How Elon Musk targeted 18F, as former employees say the GSA group focused on increasing bureaucratic efficiency through tech, similar to what DOGE claims to do
Rightwing campaign propelled by tech billionaire accuses General Services Administration's 18F of being a far-left cell Bluesky: @montgomery , @angelacolter , @ronbronson.com , @me...
Crypto.com and Kalshi launched sports wagers around the Super Bowl in 50 US states, shocking the sports betting industry and infuriating state regulators
Crypto.com and Kalshi have made an end-run around state regulators to allow wagers on the NFL championship, the biggest betting day in American sports.
Parents and US lawmakers are debating whether social media has fueled a teen suicide crisis, as mental health struggles have risen sharply among young Americans
Mental-health struggles have risen sharply among young Americans, and parents and lawmakers alike are scrutinizing life online for answers. Bluesky: @madelinevo.bsky.social and @ca...
Tech leaders, including Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, and Mark Zuckerberg, condemned the July 13 Trump assassination attempt
Lloyd Lee / Business Insider :
X's trending topics surfaced conspiracy theories around the assassination attempt on Donald Trump; YouTube and Facebook primarily directed users to news outlets
Conspiracy theories about the shooting at a Trump rally began surfacing on X shortly after the news broke this afternoon …
A look at Neopets, a website launched in 1999 to let users care for virtual pets, including how the site survived multiple acquisitions and Flash's phasing out
An icon of millennials' childhoods languished for nearly two decades. Now it's attempting a comeback - banking on the fact that it hasn't changed at all X: @blakersdozen X: Blake ...
As nine US states advance online child safety bills, a look at tech giants' lobbying efforts against the legislation, led by industry group NetChoice
Katie McQue / The Guardian : X: @zamaan_qureshi , @jason_kint , @ttp_updates , and @blakersdozen X: Zamaan Qureshi / @zamaan_qureshi : .@jason_kint hitting the nail on the f%*$ing...
An investigation finds that Barstool Sports apparently controls 40+ “burner” X accounts to launder viral copyright-protected videos for its legitimate accounts
Robert Silverman / The Daily Beast :
Google's AI-powered Search Generative Experience and Bard list “pros” beside cons when asked “was slavery beneficial” or “what's better democracy or fascism”
Large Language Models shouldn't offer opinions or advice. — If you asked a spokesperson …
Google's AI-powered Search Generative Experience and Bard list “pros” beside cons when asked “was slavery beneficial” or “what's better democracy or fascism”
Large Language Models shouldn't offer opinions or advice. — If you asked a spokesperson …
On April 23, a Meta ad system glitch caused some campaigns to overspend by more than double their daily cost cap; 10+ agencies say Meta gave next to no feedback
James Hercher / AdExchanger :
SoundHound raised $25M after reportedly laying off half of its staff and says it will pay former staff severance, which was allegedly contingent on the funding
Mack DeGeurin / Gizmodo :
Three ex-employees say SoundHound laid off ~200 people, or ~50% of staff, with two weeks of severance that will only be paid if the company can raise more money
The massive restructuring comes just one year after the company went public via SPAC and two months after a separate layoff that cut 10% of staff. Tweets: @blakersdozen and @blaker...
Elon Musk amplifies false claims that the FBI “paid Twitter millions” to “censor info from the public”; law enforcement reimburses companies for data requests
telecoms, banks, whatever—request reimbursement from the FBI and other agencies for time spent processing law enforcement's legal requests. This email is saying that Twitter had no...
Internal documents: from at least 2017, Twitter helped the Pentagon in its covert online foreign propaganda campaigns including by whitelisting CENTCOM accounts
Twitter executives have claimed for years that the company makes concerted efforts to detect and thwart government-backed covert propaganda campaigns on its platform.
Facebook plans to remove religious views, political views, addresses, and “Interested in”, which indicates sexual preference, from user profiles on December 1
The update to the world's biggest social network will prevent you from broadcasting certain details in your bio, a farewell to the early days of social media.
Google now lets users disable targeted ads without breaking useful features by having to turn off settings like Web & App Activity and YouTube History
Online advertising doesn't need to be confusing or out of your control. Sofia Wyciślik-Wilson / BetaNews : Google launches My Ad Center to give you more control over the ads you se...
From shutting down services only in Texas to letting users opt out of hateful content, tech companies are gaming out responses to the state's social media law
Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post :
Amnesty International: Meta's algorithms “proactively amplified and promoted content” on Facebook that incited violent hatred against the Rohingya in Myanmar
With roosters crowing in the background as he speaks from the crowded refugee camp in Bangladesh that's been his home since 2017 … Source: Amnesty International .
Filing: Twitter says Elon Musk's counterclaims “are factually inaccurate, legally insufficient, and commercially irrelevant” and don't justify ending the deal
Dan Primack / Axios :