뉴스

Chris Brown Settles ‘Monalisa’ and ‘Sensational’ Lawsuit from Lyricist

The R&B star was accused of denying credit and cutting the plaintiff out of millions in revenue

Cleveland Clinic settles with DOJ in gender-affirming care investigation

The Cleveland Clinic pledged $2 million in care for people who detransition after receiving gender-affirming care as minors under a settlement with the Department of Justice (DOJ), becoming the second major health system to cut a deal with the Trump administration. Under the deal, which the DOJ announced Friday, Cleveland Clinic will offer detransition services to all patients, regardless of...

Woman (48) with cerebral palsy settles birth management case against Coombe for €6.25m

Legal action relating to 1978 birth is the oldest negligence case of its kind before courts

Zepto settles for a silver medal. Who’s the king?

Budget blues

THE budget is upon us. A day after this piece appears in the paper, it will be presented in Parliament, we were told in a tweet by a government official. This, however, does not mean the two parties — the PPP and PML-N — have agreed on all matters financial. The meetings continue as they try and reach an agreement on what the provinces will contribute to the federation, other than the committed surpluses, which have become the norm for some years. Wagging tongues in Islamabad speak about many ideas and ‘solutions’ from changing the formula of the divisible pool and shifting the BISP to the provinces to getting the provincial governments to pay for interior ministry expenses. But most talking heads agree there is now little time to change the NFC via a constitutional amendment and the decisions have to be made through other means. So a ‘consensus’, hybrid style, is to be brought about. As a result, meetings continue between the PPP and the N. That Ishaq Dar, the firefighter who is always sent out to soothe friends, has been part of the team, reflects that this is an issue the N is taking seriously. It is unclear if the matter has already been resolved or still requires thrashing out but thrashed out it will be; and we can also be equally certain the PPP will ask for and get a pound of flesh in return. Everyone, it seems, has suddenly realised the poor state of the economy. But this is just one chapter of the consensus building. Vlogs, tweets, gossip and ‘zaraye’ (sources) insist that a 28th amendment is still needed for big-ticket reform, which might include local governments, changes to the provincial status of areas such as Karachi and Gwadar, and so on. Whether this is to simply scare the governing parties into compromising on the financial issues or there is indeed some seriousness behind some of these initiatives is unclear. Perhaps this will become clear once the budget dust settles. There is little doubt, though, that the powerful ones are now less focused on diplomacy and world peace, and are paying attention to mundane issues such as the economy and politics. The interior minister has been given the job of taking messages back and forth to neighbours and friends while the foreign minister is now sitting put and running meetings with allies. But as I said, there are rumours galore. And one of them, once again, is about a possible reshuffle in the cabinet. This is lent credence by the discussion and debate on the state of the economy and the performance of the government. All the gleeful talk about foreign policy successes has been put aside and replaced by questions on taxes, the government’s economic track record, and so on. This criticism is not just coming from those who whine all the time (such as myself) but also those who happen to have a better sense of the thinking in the power corridors. Everyone, it seems, has suddenly realised the poor state of the economy. And for many, this means it’s open season on the finance minister, whose departure is being predicted once again (along with others). To be honest, the finance minister gets more than his fair share of criticism because he seems to have been left with no constituency. The PML-N had decided a long time ago that he was not one of their own, despite having supported his initial induction into the cabinet and Senate — and he came from a family known to be close to the party. But the honeymoon period was short. Slowly and steadily, many of the key committees were handed over to Ishaq Dar. Neither were the Noonies all that supportive of him in private. By now, it is less clear if ‘other’, key stakeholders are satisfied with him. But it is worth pointing out that some of the public criticism against him is linked not to Islamabad’s twin but a former finance minister who hasn’t lost his ambitions of running Q block again. What this means is that the real challenge (if the two cities agree) may not be the removal of Muhammad Aurangzeb but about who will replace him. The IFIs may not want Ishaq Dar to return and one can’t be too sure if the prime minister wants him in the hot seat either. And unconnected souls such as myself don’t know what Pindi thinks of him in terms of Q block. And if he is not acceptable then what are the other options? The ruling party doesn’t have many choices in its senior ranks — which in itself is an indictment of the party once known as being the ‘best’ at governance. There are possible contenders among the young Turks but they will not find it easy to manage the official challenges of this position or the conspiracies that will be hatched around them. Perhaps the absence of a replacement might win the current finance minister a reprieve but this also means the criticism and the uncertainty will continue. But along with this come the chances of other changes in the cabinet. However, once again, there is little clarity on the ‘competent’ replacements. Because beyond a certain point focusing on individuals is to evade the reality that the problems are systemic and structural. And while more efficient and competent people can make a difference, they cannot address the absence of political will. For instance, the absence of taxation on real estate or agriculture cannot be pinned on individuals. Or for example, the provision of poor quality internet and phone services. However, between this budget and the possible cabinet reshuffle, the sense of urgency to deliver for this government (and its backers) will increase. The excuse of ‘stabilising’ an economy on the brink of default will no longer be enough — even among themselves. The people stopped buying into it a long time ago. Can one assume then that the countdown has begun? I wish I knew. The writer is a journalist. Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2026

