WEBVTT - Tech News: NPR Says X Isn't Worth It 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:12.280 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.720 and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:18.480 I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio. And how the tech 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:22.720 are you. I'm having a rough recovery day. I'm still 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:26.720 getting over COVID. I'm no longer testing positive for COVID, 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:30.680 but there's been some lingering symptoms and some days are 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:32.840 better than others. This is not one of the better days. 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:35.600 But it is a Thursday, which means it's in tech 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:37.960 News day. So we're going to cover the tech news 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:43.839 for October twelfth, twenty twenty three, and like Tuesday's news episode, 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:46.559 we're going to start off with a bunch of Twitter 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:51.120 slash x news. So first up, I mentioned that a 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:55.600 lot of people from media outlets to government agencies to 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:58.920 watchdog groups have been directing criticism at X for the 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:04.200 proliferation of misinformation and disinformation, specifically in the wake of 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:08.160 the ongoing war in Israel. It did not take long 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:12.640 at all for bad information to flood the platform after 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:17.880 Hamas launched attacks within Israel, and that bad information included 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:22.800 everything from photos and footage of past conflicts being passed 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:26.560 off as if they were from the most recent circumstances, 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:29.800 to some accounts claiming that footage that was taken from 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:35.160 modern video games actually represented circumstances in either Israel or Gaza. 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:40.440 One critic who raised concerns about the platform in general 0:01:41.160 --> 0:01:46.319 was Thierry Breton or Breton, I apologize for my pronunciation, 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:50.160 but we're talking about a European Union commissioner who said 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:53.480 that X was a place for people to quote disseminate 0:01:53.640 --> 0:01:58.120 illegal content and disinformation end quote. That could mean that 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:00.880 X could be found guilty of viol leading the EU's 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:05.680 Digital Services Act, or DSA. So the DSA went into 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:09.519 effect earlier this year, back in August, and it covers 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:13.080 a lot of ground when it comes to a platform's responsibilities. 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:18.480 The DSA expects that large platforms ones like x Slash, 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:22.600 Twitter or Facebook, or even platforms like Google and Amazon, 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:27.160 have to take an active role in content moderation. Unlike 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:30.720 the United States, which has Section two thirty, the EU's 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:34.520 DSA holds these platforms at least somewhat accountable for the 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:38.560 material that users post to those platforms, and the DSA 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:42.640 gives the EU government the authority to find companies that 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:45.799 failed to comply with the law, they can get hit 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:49.600 with a really hefty penalty, up to six percent of 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:54.600 their global turnover, which for the purposes of this episode, 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:57.440 will just kind of reference as revenue. It's there's a 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:00.959 slight distinction there, but you'll get the idea. So last year, 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:05.000 Twitter's global revenue was around four point four billion dollars, 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:09.520 so the DSA essentially says they could take six percent 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:12.440 of that. They could find Twitter six percent of that 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:15.320 for failing to comply with the DSA. That would be 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:19.960 around two hundred and fifty million dollars. That's not a 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:24.080 small fine. Plus. If the EU finds out that a 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:28.680 platform continues to fall short of the DSA's requirements, the 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:33.440 EU has the authority to suspend that platform's operations within 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:37.320 the European Union, which of course would also mean the 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:39.640 loss of even more revenue. If you can't operate in 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:42.760 a major part of the world, you're missing out on 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:47.640 a tremendous amount of revenue. Ex's CEO Linda Yakarino has 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:52.600 posted that Twitter has removed hundreds of accounts affiliated with 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:57.280 hamas and removed or labeled quote unquote tens of thousands 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:02.920 of pieces of content also said that Twitter slash X 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:08.200 has not received any information from europoll about illegal content 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:11.240 on the platform. She's saying, well, we're being accused of something, 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:14.920 but no one has actually come to us with these concerns. 