New: I reported on an issue that is only going to get bigger and more interesting over the next year: How the AI backlash could shape the midterm elections. @theinformation.com www.theinformation.com/articles/ai-...

Scoop: The White House is working on an executive order that will direct the Justice Department to sue states that pass their own laws regulating AI. Read more from @sylviavo.bsky.social and @aaronpholmes.bsky.social 👇 https://thein.fo/4pcoF3e

this is like the third or fourth iteration of the James Damore situation at Google and it's interesting how consistently it happens at the company www.theinformation.com/articles/goo...

I went on CNN today to discuss my scoop about TikTok’s plan to build a new app for U.S. users ahead of a planned sale. Read the story here: www.theinformation.com/articles/tik...

Creator Economy: What We Know—And Don’t Know—About the New TikTok App Read more from @kyurieff.bsky.social and @sylviavo.bsky.social 👇 www.theinformation.com/articles/kno...

Inside the Silicon Valley-JD Vance dynamics. My latest: www.theinformation.com/articles/sil...

Very interesting to see the DOGE project of dismantling govt still very much ongoing despite Musk’s departure. At the SEC, they are cutting and injecting AI. What could go wrong? @sylviavo.bsky.social: www.theinformation.com/articles/sec...

Exclusive: SEC employees are bracing for a DOGE-led restructuring, as the financial regulator prepares to bring AI tools into the agency. Read more from @sylviavo.bsky.social👇 www.theinformation.com/articles/sec...

Personal news: I'm changing beats to cover Silicon Valley’s growing influence in Washington D.C. under the Trump administration. If you have tips, ideas or want to chat, you can contact me securely over Signal: sylviavo.11 or by email [email protected]

Scoop: At ByteDance's internal all-hands meeting last night, TikTok's CEO said they were working with a "key person" in the Trump administration to find a solution to the ban law. He also talked about removing "unnecessary layers" in the company. www.theinformation.com/articles/tik...

Icymi: Meta has notified employees in an internal post about what they can expect Monday, when the company is due to implement previously announced job cuts affecting 5% of its workforce. www.theinformation.com/briefings/me...

Scoop: Meta Overhauls Reality Labs Business Unit Ahead of Earnings Report Meta is transferring oversight of Reality Labs’ business operations to Meta Chief Operating Officer, Javier Olivan, away from Reality Labs’ COO, Dan Reed. Read more from @sylviavo.bsky.social 👇

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...

DOGE’s top lawyer is out: www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Exclusive: TikTok in Last-Minute Dash to Prepare Retailers, Staff for Ban TikTok is organizing a last-minute effort to handle the business of millions of creators and merchants on the app once it shuts off in the U.S. Read more from @kyurieff.bsky.social and @sylviavo.bsky.social👇

TikTok confirms our scoop from Tuesday. "Unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19." www.theinformation.com/articles/tik...

Not much to see here, just Mark Zuckerberg making sure that Stephen Miller, of all people, greenlights Facebook's new hiring policies. Gift link to this excellent NYT piece: www.nytimes.com/2025/01/16/u...

TikTok plans to shut off its app in the US Sunday, rather than allowing people who have already downloaded it to continue using it, unless SCOTUS intervenes to block the ban, @sylviavo.bsky.social scoops at @theinformation.bsky.social. It's part of an effort to rally users to oppose the ban.

Scoop: TikTok Prepares for Immediate Shut-Off in the U.S. on Sunday TikTok plans to turn off its app for U.S. users on Sunday, when it is due to be banned. That will bring home the impact to all users immediately. Read more from @sylviavo.bsky.social and @kyurieff.bsky.social👇

Scoop w/ @kyurieff.bsky.social: TikTok plans to shut off its app for U.S. users on Sunday, unless the Supreme Court intervenes to block the ban. Abruptly switching off the app will bring home the impact of the ban to all TikTok’s users. www.theinformation.com/articles/tik...

3. I have fired Meta as a client. While I think they are on the right side in the generative AI copyright dispute in which I represented them, and I hope they win, I cannot in good conscience serve as their lawyer any longer 4/4

Tech Turns the Page: Amazon scrubbed a reference to benefits for transgender staff from its corporate site, as more tech companies adapt to a new political climate. Read more from @theowayt.bsky.social, @sylviavo.bsky.social and Nick Wingfield 👇

At today's Trump presser, a reporter brought up Mark Zuckerberg's Trump-friendly changes at Meta and asked, "Do you think he's directly responding to the threats you've made in the past?" Trump said "probably."

TikTok Promises Ban Refunds to Keep Advertisers Spending As some advertisers pull back from TikTok, the app is telling big ad buyers it will refund ad money if it is banned in the U.S. this month. Read more from @sylviavo.bsky.social, @siz.bsky.social and Catherine Perloff👇

As we reported in Character Limit, Emil Michael, the former embattled COO at Uber, was considered as CEO at Twitter/X before Linda Yaccarino. Now if confirmed, he’ll work for Trump.

Destination: Mar-a-Lago Google's CEO is set to meet with Donald Trump in Florida after the president-elect selected antitrust officials who have criticized the company. www.theinformation.com/articles/goo... From @aaronpholmes.bsky.social and @sylviavo.bsky.social

Members of Trump’s staff are reaching out to Meta, Google, and Snap to discuss illicit online drug sales, @sylviavo.bsky.social reports. It’s a sign that the next administration isn’t going to take the heat off companies that facilitate certain kinds of criminal activity.

Jordan Neely’s father, Andre Zachery, addresses reporters outside court after Daniel Penny was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide for choking his son on the subway in 2023 “It hurts. It really, really hurts. What are we gonna do, people? What’s gonna happen to us now?”

Scoop: The Trump transition team has asked five big tech companies, including Google, Meta and Snap, to a meeting in mid December to discuss the problem of online illicit drug sales. www.theinformation.com/articles/tru...

Remember how Meta suspended the Threads account tracking Mark Zuckerberg's private jet? www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2... The Bluesky account saw the jet landed in Palm Beach yesterday, and Zuck had a private Mar-a-Lago meeting with Trump today: www.nytimes.com/live/2024/11...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has met with Donald Trump for dinner tonight at Mar-a-Lago, a Meta spokesperson confirmed. Trump has been scathing of Zuckerberg in the past, at one point even threatening to send him to prison.

Some news: amid rapid growth and some over-enforcement of its community guidelines, Bluesky trust and safety chief @aaron.bsky.team tells me the company will quadruple the size of its content moderation team www.platformer.news/bluesky-grow...

If you are a current or former employee at a social media company and you have information you’d like to share, you can contact me confidentially over Signal:

First post on Bluesky 😌 😌. This is me and some of my amazing colleagues at The Information on our way to the CPJ awards last night. Follow them all for killer stories! @theinformation.bsky.social