Family of man killed by car after being ejected from bus settles High Court action

Verdict of accidental death was returned in the case

Being Towards Death review – Chinese hospital comedy drama uses plucky patients to ask big questions

A debt-laden caregiver attempting suicide is the catalyst for him finding new meaning to life from a ward of terminally ill patients in touching ensemble drama ‘You know the law of entropy? Life is a process of constant decay,” ssays a doctor in this Chinese hospital comedy drama – but not that you’d know it from the gabbling, frenetic first half-hour of director Chen Sicheng’s death-fixated film. Being Towards Death kicks off with caregiver Xiaobing (Jiang Long) about to throw himself off the roof because, after a scheme to flog his superiors care robots fails, he’s in hock to triad loan sharks. Thankfully the film later settles into an intermittently touching ensemble drama with a meta tint; albeit one that doesn’t fully grasp the profundities it’s aiming for. Hauled back from the ledge, Xiaobing is talked by the hospital director into leading a project studying mental health interventions in terminal cancer care. So he finds himself among the “Ward 10 Fearless Squad”, a group of patients whose outlook is as plucky as their diagnoses are grim. Before long, he has co-opted film director Dao (Wang Zichuan) to make a documentary about his roomies, including bullish property mogul Mau (Cai Ming), browbeaten first son Bowen (Huang Yi) and fib-spinning poppet, Xiaobing (Ye Quanxi) – nicknamed Little Bing. Continue reading...

Ohio State settles sexual abuse claims by hundreds of former student athletes

The Ohio State University on Wednesday agreed to pay out $100 million to former students who accused a campus doctor of sexually abusing them over 20 years ago. The settlement includes all but one of 280 of those with pending litigation in this case. The plaintiffs argued the university failed to prevent Dr. Richard Strauss...

Reform Proposals: Campaign to scrap Law School unsettles Council of Legal Education

Far-reaching proposals capable of overhauling the nation’s legal education system dominated discussions at the 2026 Legal Education Summit organised by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). The post Reform Proposals: Campaign to scrap Law School unsettles Council of Legal Education appeared first on Vanguard News.

Family settles action against HSE over daughter’s death by suicide

Maxine Maguire’s family call on Government to implement key recommendations made at inquest

Mr Tumble's happily ever after: Kids' TV 'workaholic' Justin Fletcher, 55, settles down with co-star girlfriend Samantha Dorrance, 34, after 20 years of turning down marriage proposals from smitten fans

As his CBeebies alterego Mr Tumble he entertains millions of children every day but Justin Fletcher has long hoped for kids of his own.

King’s Birthday weather: Several alerts issued as heavy rain and strong wind settles across North Island

Up to 200mm of rain is possible in Northland, while Kaitāia has already had 30mm.

