Bobby Allen
Appearances
Apple News Today
Inside the first major test of Republicans’ loyalty to Trump
It's fair to say the entire digital publishing industry is on edge about generative AI tools like ChatGPT.
Apple News Today
Inside the first major test of Republicans’ loyalty to Trump
There are fears about job loss, fears over AI turbocharging misinformation online, and a concern that AI companies like OpenAI are becoming popular on the backs of copyright holders.
Apple News Today
Inside the first major test of Republicans’ loyalty to Trump
The Times says fair use does not apply here. In fact, the Times says OpenAI has become a direct competitor of the Times' website. And the lawyers point out that ChatGPT is often citing the Times incorrectly, claiming the paper reported things it never has reported, which, of course, is a huge problem for the paper's credibility and reputation.
Apple News Today
Inside the first major test of Republicans’ loyalty to Trump
This would be an incredibly disruptive, if not impossible, task for the company. Other AI companies with similar business models will be watching this lawsuit closely, as will other publishers whose work has been harvested without permission by ChatGPT.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
The club is in. You said the club is in. Bobby says the club is in. Always in forever. But my favorite city is Berlin. So again, it's always going to be in. Ask me 40 years from now, I'll still say it's in.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
I actually was there two months ago, Dani. I'll talk about it offline.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
Look, every time I go to a cafe in LA, every single Gen Z person is wearing pants that are like six sizes too big. So it's definitely in.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
Some 70s vibes going on.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
In, in. I think I have a professional obligation to say in.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
That was really fun. Thanks for having me.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
Three, two, one, three, two, one. Peter Piper, Peter Piper. Okay.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
Well, TikTok right now is on the fence of in and out and nobody knows for sure. So really hard to say.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
But yeah, in a few weeks, I will be going to Washington and watching the Supreme Court arguments between lawyers for TikTok and the Department of Justice over whether this law you just mentioned, whether that is going to stand as the law of the land, meaning TikTok will have to be shut down or if it will be overturned.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
Okay. Can you guys hear me?
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
But right, throwing a huge wrench into this, of course, was President-elect Donald Trump writing that, hey, Supreme Court, why don't you like hold off on the whole ruling thing? Because I'm Donald Trump and I'm about to be president and I think I could broker a deal. So why don't you guys just chill for a minute? Hmm. Inside TikTok, they're sort of quietly celebrating.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
They don't want to make too much noise about this. But when you talk to folks who are pretty high up at the company, they see this amicus brief from Trump basically saying he's going to rescue TikTok as their get out of jail free card. I mean, they think regardless of what the court does, Trump is going to find a solution.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
And the one thing about the law, Brittany, is even if the Supreme Court upholds it, it gives Trump a ton of flexibility and leeway in terms of how it is interpreted and enforced. So having Trump in your corner is huge.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
I don't think These become kind of identity badges more than they've ever been. I mean, before, everyone was on Facebook and then Twitter and Instagram. And it almost was kind of neutral if you're like, I saw something on X platform. But now if you say you've seen something on a specific platform, it says something about you.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
Thanks for having me.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
And I think that is only going to be accelerated in the months and years ahead.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
I have so many questions, but I feel like it would take a whole other episode to get to the bottom of it. So I'll just take you at your word. Got it. Raw milkmaid dress.
It's Been a Minute
2025 Predictions: social media is OUT & food politics are IN
My in for 2025 is going to record stores more. And it's actually related to my out for 2025, which is not using Spotify at all. I just want human recommendations. I'm sick of what some people call machine drift, right? Letting the machine tell you what to listen to. And I want an actual human being who knows what they're talking about and has a pulse and goes to shows.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-18-2024 6PM EST
The high court will hear arguments on January 10th, nine days before the law is set to take effect. Bobby Allen, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-18-2024 6PM EST
The Supreme Court has accepted TikTok's emergency motion to review a law President Biden signed in April. The law bans TikTok nationwide unless it is sold to a non-Chinese company. It is meant to address lawmakers' national security concerns over possible Chinese influence.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-18-2024 6PM EST
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court affirmed the ban law, saying it actually protects free speech by preventing an adversarial government from censoring content. Lawyers for TikTok say singling out an app for shutdown used by roughly half of America is an unprecedented violation of the First Amendment.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 02-12-2025 6PM EST
Musk and the White House did not return requests for comment. President Trump says Musk will be removed from any government work that could help any one of his six businesses. Bobby Allen, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 02-12-2025 6PM EST
It's called X Money. Musk announced last month that the service has partnered with Visa. The plan is to launch a peer-to-peer money transfer service similar to Venmo or Apple Pay. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began taking steps late last year to regulate digital wallets. Former CFEB head Richard Cordray says abolishing the agency would benefit X and Musk.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-10-2024 8PM EST
In the latest case involving AI chatbots gone rogue, NPR's Bobby Allen reports a Texas family is suing a chatbot creator over alleged abusive and violent responses.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-10-2024 8PM EST
Back-to-back losses to start the training week on Wall Street. The Dow fell 154 points today to close at 44,247. The Nasdaq dropped 49 points. The S&P 500 was down 17 points. You're listening to NPR.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-10-2024 8PM EST
Governors and lawmakers in a number of Republican-led states say they're rolling out efforts aimed at helping President-elect Donald Trump carry out his plans to deport those in the country illegally. A growing number of such states say they're proposing giving local law enforcement officers the power to arrest such individuals. Critics, however, worry about profiling.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-10-2024 8PM EST
A federal judge is blocking the mega-merger of Kroger and Albertsons. The companies have been trying to combine two of the country's biggest supermarket chains into one, but lawsuits by state and federal officials have left the deal pending for over two years.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-10-2024 8PM EST
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. A picture is beginning to emerge of Luigi Mangione, the man police have charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. NPR's Maria Aspin has more.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-10-2024 8PM EST
Alaska Airlines says it will launch a new service to Tokyo this year and to Seoul, South Korea next year, with both routes originating in Seattle. The airline's announcement of the new routes coinciding with Investor Day today Alaska has raised its fourth quarter earnings outlook and is promising to boost profits at the airline by a billion dollars over the next three years.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-10-2024 8PM EST
Parents from across the country were on Capitol Hill today calling on the House to pass bipartisan legislation to better protect kids on the Internet. NPR's Windsor Johnson reports on the Kids Online Safety Act.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-02-2025 6PM EDT
It's not noticeable by using the app, but TikTok is technically operating in violation of a law Congress passed requiring the service to sever ties with China. The Trump administration has promised not to enforce the law, while President Trump holds something of a public auction for the hit app. Now, President Trump is set to meet with Vice President J.D.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-02-2025 6PM EDT
