Big tech companies tend to make a lot of enemies — but there are none more powerful than the US government. Apple, Google, Amazon, and Meta are regularly called in front of Congress to fend off monopoly accusations — and lawmakers bring up bills to rein in the companies just as often. The Federal Trade Commission has taken a particularly central role, leading a lawsuit to sever Facebook and Instagram while blocking new acquisitions for Oculus and the company’s virtual reality wing. Like it or not, these regulatory fights will play a huge role in deciding the future of tech — and neither side is playing nice.
Apple’s CEO was facing allegations that he violated workers’ rights by imposing rules that “restrain or coerce employees” and even surveilled employees. The NLRB decided to withdraw many of those accusations on Friday. We’re sure it had nothing to do with any gifts, donations, or flattering remarks Cook may have made to a certain someone.
The California governor, who is already angling for a presidential run, has a stack of AI regulation bills he can veto before October 12th. Newsom has a slew of tech donors — and may want more tech money for a presidential run. OpenAI is also staffed up with Newsom-affiliated operators. So will Newsom sign the bills?
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[Blood in the Machine]
The White House has released a national security presidential memorandum on fighting “domestic terrorism,” which apparently includes doxing ICE agents. The document outlines a sweeping strategy to investigate and harass a broad swath of organizations and institutions that the White House claims are anti-American.
There are common recurrent motivations and indicia uniting this pattern of violent and terroristic activities under the umbrella of self-described “anti-fascism.” These movements portray foundational American principles (e.g., support for law enforcement and border control) as “fascist” to justify and encourage acts of violent revolution. This “anti-fascist” lie has become the organizing rallying cry used by domestic terrorists to wage a violent assault against democratic institutions, constitutional rights, and fundamental American liberties. Common threads animating this violent conduct include anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.
[The White House]
Sources tell Bloomberg that Intel and Apple held discussions about “how to work more closely together,” though the talks are reportedly still at an early stage. Nvidia, SoftBank, and the US government have already injected billions of dollars into Intel as it attempts to revitalize its struggling chipmaking business.
Despite crowning himself the headliner of Kirk’s memorial service, Christian nationalism upstaged the president’s vindictiveness.
This interview goes wildly off the rails, starting just before this anecdote:
I wrote a book a few years ago on Star Wars. We invited Dr. Kissinger to my Star Wars book party, and he said, “You wrote a book about Star Wars? Why’d you write a book about Star Wars?” He was puzzled and courteous, but really confused. And then he came to the book party, which was quite generous. He was a busy person.
[The New Yorker]
ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel in fear of Donald Trump is already casting an ugly shadow on the Disney brand.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that six of the seven board seats will be held by Americans, ByteDance retain less than a 20-percent stake, and that Americans’ data will be stored in the US with no access give to China.
According to Bloomberg Leavitt said:
“So all of those details have already been agreed upon, now we just need this deal to be signed and that will be happening, I anticipate, in the coming days.”
Government officials are pledging to go after alleged left-wing organizations they believe are funding political violence.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett tries to explain why the Trump Administration allowed Nvidia to sell AI chips in China in exchange for a 15 percent cut.
“What sort of involvement did the Trump Administration have in this agreement?” asked the FT’s Michael Acton on the call. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang:
The Trump Administration had no involvement in the partnership at all, and they would have been very supportive, of course. And today I had the opportunity to tell Secretary Lutnick, and he was very excited, very supportive of seeing American technology companies working together.
I’m on the call where Nvidia and Intel are explaining their $5B deal, but the call began with a hot mic:
His majesty was delightful. The cognac was excellent, but just not enough of it. I guess the cognac was from 1912.
Huang joined Trump’s state visit to London this week.
With Jimmy Kimmel off the air for now, several party leaders issued a statement over the FCC Chairman’s actions, but what will they do about it?
David Sacks received financial conflict of interest waivers to join the White House. Those waivers, are meant to attract outside experts to work for the government temporarily, but the job comes with time limits. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) are now asking if Sacks has overstayed his welcome.
