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Restaurants add protein, fiber for weight loss drug users

admin — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 08:52:53 +0000

A mini burger, mini fries and mini beer, Clinton Hall’s “Teeny Weeny Mini Meal”, is pictured next to a regular-sized combo on Dec. 8, 2025 in New York City. Approximately one in eight American adults are currently taking drugs from the class of GLP-1 agonists that are now popular for weight loss, according to a November poll by the non-profit health policy tracker KFF. Some in the restaurant industry are taking note.

Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

The cost of GLP-1 drugs is falling, and pill versions are hitting the U.S. market. For restaurant chains and snacking giants, higher adoption of weight loss and diabetes treatments poses a threat to their sales — or an opportunity.

GLP-1 drugs slow digestion, suppress users’ appetites and increase satiety. For many restaurants and packaged food manufacturers, those reactions will likely mean weaker sales. Adults who use GLP-1s consume 21% fewer calories and spend nearly a third less on grocery bills on average, according to KPMG. JPMorgan estimates the growing use of the medications could wipe out $30 billion to $55 billion in annual sales for the food and beverage industry as soon as 2030.

About one in every eight U.S. adults is currently taking a GLP-1 drug like Ozempic or Zepbound, according to the KFF Health Tracking Poll conducted from Oct. 27 to Nov. 2. That number doesn’t include consumers who have discontinued their use of the drugs; 18% of respondents said that they have taken a GLP-1 medication at some point.

Those numbers are expected to keep climbing, especially after Novo Nordisk launched its Wegovy pill in January and Eli Lilly prepares to roll out its own oral drug this year. By 2030, more than 30 million Americans could be on a GLP-1 treatment, up from 10 million in 2026, based on J.P. Morgan estimates.

Michael Siluk | UCG | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

But the shift also presents an opportunity for restaurants and food and beverage companies.

With new protein- and fiber-rich options, many businesses are hoping to win over GLP-1 consumers and mollify investors’ concerns about how the treatments will affect their bottom lines.

“Whether it is labeling as GLP-1 friendly, decreasing the serving size, emphasizing protein content, or even when you shift over to the beverage world, because hydration is certainly a concern, there are a number of players that are starting to react to this,” said Don K. Johnson, principal of strategy and execution for EY-Parthenon.

Skipping snacks and breakfast

About half of GLP-1 users report consuming fewer calories while taking the medications, according to UBS Evidence Lab. But the effects aren’t even across the industry, and “certain categories are more impacted than others,” Johnson said.

Snacking, once one of the fastest-growing grocery segments, has taken the biggest hit. About 70% of GLP-1 users who report consuming fewer calories said that they are snacking less, according to a survey conducted by EY-Parthenon last spring.

“I think it is about the specific type of snack, but I do think they’re also snacking less … Having said that, we do see that there is a shift to healthier foods, and that certainly will include healthier snacking,” Johnson said.

Think more yogurt, nuts or fruit, and fewer chips or pretzels.

Since GLP-1 drugs lead patients to lower their caloric intake, every calorie consumed means more. Protein intake is more important to prevent muscle loss. So, too, is fiber to support gut health and digestion. And staying hydrated helps mitigate some of the drugs’ side effects, like nausea and headaches.

The effects of eating less extend to restaurants. About 60% of those respondents to the EY-Parthenon survey said that they are dining out less frequently.

The shift could also hit full-service restaurants where diners order a drink with their meals. Roughly 45% of survey respondents who are eating and drinking less said that they are drinking less alcohol.

Surveys conducted by Bernstein indicate that the frequency of restaurant visits among GLP-1 users can fall by as much as 45%, depending on the category of food and the nature of the occasion, analyst Danilo Gargiulo of Bernstein wrote in a research note published on Tuesday.

The pullback in restaurant visits isn’t spread evenly across times of day, according to Dana Baggett, executive director of restaurant client strategy at RRD, which works with more than 200 restaurant brands.

Lunch, so far, hasn’t been impacted, she said. But breakfast has taken a hit, particularly from high-income GLP-1 users, who represent a bigger percentage of current patients, she said. In practice, that means fewer sugary coffee drinks and doughnuts, although options like Starbucks‘ protein cold foam could encourage those consumers to return.

A commercial for GLP-1 drugs during the Super Bowl LX broadcast on television screens at a bar in Los Angeles, California, US, on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026.

