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Sarah Frier

@sarahfrier.bsky.social
22K followers 135 following 40 posts

In charge of big tech coverage at Bloomberg Author of NO FILTER: The Inside Story of Instagram Email me at sfrier1 at Bloomberg dot net

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Sarah Frier @sarahfrier.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
NEW: I met the robots creating human embryos. And after two years following the company, wrote a different kind of robots versus humans story than I expected: tinyurl.com/ynt5chy7
tinyurl.com
The Startup Making Human Embryos With AI-Assisted Robots
Conceivable’s automated lab has helped bring 19 babies to life. Is it better at IVF than humans are?
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Davey Alba @davey.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
NEW: AI “recipe slop” is overrunning search and social. Food creators say Google’s AI Overviews and glossy fake food pics are drowning out real, tested recipes — collapsing traffic and setting home cooks up for disaster, especially this Thanksgiving. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
AI Slop Recipes Are Taking Over the Internet -- And Thanksgiving Dinner
Food bloggers see traffic dip as home cooks turn to AI, inspired by impossible pictures
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Davey Alba @davey.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
NEW: For months, my colleagues and I dug into YouTube's conservative airwaves and found a flourishing network of host-read ads on right-leaning podcasts. This phenomenon has enriched hosts, YouTube, and businesses that use ideology to sell. bloom.bg/3Kaio9w
YouTube’s Right-Wing Stars Fuel Boom in Politically Charged Ads

By 
Davey Alba
Priyanjana Bengani
Leon Yin
Ashley Carman
Julia Love
Rachael Dottle
Elena Mejía Technology

Big Tech

November 20, 2025

On YouTube’s conservative airwaves, podcast hosts tout products that let people buy into the MAGA crowd: Republican Red Winery vintages for toasting the “silent majority;” Black Rifle Coffee for caffeinating gun owners; XX-XY Athletics for workout clothes symbolizing opposition to the “lunacy of the left social agenda.”The popularity of YouTube podcasts among conservatives is driving a boom in small businesses tailoring ads to their millions of listeners, paying hosts like Joe Rogan and Candace Owens to read out promotions in the hope that fans will place orders. The phenomenon has enriched both the hosts and YouTube, supporting further growth of the businesses using ideology to sell.

