Elon Musk’s Starlink has blocked access to social media app X in Brazil. The billionaire Tesla owner initially skirted a Supreme Court order banning the platform in the country.

Earlier this week, the Brazilian Supreme Court banned X — formerly known as Twitter — based on concerns about misinformation after it failed to appoint legal representation.

A Supreme Court panel unanimously upheld the block on Monday, undermining Musk and his supporters’ efforts to portray Justice Alexandre de Moraes as attempting to censor political speech in Brazil.

Starlink initially appeared to refuse to comply with the Supreme Court justice’s order to prevent users from accessing the app – but it has now released a statement saying it will block X.

Had Starlink continued to disobey Judge Moraes by providing access, it could have faced repercussions from Brazilian telecoms regulator Anatel.

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Volvo slams brakes on EV-only 2030 target

Carmaker Volvo has abandoned plans to only see electric vehicles by 2030, saying it will continue to offer some hybrid models by that date.

Citing changing market conditions, Volvo said it was rowing back the EV ambitions that it unveiled three years ago, joining rivals including General Motors and Ford in reassessing plans.

Volvo said it now expects at least 90% of its output to be electric cars and plug-in hybrids by 2030, but it will also continue to sell a small number of traditional hybrids with conventional engines.

“We are resolute in our belief that our future is electric,” said Jim Rowan, chief executive of Volvo.

“However, it is clear that the transition to electrification will not be linear, and customers and markets are moving at different speeds.”

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Nokia downplays mobile sale rumours

Finnish telecommunications vendor Nokia has downplayed reports that it is preparing to offload its mobile network business to rival Samsung.

A report from Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources, claimed Nokia has explored various options for its mobile telecoms arm, including selling part or the entirety of the division, spinning it off into a separate entity, or merging with a rival.

This prompted the Finnish firm to release a statement reaffirming its commitment to the mobile division.

“Nokia has nothing to announce in relation to the speculations published in an article today, and no related insider project exists,” the company stated. “Nokia is committed to the success of its mobile networks business, a highly strategic asset for both Nokia and its customers.”

The company highlighted recent progress in the division, stating: “The business has made significant progress this year both on right-sizing its cost-base while protecting its product roadmap and winning new deals with new customers and increasing share with existing customers.”

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EU, US, and the UK sign agreement on AI standards

As stated by the Council of Europe human rights organisation, the first legally binding international AI treaty is open for signing by the countries that negotiated it, including European Union members, the US, and the UK.

The AI Convention, which has been in discussion between 57 countries in total, addresses risks AI may pose while promoting responsible innovation.

“This convention is a major step to ensuring that these new technologies can be harnessed without eroding our oldest values, like human rights and the rule of law,” said Britain’s justice minister, Shabana Mahmood.

The Council of Europe is an international organisation separate from the EU with a mandate to safeguard human rights. The AI Convention will mainly focus on protecting people affected by AI systems and is separate from the EU AI Act.

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Verizon to buy Frontier in an all-cash deal with $20 billion

Network provider Verizon has stated that it will buy fibre-optic internet provider Frontier Communications for $20 billion.

The deal will enable Verizon to better compete against US rivals AT&T and T-Mobile as they double down on unlimited plans and bundling options.

Frontier has 2.2 million fibre subscribers in 25 states, which will add to Verizon’s 7.4 million such users in nine states and Washington, D.C.

“The acquisition of Frontier is a strategic fit,” Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said.

The deal is expected to close in about 18 months and will expand Verizon’s coverage from the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions to multiple states in the Midwest, Texas, and California.

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Payment platform Klarna has unveiled plans to cut its staff footprint by over half as the Swedish firm bets big on AI.

The Stockholm-based ‘buy now, pay later’ firm said it will use an attrition downsizing policy, which means departing staff will no longer be replaced with new hires.

Instead, Klarna plans to leverage artificial intelligence and automation to replace departing roles in various departments. It has already reduced its headcount from 5,000 to 3,800 in the past year.

Chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski heralded the benefits of AI as Klarna revealed its second-quarter results earlier this week.

“Not only can we do more with less, but we can do much more with less. Internally, we speak directionally about 2,000 [employees]. We don’t want to put a specific deadline on that,” he told the Financial Times.

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Will Meta’s Puffin be a new competitor to Apple Vision Pro?

Meta has started developing a new mixed-reality headset that is intended to compete directly with the Apple Vision Pro.

According to The Information, the Meta headset, codenamed Puffin, will resemble a pair of glasses more than a traditional VR headset.

The Facebook parent — which already sells headsets following its 2014 acquisition of Oculus — is developing a mixed-reality device that will weigh less than 110g, significantly lighter than the Meta Quest 3’s 515g.

It will achieve this by using a tethered “puck” containing the Puffin’s batter and processor, leaving just the display in the headset, the report claims, although it is unlikely to launch until 2027 at the earliest.

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Why Uber was fined $324 million for GDPR violations

According to the Dutch data protection regulator, Uber has been fined $324 million for violating EU data protection rules.

The Dutch DPA accused the ride-hailing firm of transferring the personal data of its European drivers to US servers, calling it a “serious violation” of the EU’s General Data Protection Rule (GDPR).

Uber said it would appeal the fine, which it claimed was “completely unjustified” as the transfer was “compliant with GDPR during a period of immense uncertainty between the US and EU.”

The watchdog claims Uber transferred information, including ID documents, taxi licences and location data, to its US headquarters over a two-year period but failed to safeguard it.

It launched the investigation after more than 170 French drivers complained to a French human rights group, which issued a complaint to France’s data watchdog.

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Musk’s Grok chatbot tweaked to address election misinformation concerns

The social media platform X has changed its AI chatbot after five secretaries of state in the United States warned it was spreading election misinformation.

Top election officials from Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington sent a letter this month to Elon Musk complaining that the platform’s AI chatbot, Grok, produced false information about state ballot deadlines shortly after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race.

The secretaries of state requested that the chatbot instead direct users who ask election-related questions to canivote.org, a voting information website run by the National Association of Secretaries of State.

Before listing responses to election-related questions, the chatbot now says, “For accurate and up-to-date information about the 2024 U.S. Elections, please visit vote.gov.”

The five state secretaries said in a shared statement that both websites are “trustworthy resources that can connect voters with their local election officials.”

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Iranian agents were behind the recent hack of the Donald Trump for President Campaign, according to the FBI.

US officials said in a joint statement that Iran had hacked internal Trump campaign messages to “stoke discord and undermine confidence” in US democratic institutions.

Iran also attempted to hack the campaign of Trump’s presidential rival, Kamala Harris, according to reports in the US.

The attack took place on 10^th August and was believed to be carried out through a spear-phishing email, though it remains unclear what information, if any, was stolen from the Trump campaign.

US publications, including the New York Times and Washington Post, said they had been sent confidential information from inside the Trump campaign but did not offer specifics.

“The [intelligence community] is confident that the Iranians have, through social engineering and other efforts, sought access to individuals with direct access to the Presidential campaigns of both political parties,” US intelligence officials said in the statement.

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CMA halts Apple and Google probes: New powers to tackle App Store monopoly

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has said it will close a pair of investigations into Apple and Google’s mobile app ecosystems but warned it still had concerns over app distribution.

The CMA said it was shutting down the probes into iOS and Android, which had run since March 2021 and June 2022, respectively, citing administrative priorities.

The competition watchdog first began investigating Apple’s conduct in distributing apps across its ecosystem, focusing on the terms and conditions that govern developer access to the platforms.

It followed this up with a probe into the Google Play Store rules for its own billing system, warning that the T&Cs may limit developers’ choice and thus reduce competition.

In an announcement, the CMA said it would close the probes and instead focus on using new competition powers granted in the Digital Markets Act 2024 to “resolve app store concerns”.

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Elon Musk shuts X office in Brazil amid court censorship clash 

Elon Musk-owned social media platform X has closed its office in Brazil after a row over Brazil censorship laws in a Brazilian court.

