Bobby Allyn
@bobbyallyn.bsky.social
📤 22290
📥 1034
📝 631
NPR correspondent covering tech Signal: ballyn.77
https://www.npr.org/people/638550790/bobby-allyn
The Trump administration is rolling out the red carpet for once-besieged prediction apps like Polymarket and Kalshi, with millions pouring into bets on the midterms. The companies wave away concerns about foreign influence and partisan meddling
www.npr.org/2025/12/23/n...
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Election betting on prediction markets apps is set to boom ahead of midterms
Online prediction markets, like Polymarket and Kalshi, were under intense scrutiny in the Biden administration. But Trump officials are embracing the controversial apps, raising new fears about electi...
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/23/nx-s1-5647749/rise-of-prediction-markets
4 days ago
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“The internal communications…show federal officials mocking immigrants in crass terms and discussing video edits that might help legitimize the administration’s aggressive stance.”
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8 days ago
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Just checked Nexis. May be some duplicates, but he's quoted in 917 stories in the past 12 calendar months. Pretty incredible.
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9 days ago
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“Government silence is a statement, not a VETO," Alfonsi wrote in the email. "If the administration's refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a 'kill switch'' for any reporting they find inconvenient."
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9 days ago
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jesus i accidentally called it
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9 days ago
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Bobby Allyn
The Associated Press
11 days ago
BREAKING: At least 16 files from the Epstein release disappeared from DOJ's webpage, including a photo of Trump, with no explanation.
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At least 16 files have disappeared from the DOJ webpage for documents related to Jeffrey Epstein
The Justice Department’s webpage for documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is missing at least 16 of its files a day after they were released.
https://bit.ly/4j58sLu
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One interesting aspect of the TikTok deal is: There will now be an American version of TikTok overseen by Larry Ellison's Oracle, PE firm Silver Lake and UAE-backed MGX, and then a second version of TikTok controlled by ByteDance for the rest of the world.
13 days ago
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Trump's BBC lawsuit suggests residents of Florida, where suit was filed, are increasingly turning to VPNs to access things like the BBC program in question. The real reason for Florida's VPN spike? Avoiding age verification laws for porn
www.npr.org/2025/12/17/n...
by
@davidfolkenflik.bsky.social
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Trump's BBC lawsuit: A botched report, BritBox, and porn
President Trump's lawsuit alleges that the BBC's fall 2024 documentary was "a brazen attempt" to harm his re-election. The BBC has apologized but rejects his claim.
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/17/nx-s1-5646697/trump-sues-bbc-florida-britbox-porn
14 days ago
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Bobby Allyn
Tatum Hunter
15 days ago
Candace Owens has said that Bill Gates uses laced mosquitoes to make people allergic to beef, that the earth may not be round and that the moon landing was “fake and gay.” Her MAGA fellows draw the line, however, at her comments on Charlie Kirk and Israel.
wapo.st/3MKjPwg
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She was MAGA’s favorite conspiracist. Then she dug into Charlie Kirk’s killing.
The right-wing firebrand rose to prominence as a pro-Trump conspiracy theorist. Her latest claims have infuriated some of her former allies.
https://wapo.st/3MKjPwg
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Trump’s BBC lawsuit, lodged in federal court in Florida, has some pretty major jurisdictional issues to clear before you even get to the merits, as BBC’s lawyers wrote to Trump’s legal team before suit was filed today
15 days ago
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“If Ader is confused about what Oracle is doing, he’s not the only one…Oracle is just one of the many companies constructing data centers for OpenAI and hoping it pays all its bills.”
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
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Oracle’s $300 Billion AI Bet Has Fast Become a Bubble Barometer
Silicon Valley is in the midst of another epic boom, and Larry Ellison has Oracle right at the center of it, for better or worse.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-12-12/oracle-s-300-billion-openai-deal-has-investors-worried-about-its-ai-spending?srnd=phx-businessweek
18 days ago
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The Trump administration's voter verification tool known as SAVE is flagging U.S. citizens and non-citizens, which can trigger voter registrations to be cancelled. The admin is ramping up the program nationwide
www.npr.org/2025/12/10/n...
by
@jjoffeblock.bsky.social
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Trump's SAVE tool is looking for noncitizen voters. But it's flagging U.S. citizens too
Anthony Nel, of Texas, became a U.S. citizen as a teen. But a flaw in a Trump administration citizenship tool flagged him as a potential noncitizen, which led to his voter registration being canceled.
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/10/nx-s1-5588384/save-voting-data-us-citizens
19 days ago
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Truly wild that states now hoping to tap the BEAD program, already plagued with bureaucratic hurdles and complex compliance rules, now have to prove to David Sacks that their AI laws aren't woke in order to expand rural broadband access.
20 days ago
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society’s been waiting too long for an app that will let you make winnie-the-poo rob a bank
20 days ago
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nothing quite like the warmth of two AIs bantering about Epstein on a synthetic podcast
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21 days ago
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Was interviewing Steve Bannon today & he claimed X has tried to restore his personal account after his 2020 ban, but he's refused because "the way Elon runs Twitter is to suppress what he doesn't want to hear. And he boosts what he wants to hear. So it's rigged game. Talk about a man-child"
21 days ago
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NEW: ICEBlock sues the Trump administration for violating free speech over pressure on Apple, threats against the developer
www.npr.org/2025/12/08/n...