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.560 It's the first we're hearing about. Essentially, the company is 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:22.480 relying on the quote unquote community, which essentially means volunteers 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:26.880 who are flagging posts that might violate the DSA or 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:30.560 x's own policies. But then X kind of has to 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:35.000 rely on volunteers because Elon Musk effectively gutted the content 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.320 moderation team by laying off most of them in the 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:43.240 wake of his acquisition The Federal Anti Discrimination Agency or 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:49.720 FADA THODA is leaving X. This German anti racism group 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.760 explained the decision to bounce off the platform. They claim 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:58.680 that incidents of hate speech have quote increased, particularly end quote, 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:03.279 ever since Elon Musk took control of Twitter. FADA said 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:08.440 that cases of anti trans and homophobic content, and racism, misogyny, 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.479 anti semitism, and other examples of hateful speech are all 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:17.440 on the rise, and that ultimately this forced the leaders 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:20.520 of FADA to ask the question, does it make sense 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:24.520 to stay on X? Is it providing more of a 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:29.480 benefit than a cost. And clearly the endecision was that 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:32.599 it just wasn't worth sticking around, or, as Fada's statement 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:36.200 puts it, quote in our opinion, X is no longer 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:40.040 an acceptable environment end quote. Now I've said this before, 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:43.760 but in the years past, Twitter, which by the way, 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:46.840 has always been a deeply flawed platform. It's not like 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:50.279 Elon Musk took it over and then it went from 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:54.159 being a shining beacon to the absolute worst. It had 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:57.760 problems well before Elon Musk entered into the picture. It's 0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:03.920 just those problems have magna fight arguably since Musk took over. Anyway, 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:08.200 back in the day, if you will, Twitter was put 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:11.960 to effective use by various activists and humanitarian groups and 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.760 news outlets. It was a scene as a very useful 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:19.600 tool and worth the investment of time it takes to 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:24.799 create and cultivate and maintain a Twitter account. But Musk's 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:28.159 capricious leadership and the massive changes the he's made to 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:31.040 X have convinced a lot of those entities just to 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:33.400 pull up stakes and leave X behind. They're saying it 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:37.640 no longer makes sense to stay there. And now we're 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:40.839 actually starting to see what effect this has had on 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:46.000 the organizations that decided to leave. So let's take NPR 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:50.600 National Public Radio, for example. So in April of this year, 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:55.000 NPR made the decision to leave X. This is right 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:58.080 around the time that Musk actually renamed Twitter to X. 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:01.840 And to be clear, MP made this decision for the 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:06.400 official NPR accounts. They did not mandate that for everybody 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:10.960 who works for NPR, but they decided they were going 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:16.800 to stop their accounts on Twitter or X. The platform 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:19.920 at that time had appended a label to NPR, and 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:24.720 the label was US state affiliated Media. Now, Twitter's own 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:30.840 definition for state affiliated media was quote outlets where the 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:36.800 state exercises control over editorial content through financial resources, direct 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:40.680 or indirect political pressures, and or control over production and 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:45.080 distribution end quote. So clearly that definition is meant to 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:49.240 designate media outlets that are serving as a mouthpiece for 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:53.240 a government. So the content produced by those types of 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:57.880 outlets tends to be heavily biased in favor of whichever 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:01.080 government is in charge. I mean, that's clear, right. It's 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.080 the kind of designation that you might give to a 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:07.240 media outlet in places like Russia or China, where you 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:11.520 have authoritarian leaders who crack down on any voices that 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:16.120 oppose the state. Now, MBR does receive money directly from 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:19.240 the US federal government, but it makes up less than 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:23.240 one percent of its budget, and it is clear that 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.880 