The platform formerly known as Twitter accused Brazilian Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes of threatening its legal representative with arrest for failing to comply with his orders.

Judge Moraes had ruled that X accounts accused of spreading disinformation would be blocked while the court investigated them. Reports from the country claim several of the accounts support former Brazilian President Jair Bolsanaro.

The ruling prompted Musk, who bought X in 2022, to criticise the judge. The judge said the company should be fined almost $20,000 a day for any account it reactivated.

In a statement, X said its Brazilian staff had no control over blocking content.

“As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately,” X said.

“The responsibility lies solely with Alexandre de Moraes. His actions are incompatible with democratic government.”

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Condé Nast strikes AI content deal with OpenAI

OpenAI has struck a deal with publishing giant Condé Nast to allow ChatGPT and its search engine to display content from Vogue, the New Yorker, GQ and other publications.

The multi-year deal is one of several AI content partnerships struck by the generative AI firm to add content to train ChatGPT, following similar deals with the Financial Times and Time Magazine.

Other publishers, such as the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, have expressed opposition to this model.

“We’re committed to working with Condé Nast and other news publishers to ensure that as AI plays a larger role in news discovery and delivery, it maintains accuracy, integrity, and respect for quality reporting,” said Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s chief operating officer.

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X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has been ordered to pay former employee Gary Rooney a record fine of more than €550,000 (£470k/$606k) after an Irish tribunal found he was dismissed unfairly from the company.

Rooney, previously a director of “source to pay” procurement in Twitter’s European HQ, left the firm in October 2022 following Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover.

Within weeks of completing the acquisition, Musk outlined his plans for the social media platform, including an email in which he said staff going forward needed to be “extremely hardcore”.

The message, labelled “the fork in the road,” asked employees to click a link with “yes” or “no” if they wanted “to be part of the new Twitter.” Musk added that those who clicked “no” would receive three months’ severance pay.

Rooney told Ireland’s Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) tribunal that he did not click either option but days later received another email acknowledging his decision to leave.

The WRC found in Rooney’s favour. The €550,131 total unfair dismissal award, an Irish record, consists of Rooney’s lost remuneration of €350,131 from January 2023 to May 2024 and estimated lost future remuneration of €200,000.

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Former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki dies aged 56

Susan Wojcicki, the former Google executive who led YouTube for almost a decade, has died at the age of 56, according to an announcement by the tech company.

Wojcicki, who joined Google as its first marketing manager in 1998, passed away after two years of living with lung cancer, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai announced.

Pichai, who heads up Google’s parent company, Alphabet, used his X profile to say he was “unbelievably saddened” by the passing of someone who was “as core to the history of Google as anyone.”

Prior to joining the search engine firm, Wojcicki worked at chipmaker Intel. She rented her Menlo Park garage to Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page before joining them as the company’s 16^th employee.

After Google acquired YouTube, she became CEO of the video-sharing platform from 2014 until 2023, when she stepped down to focus “on my family, health, and personal projects I’m passionate about.”

She leaves behind five children and husband Dennis Troper, who said: “My beloved wife of 26 years and mother to our five children left us today after two years of living with non-small-cell lung cancer.”

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NIST unveils quantum standards

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has finalised its principal set of encryption algorithms designed to withstand cyberattacks from a quantum computer.

Developed over the past eight years, the standards are part of its post-quantum cryptography (PQC) project and have been made available for immediate use.

Progress towards the standards’ debut has been a collaborative effort involving cryptography experts from all over the world who have conceived, submitted, and evaluated quantum-safe algorithms.

Overall, NIST assessed 82 algorithms contributed by researchers from 25 countries and whittled them down to a top 14.

The first standard, FIPS 203, has been launched to secure information transmitted over public networks. It is set to become the primary standard for general encryption and is based on the CRYSTALS-Kyber algorithm, now renamed Module-Lattice-Based Key-Encapsulation Mechanism (ML-KEM).

