California AG launches investigation into xAI and Grok oag.ca.gov/news/press-r...

House members ask federal judge to appoint a special master for the Epstein files www.cnbc.com/2026/01/08/e...

btw bluesky is having its biggest month in a while by the math

🙃

Here’s what you need to know about the fraud case that the Trump admin keeps using to justify what it says is the largest ICE operation ever in MPLS - and how it connects to what right wing influencers are doing on Twitter right now www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne... w/ @davidingram.bsky.social

Rest in peace, Bob Weir

I want to highlight this important story by my friends @nbcnews.com - www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne... "The Internet Watch Foundation said it found topless images of girls that dark web forum users attributed to xAI’s Grok Imagine." <-- the AI generated CSAM / NCII immediately escapes containment

"Trying to cover the Justice Department or the Pentagon without regularly being present in the building is like trying to write a restaurant review without going to the restaurant and trying the food." - Pete Williams, my former @nbcnews.com colleague storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Is Sean Combs still an investor in X? www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...

As Grok has churned out sexualized AI slop of non-consenting women and children, even the mother of one of Elon Musk's children, Ashley St. Clair, has been affected. We spoke about how she's trying to get X to pay attention and what can be done to stop it. www.nbcnews.com/tech/elon-mu...

Amazon must face price gouging lawsuit, U.S. judge rules www.cnbc.com/2026/01/05/a...

Nick Shirley copycats

NEW: @davidingram.bsky.social and I talked to some of the right-wing influencers who are showing up to day cares in Washington and Ohio, trying to replicate Nick Shirley's video from Minnesota Advocates for day care workers and immigrants call it a "witch hunt" www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne...

California ban on openly carrying guns is unconstitutional, court rules www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

"Mar-a-Lago sent an 18-year-old spa worker on a house call to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. She complained to her bosses that Epstein pressured her for sex." www.wsj.com/us-news/trum...

Meta to acquire Chinese startup Manus to boost advanced AI features www.reuters.com/world/china/...

A small (personal) example of this book’s intellectual dishonesty: My father-in-law is reading In Covid’s Wake, and excitedly told me he found a passage where I’m quoted. The quote in question is me saying the FBI worked to censor speech on social media. Huh? When did I say that?!

A bold prediction here from @caseynewton.bsky.social: "Social media bans for children under 16 will become the norm." His full list: www.platformer.news/2026-tech-pr...

Will this happen before or after Tesla's Q4 earnings report? www.ibtimes.co.uk/no-need-save...

STRICKLAND: Participate in the UFC White House event? "Just to go hang out with the fucking Epstein list? I'm good, dude."

How a Reddit tipster cracked the Brown University and MIT professor shooting cases www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news... via @nbcnews.com

Terrifying headline if you don’t realize they are sports teams.

RIP, Jim Hunt. I met him years ago. His personality was a force of nature. apnews.com/article/nort...

It's still a mystery to me how Jeffrey Epstein got his money.

For anyone interested in online privacy .... There is ongoing dispute about what exactly Instagram did in 2021 when it said it was making some teen accounts private by default.

One of the boys mentioned in this lawsuit, Levi Maciejewski, died within 48 hours of joining Instagram, his mother told me. www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-... He was 13 when he died last year — a few months before Instagram made teen accounts private by default.

I didn't know teen boys were being targeted like this...

Not much audience for this story over on Threads

"Levi was 13 when he joined and had been on the app less than 48 hours when he was targeted for blackmail and died, his mother said."

"Levi was 13 when he joined, Instagram’s minimum age, and had been on the app less than 48 hours when he was targeted for blackmail and died, his mother said" www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-... via @davidingram.bsky.social

NEW: The families of two teenage boys who died by suicide filed a lawsuit today against Meta, alleging that for years the tech company ignored the danger of sexual blackmail schemes targeting teens on Instagram. www.nbcnews.com/tech/social-... I interviewed one of the parents.

When reached by MS NOW, Bongino declined to confirm or deny the reports of his plans, adding, “Print whatever you’d like. No one believes you anyway. Thanks.” www.ms.now/news/bongino...

Per @garretthaake.bsky.social, the extremely tacky "presidential wall of fame" that lines the colonnade to the West Wing now has obviously-Trump-penned plaques insulting or praising the presidents.

"The newspaper industry served as a feeder for our entire news media ecosystem. So when we lose those newspapers, we've lost that journalism. In the early 2000s, we had 40 journalists per 100,000 people. We're now down to 8 journalists per 100,000 people," says @victorpickard.bsky.social.

oof theonion.com/fbi-designat...

I realize folks don't want to hear this, but we really need to re-examine the conventional wisdom that we can shift the entire US market to pure EV with massive batteries and some light consumer incentives. It's a nice thing to believe but the evidence doesn't add up.

I just got my first Grokipedia hit through Google Search. Not a good sign for the future of the internet.

Scrolling through the comments on that truth social post

An incredible thread of people losing their minds at the idea of enforcing speed limits 🧵

Looking at prices for a 1.5 mile rideshare trip today in San Francisco: Uber: $10.40 Lyft: $10.93 Waymo: $35.58

It would actually be great to see Mike and @whitehouse.senate.gov discuss potential changes to Section 230

And meanwhile, Musk says Tesla is three weeks from taking the safety operators out of the Austin robotaxis

oh no, we’re doing credit default swap explainers again

Surprising turn for Qui-Gon

New! We worked with the Public Interest Research Group to test a bunch of LLM-driven toys ahead of the Christmas. That sexual talking teddy bear wasn't a one-off; it turns out disturbing behavior is deeply built into these toys across the board.

I’M LOSING MY SHIT THIS IS SO FUNNY

Worth watching

She was in crosswalk. He was taking a fuqen left turn. And:

Is there any way this could go wrong?