Today in Techrights

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Feb 19, 2026

Updated This Past Day

1. "How Many Friends Do You Have?"

   "Do bots count?" "Friends in Facebook?" "Does a girlfriend chatbot count as a friend?"

2. Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Responds to Crises Only After It's Way Too Late

   The SRA does not do its job. The new chief's job is face-saving PR in the media.

3. The Techrights Team Makes the Platform Faster

   The infrastructure is already fast

4. France Does Not Need Digital Weapons Disguised as Social and as Media

   French people lost interest in Social Control 'Media' (or Networks)

   New

5. Links 18/02/2026: DMCA Weakened, Anna’s Archive Still Thriving

   Links for the day

6. Links 18/02/2026: Gig 'Economy' Condemned, Microsoft Insulting/Stressing People With False Slop Predictions

   Links for the day

7. Twitter Falling to 1% in Africa's Largest Nation (Algeria)

   About 15 years ago the regime in Egypt got toppled (and others had been too) partly because of social control media such as Twitter

8. Mozilla Firefox Died in Afghanistan

   Mozilla has been a complete disaster

9. Gemini Links 18/02/2026: Astronomy and Texinfo

   Links for the day

10. Are IBM CEO and IBM CFO Ready for Financial Audit That Topples the Shares by 50% in One Day?

    The same "chefs" that cooked up Kyndryl Holdings Inc are still in charge of the IBM kitchen

11. "Senior AI Reporter" at Slop Technica/Ars Sloppica Has Written Nothing in Nearly a Week, Did Conde Nast Suspend Him for Fake Articles With Fake Quotes?

    Slop Technica/Ars Sloppica is having a serious credibility issue right now

12. Linux Foundation Puts Slop Images, Not Just Slop Text, in Linux.com

    More of the same then

13. The Register MS Paid-for 'Articles' (Ads) Seem to be LLM Slop Again

    If it's true that The Register MS is resorting to these marketing tactics, will they later delete the evidence (as they did months ago)?

14. Over at Tux Machines...

    GNU/Linux news for the past day

15. IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 17, 2026

    IRC logs for Tuesday, February 17, 2026

    ---

    The corresponding text-only bulletin for Wednesday contains all the text.

    Top-read articles (excluding bot/crawler visits):