The second standard, FIPS 204, is designated as the main standard for safeguarding digital signatures. It utilises the CRYSTALS-Dilithium algorithm, now known as Module-Lattice-Based Digital Signature Algorithm (ML-DSA).

Finally, the third also addresses digital signatures but uses a different mathematical approach compared to ML-DSA and is used as a backup solution in case ML-DSA proves to become vulnerable.

NIST head of the PQC standardisation project, Dustin Moody, said: “There is no need to wait for future standards.

“We need to be prepared in case of an attack that defeats the algorithms in these three standards, and we will continue working on backup plans to keep our data safe. But for most applications, these new standards are the main event.”

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Post Office IT chief quits

The UK Post Office’s chief transformation officer, Chris Brocklesby, is set to leave the troubled delivery service amid long delays in replacing the troubled Horizon IT system.

Brocklesby joined the Post Office on a one-year deal in 2023 but will leave the scandal-hit firm on September 6, according to a note sent to staff by CEO Owen Woodley.

The Post Office has faced lengthy delays and rising costs to replace Fujitsu’s Horizon — which produced incorrect accounting shortfalls that led to hundreds of innocent postmasters being wrongly prosecuted and convicted.

A plan to build a new system running on Amazon’s cloud computing system had to be abandoned in 2022, but pressure on the Post Office to axe Horizon increased drastically this year after a Channel 4 dramatisation of the Subpostmaster scandal highlighted the flaws in the system.

Brocklesby is set to be replaced on an interim basis by Camelot transformation director Andy Nice, who recently led a turnaround at the National Lottery operator.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook has said that ChatGPT will be integrated into the manufacturer’s primary operating system, iOS 18, “by the end of 2024”.

During Apple’s latest earnings call, Cook confirmed that ChatGPT integration will be available as part of Apple’s new Apple Intelligence offering.

He also revealed features such as support for languages beyond US English would be staggered over the course of the year.

At Apple’s last developers conference, it announced plans to integrate ChatGPT with its own chatbot, Siri.

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TikTok agrees to withdraw Lite feature but still faces US lawsuit

Video-sharing app TikTok has agreed to cull its rewards program, TikTok Lite, in Europe following pressure from the European Commission.

The Chinese-owned social media firm said it would withdraw TikToke Lite from the EU and axe the roll-out of similar rewards functionalities to settle an investigation opened by the regulator in April under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).

It is the first settlement under the DSA, which took effect in August 2023.

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, was ordered to suspend its app after it launched Lite in France and Spain earlier this year. Commissioners cited mental health concerns.

TikTok Lite allows users over the age of 18 to earn points under a reward program by performing tasks in the app, such as watching and liking content. These prizes can then be exchanged for rewards, such as TikTok’s coins currency or Amazon vouchers.

The announcement came as US regulators filed a new lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the firm of collecting children’s data and failing to delete it at parents’ requests.

The US Department of Justice claims the firm’s actions amount to a “massive scale” invasion of child privacy contrary to laws requiring parental permission to gather data on users under the age of 13.

TikTok has denied the claims.

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X to close San Francisco HQ to move in with Musk’s other projects

Billionaire Elon Musk has announced plans to shut down the San Francisco home of social media platform X.

The move comes less than two years after Musk acquired the firm, formerly known as Twitter. Musk claimed he had “no choice” but to close the office, citing financial regulations.

“It is impossible to operate in San Francisco if you’re processing payments,” he wrote in a post on X. “That’s why Stripe, Block (CashApp) and others had to move.”

Reports claim Musk is expected to move the social media firm to a new location in Austin, Texas, which is also home to some of his other businesses, including SpaceX.

According to the New York Times, California employees would be relocated to Silicon Valley, distributed between an existing office in San Jose and a new office to be built in Palo Alto, and shared with another of Musk’s companies, xAI.

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UK Government unveils £32 million in funding for AI projects to boost public services

The UK government has announced a £32 million investment in AI innovations aimed at improving safety on construction sites, reducing railway repair times, and cutting emissions across supply chains.

