Politics Archive

They’re furloughed and want dates now! (As long as you’re DC-based.)

After a ten-month investigation, the Competition and Markets Authority has designated Apple and Google’s mobile platforms with “strategic market status,” describing them as having “substantial, entrenched market power.” The companies now face extra anti-competition regulations in the UK, following a similar ruling for Google Search.

It’s rare I come across a truly novel social media moderation quandary these days, but I’ll admit this one’s new to me. (A little context.)

Today’s 2500-plus scheduled anti-Trump protest events — a followup to the ones that drew an estimated 4 to 6 million participants earlier this year — are underway, and if you’re looking for somewhere besides social media to follow along, States Newsroom has a liveblog of photos, crowd vibe-checks, and interviews from across the country.

Last week, the Salesforce CEO said that he would welcome the White House sending National Guard troops into the streets of Silicon Valley. Now, he’s changing his tune following some very public criticism from Laurene Powell Jobs (Steve Jobs’ widow) and a member of his own board.

It’s an expected consequence of the ongoing shutdown, which was already impacting the legal system. Federal judges are still going to serve and online case files will remain functional, but workers are being furloughed and some — though not all — civil cases involving the government are being delayed.

Remember how Salesforce billionaire Marc Benioff suddenly looooved Donald Trump? It turns out Salesforce is trying to sell an AI product to ICE. Two things: 1. This is how the gangster tech era works. 2. If I were a betting woman, I’d put money down that Agentforce is floundering. Certainly it’s been expensive marketing it.