Vance and other advisors to weigh TikTok's options. Software company Oracle, owned by Trump supporter and billionaire Larry Ellison, appears to be leading the pack of bidders. The New York Times reported Amazon has sent in a last-minute TikTok offer. Yet one key hurdle remains, winning the approval of Chinese regulators, who may use TikTok as leverage in tariff negotiations. Bobby Allen, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-26-2024 6PM EST
The Dolphins star receiver was on his way to the stadium for a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in early September when he was stopped by a Miami-Dade County officer. Videos of Tyreek Hill being yanked and pinned to the ground with a knee on his back went viral. Police cited Hill for careless driving and for not wearing a seatbelt.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-26-2024 6PM EST
In court Tuesday, a hearing officer dismissed the citations against Hill and another Miami Dolphins player because the officer who wrote the tickets didn't show up. In a statement, Miami-Dade's police department said the officer's failure to appear in court was, quote, an oversight and does not indicate the citation held no merit. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-18-2024 8PM EST
On platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, the number of right-leaning influencers exceeds left-leaning ones. And the authors note that news influencers are more likely to be men than women. But across parties and gender, the survey found surging demand for influencers to deliver and explain the news. Bobby Allen, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-18-2024 8PM EST
Pew found that among young people, the trend was especially pronounced. For adults between 18 and 29, nearly 40 percent turned to personalities on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram to understand the world. These influencers tend not to have journalism training, but many have amassed audiences that rival leading news outlets. Pew also found a clear ideological bend.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-04-2025 5PM EST
Thank you for watching. NPR found that Doge's documented savings have been grossly overstated, including an item boasting of an $8 billion savings when it should have been $8 million. The Doge site claims its cost-cutting work has saved taxpayers more than $100 billion, but only about $2 billion of that can be confirmed with federal contract data. Bobby Allen, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-13-2025 8AM EDT
Tesla vehicles, including a Cybertruck, were arrayed on the South Lawn as Musk dazzled Trump like a salesman. Richard Painter is a former ethics lawyer in the White House under George W. Bush. He says the limits of what is ethical in the White House are being stretched.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 03-13-2025 8AM EDT
The Trump-Tesla photo op came as Tesla stock price tumbled and as Tesla storefronts and superchargers have been hit with vandalism nationwide. Trump now says violence against Tesla dealerships will be labeled as domestic terrorism. Bobby Allen, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-10-2025 9AM EDT
Lawyers for OpenAI are asking a federal judge to stop Musk's attacks against the leading AI firm, saying he has made it his project to take down OpenAI. The bitter feud between Musk and OpenAI has been long running. Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI, but split away from the company before it unveiled chat GPT in late 2022. Musk has since launched a competing firm called XAI.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-10-2025 9AM EDT
In recent months, Musk has sued OpenAI, saying it abandoned its nonprofit mission and misled early investors. And in February, Musk submitted an unsolicited bid to take over OpenAI, which the company dismissed as an unserious publicity grab. Bobby Allen, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-11-2025 4AM EDT
Elizabeth Holmes' partner Billy Evans has raised millions of dollars for a biotech company. It's called Hermanthus. It's the Greek phrase for blood flower. It hopes to use AI to detect diseases early. That's according to two sources familiar with the venture who are not authorized to speak publicly since the company has not yet launched.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-11-2025 4AM EDT
The startup bears a striking resemblance to Theranos, Holmes' fraudulent blood testing company that led to her 11-year sentence. A source close to the effort told NPR Holmes has been providing advice to Evans as he develops the company.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-11-2025 4AM EDT
As a result of a federal settlement, Holmes cannot be an officer of a publicly traded company for a decade, but it does not affect her ability to work with a new private startup, even from prison. Bobby Allen, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 06-01-2025 5PM EDT
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is projecting 13 to 19 named storms this season, with 6 to 10 hurricanes. Last year, five hurricanes made landfall in the U.S., three of them in Florida. The director of the National Hurricane Center, Mike Brennan, says the leading cause of death from hurricanes now is inland flooding, often in communities far from the coast.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 06-01-2025 5PM EDT
Brennan is urging people to prepare a disaster kit, know if they're in an evacuation zone, and listen to local emergency managers. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-27-2024 7PM EST
President-elect Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to pause enforcement of a law that bans TikTok nationwide on January 19th, the day before Inauguration Day. That's shortly after the high court is set to hear oral arguments over whether the ban is constitutional. It was possible the Supreme Court would have stayed the start date even before the request to allow for time for a decision.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-27-2024 7PM EST
But Trump's filing claims he possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise to negotiate a way to save TikTok, while dealing with the national security concerns. Trump did not take a position on the legal questions facing TikTok, which the court will hear arguments over on January 10th.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-27-2024 7PM EST
The Justice Department is pushing for the ban, saying TikTok's China-based owner makes it a national security risk. Bobby Allen, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-06-2024 7PM EST
The Federal Appeals Court in Washington wrote that TikTok's First Amendment arguments failed since lawmakers view the app as a national security threat. Authorities have said the app is vulnerable to manipulation by the Chinese government because TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, is based in Beijing.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-06-2024 7PM EST
The law states that TikTok is set to be banned on January 19th, but the app's future is now uncertain. When Trump assumes office, he may be able to extend the ban date. He can also order the law not to be enforced. Tech experts say it's possible for Trump to cut a deal with China to have TikTok sold off to American investors. Bobby Allen, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-28-2025 2PM EDT
The White House has taken a number of big steps that will benefit Musk's business empire. For instance, the Commerce Department announced shaking up the requirements for this big federal broadband program that will – basically open up billions of dollars in subsidies to Musk's Starlink satellite service. Musk's SpaceX may help build Trump's Golden Dome missile defense shield.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-28-2025 2PM EDT
The president turned the White House lawn into an infomercial for Tesla. On top of all of this, investigations into Musk's companies appeared to have slowed or have been completely sidelined by the layoff of federal workers.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-14-2025 12PM EDT
The case is centered on whether Meta's acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp violated competition laws. Years before the purchases, Zuckerberg wrote in an internal email, quote, It is better to buy than compete. The FTC says Meta became dominant only after competing unfairly to box out rivals and should be forced to break up Instagram and WhatsApp into separate companies.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-14-2025 12PM EDT
Meta says regulators approved the takeover of Instagram and WhatsApp more than a decade ago and that the FTC is punishing Meta for its success. Dozens of witnesses will testify under oath, including Zuckerberg, who is expected to take the stand for seven hours. Zuckerberg has lobbied the Trump administration for the case to be dropped. It was originally filed during Trump's first term.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-28-2024 8PM EST
Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. Following the implementation of a ceasefire in Lebanon this week, the Biden administration is once again trying to broker a similar deal for the fighting in Gaza. Aaron David Miller is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He says it may just be too late.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-28-2024 8PM EST
On this Thanksgiving holiday, when many Americans gather with family and friends for a meal, food banks around the country say demand at their facilities keeps rising. But as NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports, many of those programs are bracing for possible cuts to food aid.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-28-2024 8PM EST
