A U.S. judge has ruled that Meta, ByteDance, Alphabet, and Snap must face trial over allegations that their social media platforms were deliberately designed to addict young users. This marks the first of thousands of similar lawsuits to proceed. We speak to tech lawyer Melissa Lim Shi Hui about the significance of this trial, how it could affect platforms in Malaysia and what additional legislation is needed to tackle social media addiction.

• Nepal rejects Malaysia's labour criteria: Malaysia has updated their labour criteria to include measures to streamline recruitment, improve accountability, and prevent worker exploitation. In response, the Nepal Association of Foreign Employment Agencies have called the new criteria “unrealistic” and warned they could even revive labour syndicates. Adrian Pereira, Executive Director of the North-South Initiative shares his reaction to the news.

• Malaysia's pick for the 2026 Oscars: Chong Keat Aun’s Pavane for an Infant, produced by Janji Pictures, has been chosen to represent Malaysia at the Oscars. The film, exploring themes of abortion, faith and patriarchy, has earned acclaim across international festivals from Tokyo to New York.

• Fighting climate-related cases in court: A new report from the UN Environment Programme highlights a global surge in climate litigation. Just this year, more than 3,000 climate related cases have been filed across 55 countries focusing on climate governance, biodiversity loss and pollution. We speak to Kiu Jia Yaw, a lawyer specialising in sustainable development on why people are turning to courts and if this is the right path forward.

• Can gaming platforms make us more patriotic?: Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said the government must evolve how they instill national pride among Malaysians, and he suggested exploring platforms like Roblox to make this happen. We discuss if this will successfully capture the attention of youth and what this will look like for gaming platforms.

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