Jill Connelly | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Dinner, especially at fast-food restaurants, has taken the brunt of the damage so far.

Dinner traffic has fallen 6% among consumers who have been taking the medication regularly, according to Baggett; in other words, overall restaurant sales during dinner hours have declined about 0.4% due to GLP-1 use, she said. But as the number of consumers who use the drug consistently grows, so too will the pressure on restaurant traffic.

And snacking isn’t confined to grocery store aisles. For limited-service restaurants, like McDonald’s or Taco Bell, snacking accounts for 12% of spending, according to Bank of America Global Research.

Even so, threats to those large restaurants chains may only be gradual, which gives them time to adapt.

“I think there shouldn’t be this panic out there in the marketplace, but this is a trend that’s not going away,” Baggett said. “This is an amazing opportunity for brands to start repositioning themselves and focusing on what consumers want: less sugar, higher protein and that focus on fiber.”

How Big Food is evolving

If recent earnings conference calls are any example, restaurant and food executives also think that it isn’t time to panic just yet. For some companies, the trend offers a chance to reach new customers through healthier options.

“I think there are more opportunities than threats, but there are both,” PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta told Wall Street analysts on the company’s earnings conference call in early February.

In recent months, Pepsi has released protein-packed Doritos, relaunched Gatorade and unveiled fiber-rich varieties of SunChips and Smartfood popcorn. Those moves are part of the company’s broader strategy to modernize its portfolio and boost sales by appealing to health-conscious consumers, but they also align with Laguarta’s assumption that GLP-1 medications will be adopted more broadly.

Domino’s Pizza CEO Russell Weiner sounded unshaken when he told analysts last month that the pizza chain hasn’t seen GLP-1 drugs affect its sales yet.

“Dinner, for us, is a sharing occasion, so perhaps that’s why we’re not seeing any impact, but we’re going to continue to watch it,” he said. “But if there needs to be menu innovation around that, we will do that.”

RRD’s Baggett told CNBC that she thinks portions and snack sizing will be key for restaurants to attract consumers who are on GLP-1 treatments.

When asked about the drugs on McDonald’s earnings conference call last month, CEO Chris Kempczinski touted the burger chain’s existing protein options. But he added that the preferences of GLP-1 users are also being considered as the chain creates new menu items.

“We’re also seeing changes around maybe less snacking, changes in some of the beverages that they drink, less sugary drinks, and so all of those things are factoring into some of what we’re out there experimenting with and testing with,” he said.

Other restaurant chains have already launched options that appeal to diners on GLP-1 drugs, even if the medications weren’t the key impetus. For example, Chipotle launched grab-and-go protein cups in December, aiming to cash in on the protein and snacking crazes as its restaurant sales struggled.

And Olive Garden, owned by Darden Restaurants, released a Lighter Portions menu last year, downsizing a handful of its classic entrees at a lower price. Darden CEO Rick Cardenas said that the chain introduced the new menu to give all of its customers more options.

“It just so happens to benefit the consumers that might want smaller portions that are on GLP-1 medications, and we have a lot of options like that in all of our menus,” Cardenas said on the company’s earnings conference call in December.

Marketing to GLP-1 users

Other companies have explicitly appealed to GLP-1 users, particularly when it comes to innovation.

In 2024, Nestle led the pack when it launched Virtual Pursuit, a frozen-food brand targeting GLP-1 users. While the packaging initially didn’t call out that it was “GLP-1 friendly,” the food company updated it later to include it prominently, boosting sales.

“It’s a big initiative for Nestle,” Nestle USA CEO Marty Thompson told CNBC at a media event earlier in March. “There will be those things that are designed for GLP-1, and there will be those things that will be sort of a companion to GLP-1, clearly calling out protein and fiber, but not necessarily designed portion-size wise or whatever for GLP-1.”

Nestle’s focus will extend beyond food, too. Thompson said that the company plans to expand into beverages and listed protein shakes as one potential way to appeal to GLP-1 customers.

Even food companies without much exposure to GLP-1 users are broadening their portfolios to reach them.

Close-up view of Dippin’ Dots ice cream cup in a person’s hand, Santa Cruz, California, June 22, 2024.