Canada's antitrust watchdog agency says it's suing Google over alleged anti-competitive conduct in its online advertising. The Competition Bureau says it's seeking an order that will require Google to sell two of its ad tech tools. The Bureau is also seeking a penalty from the online company. You're listening to NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-28-2024 8PM EST
Walmart is looking to get an early jump on Black Friday sales by launching what it calls shoppable ads during NBC's Thanksgiving football broadcast. As NPR's Patrick Wood reports, the new push comes during the busiest shopping period of the year that can be make or break for retailers.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-28-2024 8PM EST
Officials in Cuba are asking state and private businesses to begin generating more of their own electricity from renewable sources. They also want them to limit their use of air conditioning. The island nation is still trying to recover from a number of nationwide blackouts in October and November that left millions of people without power for days.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-28-2024 8PM EST
South Korea's central bank says the country's economy will grow at a slower pace than it had initially thought. It lowered this year's growth rate to 2.2 percent. The bank also lowered its key policy rate by a quarter percent following its meeting today to 3 percent. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-28-2024 8PM EST
In Lebanon, meanwhile, Israeli planes fired on a rocket storage facility there today after officials say they detected activity at the site. The attack came less than 24 hours after that ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took effect. Reports from Lebanon say two people were wounded.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-28-2024 8PM EST
Tech giant Meta has confirmed that Mark Zuckerberg visited President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Wednesday. As NPR's Bobby Allen reports, the meeting is seen as part of the tech executive's effort to patch up his relationship with Trump.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-28-2024 8PM EST
It was just months ago that President-elect Donald Trump said Mark Zuckerberg could spend time in prison for, as he sees it, plotting against him in the 2020 election. Since then, Zuckerberg has been on a charm campaign.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-28-2024 8PM EST
After Trump's assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, Zuckerberg praised his fist pumping to the crowd, had private calls with Trump, and now had dinner with Trump after a visit to Mar-a-Lago. Silicon Valley observers say the meeting could be aimed at trying to ease regulatory pressure on Meta, including a federal lawsuit seeking to have Meta spin off Instagram and WhatsApp.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-28-2024 8PM EST
Meta's Instagram and Facebook have for months been de-emphasizing political content and during the election allowed deceptive political ads to flood the platform. Bobby Allen, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-23-2025 7PM EDT
Taking showers within two hours of coming outside really has shown to be a good way to prevent tick-borne diseases.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-23-2025 7PM EDT
The nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is suing the Trump administration to uncover details about Doge's dealings in the U.S. government. The lawsuit argues Doge is exceeding its legal authority and asks that internal communications, financial disclosures and other documents be released to the public.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-23-2025 7PM EDT
A federal district judge found Doge is likely subject to Freedom of Information Act requests. But after an appeal, Chief Justice John Roberts is pausing that ruling, meaning Doge records do not have to be turned over as the appeals process continues. It's a win for the Trump administration, which has stated Doge is operating transparently, despite most of its activities being shrouded in secrecy.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-23-2025 7PM EDT
Those activities have resulted in tens of thousands of federal workers being fired and the unwinding of entire government agencies. Bobby Allen, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-04-2025 6PM EDT
White House negotiators were all set to announce the details of a TikTok deal, but it never happened. Behind the scenes, talks devolved into chaos. Among the factors that complicated the plan was Trump's firing of several National Security Council officials. One of them was running the TikTok deal.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 04-04-2025 6PM EDT
With Trump delaying the ban's start date, the clock on the deal to take over the China-based app has been reset. Under a federal law Congress passed last year, TikTok is technically operating illegally in the U.S. with its ties to Beijing. But the Trump administration says it will continue not enforcing the law for another two and a half months. Bobby Allen, NPR News.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
Well, it used to be that posts that were flagged by enough users underwent a fact-checking process by third-party professional fact-checkers. And when they were done, the post got a label. Now that is over. In its place is what's known as a community note system. This was inspired by how it works on Elon Musk's X.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
The fact-checking process is crowdsourced to regular users, and when the users reach some kind of consensus, a note is added to the post. That's big change one. Second big change, Steve, restrictions will be lifted on topics like immigration and gender identity. Currently, these protections are in place to curb hate speech. Now they are dismantled.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
In an Instagram video announcement, Zuckerberg says, Meta's speech policing has become too aggressive.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
And to say this is a big reversal is an understatement. After the 2016 presidential election, Zuckerberg himself came up with this fact-checking system. It followed revelations, of course, that Russia exploited Facebook to divide the country and boost the Trump campaign. Now Zuckerberg is abandoning the very fact-checking system that he helped create.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
He didn't say so explicitly, but yes, Zuckerberg's framing is quite notable. In his video, he said speech is being censored on Meta's platforms. It's an allegation Republicans have made for years and until now, an allegation he has fought against. Now, he is leaving some limits in place. One's
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
on speech that encourage crimes like terrorism, child sexual exploitation, and scams, but more lax rules also follow several other developments, Steve.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
Okay, Meta donating a million dollars to Trump's inaugural fund, Meta tapping Republican lobbyist Joel Kaplan to be Meta's global affairs officer, and putting Trump supporter Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, on Meta's board of directors. So, Taken altogether, I called up Meta observer Brendan Nyhan.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
He's a political scientist at Dartmouth College, and here is how he sees it.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
Couple reasons. Trump has been attacking Zuckerberg for years. Trump believes Zuckerberg's measures in 2020 to combat disinformation and bolster reliable election information was a type of election interference. Trump even threatened to throw Zuckerberg in prison if Meta did the same in 2024.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
On top of that, federal agencies have been investigating Meta over whether it has used its dominance to hurt competitors and And one big case Meta is facing was brought by the Federal Trade Commission back in 2020, so during Trump's first term. And that case is set to go to trial in April. NPR's Bobby Allen, thanks for your reporting. Thanks, Steve.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
Quite a bit. Musk's deputies are moving very fast. In just the first two weeks of the Trump administration, they have intervened at the Treasury Department, which, you know, processes trillions of dollars of payments every year. And it's not just Treasury. Doge is involved in the Office of Personnel Management, looking for ways to slash the federal payroll.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
They're analyzing the government's real estate holdings. In sum, Doge... at the direction of Musk, is barreling into vast swaths of the federal government and promising to divide and conquer what he sees as the deep state. Not that unlike the way Musk bulldozed Twitter, and then when he purchased it, of course, he renamed it X. I would not say that this has been the most transparent effort.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
Yeah, well, in Congress, Republicans have been mostly quiet, but Democrats are sounding the alarm. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called Doge, quote, a shadow government conducting a hostile takeover. Sharp words. And that gets at one of the questions Doge is facing. Can Musk legally have this much access and control over the federal government?