The funding supports 98 projects designed to boost productivity and stimulate economic growth through AI.

The 98 projects span from Southampton to Birmingham and Northern Ireland, involving over 200 businesses and research organisations across various sectors.

Minister for Digital Government and AI, Feryal Clark, noted that AI will “deliver real change for working people across the UK”, such as reducing train delays and streamlining NHS prescription deliveries.

This comes days after just days after Labour axed £1.3 billion of AI projects.

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Saboteurs have attacked long-distance fibre cables in an attempt to disrupt the Paris Olympics, according to France’s digital minister.

Marina Ferrari, France’s junior minister for digital affairs, said that in the early hours of Monday morning, multiple locations around France were affected by several “damages” that impacted telecoms providers. They resulted in “localised consequences” to fibre optic services and mobile connectivity.

Service providers in France have also confirmed the attacks. Netalis, an ISP aimed at corporate customers, said the sabotage had impacted its services, while Iliad-owned Free Pro warned it would cause a significant slowdown on the operator’s network.

“Last night, our telecommunications operators were affected by damage in several departments,” Ferrari said. “I condemn these cowardly and irresponsible acts.”

It is the second major sabotage incident to impact the 2024 Olympics, after vandals attacked France’s high-speed rail network on Friday prior to the Opening Ceremony.

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Tesla recalls 1.8m vehicles over safety concerns

Another month, another mass recall for Tesla. The electric vehicle maker is recalling more than 1.8 million vehicles because of a hood issue that could increase the risk of a crash.

Elon Musk’s car-making giant is recalling some 2021-2024 Model 3, Model S, Model X, and 2020-2024 Model Y vehicles because the hood latch assembly may fail to detect an unlatched hood after it has been opened.

The issue means that the unlatched hood of the car can potentially open while the vehicle is in motion, with the risk of obstructing the driver’s view, increasing the potential for a crash.

It follows an announcement at the end of last year that Tesla would have to recall over two million vehicles due to a flaw with its autopilot software.

It also had to recall over 100,000 vehicles earlier this year due to a faulty seat belt warning system. Plus, its Cybertruck model faced a recall last month due to a problem with windscreen wipers — the fourth time the vehicle had been recalled.

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EU grants unconditional approval to $14bn HPE/Juniper deal

EU regulators have rubber-stamped HPE’s $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks, bringing the merger a step closer to completion.

The European Commission announced this week that it has given unconditional approval to the agreement, leaving a pending investigation by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority as one of the final regulatory hurdles.

The merger will put HPE Juniper directly in competition with networking market leader Cisco, which has dominated the sector since the mid-90s.

In the UK, the CMA’s initial review will determine whether the acquisition warrants a more in-depth investigation. A decision is expected by August 14.

If the deal is finalised, it could close by the end of 2024 or early 2025.

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Uber agrees EV deal with China’s BYD

Uber has reached an agreement with BYD to add 100,000 of the China carmaker’s electric vehicles to its global fleet.

The deal means the ride-hailing firm’s drivers will be offered incentives to switch to BYD cars, such as discounts on maintenance, charging, and leasing.

The deal includes Uber’s operations in Europe and Latin America, which will see the initial rollout before the BYD cars are made available in the Middle East, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Earlier this year, Uber announced a deal with BYD’s biggest rival, Tesla, to promote EV adoption among its drivers in the US. It also unveiled plans to develop a purpose-built EV with South Korean car giant Kia.

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Elon Musk has revealed plans to start using humanoid robots to build Tesla’s electric cars from next year.

The Tesla boss took to social media to announce that the EV car maker will be the first manufacturer to leverage its own Optimus humanoid robots in production lines.

The Optimus bot has been in the works since 2021, with a prototype unveiled the following year. Musk said that the vehicle maker hopes to expand production next year, and then to sell the robots to other firms from 2026 onward.

“Tesla will have genuinely useful humanoid robots in low production for Tesla internal use next year and, hopefully, high production for other companies in 2026,” Musk said in his post on X.

