“The tech startup executive charged by the Trump administration with reviewing the Internal Revenue Service’s technology modernization program said on Thursday that he has canceled contracts worth about $1.5 billion from the tax agency’s budget,” Reuters reports.

Washington Post: “When Elon Musk launched a new version of his artificial intelligence chatbot Grok last month, he said it would be ‘maximally truth-seeking… even if that truth is sometimes at odds with what is politically correct.’”

“But Grok is often at odds with Musk himself.”

Earlier for members: Who Spreads the Most Disinformation on the Internet?

“Social media site X’s valuation has soared back to $44 billion, underscoring the sharp turnaround in the company’s fortunes since its owner Elon Musk assumed the role of staunch ally to President Donald Trump,” the Financial Times reports.

“Investors valued the platform at $44 billion in a so-called secondary deal earlier this month, in which they exchange existing stakes in the company.”

Financial Times: “According to six people who have worked closely with him across Amazon, Blue Origin and The Washington Post, the decisions are part of a marked shift in Bezos’s strategy towards Trump. These people painted a picture of a shrewd capitalist, making practical calculations to protect his businesses.”

“But they also believe Bezos is operating with a dose of fear about Trump, as well as resentment towards what he considers to be the Democrats’ ‘vilification’ of Big Tech during the Biden administration.”

Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI), chair of the House’s select committee on countering China, “drew a hard line this morning against any deal for TikTok that keeps control of the app or its underlying technology in the hands of Beijing-based ByteDance,” Politico reports.

Said Moolenaar: “The law is clear: any deal must eliminate Chinese influence and control over the app to safeguard our interests.”

He added: “ByteDance must fully divest its control of TikTok and have no say in its operations; nor can the two share data, content, or algorithms. These are non-negotiable, and any deal that doesn’t meet these requirements simply isn’t legal.”

Politico: “The software company Oracle is accelerating talks with the White House on a deal to run TikTok, though significant concerns remain about what role the app’s Chinese founders will play in its ongoing U.S. operation.”

“Vance and national security adviser Mike Waltz … are taking the lead in negotiations, while senators have voiced a desire to be read in on any talks. The deal would essentially require the U.S. government to depend on Oracle to oversee the data of American users and ensure the Chinese government doesn’t have a backdoor to it.’

Vice President JD Vance expressed confidence Friday that a deal to sell TikTok and keep the social media app running in the U.S. would largely be in place by an April deadline, NBC News reports.

“A cyberattack that brought down Elon Musk’s X targeted servers that were insufficiently protected from malicious traffic,” Bloomberg reports.

Elon Musk is asserting his social media site X has been deluged by a “massive cyberattack” Monday following weeks of upheaval about his cost-cutting crusade across the federal government, Politico reports.

Kara Swisher: “Musk’s behavior is emblematic of tech’s most heinous figures, who now feel emboldened to enter the analog world with the same lack of care and arrogance with which they built their sloppy platforms.”

“President Donald Trump said Sunday he was negotiating with four different possible buyers for TikTok’s US business and that a deal for the social video app could come ‘soon,’” Bloomberg reports.

Said Trump: “We’re dealing with four different groups, and a lot of people want it.”

He didn’t specify the contenders nor say which way he was leaning, instead saying “all four are good.”

“The Commerce Department is examining changes to a $42.5 billion Biden-era program aimed at expanding internet access around the country with new rules that will make it easier for Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite-internet service, to tap in to rural broadband funding,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Republicans have said the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program, created by the 2021 infrastructure bill, has moved too slowly and is bogged down by unnecessary rules. Those rules effectively said states could only fund alternative technologies such as satellite in areas where it wasn’t feasible or cost-effective to lay fiber cables.”