I would say this because I edited it but @mshannahmurphy.bsky.social's piece on tech bros founding their own for-profit cities really is unmissable reading www.ft.com/content/b127...

Hello! I'll be in San Diego later this week...Folks at NeurIPS, what should I be learning about/let's catch up in person/best events? My DMs are open. mshannahmurphy.04 on Signal.

Thrilled to be shortlisted for the Tech Commentator of the Year award in the 2025 UK Tech Awards!

Meanwhile, over on twitter dot com

“There’s a lot of big men on campus” Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s turbulent effort to direct the most dramatic reorganisation of Meta’s senior leadership in the group’s 20-year history on.ft.com/3Jx6Yfz

“There’s a lot of big men on campus” Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s turbulent effort to direct the most dramatic reorganisation of Meta’s senior leadership in the group’s 20-year history on.ft.com/3Jx6Yfz

chat, is this real

Meta inflated a crucial advertising metric by nearly 20 per cent and deliberately bypassed privacy rules on Apple iPhones in a bid to boost revenues, a former staff member has told an employment tribunal www.ft.com/content/be6a...

Meta inflated a crucial advertising metric by nearly 20 per cent and deliberately bypassed privacy rules on Apple iPhones in a bid to boost revenues, a former staff member has told an employment tribunal www.ft.com/content/be6a...

Zuckerberg's aim is to create a start-up-like unit focused on developing superintelligence that is unencumbered by the bureaucracy of his $1.8tn company -but supported by its well-capitalised business But investors, and even insiders, have little insight into its vision and budget. Will he succeed?

Inside the Linda - Elon breakup -Musk felt Yaccarino wasn't transparent about the company’s status with advertisers & put a gloss on reality -He wanted her to more quickly restore X to financial health -Post-DOGE, he started making unilateral decisions that blindsided her www.ft.com/content/833c...

Inside the Linda - Elon breakup -Musk felt Yaccarino wasn't transparent about the company’s status with advertisers & put a gloss on reality -He wanted her to more quickly restore X to financial health -Post-DOGE, he started making unilateral decisions that blindsided her www.ft.com/content/833c...

After months of reporting (and even my own attempt at a jiu jitsu class), my FT Magazine cover story on Mark Zuckerberg’s metamorphosis to red-blooded “Maga Mark” is out! Is this political expediency, a midlife crisis or who Zuck has been all along? on.ft.com/4nsoktx

After months of reporting (and even my own attempt at a jiu jitsu class), my FT Magazine cover story on Mark Zuckerberg’s metamorphosis to red-blooded “Maga Mark” is out! Is this political expediency, a midlife crisis or who Zuck has been all along? on.ft.com/4nsoktx

Steve Bannon is urging Trump to cancel all of Musk's contracts, launch investigations into him, and deport him.

For perspective, Perplexity is valued at $15B and Anthropic at $61B. So, for xAI to be valued at $113B is just...

FT SCOOP: Elon Musk’s xAI is launching a $300mn share sale that values the group at $113bn - validating the pricetag struck when xAI bought X in March It comes as the world’s richest man returns from Doge to his business empire and the AI race on.ft.com/4dGFY85

SCOOP: Telegram had a bumper 2024, booking over half a billion dollars in profit after a lossmaking 2023 The app has told investors that the French investigation could be a barrier to an IPO but that it could be resolved this year, as it launches a $1.5bn bond offering www.ft.com/content/a8b4...

I started reading this thinking it was about users who *asked* about race and South Africa getting bogus responses. But no, Grok is - ASTONISHINGLY - providing responses on the topic to users who have asked entirely unrelated questions. WILD. By @mshannahmurphy.bsky.social and Cristina Criddle

About a month ago, Tesla board members reached out to executive search firms to formally find a new CEO to replace Elon Musk, per WSJ They also told him to spend more time at the company & he said he would. unclear if the succession planning is ongoing or not 👀 www.wsj.com/business/aut...?

Advertising groups and tech start-ups are racing to find ways to help brands boost their likelihood of surfacing in results from AI chatbots, marking a new era of 'SEO' FT story w Cristina Criddle: on.ft.com/4iAVZxr

FT SCOOP: US venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz is in talks to invest in TikTok as part of an effort led by Trump to wrest control of the popular video app from its Chinese owners on.ft.com/4iXce94 w @antoinegara.bsky.social @ivanlevingston.bsky.social & @georgehammond.bsky.social

It’s not every day your best friend gets nominated for an Emmy for producing a beautiful show about young queer love - and you get to tag along to the awards ceremony. But yesterday was that day! Very proud of Paddy. And if you haven’t already, go watch Heartstopper on Netflix 💕

Delighted to have won a SABEW @sabew.bsky.social Best in Business award in the Technology division for @financialtimes.com coverage of Telegram & Pavel Durov! Just beaming 🙌 You can read my interview with Pavel just months before his arrest here: on.ft.com/4ijv9dI

“In the 2010s, there was a sense that Silicon Valley was different, had a rarefied culture. Now you’re just like any other union-busting top-down conglomerate.” Our FT analysis on the slow death of left-wing activism in the Valley, as Big Tech quells dissent and staff fear layoffs on.ft.com/3XfJy29

Big tech is growing confident in their efforts to challenge EU regulations, believing new backing from the Donald Trump administration will allow them to fight what they see as hostile rules on AI and market dominance. With @mshannahmurphy.bsky.social & Michael Acton www.ft.com/content/3e75...