Midcaps in a sweet spot? Why Nippon India’s Rupesh Patel sees a valuation correction despite new index peaks

While the midcap index flirts with new peaks, strong corporate earnings have helped cool down previously stretched valuations. Nippon India's Rupesh Patel analyses the resilient Q4 FY26 earnings season, breaking down how a bottom-up investing strategy can help investors uncover reasonable entry points despite building geopolitical and macroeconomic headwinds.Edited excerpts from a chat with Rupesh Patel, Senior Fund Manager - Equity Investments, Nippon India Mutual Fund:Your Nippon India Growth Mid Cap Fund delivered a strong 22% over the last 5 years, beating the benchmark. But given your Growth at Reasonable Price (GARP) philosophy, where are you actually finding "reasonable" valuations in a midcap market that many currently see as overheated?On an aggregate basis, the NSE Midcap 150 index has remained almost flat since September 2024. However, during this period, earnings have grown at a reasonable rate. In fact, midcap as a category has been the most resilient and delivered higher growth compared to other segments of the market. As a result, valuations today, though they appear higher compared to long-term averages, have corrected as compared to where we were in September 2024.Coming to Nippon India Growth Fund, we follow a bottom-up approach to construct the portfolio and buy stocks based on their relative attractiveness on risk-reward equation. Some of the businesses in the category may appear expensive in the near term; however, the size of the opportunity and their ability to maintain earnings growth at a reasonable rate over the long term make them attractive from a medium to longer-term perspective. You are overweight financials and underweight technology in the midcap fund. What's the rationale? How do you think midcap lenders and midcap IT companies are placed at this stage?Our OW stance on financials is on account of our exposure to lenders as well as other beneficiaries of financialization of savings like Life Insurance companies, asset management companies, Exchanges, etc. On the lending side, most of our exposure is to well-capitalised lenders where asset quality is largely expected to hold, Return on Assets/ Return on Equity remains healthy, and valuations are reasonable in the context of the overall market.In IT companies, we have been underweight since the last few quarters, largely owing to the risk of a slowdown in earnings growth on account of current geopolitical uncertainties and the impact of disruptions like AI. Valuations were also a concern till a few quarters back. Going ahead, as the dust settles and some of these companies evolve and adapt to new realities, growth will recover from current lows. Companies in this sector are generally capital efficient and generate free cash flow, making them attractive bets again as valuations turn favourable.Within the midcap space, how do you read the Q4 earnings season? What are your biggest takeaways for investors?Q4 earnings season for midcaps has turned out to be quite resilient, and most companies are delivering on expectations. However, going ahead, risks related to deterioration in the macro environment, cost inflation, and logistics remain relevant. If current geopolitical uncertainties continue, we must be cognizant of these risks and their impact on earnings and valuations. Given the growth trajectory, valuations and earnings, midcap companies are in a sweet spot. Would you agree?If we look at the last few quarters, midcap companies’ earnings have remained resilient. Most of them have delivered healthy earnings growth even in Q4, FY’26. However, aggregate returns of midcap companies as represented by the NSE Midcap 150 index have remained flat since September 2024, resulting in a valuation correction over this period. Further, midcap is a very diverse category with a universe representing multiple sectors and some unique and fast-growing profit pools that have the potential to grow meaningfully over the medium to long term; hence, on a bottom-up basis as well, opportunities exist in this segment of the market. How have you been reshuffling your portfolio to realign it with the realities of war?As mentioned earlier, we remain cognizant of risks arising on account of deteriorating macro conditions, inflation in costs and logistical challenges, if current geopolitical uncertainties persist. We also remain aware of the potential impact of these risks not only on earnings growth but also on market valuations. In some instances, current stock prices may already be reflecting risks of these uncertainties, making the risk-reward favourable. Hence, our approach is to remain aware of valuations and avoid vulnerable businesses.From a 3-5 year perspective, which sectors do you think are best placed at this stage - both from a growth as well as a valuation perspective?We remain positive on Financials, Consumer Discretionary, and select industrials.Within financials, we are positive on lenders as well as companies that benefit from a bigger trend on the financialization of savings. Accordingly, we have exposure to companies in the insurance space, Asset Management Companies, Exchanges and other financial services companies. On lenders, asset quality remains benign, they are well capitalised, generate decent Return on Assets (RoA) and Return on Equity (RoE) and valuations are reasonable.Consumer discretionary companies are likely to benefit from favourable demographics, growth in per capita incomes and trends on premiumization playing out in multiple categories over the medium to long term.On the industrial front, the reason to be positive is on account of various initiatives taken by the government to encourage manufacturing in India. Select companies in Auto ancillaries, Electronics manufacturing, precision engineering and defence-related segments can also do well. However, these are broad sectors, and winners will have to be picked on a bottom-up basis, considering factors like their manufacturing prowess, management strength and cost competitiveness.The midcap index has already hit a new peak this month, ahead of both small and largecaps. What's the reason behind this optimism, and do you see valuation risk building?Although the midcap index is close to an all-time high, its last 20 months' returns have been flat despite midcap companies as an aggregate delivering superior growth. In that sense, valuations today have turned favourable on account of this time correction. Even if we look at the last 3 years' earnings on a CAGR basis, midcap as a category has reported superior earnings growth as compared to broader markets. Going ahead as well, the outlook on midcap companies’ earnings growth continues to remain healthier. In that sense, the performance of the midcap index is largely a reflection of underlying earnings growth. (Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times.)