the government doesn't have any influence on the content that 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:32.080 INPR produces. So the crux of what makes a media 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:38.520 outlet a state affiliated media outlet wasn't there, but that's 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:42.960 what Twitter was labeling in PR. So NBR decided that's it, 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:44.840 we don't have to deal with this, We're a gone, 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:47.959 and that it leaves. It was clear that Musk had 0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:51.199 an axe to grind against NPR, So six months later, 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:55.400 now that we're in present day, leadership at NBR has 0:08:55.440 --> 0:09:00.079 circulated a memo to the company's staff. In that memom, 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.280 the leaders addressed the impact that the organization has seen 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:10.680 since leaving X and it's not that much so, according 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:15.360 to Niemann Reports, The NPR memo says that traffic to 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:19.719 NPR has dropped by only a single percentage point as 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:24.080 a result of leaving Twitter slash X. NPR also pointed 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:27.800 out that even before all this kerfuffle, traffic from Twitter 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:31.320 amounted to less than two percent of all of NPR's traffic, 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:34.600 and that explains how the organization found the decision to 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:38.080 leave Twitter to not be difficult at all. The message 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:40.800 is one that X definitely does not want to hear 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:44.920 that staying on Twitter just isn't worth the effort. The 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:48.440 negligible amount of traffic NPR got from Twitter was not 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:52.640 worth the frustration of operating on Twitter. I suspect other 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:56.559 media outlets may also reevaluate their position on the platform, 0:09:56.679 --> 0:09:59.880 particularly as it deals with more allegations of hosting disinformation 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.400 and illegal content. But obviously it's not going to be 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:07.000 the same for everybody, right, some media outlets may say, well, yeah, 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:09.559 but we have a more significant percentage of our traffic 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.200 coming from Twitter. That's going to be a much harder 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.560 decision to leave. In fact, I would be surprised if 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:17.959 a media outlet chose to leave in the wake of 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:23.400 a revelation that Twitter was providing a significant percentage of 0:10:23.400 --> 0:10:28.000 traffic to the media outlet. But for those that are 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:30.560 in a position similar to NPR, I would not be 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:35.600 surprised to see more of those outlets follow suit. Okay, 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:38.520 we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:42.280 we're going to have some AI news, the other big 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:46.240 story that continues to unfold throughout twenty twenty three. But 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:58.520 first let's take a break to thank our sponsors. Okay, 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:02.240 we're back, so let's talk about artificial intelligence in general 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:07.199 and generative AI in particular. So first up, open ai 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:10.480 has plans to make it less expensive for developers to 0:11:10.480 --> 0:11:16.760 build applications on top of open AI's models. So, as 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:20.480 it turns out, using artificial intelligence, like using it and 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:25.440 incorporating it into your work, tends to be really expensive 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:29.560 because AI requires a lot of computational resources in order 0:11:29.559 --> 0:11:32.840 to work, and that goes all up and down. The 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:37.920 computational resources gamut from processing power to computer memory to 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:41.920 things like storage. Not every developer has easy access to 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:45.880 all of those things. It's entirely possible to come up 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:49.640 with a potentially brilliant idea on how to incorporate AI 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:53.520 into an app, but not be able to afford the 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:57.440 costs of bringing that idea to life. So open ai 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:01.440 plans to offer options that can mitigate some of those costs, 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:05.280 like offering memory storage, for example, which is a huge 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:08.240 cost apparently for developers who are working in the field 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:11.880 of AI. So that's just part of open AI's strategy. 