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New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday that his administration has filed a lawsuit against the parent companies of TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube, alleging that their services are damaging to the mental health of young adults and children in the largest U.S. city.

The city of New York along with plaintiffs including the school district and health organizations filed the lawsuit in the Los Angeles county branch of the California Superior Court because of the companies’ ties to the area, attorneys wrote in the filing.

The suit alleges that Meta, Snap, ByteDance and Google (whose parent company is Alphabet) knowingly “designed, developed, produced, operated, promoted, distributed, and marketed their platforms to attract, capture, and addict youth, with minimal parental oversight.”

The plaintiffs allege that the tech companies violated several city laws related to public nuisance and gross negligence through the design and marketing of their addictive products. They claim that New York’s school districts and various health and social services have been severely impacted by children who have suffered negative mental health consequences stemming from their use of popular social media apps.

“Over the past decade, we have seen just how addictive and overwhelming the online world can be, exposing our children to a non-stop stream of harmful content and fueling our national youth mental health crisis,” Adams said in a statement. “Today, we’re taking bold action on behalf of millions of New Yorkers to hold these companies accountable for their role in this crisis, and we’re building on our work to address this public health hazard. This lawsuit and action plan are part of a larger reckoning that will shape the lives of our young people, our city, and our society for years to come.”

A TikTok spokesperson said in an statement that the company has “industry-leading safeguards” for teens, including parental controls and features for age restrictions.

“We regularly partner with experts to understand emerging best practices, and will continue to work to keep our community safe by tackling industry-wide challenges,” the spokesperson said.

A Google representative said the allegations are “simply not true.”

“Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience online has always been core to our work,” Google said. “In collaboration with youth, mental health and parenting experts, we’ve built services and policies to give young people age-appropriate experiences, and parents robust controls.”

Meta said it’s “spent a decade working on these issues” and wants “teens to have safe, age-appropriate experiences online, and we have over 30 tools and features to support them and their parents.”

A Snap spokesperson said that “Snapchat was intentionally designed to be different from traditional social media,” focusing on facilitating conversations with close friends.

“Snapchat opens directly to a camera – rather than a feed of content that encourages passive scrolling – and has no traditional public likes or comments,” the Snap spokesperson said. “While we will always have more work to do, we feel good about the role Snapchat plays in helping close friends feel connected, happy and prepared as they face the many challenges of adolescence.”

New York’s lawsuit echoes similar allegations made against Meta, Snap, TikTok and Alphabet in litigation filed in 2022 in the Northern District of California. Multiple school districts and individuals claim the companies’ products “are defective because they are designed to maximize screen time” and that they have resulted in various emotional and physical harms, including death.”

Social media companies have come under fire from lawmakers who are pushing multiple bills like the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, as part of a broader appeal for regulation. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew and Snap CEO Evan Spiegel attended a Senate Judiciary hearing in late January and faced tough questions from a bipartisan group of lawmakers about their alleged negligence in protecting kids.

Meanwhile, a coalition of over 40 attorneys general filed a joint federal lawsuit against Meta alleging that its products are addictive and harm mental health.

WATCH: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologizes to parents at online child safety Senate hearing

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Armis raises $435 million, valuing cybersecurity startup at $6.1 billion

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Armis raises 5 million, valuing cybersecurity startup at .1 billion

Armis CEO Yevgeny Dibrov and CTO Nadir Izrael.

Courtesy: Armis

Cybersecurity startup Armis has raised $435 million in a funding round that values the company at $6.1 billion.

“The need for what Armis is doing and what we are building, in this cyber exposure management and security platform, is just increasing,” CEO and co-founder Yevgeny Dibrov told CNBC. There’s “very unique and huge demand right now, and we are continuing to grow.”

Goldman Sachs Alternatives’ growth equity fund anchored the investment, with participation from CapitalG, a venture arm of Alphabet. The security firm brought on Evolution Equity Partners as a new investor.

Armis helps businesses secure and manage internet-connected devices and protect them against cyber threats. The company chose Goldman’s growth fund due to its strong track record helping companies accelerate growth toward initial public offerings, Dibrov said.