Twist in Nikki Bhati 'dowry' murder case after 9 months, family settles with in-laws

Nikki Bhati's family settled with her in-laws, accused of her dowry-related murder, transferring property to her son, complicating the ongoing court case.

Ball State Settles With Ex-Employee for $225,000 Over Charlie Kirk Posts

Ball State University is the latest institution to agree to pay workers who lost their jobs over their posts about the conservative activist.

South Africa Has AI Leverage. Its Draft Policy Leaves It Unused

This article is adapted by the author with permission from Tech Policy Press. Read the original article. South Africa is not just another developing country struggling to govern artificial intelligence; it is the exception with leverage, and the window to act on it is closing. It holds approximately 88 percent of global platinum-group metal reserves, critical inputs to parts of the semiconductor and data-center supply chains that make AI infrastructure possible. It hosts the largest data-center market on the continent. Its existing hyperscaler relationships give it procurement leverage that most African states will never have. And a major geopolitical contest over AI infrastructure is being fought on its soil right now, between Chinese and American technology companies competing for control of the systems that will underpin an entire continent’s public sector. In physics, leverage requires three things: a fulcrum, a lever arm, and the ability to apply force. The Bushveld Complex, the world’s largest platinum-group metal deposit, is the fulcrum: a mineral endowment that gives South Africa a position in the semiconductor supply chain that no other African state holds. The since-withdrawn draft policy is the lever arm. The unresolved “OPTION” provisions in the policy are where force would be applied. Without a policy that specifies what South Africa wants in return for market access, the lever arm sits unused, and the weight of two of the world’s largest technology ecosystems settles exactly where those ecosystems want it to settle. This makes South Africa a global test case. Not because its proposed means of governance is exemplary, but because it is the one developing country with enough structural leverage to negotiate genuinely different terms, and the one that is choosing, through inaction, not to. The recent announcement of a new panel to update the draft policy is an important opportunity. But the deeper failure is not that an AI policy contained bad references. It is that no verification process caught them before the document entered the public domain. That is a systems problem, not merely a political one. It points to a missing layer in how governments are adopting AI. The contest already underway Last year, Huawei pitched an emerging-product bundle to tech executives across the continent. Huawei was now bundling access to DeepSeek’s large language model with its own cloud and storage infrastructure. The price differential was stark—in some cases by more than 90 percent. At the same time, Microsoft announced plans to spend ZAR 5.4 billion ($300 million) by the end of 2027 on cloud and AI infrastructure in South Africa, building on a prior ZAR 20.4 billion investment. Google, Amazon Web Services, and Oracle already have cloud regions in the country. According to one analysis, the country’s data-center market was valued at US $2.16 billion in 2024, the largest in Africa. These are not commercially neutral investments. Huawei’s infrastructure reach has been explicitly linked to Chinese strategic objectives, including a documented track record of providing governments with surveillance infrastructure through its Safe Cities network. U.S. hyperscaler investment comes with its own dependency structure: closed models, pricing set unilaterally, and terms of access that no African government has meaningfully shaped. South Africa is being asked to choose between these dependency models without a policy that specifies what it wants in return. The leverage it has There is a particular irony in South Africa’s position. The country whose mines supply platinum-group metals essential to semiconductor manufacturing, and through them to AI compute, has drafted a policy that treats it as a consumer of AI systems rather than a stakeholder in their governance. South Africa digs up the minerals that make AI possible. It has no say over the AI built from them. The AI triad framework covers algorithms, compute, and data. South Africa has no frontier model development capacity. South Africa holds significant data assets in financial services, health care, and agriculture, with no clear framework for their sovereign management. South Africa possesses PGM (Platinum Group Metals) leverage of global significance on the compute axis, currently being transferred without meaningful condition. It also has exceptionally high solar irradiance and significant renewable-energy potential. A country that can offer both critical mineral inputs and the energy to power the infrastructure those minerals help build occupies a negotiating position of unusual strength. The Draft Policy proposes no minimum terms for hyperscaler investment, no data sovereignty requirements, no technology transfer conditions and no compute visibility mechanism. Multiple provisions are explicitly left unresolved, marked “OPTION,” including the most consequential choices about how governance will function. Infrastructure decisions made now determine what is renegotiable later, and