Thus ends Hot Girl Vergecast Summer ☀️ Here’s a final Friday ep for the road w2 me @jake--k.bsky.social (who is an honorary hot girl), @jp2e.bsky.social and @laurenfeiner.bsky.social Jen, @miasato.bsky.social and @allisonjo1.bsky.social also KILLED it in their solo eps. youtu.be/TK0FBjo6bkk?...

Judge Mehta declines to grant the most ambitious of the DOJ's proposed remedies to break up Google and dismantle its search empire. But we're still in the middle of this very long fight www.theverge.com/policy/71708...

We got you something. Today we’re debuting three newsletter offerings just for our distinguished, venerated subscribers. 📜Regulator by @tinanguyen.bsky.social 📺Lowpass by @jank0.bsky.social ◀️The Stepback by… everyone Here’s how it breaks down 🧵

Definitely recommend following Tina's newsletter for a deep dive and behind-the-scenes of all the tech drama in Washington

Trump wanted to break up Nvidia — but then its CEO won him over

It's Thursday, and for the first time, I'm putting together this week's Installer newsletter for The Verge! I want to know what you're into right now. What are you reading / watching / playing / going down a deep rabbit hole about? Tell me so I can include it! (And subscribe to Installer!)

Here's my attempt to articulate the deeply weird experience of simultaneously covering two landmark tech antitrust trials in the same courthouse tasked with adjudicating some of the most controversial decisions of the second Trump presidency www.theverge.com/policy/69044...

Here’s @laurenfeiner.bsky.social with a searching look inside the literal courtrooms where the tech industry faces make or break rulings www.theverge.com/policy/69044...

Thank you to this subscriber for their sympathy — ICYMI the TikTok ban is delayed again, and no, the law still doesn't allow for this kind of extension 🤷‍♀️ www.theverge.com/news/688252/...

Breaking: The Trevor Project received a stop-work order last night on its contract with the national 988 suicide prevention hotline. The Trump administration is eliminating the option for LGBTQ callers to the hotline to press 3 and connect with someone who specializes in LGBTQ mental health.

Thank you all SO MUCH for your support. Our incredible Bargaining Committee worked into the night for us and reached a Tentative Agreement at around 5am! 🙏💪🥳🎉 As of now there will be NO STRIKE! Please continue enjoying all our work, knowing you all helped us get here! #unionstrong #voxunion #1u

three years ago, Vox Media reached an agreement with its union securing one of the *strongest* contracts in digital media. and now they won't budge on basic protections? shame on management. solidarity with my vox media union pals!!!! i hear they're ready to strike!!!

📣📣📣📣📣 STRIKE AUTHORIZED, LET'S GOOOO 📣📣📣📣📣📣

I caught up with the FCC's last Dem commissioner @agomezfcc.bsky.social as she tours the country warning of the admin's "ongoing campaign of censorship and control." It's a risky campaign given Trump has already broken SCOTUS precedent to fire the FTC's Democrats www.theverge.com/policy/68559...

It’s been a long day of bargaining with Vox Media, fighting hard to get a fair contract with better salaries, AI protections, the inclusion of the Dodo in our union, and much more. Come tomorrow, there’s only two days left in our contract — Vox Media, stop dragging your feet.

ONLY THREE DAYS are left before @voxmediaunion’s contract expires and we’re STILL WAITING for a fair contract with salaries that reflect inflation, proposals to not replace us with AI, and include the Dodo in our union. @voxmedia, stop dragging your feet and bargain with us in good faith.

A 10 year ban on state AI laws will have devastating consequences for workers, consumers, and kids. The consequence of AI on jobs is not getting enough attention in our politics. I make the case against the ban in this interview with the Verge. www.theverge.com/politics/681...

Some recommended further reading on the shape internet policy is taking at Trump's FTC: www.theverge.com/policy/68160... by @laurenfeiner.bsky.social www.techpolicy.press/ftc-outlines... by @viacristiano.bsky.social

We know there's a struggle in today's GOP between populism and big business interests. At Trump's FTC, the populism is winning and it isn't close. Today's Tech Brief on how Republicans are taking up the mantle of regulating the internet — for the children: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

“I had a higher education because of all the sacrifices my family took to be here,”and more voices from protests in LA today www.theverge.com/policy/68382...

The Vox Media Union just delivered our strike pledge to Vox management, showing our unwavering commitment to securing a collective bargaining agreement that is fair. Should we not get a fair contract, we are prepared to strike.

The Vox Media Union’s current union contract expires at 11:59 pm ET on June 12. Time is running out, but Vox Media management has refused to even discuss our proposals in good faith. Send a letter urging Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff to negotiate a fair contract NOW! wgaea.st/vox-letter

Update in the Battle of the Beige Amazon influencer lawsuit I wrote about back in November: Alyssa Sheil, alleged copier, has prevailed.

