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A months-long online child exploitation probe ended Friday with the arrest of a Maurepas man that investigators say is tied to a sprawling Snapchat scheme. Authorities identified 31-year-old Nathaniel Hill as the suspect and took him into custody on April 17. The case centers on what officials describe as attempts to sexually exploit a 14-year-old autistic child through the social media app and allegedly involves dozens of adult men. Hill now faces a slate of child sexual-abuse material charges. Investigation details According to a Louisiana State Police news release, the investigation kicked off in January 2026 after the FBI Charlotte Field Office flagged a case that started in Jacksonville and alerted Baton Rouge agents. The LSP Special Victims Unit followed up on those leads, and a joint team of investigators secured a warrant through the 21st Judicial District Court. Troopers served a search and arrest warrant at Hill’s home on April 17 without incident, and officials say the broader inquiry is still very much active. Charges and custody Hill was booked on 35 counts of Pornography Involving Juveniles and three counts of Production of Child Sexual Abuse Material, according to WAFB. Local reports say he is being held without bond

Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, has cut about 1,000 jobs as it ramps up the use of artificial intelligence to streamline operations and improve profitability. The layoffs, will affect roughly 16 percent of Snap’s full-time workforce and include the elimination of more than 300 unfilled roles, according to a memo from chief executive Evan Spiegel. “We believe that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity and better support our community, partners and advertisers,” Spiegel wrote, adding that smaller teams using AI tools are already driving “meaningful progress.” READ ALSO: Singer Timaya urges pause in relentless pursuit of bigger goals The move places Snap among a growing cohort of tech companies reducing headcount while highlighting productivity gains from AI adoption. Data from Layoffs.fyi shows more than 72,000 employees have been laid off by nearly 90 tech firms so far this year. Snap said the restructuring is expected to cut more than $500 million from its annual cost base by the second half of the year, creating “a clearer path to net-income profitability.” Spiegel described the decision as difficult and apologised to affected employees. The company has undergone multiple rounds of layoffs in

Member Content 3 hours ago - Business Kerry Flynn Ilustration: Axios Visuals Subscription tiers are proliferating across social media platforms with perks for power users. Why it matters: Social apps are benefitting from a new revenue stream beyond advertising.

In this file photo taken on March 1, 2017 the Snapchat log-in page is displayed on a mobile phone in Glendale, California. (Robyn BECK / AFP) The tech firm behind social network Snapchat cut 1,000 jobs on Wednesday, saying AI is boosting efficiency as it strives to be profitable. The shake-up at Snap involves about 16 percent of its full-time employees and elimination of more than 300 unfilled roles, chief executive Evan Spiegel said in a memo shared by the company. “We believe that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity and better support our community, partners and advertisers,” Spiegel wrote. “We have already witnessed small squads leveraging AI tools to drive meaningful progress across several important initiatives.” The southern California-based tech firm joins a growing list of companies reducing staff while extolling productivity gains resulting from the use of AI. “This is an incredibly difficult decision, and I am deeply sorry to the colleagues who will be leaving us,” Spiegel wrote. Snap expects to cut more than $500 million from its annual costs by the second half of this year, establishing “a clearer path to net-income profitability,” the memo said. Snap has

Terrible reviews aside, Euphoria’s season 3 premiere landed 8.5 million viewers, up 44% from last season; Alex Cooper is making her acting debut in Colleen Hoover’s Verity adaptation; Olivia Rodrigo’s music video for “Drop Dead” premiered a few hours ago and is already at 3 million views; Thom Bettridge interviewed Petra Collins — who filmed Olivia’s new music video, btw — about her new book Star; and Billboard looks at “how Tate McRae leveled up to main pop girl status.” RAINBOW FLIP-FLOPS ARE GEN Z’S SANDAL OF THE SUMMER , nymag Rainbows, the early-aughts staple worn by Zac Efron , Kristen Stewart , and the entire cast of Laguna Beach , have once again become the warm-weather shoe of choice for young people, displacing Birkenstocks at frat bars from Miami University to UC San Diego. “Everyone at Baylor, like legit everyone, wears them,” said Baylor sophomore Lily Patterson. Their sudden ubiquity also prompted UMass Amherst student Ezra Holt, a self-described former “Birkenstocks stan,” to think, “Wait, I need a pair of flip-flops, specifically Rainbow flip-flops.” Syracuse student Violet Alao said, “I’m running errands, I’m putting them on. I’m wearing a dress, I’m putting them on. I’m wearing jeans and going

Snapchat’s parent company is eliminating 95 Washington state jobs as part of a global restructuring blamed on artificial intelligence. Snap Inc. filed notice with the Washington State Employment Security Department confirming the cuts will hit 56 workers in Bellevue, 37 in Seattle, and two remote employees, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal . Separations are expected between April 16 and June 16. The Washington terminations are part of a global workforce reduction of roughly 1,000 employees, which represents about 16 percent of Snap’s total headcount. The company says the layoffs are permanent and not tied to any relocation or outsourcing of its Washington operations. Spiegel tells employees AI now writes 65% of Snap’s code CEO Evan Spiegel notified employees about the cuts in a company-wide letter. He cited AI as a central reason for the decision, saying the technology now generates more than 65 percent of its new code. “We believe that rapid advancements in artificial intelligence enable our teams to reduce repetitive work, increase velocity, and better support our community, partners, and advertisers,” Spiegel wrote to employees, according to CNBC. “We have already witnessed small squads leveraging AI tools to drive meaningful progress across several important initiatives, including

For U.S. teens who use TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat, one of the apps stands out as more of a distraction than the others, according to a new survey from Pew Research Center. More than a quarter of teens shared that they spend too much time on TikTok, while more than a third said the app negatively affects their sleep. Twenty-nine percent of respondents said TikTok hurts their productivity. Smaller shares of teens reported similar feelings about Instagram and Snapchat. Still, eight in 10 teens said they turned to TikTok specifically for entertainment. While respondents also considered Instagram and Snapchat reliably entertaining, teens were more likely to use those apps to keep up with friends and family, compared to TikTok. Despite acknowledging TikTok's negative impact on their sleep and productivity, 71 percent of teens said the app neither hurt or helped their mental health. Three-quarters of teens said the same of Instagram and Snapchat. Nineteen percent of respondents shared that TikTok actually improved their mental health. In general, about seven in 10 teens said their experiences on TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat are mostly positive. Only three percent reported largely negative experiences. The remaining teens characterize their engagement on the platforms as

Snapchat's parent company is conducting sweeping layoffs, which will affect almost 100 Seattle-area tech workers.

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Snap Inc. said in a regulatory filing that the job cuts will cost about $95 million to $130 million in severance payments and related costs. SANTA MONICA, Calif. — The owner of social media platform Snapchat said Wednesday it's eliminating about 16% of its global workforce, or about 1,000 jobs that will be cut in the company's latest round of layoffs. Snap Inc. said in a regulatory filing that the job cuts will cost about $95 million to $130 million in severance payments and related costs. “The headcount reduction is designed to further streamline our operations and reallocate resources toward our highest-priority initiatives, leveraging increased operational efficiencies to accelerate our path toward net-income profitability," the company said in its filing. Snap had 5,261 full-time employees as of Dec. 31, 2025, the company said in its latest annual report. CEO Evan Spiegel said in a letter to staff that another 300 open roles would not be filled. It's not the first time the Santa Monica, California-based company has eliminated jobs. In 2024, Snap cut 10% of its workforce, or about 530 employees. Snap cut 3% of its staff in late 2023, and in 2022 it slashed its workforce by 20%. Snapchat, which is