Smith Collection | Gado | Archive Photos | Getty Images

For example, Dippin’ Dots and Icee owner J&J Snack Foods makes most of its sales in stadiums, theme parks and malls. Because of its “experiential” focus, CEO Dan Fachner told CNBC that he thinks that J&J is more insulated from the effect of GLP-1 drugs compared with its snacking peers.

“I still think that in most cases, even people on GLP-1 drugs will still use those occasions for snacking,” he said.

Even still, more than a year ago, Fachner presented employees with a challenge for the company’s grocery business, which accounts for 13.5% of annual sales.

“Take the core products — pretzels and churros and Icees and Dippin’ Dots and frozen novelties — tell me how we can make them more GLP-1 friendly as it continues to grow,” he said.

This year, J&J has a number of new products hitting the freezer aisle. Protein has been added to its soft pretzels, now available in a smaller portion size. And Luigi’s Italian Ice, traditionally sold in a cup, will come in a “mini pop size,” with a formula that includes more antioxidants or helps hydration, according to Fachner. If the new products succeed in grocery stores, then J&J plans to take them to the company’s food service customers, as well.

J&J’s new products also have the benefit of appealing to a wider audience than just consumers who are on GLP-1 medication. For example, Fachner expects the new Luigi’s mini pops will appeal to health-conscious moms as a snack for their kids.

Uptake could change strategies

For restaurants and food suppliers, current data on the eating and drinking habits of GLP-1 users are informing their efforts to appeal to those consumers. But that behavior can still fluctuate.

About 5% of users lapse in taking the medications, due to cost, side effects or hitting their weight goal. After quitting, they tend to maintain the same eating habits for a couple of months before eventually returning to a higher caloric intake.

“I think that we don’t spend enough time talking about the fact that there may be sort of a cycle of behaviors — people going on and off of the drugs — that will have sort of an interesting impact on manufacturers of food because there’s no ‘before’ and ‘after,'” EY’s Johnson said. “It’s a process.”

And a whole new group of consumers could soon be taking daily pill versions of GLP-1 medications. It’s too soon to tell if oral GLP-1 drugs will result in more consistent usage or higher quit rates and to know who exactly is trying the pill version over the injectable.

“I don’t have a crystal ball, but my guess is from our survey that the folks using the oral version of the drug will be a new set of people, because one of the barriers to trial was — as can be expected — a lot of people don’t like to take shots of injections,” Johnson said.

There is one prediction that is widely accepted: the pill version will mean much higher adoption of GLP-1 drugs.

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The Most Anticipated Books of Spring, According to Goodreads Users

admin — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 02:43:10 +0000

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Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Here are the biggest headlines from last week.

Goodreads Users Choose the Season’s Most Anticipated Books

Spring has almost sprung, and that means a new season of fresh books. Goodreads users geared up for sunnier reading by selecting their most anticipated reads of the next few months. Highlights include Last Night in Brooklyn by Xóchitl González, my current read Whidbey by T Kira Madden, and The Lost Book of Elizabeth Barton by Jennifer N. Brown, and Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age by Ibram X. Kendi, but the list boasts 79 anticipated spring books in various categories ripe for exploring.

Even Major Publishers Get Tripped Up By A.I.

Remember how we were talking about the rise in books published in the U.S., and how self-published books have a lot to do with that increase? Well, we didn’t talk about how the rise in A.I. also plays into the self-publishing boom. If you browse books on Amazon, you’ve likely come across A.I. slop titles. Sometimes it’s easy to tell when you’re looking at these works, and sometimes the clues are more subtle, as they might have been for Hachette. In a piece written for The New York Times, Alexandra Alter reports on how the Big 5 publisher scooped up a buzzy self-published horror novel that is now facing allegations of being largely A.I.-generated or assisted. Hachette had already released the novel in the U.K. but will discontinue that edition and has scrapped the planned U.S. release. In an email to the Times, the book’s author, Mia Ballard, claimed an acquaintance used A.I. to edit Shy Girl. Whoof. If ever I read a nightmare publishing story for our times… The piece goes on to explore the challenges all of publishing faces in the era of A.I. novelists and is worth a full read.

Today In Books

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The Nationwide Book Ban Bill Moves to the House: How to Take Action Now

Another day, another doozy from the miserable world of book bans. Kelly Jensen writes about the passage of HR 7661 by the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, where it goes next, and what you can do about it.