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:15.319 The company also plans to unveil some computer vision tools, 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:18.240 which can make it possible for developers to create applications 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:22.920 that include some element of image analysis in them. You know, 0:12:22.960 --> 0:12:26.439 it's pretty easy for humans to describe stuff that's included 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:29.120 inside an image. It tends to be a pretty heavy 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:32.800 lift for a computer, and the computer vision tools simplify 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:36.079 this and gives developers access to capabilities that otherwise they 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:39.679 likely wouldn't be able to create on their own. According 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:42.160 to various news outlets, the company is going to roll 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:46.439 out these features around November sixth. That's during the company's 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:50.960 first ever developer conference, which is taking place in San Francisco, California, 0:12:51.040 --> 0:12:54.360 on November sixth. And this matters to you and me 0:12:55.080 --> 0:12:57.560 because it likely means we're going to be seeing a 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:02.240 rush of new applications that incorporate AI, at least to 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:06.080 some extent in the not too distant future. So like 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:10.000 it or not, the AI revolution is going to intensify 0:13:10.679 --> 0:13:14.080 before much longer. Now that's going to have some hefty 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:18.400 real world consequences. Even if we assume that every AI 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:22.920 application is benign or goodness, let's say that it's even helpful. 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.520 Let's be super optimistic. Let's say that the incorporation of 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:30.960 AI is genuinely helpful in all of its implementations, there 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:33.680 would still be consequences we would have to face even 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:37.640 with like perfect AI. Tech Spot reported on a research 0:13:37.679 --> 0:13:42.520 paper written by Alex Devrie titled the Growing Energy Footprint 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:48.160 of Artificial Intelligence, and Devree argues that while much research 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:50.880 has been focused on how much energy AI language large 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:54.200 language models require during their training phase, it's a lot 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:57.280 like when you are training a large language model, you're 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:01.480 spending a great deal of money just on electricity to 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:08.280 power that process. However, less studied, but just as important, arguably, 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:14.200 is the amount of electricity needed during normal operations. Like 0:14:14.240 --> 0:14:18.760 you've stopped training now you're just deploying applications built on 0:14:18.800 --> 0:14:21.920 top of those large language models. Defrie is saying, well, 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:26.080 that's going to still put a pretty hefty demand on 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:32.160 electricity generation, especially as more and more of these apps 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:37.360 are deployed, are developed and deployed. So an analysis firm 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:42.320 called semi Analysis estimated that if Google were to incorporate 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:47.240 AI into every single search, which it cannot do. I 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:50.840 want to be clear about that, it lacks the physical 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.840 capability of powering that. But if Google were to try 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:59.960 and do that, it would require electricity equivalent to somewhere 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.200 in the neighborhood of twenty nine point two tarawatt hours 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:06.240 on an annual basis, which is pretty much the same 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:11.280 amount of electricity that Ireland uses per year. So to 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:16.680 power AI enhanced Google searches, you would need the same 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:19.360 amount of electricity that Ireland needs for a full year. 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:24.280 That's incredible. It also reminds me a lot of cryptocurrency mining. 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:27.960 Like we talked a lot about how the process of 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:33.320 mining crypto coins, particularly proof of work crypto coins requires 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.720 a ton of electricity. Proof of stake less so, but 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.680 still requires some proof of work requires a lot. That's 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:43.240 the kind that like bitcoin uses. And we have already 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:47.000 talked about how in the past, at least mining operations 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:51.360 worthy creating the power need equivalent of what we would 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:55.000 see for some nations in Europe on an annual basis 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:58.120 pretty crazy. Well, same thing is true of AI, but 0:15:58.160 --> 0:16:01.000 as I said, Google doesn't have that capability. This is 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:05.040 more of a theoretical kind of discussion. Google lacks the 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:08.200 equipment that would be needed to be able to do this, 0:16:08.840 --> 0:16:12.080 and in fact, the companies that make the equipment, like 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:15.400 make the processors that would power this kind of thing, 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.600 they aren't producing chips at that scale, Like they could 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:23.960 not produce enough chips in the short term anyway to 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:27.240 power that. So this is really again just a hypothetical situation. 