.” 

Devotion simplifies aspects of this process, employing AI to assist brands in scaling their creator identification, oversight, and content processes. Human oversight remains intact to assess AI-generated decisions. 

“There are no independent agents acting without human oversight,” Kroopf informed TechCrunch. “Yet, they significantly expedite everything we handle.”  

Devotion collaborates with brands to perform tasks like assessing influencers’ posts and captions for alignment with brand standards; it helps brands determine which posts to promote and share; and it offers a brand fit score illustrating how well a creator matches the brand’s values. Additionally, it assists brands in compensating creators, a challenge if solely reliant on human management, Kroopf indicated. 

“It revolves around expansive creator ecosystems,” Tellez, the company’s creative director, stated. “A new kind of creator community that ensures larger scale, reduced CPMs [cost per mille], [and] enhanced algorithmic influence.” 

Tellez mentioned that Devotion was predominantly in beta for most of last year and has swiftly garnered over 10 clients, achieving seven-figure revenue. In addition to stepping out of stealth mode, the company also disclosed its successful $4 million funding round led by Basecase and Will Ventures. 

“We are utilizing technology to unveil what we believe to be a new opening, where previously little focus has been directed because it wasn’t viable,” Kroopf added, noting that it had not been cost-efficient for brands to allocate substantial finances and resources to create a platform like this independently.

“When I launched Parade in 2019, there was no real software that enabled mass engagement with ambassadors [influencers],” Tellez shared. At that time, she and her team devised technology that facilitated tracking and executing gifting, engagement, payments, and developed a comprehensive pipeline to manage their interactions with creators. “That drove a significant portion of our growth,” she went on, highlighting that numerous other founders approached her during that time inquiring how to mimic influencer engagement. 

Simultaneously, she realized that the algorithm had evolved, significantly influenced by TikTok’s trajectory. Although Devotion originated from her vision, she collaborated with Kroopf to better navigate this new algorithmic landscape. Five years prior, she noted, a creator’s post could reach about 20% of their audience; today, that figure has reduced to roughly 2%. 

“The feed is no longer dictated by your social connections or follower count,” she explained. “It’s far more influenced by content performance and the algorithm, as well as by your interests and related content you’ve engaged with.” 

This evolution signifies a new reality: An Ohio nurse possesses the same algorithmic potential as a macro-creator, Tellez stated. “We are venturing into a new era where influence has been made accessible to all.” 

Consequently, brands must function like content networks, collaborating with hundreds, if not thousands, of influencers monthly to generate content capable of driving scale, Tellez noted. 

Devotion represents brands by crafting a tailored content engagement strategy to gain insights on which influencers to engage and how to nurture that community over time. 

There are other agencies operating in the creator economy with similar frameworks, such as Pearpop. Tellez expressed that the newly acquired funding will enable the hiring of more engineers and brand operators to enhance the company’s technological infrastructure. 

Plans for the development of additional AI agents are in the pipeline, though no announcements can be shared just yet, they stated. Overall, Tellez believes that brands continue to seek genuine methods to connect with authentic individuals, collaborating with a diverse array of people (not solely the most prominent) to effectively convey brand messages. 

“We are beginning to witness a consensus shift towards our vision of scaled creator ecosystems for even the largest and traditionally most cautious brands,” Tellez concluded. “They aim to avoid falling behind the algorithm. Simultaneously, we are enhancing our AI systems to efficiently manage thousands of creators with accuracy — without compromising on quality or personal touch.”

Following nearly a year of negotiations, MyFitnessPal has successfully acquired its emerging competitor Cal AI.

Cal AI is the innovative AI-driven calorie counting app developed by two high school students, achieving over 15 million downloads and more than $30 million in annual revenue in less than two years, according to MyFitnessPal’s statement to TechCrunch. 

The team at Cal AI, consisting of seven employees, including co-founder and CEO Zach Yadegari (as seen in the image above), as well as a handful of contractors, have been kept on board by MyFitnessPal, per CEO Mike Fisher’s remarks.

