What I'm Reading - 1/12/25
Greetings from Salt Lake City. If you wondered how crazy 2025 would be, I think these first ten days have given you the answer. My phone hasn’t stopped blowing up since Meta’s big announcement on Tuesday about numerous changes they are making to their approach to content moderation. On Friday, we had the TikTok arguments in front of the Supreme Court, Meta announcing that they were doing away with their DEI programs, and Mark going on Joe Rogan. Justin Trudeau's resignation as the Prime Minister of Canada on Monday feels like AGES ago.
Throughout all of this, there have been devastating fires in Los Angeles. I was in Huntington Beach (about an hour from LA) for a conference earlier this week. I was so overwhelmed responding to people about the Meta announcement that I had no idea the fires were happening until I was in the car Wednesday morning going to the airport. My driver got an emergency alert on his phone, and shortly after, I saw the front page of the New York Times only to look up and see the smoke outside my window:
Numerous friends have been affected, and I pray that this gets contained soon.
Given all that has happened, I’m recalibrating my newsletter and podcast plans for January. I’ve got much more to say as I process the Meta announcement and some thoughts about interesting conversations I had while in San Francisco this week.
Have a great Sunday!
What I’m Reading
Stories About Meta’s Decision
The Economist: Mark Zuckerberg’s U-turn on fact-checking is craven—but correct
Foreign Policy: Mark Zuckerberg's Meta Fact-Check Announcement Will Have Global Consequences
Financial Times: The coming battle between social media and the state
France24: Brazil gives Meta 72 hours to explain new fact-checking policies
The New York Times: Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s Sprint to Remake Meta for the Trump Era
Persuasion by Jacob Mchangama: Don’t Mourn the Fact-Checkers
Samidh Chakrabarti on Bluesky: ”Will Meta's retreat from proactive/automated enforcement of its community standards lead to Instagram and Facebook becoming deeper cess pools?”…
Dave Wilner on Bluesky: ”Folks are mostly missing the forest for the trees re: the recent Meta announcement”….
Top Trends
Eurasia Group: The Top Risks of 2025
Morning Consult: The Year Ahead in Geopolitical Risk: 2025 Report
Foreign Policy: Top Global Elections in 2025: Canada, Germany, Ecuador and More
Foreign Policy: 10 Conflicts to Watch 2025: From Syria and Gaza to Mexico and Myanmar
The Washington Post: 5 major tech battles to watch in 2025
Sprout Social: The 2025 Sprout Social Index
The Information: OpenAI’s Next Departure, Amazon’s New Product—and 16 Other Things We Think Will Happen in 2025
AI Developments
The AI Policy Newsletter by Alisar Mustafa: Key AI Laws Taking Effect in 2025
TechPolicy.Press: We Can’t Wait For Media Literacy Education in the Age of AI
Bloomberg: 8 Ways AI Will Transform Journalism
Stories About Specific Countries
Washington Post: Zelensky turns to alternative media to reach U.S. audiences
POLITICO: Pressure mounts on EU to use legal weapons against Musk’s interference
The Economic Times: EU rules don't prohibit Elon Musk's German far-right chat on X
Morning Consult: How Brazil vs. Musk Foreshadows the Future of Global Tech Diplomacy
POLITICO: When Elon met Alice: 9 weird moments from Musk’s German far-right chuckle-fest
Political & Social Commentary
theRighting: Bluesky Captures More Unique Visitors Than Truth Social in November
Noema Mag: The Great Social Media Decentralization
Semafor: The year ahead in 10 election days
Morning Consult: Global Leader Approval Rating Tracker
POLITICO: ‘They Are Certainly Singing a Different Tune’: A Key Trump Ally on Facebook
Legal & Regulatory
Tech Policy.Press: Regulating Election Deepfakes: A Comparison of State Laws
Company Announcements
@CES on X: CES 2025 Keynote with CEO of X Corp, Linda Yaccarino
CES: The Future of Digital Media: Insights from X Corp's CES 2025 Keynote
Department of Homeland Security: DHS Generative AI Public Sector Playbook