Al Jazeera's 'Invisible Eyes' documentary (May 2026) exposed that Safaricom allowed Kenyan security agencies access to subscriber location data, call records, and M-Pesa financial transactions -- often without court orders -- to surveil, locate, and track activists and protesters. A Safaricom employee admitted in court to complying with a government data request without a court order. The Law Society of Kenya filed a constitutional petition seeking a court audit of all data requests from June 2024 to December 2025.
Anthropic filed two federal lawsuits against the Trump administration on March 9, 2026, alleging illegal retaliation and First Amendment violations. The suits challenged the administration's designation of Anthropic as a 'supply chain risk' — a label normally reserved for foreign adversary contractors — after Anthropic refused Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's ultimatum to allow unrestricted military use of Claude AI, including for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. Over 30 employees from OpenAI and Google DeepMind, including Google chief scientist Jeff Dean, filed an amicus brief supporting Anthropic's case. Anthropic's CFO stated the government's actions could reduce revenue by 'multiple billions of dollars.'
In 60 Minutes interview, Amodei stated: 'I think I'm deeply uncomfortable with these decisions being made by a few companies, by a few people. And this is one reason why I've always advocated for responsible and thoughtful regulation of the technology.' When asked 'who elected you and Sam Altman?' responded 'No one, no one.'
In a Times Radio interview, Wales criticized President Trump's repeated 'fake news' claims, saying they mirror tactics used by strongmen around the world. He noted it was 'an astonishing situation' when a President 'clearly contradicts himself, or denies that he said things that we can all play tapes of him saying.'
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Under DOGE's direction, USAID was effectively eliminated by July 2025. The agency's workforce was cut by 92% (from 4,800 to 378 employees), and 90% of contracts and grants were canceled. Cuts included $1.1 billion in malaria prevention, $171.7 million in food and clean water programs, and $435.2 million in education abroad. A federal judge ruled the dismantling was likely unconstitutional. Senator Schatz reported that over 360,000 people had already died as a result of not having food and medication in the wake of the funding cuts.
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In April 2025, acting US Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. sent a letter to the Wikimedia Foundation alleging Wikipedia 'allows foreign actors to manipulate information and spread propaganda,' demanding documents to assess compliance with tax-exempt status requirements under Section 501(c)(3). The letter requested materials from January 2021 onward covering content moderation practices, editor misconduct handling, and interactions with search engines and AI companies. Separately, in May 2025, a bipartisan group of 23 US Representatives led by Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Don Bacon sent a letter expressing concern about antisemitism and anti-Israel bias on Wikipedia. These actions represented escalating political pressure on the Foundation's editorial independence.
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In March 2025, Jack Ma appeared alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping after disappearing from public life for nearly 5 years following his October 2020 criticism of China's financial regulators. By September 2025, Ma was back on Alibaba campuses directing the company's AI pivot and e-commerce strategy under a 'Make Alibaba Great Again' banner. His return signals rehabilitation by the CCP but raises questions about what concessions were required.
On January 20, 2025, DHH published a blog post praising Trump's return to the presidency, writing that 'the majority of Americans are optimistic about the prospect' and describing the moment as 'exhilarating.' He contrasted American confidence favorably with European pessimism. This followed earlier anti-DEI blog posts in 2023 that led Duke University Libraries to drop Basecamp.
On January 20, 2025, Mark Zuckerberg co-hosted a private reception for Trump's inauguration alongside Republican billionaire donors including Miriam Adelson, Tilman Fertitta, and Todd Ricketts. Zuckerberg was also granted prime seating during Trump's swearing-in in the Capitol Rotunda, alongside Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai, and Elon Musk. This marked a dramatic shift from Zuckerberg's 2021 decision to ban Trump from Facebook/Instagram.
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Lyft notably did not donate to Trump's 2025 inauguration fund, while competitor Uber donated $2 million. Lyft also maintained its pledge not to fund members of Congress who supported election denial claims after January 6, 2021.
In early 2025, Musk launched a social media campaign against UK's Labour government, publishing over 100 posts (100+ million views) falsely accusing PM Starmer of allowing grooming gangs to avoid prosecution for votes. Posts targeting UK increased 5.6-fold in January 2025. He explicitly called for votes for Germany's far-right AfD party before their February 2025 election. In August 2024, he posted 'Civil war is inevitable' in the UK during riots, prompting government rebuke. The EU's EDMO documented how his 'powerful disinformation machine works' across European politics.
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In 2024, Pierre Omidyar donated $16.4 million to 501(c)(4) 'social welfare' electoral-advocacy and lobbying organizations. The Democracy Voice Fund received over $13 million from Omidyar in 2024. He also gave $500,000 to Governors Safeguarding Democracy, which opposes Trump administration policies, and $750,000 to a fund associated with Democratic lawyer Marc Elias.
Throughout 2024, Elon Musk posted at least 87 claims about US elections that fact-checkers rated as false or misleading, amassing over 2 billion views. None received Community Notes fact-checks. He promoted the 'Great Replacement' conspiracy theory claiming Democrats were 'importing voters' (747 million views across 42 posts), spread voting machine fraud conspiracies, and shared an AI deepfake of Kamala Harris (133 million views). The Center for Countering Digital Hate estimated his political reach would have cost a campaign $24 million in ads.
Graham gave a lukewarm endorsement of Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, stating 'Harris is a typical politician. But Trump is a crook. You can't have that sort of person as president.' He cited Trump's refusal to concede the 2020 election as 'banana republic stuff.'
In October 2024, Musk pledged through America PAC to give away $1 million per day to a registered voter in swing states who signed his petition supporting the First and Second Amendments. Legal experts and election law scholars raised concerns the sweepstakes could violate federal law prohibiting paying people to register to vote. Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner filed a lawsuit alleging the program was an illegal lottery. A judge allowed the sweepstakes to continue. The program ran primarily in battleground states including Pennsylvania, a key swing state.
Tan 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.
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.
John Collison has donated approximately $233,000 to Democratic candidates and organizations as of August 2024, including contributions to Kamala Harris and the Democratic National Committee. This represents personal political giving, not company contributions.
At the Sun Valley Conference in July 2024, Reid Hoffman reportedly responded to Peter Thiel's comment about making Trump a martyr by saying he wished he had made Trump an 'actual martyr.' The comment came just before the attempted assassination of Trump. Hoffman later clarified he 'meant nothing about any sort of physical harm or violence.'
On January 27, 2024, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan posted on X/Twitter at 12:25 AM wishing seven San Francisco Board of Supervisors members would 'die slow motherfuckers,' targeting progressive supervisors Dean Preston, Connie Chan, Aaron Peskin, Shamann Walton, Myrna Melgar, Hillary Ronen, and Ahsha Safai. The post led to threatening letters sent to supervisors' homes, multiple police reports filed, and widespread condemnation. Tan later apologized, claiming the post referenced a Tupac Shakur song 'Hit Em Up,' but acknowledged it 'wasn't a good call.'