Tech is reshaping the world — and not always for the better. Whether it’s the rules for Apple’s App Store or Facebook’s plan for fighting misinformation, tech platform policies can have enormous ripple effects on the rest of society. They’re so powerful that, increasingly, companies aren’t setting them alone but sharing the fight with government regulators, civil society groups, and internal standards bodies like Meta’s Oversight Board. The result is an ongoing political struggle over harassment, free speech, copyright, and dozens of other issues, all mediated through some of the largest and most chaotic electronic spaces the world has ever seen.
During his State of the Union speech, Trump claimed to have negotiated a “ratepayer protection pledge” to keep data centers from raising utility bills for other customers. He didn’t say which companies are involved or what commitments they’ve made.
A draft pledge obtained by Politico earlier this month describes a voluntary pact to cover the costs of new energy infrastructure.
The president shouted out the work of his “movie star” wife Melania, whose support of the Take It Down Act last year — a bill requiring social platforms to remove content reported as nonconsensual intimate imagery (including AI deepfakes) — helped usher it into law.
The president applauded Michael and Susan Dell for their $6.25 billion contribution that the White House says will help fund tax-advantaged savings accounts for children. The contribution is set to fund an extra $250 in the first 25 million accounts for children in ZIP codes with median incomes under $150,000.
The South Carolina Republican said he’s bringing along Ellison, son of Trump ally and billionaire Larry Ellison, as his guest to the address. Paramount is in the midst of its persistent attempt to buy Warner Bros. Discovery over Netflix — a deal Trump said he’d be involved in before backtracking.
[X (formerly Twitter)]
After moving to restrict access to the messaging app earlier this month, Russia has also now opened a criminal investigation into its founder and CEO, Reuters reports. Durov responded in a post on X on Tuesday, saying:
“Russia has opened a criminal case against me for ‘aiding terrorism.’ Each day, the authorities fabricate new pretexts to restrict Russians’ access to Telegram as they seek to suppress the right to privacy and free speech. A sad spectacle of a state afraid of its own people.”
The Supreme Court is poised to make a decision that could determine whether states and local governments attempting to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for climate disasters will need to fight their battles in federal rather than state courts.
The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office dished out a £14.47 million (about $19.5 million) penalty for Reddit’s previous lack of robust age verification and failure to assess risks to children before January 2025. That’s just a smidge higher than the £247,590 (about $335,000) fine Imgur was hit with for similar reasons earlier this month.
It’s more than just a $200 million military contract at stake.
They’ve been applied using powers under the Trade Act of 1974, circumventing both Congress and the recent Supreme Court ruling that Trump’s previous tariffs were illegal. The president had threatened a higher 15 percent rate, but so far Customs and Border Protection has only announced 10 percent tariffs, which will last 150 days.
[the Guardian]
Thought RAMageddon was bad? Wait until Silicon Valley loses access to 90 percent of the world’s chip supply. The New York Times reminds us that’s a possibility, with production concentrated in Taiwan, ever at risk of a Chinese blockade. The industry is now investing in US production, but has been putting this off for years.
[The New York Times]
The Netflix boss is apparently not too worried about Trump’s meddling in his company’s attempt to purchase Warner Bros. He told BBC Today that Netflix’s offer left Hollywood with five major studios instead of four, and Trump, “likes to do a lot of things on social media.”
However, on Monday afternoon, Bloomberg reported Paramount Skydance has submitted another competing offer, improving on its previous $30 per share bid.
Bloomberg and Deadline are both reporting that the DOJ has officially begun looking into whether the combination of Netflix and Warner would create a monopoly and hurt competition. Netflix, Warner Bros., and the DOJ have not publicly confirmed the investigation, but Deadline obtained a copy of the Civil Investigative Demand, which reads:
“This civil investigative demand is issued pursuant to the Antitrust Civil Process Act …in the course of an antitrust investigation to determine whether there is, has been, or may be a violation of the antitrust laws by conduct, activities, or proposed action of the following nature: the proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. by Netflix Inc, that may substantially lessen competition, or tend to create a monopoly in violation of Section 7 of the Clayton Act, or Section 2 of the Sherman Act.”
Invasive government and corporate surveillance isn’t inevitable — but Congress needs to act.
After being handed a rare defeat by the Supreme Court, President Trump announced that he would replace his tariffs and trade deals with a global 10 percent tariff on imports. Less than 24 hours later, he’s already raising that to 15 percent. As we said, the fight is far from over.
Now that Andor has come to end, series creator Tony Gilroy is free to speak more openly about what it was like working for Disney, and in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter he says that the studio was very insistent on him not using the word “fascism” while talking about his show focused on fighting fascism.
[The Hollywood Reporter]
Regulators noticed Polymarket and Kalshi rake in cash on sports bets. So now prediction markets are cosplaying as the future of news.
On Friday morning, the court ruled against the Trump administration (pdf) in the case of Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, about whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) gave the president the power to impose sweeping tariffs on imports from more than 100 countries.
The immediate impact of the ruling is not clear, as the president may try to use other justifications for the tariffs and everything that has followed. The NYT, WSJ, and CNBC have more coverage.
The internet personality has been chasing ICE on the streets of Minneapolis, but fellow locals are divided on whether he’s helping or hurting the cause.