“This is the partner for us to go to the next stage and continue to build here a real generational business to get to the Hall of Fame of cyber and SaaS businesses,” he said.

In September, Bloomberg reported that the company was exploring as much as seven stake offers. Dibrov told CNBC the funding round was an outcome of those talks.

Founded in 2016, Armis in August said it surpassed $300 million in annual recurring revenues. The California-based company achieved that milestone less than a year after topping $200 million in ARR.

Armis raised $200 million in an October 2024 funding round with General Catalyst and Alkeon Capital. Previous backers have included Sequioa Capital and Bain Capital Ventures. Armis also raised $100 million in a secondary offering in July.

Dibrov said Armis is aiming for an IPO at the end of 2026 or early 2027, but he said he’s in no rush and is waiting on “market conditions.” The company’s primary goal is to hit $1 billion in annual recurring revenue, he said.

“Going public will be before that,” he said.

WATCH: Tech meets policy: Cybersecurity collaboration necessary in the era AI, says Google engineer

Tech meets policy: Cybersecurity collaboration necessary in the era AI, says Google engineer

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TASER maker Axon plunges 17% after earnings fall short due to tariff hit

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 TASER maker Axon plunges 17% after earnings fall short due to tariff hit

Rick Smith, CEO of Axon Enterprises.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Axon Enterprise‘s stock plummeted 17% after the TASER maker missed Wall Street’s third-quarter profit expectations as it grapples with tariff constraints.

Adjusted earnings totaled $1.17 per share adj., falling short of a $1.52 per share forecast from LSEG. Adjusted gross margins fell 50 basis points from a year ago to 62.7%, which Axon attributed to tariff impacts.

Axon’s connected devices business, which includes its TASER and counter drone equipment, felt the biggest pinch during the first full quarter with tariffs. The business segment accounted for over $405 million in revenues, increasing 24% year over year.

“As long as tariffs stay in place, I view that as sort of a one-time adjustment,” finance chief Brittany Bagley said during the earnings call. “Now that’s baked into the gross margins.”

Bagley expects growth in the company’s software business to eventually offset margin losses long-term. Software and services revenues jumped 41% from a year ago to $305 million.

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Total revenues grew 31% from a year ago to $711 million, topping the $704 million expected by analysts polled by LSEG. The U.S. accounted for 84% of sales.

The Arizona-based company reported a net loss of $2.2 million, a loss of 3 cents per share, versus net income of $67 million, or 86 cents per share in the year-ago period.

Axon lifted its full-year revenue outlook to $2.74 billion, from between $2.65 billion and $2.73 billion. FactSet analysts expected $2.72 billion at the midpoint.

The company expects revenues between $750 million and $755 million during the fourth quarter, which was above LSEG analyst expectations of $746 million.

Along with the results, Axon said it is acquiring Carbyne in a deal that values the emergency communications platform at $625 million. The deal is expected to close next year in the first quarter.

Axon shares have jumped more than 60% over the last year and are up 18% year to date as demand for its security tools accelerates.

“We are building an elite business that is still nowhere near its ultimate potential, and we are doing it with a team that is rapidly bought into the mission,” said Axon’s president Josh Isner on the earnings call.

We're in amazing position to take advantage of the AI era, says Axon CEO Rick Smith

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Fintech Ripple gets $40 billion valuation after $500 million funding

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Fintech Ripple gets  billion valuation after 0 million funding

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, speaks at the 2022 Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 4, 2022. 

Mike Blake | Reuters

Digital assets and infrastructure company Ripple said Wednesday it has raised $500 million in funding, lifting its valuation to $40 billion.

The fundraise comes after a slew of acquisitions and as the company expands its product base beyond just payments.

Crypto and digital asset companies are trying to take advantage of what is seen by the industry as a more favorable environment in the U.S. after the election of President Donald Trump and the passing of a landmark stablecoin law known as the GENIUS Act.

Ripple, which is closely linked to the XRP cryptocurrency, said the funding round was led by funds managed by affiliates of Fortress Investment Group, affiliates of Citadel Securities, Pantera Capital, Galaxy Digital, Brevan Howard, and Marshall Wace.

‘Record year of growth’

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