the answer is: very little. Three futures, one default The three infrastructure futures on offer each create a structurally different form of dependency, and only one creates sovereign capability. The Huawei-hosted DeepSeek integration offers low cost and open-source weights, but with data stored on infrastructure potentially accessible under Chinese legal frameworks, creating surveillance dependency in a pattern already documented across Africa. The second is U.S. closed-model dependency: higher capability, more reliable data protection, but complete API dependency on developers abroad. The third is locally hosted open-weight infrastructure: models governed under South African data-sovereignty rules, on infrastructure subject to minimum terms, developed with South African data. As Nathan Lambert at Interconnects has observed, open-weight models are likely the only realistic way to get sovereign AI off the ground as a real effort, enabling local communities and economies to integrate meaningfully with the technology. But this requires procurement conditions, not goodwill. What binding governance looks like The GovAI “Governing Through the Cloud” framework identifies four roles compute providers should accept as conditions of operating at scale: securers (protecting model weights and training data), record keepers (maintaining infrastructure usage logs), verifiers (confirming customer compliance with safety standards) and enforcers (restricting access when violations occur). These are operational requirements, not theoretical categories—specific, enforceable, and well within the bargaining power of a market of South Africa’s size and mineral position. A detailed policy analysis submitted to the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) identifies the specific provisions the final policy must contain: mandatory minimum terms for foreign compute infrastructure investments above ZAR 500 million (~$30 million); a compute reporting threshold; a National AI Safety Institute mandate covering defensive monitoring of AI capability accumulation; and National AI Champion Sector designations to create data assets for domestic model development. Each provision converts a structural advantage into a governance instrument before that advantage is foreclosed by market reality. Just as modern software security increasingly depends on knowing what components are inside a system—model provider, training data, compute environment, evaluation methods, update cadence, human review points, and failure-reporting procedures—public-sector AI governance requires a clear account of the stack before deployment, not after a problem surfaces. A public institution that cannot verify the sources in its own AI policy is unlikely to be ready to verify the AI systems it procures, deploys, or regulates. Why this is the continental test case South Africa’s choices will establish a regional precedent for what is commercially negotiable in AI infrastructure. If South Africa negotiates data-sovereignty guarantees and technology-transfer conditions as requirements for hyperscaler investment, it creates a replicable model. If Microsoft’s $300 million investment and Huawei’s infrastructure expansion proceed on standard commercial terms, as they are currently, it normalizes extractive AI infrastructure across the continent. The lesson is not specific to Africa. Governments everywhere are producing AI strategies while lacking AI assurance infrastructure. South Africa is an early warning, not an isolated case. The public comment period closed when the policy was withdrawn. But a parallel process remains live: the National Treasury’s Draft General Public Procurement Regulations—the legal instrument that will govern every government AI contract—closes for comment on June 15. Those regulations contain no AI-specific provisions. South Africa has more AI leverage than any country on the continent. Some argue, with force, that governance requirements risk deterring the infrastructure investment South Africa urgently needs: compute capacity, reliable energy, venture capital, and talent retention. That concern deserves a direct answer. Minimum procurement terms, compute reporting thresholds, and technology transfer conditions are not barriers to investment. They are the conditions under which investment serves the host country rather than extracting from it. Infrastructure built without minimum terms produces dependency. Infrastructure built with them produces leverage. To serve the public interest, its AI policy must use it. When late last month News24 reported AI-hallucinated references in the draft AI policy, Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Solly Malatsi withdrew the draft policy. That was a mistake that could cost South Africa and the rest of the continent the initiative on this urgent issue. His more recent constitution of an independent panel is a belated step in the right direction, if it can turn South Africa’s leverage into policy. The panel—chaired by Professor Benjamin Rosman of the Wits Machine Intelligence and Neural Discovery Institute, and including Professors Vukosi Marivate and Alison Gillwald of Research ICT Africa and Dr. Jabu Mtsweni of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research—has the technical and governance credibility to produce a stronger document. What it has not yet produced is a timeline. No revised draft has been scheduled. South Africa remains without a formal AI governance framework in the interim.