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:35.200 But the point is that AI is a power hungry technology, 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:38.880 not in the sense of you know, sky net taking 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:40.680 over the world, but in the sense of it requires 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:44.600 a ton of power for it to work. And it's 0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:49.760 something that people like defriethink developers need to really take 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:54.600 into consideration. Does it make sense to incorporate AI into 0:16:54.640 --> 0:17:01.680 an application knowing the energy demands of that particular application, 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:04.760 And if it makes sense, then sure. But if it 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:06.800 doesn't make sense, then don't just throw it in there 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:10.720 just to have AI as part of your value proposition 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:14.399 of your app, because you're going to be costing yourself 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:16.720 a lot more money due to the fact that there's 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:20.040 so much electricity needed to power the darn thing. Okay, 0:17:20.320 --> 0:17:23.600 moving on to some other news. Microsoft got some bad 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.840 news in the mail last month, which we are now 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:29.679 learning about due to a filing with the Securities and 0:17:29.720 --> 0:17:34.080 Exchange Commission up the United States Internal Revenue Service. The 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:39.359 dreaded IRS sent a notice to Microsoft that the company 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:43.200 had failed to pay a few bills. It was called 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:47.439 a notice of Proposed adjustment, which is a, you know, 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:53.119 a fairly benign sounding term, but it had some massive consequences. 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:57.920 According to the IRS, Microsoft ows about twenty nine billion 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:02.400 dollars twenty eight point nine billion to be more specific, 0:18:02.800 --> 0:18:05.240 and that's in back taxes from the two thousand and 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:10.040 four to twenty thirteen period, as well as penalties associated 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.760 with a failure to pay those back taxes over the years. 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:16.840 Microsoft says the whole thing's a misunderstanding. In fact, they 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:21.520 say they outright disagree with the Notices of Proposed Adjustment 0:18:21.600 --> 0:18:24.959 aka NOPA, So I guess they're saying NOPA to NOPA. 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:28.480 They're going to pursue an appeals process with the IRS, 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:31.960 and if that doesn't go Microsoft's way, they plan on 0:18:32.040 --> 0:18:35.639 bringing the whole matter to court. It would be shocked 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:39.359 if this doesn't ultimately go to court at some point. 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:41.879 And yeah, it's going to take a minute for all 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:43.600 that to hash out, so we'll have to check back. 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:48.080 And I don't know, like five years or so, the 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:51.919 State of Utah has filed a lawsuit against TikTok, and 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:54.640 the charges are probably pretty much what you would expect. 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:58.919 So first and foremost, Utah's Governor, Spencer Cox, argues that 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:03.440 TikTok children both by getting them hooked on the platform 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:07.120 so that they're spending countless hours on it, and also 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:11.600 by serving up harmful material. The lawsuit cites research that 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:16.280 links social media activity, like prolonged activity on social media, 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:21.120 with poor mental health. However, I think it is very 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:26.520 important to note the distinction between causation and correlation here. 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.760 So does staying on social media for a long time 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:35.480 lead to poor mental health? Possibly, But it's also possible 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:39.680 that people who have poor mental health tend to use 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:43.840 social media for longer than other people do, and that 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:47.280 would mean that using social media a lot doesn't necessarily 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:50.639 lead to poor mental health. But perhaps poor mental health 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:54.240 makes you more inclined to use social media. It's similar 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:57.320 to how people who commit violence may also play a 0:19:57.320 --> 0:20:00.440 lot of violent video games, but that doesn't necessarily mean 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:04.760 that playing violent video games makes you violent. Again, there 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:08.199 could be a correlation, but no causation there. We don't know, 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:12.359 is my point. So I think making legislation on something 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:17.800 where there's not a clear causal link is problematic. You're 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:21.800 not likely to actually address whatever underlying issue is at stake, 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:27.480 But anyway, Alex Horrik of TikTok contested the charges brought 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:32.800 against the platform by the state of Utah. He said 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:37.359 that TikTok quote has industry leading safeguards for young people, 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:41.480 including an automatic sixty minute time limit for users under 0:20:41.520 --> 0:20:45.359 eighteen and parental controls for teen accounts end quote, So 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:50.080 he's saying we already have protections in place. These are 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:54.720 here to prevent young people from being harmed by TikTok. 