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ICEBlock app sues Trump administration for censorship and 'unlawful threats'
The app lets people anonymously share the locations of immigration agents but Apple removed it from its app store under pressure from the Trump administration. Now, the app's developer is suing.
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/08/nx-s1-5631826/iceblock-app-lawsuit-trump-bondi
23 days ago
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had no idea MJ was the Tim Sweeney of the racing world
add a skeleton here at some point
25 days ago
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reposted by
Bobby Allyn
David Slack
25 days ago
Real nice dystopia you got here. Be a shame if somethin’ happened to it…
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i learned yesterday that there’s a beauty peptide guy that some of my actor/fashion friends in LA see. this person pushes anti-inflammatory jabs to women as a “glow stack” and to men as “a wolf stack,” and i’ve never felt so alone in los angeles
26 days ago
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the clownish-ness/rogue-ness of Perplexity’s publicity stunts and public statements are really striking
26 days ago
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"Trust and safety is a broad practice which includes critical and life-saving work to protect children and stop CSAM as well as preventing fraud, scams, and sextortion…not censoring just for the sake of it”
www.npr.org/2025/12/04/n...
by
@shannonbond.bsky.social
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State Department to deny visas to fact checkers and others, citing 'censorship'
The order is focused on applicants for H-1B visas, which are frequently used by tech companies and is part of a campaign by the Trump administration against online content moderation.
https://www.npr.org/2025/12/04/nx-s1-5633444/trump-content-moderation-visas-censorship
27 days ago
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Bobby Allyn
Kate Klonick
27 days ago
Holy shit. Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
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“Her real betrayal was always of her audience, and of the work she was trusted to do. It’s a cowardly failure made worse by her refusal to name it, or name almost anyone.”
slate.com/culture/2025...
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Olivia Nuzzi’s Much-Hyped Book Was Always Going to Be Self-Serving. It’s So Much Worse Than That.
God, everyone sucks so much in American Canto.
https://slate.com/culture/2025/12/olivia-nuzzi-rfk-donald-trump-ryan-lizza-book.html?pay=1764788850025&support_journalism=please#
28 days ago
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reading American Canto has me thinking her NY Mag editor is truly a hero
28 days ago
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Oh just a chill Tuesday in 2025 when the Pentagon press corps is replaced with a disgraced Congressman, a Pizzagate proponent and a 9/11 Truther. Totally normal stuff here.
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29 days ago
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The Twitter investors suing Musk for securities fraud tried to get Alex Spiro kicked off the case, since he's set to both be Musk's attorney and a key witness at trial, which is usually a no-no. But today the judge sided with Musk and will let him keep Spiro.
www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
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SPIRO ORDER
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26322799-spiro-order/
29 days ago
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the David Sacks hagiography on X shows just how touchy the VC crowd is about discussing self-dealing and sweetheart deals
about 1 month ago
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the playbook used to be that the billionaire tech elite quietly hired law firms to send letters & make legal threats to prying reporters. now they boast about it publicly. they know exactly what they’re doing: trying to chill future scrutiny & intimidate journalists from digging into their dealings
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Bobby Allyn
Ryan Mac 🙃
about 1 month ago
We just published a deep look into David Sacks, the White House's AI and Crypto czar. The story examines how he has been able keep hundreds of stakes in AI-related and crypto companies as he influences gov policy in those very industries. Here's what we found:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/t...
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Silicon Valley’s Man in the White House Is Benefiting Himself and His Friends
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/technology/david-sacks-white-house-profits.html?unlocked_article_code=1.5E8.rCcO.KH8y5bYiXIh7&smid=url-share
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The Harper’s Index about the AI bubble include these stats: Oracle’s debt has doubled since 2021 and it’s supposed to double again by 2030. Oracle’s cash flow is expected to be negative for the next five years.
www.ft.com/content/064b...
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Oracle is already underwater on its ‘astonishing’ $300bn OpenAI deal
AI’s circular economy may have a reverse Midas at the centre
https://www.ft.com/content/064bbca0-1cb2-45ab-85f4-25fdfc318d89?utm_social_handle_id=18949452&utm_social_post_id=576676461
about 1 month ago
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this is a good story but to quote Witkoff on the record then grafs later say “a person familiar with Witkoff’s thinking” is hilarious
www.wsj.com/world/russia...
about 1 month ago
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it’s giving pistachio milk
about 1 month ago
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Bobby Allyn
Davey Alba
about 1 month ago
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving. Gift link:
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-25/ai-slop-recipes-are-taking-over-the-internet-and-thanksgiving-dinner?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc2NDA4MzUxMCwiZXhwIjoxNzY0Njg4MzEwLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUNkFGNzVLR1pBSlowMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJFNzAxNENGQzIzNTI0MzU0QTVENUY2QkREMDAxOEU3NiJ9.zVeH6d7ceqUngdCBCfynlfmG4wiYTU-Dv8BjiwikQsU
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AI financiers are swatting away bubble talk, just as the industry is on track to spend $400B on the hope of fantastical revenue. Companies are investing in each other to prop up demand. Spending is being kept off balance sheets. A look at these bubbly times
www.npr.org/2025/11/23/n...
