Naval Ravikant endorsed Trump in September 2024, citing concerns about 'lawfare' against Trump. Said Democratic prosecutions were 'really trumped up' and 'disgusting behavior' that could turn America into a 'banana republic.' Offered to serve in Trump administration 'to protect the American Dream for my kids.' Elon Musk endorsed his analysis.
Activity
Incidents and actions from tracked entities.
Attorney General filed lawsuit after investigation revealed Snapchat received 10,000 sextortion reports monthly by late 2022 but failed to act. Internal surveys showed 70% of victims didn't report knowing Snap wouldn't take action.
NVIDIA faces simultaneous antitrust investigations in three major markets. The US DOJ issued a subpoena in September 2024 investigating whether NVIDIA makes it harder to switch suppliers and penalizes buyers not exclusively using its chips. France raided NVIDIA offices in September 2023, with June 2024 findings of likely abuse through price fixing, production restrictions, and discriminatory behavior. China's SAMR launched an investigation in December 2024 for suspected AML violations related to a 2020 transaction.
DOJ issued antitrust subpoenas to Nvidia investigating AI chip market dominance and anticompetitive practices
Sep 3, 2024The U.S. Department of Justice escalated its antitrust investigation of Nvidia by issuing legally binding subpoenas in September 2024. The DOJ investigated concerns that Nvidia made it harder to switch to other AI chip suppliers, penalized buyers not exclusively using its chips, and that its $700 million acquisition of RunAI could foreclose competition. Separately, China's SAMR found in September 2025 that Nvidia violated anti-monopoly law related to its 2020 Mellanox acquisition by allegedly tying GPU purchases to networking equipment. France also opened an investigation in 2024.
In September 2024, Elastic added the OSI-approved AGPLv3 license as an option alongside SSPL and Elastic License for Elasticsearch and Kibana, effectively returning to open-source licensing. However, developers who had migrated to alternatives after the 2021 license change largely did not return, with community trust having been damaged by the original switch.
DoorDash is among companies that revised or canceled their DEI policies. The company's annual report no longer outlines examples of DEI programs, though it still states a commitment to diversity and inclusion. DoorDash also sponsored the Canada Strong and Free Regional Networking Conference 2024 featuring Christopher Rufo, the far-right activist who has made it his mission to dismantle DEI initiatives.
Organized 'Reboot 2024' conference featuring Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 representatives
Sep 1, 2024Tan organized the 'Reboot 2024' conference in San Francisco which featured Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts discussing Project 2025. The conference brought together tech leaders with conservative policy advocates.
Under Ton-That's leadership as CEO, Clearview AI accumulated over 90 million euros in GDPR fines from France (20M), Italy (20M), Greece (20M), and the Netherlands (30.5M) for illegally processing European citizens' biometric data. Despite explicit orders from multiple EU data protection authorities to cease operations and delete data, the company continued scraping and processing European data. Dutch DPA chairman Aleid Wolfsen stated they would investigate holding management personally liable.
Mindler laid off eight psychologists citing economic challenges and declining reimbursement
Sep 1, 2024In September 2024, Mindler laid off eight psychologists, citing 'significant economic challenges,' declining reimbursement levels, and a tough capital market. While smaller in scale than other industry layoffs, it reflected broader pressures on digital mental health providers.
Khan Academy provides free education to 180M+ users across 190+ countries in 50+ languages
Sep 1, 2024Khan Academy has scaled its free educational platform to over 180 million registered users across 190+ countries by 2025, with content available in over 50 languages. During the 2023-2024 school year alone, the platform added 14.8 million new users. The U.S. Districts Partnerships program reached 945,000 students, with 64% qualifying for free/reduced lunch, 20% Black and 36% Hispanic, demonstrating strong reach into under-resourced communities. International expansion includes Brazil (2.3M users) and the Philippines (34 public schools).
Craft Ventures led $30M investment in autonomous weapons startup Allen Control Systems
Sep 1, 2024Craft Ventures led a $30 million Series A funding round for Allen Control Systems, an Austin-based defense startup that builds the Bullfrog autonomous weapon system designed to shoot down drones with standard ammunition. This represents Craft Ventures' most prominent disclosed defense technology investment, signaling a strategic shift toward autonomous weapons systems.