A Bloomberg analysis of host-read ads across nearly 1,000 videos from eight of the platform’s top right-leaning podcasters found that advertisers on the shows routinely tapped into political identity in marketing. At least one host-read ad with a political message appeared in 91% of videos reviewed.
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Sarah Frier @sarahfrier.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
people have been sending me the cover of this former Meta exec’s upcoming book…
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
"several people are typing" this has been the last 4 days in a nutshell
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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
new podcast in which @sarahfrier.bsky.social and i puzzle through Trump's pulling Elon's pick for NASA, the, uh, ketamine question, and the black eye enjoy www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Is Elon Musk’s Political Capital Spent?
Donald Trump’s right-hand man is telling everyone he wants to get back to business. On this week’s episode of Elon, Inc., we discuss what may be behind it.
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Kirsten Grind @kirstengrind.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
NEW: Megan Twohey and I went deep on Elon Musk’s intense drug use as he rose to political power alongside Trump last year. He was using so much ketamine that he told people it was affecting his bladder. At SpaceX, he is getting warnings ahead of drug tests www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/u...
nytimes.com
On the Campaign Trail, Elon Musk Juggled Drugs and Family Drama
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Kirsten Grind @kirstengrind.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
White House responds to our story: “The drugs that we’re concerned about are the drugs running across the southern border.” No comment on whether Musk’s been drug tested or if Trump was aware
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Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 26/05/2025
Mark Zuckerberg has done everything he can to win over Trump, and it’s not clear how much he has to show for it. Read The Big Take
bloom.bg
Mark Zuckerberg Loves MAGA Now. Will MAGA Ever Love Him Back?
Meta’s CEO has done everything he can to win over Trump, and it’s not clear how much he has to show for it.
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Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 27/05/2025
President Biden called Mark Zuckerberg "Little Twerp" and "Fuckerberg” www.bloomberg.com/news/feature... @rileyraygriffin.bsky.social @kurtwagner.bsky.social
bloomberg.com
Mark Zuckerberg Loves MAGA Now. Will MAGA Ever Love Him Back?
Meta’s CEO has done everything he can to win over Trump, and it’s not clear how much he has to show for it.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
🚨 New Businessweek Feature 🚨 What is behind Mark Zuckerberg's rightward swing toward President Trump? I'd wager it's less about personal politics, and more about a finely tuned sense of self-preservation... w/ @rileyraygriffin.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
Mark Zuckerberg Loves MAGA Now. Will MAGA Ever Love Him Back?
Meta’s CEO has done everything he can to win over Trump, and it’s not clear how much he has to show for it.
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Stacey Vanek Smith @svaneksmith.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
A 50% tariff on Europe?! 🧀🍝🍷 How Trump uses pro-wrestling theatrics to run the economy. The latest ep of #EverybodysBusiness is out! @chafkin.bsky.social and I talk kayfabe w/ @kyla.bsky.social Then @sarahfrier.bsky.social joins to talk AI & jobs 🤖 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...
podcasts.apple.com
Everybody's Business
Business News Podcast · Updated weekly · Bloomberg Businessweek brings you a smart and fun chat show about all things...business. Hosted by award-winning business and economics journalists Max Chafkin...
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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
New episode of everybody’s business! Featuring @kyla.bsky.social on WWEconomics and @sarahfrier.bsky.social on AI! Give us a shot and subscribe!! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...
podcasts.apple.com
Wrestling with Taxes, Robots and Gold
Podcast Episode · Everybody's Business · 05/23/2025 · 35m
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Mark Gurman @markgurman.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
NEW: Why Apple Hasn’t Cracked AI — The inside story of Apple’s generative AI and Siri failures, setbacks that threaten everything from the iPhone's dominance to plans for future products. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
Why Apple Still Hasn’t Cracked AI
Insiders say continued failure to get artificial intelligence right threatens everything from the iPhone’s dominance to plans for robots and other futuristic products.
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Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
