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.
Europe’s privacy watchdog has opened yet another investigation into the millions of sexualized images, some of children, produced and shared on the platform last month. It joins the EU’s DSA effort already underway, whatever France is doing, and a few more in the UK.
First came Jmail, then Jikipedia. The Epstein files have yielded a lot so far, but I didn’t expect a whole new tech ecosystem to be among them.
alectrem:
at this rate they’re going to make a whole platform of web services and IPO before all the files are even released
Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.
In a letter sent to Congress Saturday, the Attorney General said that the DOJ had released “all ‘records, documents, communications and investigative materials in the possession of the Department’” in accordance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act. She also included a list of over 300 people mentioned in the files.
Google, Reddit, Discord, and Meta have received “hundreds” of subpoenas from the DHS in recent months, according to a report from The New York Times. The agency is reportedly asking the platforms for the names, email addresses, phone numbers, and other information associated with accounts that “track or criticize” ICE.
[The New York Times]
Kamala Harris’ campaign account, @KamalaHQ, has rebranded as a digital rapid response operation.
The less densely populated areas outside the Twin Cities make it harder for protesters and observers to organize.
Senate Democrats blocked a bill funding the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, which could trigger a temporary shutdown of the department. The vote was 52 to 47, with just one Democrat — Sen. John Fetterman — voting in favor.
“We will not support an extension of the status quo,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said before the vote.
There are plenty of good reasons to have your doubts about Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, but he’s right — if understandably self-serving — in criticizing Russia’s “authoritarian” restrictions on both Telegram and WhatsApp.
Cr4shMyCar:
Heartbreaking: worst person you know makes a great point
Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.
The sudden closure of El Paso airspace yesterday came after US customs officials fired an anti-drone laser on loan from the Department of Defense without coordination with the FAA. And, according to The New York Times, it wasn’t triggered by “Mexican cartel drones breaching US airspace” as the administration claimed:
Officials targeted what they thought was a drug cartel drone, but turned out to be a party balloon.
Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson warned Apple’s news product could violate a law against deceptive business practices if its alleged promotion of some ideological content violates its terms of service. Ferguson doesn’t cite specific terms it might have violated, but urges a “comprehensive review” to ensure they’re consistent.
For the past year, the Times has been using LLMs to create what’s internally known as the “Manosphere Report,” according to Nieman Lab. The AI-generated reports include episode transcripts and summaries for around 80 primarily right-wing podcasts, including the Ben Shapiro Show, Red Scare, and The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is suing Attorney General Pam Bondi and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for their alleged roles urging Meta and Apple to remove a Facebook group and app documenting ICE agents. FIRE claims they unconstitutionally coerced companies to censor speech. In a statement, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin accused FIRE of spinning “this correct decision for Apple to remove these apps as them caving to pressure instead of helping prevent further harm to federal officers.”
Update: Added DHS statement.
[The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression]
You should always assume that anything online about you might well stay there forever, but don’t worry: so long as you have the budget of Jeffrey Epstein, you can probably make it go away.
Cav_man:
The internet never forgets anything unless you’re wealthy enough in which case it devolopes a healthy sense of amnesia.
Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.
Plus: DC thinks Bezos is a bastard; Newsmax goes to war with Nexstar; and more in this week’s Regulator.
According to recently released documents, the convicted sex offender had a vast network of people working to whitewash his digital presence.
The European Commission has weighed in on the November decision to block the likes of ChatGPT and Copilot from WhatsApp, and thinks it violates EU antitrust laws. It’s surprisingly fast for the organization, which called the issue “urgent” because of the risk of “irreparable” damage to competition in the nascent AI industry.
The removals — which follow the Trump administration’s previous data purging efforts — target all posts prior to the president returning to office in January 2025, with a goal to “limit confusion on US government policy,” A spokesperson told NPR that the department’s X accounts “are one of our most powerful tools for advancing the America First goals.”
The law has survived the dot-com bubble and the Supreme Court, but it’s up against potentially larger challenges.
A clip that put Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces on the bodies of apes appeared on the president’s Truth Social account for about 12 hours before it was deleted, but not before press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the post, saying it was simply “an internet meme.”
An unattributed statement from the White House published by Variety said “a staffer had erroneously made the post and that it has been taken down.” It’s an excuse Trump has used before.
[New York Times]
The emails show the “anti-woke” crusaders are afraid of accountability.
I like to think you can usually tell the difference between a Verge headline and an Onion one, but these days the lines are getting blurry.
endlessben:
I think you hit “Publish to The Verge” instead of “Publish to The Onion.” It’s ok, it happens.
Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.
