“Google said Wednesday that an alleged Iranian hacking operation aimed at US presidential campaigns is ongoing and more wide-ranging than previously known as the hackers continue to target the email accounts of current US officials and people associated with Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump,” CNN reports.
U.S. Considers a Rare Antitrust Move
Bloomberg: “A rare bid to break up Alphabet Inc.’s Google is one of the options being considered by the Justice Department after a landmark court ruling found that the company monopolized the online search market.”
“The move would be Washington’s first push to dismantle a company for illegal monopolization since unsuccessful efforts to break up Microsoft Corp. two decades ago.”
“Regardless, the government will likely seek a ban on the type of exclusive contracts that were at the center of its case against Google.”
Democratic Convention to Stream Vertically
“Democrats will stream their convention next week using vertical video on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube,” Axios reports.
“The party hopes making the stream available via vertical video apps will draw in younger viewers who get most of their news on their phones.”
Elon Musk’s Excuse Doesn’t Hold Up
Eighteen minutes after his conversation with Donald Trump was supposed to begin, Elon Musk claimed that X was the target of a “massive DDOS attack” that had made it impossible for the Space to proceed as planned, The Verge reports.
The rest of X appeared to be working normally, however, and a source at the company confirmed that there wasn’t actually a denial-of-service attack.
Another X staffer said there was a “99 percent” chance Elon was lying about an attack.
Politico: Trump’s interview with Musk devolves into yet another X catastrophe.
Trump Appears to Be Back on X to Stay
“Donald Trump returned to X on Monday in dramatic fashion, posting a series of campaign videos leading up to his interview with Elon Musk, the owner of the social media app,” Semafor reports.
“But unlike his brief return in 2023, when he posted his mugshot and a link to his website to collect donations, Monday’s slew of updates are unlikely to be his last, instead marking the start of a more regular presence on the platform.”
Wall Street Journal: Trump and Musk gear up for X interview tonight.
Trump Returns to X
“Donald Trump shared a campaign video on X, marking his return for the first time in a nearly a year to the social media platform that was once his favorite bullhorn,” the New York Times reports.
“His post came ahead of an interview with Elon Musk, X’s owner, which is scheduled for Monday night — and could spell trouble for Trump’s own social media platform, Truth Social, which has relied on the former president’s presence to attract users.”
Musk’s False Election Claims Have 1.2 Billion Views
NBC News: “False or misleading claims about the U.S. election that Elon Musk has posted to X this year have generated nearly 1.2 billion views, according to an analysis published Thursday by the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate.”
The Most Expensive Political Ad of All Time
Popular Information: “In 2022, Elon Musk purchased Twitter, one of the world’s largest social networks, for $44 billion. From a financial perspective, it has not worked out well. Over the last two years, the value of Twitter — which Musk renamed X — has plunged. Internal documents reveal that company executives believed it was worth less than half of what Musk paid for it by October 2023. In 2024, Fidelity valued the company at just $12.5 billion.”
“Musk’s ownership of X, however, gives him full control over its algorithm. According to a report by The Verge, Musk ‘created a special system’ that promotes his posts ‘to the entire user base.'”
Musk’s Feed Becomes Megaphone for Far-Right Policies
“If you followed Elon Musk on Twitter in November 2021, you would have been bombarded with posts about Tesla and SpaceX, his two most valuable companies,” the Washington Post reports.
“Nearly three years later, with Musk at the helm of the site he renamed X, the billionaire’s feed often reads more like a right-wing activist account, with alarmist posts about immigration and missives against ‘woke’ ideology.”
Google Loses Federal Antitrust Case
“A federal judge ruled that Google engaged in illegal practices to preserve its search engine monopoly, delivering a major antitrust victory to the Justice Department in its effort to rein in Silicon Valley technology giants,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
New York Times: “The ruling is the most significant victory to date for American regulators who are trying to rein in the power of tech giants in the internet era. It is likely to influence other government antitrust lawsuits against Google, Apple, Amazon and Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.”
“The ruling did not include remedies for Google’s behavior. Judge Mehta will now decide that, potentially forcing the company to change the way it runs or to sell off part of its business.”