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
And then there are other questions, Steve, about whether Doge creates conflicts of interest, because as we know, Musk runs six companies, including rocket company SpaceX, electric vehicle company Tesla. while Musk is also a senior advisor to President Trump. And we learned just yesterday that the White House has made Musk a special government employee.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
It's essentially a temporary government job. It can't run longer than 130 days. And Doge itself was stood up as a temporary organization to radically cut costs in government. But Musk's exact remit is kind of unknown. It's a little murky. Government watchdogs, though, are worried he is going to operate with no guardrails.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
Now, President Trump said Musk is acting only with the explicit approval of the White House and that, quote, where we think there's a conflict or a problem, we won't let him go near it. That's what Trump said recently. But experts I spoke to aren't so sure. Richard Painter was the White House's top ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
And Painter says the level of access Musk seems to have sure does look like there are very few checks on him.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
So unprecedented is a word very much overused in this political moment. But Painter says Doge is indeed charting new territory.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
Yes, Doge has been hit with multiple lawsuits over its legality. The most recent one came yesterday. Unions representing federal employees sued to block Doge's access to the Treasury Department's payment system.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
They're concerned about Musk and his deputies having direct access to millions of people's tax refunds, veterans' benefits, disability checks, and the private information of federal employees. So we will see, Steve, what happens in court, but... Experts tell me that unless a judge steps in, Doge is expected to only grow its presence inside of the federal government.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
Yeah, for some of the agencies in Doge's crosshairs, you know, their opening bid is to completely dismantle the agencies, right? But what may end up happening in the end is just a smaller version of the agencies that Doge is going after. So fewer employees and fewer resources, but still existing in some form. We'll just have to see. NPR's Bobby Allen, thanks so much. Thanks, Steve.
Up First from NPR
Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Florida's Special Elections, Trump's Trade War
Well, you know, as you started to indicate, these two special elections in Florida are all about President Trump. He looked to the state when it came time to stock his cabinet. You know, remember his first pick for attorney general was Congressman Matt Gaetz, who represented the first district in the panhandle. Gates later withdrew his nomination and left Congress, leaving the seat open.
Up First from NPR
Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Florida's Special Elections, Trump's Trade War
The other seat is in Florida's 6th District on the East Coast. It was held by Trump's now National Security Advisor, Mike Walz. Trump won both of those districts in November by more than 30 points, so Republicans are favored to hold on to the seats. But a lot of things have changed since Trump started carrying out his agenda, and Democrats have contributed millions of dollars to both races.
Up First from NPR
Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Florida's Special Elections, Trump's Trade War
They think they're competitive in both of them. All right, so tell us about the candidates. Well, in both districts, the Republican candidates have close ties to Trump. In the panhandle, Florida's chief financial officer, Jimmy Patronus, is running with Trump's endorsement. His opponent is Democrat Gay Valamont, who lost in November by more than 30 points to Matt Gaetz.
Up First from NPR
Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Florida's Special Elections, Trump's Trade War
This is the first congressional district up near Pensacola where there's a lot of military bases and a lot of veterans. Valamont's been talking about the Trump administration cuts to the VA, so she's hoping that will resonate. She's raised more than $6 million, several times what her opponent has pulled in.
Up First from NPR
Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Florida's Special Elections, Trump's Trade War
In the other district on Florida's east coast, Republican State Senator Randy Fine is running, also with Trump's endorsement. Back when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was challenging Trump for the GOP presidential nomination, Fine was one of just a handful of Republicans in the state legislature who snubbed DeSantis and backed Trump. And Trump referenced that in a campaign call for Fine last week.
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Florida's Special Elections, Trump's Trade War
Fine's opponent is Democrat Josh Wheal. He's a schoolteacher who's raised some $10 million. Again, that's several times what his opponent has pulled in.
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Florida's Special Elections, Trump's Trade War
Well, they think they have a shot at doing it, especially in the 6th District on the East Coast. Two recent polls there show Wheel is just three or four points behind Fine, which is within the margin of error. Democrats see these special elections as a place to begin rallying a party that saw big losses in November.
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Florida's Special Elections, Trump's Trade War
The National Democratic Party chair, Ken Martin, was here this weekend campaigning for both candidates. He pointed to special elections in Pennsylvania last week in which Democrats won two legislative seats that had been Republicans.
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Florida's Special Elections, Trump's Trade War
And we won that in Pennsylvania. Martin says, you know, even if they come up short, though, the Democratic candidates in Florida will overperform expectations. It's clear also that Republicans, including President Trump, are worried about every congressional race and the possibility that they could lose their narrow majority in Congress.
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Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Florida's Special Elections, Trump's Trade War
That's why last week we saw Trump pull Congressman Elise Stefanik's nomination for U.N. ambassador. Instead of going to the U.N. now, she's going to be remaining in Congress. That's NPR's Greg Allen in Miami. Greg, thanks.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
Good morning.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
Well, in short, because TikTok requested an emergency review. And this is TikTok's last legal shot, right? The company has been fighting a law that is set to take effect on January 19th that bans the app nationwide unless it splits off from its Chinese parent company ByteDance.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
It recently lost a lower court appeal, and now the Supreme Court has scheduled expedited oral arguments, and the hearing is happening in three weeks. What are the main issues the court is being asked to resolve? Yeah, the case is about the balance between free speech and the possible threat of a foreign adversary.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
TikTok has long said that the Chinese government doesn't collect data on Americans and does not use the app to push propaganda. But U.S. officials say the risk of that happening is just too high and that the app has to be put out of business unless it sheds its China-based owner. Legal scholars say because of the First Amendment, government restrictions on speech are very hard to uphold in court.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
Usually the government can only suppress speech if it's really narrowly tailored to deal with a really specific problem. And a lower court ruled that the Chinese issue is actually enough to justify the ban. But now the Supreme Court is reviewing it and they could just come down differently.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
Yeah, that's right. The 170 million Americans on the app and actually TikTok's own free speech rights, they say, as a corporation because they have a L.A.-based company. And using the algorithm and pushing content, courts have shown, is another type of free speech. So there's kind of two free speeches at play here.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So if the court overturns the law, you know, business as usual for the app. But if it is upheld, it could mean the app is going away very soon. The law is slated to start, you know, in early January. And at that point, TikTok, you know, will be kicked out of app stores on Apple and Android devices. So you won't be able to download it. And the app will lose web hosting services.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
So, you know, all the companies that provide back end support for TikTok, they'll have to drop the company. And if this happens, Michelle, it's not like the app's going to disappear from everyone's phone overnight or something. It's just going to get buggy. It's going to get slow. And eventually it's not going to be able to get software updates. So it'll stop working.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
You know, backing up for a moment here, though, you know, never before has the Supreme Court taken on a case over the U.S. government trying to shut down a massive social media platform. So this is entering some uncharted territory. And, you know, President-elect Donald Trump's administration is watching very closely. And where does Trump stand on this? Trump has given mixed signals on TikTok.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
He said he wanted to save the app and that he credits it with helping young voters turn out for him. But, you know, just this weekend, he said on NBC's Meet the Press if he will rescue the app. And he gave kind of an unclear, wishy-washy answer. Remember, Trump tried to ban TikTok during his first term and was not successful.