Barnes & Nobles’ Most Popular Books

And if you need even more recommendations based on what your fellow readers are into, look to Barnes & Nobles’ list of the top 10 most viewed books of the past week. R.F. Kuang is back in our line of sight with her newest, Taipei Story, which isn’t even out until this fall. Readers are also into the James Patterson/Viola Davis collab (who put that on their bingo card?), Judge Stone. And as my own doctor said, perimenopause is trending, and the book she recommended made the list: The New Perimenopause: An Evidence-Based Guide to Surviving the Zone of Chaos and Feeling Like Yourself Again by Mary Claire Haver MD. Of course, you will also find the next two just-announced, highly anticipated Sarah J. Maas ACOTAR books at the top of the list.

The Finalists for the 38th Annual Lambda Literary Awards

The Lambda Literary Awards, celebrating outstanding LGBTQ+ voices in literature, has its finalists for the 2026 awards. Each of the 26 categories has five finalists, so there’s much to explore. Titles that seemed to be everywhere last year include Hungerstone by Kat Dunn (Lesbian Fiction), The Autobiography of H. Lan Thao Lam by Lana Lin (Lesbian Memoir/Biography), Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline (Transgender Nonfiction), Spent by Alison Bechdel (LGBTQ+ Comics), and Sympathy for Wild Girls by Demree McGhee (Bisexual Fiction). But the fact is that not enough of these books get amplified. If books like Disco Witches of Fire Island by Blair Fell (Gay Romance), The Natural Order of Things by Donika Kelly (Lesbian Poetry; I still think about Kelly’s Bestiary collection), The Lilac People by Milo Todd (Transgender Fiction), and Bed and Breakup by (Book Riot’s own) Susie Dumond (Lesbian Romance) fell under your radar, this list of Lambda Literary Awards finalists will be your new favorite catch-up resource. Congrats to the authors!

The comments section is moderated according to our community guidelines. Please check them out so we can maintain a safe and supportive community of readers!

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Kalshi sued by users over gambling claims

admin — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 01:55:05 +0000

A group of regular Kalshi users, some of whom are self-professed addicts, have filed a class-action lawsuit against the prediction market over its claims that it is not a betting platform.

Alexander Hallman, Jeremy Kravetz, Daniel Greenberg, Nathaniel Bee, and Abhijn Gutta are the plaintiffs, who have all reportedly lost money to Kalshi through various means. Part of this is “related deceptive and misleading business practices,” which have been highlighted online in its advertisements.

One advert detailed in the suit positions Kalshi as a way to get out of debt. The advertisement features a woman unable to pay her rent, but then “got two years of rent through Kalshi’s predictions.” However, this has not been independently verified by ReadWrite.

This ad I had not seen before was in the new class action against Kalshi.

I think we should all be able to agree on this: Advertising that if you are short on money, prediction markets are a good idea to fix that problem is at best misguided and at worst evil. pic.twitter.com/9To9JXhJuU

— Dustin Gouker (@DustinGouker) January 14, 2026

Other claims of Kalshi not being a gambling platform have been poked by the suit, as it highlights other adverts that use gambling terms.

As for the self-professed addicts, they accuse Kalshi of operating a sportsbook without any regulatory safeguards in place. As such, it’s been accused of encouraging “impulsive engagement,” as well as being exploitative and diminishing “user perception of financial risk.”

In particular, Kravetz, from Tennessee, is self-excluded from “all licensed legal sportsbooks” in the state. Kravetz claims that the lack of preventative measures from Kalshi prevents him from accessing the site. He unfortunately fell victim to their vices and went on to lose thousands.

The other advertisements in the lawsuit proclaim legality across all 50 states, which is technically true. As it’s still legally a “prediction market” and not an official “sportsbook,” Kalshi, Polymarket, and their partners can operate wherever they please.

Kalshi continues to wade through legal turmoil

Kalshi has been in embittered legal battles with certain indigenous tribes across the US, who claim that they’re running remote gambling or sportsbooks in states where they should be in control of it.

Kalshi and other prediction markets, Polymarket, have been heavily scrutinized in the last few months over their methods. Individual states trying to tackle what they call a new form of gambling are in a constant push and pull with the platforms. Despite this, Kalshi now has partnerships with NFL on FOX, and Polymarket has now been allowed to operate from within the US.

ReadWrite has reached out to Kalshi for comment.