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Here's why concerns about an AI bubble are bigger than ever
Tech companies are pouring billions into AI chips and data centers. Increasingly, they are relying on debt and risky tactics. Financial analysts are worried there's a bubble that will soon pop.
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/23/nx-s1-5615410/ai-bubble-nvidia-openai-revenue-bust-data-centers
about 1 month ago
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nothing says “i’m definitely over it” like publishing a serialized exposition about the breakup
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Bobby Allyn
David Ingram
about 1 month ago
NEW: Elon Musk's Grokipedia cites a neo-Nazi website 42 times, researchers say
www.nbcnews.com/tech/elon-mu...
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Elon Musk’s Grokipedia cites Stormfront — a neo-Nazi forum — dozens of times, study finds
An analysis by researchers at Cornell University is the first comprehensive look at Grokipedia since Musk launched his project last month.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/elon-musk/elon-musk-grokipedia-wikipedia-neo-nazi-grok-42-encyclopedia-rcna244749
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Bobby Allyn
Will Oremus
about 1 month ago
You can oversee the bloody dismemberment of a Washington Post journalist with a bone saw, and the president of the United States will smile, shake your hand and threaten to pull the license of a news outlet whose reporter asks you a question about it.
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
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Trump defends Saudi crown prince over Khashoggi killing
The de facto Saudi ruler was branded a pariah in 2018 after the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Now, U.S.-Saudi relations are approaching a high point.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/11/18/saudi-prince-trump-visit-white-house/
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so for things Congress is supposed to authorize, Congress can be circumvented, but for something the president can do without Congress, the WH will lean on Congress? my brain is breaking
about 1 month ago
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one unintended consequence of the short-lived tiktok blackout: it provided a mini case study that helped Meta defeat the FTC's anti-trust case
about 1 month ago
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Part 5: Revenge of the bamboo
about 1 month ago
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quick someone get Giuliani on the horn
about 1 month ago
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is it really that surprising that the newspaper that made its hit podcast by poaching NPR staffers is now attempting to clone Tiny Desk? truly shameless.
about 2 months ago
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America’s first to-be trillionaire might wanna put those “PC handcuffs” back on his Grok toy
add a skeleton here at some point
about 2 months ago
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Bobby Allyn
Drew Harwell
2 months ago
Scoop: The Trump admin's videos boasting triumphs on immigration have used misleading footage from months ago or thousands of miles away When we showed them the errors, DHS said they make a lot of videos and the White House said it'll keep making "banger memes"
wapo.st/4nuDGwf
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Trump administration uses misleading videos to portray chaos, push deportations
Official videos purporting to show the triumph of recent immigration operations used footage that was years old or recorded thousands of miles away, a Washington Post analysis found.
https://wapo.st/4nuDGwf
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“This post and other similar videos depict incidents that did not occur, though some commenters appeared to think they were real. “Accurate and sad. They milk the system on our back,” one user wrote.
add a skeleton here at some point
2 months ago
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"Belden got into AI slop after sinking into Instagram Reels, the holy land of shortform stupidity"
www.gq.com/story/truean...
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TrueAnon Saw How Twisted Politics Were About to Get. Here’s What They Say Is Coming Next
“Everything we’ve covered is coming to a head with the Trump administration in a very weird way,” says Liz Franczak, one third of the cult podcast.
https://www.gq.com/story/trueanon-podcast-profile
2 months ago
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reposted by
Bobby Allyn
Geoff Brumfiel
2 months ago
New A.I. grift just dropped: Spoofing real musicians to steal their follows and listens off Spotify. (By
@bobbyallyn.bsky.social
)
www.npr.org/2025/10/27/n...
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Your favorite band has a new single? It might be AI
With AI music generators widely available, scammers are uploading songs to the pages of inactive artists and dead musicians. Spotify says it is cracking down, but the practice persists.
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/27/nx-s1-5587852/spotify-ai-music-fakes
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AI companies desperate for data centers descend on rural America with big checks and NDAs to keep farmers and other land owners muzzled. “One of the men said he represented a “Fortune 100 company” that wanted the property for an industrial development”
www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...
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How Big Tech uses NDAs to hide AI data center details from Americans
Big Tech companies use secrecy agreements with local governments to keep communities from knowing who is building in their backyards.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/data-center-ai-google-amazon-nda-non-disclosure-agreement-colossus-rcna236423
2 months ago
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reposted by
Bobby Allyn
NPR
2 months ago
With AI music generators widely available, scammers are uploading songs to the pages of inactive artists and dead musicians. Spotify says it is cracking down, but the practice persists.
n.pr/4hzHZ8a
loading . . .
Your favorite band has a new single? It might be AI
With AI music generators widely available, scammers are uploading songs to the pages of inactive artists and dead musicians. Spotify says it is cracking down, but the practice persists.
https://n.pr/4hzHZ8a
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