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Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
No matter what, the court decides that the Trump administration has a ton of power here. If the Supreme Court upholds his law, his administration will be tasked with interpreting and enforcing it. So if TikTok loses at the Supreme Court, they're hoping Trump will just step in and rescue the app anyway. That is NPR's Bobby Allen. Bobby, thank you. Thanks, Michelle.
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Trump's New Tariffs, Global Tariff Reactions, TikTok Deadline
Yeah, for several reasons. First, Oracle already operates almost all of TikTok's cloud, so Oracle systems are already supporting the app. Secondly, Oracle has experience with high-level national security data. For instance, Oracle does cloud computer work for parts of the government, including the CIA.
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Trump's New Tariffs, Global Tariff Reactions, TikTok Deadline
And finally, Oracle is run by billionaire Trump supporter Larry Ellison, and he has been setting the stage, Layla, for this deal for years by warming up to Trump, by defending Trump. Ellison even hammered out this deal that we're talking about right now, which involves leasing TikTok's algorithm from its current owner, the Chinese company ByteDance. Leasing an algorithm. Is that even a thing? No.
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Trump's New Tariffs, Global Tariff Reactions, TikTok Deadline
No, it's not really a thing, to be honest. It's extremely unusual. But a source close to the negotiations explained the logic behind it this way. A new U.S. entity would be created, led by Oracle, that can oversee TikTok. Okay.
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Trump's New Tariffs, Global Tariff Reactions, TikTok Deadline
And this new entity would lease TikTok's algorithm from ByteDance that would get around having to have the Chinese government sign off on the selling of the algorithm, which has always been an open question as to whether Beijing would approve that or not.
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Trump's New Tariffs, Global Tariff Reactions, TikTok Deadline
Yeah, it depends on how you see that, right? It's been a very divisive thing in the White House, which is full of China hawks. And this is the big question, whether leasing the TikTok algorithm would mean China does not control it. This gets to why Congress passed a law forcing TikTok in China to break up in the first place, as you've mentioned.
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Trump's New Tariffs, Global Tariff Reactions, TikTok Deadline
And lawmakers of both parties remain concerned that China will use TikTok to influence Americans to steal their data. Trump is hoping this deal, though, will put those fears to rest, but there is no guarantee.
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Trump's New Tariffs, Global Tariff Reactions, TikTok Deadline
Yeah, Trump has set this Saturday as the deadline for when TikTok needs to be sold. Most are expecting a deal to be announced sometime before then. The question becomes, how is China going to respond? Under the Oracle deal under consideration in the White House, they're making a concession to ByteDance by allowing ByteDance to keep a minority stake in the company.
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Trump's New Tariffs, Global Tariff Reactions, TikTok Deadline
It's worth noting that, you know, Trump's stiff tariffs on Chinese imports are part of the TikTok conversation. Chinese authorities, I think, were hoping TikTok could be used as leverage to get a better deal on tariffs, meaning, you know, if China supported a TikTok deal, maybe they would get some relief on tariffs. But it doesn't quite look like that is what happened.
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Trump's New Tariffs, Global Tariff Reactions, TikTok Deadline
No, Mr. Beast doesn't have a chance. It's really sad, I know.
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The Class of 2025
Students are a determined people. Young people in general are a determined people. And I'm going to just read a small part of my last speech as I go out of Ohio State. Tonight, we celebrate, we dance, we laugh, we reflect. But when we leave this place, let's carry this energy with us. Let's organize. Let's educate. Let's pour into our communities. Let's support one another.
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The Class of 2025
Hold each other accountable and never, ever let anyone tell us that our story does not matter. As we move forward, we have to know our stories and we have to know our history. Determined people remain and determined people rise. Class of 2025, this is not the end of the road. This is the start of a new chapter. Let it be bold. Let it be brave.
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The Class of 2025
My name is Bobby McAlpine, and I am the current sitting student body president at The Ohio State University.
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The Class of 2025
This last semester, quite frankly, has been one of the hardest. So, you know, I expected to graduate. It's an amazing time, a celebratory time. We're going to dance. We're going to laugh. We're going to do all the fun things. But when it comes to the work to get here and as student body president, it has significantly grown the job to something that I never thought it would be.
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The Class of 2025
A lot of people have asked me this question, and I always struggle to answer it because You know, on the one hand, we are an amazing school. We just won a national championship for football. But on the other hand, students have come to me and just, they feel really scared.
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The Class of 2025
I just think that people think that a lot of, or some of their government, people are making decisions in their name without actually consulting them.
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The Class of 2025
There are people on all sides of the spectrum all the time. I mean, I delivered... I can't even count, probably over about 400 letters from conservative students. It was from liberal students, from black students, white students to the governor of Ohio asking him to veto a bill, Senate Bill 1, that did pass. And it's very unfortunate, but we'll continue to move forward.
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The Class of 2025
Yeah, Senate Bill 1, unfortunately, it gets rid of all offices of diversity and inclusion in all public university spaces within the state of Ohio. The only and sole reason why I am at the Ohio State University is because of our Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
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The Class of 2025
when I lost my grandmother, when I lost a really good friend to mental health, that's where I was able to go to make sure that I not only stayed in college, but I was able to stay afloat. You know, you could just go in, talk to the folks I call, some of them my campus aunties, campus uncles, and you really just feel at home.
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The Class of 2025
And they made you feel heard when, quite frankly, some other parts of Columbus, some other parts of the university, when you didn't feel heard, they allowed you to be heard.
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The Class of 2025
Well, honestly, being so inundated in the fight for higher education this past year has quite frankly put a chill down my spine. I am really, really scared just to see the amount of attacks that are coming through with higher education in general. It's become a political football. These are the places that are supposed to be for opportunity, right?
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The Class of 2025
the places where people come to find themselves, the places where students and young people live, eat, breathe, and lead every single day. Higher education should not be a political football. I will stand at the top of the highest building and yell that with the biggest megaphone I can. Higher education should not be a political football, period.
