📱 Tech Power Plays, Trump Pauses TikTok Ban, Musk vs. China’s X Ban
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, January 21. Today we are covering:
Welcome to the era of gangster tech regulation
Trump signs executive order to pause TikTok ban, provide immunity to tech firms
Elon Musk complains about China's ban on X
President Trump signs exec order to make Musk's DOGE commission more official
Trump revokes Biden 50% EV target, freezes unspent charging funds
Let’s dive in
Welcome to the era of gangster tech regulation
By Elizabeth Lopatto via The Verge
President Trump’s second term is characterized by tech billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg leveraging massive donations to buy influence, with Trump’s administration rewarding donors through selective legal enforcement, lucrative defense contracts, and policy adjustments favoring industries like crypto and AI.
Silicon Valley’s agenda includes avoiding antitrust enforcement, benefiting from mass privatization, and targeting military spending, while tech giants’ divergent interests—like TikTok bans or tariff policies—create intra-industry rivalries under Trump’s manipulative favor-trading system.
The corruption of tech regulation under Trump allows public and blatant grift, enabling tech companies to sidestep scrutiny, enrich themselves at public expense, and erode trust while worsening user experiences and societal inequalities.
𝕏: "I suppose I have to explain why this makes the US a shittier place to live, given the “savvy” cynicism I’ve seen about how it’s all rotten here already." "That makes life tangibly worse for everyone who isn’t a billionaire." - Nicolás Wolovick (@nwolovick)
Trump signs executive order to pause TikTok ban, provide immunity to tech firms
By Bobby Allyn via NPR
President Trump signed an executive order pausing the TikTok ban, citing a need for further review and negotiations with the company.
The order provides legal immunity to certain tech firms, shielding them from ongoing regulatory lawsuits and easing operational restrictions.
This move aligns with Trump’s broader agenda of using selective legal enforcement to secure tech industry compliance and favors.
𝕏: If you are wondering why TikTok can't be downloaded its b/c this executive order prevents the distribution, maintenance, or updating of applications operated by ByteDance Ltd., TikTok's China-based parent company. For 75 days. - Teneika Askew | Analytics & Automation (@teneikaask_you)
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Elon Musk complains about China's ban on X
By Ryan McMorrow via Ars Technica
Elon Musk criticized the US-China tech imbalance, opposing the ban on X in China while TikTok operates in the US, calling the situation “unbalanced” and urging change.
Musk’s comments highlight his conflict between Tesla’s interests in China—where it earns a quarter of its sales—and his advisory role to President Trump’s administration.
Musk met Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, who urged US businesses to bridge Sino-US relations, signaling Beijing’s interest in leveraging Musk as an intermediary amid heightened trade tensions.
President Trump signs exec order to make Musk's DOGE commission more official
By Kyle Wiggers via TechCrunch
President Trump signed an executive order to formalize Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasking it with advising on federal budget cuts and modernizing government IT systems.
The order renames the U.S. Digital Service to U.S. DOGE Service, creating "DOGE Teams" across agencies to implement Musk's cost-cutting initiatives, including a temporary organization set to terminate in 2026.
The Musk-led DOGE faces legal challenges under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) for lack of transparency, with critics calling its proposed $2 trillion budget cuts unrealistic.
Trump revokes Biden 50% EV target, freezes unspent charging funds
By David Shepardson via Reuters
President Trump revoked Biden’s 2021 executive order targeting 50% of all new vehicles sold by 2030 to be electric, freezing unspent funds from a $5 billion EV charging program and opposing policies favoring EV adoption.
Trump directed the EPA to reconsider emissions rules requiring automakers to meet aggressive EV sales targets by 2032 and proposed repealing California’s waiver to ban gasoline-only vehicle sales by 2035, impacting 11 other states.
The administration pledged to eliminate EV subsidies, including the $7,500 consumer tax credit, and focus on boosting U.S. oil production while rolling back Biden’s broader clean-energy initiatives.
Trending in AI
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