hey hey, me and @svaneksmith.bsky.social made a new podcast for @bloomberg.com. it's about business. its smart. its fun. we'll tell you stuff you don't know but should. it comes out each week and we NEED you to subscribe and tell your friends. link.podtrac.com/rzj316uq
link.podtrac.com
Everybody's Business
A smart and fun chat show about all things business. Hosted by award-winning business and economics journalists Max Chafkin (author of The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power...
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Stacey Vanek Smith @svaneksmith.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
New podcast alert 🚨 I’m very excited to be hosting a new podcast with the great @chafkin.bsky.social for @businessweek.bsky.social @bloomberg.com Please give a listen and let us know what you think! 🎧 (banana pudding strongly encouraged but not required)
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Cecilia D'Anastasio @cecianasta.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
New: Political commentator Hasan Piker says he was briefly detained by US Customs and Border Protection, questioned about his views on Hamas and Trump. First reported by @taylorlorenz.bsky.social. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Political Pundit Hasan Piker Questioned by US Customs at Airport
Hasan Piker, an online political commentator, was stopped and questioned by US Customs and Border Protection agents after returning to the country from France, he said his Twitch livestream Monday.
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Julia Love @julialove.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Scoop on the Google beat: Google has begun showing advertising within the flow of conversations with chatbots, starting with AI search startups like iAsk and Liner. This means that even if Google's share of the search market dwindles, it still stands to profit. bloom.bg/436FhkR
bloom.bg
Google Places Ads Inside Chatbot Conversations With AI Startups
Google’s ad network has begun showing advertising within the flow of conversations with chatbots — part of Alphabet Inc.’s efforts to keep its edge in digital advertising as generative artificial inte...
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Davey Alba @davey.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
New from me: Here's a fun lil earnings scoop 🚨 There was an $8 billion increase in profit in Alphabet's latest report that was just nagging and nagging at me. The accounting didn't make sense. Finally got to the bottom of it: the boost came from unrealized gains from a 2015 investment in SpaceX.
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Reyhan Harmanci @harmancipants.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
And then @sarahfrier.bsky.social told the real story of how Trump came to the manosphere -- it wasn't Barron, it was a guy named John Shahidi, who found quite a niche for himself www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
The Guy Who Connected Donald Trump to the Manosphere
John Shahidi is a big part of why young men turned out to vote for Trump.
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Sarah Frier @sarahfrier.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
This is absolutely wild to see come out on record in federal court after reporting it in my book 5 years ago (Systrom has been silent on the acquisition and aftermath in that time). Details he is sharing took me months to report out and confirm.
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Josh Eidelson @josheidelson.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
NEW Businessweek feature: The US gives permission to pay people with disabilities below minimum wage. Biden tried to end program. Employers urging Trump preserve it say they've gotten private signals he will. Based on 1000s of pages of records & 150 interviews: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
It’s Legal to Pay US Workers With Disabilities as Little as 25¢ an Hour
Whether it stays that way is up to Trump.
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Sarah Frier @sarahfrier.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Just saying, if you read No Filter, you would have known about Zuckerberg getting jealous of Instagram’s growth (& why the founders left) long before this FTC trial
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Reyhan Harmanci @harmancipants.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
And hear Max, @danahull.bsky.social, @sarahfrier.bsky.social, @kurtwagner.bsky.social and others talking more Musk every week on Elon, Inc. open.spotify.com/episode/3Amn....
open.spotify.com
Trumpland vs. Elon vs. Tariffs
Elon, Inc. · Episode
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Davey Alba @davey.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
NEW: Spoke to 25 small publishers about the kind of impact Google's AI changes to search has had on their businesses. Things don't look good—not for the publishers, and not for the quality of information out on the open web, which ironically Google itself relies on. Gift link: bloom.bg/43Jmzk3
In March 2024, website owner Morgan McBride was posing for photos in her half-renovated kitchen for a Google ad celebrating the ways the search giant had helped her family’s business grow.