    Span from 2026-02-12 to 2026-02-18

    3891	/about.shtml
    2479	/n/2026/02/15/Free_Software_Foundation_FSF_Raised_About_1_5_Million_Dollars_T.shtml
    2208	/n/2026/02/16/AboutCode_is_a_Microsoft_Proxy_and_Microsoft_s_Acquisition_of_t.shtml
    1679	/index.shtml
    1449	/n/2026/02/12/IBM_Continues_Tanking_Today_Already_58_Lower_Than_Recent_High_I.shtml
    1081	/irc.shtml
    1004	/browse/latest.shtml
    841	/n/2025/03/24/Days_Ago_yewtu_be_Found_a_Workaround_That_Made_Invidious_Work_A.shtml
    836	/n/2026/02/15/When_It_Comes_tom_Rust_Keep_All_the_Eyes_on_the_Ball_Technical_.shtml
    762	/n/2026/02/14/EPO_Cocaine_Communication_Manager_Part_I_Getting_the_Word_Out_A.shtml
    736	/n/2024/10/03/Invidious_Seems_to_be_Nearing_End_of_Life_After_Repeated_Crackd.shtml
    703	/browse/index.shtml
    691	/n/2026/02/13/African_Browser_Choices_Show_a_Growing_Problem_in_the_World_Wid.shtml
    686	/n/2026/02/14/GitHub_Cannot_Survive_for_Much_Longer.shtml
    686	/n/2026/02/14/Accomplishments_of_Our_Community.shtml
    683	/n/2026/02/12/Links_12_02_2026_Pushback_Against_NATO_Is_Expected_to_Step_Up_A.shtml
    679	/n/2026/02/16/Another_EPO_Strike_One_Week_From_Now_Local_Staff_Committee_Muni.shtml
    652	/n/2026/02/12/Put_Criminals_in_Prison_Not_People_Who_Report_the_Crimes.shtml
    642	/n/2026/02/14/Links_14_02_2026_Bias_and_Toxicity_in_Slop_Microsoft_s_Vista_11.shtml
    634	/n/2026/02/12/Debian_pregnancy_cluster_why_it_is_public_interest.shtml
    619	/n/2026/02/12/Relationships_evidence_Tiago_Tassia_Thais_Antonio_Debian_favori.shtml
    616	/n/2026/02/12/Links_12_02_2026_Microsoft_Just_Forked_Windows_and_Windows_Note.shtml
    607	/n/2026/02/12/Over_at_Tux_Machines.shtml
    603	/n/2026/02/13/Links_13_02_2026_SUSE_Uses_Microsoft_Internally_MElon_s_Company.shtml
    601	/n/2026/02/12/The_EPO_s_Corruption_and_Violation_of_Rules_is_Spreading_to_the.shtml
    598	/n/2026/02/14/xAI_and_X_Twitter_Live_on_Borrowed_Time_It_ll_Get_a_Lot_Worse_F.shtml
    586	/n/2026/02/13/Decades_Long_Microsofter_Darryl_K_Taft_and_TIBOE_Conflate_Micro.shtml
    578	/n/2024/09/15/Very_Few_Invidious_Instances_Still_Work_for_Video_Playback.shtml
    573	/n/2026/02/12/Jeffrey_Epstein_crypto_disclosure_uncanny_timing_Bitcoin_demise.shtml
    561	/n/2026/02/12/Our_Most_Successful_Year_Ever.shtml
    556	/n/2026/02/12/IBM_Bubble_Deflating_After_James_Kavanaugh_s_Accounting_Trick_W.shtml
    539	/n/2026/02/14/Microsoft_s_Bing_Down_to_0_5_in_Armenia.shtml
    537	/n/2026/02/13/Over_at_Tux_Machines.shtml
    537	/n/2026/02/13/Anonymous_Threats_Against_My_Wife_and_Against_Yours_Truly.shtml
    533	/n/2026/02/12/IBM_Kyndryl_as_Aggressive_Enron_Accounting.shtml
    530	/n/2026/02/13/Pleroma_is_Dying.shtml
    527	/n/2024/10/21/The_State_of_Invidious.shtml
    522	/n/2026/02/17/Resisting_IBM_and_EPO_Corruption.shtml
    518	/n/2026/02/12/In_Systematic_Contempt_of_the_British_High_Court_Brett_Wilson_L.shtml
    516	/n/2026/02/12/Microsoft_Slop_CEO_Speaks_of_Layoffs.shtml
    515	/n/2026/02/12/IRC_Proceedings_Wednesday_February_11_2026.shtml
    514	/n/2026/02/13/Microsoft_Cuts_Continue_Visitor_Center_in_Redmond_Shut_Down.shtml
    512	/n/2026/02/12/Mainstream_Media_Intentionally_Ignoring_EPO_Strikes.shtml
    506	/n/2026/02/15/Gemini_Links_15_02_2026_Already_Midway_February_and_Loadbars_Re.shtml
    504	/n/2026/02/12/Gemini_Links_12_02_2026_Avoiding_Coffee_Trying_Ubuntu_and_Open_.shtml
    504	/n/2024/10/29/Emilien_unixfox_Manages_to_Bring_yewtu_be_Big_Instance_of_Invid.shtml
    501	/n/2026/02/16/The_Techrights_Community_Never_Needed_Money_Only_Goodwill.shtml
    500	/n/2026/02/16/Over_at_Tux_Machines.shtml
    498	/n/2026/02/12/Windows_Has_Become_Increasingly_Irrelevant.shtml
    497	/n/2026/02/15/Over_at_Tux_Machines.shtml
    497	/n/2026/02/11/IBM_s_Stock_is_Crashing.shtml
    496	/n/2026/02/14/Over_at_Tux_Machines.shtml
    492	/n/2026/02/12/Slopfarms_Waning_But_Not_Extinct_Yet.shtml
    489	/n/2026/02/15/What_IBM_Said_About_2026_Layoffs_and_What_s_Happening_in_Practi.shtml
    486	/n/2026/02/17/Links_17_02_2026_Why_OpenClaw_is_Very_Sleazy_and_Ars_Technica_E.shtml
    486	/n/2026/02/13/Asia_and_Social_Control_Media.shtml
    486	/n/2026/02/13/IRC_Proceedings_Thursday_February_12_2026.shtml
    485	/n/2026/02/15/The_Register_MS_is_Promoting_Slop_Promotion_Connected_to_Micros.shtml
    482	/n/2026/02/15/IBM_Fedora_Keeps_Promoting_Slop_Red_Hat_Has_Been_Turned_Into_Ch.shtml
    482	/n/2026/02/16/IBM_Reduces_the_Thresholds_for_Acceptance_and_the_Salaries.shtml
    482	/n/2026/02/13/IBM_is_Becoming_Garbage_In_Garbage_Out_GIGO_Just_like_Arvind_an.shtml