Ofcom slaps TikTok with £1.9m fine over child safety

UK regulator Ofcom has fined social media giant TikTok to the tune of £1.9 million for failing to respond to a request for information on its parent controls safety feature.

The watchdog, which was given additional powers in 2022 to punish firms that fail to remove child sexual abuse content, said TikTok had failed to provide complete information on the uptake of its “Family Pairing” control.

The new powers, handed as part of the Online Safety Bill, allow Ofcom to fine companies who fail to respond to statutory information requests in a complete and timely fashion.

Ofcom said it had requested information about the Family Pairing parental control last summer, to assess the effectiveness of TikTok’s protections for teenage users.

TikTok provided a response to the request in September 2023, but retracted the information a few months later, Ofcom revealed in a blog post, leading to the fine.

Read Ofcom’s blog here

Oversight Board criticises Meta over AI generated images

Meta has been criticised by its own oversight board of its rules on adult images generated using artificial intelligence.

The Meta Oversight Board claimed Facebook’s parent company needs to be clearer about banning sexually explicit images made of real people. It also demanded the company introduce rules to stop these images spreading across its platforms.

The board issued the ruling after reviewing two pornographic fakes of famous women which were created using AI. These were then posted on Facebook and Instagram.

Meta has confirmed it plans to review the board’s recommendation, although it has no obligation to follow its advice.

The Oversight Board was established by Meta to assess any controversial decisions it might make. While it is funded by Meta, the board has operational independence, while the social media giant can choose whether to accept its suggestions.

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India scraps “Google Tax” on digital services

The Indian government has scrapped a controversial levy on digital services rendered to Indian businesses by foreign firms after pressure from the US.

India introduced the expanded “Google Tax” in 2020, widening the scope of its 2016 equalization levy – which charged offshore firms hosting advertisements targeted at Indian consumers – to include other e-commerce services.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has now introduced the Finance Bill 2024 that will scrap the equalization levy on a wide array of services, including cloud and e-commerce offerings, form August 1.

The move will be welcomed by the US who had claimed in 2021 that the expanded levy was discriminatory against US businesses due to the high number of digital services firms who were offering services in India.

The Biden administration hit back by imposing its own tariff of up to 25% for up to $2 billion of goods from nations that implement digital services taxes, though this was suspended almost immediately.

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Disney Corporation has revealed it was the target of a massive breach of internal documents. The breach was carried out by a hacking group that claimed to be defending artists’ rights.

The Nullbulge hackers said they had gained access to thousands of communications from Disney staffers.

The Mouse House confirmed it was investigating the breach to discover if any of the data accessed was commercially sensitive.

“Disney was our target due to how it handles artist contracts, its approach to AI, and its pretty blatant disregard for the consumer,” the hacking group told the BBC.

The leak was first reported in the gaming press and then picked up by the Wall Street Journal. According to WSJ, some of the leaked material was related to advertising campaigns and interview candidates, with some dating back as far as 2019.

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Musk plots to move SpaceX and X from California to Texas

Elon Musk has revealed plans to relocate the headquarters of two of his biggest companies: SpaceX and social media platform X.

Both companies are currently headquartered in California, but Musk claims he will move them to Texas, citing recent laws passed in the Golden State.

Musk opposes new Californian laws, in particular one which prevents schools from making rules requiring staff to tell anyone, including parents, information about a child’s gender identity.

Using X, which he bought as Twitter, Musk called it the “last straw” and said he would follow Tesla’s movement to Texas by bringing his other companies to the state, where he also lives.

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New Quantum chip could see mass production in just three years

Oxford Ionics has unveiled a new computer chip that experts claim could play a pivotal role in building useful quantum computers.

The chip can be mass-produced, the manufacturer said, meaning the first commercial quantum computer could hit the market in around three year’s time.

University of Oxford Associate Professor of Quantum Computing Aleks Kissinger said the new chip was “very promising”.