But by the time the ad ran about a month later, traffic from Google had fallen more than 70%, McBride said. Charleston Crafted, which features guides on do-it-yourself home improvement projects, had weathered algorithm changes and updates in the past; this time, it didn’t recover. McBride suspected people were getting more of their renovation advice from the artificial intelligence answers at the top of Google search.

The now-ubiquitous AI-generated answers — and the way Google has changed its search algorithm to support them — have caused traffic to independent websites to plummet, according to Bloomberg interviews with 25 publishers and people who work with them. That’s disrupting a delicate symbiotic relationship that’s existed for years: if businesses create good content, Google sends them traffic.
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Julia Love @julialove.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Google says AI Overviews drive more traffic to a diverse mix of publishers. But it has never shared data to back up that claim. @daveyalba & I spoke to 25 creators who painted a different picture. Several are out of business. One is on food stamps. Our latest: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Google AI Search Shift Leaves Website Makers Feeling ‘Betrayed’
In March 2024, website owner Morgan McBride was posing for photos in her half-renovated kitchen for a Google ad celebrating the ways the search giant had helped her family’s business grow.
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Sarah Frier @sarahfrier.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
I was one of the many interns who sat next to Dan Kraut at Bloomberg, who he took such care to shape into a real business journalist. I will never forget how kind and welcoming he was. Thank you, Dan, for all the lessons in reporting, managing, and life. www.louissuburbanchapel.com/daniel-j-kra...
louissuburbanchapel.com
Daniel J. Kraut - Louis Suburb Chapel - Jewish Funeral Home in Fair Lawn NJ Serving Bergen County NJ
print
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Davey Alba @davey.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
🚨 NEW: Google Search has ruled the web for >20 yrs. But in recent years, a chorus of discontent has been building among the web-going public. Google is drastically remaking search with gen AI just as people are complaining that the service is slowly degrading—and degrading the web. bloom.bg/41W2wwl
bloom.bg
Google Is Searching for an Answer to ChatGPT
Big changes are underway for the internet’s most popular product, and Google (and the web) may never be the same.
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Julia Love @julialove.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
🚨NEW: Google has spent the past 2+ years trying to remake search with generative AI. The results? Mixed. Check out my cover story with @davey.bsky.social on missed opportunities, Google's attempts to right the ship & the price being paid across the web. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
Google Is Searching for an Answer to ChatGPT
Big changes are underway for the internet’s most popular product, and Google (and the web) may never be the same.
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Sarah Frier @sarahfrier.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Exciting things happening on my team: @dinabass.bsky.social is taking on a new job covering AI infrastructure @brodyford.bsky.social will add Microsoft to the companies he covers
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Jason Leopold @jasonleopold.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
NEW: How Elon Musk Muscled His Way Into the FAA FAA employees are on edge. They were told that anyone who impeded progress of the new FAA-SpaceX partnership would be reported to Musk and risked losing their jobs. A ton of scoopy news in this new report. 🎁 www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
bloomberg.com
How Elon Musk Muscled His Way Into the FAA
The billionaire overseeing a wide-ranging government efficiency effort is offering his own SpaceX technology as the future of flight-safety inside the Federal Aviation Administration
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Sarah Frier @sarahfrier.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Tech journalism is at its best when there is strong competition to figure out what’s happening at the world’s most valuable and powerful companies. Sad to see this and don’t understand it.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
X's business is having a bit of a resurgence. One factor: Some marketers feel they have to choose between spending money on X or facing a possible legal fight against Elon Musk “You’re buying insurance, you’re not buying advertising" - @lou-paskalis.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
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Sarah Frier @sarahfrier.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Elon Musk posts frequently about immigration, and the dangers of letting unauthorized people into the country. Here, @julialove.bsky.social reveals that Musk’s companies have relied on undocumented workers for a rapid expansion in Austin, Texas:
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Julia Love @julialove.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
For my latest story, I reported on the lives of the undocumented contract workers who helped power Elon Musk's expansion in Austin. Sweeping debris, laying plumbing and pouring concrete, these workers built facilities that helped make Musk’s $400 billion fortune. Read for free: bloom.bg/41gG6a3
bloom.bg
The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk’s Texas Gigafactory
Tesla and SpaceX both relied on their labor while Musk advocated for a border crackdown.
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Mark Gurman @markgurman.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
BREAKING: Meta’s next big thing is humanoid robots. The company starting a new division to build an AI hardware and software platform to become “the Android” of the humanoid industry. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Meta Plans Major Investment Into AI-Powered Humanoid Robots
Meta Platforms Inc., after pushing into augmented reality and artificial intelligence, has identified its next big bet: AI-powered humanoid robots.
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