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The Class of 2025
Right now, I want to go into government relations and government affairs. I know, hell of a time to do that, right? I do want to be a lawyer. I do. I want to go to law school. But there is so much in flux right now. Why would I place myself in that extreme unknown rather than wait a few years to try and see just how this is going to affect everything?
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The Class of 2025
Honestly, Alyssa, that is exactly what so many students are feeling. Where we get our funding as a university, especially coming from a public university like I am, it never really crossed students' minds. At the end of the day, it's forcing a lot of students to really look at how all of these universities are funded. How can we make sure that they continue to be funded?
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The Class of 2025
There is some positive in it because it's forcing so many students to form our opinions and form how we want our government to work in the future.
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Trump On TikTok Ban, N. Korean Soldiers in Ukraine, Obesity Drug Shortage Ends
Yeah, as you mentioned, Trump is urging the court to pause the start date of a law that would shut down TikTok nationwide unless it is sold away from its China-based parent company. And in the filing, Trump says he possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise to broker a sale of the app.
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Trump On TikTok Ban, N. Korean Soldiers in Ukraine, Obesity Drug Shortage Ends
You know, that's really hard to say. In two weeks, lawyers for TikTok and the Department of Justice will be arguing in front of the Supreme Court over whether banning TikTok violates the Constitution or not. The date had been set earlier this month.
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Trump On TikTok Ban, N. Korean Soldiers in Ukraine, Obesity Drug Shortage Ends
Trump's new brief does not take a position on the constitutionality of the TikTok ban, but does essentially say, well, Supreme Court, if you want to hold off on making a ruling, Trump will step in, strike a deal that might make the high court's intervention unnecessary completely.
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Trump On TikTok Ban, N. Korean Soldiers in Ukraine, Obesity Drug Shortage Ends
And I talked to legal scholars about this request, and they said Trump seems to be acting as if he is president before he is even sworn in. Experts also noted to me that Trump is citing no legal authority for this request.
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Trump On TikTok Ban, N. Korean Soldiers in Ukraine, Obesity Drug Shortage Ends
Yeah, it really has. You know, since TikTok became a global sensation during the pandemic, Washington has been very worried about the company's ties to China. And those fears really escalated in April when Congress passed a law banning TikTok unless it sheds its Beijing parent company, ByteDance. And TikTok has been fighting this law.
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Trump On TikTok Ban, N. Korean Soldiers in Ukraine, Obesity Drug Shortage Ends
It lost in a lower court and appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case on this lightning-fast schedule today. But looming over the legal saga has been President-elect Donald Trump. Remember, he started the TikTok ban movement during his first term, and now he is the very one promising to save the app.
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Trump On TikTok Ban, N. Korean Soldiers in Ukraine, Obesity Drug Shortage Ends
Yeah, you know, Trump had an active TikTok account during his presidential campaign, and he has credited the app with helping drive young people to the polls. So that's what he's saying publicly about why he now supports the app. But TikTok observers have also pointed to influential donors who are in touch with Trump's orbit and who are big investors in ByteDance.
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Trump On TikTok Ban, N. Korean Soldiers in Ukraine, Obesity Drug Shortage Ends
They include Jeff Yoss, whose investment firm, Susquehanna Investment Group, has a large stake in ByteDance. Yoss has never Donated directly to the Trump campaign, but he was a major donor to conservative super PACs this past election. And then there's Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, which also has a significant investment in TikTok's owner.
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Trump On TikTok Ban, N. Korean Soldiers in Ukraine, Obesity Drug Shortage Ends
And Son has promised Trump that SoftBank will invest $100 billion in the U.S.
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Trump On TikTok Ban, N. Korean Soldiers in Ukraine, Obesity Drug Shortage Ends
Yeah. You know, at this point, Scott, it's really hard to imagine any situation where TikTok is shut down. Even if the Supreme Court comes back and says the ban law is completely legal, it will then be up to the incoming Trump administration to enforce it.
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Trump On TikTok Ban, N. Korean Soldiers in Ukraine, Obesity Drug Shortage Ends
And Trump can instruct his Justice Department to just take a hands-off approach and then try to work out a deal where TikTok is purchased away from its Chinese parent company, thus satisfying the law. So we're We don't know for sure, but for all the TikTokers out there who use the app every day, I think it's fair to say it's unlikely it will be disappearing anytime soon.
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China Tariffs, El Salvador President In DC, Meta Antitrust Trial
The FTC says Meta acquired Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp two years later as part of a strategy to eliminate competition and maintain monopoly power over the whole social media market. The government says Meta was motivated by a buy or bury strategy, meaning Meta would try to purchase a rival or put them out of business entirely.
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China Tariffs, El Salvador President In DC, Meta Antitrust Trial
The FTC says this is illegal and the only way to remedy it is for Meta to be broken up. So the FTC is pushing for Instagram and WhatsApp to be spun off in two separate companies. The government says this will allow smaller social media companies to compete for consumers and add dollars and loosen Meta's grip on the industry.
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China Tariffs, El Salvador President In DC, Meta Antitrust Trial
And as you might imagine, Michelle, Meta is fighting back against this pretty hard.
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China Tariffs, El Salvador President In DC, Meta Antitrust Trial
Yeah, Meta is expected to say it's always competed fairly and that regulators are trying to punish the company for being so successful and so innovative. Lawyers for Meta have said in court filings that, you know, the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, and look, they were quite prescient and made the company really successful. Meta says they were approved by regulators at the time. So to
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China Tariffs, El Salvador President In DC, Meta Antitrust Trial
go back years and try to unwind these deals, Meta says is unreasonable. Meta also says by breaking up an American tech company, who are you going to benefit? Rivals abroad, including Chinese competitors.
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China Tariffs, El Salvador President In DC, Meta Antitrust Trial
Well, the FTC says it would mean more competition and therefore better quality social media services. The FTC says since Meta is a monopoly, all of its apps have become pretty lousy and full of intrusive advertising. The agency also says privacy protections for users exist. So, you know, if the FTC is to be believed here, a breakup would mean just better quality social media apps for all of us.
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China Tariffs, El Salvador President In DC, Meta Antitrust Trial
But Meta says the opposite, that a breakup would make each of its individual apps less integrated and just worse overall.
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China Tariffs, El Salvador President In DC, Meta Antitrust Trial
Yeah, this case first started in Trump's first term. That's when Trump was at war with Zuckerberg. And until very recently, Trump has not been a fan of him. Trump even threatened to throw Zuckerberg in prison before the 2024 presidential election, saying if Zuckerberg did anything to hurt Trump on the campaign trail, he would, quote, spend the rest of his life in prison. Now,
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China Tariffs, El Salvador President In DC, Meta Antitrust Trial
In recent months, Zuckerberg has been ingratiating himself with the Trump administration, like so many others in Silicon Valley. Zuckerberg has publicly praised Trump. Meta donated a million dollars to Trump's inaugural committee fund.