The chip uses “trapped ion” technology to provide over twice the performance of previous quantum chips and offers what is needed to mass produce a quantum computer capable of real-world applications.

However, some — including Ravinder Singh, who heads up the UK Cabinet Office’s digital and systems team — have warned that quantum computing may not see full-scale deployment for at least another decade.

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Trump picks former tech VC JD Vance for VP

Former US President Donald Trump has named former tech venture capitalist JD Vance his running mate for the 2024 US election later this year.

Vance — who is also an author and currently serves as the Senator for Ohio — spent two years as a tech venture capitalist at Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital between 2016 and 2017.

PayPal founder Thiel is one of Vance’s major financial backers, donating $15 million to support his senate campaign in the 2022 mid-terms.

In 2017, Vance joined the Steve Case-backed firm Revolution LLC in Washington as a partner focusing on startups

“His experience in tech has absolutely influenced his thinking,” Nathan Leamer, the chief executive of Fixed Gear Strategies, a tech policy consulting firm, told the NYT. “He built rapport with some important influencers now onboard with Trump.”

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A US judge has dismissed a $500 million severance lawsuit brought by former Twitter staff. They accused owner Elon Musk of short-changing them after he bought the social media giant in 2022.

Judge Trina Thompson said the ex-Twitter employees had failed to prove their claims were protected under federal law, handing a huge victory to Tesla billionaire Musk. Musk has faced several suits since buying the firm and rebranding it as X.

After Musk famously walked into Twitter HQ carrying a sink, the Tesla boss proceeded to sack thousands of staff, sparking multiple lawsuits. Vendors and partners accused Twitter of withholding promised payments.

Judge Thompson dismissed the suit, filed in a federal court in San Francisco in 2023 by former Twitter head of rewards Courtney McMillan.

“We are disappointed in the ruling and considering our options for moving forward,” a spokesperson for McMillan’s team said.

Musk’s team had urged the judge to reject the complaint, saying that America’s Employee Retirement Income Security Act did not apply as claimed.

Other cases against Musk are still pending, with Judge Thompson acknowledging in her ruling that those disputes may provide opportunities for litigants to prove their claims elsewhere, saying her court “lacks jurisdiction”.

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Biden grants $1.7bn to boost EV building in 8 states

The Biden Administration has announced $1.7 billion in grants to carmakers, including General Motors and Stellantis, to expand manufacturing of electric vehicles in eight states.

The US Energy Department will issue grants to create or retain thousands of union jobs in the automotive industry in election battleground states, including Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania.

Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, and Virginia are the other states with facilities awarded the money.

The cash covers parts of the automotive supply chain, ranging from parts for electric motorbikes to hybrid powertrains and heavy-duty commercial truck batteries.

“Building a clean energy economy can and should be a win-win for union autoworkers and automakers,” President Joe Biden said. “This investment will create thousands of good-paying, union manufacturing jobs and retain even more — from Lansing, Michigan to Fort Valley, Georgia — by helping auto companies retool, reboot and rehire in the same factories and communities.”

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SoftBank snaps up chipmaker Graphcore

Japanese tech giant SoftBank has acquired British chipmaker Graphcore for an undisclosed sum.

The Bristol-based startup that designs chipsets used in artificial intelligence faced financial difficulty last year. It warned there would be “material uncertainty” over its future if it did not receive funding by May 2024.

It is the latest British tech start-up to be bought by SoftBank, which also bought another chip firm, Arm, for £24 billion in 2016. It has also invested in British autonomous vehicle firm Wayve.

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Turkish delight for EV firm BYD, as Tesla rival unveils new factory plans

Electric vehicle maker BYD has announced a $1 billion deal to build a manufacturing centre in Turkey as it continues its expansion beyond its home market of China.

The Tesla rival said the new plant will build up to 150,000 vehicles a year and create around 5,000 jobs when it goes live in 2026.

It follows the introduction of EU tariffs on Chinese EVs, which means BYD will be hit with an extra 17.4% rise on vehicles shipped from China to the region.