New: We spoke to government IT employees/contractors about DOGE. Their warnings were dire. The people who maintain the systems that keep the country working are terrified. "This is the largest data breach and the largest IT security breach in our country’s history—at least that’s publicly known."
theatlantic.com
The Government’s Computing Experts Say They Are Terrified
Four IT professionals lay out just how destructive Elon Musk’s incursion into the U.S. government could be.
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Davey Alba @davey.bsky.social · 22/01/2025
NEW: My colleagues & I analyzed nearly 1.3k hours of footage (>2k videos) from nine wildly popular podcasters and streamers on YouTube to understand how they helped lift Trump to power. Now that he's back in office, the broadcasters are well-positioned to help build support for his political agenda.
bloomberg.com
How Popular YouTubers Pushed Young Male Voters Toward Trump
How podcasters like Joe Rogan and Logan Paul turned young men, a once apolitical demographic, into a massively powerful voting bloc
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Tom Giles @tomgiles.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Gearing up for my class at Cal. I made a reader! Plus, some of the books I'm teaching from. S/O to @sarahfrier.bsky.social, @johncarreyrou.bsky.social, @jodikantor.bsky.social, Megan Twohey, Virginia Eubanks, Angus Deaton and many other authors, journalists and professors whose work I draw on.
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Nick Turner @newsynick.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
A Meta lawyer dropped the company as a client, citing CEO Mark Zuckerburg’s “descent into toxic masculinity and Neo-Nazi madness.” (Not a lawyer, so I assume this is standard boilerplate language.) news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/meta-...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
New: Mark Zuckerberg went on Joe Rogan and lamented the rise of “culturally neutered” companies that have sought to distance themselves from “masculine energy." He says you need that "aggression." It's...I don't even know. Here's a gift link. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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Tom Giles @tomgiles.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
Fertility startup Kindbody is fielding takeover interest and considering a sale while seeking to line up $10 million to sustain operations. A fundraising effort earlier this year fell through. By @jackiedavalos.bsky.social and @sarahfrier.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Fertility Startup Kindbody Considers Sale While Seeking Funding
Fertility startup Kindbody is considering selling itself after a funding round fell through earlier this year, and it’s seeking to raise $10 million to sustain operations in the interim, according to ...
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Sarah Frier @sarahfrier.bsky.social · 06/12/2024
TikTok still faces a ban if it doesn’t sell its app by Jan 19, a federal appeals court decided: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
TikTok Faces US Ban After Appeals Court Refuses to Block Law
TikTok’s Chinese parent company faces a ban in the US if it doesn’t meet a Jan. 19 deadline to sell the video-sharing app as a result of a federal appeals court ruling Friday.
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Mackenzie Hawkins @mackhawk.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Biden admin plans to unveil new chip export controls on China as soon as next week, as WIRED first reported (though timing has slid before & could slide again) Latest draft — not yet final — includes fewer Huawei supplier sanctions than earlier proposals www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
US Preps China Chip Curbs That Stop Short of Early Proposals
The Biden administration is weighing additional curbs on sales of semiconductor equipment and AI memory chips to China that would escalate the US crackdown on Beijing’s tech ambitions but stop short o...
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Sarah Frier @sarahfrier.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
The color scheme of this app means that sometimes when a notification comes up, my brain associates it with owing someone money
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Josh Sisco @sisco.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
The law moves slow part 439,529. After the FTC sued FB in Dec 2020 to break it up, we now have a trial date of Apr 14 2025. FTC says 10-12 weeks, FB says 5-6 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
FTC, Meta Face April 14 Trial Over Suit to Break Up Company
Meta Platforms Inc. faces an April 14 trial in the Federal Trade Commission’s long-running antitrust lawsuit to break up the company.
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Sarah Frier @sarahfrier.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Please listen to this politics-focused Elon explainer series. It’s very very good.
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Sarah Frier @sarahfrier.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Incredible when a huge scoop like this from @leahnylen.bsky.social @sisco.bsky.social is confirmed www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Justice Department Seeks Google Chrome Sale to Curb Monopoly
The Justice Department and a group of states proposed major changes to Alphabet Inc.’s Google — including a forced sale of the company’s Chrome web browser — in the wake of a landmark ruling that the ...
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Stacey Shick @staceyshick.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
In today's Businessweek Daily, @sarahfrier.bsky.social looks at the opportunity for Trump and his buddies in forcing a TikTok divestment www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
bloomberg.com
Trump’s Warming to TikTok Is a Twist in Its Divestment Saga
Its sale could benefit his allies. Plus: A major shift in climate policy, and Martha Stewart as master teacher.
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Sarah Frier @sarahfrier.bsky.social · 12/11/2024
About a year ago we launched a podcast digging deep into Musk’s growing power. It just got a whole lot more relevant. Recorded this one this morn with @chafkin.bsky.social @danahull.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Elon Musk Becomes the First Friend
From talking to world leaders to polling social media about who should lead the Senate, Donald Trump’s richest fanboy is only gaining power.
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