Happy Tuesday! Here’s your Tuesday Tech Drop, the past week’s top stories from the intersection of technology and politics.
Trump admin blesses ‘Bitcoin Jesus’
The Trump administration has granted yet another friendly deal to a cryptocurrency investor facing criminal prosecution. President Donald Trump and his family are deeply invested in cryptocurrencies, and his administration has halted numerous crypto-related investigations and pardoned an assortment of crypto enthusiasts, including notorious drug trafficker Ross Ulbrecht.
Now, it appears the administration has blessed Roger Ver, an investor known as “Bitcoin Jesus” among crypto evangelists, with some favorable treatment after he pleaded for Trump to help “end this lawfare.” Reuters reported that Ver, whose lawyer previously represented Trump, agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement stemming from fraud and tax evasion charges:
The agreement calls for the indictment against Ver, 46, to be dismissed after one month if he abides by the deal’s terms, under which the Internal Revenue Service may collect up to $49.9 million, covering his tax liability, civil penalty and interest.
Ver was represented by Christopher Kise, a lawyer who had previously represented Trump. The top Justice Department official listed on Ver’s agreement is Associate Deputy Attorney General Ketan Bhirud, who before joining the government represented the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump in litigation.
Read more at Reuters.
Young Republican extremism
A report from Politico unearthed numerous leaked Telegram messages showing several leaders of Young Republican groups across the country joking about slavery and rape, as well as gas chambers for their political opponents.
Read more at Politico.
The age of age verification
Adi Robertson, senior tech editor for The Verge, noted the global rise of online age verification — for everything from porn platforms to social media sites — and the related privacy concerns.
Read more at The Verge.
Univision uses Trump
MeidasTouch found that Trump-friendly Latino news outlet Univision was running ads on Trump’s Truth Social platform featuring a social media post from the president urging Google to carry the station on YouTube TV. Google recently agreed to a $24.5 million settlement with Trump over the suspension of his YouTube account after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Read more at MeidasTouch.
Pope Leo condemns clickbait
Pope Leo denounced clickbait — another term for misleading content or sensationalized journalism — during a conference at the Vatican:
Communication must be freed from the misguided thinking that corrupts it, from unfair competition and from the degrading practice of so-called clickbait. News agencies are at the frontlines, and are called upon to act in the current communications environment according to principles — unfortunately not always shared — that unite the economic sustainability of the company with the protection of the right to accurate and balanced information.
Read more at the Vatican.
ChatGPT’s dangerous teachings
An NBC News report revealed how ChatGPT’s safety systems can be bypassed so the chatbot can grant users answers on how to make chemical and biological weapons.
Read more at NBC News.
Pro-Israel group targets evangelicals
The Faith & Freedom Coalition, a right-wing activist group, attempted to distance itself from one of its leaders’ plans to assist an organization acting on behalf of Israel’s government in launching a $4.1 million ad campaign targeting Christians with pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian messaging.
Read more at The Christian Post.
Marsha Blackburn’s bogus probe
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is targeting some of the country’s top telecommunications companies, using bogus allegations that the Biden administration “spied” on Republicans after Jan. 6. In a recent post, I explained the absurdity of Blackburn’s claims and how they fit within the MAGA movement’s broader push to weaponize the government against its perceived foes.
Read more at MSNBC.
Meta adviser’s social media habits
Robby Starbuck, a conservative anti-diversity influencer whom Meta has tapped as an adviser to purportedly help root out political bias from its artificial intelligence initiatives, defended himself to The Guardian after the outlet detailed his apparent history of spreading disinformation about shootings, vaccines and transgender people.
Read more at The Guardian.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