However, the company could try to avoid extra charges by building a factory in Turkey, which is part of the EU’s Customs Union.

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Samsung workers to strike amid financial boost and new products

A union representing employees of tech giant Samsung has called on its 30,000 members to take indefinite strike action against the South Korean firm over a pay and benefits dispute.

National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) members have just completed a three-day strike. The union claimed Samsung executives had left it no choice but to call for more action after declining talks over its demands.

NSEU represents around a quarter of Samsung Electronics’ employees in Korea.

It comes as Samsung revealed its profits are expected to leap more than 1,400% due to a boom in demand for AI chipsets. Samsung is the world’s largest maker of memory chips, smartphones, and TVs.

At its Unpacked event in Paris, it also revealed new products, including a wearable connected ring that tracks heart rate, sleep, and menstrual cycle, among other health and fitness uses.

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Google’s greenhouse gas emissions surged by 48% from 2019 to 2023, mainly due to the heightened energy demands of AI-powered data centres.

These centres require significantly more electricity than standard online activities, raising concerns about AI’s environmental impact.

Despite Google’s commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2030, the integration of AI presents challenges. While European and American data centres use mostly carbon-free energy, those in the Middle East, Asia, and Australia rely more on fossil fuels.

Reducing emissions amid AI’s growth remains a formidable task for the tech giant: “As we further integrate AI into our products, reducing emissions may be challenging,” they said.

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BlackRock to acquire UK data group Preqin for £2.55bn

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has agreed to acquire Preqin, a UK-based private markets data group, for £2.55bn in cash.

This acquisition marks BlackRock’s entry into financial information provision, enhancing its focus on alternative assets.

Preqin, specialising in tracking private equity and hedge funds, will be integrated into BlackRock’s technology arm.

This deal underscores the growing demand for granular financial data. Preqin, founded 20 years ago, has experienced significant revenue growth fuelled by the private capital boom.

The acquisition is set to close later this year, positioning BlackRock for further expansion in private markets.

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Supreme Court rulings boost Big Tech’s power

Recent US Supreme Court decisions are set to significantly enhance Big Tech’s influence by limiting regulatory oversight.

A ruling mandating that SEC fraud cases be tried in court, coupled with overturning the Chevron doctrine, which allowed agencies to interpret laws, will curtail regulators’ power.

This shift empowers companies like Meta and SpaceX to challenge regulatory actions more effectively.

Legal experts warn of increased litigation and a chilling effect on rulemaking. As the US regulatory landscape becomes more complex, there’s concern the country might lag in tech regulation compared to global standards.

“The US invented competition policy — what we call antitrust law — but we’re not only failing to adapt to modern times, but we’re also falling into political retrenchment,” said Laura Phillips-Sawyer, a professor at the University of Georgia School of Law.

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Audi enhances voice control with ChatGPT integration

Audi will upgrade its vehicle voice control this month by integrating ChatGPT via Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service.

This enhancement applies to around two million Audi models from 2021 onwards, equipped with the third-generation modular infotainment system (MIB 3).

Drivers can now use natural language to interact with their cars, improving safety and convenience.

The Q6 e-tron and future models with the E3 1.2 electronics architecture will also benefit from ChatGPT through Cerence Chat Pro.

The carmaker claims this integration allows for seamless, AI-powered voice commands for infotainment, navigation, and climate control, enhancing the overall driving experience.

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Australia to build a top-secret cloud with AWS for military use

Australia’s government plans to develop a top secret-rated cloud in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), aimed at enhancing the cybersecurity of its Defence and National Intelligence Community.

Partnering with the Australian Signals Directorate, the TS Cloud aims to securely host the nation’s most sensitive information, improving data sharing and analysis capabilities.

The project, with an estimated budget of up to AUD$2 billion over ten years, involves constructing three dedicated data centres and establishing a local AWS subsidiary.

The initiative promises improved interoperability with the US and utilises advanced technologies such as AI and machine learning. According to The Register, Microsoft chose not to bid because it couldn’t match AWS’s interoperability.

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