Featured image: Kalshi

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Exclusive | Facebook most cited in online complaints for hosting scam ads that cost users billions: watchdog

admin — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 13:10:08 +0000

Facebook now accounts for the vast majority of scams on social media, according to an explosive new study – and critics claim it’s because Mark Zuckerberg’s tech giant is more focused on making money than protecting customers, The Post has learned.

Last year, Meta forecast it would earn $16 billion – or 10% of its revenue – by running scam ads, according to bombshell documents obtained last month by Reuters. Critics say the eye-popping number confirms that fraud has effectively become a core part of the company’s business — especially at Facebook, which boasts more than 3 billon monthly active users.

The documents revealed Meta bans accounts only if its systems flag an at least 95% chance that they are committing fraud — an absurdly high bar that invites fraudsters with minimal policing, critics say. What’s more, the more suspicious the ad buyer, the higher the fees for posting ads — a supposed deterrent to bad behavior which instead amounts to “pay to play,” experts say.

Lawmakers have called on Mark Zuckerberg to face a federal investigation over the scam ads. AP

Erin West, a former California prosecutor who has founded a nonprofit to combat online scams, said the documents prove Meta is turning a blind eye to the fraud because it is a “major moneymaker” for the company.

“To know that Facebook is aware of this and they tolerate it – and in fact, they even command additional fees from the worst offenders – is egregious,” West said. “The practice itself is outrageous, jaw-dropping, unacceptable, but when you think about it story by story, it really becomes horrific.”

SafelyHQ, a fraud reporting platform, has collected more than 50,000 verified complaints from online scam victims. When the reports mention where the victims got scammed, Facebook is cited a whopping 85% of the time, according to data exclusively obtained by The Post.

Other platforms, including Meta-owned Instagram, Google, TikTok, and X account for the remaining 15%.

The reports are only a tiny fraction of the big picture, according to Patrick Quade, the CEO and founder of SafelyHQ. The Federal Trade Commission says most fraud goes unreported, and Quade says just 12% of scam victims who submit reports identify a host site.

Facebook is cited for hosting scam ads more than any other platform. SafelyHQ

“For 50,000 people to find us and independently document their losses implies a victim count in the tens of millions,” Quade told The Post. “This isn’t ‘cherry-picking’—it is the overflow of a systemic failure that Meta’s own documents confirm.”

Brian Kuhn, a 68-year-old California resident, says he was scammed out of $70 while trying to buy classic vinyl records by James Brown, The Dead Kennedys, Bob Dylan and the Buzzcocks from a “going out of business” sale on Facebook. The sale turned out to be a fake, and the records never arrived.

“It felt a little creepy that they seemed to know my taste so well,” Kuhn told The Post. “I somehow blame myself equally, but that doesn’t excuse Facebook from allowing the thieves to prey on people.”

Meta’s scam ad epidemic has drawn attention on Capitol Hill, where US Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) have demanded a federal investigation.

“Perversely, Meta reportedly charges higher rates for ads that it suspects might be fraudulent — in effect, imposing a scam tax that provides an additional lucrative revenue stream that it knows is tied to fraud,” the senators wrote in Nov. 22 letter.

Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the leaked documents “present a selective view that distorts Meta’s approach to fraud and scams.”

Just a fraction of people who report scams identify where they saw the ad in the first place. SafelyHQ

Stone said Meta’s practice of charging suspected scammers more in its ad auctions have proven effective, with internal tests showing a decline in scam reports as well as a slight decline in ad revenue. The company also recently said it has expanded its advertiser verification efforts.

“We aggressively fight fraud and scams because people on our platforms don’t want this content, legitimate advertisers don’t want it and we don’t want it either,” Stone said in a statement. “Scammers are persistent criminals whose efforts, often driven by ruthless cross-border criminal networks that operate on a global scale, continue to grow in sophistication and complexity.”

Over the last 15 months, the company said reports about scam ads have declined by more than 50%. Meta has removed more than 134 million scam ads this year alone.

The internal documents obtained by Reuters showed Meta researchers have been warning for years about the extent of the company’s ad fraud problem, and how it seemed to be trailing rivals in cracking down.

One May 2025 presentation estimated that Meta was involved in one-third of all successful scams in the US, the report said. In a separate April 2025 review, the company concluded it was “easier to advertise scams on Meta platforms than Google.”

