Telegram
How Telegram played itself
Pavel Durov’s arrest over the weekend was shocking. It was also inevitable
Casey Newton
Founder and editor of Platformer, a publication about the intersection of tech and democracy. Prior to founding Platformer in October 2020, Newton was the longtime Silicon Valley editor of The Verge.
Elections
How influence campaigns stopped working
It turns out that social networks are less susceptible to 2016-style attacks — and no one likes AI slop
Productivity
Three apps that made me more productive this year
Lessons on taking smarter notes, reducing context switching, and building a better personal archive
Deepfakes
Trump deepfakes a Swift endorsement
The Shitpost Election continues
AI
California's controversial AI bill is on the verge of becoming law
California’s SB-1047 is on a path to the governor’s desk. Will it kill the AI boom?
Deepfakes
Trump’s fakes a deepfake claim
PLUS: Trump goes to Spaces
X
X is just a political project now
As Trump returns to posting, and Musk leans even further into right-wing conspiracy theories, X has reached its final form. PLUS: On Susan Wojcicki
AI
Three reasons we’re in an AI bubble (and four reasons we’re not)
AI critics are right about the industry’s challenges — but they risk missing the larger story
X
X sues the advertising industry
The case is part of a larger conservative project to weaponize the courts against content moderation — and it appears to be gaining momentum
Google has a search monopoly, judge rules
Europe never found a remedy that increased search competition. Will the United States fare any better?
AI
The AI companies are trying to go legit
The era of scraping and praying is coming to an end. But will the web be any better off when it does?
Child Safety
KOSA and COPPA 2.0 pass the Senate
But passing the House might be another story
Deepfakes
Welcome to the shitpost election
Forget what’s true and false. Did you hear about J.D. Vance and the couch?
AI
Sam Altman calls for an AI coalition
AI leaders are promoting the idea of an arms race — but the hype is getting ahead of the technology. PLUS: KOSA makes a comeback
AI
Meta unleashes its Llama
The company's open-source AI is now roughly on par with rivals from OpenAI and Google. Should we worry?
Kamala Harris
How Kamala Harris sees the tech industry
Plus: Zuckerberg and Trump, is X "back," and other questions about the brand-new 2024 presidential campaign