DOGE employee stole Social Security data and put it on a thumb drive, report says

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  March 10, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 DOGE employee stole Social Security data and put it on a thumb drive, report says: A whistleblower is accusing a former DOGE member of stealing a large number of Americans' personal data while he was working at the Social Security Administration, with the plan of using it at his new job. Read More 'Pokémon Pokopia' is a game about rehabilitating a broken world — and I love it: The latest Pokémon game is a cozy life simulator like "Animal Crossing" or "Minecraft," but in a way that feels more grounded to our actual world. Read More YouTube surpasses Disney, Paramount, WBD in 2025 ad revenue: YouTube pulled in $40.4 billion in ad revenue last year, which is more than Disney, NBC, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery combined. Read More Disrupt 2026: Where deals and ideas ignite Oct 13–15 at San Francisco's Moscone West, 10,000 founders, investors, and operators gather for high-signal insights, curated connections, and real momentum. Sign up! A message from Orga AI Integrate voice and vision AI in minutes Add multimodal conversational capabilities to your product with minimal setup. Use Orga AI's SDK to handle streaming, interruptions, and tool execution without complex orchestration. Built for developers who want fast implementation and real production use. Start building Afternoon Must-Reads Meta acquired Moltbook, the AI agent social network that went viral because of fake posts: Meta says that Moltbook's approach to "connecting agents through an always-on-directory" is novel. Read More Google rolls out new Gemini capabilities to Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive: The idea behind the new features is to make the apps more personal and capable to help users get things done faster, right within the platforms themselves. Read More Google gives in to users' complaints over AI-powered 'Ask Photos' search feature: The option appears on the Google Photos Search screen and lets users pick which experience they want. Read More US military contractor likely built iPhone hacking tools used by Russian spies in Ukraine: Google found a series of hacking tools they said were used by a Russian espionage group and a cybercriminal group in China. Sources from a U.S. government defense contractor said some of those hacking tools were theirs. Read More ChatGPT can now create interactive visuals to help you understand math and science concepts: Instead of just reading an explanation or looking at a static diagram, users can now engage directly with interactive visuals. Read More A message from Microsoft and NVIDIA Attend Microsoft sessions on AI agents at NVIDIA GTC 2026 Microsoft's session agenda for GTC 2026 is packed with insights for a next-gen approach to AI. Topics include building and powering AI factories, enabling agentic AI at scale, optimizing AI infrastructure and costs, and leveraging AI agents for design automation and production. View the full schedule to plan your time at GTC now. Browse sessions You missed these chats from Disrupt: Kindred talks home-swapping platform for travelers, Chef Robotics introduces AI into commercial kitchens, and Character.AI addresses chatbot safety with teens. Watch on Cheddar.com Watch on Streaming Last but Not Least Adobe is debuting an AI assistant for Photoshop: Adobe is also adding new AI-powered image-editing features to Firefly. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107

Uzbekistan's Uzum valuation leaps over 50% in seven months to $2.3B

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View this email online in your browser  March 10, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Uzbekistan's Uzum valuation leaps over 50% in seven months to $2.3B: Uzum now reaches 20 million users and processes $11B in payments as it expands its e-commerce and fintech ecosystem across Uzbekistan. Read More Yann LeCun's AMI Labs raises $1.03 billion to build world models: AMI Labs, the new venture cofounded by Turing Prize winner Yann LeCun after he left Meta, has raised $1.03 billion at a $3.5 billion pre-money valuation. Read More Electric air taxi maker Archer hits back at Joby in countersuit alleging concealed Chinese ties: Archer's countersuit comes four months after Joby sued its rival for alleged 'corporate espionage.' Read More Disrupt 2026: Where deals and ideas ignite Oct 13–15 at San Francisco's Moscone West, 10,000 founders, investors, and operators gather for high-signal insights, curated connections, and real momentum. Sign up! A message from UK Office for Investment UK Quantum – Accelerating healthcare prevention The UK's National Health Service is already placing quantum at the centre of its preventative healthcare strategy. By 2030, the UK aspires to use quantum sensing to improve early diagnosis and treatment, from cancer screening to enhanced MRI scanning. Learn More Morning Must-Reads Meta acquired Moltbook, the AI agent social network that went viral because of fake posts: Meta says that Moltbook's approach to "connecting agents through an always-on-directory" is novel. Read More Google rolls out new Gemini capabilities to Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drive: The idea behind the new features is to make the apps more personal and capable to help users get things done faster, right within the platforms themselves. Read More An iPhone-hacking toolkit used by Russian spies likely came from U.S military contractor: Google found a series of hacking tools they said were used by a Russian espionage group and a cybercriminal group in China. Sources from a U.S. government defense contractor said some of those hacking tools were theirs. Read More Adobe is debuting an AI assistant for Photoshop: Adobe is also adding new AI-powered image editing features to Firefly. Read More Zoom introduces an AI-powered office suite, says AI avatars for meetings arrive this month: Zoom is also introducing a real-time deepfake detection tech for meetings Read More A message from Stripe Complimentary pass to Sessions with code s26techcrunch100 Join Stripe at Sessions 2026—the internet economy conference—happening April 29–30 in San Francisco. Join fellow business leaders, founders, and developers to explore the latest in financial technology, global commerce, and strategies for growth. Register with code s26techcrunch100 for a complimentary pass. Register Now Last but Not Least Sandbar secures $23M Series A for its AI note-taking ring: Sandbar aims to ship the Stream, which can be used to take notes, chat with an AI assistant, and for media playback, this summer. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107