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China Tariffs, El Salvador President In DC, Meta Antitrust Trial
He made these company wide shifts to appease Trump, like ending Facebook and Instagram's fact checking program and rolling back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Zuckerberg has also made several visits to Trump's Mar-a-Lago, and there has been tons of speculation in Washington about whether the Trump administration would settle with Mehta and not go forward with this trial.
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China Tariffs, El Salvador President In DC, Meta Antitrust Trial
But so far, Michelle, all indications are that this case will be going on for weeks inside of a federal courtroom in Washington.
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Zelenskyy Visits DC, Tate Brothers In Florida, USAID Standoff, AOC and DOJ
Well, you know, he and his brother face charges both in Romania and in the United Kingdom for being part of a criminal enterprise that allegedly lured women to Romania where they were sexually exploited. Andrew Tate also faces a rape charge.
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Zelenskyy Visits DC, Tate Brothers In Florida, USAID Standoff, AOC and DOJ
In December, a Romanian court said that the case against the Tates couldn't go to trial, though, because of procedural and legal mistakes that had been made by prosecutors. The case does remain open, though, and the brothers are supposed to be available to return to Romania to face charges when the time comes. But many are skeptical they will return now. We'll see.
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Zelenskyy Visits DC, Tate Brothers In Florida, USAID Standoff, AOC and DOJ
Here's what Andrew Tate had to say yesterday after arriving in Fort Lauderdale.
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Zelenskyy Visits DC, Tate Brothers In Florida, USAID Standoff, AOC and DOJ
Tate says the charges against him and his brother are false and they're based on lies that he says have been concocted by the media.
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Zelenskyy Visits DC, Tate Brothers In Florida, USAID Standoff, AOC and DOJ
Right. Well, you know, he's a former kickboxing champion who first became well-known nearly 10 years ago in the British version of the reality show Big Brother. He rose to fame, though, through social media, Twitter, now X, YouTube, and TikTok, where he posts about his success and his lifestyle. He's drawn a lot of attention with the outrageous and offensive way in which he's talked about women.
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Zelenskyy Visits DC, Tate Brothers In Florida, USAID Standoff, AOC and DOJ
A couple of years ago, he got into an online fight with environmental activist Greta Thunberg, you might recall, when he bragged about his 33 Lamborghinis and other big cars and their enormous emissions, as he called them. Now, he's been in Romania for several years living there.
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Zelenskyy Visits DC, Tate Brothers In Florida, USAID Standoff, AOC and DOJ
The case against him involves seven women who say they were misled and transported to Romania, where they were then sexually exploited. And he faces those similar charges in the United Kingdom.
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Zelenskyy Visits DC, Tate Brothers In Florida, USAID Standoff, AOC and DOJ
The Financial Times reported last week that members of the Trump administration pressed remaining authorities to lift the travel restrictions. President Trump was asked about that at the White House yesterday, and he said he didn't know anything about it.
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Zelenskyy Visits DC, Tate Brothers In Florida, USAID Standoff, AOC and DOJ
Here in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis was also asked about it yesterday, whether he had any advance notice that Andrew Tate and his brother were headed here, and he said no. He also had this to say.
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Zelenskyy Visits DC, Tate Brothers In Florida, USAID Standoff, AOC and DOJ
DeSantis says it's up to the federal government, not the state, to decide whether to allow the Tate brothers to enter the country. And he said Florida's attorney general is looking at what jurisdiction the state may have over any of the charges that are outstanding. Now, both Andrew and Tristan Tate are U.S. British citizens.
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Zelenskyy Visits DC, Tate Brothers In Florida, USAID Standoff, AOC and DOJ
Interestingly, President Trump is expected to be at Mar-a-Lago just up the highway this weekend. And there's no indication yet of whether or not the Tates might be invited for a visit.
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Zelenskyy Visits DC, Tate Brothers In Florida, USAID Standoff, AOC and DOJ
You're welcome.
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US Senator Visits Abrego Garcia, Florida State University Shooting, Fed Independence
Well, it began around noon yesterday on Florida State University's campus in the center of Tallahassee, the Florida State Capitol. A campus-wide alert went out that an active shooter was reported near the Student Union building. Police responded quickly and began evacuating students. It set the whole campus into lockdown.
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US Senator Visits Abrego Garcia, Florida State University Shooting, Fed Independence
Students locked themselves in basements and bathrooms while they heard gunshots being fired outside. Here's FSU freshman Craig Jacobson.
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US Senator Visits Abrego Garcia, Florida State University Shooting, Fed Independence
By 3 p.m. yesterday, law enforcement said the campus had been secured and the threat was over, but it left two people dead, several others wounded. Police say the shooter didn't surrender when they confronted him, and he was shot and wounded before being arrested.
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US Senator Visits Abrego Garcia, Florida State University Shooting, Fed Independence
Yeah, that's right. Police identified him as 20-year-old Phoenix Eichner. His mother is an 18-year veteran of the Leon County Sheriff's Department. Leon County Sheriff Walter McNeil spoke at a news conference yesterday.
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US Senator Visits Abrego Garcia, Florida State University Shooting, Fed Independence
Police also recovered a shotgun at the scene, but they don't believe it was used in the shooting. McNeil said Phoenix Eichner was a member of the Sheriff's Department Youth Advisory Board, and he'd gone through extensive training with the Sheriff's Department.
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US Senator Visits Abrego Garcia, Florida State University Shooting, Fed Independence
We don't have a motive at this point. Police say that he wouldn't talk to them after his arrest.
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US Senator Visits Abrego Garcia, Florida State University Shooting, Fed Independence
In Washington, President Trump said he was briefed on the shootings and called them horrible. When asked about stricter gun laws, he said he would always protect the Second Amendment. Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis said, we are all Seminoles today, which is, of course, the school mascot.
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US Senator Visits Abrego Garcia, Florida State University Shooting, Fed Independence
Florida State University President Richard McCullough visited some of the shooting victims at the hospital and said counseling was available for students and faculty.
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US Senator Visits Abrego Garcia, Florida State University Shooting, Fed Independence
Now, this isn't the first shooting on the FSU campus, of course. In 2014, a gunman fired into a crowded library there, wounding three people before he was killed by police. And following that shooting, in just about every year since, Republican lawmakers have filed bills to allow concealed weapons on campuses in Florida. This shooting will probably revive that debate.