In September 2024, Keith Rabois and husband Jacob Helberg hosted a JD Vance fundraiser in Manhattan that raised over $1 million for the Trump campaign. Tickets ranged from $25,000 to $250,000. Rabois also donated $500,000 to Congressional Leadership Fund and approximately $700,000 to Protect the House PAC. His husband Jacob Helberg donated $2M to Trump 2024 and was appointed Under Secretary of State.
Meta faced $52M US settlement and $1.6B Kenya lawsuit over content moderator PTSD and trauma
Sep 1, 2024Meta has faced multiple lawsuits from content moderators suffering severe psychological trauma. In 2020, Facebook paid $52 million to settle a US class-action (Scola v. Facebook) from moderators employed through Accenture and other contractors who developed PTSD. In September 2024, a Kenyan court ruled Meta can be sued in local courts, with 144 former moderators (81% diagnosed with severe PTSD) seeking $1.6 billion in compensation. Additional lawsuits from Ghana moderators allege depression, anxiety, insomnia, and substance abuse from reviewing extreme content. Accenture employed more than a third of Meta's ~15,000 content moderators.
X removed all historical transparency reports dating back to 2011 when publishing first post-acquisition report
Sep 1, 2024When X released its first transparency report under Musk's ownership in September 2024, covering Q1-Q2 2021, the company simultaneously removed all previous transparency reports that had been published since 2011 under prior ownership. Access Now's Transparency Reporting Index noted the removal as 'a blatant step to reduce transparency and accountability.' The new report provided significantly less detail across every metric compared to previous reports.
Thousands of contract workers evaluating Google's Gemini AI for accuracy and safety earn as little as $14-15 per hour in the US, far below industry standards for cognitively demanding AI evaluation work. Overseas raters in India and the Philippines report effective rates under $10 per hour after deductions. Workers face grueling deadlines and burnout, fueling accusations of exploitation in the AI evaluation pipeline.
Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing for Oasis reunion tickets sparked public backlash and UK regulatory response
Aug 31, 2024In August 2024, Ticketmaster's 'dynamic pricing' algorithm more than doubled the face value of Oasis reunion tour tickets during high-demand on-sale, with some tickets rising from £135 to over £350. The incident triggered widespread public outrage, a UK Competition and Markets Authority investigation, and ultimately the passage of the UK Sale of Tickets (Standardised Pricing) Bill to ban dynamic pricing for live events. Ticketmaster faced accusations of exploiting fans after they had queued for hours.
Anthropic signed agreement with NIST's U.S. AI Safety Institute to provide access to major new models before and after public release for collaborative research on capability evaluation and safety risk mitigation. The Institute will provide feedback on potential safety improvements.
Reports revealed intense work culture at Nvidia with seven-day weeks and early morning finishes
Aug 27, 2024In August 2024, Bloomberg reported that 10 current and former Nvidia employees described an intense work culture where workers regularly worked seven days a week with shifts ending at 1-2 AM. Former employees described contentious meetings with shouting as common. CEO Jensen Huang publicly praised pushing employees to the brink, saying 'I'd rather torture you into greatness because I believe in you.' Despite these conditions, Nvidia's turnover rate was only 2.7% (vs 17.7% industry average) due to exceptional stock compensation that functions as 'golden handcuffs.' The company maintained high Glassdoor ratings (4.6/5) with 93% of employees recommending the company.
Hindenburg Research published short report alleging Supermicro repeated accounting manipulation; Ernst & Young resigned as auditor
Aug 27, 2024In August 2024, Hindenburg Research published a report alleging Supermicro had returned to the same accounting manipulation practices that led to its previous SEC charges, including related-party transactions and sanctions evasion. Ernst & Young subsequently resigned as Supermicro's auditor in October 2024, citing concerns about governance and transparency. The DOJ opened an investigation. Supermicro faced potential NASDAQ delisting again before filing delayed reports.
Uber fined €290 million by Dutch DPA for transferring EU driver data to US without adequate protection
Aug 26, 2024Dutch Data Protection Authority fined Uber €290 million for transferring personal data of EU drivers to the United States without adequate protection between August 6, 2021 and November 21, 2023. Data included account details, taxi licenses, location data, photos, payment details, identity documents, and in some cases criminal and medical data of drivers. Uber stopped using Standard Contractual Clauses from August 2021, leaving driver data insufficiently protected. Uber responded it would appeal, calling the decision 'completely unjustified.' An additional €10 million fine was imposed in January 2024 for related data access rights violations.