SafelyHQ’s data shows scams are rife all over the country. SafelyHQ

In October, a Delaware-based Facebook user named Betty got scammed by a Facebook ad for Laura Geller cosmetics. She said she was suspicious because the goods were cheap and required PayPal, but decided to buy anyway because the ad featured Laura Geller’s logo and branding.

Instead, she got cheap knockoff products from a Chinese label she didn’t recognize.

“Believe me, that’s all you see are ads,” Betty said. “You like one thing or look at something or you make a comment about one thing and then these ads appear. Obviously, some are fake and you can tell that. Some are really good – they’re fake, but you really can’t tell at first.”

In total, SafelyHQ has compiled more than 5,000 verified reports of scam ads specifically on Facebook and Instagram.

A teenager poses for a photo while holding a smartphone in front of a Facebook logo in this illustration taken September 11, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration REUTERS

“The ‘fox’ isn’t even guarding the hen house – it’s charging a toll for other foxes to walk right in,” Quade said. “This is an epidemic. Meta’s system is algorithmically trapping regular citizens in e-commerce scams, while their policy protects $16 billion in scam revenue. The time for voluntary oversight is over.”

Online watchdog Consumer Reports has also called on the FTC and state attorneys general to clamp down.

The “elephant in the room” is Meta’s reliance on protections offered by Section 230, which protects social media sites from being held liable for third-party content, according to Justin Brookman, Consumer Report’s director of tech policy.

Policy tweaks, such as adding an exception for Section 230 for paid advertising, would force Meta to take action, he argued.

Meta allows suspected scammers to buy ads at a higher rate. AFP via Getty Images

“It would certainly realign the incentives to make Meta care more about all the fraud and scams and illegal activity on their platforms,” said Brookman.

The real fix, according to Quade, won’t come until regulators begin treating high-volume ad gatekeepers like Meta as if they are financial institutions rather than social media companies.

That could include strict “know your consumer” or “know your business” rules requiring Meta to properly vet its advertising partners at its own cost.

“You can’t let the company profiting from the crime be the one in charge of stopping it,” Quade said.

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Users report X is down as Cloudflare probes internal server error

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 14:27:09 +0000

A major outage at internet infrastructure firm Cloudflare knocked parts of the internet offline, disrupting access to X, NJ Transit, ChatGPT and other major platforms early Tuesday morning.

Users were met with an “internal server error on Cloudflare’s network” and told to “please try again in a few minutes” as sites relying on the company’s infrastructure failed to load.

The problems began around 6:30 a.m. ET, when several websites intermittently failed before going fully dark.

NJ transit was affected by the Cloudflare outage. Christopher Sadowski

Cloudflare said it was dealing with a major outage on Tuesday, November 18, 2025. vladim_ka – stock.adobe.com

About 15 minutes later, Cloudflare acknowledged the disruption, saying, “Cloudflare is aware of, and investigating an issue which potentially impacts multiple customers.”

It added, “Further detail will be provided as more information becomes available.”

An image of what Cloudflare is telling users after the major outage.

Down Detector, which tracks outages, briefly went down itself before showing spikes at X, OpenAI, bet365, League of Legends and payment firm Sage.

Cloudflare later updated its status, saying it was “continuing to investigate this issue,” and reported early signs of improvement: “We are seeing services recover, but customers may continue to observe higher-than-normal error rates as we continue remediation efforts.”

Cloudflare has not said what is the cause of the outage. MichaelVi – stock.adobe.com

Cloudflare has not identified the cause of the outage.

An NJ Transit spokesperson confirmed the outage, telling The Post: “Due to a vendor firewall-related issue, parts of NJ Transit’s digital services, including NJTransit.com, the NJ Transit mobile app and DepartureVision, may be temporarily unavailable or slow to load.”

“Our teams are monitoring the situation closely and will restore full functionality as soon as the vendor implements a fix,” the spokesperson added.

“We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience.”

A spokesperson for New York City Emergency Management said the agency is tracking the situation and has not seen major effects so far.

“NYCEM is aware of reports of impacts to services provided by Cloudflare, and we are continuing to monitor and check for any major impacts or disruptions to city services and partner agencies,” a spokesperson for NYCEM told The Post.

“No significant resource requests have been made to NYCEM at this time. We will share updates if the situation significantly changes.”

