Newtown School Ireland, New Mexico Facebook Lawsuit, Opera Gx, More: Wednesday Afternoon Researchbuzz, March 25, 2026

NEW RESOURCES

Digital Repository of Ireland: New Collection in DRI – the Newtown School Archive. “The Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) is delighted to announce that a new collection – the Newtown School Archive – has been published in the Repository by the South East Technological University. The Newtown School was founded in 1798 by Irish Quakers, during a period of considerable unrest in Ireland, particularly in Waterford – close to the epicentre of conflict in Wexford.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

NPR: New Mexico jury says Meta harms children’s mental health and safety, violating state law. “A New Mexico jury decided Tuesday that Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its social media platforms, a verdict that signals a changing tide against tech companies and the government’s willingness to crack down.”

Nerds.xyz: Opera GX web browser comes to Linux. “Opera GX is now available on Linux, and I can’t help but wonder who exactly this is for. On paper, it checks a lot of boxes. Opera says this isn’t some lazy port, and it is committing to ongoing development with a dedicated team. That is good to hear, because Linux users tend to notice quickly when something feels like an afterthought.”

USEFUL STUFF

Associated Press: Here’s how to recycle those old laptops, iPhones and earbuds lying around. “Keeping e-waste out of landfills is important because the devices contain materials that can harm the environment. Electronics can also contain precious metals and rare earths that are hard to source, making recycling valuable to businesses…. Experts say that if more consumers recycle their e-waste, it could even drive down the cost of some electronics. Here are some tips.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Guardian: Bets on US-Iran ceasefire show signs of insider knowledge, say experts. “Several accounts on the online platform Polymarket laid bets on a US-Iran ceasefire over the weekend that appeared to show signs of insider knowledge, according to experts. Eight accounts, all newly created around 21 March, bet a total of nearly $70,000 (£52,000) on there being a ceasefire. They stand to make nearly $820,000 if such a deal is reached before 31 March.”

TechCrunch: Russian authorities block paywall removal site Archive.today. “Paywall bypass website Archive.today and several of its associated domains (including .is and .ph) have been blocked by Russian authorities, according to error pages that appeared when loading its websites. The pages appear blocked as of Monday when TechCrunch visited the websites from the U.S. East Coast. ”

SECURITY & LEGAL

Raw Story: Judge hurls Trump admin’s own words at him as she refuses to kill DOGE lawsuit. “A federal judge has rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Elon Musk’s authority to exercise executive power as head of the Department of Government Efficiency.”

MediaPost: Judge Throws Out News Publishers’ Monopoly Claims Against Google. “Siding with Google, a federal judge has dismissed an antitrust lawsuit by newspaper publisher Helena World Chronicle LLC and community news publisher Emmerich Newsapers, which claimed the tech company monopolizes a market for online news.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Register: Time to end the ‘uncontrolled experiment’ of social media on kids, scientists say. “There is enough evidence going back far enough that it’s reasonable to conclude social media platforms are responsible for population-level mental health harms. Social psychologists and social media analysts Jonathan Haidt and Zachary Rausch from New York University’s Stern School of Business drew that conclusion in chapter three of the UN, Oxford University, and Gallup 2026 World Happiness Report.”

NiemanLab: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok are all bad at crediting news outlets, but ChatGPT is the worst (at least in this study). “Canadian researchers asked the paid and free or “economy” versions of four AI models — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok — about Canadian news events to see whether they would credit individual news outlets in their answers. The answer will probably not surprise you: AI models rarely cite news sources unless they’re specifically asked to, and some are better about it than others.” Good afternoon, Internet…

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