FTC's noncompete ban struck down by federal court as illegal overreach beyond statutory authority
Aug 20, 2024In April 2024, the FTC issued a landmark regulation banning enforcement of non-compete agreements. In August 2024, a federal court struck down the regulation, ruling it was an overreach of statutory authority and that the regulation was 'arbitrary and capricious.' The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable sued, arguing 'the FTC exceeded its administrative authority' and that such economic significance should be decided by Congress, not an agency.
In August 2024, Stewart Butterfield and his wife Jen Rubio hosted a fundraiser for Kamala Harris at their $32.2 million Southampton estate. About 100 people attended with VP candidate Tim Walz, with ticket prices ranging from $6,600 to $150,000. Celebrities including Chris Rock and Joy Behar attended. The couple also hosted a separate Harris fundraiser on August 31, 2024.
Multiple studies found TikTok algorithmically suppresses content critical of China including Uyghur, Tibet, and Tiananmen topics
Aug 16, 2024Research by Rutgers University Network Contagion Research Institute (2023-2024) found TikTok's algorithm systematically suppresses content critical of China's human rights record. Searching for 'Uyghur' on TikTok returned only 2.5% anti-CCP content compared to 50% on Instagram and 54% on YouTube. For Tibet searches, 61-93% of results were pro-China or irrelevant. Leaked internal moderation guidelines (2019-2020) had explicitly directed moderators to censor content about Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, and Xinjiang. CEO Shou Zi Chew denied censorship during 2023 Congressional testimony, contradicting a UK parliamentary admission by TikTok executive Elizabeth Kanter that such policies had existed.
Oracle reportedly began working with the Heritage Foundation to compile a database of potential Trump appointees willing to implement Project 2025, a radically conservative policy agenda. Oracle's public-facing financial disclosures do not mention this contract.
The EPA and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality fined SpaceX over $150,000 for repeatedly polluting waters near its Boca Chica Starbase facility. SpaceX discharged industrial wastewater into wetlands without proper permits on at least 13 occasions, including a 2022 liquid oxygen spill. A September 2022 test launch scorched 68 acres of the Lower Rio Grande National Wildlife Refuge. Environmental groups and U.S. Fish & Wildlife documented significant harm to endangered species habitat including ocelots, aplomado falcons, and Kemp's Ridley sea turtles.
SpaceX developed radio beam-steering techniques with NSF and NRAO to reduce interference with radio telescopes
Aug 9, 2024In August 2024, SpaceX announced new techniques developed with the National Science Foundation and National Radio Astronomy Observatory to help radio astronomers. The system redirects or disables Starlink satellite transmissions when they pass over sensitive telescopes including the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. However, researchers still found Starlink emitting unintended radio signals in protected astronomy frequencies, affecting up to 30% of telescope images.
Settled $115M class action over mass consumer surveillance and data brokering of 5 billion people
Aug 9, 2024Oracle settled a class action lawsuit for $115 million after plaintiffs alleged the company surveilled consumers online and offline, compiled personal data into detailed profiles including geolocation, finances, demographics, interests, and health data, and sold those profiles to third parties. Oracle's 'coretag' tracking code was embedded on thousands of websites to intercept consumer communications. Oracle claimed to have amassed dossiers on 5 billion people. Court granted preliminary approval August 2024.
Laid off 300 employees in botched process that sent duck photo and wrong termination dates
Aug 5, 2024Stripe cut 300 employees from product, engineering, and operations on a US national holiday. Some received a PDF image of a duck and incorrect termination dates due to the layoff being sent early by mistake. Reports indicate employees on older pay bands were targeted regardless of performance. Average engineer pay fell ~14% over two years.
Federal judge ruled Google illegally maintained monopoly in search and text advertising
Aug 5, 2024On August 5, 2024, Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act by maintaining an illegal monopoly in general search services and general text advertising. Google held ~90% of desktop and ~95% of mobile search market share, paying partners tens of billions for exclusive default status. The DOJ case, joined by 30+ state attorneys general, found Google's exclusive dealing agreements foreclosed rivals from competing. In September 2025, remedies were imposed including data-sharing requirements and restrictions on exclusive default contracts, though Chrome divestiture was rejected.
DOJ sues TikTok for flagrantly violating children's privacy law, collecting data from millions of children
Aug 2, 2024Department of Justice filed lawsuit alleging TikTok collected personal data from millions of children under 13 without parental consent, built backdoors allowing children to bypass age verification, and failed to honor deletion requests.