Cloudflare handles cybersecurity and network services. Sundry Photography – stock.adobe.com

The outage is the latest significant glitch to hit the internet in recent years as users have witnessed just how vulnerable global digital infrastructure has become.

The most damaging was CrowdStrike’s failure from July of last year, when a faulty Falcon Sensor update crashed 8.5 million Windows systems and caused more than $10 billion in losses across aviation, healthcare and financial services.

In February 2024, an AT&T network configuration mistake crippled mobile service nationwide for more than 12 hours, blocking tens of millions of calls — including thousands to 911 — and triggering a federal settlement.

Cloud platforms suffered significant disruptions as well. Microsoft Azure endured multi-continent outages in 2023 and 2024 from a faulty router update, a DDoS attack and a regional power incident.

Most recently, Amazon Web Services, a provider that supports roughly one-third of the internet, experienced a DNS (domain name system) failure that took down major apps.

Other critical systems faltered too. The FAA’s NOTAM failure in 2023 grounded flights nationwide after a contractor deleted essential files, while ransomware attacks across healthcare in 2023 and 2024 forced hospitals into prolonged manual operations with average downtime of 24 days.

The Post has sought comment from Cloudflare.

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Malta Gaming Authority warns users about false gaming licenses claims

admin — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 11:01:14 +0000

The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) has warned consumers about false claims about gambling licenses.

The MGA has published a notice, warning consumers about a list of sites claiming to have connections with the authority or false licenses from it. The organization has emphasized that any reference to the MGA or gaming licences said to be issued by the MGA from the listed websites is “false and misleading”.

The websites in question are:

immediate-connect.co.uk
pangagames.com
casino1bet.online
palmsbet1.com
flexiblesport.com
casino-europa.eu

Any links or claims to licenses from the MGA should be discounted from any of the above sites. That likely means they are operating gambling services in the country illegally.

“The MGA would like to remind consumers not to utilise services provided by an entity unless they have ascertained that the entity in question is authorised to provide such services by the MGA,” reads the statement from the gambling authority. “The gaming regulatory framework obliges authorised persons to comply with strict legal requirements in the interest of consumers.

“The activities of unlicensed entities are unregulated and do not provide the necessary safeguards delineated by virtue of the framework, making transactions with such entities risky for consumers.”

The MGA has also shared a list of licensed entities for consumers to browse here.

This comes after we reported on the Filipino online casino PHLove, which claimed it was licensed by the Maltese authority. The MGA said in a press release that it had “no connection” to the site, along with the usual warnings you see about unlicensed operators.

Malta’s regulator denied links to PHLove. Credit: PHLove / MGA

But when we looked through each commission’s public lists and databases, we couldn’t find any evidence that PHLove was licensed by any of them. After our report, the Philippines based watchdog PAGCOR said it had begun investigating the site. Despite this, at the time of writing, the site continues to claim that it is licensed by the authorities.

PHLove promotes itself as regulated by several international gaming authorities. Credit: PHLove

Why is it important to use licensed operators?

Gamblers should always take every step possible to ensure they’re using licensed operators to protect both themselves and others. Illegal gambling operators don’t have to take the same regulatory steps to protect users from gambling-related harm, or to safeguard any funds they’re holding for users.

This can leave gamblers vulnerable to theft, fraud, or any number of connected crimes. It could also result in the loss of personal information or financial data in some cases.

ReadWrite has reached out to the MGA for comment.

Featured image: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

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Instagram now has 3 billion monthly active users

admin — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 22:07:00 +0000

Instagram has installed a new privacy setting which will default all new and existing underage accounts to an automatic private mode.

Brandon Bell | Getty Images

Instagram now has 3 billion monthly active users, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday.

“What an incredible community we’ve built here,” Zuckerberg posted on his Instagram channel.

The figure is a major milestone for the photo-sharing app, which the social media company acquired in 2012 for $1 billion.

Meta last disclosed Instagram’s user figures in October 2022 when Zuckerberg said during an earnings call that the app had crossed 2 billion monthly users.

Meta said in April 2024 that it would no longer disclose the monthly and daily active user numbers for Facebook and its sibling apps on a quarterly basis. Since then, Meta has been reporting each quarter the number of daily active people using its family of apps. That figure reached 3.48 billion, the company said in July, topping analysts’ estimates of 3.45 billion.