Lululemon settles proxy battle with founder Chip Wilson, agrees to two board nominees

Lululemon has been battling with founder Chip Wilson since December, as he says the company has lost its strategic vision and needs a new board of directors.

Western Visayas hurdles queen gracious even as Palaro 4-peat bid falls short

Angel Villagracia of Capiz National High School remains grateful even after falling short of a fourth straight gold medal in the secondary girls' 100m hurdles as she settles for bronze in the 2026 Palarong Pambansa

Life's a beach for Ange! Rayner takes a break from Labour chaos as she enjoys May heatwave in Brighton with ex-MP lover - after former deputy PM settles tax bill and awaits Cabinet return

The former deputy prime minister, 46, was seen soaking up the sun on Bank Holiday Monday with her topless ex-MP boyfriend Sam Tarry, 43.

Reclaiming Social Engineering for Good

“Social engineering” sounds like something out of a conspiracy thriller, charged with totalitarian control and fringe paranoia. More mundanely, it’s come to be associated with phishing and other scams, in which fraudsters manipulate people into disclosing personal information. Yet the concept is older and more benign: it is the deliberate shaping of human behavior, often at scale. It predates silicon—and became pervasive, and ungoverned, especially once its practitioners learned to hide it. Authoritarian regimes and more recently scammers and big companies have profited from it. To defend ourselves from bad actors, and to benefit from social engineering’s good side, we need to reclaim the name, and govern it prudently. The roots of engineering In 1894, Dutch entrepreneur Jacques van Marken urged companies to hire “social engineers” to manage human systems such as insurance, education, and profit sharing for workers as carefully as they did mechanical ones. Fifteen years later, reformer William H. Tolman published Social Engineering, describing how U.S. industrialists optimized workers’ conditions alongside manufacturing methods. If industrialists could shape steel and electricity on demand, why not society itself? By the 1920s, that confidence had spread. The architect Le Corbusier declared that dwellings were “machines for living in,” imagining cities as orderly lattices where people moved like parts on a conveyor belt. Civilization would run like a Swiss watch. The idea soon darkened. Authoritarian regimes pushed it to extremes, promising to fashion “the New Man.” In Nazi Germany, engineer Fritz Todt founded Organization Todt, a vast state engineering enterprise that emerged from the autobahn highway system and later operated concentration camps using slave labor. In the Soviet Union, leaders adopted U.S. scientific management techniques to plan factory-worker movements and classify populations through centralized records, feeding both rapid industrialization drives and the gulag system of forced labor. The same tools and managerial methods used to build highways and enact five-year plans worked for repression and mass control. By the 1950s, “social engineering” had become a contaminated phrase. The revelations of Nazi and Soviet abuses, along with Cold War critiques of grand social planning turned the term from a progressive slogan into a warning label. Banishing the words pushed the practice underground, making it harder to recognize when it resurfaced in new forms—such as organizational psychology and systems management that still relied on classification and behavioral influence techniques but under softer, less loaded labels. Social engineering’s more subtle spread In the postwar years, the new social-engineering lexicon included “human factors” and “urban planning,” all promising integration rather than command. As computing advanced, the language shifted again: “customer journey mapping” to track interactions, “user experience” to script them. Engineering, which began as a means of reshaping physical