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US Senator Visits Abrego Garcia, Florida State University Shooting, Fed Independence
But some of the FSU students who were evacuated during the shooting yesterday were high school students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas in Parkland. where there was that horrific shooting seven years ago so I think that will also be something to be considered that's NPR's Greg Allen thank you Greg you're welcome
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Gaza Ceasefire Deal Reached, Next Steps For TikTok, Anger Over Private Firefighters
The court decided that the national security concerns that Congress established about TikTok are indeed the paramount concern here. And I want to quote sort of the crux of the matter here, which was an opinion. It was unsigned by the court.
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Gaza Ceasefire Deal Reached, Next Steps For TikTok, Anger Over Private Firefighters
And they say, quote, there is no doubt that for the more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinct and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement and source of community. But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security. So basically what this decision is saying is Congress decided that TikTok is a threat.
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Gaza Ceasefire Deal Reached, Next Steps For TikTok, Anger Over Private Firefighters
They said the user said that they have First Amendment concerns, but the Supreme Court here is deferring to the judgment of Congress.
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Gaza Ceasefire Deal Reached, Next Steps For TikTok, Anger Over Private Firefighters
There's so much uncertainty right now. As you said, in two days, this law takes effect, which means Apple and Google will have to yank TikTok out of app stores and all of TikTok's web support will have to sever ties with the app or face really, really stiff penalties. We're talking $5,000 per user. And this law applies, the statute of limitations on it is for five years.
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Gaza Ceasefire Deal Reached, Next Steps For TikTok, Anger Over Private Firefighters
So the companies that are backing up TikTok, that keep TikTok online are going crazy. to have to act. That said, you know, Biden signed this law, but, you know, he came out with a statement today saying that TikTok should remain available to Americans. So many are trying to make sense of that. On top of that, President-elect Donald Trump says he wants to save the app.
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Gaza Ceasefire Deal Reached, Next Steps For TikTok, Anger Over Private Firefighters
So there's just a lot going on here politically.
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Gaza Ceasefire Deal Reached, Next Steps For TikTok, Anger Over Private Firefighters
We don't know. TikTok has said that it is possible they will go dark on the 19th. TikTok's lawyers said that to the court last Friday and I was there and heard it. And it was a pretty stunning revelation. The more reporting I did on this, Layla, the more I understood it.
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Gaza Ceasefire Deal Reached, Next Steps For TikTok, Anger Over Private Firefighters
And, you know, it's possible that when 170 million Americans open up their app on Sunday, they get a dialogue box that pops up and says, this service is no longer available in your region. But it might not. We just don't know exactly how the company is going to respond. But I do know that that is among the many options.
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Gaza Ceasefire Deal Reached, Next Steps For TikTok, Anger Over Private Firefighters
I haven't seen any statement yet from President-elect Trump, but the past several months, he has said he will figure out a way to keep TikTok alive. Remember, he started the TikTok ban movement during his first term. Then he flip-flopped and said TikTok was great in terms of getting the youth vote out. And now...
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Gaza Ceasefire Deal Reached, Next Steps For TikTok, Anger Over Private Firefighters
He is determined to figure out a way to keep it around in America that could look like, you know, pushing it off for 90 days, which the law allows, or trying to broker some kind of fire sale to bring in some American companies, American investors, to try to get China to offload the app and have it under new ownership. But that remains to be seen.
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Gaza Ceasefire Deal Reached, Next Steps For TikTok, Anger Over Private Firefighters
And the big question now, Leila, is what happens Sunday? Will it be there? Will it not? We just don't know. But there is just a lot of fear among Chinese. TikTokers and a lot of dread on the app.
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Gaza Ceasefire Deal Reached, Next Steps For TikTok, Anger Over Private Firefighters
Thanks, Layla.
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LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
What are you expecting to hear from each side? TikTok's legal team will be making two arguments, one on behalf of the company and another on behalf of TikTokers, and their case is boiled down to this. Shutting down a massively popular social media platform violates the free speech of TikTok's U.S. corporation and the millions of Americans who use it every day.
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LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
TikTok plans to argue that it has done quite a bit to distance itself from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. The Department of Justice is expected to say not so fast. Anything short of completely splitting off from ByteDance poses a risk, and that's because ByteDance's home is... is in China and China is a foreign adversary of the United States.
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LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
Now, the Justice Department says Americans' personal data on the app is vulnerable and even the possibility, Steve, of China trying to manipulate the views of U.S. citizens is just too risky.
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LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
We don't know. It's possible that the court will stay the January 19th start date as justices deliberate. Now, the court is here, Steve, really trying to thread a very difficult needle, right? They likely want to make sure the federal government doesn't silence the voices of millions of Americans, but also they want to safeguard against possible covert influence from China. If
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LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court upholds the law. Yes, it could start very soon. Apple and Google will then be legally required to remove TikTok from app stores. Web hosting firms like Oracle that support TikTok have to cut ties. It could be the beginning of the end for TikTok. Now, if the Supreme Court strikes down the law, well, then it's just business as usual for the app.
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LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
he has enormous sway here. In recent months, as you mentioned, Trump has flip-flopped on TikTok, but now the former and future president really might be the decider here because if the Supreme Court decides to uphold this law, who then will be charged with interpreting it? That would be President-elect Trump, and he can tell his Justice Department to just not enforce it, or he can try to cut
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LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
some other deal and say, hey, actually, TikTok is in compliance with the law. So a lot of eyes are on exactly what Trump is going to do here.
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LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
Yeah, in a number of ways. Some TikTokers are promoting workarounds already if a ban does take place, you know, getting on like a virtual private network to try to circumvent American cell towers. And others are saying, hey, TikTok might be banned soon. So how about you all jump on YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, which, Steve, is another reality of all of this.
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LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
If TikTok is banned, the biggest winners are likely to be Google and Meta. Thanks for that insight. NPR's Bobby Allen, really appreciate it.
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Trump and Musk Break Up, Tariffs Raise $70 billion, ICE Detention Conditions
That revenue comes from somewhere. It's a tax on the backs of the people that are importing.
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Trump and Musk Break Up, Tariffs Raise $70 billion, ICE Detention Conditions
That revenue comes from somewhere. It's a tax on the backs of the people that are importing either raw materials or, in my case, wines. We're the people that are paying this tax. And eventually it gets built into the price everybody's paying for goods.
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Trump and Musk Break Up, Tariffs Raise $70 billion, ICE Detention Conditions
We're a small company, so we drive the back roads of France and find these small wineries. We buy the wine from the winery, import it into the U.S.
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Trump and Musk Break Up, Tariffs Raise $70 billion, ICE Detention Conditions
Say if I order $100,000 of wine from France, If there's a 20% tariff, I'll have to pay $20,000 to get the wine out of customs before I sell a bottle.