With 3 billion monthly users, Instagram joins the ranks of the Facebook and WhatsApp platforms.

Zuckerberg in January said that the Facebook app “is used by more than 3 billion monthly actives.” In April, Zuckerberg told analysts that WhatsApp had “more than 3 billion monthly actives.”

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Netflix will let users customize and share clips on mobile

admin — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 15:24:18 +0000

Netflix on Wednesday announced a new update to its “Moments” feature, allowing viewers to choose a start and end point on clips to save and share.

The feature, which is only available on mobile devices, was first rolled out last year, for viewers to save scenes that they love — and share them.

The new update coincides with the release of the second part of season 2 of the popular show “Wednesday.”

Netflix’s new update to the “Moments” feature is looking to capitalize on viral moments in shows like “Wednesday.” The update includes a “clip” option on the screen to adjust the length of a segment. After it’s clipped, the video will save to viewers’ “My Netflix” tab for rewatching or sharing.

During the first season of the series — a spin on the classic TV show “The Addams Family” — a scene of the title character, Wednesday, dancing went viral and became one of the series’ most popular moments. “Wednesday” is the most popular Netflix show to date, with more than 252 million views, according to the company’s website.

The first part of the series debuted in August and has raked in tens of millions of views so far.

The new update comes as Netflix is revamping its brand, with a redesigned homepage and a vertical video feed on mobile that looks similar to TikTok.

The streaming giant has implemented a variety of strategic moves since its brief period of stagnation in 2022 — from updating its features to business initiatives like a cheaper ad-supported subscription plan and a password-sharing crackdown.

Netflix no longer releases subscription data, but the streamer reported it had more than 300 million paid memberships in January.

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Elon Musk’s X is down for some users

admin — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 14:54:09 +0000

The X logo appears on a phone, and the xAI logo is displayed on a laptop in Krakow, Poland, on April 1, 2025. (Photo by Klaudia Radecka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Elon Musk’s social media platform X was hit with an outage on Wednesday, leaving some users unable to load the site.

More than 15,000 users reported issues with the platform at around 9:53 a.m. ET, according to analytics firm Downdetector, which gathers data from users who spot glitches and report them to service.

The issues appeared to be largely resolved by 10:30 a.m., though some users continue to report disruptions with the platform.

The site has suffered from multiple disruptions in recent months.

Representatives from X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the outage.

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ChatGPT facing significant disruptions as users report AI chatbot is slow to respond, not working

admin — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 14:20:20 +0000

OpenAI’s popular AI chatbot ChatGPT was facing significant disruptions as of Tuesday morning — leaving hundreds of millions of users in limbo.

The tech unicorn said on its web site that it was experiencing technical difficulties with ChatGPT as well as its other offerings such as the Sora video generating tool.

Social media users said that the service had been down for hours.

ChatGPT users report the chatbot is down. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

OpenAI is reporting elevated error rates and latency, severely impacting message streams and usability for countless individuals who rely on the platform daily.

An official status page from OpenAI confirms the ongoing incident, stating, “We’re currently experiencing issues” across APIs, ChatGPT and Sora.

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Specifically, “elevated error rates on Sora” have been under investigation for two hours, while broader “elevated error rates and latency across the listed services” (APIs, ChatGPT, Sora) have been ongoing for five hours as of 8 a.m. Eastern time.

Richard Pathray took to X and humorously captured the user experience, writing: “When @ChatGPT is so overworked it can’t even finish your message… Today, many users (myself included) are facing errors in the message stream. Is @OpenAI having a burnout day?”

ChatGPT users report the technology is slow or they’re getting error messages. NurPhoto via Getty Images

The outage has also drawn attention from tech figures like software engineer Gergely Orosz, who noted broader issues.

“What is happening right now? ChatGPT/OpenAI outage for 3 hours. Heroku down for 4 hours (even their status page is down!) NVIDIA dev docs as well (runs on Heroku). Pipedrive (CRM) issues for 4 hours. What else is down… and are these connected? Something started 4 hours ago…”

The independent outage tracking website Downdetector confirmed the severity of the incident, showing a dramatic surge in user-reported problems.

From a near-zero baseline of approximately 25 reports in the early morning hours, the number of reported OpenAI outages skyrocketed to a peak of around 1,250 reports.

This represents a staggering 4,900% increase in just a few hours.

The Post has sought comment from OpenAI.

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