The Cal AI app will maintain its independent status, adhering to its user-friendly goal of calculating calories through food photography. An upgrade for Cal AI users has already been implemented since the closure of the deal in December: the app is now linked with MyFitnessPal’s extensive nutrition database, which includes 20 million food items, 68,500 brands, and dishes from over 380 restaurant chains. 

Details of the agreement were not revealed, aside from Fisher indicating that the Cal AI team was satisfied with the offer, as they were not compelled to sell. Given the $30 million revenue figure, it seems to be a favorable outcome for the now 19-year-old co-founders, Yadegari and his high school peer Henry Langmack.  

Fisher noted that the acquisition process required significant tenacity. The larger company recognized Cal AI as it began ascending the app store rankings, through resources like Sensor Tower, he mentioned.  

“We monitor the entire competitive landscape,” Fisher stated, which includes around 70 competitors of various sizes. “They certainly drew our attention, I would say, early last year, and we’ve been in communication with them intermittently since then.” 

What drove Fisher and his team to pursue the acquisition was not only monitoring Cal AI’s ascent in the app download rankings (the two applications are closely matched in the top standings within their category on Sensor Tower). He was also impressed by the dedicated approach of the team led by its youthful CEO. 

“They attracted considerable media interest due to their youth, which is easy to overlook,” he remarked. “After speaking with them, like I did in late spring last year, you leave realizing what an impressive young man he is.” 

For example, Cal AI’s weekly stand-up meeting takes place on Sunday evenings. Given that the founders are still attending school, Yadegari commits his weekends to his startup, with his team sufficiently dedicated to meet with him on Sundays for regular check-ins. 

“These little details, when accumulated, reveal that this is not just a hobby for them,” Fisher observed. “They are truly committed.” 

Fisher chose not to disclose the retention period for the founders and team at MyFitnessPal after the acquisition. A four-year timeline is commonly seen in the industry, often associated with payouts, but he remained tight-lipped on this, even with further inquiry. 

However, it is known that Yadegari continues to lead the app, now as part of MyFitnessPal, while attending college. The young entrepreneur gained viral attention on X last year when he shared that despite a 4.0 GPA and running a successful business, he was rejected by 15 out of 18 top colleges he applied to.

He told TechCrunch during that time that he hadn’t planned on pursuing college, preferring to concentrate on his company. However, a summer spent in a hacker house surrounded by successful Silicon Valley college dropouts made him realize that having a college degree would vastly improve his opportunities.

Fisher mentioned that currently there are no intentions from MFP to incorporate the app into its primary product, such as replacing MFP’s existing photo-meal scanning feature, nor to entice Cal AI users away. He believes that the applications cater to different demographics.

Cal AI targets users looking for speed rather than precision, whereas MFP caters to those seeking the opposite. “Both applications offer meal scanning, correct? So, if a user captures a photo of their meal, we both provide that option,” Fisher explained. However, MFP users can fine-tune their inputs down to specifying three pickles instead of two. With Cal AI, “We recognized there is a market of people who prioritize speed, desire an AI-based approach, and wish for it to seamlessly fit into their lives without requiring much thought.” 

Anthropic faced significant disruptions on Monday morning, with numerous users reporting difficulties accessing Claude services.

The outage appears to impact both Claude.ai and Claude Code, although the company stated that the Claude API is functioning as expected. Most users encounter the error while trying to log in, as depicted in the screenshot below.

“The problems we are experiencing pertain to Claude.ai and the login/logout processes,” the company’s status page indicates. Anthropic has not provided specific details regarding the cause of the outage, though they have acknowledged an issue and are working on a solution.

The disruption comes after a surge of users to Claude, which seems to have gained from the attention surrounding the company’s tense negotiations with the Pentagon. The chatbot app climbed to the top of the App Store rankings this weekend, surpassing competitor ChatGPT, after a prolonged period positioned outside the top 20.

U.S. President Donald Trump instructed federal agencies last week to cease using Anthropic products following a disagreement over safeguards that prevent the Department of Defense from utilizing its AI models for extensive domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weaponry. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated he would classify the company as a supply-chain risk, although Anthropic reports that it has not yet received any official notifications.