I finally escaped the courtroom long enough to talk about the Meta trial with @davidpierce.xyz on today's Vergecast. Listen for our breakdown of the stakes of the case and my prediction of how it will end here: www.theverge.com/the-vergecas...

After 6 weeks of trial, Meta just rested its defense against the FTC’s monopoly charge. We heard from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, founders of Instagram & WhatsApp, and execs from many other apps. I live-blogged most of it, which you can check out here: www.theverge.com/news/646809/...

Meta called on its former employee and WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton to help make its antitrust defense. It was a striking call since Acton left Meta before millions of his stock units vested, and later advocated for people to delete Facebook. www.theverge.com/antitrust/67...

As of today, Wednesday, May 14, 2025, Vox Media only has 30 days to negotiate a new contract with the Vox Media Union before our current one expires.

There's a Big Tech fight brewing over kids online safety, but not in the way you might think. Apple just endorsed KOSA, a bill that would squarely apply to Meta. Meta, on the other hand, has pushed a bill putting age check requirements on app stores like Apple's. www.theverge.com/news/666729/...

Boy, is Meta desperate or what? Om Malik is a pioneer in tech media entrepreneurship and I wrote some freelance pieces for Vanity Fair a decade ago. You’d think their high priced lawyers were smarter. www.theverge.com/politics/666...

I made a MeWe account for this story: AMA www.theverge.com/antitrust/66...

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri told the court yesterday about the challenge it faced competing with TikTok and shared his philosophy that "you're either growing, or you're slowly dying." www.theverge.com/antitrust/66...

Here's the full exchange in @laurenfeiner.bsky.social's live storystream, where Adam says he "vaguely remembers" talking to me, lol www.theverge.com/news/663354/...

Adam Mosseri was just made to explain his 2021 Decoder interview on the stand today in the Meta antitrust trial, @laurenfeiner.bsky.social tells me - specifically this answer about integrating the Instagram trust and safety teams with the larger Meta teams. www.theverge.com/22237648/ins...

A bunch of news out of Apple services exec Eddy Cue's testimony in the Google search remedies trial this morning. First up, he shared that Apple is looking at adding AI search options on Safari www.theverge.com/news/662656/...

"People turn to Google to ask questions they may not even feel comfortable asking a friend....If suddenly they’re worried that data might go somewhere else…maybe they decide to not use Google altogether, [or]...decide they’re not going to search for certain categories." by @laurenfeiner.bsky.social

If you are pissed about the complete gutting of Polygon like I am, please consider donating to our fundraiser for all the great people who lost their jobs. www.gofundme.com/f/support-po...

Firefox could be doomed without Google search deal, says executive

TikTok's head of operations took the stand in the same courthouse that just months ago OK'd a ban of the app. This time, though, TikTok was testifying for the US government. www.theverge.com/policy/65910...

Adding to the deeply strange tech collision in the DC courthouse where both Meta and Google's antitrust trials are taking place, TikTok's witness was presented with a declaration from its own case against the US over its ban — to show how it doesn't compete with Meta www.theverge.com/news/646809/...

Senate Democrats endeavored to quantify how much Musk's companies stand to avoid in potential legal liability because of his ties to the federal government. Their "conservative" estimate? $2.37 billion. www.theverge.com/news/657042/...

Yahoo is the latest company to express interest in buying Chrome, should Google be forced to sell it. OpenAI and Perplexity also want the browser. DuckDuckGo's CEO said his company probably couldn't afford it. www.theverge.com/policy/65597...

Took a brief break from the Meta trial today to swing over to Google's antitrust remedies trial. There, Perplexity's CBO said they'd be interested in buying Chrome if Google were forced to spin it off. www.theverge.com/policy/65483...

CFPB workers are getting mass termination notices even though an appeals court said reductions in force could only happen after a "particularized assessment." The workers union says it's implausible any such assessment happened. www.theverge.com/news/651570/...

Some other major breaking antitrust news dropped while we're in the middle of day four of the Meta trial: www.theverge.com/news/650665/...

oops www.theverge.com/news/648893/...

A year before the FTC launched the investigation that could lead to a forced spin-off of Instagram, Zuckerberg considered doing so himself. www.theverge.com/policy/64921...

if you’ve recently traveled into or out of the US and had any unusual interactions with CBP, i’d like to hear about them (regardless of immigration status—citizens, permanent residents, visa holders) email: gaby @ the verge dot com, i’m also on signal ✨

Mark Zuckerberg has just taken the stand at the long-awaited trial between Meta and the Federal Trade Commission. Follow along with us for live updates from @laurenfeiner.bsky.social and @alexeheath.com at the courthouse.

Meta and the FTC begin their massive antitrust battle today. @alexeheath.com and I are at the courthouse sharing updates here today and throughout the case www.theverge.com/news/646809/...

An unusual alliance between factions of the right and left has been forged in recent years on tech antitrust enforcement. But at two events in DC last week, there was an elephant in the room: can that alignment survive Trump's upheaval of government norms? www.theverge.com/politics/645...