How 2024 Became the Zoom Election
Kevin Roose: “A month ago, if you had asked me which tech platforms would play a major role in the 2024 presidential campaign, I might have said TikTok or Facebook. I might have said YouTube. I may have even theorized that X would still play a role despite its hard-right turn under Elon Musk’s ownership.”
What I wouldn’t have guessed is that this year’s breakout campaign tech would be Zoom — the unassuming videoconferencing app made famous during the pandemic and kept aloft since then by legions of remote workers dialing into meetings.”
“Zoom was not built for grass-roots political organizing. But over the past several weeks, it has become a critical piece of campaign tech for Democrats hoping to elect Kamala Harris. Star-studded Zoom rallies have drawn hordes of viewers, raised tens of millions of dollars and given enthusiastic Democrats an easy way to get involved.”
Elon Musk Shares Manipulated Harris Video
“Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has waded into one of the thorniest issues facing U.S. politics: deepfake videos,” the New York Times reports.
“On Friday night, Mr. Musk, the billionaire owner of the social media platform X, reposted an edited campaign video for Vice President Kamala Harris that appears to have been digitally manipulated to change the spot’s voice-over in a deceptive manner.”
“The video mimics Ms. Harris’s voice, but instead of using her words from the original ad, it has the vice president saying that President Biden is senile, that she does not ‘know the first thing about running the country’ and that, as a woman and a person of color, she is the ‘ultimate diversity hire.’”
Zoom Is the New Political Rally
“Gatherings of tens of thousands of Vice President Harris’ supporters are raising millions of dollars for her campaign — and it’s happening on Zoom,” Axios reports.
“It’s a new era of virtual rallies. These online events are cheaper to organize, easier to attend, and they’re poised to become a powerful tools for fundraising and voter outreach this fall.”
Social Media Is Driving Us Apart
Time: “Our current crisis of division, once again manifest as violence, feels shocking but not sudden; the dread has been deepening for years, a defining quality of this century that began with an election that ended in a tie. As our information streams fill with acid, it eats at grace and trust. Americans have always disagreed, exercised muscles of reason and passion to press for progress and a vision for the common good that we don’t necessarily hold in common…”
“Figuring that out was the heart of the democratic challenge, but the information technologies allegedly designed to connect the world conspire to dismantle the values that process depends on. The tragedy, but maybe also the opportunity, of this moment is that relative to past brawls, Americans are largely united on key issues—even if you would never know it from the temperature of the debate.”
Musk Turbocharges Silicon Valley Support for Trump
“Big names in tech are turning Donald Trump’s way, a shift likely to be accelerated by excitement over Elon Musk’s nine-figure commitment and former venture capitalist JD Vance joining the ticket,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Those two developments have punctuated a brewing cultural change in traditionally liberal Silicon Valley, as investors and executives announce their support for Trump over issues including the Biden administration’s stance on artificial-intelligence regulation and crackdowns on acquisitions by big tech.”
Axios: Tech billionaires warm to Trump.
Stratechery: J.D. Vance and tech.
Restrictions Lifted on Trump’s Facebook and Instagram
Meta on Friday said it would soon roll back restrictions it placed on Donald Trump’s Instagram and Facebook accounts, Axios reports.
TikTok Magnified Biden’s Debate Flop
Playbook: “Among the top-performing TikToks responding to the debate — which garnered 483 million views — 39 percent of views were on negative Biden content, compared to just 10 percent on negative Trump content.”
“Notably, the majority of the views on negative Biden videos came from progressive or independent accounts.”
TikTok In Denial as U.S. ‘Ban’ Approaches
Ben Smith: “The complacency over TikTok at Cannes was a shocking contrast with the seriousness in Washington about killing or forcing the sale of the app. The congressional vote earlier this year was a rare display of bipartisanship, aided by a remarkably ham-handed public pressure campaign by the company that blew up in its face. TikTok now has few friends in the US capital.”
“The idea that all will be well seems to rest on a pair of shaky assumptions. First, that Trump will win in November. And second, that when he does, he’ll then intervene to save the app.”
“But betting your business on a US election is a fool’s game. And staking it on your expectations of Trump’s actions is, if anything, riskier.”
- « Previous Page
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- …
- 59
- Next Page »
