📢 Big Tech’s AI Blow, Musk’s Censorship, China vs. Apple
Good morning. It’s Wednesday, February 05. Today we are covering:
Stop Worshiping the American Tech Giants
Musk Shows Us What Actual Government Censorship On Social Media Looks Like
China Weighs Probe Into Apple's App Store Fees, Practices
S.E.C. Moves to Scale Back Its Crypto Enforcement Efforts
Meta says this is the make or break year for the metaverse
Let’s dive in
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Stop Worshiping the American Tech Giants
By Lina M. Khan via The New York Times
DeepSeek's AI breakthrough challenges the dominance of U.S. tech giants, exposing the fragility of their claim to global AI leadership despite massive resources and regulatory protections.
Big Tech’s monopolistic practices—favoring acquisitions and political maneuvering over innovation—have left them vulnerable to disruption, echoing past lessons from Boeing, AT&T, IBM, and Microsoft.
Regulators must resist industry lobbying for special protections; competition, not monopoly, has historically driven U.S. technological leadership.
𝕏: Bonkers op-ed by Lina Khan in NYTimes. She argues that we must break up US firms like Google, Apple, and Meta to compete with China’s more open and more competitive system. Unreal. - Alex Tabarrok (@ATabarrok)
Musk Shows Us What Actual Government Censorship On Social Media Looks Like
By Mike Masnick via Techdirt
Elon Musk, now a government official, used his control over X (formerly Twitter) to suppress posts naming public employees, an act that directly violates First Amendment protections against government censorship.
Musk’s appointees, some as young as 19, have taken control of key U.S. government systems, creating major cybersecurity risks and raising concerns about improper access to classified information.
Self-proclaimed "free speech warriors" remain silent despite Musk engaging in clear state-backed censorship, contradicting their past outrage over alleged government influence on social media moderation.
𝕏: The thing is they weren’t doxxed. They were simply named as government employees. - Quadcarl (@quadcarl_carl)
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China Weighs Probe Into Apple's App Store Fees, Practices
By Pei Li via Bloomberg
China’s antitrust regulators are preparing a potential probe into Apple’s App Store policies, focusing on its 30% commission fees and restrictions on third-party app stores.
The investigation is part of a broader trade battle, with Beijing also targeting Google in response to new U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.
A probe into Apple could escalate tensions between China and the U.S., further entangling global tech giants in geopolitical conflicts.
𝕏: Bloomberg: China Weighs Probe Into Apple’s App Store Fees, Practices—Company under fire for app commissions, barring outside stores; Beijing is investigating Google as response to new US tariffs - Jonathan Cheng (@JChengWSJ)
S.E.C. Moves to Scale Back Its Crypto Enforcement Efforts
By Matthew Goldstein via The New York Times
The SEC is scaling back its crypto enforcement unit, reassigning staff and softening its regulatory stance as part of Trump’s deregulatory push on digital assets.
New SEC leadership under Mark Uyeda and Hester Peirce is reviewing past crypto policies, aiming for a framework that allows innovation while avoiding excessive oversight.
The shift raises uncertainty for ongoing enforcement cases, including the high-profile lawsuit against Coinbase, which challenges whether most digital assets fall under SEC jurisdiction.
𝕏: This is VERY misleading. (On brand for the NYT) The SEC, before today, only “enforced” JURISDICTION over crypto & left almost every bad actor alone. The proper headline is: SEC BUILDING crypto enforcement unit to target fraud, while cutting efforts to expand its power. - Dave W (@daveweisberger1)
Meta says this is the make or break year for the metaverse
By Wes Davis via The Verge
Meta’s CTO Andrew Bosworth has declared 2025 a make-or-break year for the metaverse, stating that Horizon Worlds must succeed on mobile for the company’s long-term plans to stay viable.
Reality Labs faces mounting pressure after layoffs and the rising success of Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses, which have overshadowed its Quest headsets and broader mixed-reality efforts.
Mark Zuckerberg warns of an “intense year” ahead, as Meta shifts focus to execution rather than new ideas, signaling that failure to gain traction could mark the metaverse as a costly misadventure.
𝕏: Meta says this is the make or break year for the metaverseThis year will decide if Horizon Worlds “will go down as the work of visionaries or a legendary misadventure,” according to a Meta executive. - Evan Kirstel #B2B #TechFluencer (@EvanKirstel)
Trending in AI
Trump, DeepSeek in focus as nations gather at Paris AI Summit
OpenAI has undergone its first ever rebrand, giving fresh life to ChatGPT interactions
Google drops pledge not to use AI for weapons or surveillance
Microsoft poaches DeepMind staff behind AI podcasting feature
EU lays out guidelines on misuse of AI by employers, websites and police
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