Ja’han Jones is an MSNBC opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog. He is a futurist and multimedia producer focused on culture and politics. His previous projects include “Black Hair Defined” and the “Black Obituary Project.”
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: 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: 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.
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