What I'm Reading - 4/27/25
I split my time this weekend between the shore and DC. I wanted to see how my garden was doing and get at least one night out of the city. Last night, I went to the Substack White House Correspondents’ Dinner party that was happening at the same time as the main event. Got to pull out this dress from my brother’s wedding in 2019.
Tonight I’m heading to California for the week, and tomorrow I’m starting my separate how-to series on Mondays. We’ll continue on the topic of AI, going over the features of AI and the art of effective prompting.
Have a great Sunday!
What I’m Reading
Must-Reads
Two columns grabbed me by the throat Saturday morning that I can’t get out of my head. The first is a beautiful essay on gardening like a painter and writing like that gardener. About operating more off of instinct, embracing messiness and the unknown, and throwing away the outline.
David Brooks in The New York Times writes about the same themes when examining the Trump administration. He looks at their ability to take initiative, operate off of instinct, and move faster than their opponents.
I’m going to write more about this on Wednesday, but for now, I highly encourage you to read both of these excellent pieces.
AI Developments
The Washington Post: Draft executive order outlines plan to integrate AI into K-12 schools
Substack Writers at Work: What’s your Substack’s AI policy? And why you need one…
CNBC: ChatGPT adds Washington Post content to growing list of OpenAI media deals
Andreessen Horowitz: AI Model Facts: Transparency that Works for Little Tech
The Media Copilot: The state of AI content licensing
Stories About Specific Countries
Politico: Von der Leyen warns X, Meta, TikTok to play by the rules in Europe — no matter who’s CEO
Canadian Digital Media Research Network: Social media platforms host and profit from scams using AI and fake news websites during Canada’s 2025 federal election
CBC.ca: Social media misinfo, disinfo rising as federal election nears, says expert
The New York Times: As Election Nears, Canadians Confront News Void on Facebook and Instagram
EOK Consultants: Canada’s 2025 Federal Election: How Social Media, TikTok, and Digital Campaigning Are Shaping This Race
The Guardian: AI ads, action figures and Auto-Tuned raps: Australian election campaigns battle on social media
Political & Social Commentary
The Free Press: Revealed: Trump Admin Launches the Biggest Shake-Up ‘In Decades’ at the State Department
The Free Press: Marco Rubio on Iran, Deportations, and the State Department Shake-Up
Pew Research Report: Support dips for U.S. government, tech companies restricting false or violent online content
Chaotic Era: Democrats look for an organizing upgrade
Oversight Board: Wide-Ranging Decisions Protect Speech and Address Harms
The Verge: Instagram co-founder: Zuckerberg saw us as a ‘threat’ to Facebook
The New York Times: Discord’s Jason Citron Steps Down as CEO of the Social Chat App
User Mag: Inside the Democrats’ Struggle to Win Over Creators
WIRED: The US Has Spent Over $500,000 on Hyper-Targeted YouTube Ads to Discourage Irregular Migration
Axios: Independent journalists prioritize community building for growth
TechCrunch: Government censorship comes to Bluesky, but not its third-party apps ... yet
The White House: American Public Submits Over 10,000 Comments on White House’s AI Action Plan
Legal & Regulatory
Bloomberg: Instagram's Kevin Systrom Testifies App Could Have Thrived Without Meta
European Commission: Commission finds Apple and Meta in breach of the Digital Markets Act
Atlantic Council: How the US retreat from the UN endangers the future of internet governance
The Washington Post: Videos disparaging trans women aren’t hate speech, Meta board says
Miscellaneous Insights & Reports
SoulStack by Beth Kempton: Doing what you love in the age of AI
Company Announcements
Anthropic: Understanding and Addressing AI Harms
TikTok Newsroom: Protecting the integrity of TikTok during the Singapore General Elections 2025
US Department of State: A New State Department to Meet the Challenges of a New Era
The State Department is the first agency to be on the platform and so Substack also had to update it’s terms of service for that: US Government Terms of Service Amendment
Meta for Business: Ads in Threads: Extend Your Campaigns to a Rapidly Growing Community
The Substack Post: A new media order is emerging - by Hamish McKenzie