space, set its sights on shaping behavior. Digital design features embedded in our smartphones now target our attention and desire. Language helps conceal these modern forms of social engineering. “Data analytics” sounds neutral beside “surveillance.” “Personalization” flatters individuality while still sorting users into predictable categories. “Behavioral nudges” guide decisions without the sense of intrusion. We attach “social” as a favorable modifier to sciences, capital, and media, yet recoil when it meets “engineering.” That discomfort is a clue. Engineering implies control, and control prompts us to ask who directs whom, toward what ends, and with whose permission. Not all social engineering these days is hidden. Hackers don’t need to break a firewall if someone hands over their password. Romance scammers cultivate intimacy the way farmers cultivate crops. They succeed not through force but by exploiting trust. If even these obvious attacks work, the invisible kind, with roots in social engineering, are a shoo-in. Most of the social engineering we encounter is proprietary and beyond our control. Firms build recommendation algorithms tuned to boost engagement and profit with no hearings or right of appeal. Browser and cookie defaults decide what data we surrender. A single autoplay toggle can cost users hours and build unhealthy habits. These are acts of engineering as deliberate as laying a road or redrawing an electoral district. They create a kind of curated itch by which boredom never settles, and satisfaction never arrives. The results are predictable—users click on targeted ads, make purchases, form habits, and lock in opinions. Consent has transformed along with it. Once straightforward and revocable, it is now subtle and persistent, buried in defaults or opaque terms of service too quickly accepted. You remain free to opt out, much as you are free to refuse roads or electricity. Consent has become the preselected setting of modern life. When social engineering operated more in the open, citizens could contest it, at least in societies with responsive government. Today’s invisible version diffuses accountability so thoroughly that scrutiny becomes hard to direct. Despite recent congressional hearings on social media’s impact on youth mental health and juries agreeing that firms are knowingly designing algorithms that cause harm, pinpointing responsibility remains elusive. When the mechanism is buried inside a system used by billions, we cannot easily point to a single decision-maker or trace the precise moment of manipulation. Today’s social engineering is less overt and theatrical than its predecessors. Earlier versions arrived on public posters and loudspeakers for mass audiences. Today’s version is more intimate, delivered through personal devices and constant feeds tailored to the individual. The model succeeds because participation feels like freedom, not control. Not all social engineering is dystopian. Well-kept parks foster community, accessible buildings extend dignity, vaccines and seatbelts save lives. Even in the digital realm, positive examples exist: browser extensions that automatically block hidden trackers, search engines that refuse to build personalized surveillance profiles, and decentralized social platforms that give users greater control over their own data and feeds. The term “social engineering” still unsettles, though. But “asocial” engineering, which ignores human consequences entirely, is worse. Recognition of the human dimension to engineering is the beginning of repair. Only by seeing the machinery clearly and naming it honestly can we decide who engineers what and why. The machinery will not dismantle itself. Once named, it becomes subject to choice. That negotiation of purpose, power, and process are the defining political questions of any real democracy. We cannot ensure that social engineering serves and sustains society so long as we dodge the words.