And now for some real journalism! I took a break from reporting on tech billionaires and Trump to write about getting my lashes done by an AI-powered robot While the era of fully automated beauty treatments still seems some way off, disruption is coming to the sector - on.ft.com/4jCLevZ

Fun piece by @mshannahmurphy.bsky.social on robot beauticians! Struggling to believe they're going to be cheaper than humans any time soon, mind, esp as one machine appears to need two human minders www.ft.com/content/f98d...

Scoop: Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is exploring buying a property in Washington DC, as part of a push to work more closely with the Trump administration He joins a growing group of tech titans - Elon Musk, David Sacks - seeking bases close to the White House www.ft.com/content/9310...

Scoop: Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg is exploring buying a property in Washington DC, as part of a push to work more closely with the Trump administration He joins a growing group of tech titans - Elon Musk, David Sacks - seeking bases close to the White House www.ft.com/content/9310...

where all the tiktok refugee starter packs at

In 8 days, Zuckerberg has: - Promoted top Republican Joel Kaplan to be face of Meta - Hired Dana White to board - Killed 3rd party fact-checking - Loosened hate speech policies - Killed DEI initiatives - Said on Joe Rogan that corporations are “culturally neutered” & need more “masculine energy”

JUST IN: Meta has just ended its major diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, effective immediately — including for hiring, training and picking suppliers www.axios.com/2025/01/10/m...

I cannot recommend enough that you read this op-ed written by Peter Thiel in the FT today (free to read!) for a direct look inside the mind and grievances of the libertarian tech billionaires who have helped Trump to power - and what they want next www.ft.com/content/a46c...

It's happening: "Musk has been examining possible candidates to replace Farage as leader of the party, including Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe, and has probed what mechanisms there are to replace him, according to people briefed on his thinking." www.ft.com/content/dd4b...

“Musk has seemingly become the first tech leader to fall down the rabbit hole of radicalisation by his own product” How Elon falls for the clickbait served up by his own 'For You' algo feeds. Great piece by my colleagues, worth sticking around for the mind-boggling final line: on.ft.com/3C0o9CA

Farage on Musk *literally this morning* on the Kuenssberg show: “I tell you what he (Musk) gives us (Reform UK). Huge numbers of young people, he makes us look cool"

this headline and paragraph are absolutely sending me

This article where an NYT journalist ditches his news apps for Rumble, journeys down the rabbit hole, emails Rumble creators for comment and then ends up being doxxed by them - before the article had even published - is WILD www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

ICYMI Zuckerberg - who earlier this year said he wanted Meta to be politically “neutral” and reduced the prominence of political content across its apps - has had the company donate $1mn to Trump's inauguration fund It's the first time Meta has donated to an inauguration fund on.ft.com/4fexOD6

Australia to introduce ‘news tax’ on tech companies https://www.ft.com/content/d975e8fc-9b9c-4dcf-a280-2e55d29c2501

Hello to followers old & new (just got an unexpected influx!) I'm a tech reporter for the Financial Times covering social media platforms (Meta and X) & the billionaires that run them (Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk) If you've worked for them & want to speak, mshannahmurphy.04 on Signal /dms open

can i hear a lil commotion for the jumper I wore for the FT San Francisco bureau’s Christmas dinner

BREAKING: A US appeals court has upheld a law requiring TikTok’s owner ByteDance sell the platform or face a US ban next year - dealing a major blow to the Chinese company behind the video app. on.ft.com/3Vsv2TQ

SCOOP: Marc Andreessen, one of the world’s most powerful VCs, is playing a central role in recruiting for Elon Musk’s DOGE department While he has no formal role, he's helping identify and interview potential candidates, per sources w/ @georgehammond.bsky.social on.ft.com/3ZBatXM

someone in my friend's building got a kayak out to prepare during the (now 'cancelled') Bay Area tsunami warning

tired: earthquake twitter wired: tsunami bluesky

SCOOP: Marc Andreessen, one of the world’s most powerful VCs, is playing a central role in recruiting for Elon Musk’s DOGE department While he has no formal role, he's helping identify and interview potential candidates, per sources w/ @georgehammond.bsky.social on.ft.com/3ZBatXM

A rightwards shift for Meta? Meta has conceded it was "overdid it" with certain content moderation in the past - in an apparent overture to Donald Trump It comes as Zuckerberg is seeking an “active role” in shaping tech policy debates with the incoming administration on.ft.com/41dIgaz

Recently joined BlueSky? Here's a starter pack of FT journalists to follow go.bsky.app/GhSgfrR