This is today's edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter covering technology news.

What happens when a kid's robot best friend dies? When Xander first met Moxie, she taught him how to calm down when he was anxious or mad. Six years later, she mostly watches him play Minecraft and talks to him about his stuffed animals. Moxie is a 15-inch-tall device designed to assist neurodivergent children by providing connection and helping kids practice social skills. However, the robot's maker went out of business, servers were shut down, and parents rushed to convert their devices before going offline.

The idea of a "censorship-industrial complex" has moved from right-wing online discourse into US policy, with claims that government agencies, academics, and Big Tech suppress conservative speech under the guise of combating disinformation. This theory has gained traction in the Trump administration, with MIT Technology Review investigating its rise over nine months.

Today's must-reads include AI competition between US and China, memory chip developments, black hole discoveries, Meta's facial recognition patents, Puerto Rico's water crisis, and more. Dario Amodei of Anthropic proposes curing cancer as a way to win over AI skeptics.