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Happy Tuesday! Here’s your Tuesday Tech Drop, a curated collection of the past week’s top stories from the intersection of tech and politics.
TikTok hangs its hopes on Trump and SCOTUS
TikTok, in its current state, might be on its last legs in the United States. After a federal judge declined to block a law that would ban the app in the U.S. unless its Chinese owners sell it, TikTok’s legal team petitioned for injunctive relief, asking a federal court to suspend the law until Donald Trump’s administration — and the conservative-heavy Supreme Court — have a chance to look at it.
This — paired with a Wall Street Journal report, citing anonymous sources, that TikTok CEO Shou Chew reached out to Elon Musk to make inroads with MAGA last month — suggests that TikTok’s leadership may be taking Trump at his word that he would “save” the app, which has become a hotbed of MAGA disinformation and propaganda in recent years.
All this has me thinking about the perverse incentives that could potentially be in play for a social media platform that sees Trump and powerful conservatives as its last hope for survival.
Read the Washington Post’s report on TikTok hanging its hopes on Trump and the Supreme Court.
Ted Cruz throws a tantrum over AI
U.S. officials are working with officials from numerous other countries to devise ways to curb some of the more dangerous misuses of artificial intelligence technology … and GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz isn’t happy about it.
Read my report on Cruz’s letter to the attorney general here.
Star disinformation researcher offers guidance
Disinformation expert Kate Starbird, who has come under fire from right-wingers for her work, recently sat for an interview with the outlet Tech Policy to discuss “the differences between the left and right media ecosystems" in the United States and her team’s efforts to study the spread of baseless claims online.
Check out the Tech Policy interview.
Spotify plans shindig for Trump’s inauguration
Following an election that, unfortunately, saw candidates and voters turn to podcasters for their political news, the streaming platform Spotify is reportedly planning a podcaster celebration centered around Trump’s inauguration.
Read more at Bloomberg.
YouTube feeding harmful content to young girls
A new study out of the Center for Countering Digital Hate argues that YouTube’s algorithm can steer young girls to harmful content about eating disorders, including videos promoting extreme calorie restriction, emaciated bodies and “meanspo,” or bullying as a way to encourage weight loss.
YouTube declined to comment to CBS News when asked about its algorithm’s recommendations, saying it “continually works with mental health experts to refine [its] approach to content recommendations for teens.”
Read the Center for Countering Digital Hate’s report.
Meta’s data center
Last week, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced that it intends to build a massive data center in Louisiana to help power its artificial intelligence project. The data center is meant to compete with another data center Elon Musk opened in Tennessee. The centers have raised local concerns over the potential environmental impact and whether the economic impact will benefit neighboring residents.
Read The Associated Press’ report.
Trump’s AI and crypto guy
Trump has tapped right-wing tech oligarch and podcaster David Sacks to lead his administration’s artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency policy. There’s ample reason for concern about potential conflicts of interest.
Read my blog to learn more about Sacks here.
Hackers hit major U.S. companies
Federal officials said at least eight American telecommunications companies, including AT&T, Verizon and Lumen technologies, were hit by a Chinese hacking campaign that got access to call records and, in some cases, specific phone calls. The feds don’t think the hackers have been booted from these companies’ systems yet.
Read NBC News’ report.
D.C. AG sues Amazon
Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwab is suing Amazon over allegations the commerce platform and delivery company is excluding two largely Black zip codes from its Prime delivery service. Amazon called the claims “categorically false.”
Read NBC’s Washington affiliate’s reporting.