0:20:54.960 --> 0:20:58.040 According to AP News, the lawsuit also brings up a 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:01.000 concern that we've seen many, many times from lawmakers here 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:04.800 in the United States that is related to the relationship 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:10.320 between TikTok, the American company, and Byte Dance, TikTok's Chinese 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:14.600 parent company, arguing that maybe there are deeper links there 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:18.760 than what TikTok claims. This is a song we've seen 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:22.840 again and again, so not a big surprise here, but 0:21:22.920 --> 0:21:25.800 we'll keep an eye on where this lawsuit goes and 0:21:25.840 --> 0:21:28.480 how it unfolds in the future. Got one more than 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:30.920 I'm going to tell before we get into another quick 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:33.960 break it has been a hot minute since I've talked 0:21:33.960 --> 0:21:37.840 about FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange that famously went up in 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.800 flames almost a year ago. Next month will be a 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:46.200 year since FTX went under. Fdx's co founder Sam Bankman 0:21:46.320 --> 0:21:51.240 freed AKASBF is in court to face charges that he 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:55.440 committed several fraud related crimes in his role as CEO 0:21:55.680 --> 0:22:01.720 of FTX. Yesterday, Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alimator Research, 0:22:02.040 --> 0:22:07.680 which was intrinsically connected to FTX, testified that FDx engaged 0:22:07.720 --> 0:22:11.600 in some pretty darn shifty behavior, including an attempt to 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:16.120 bribe a Chinese official. So, as Ellison tells the story, 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:21.879 Chinese authorities brows ftx's funds on the OKX and quea 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:27.520 by exchanges. So apparently someone at Alibator Research, which by 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:30.280 the way, was an investment company that specialized in the 0:22:30.280 --> 0:22:35.679 crypto market and had been co founded by SBF. Apparently 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:41.560 this person unnamed person ended up doing business with some 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:45.520 someone else who was suspected of money laundering. So the 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:49.320 Chinese authorities locked down around a billion dollars worth of 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:53.280 FTX assets, and this prompted folks at FTX to try 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:55.720 and come up with various strategies on how to free 0:22:55.840 --> 0:23:00.119 up that money that otherwise was just locked away. It 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:03.080 sounds like first they started off with some fairly reasonable 0:23:03.400 --> 0:23:07.399 and more importantly legal options, but apparently those did not 0:23:07.440 --> 0:23:11.960 get any results. So the leaders, including SBF himself, began 0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:15.359 to consider alternatives, and while they did not necessarily approve 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:19.360 them initially, further down the line they did, and that 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:24.840 ultimately resulted in offering a one hundred and fifty million 0:23:24.840 --> 0:23:29.040 dollars bribe to a Chinese official to grease the wheels 0:23:29.040 --> 0:23:34.719 and get that money unlocked. Not only did the company 0:23:34.720 --> 0:23:38.000 apparently actually do this, it also listed the expenditure in 0:23:38.040 --> 0:23:41.679 its State of Alameda documentation. Now, they didn't go so 0:23:41.760 --> 0:23:45.399 far as to label it bribery costs that might have 0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:50.240 been a red flag. Instead, it was filed under notable 0:23:50.359 --> 0:23:56.119 slash idiosyncratic PNL stuff. And here's the wild thing, y'all. 0:23:56.480 --> 0:23:59.280 The bribery thing isn't even one of the legal charges 0:23:59.359 --> 0:24:04.600 brought again SBF. Right, that's not even a material component 0:24:04.760 --> 0:24:08.600 of this trial. The whole story really just becomes part 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:13.119 of establishing SBF's character and leadership decisions and willingness to 0:24:13.240 --> 0:24:18.560 engage in illicit activities. Ellison, for her own part, has 0:24:18.600 --> 0:24:22.719 pled guilty to several fraud charges already, so things are 0:24:22.760 --> 0:24:26.440 not looking so great for SBF at the moment. Okay, 0:24:26.880 --> 0:24:28.800 we're going to take another quick break. When we come back, 0:24:28.800 --> 0:24:31.560 I've got you know, I got quite a few more 0:24:31.920 --> 0:24:43.719 news stories, so stick around. We'll be right back. Okay, 0:24:43.800 --> 0:24:45.399 we have come back, and now for a couple of 0:24:45.440 --> 0:24:48.160 stories about how the US government is trying to make 0:24:48.200 --> 0:24:51.439 companies be more transparent when it comes to stuff like 0:24:52.240 --> 0:24:55.600 you know, bills, service fees. So first up is the 0:24:55.640 --> 0:24:59.800 Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, which has taken aim at 0:25:00.080 --> 0:25:03.439 so called junk fees. So these are those hidden fees 0:25:04.240 --> 0:25:06.920 that won't pop up in a transaction until it's right 0:25:06.960 --> 0:25:09.840 at the moment of purchase. So the customer might get 0:25:09.880 --> 0:25:13.080 a price quote on a product or a service and 0:25:13.119 --> 0:25:17.040 then they'll start the whole process of purchasing it or 0:25:17.080 --> 0:25:19.720 agreeing to it, and right when they're getting at that 0:25:19.840 --> 0:25:23.119 last moment to complete a transaction, a bunch of weird 0:25:23.200 --> 0:25:28.199 fees pop up and the cost increases, sometimes significantly. So 0:25:28.240 --> 0:25:31.600 this happens in lots of different kinds of transactions. Personally, 0:25:31.800 --> 0:25:34.000 I see it most whenever I use a ticket broker 0:25:34.400 --> 0:25:37.480 to purchase a seat for an event, whether it's a 0:25:37.520 --> 0:25:41.160 show or a concert or whatever it may be, sometimes 0:25:41.560 --> 0:25:43.920 the fees end up being as much as the cost 0:25:43.960 --> 0:25:46.280 of the ticket itself, so it doubles the amount I 0:25:46.320 --> 0:25:48.119 would have to spend if I wanted to, I don't know, 0:25:48.800 --> 0:25:53.359 go see thump Asaurus performs Strutton Live. Actually, that's probably 0:25:53.359 --> 0:25:55.960 a bad example because thump Asaurus tends to play small 0:25:55.960 --> 0:25:59.199 to medium venues. Those are less dependent on ticket brokers. 0:25:59.240 --> 0:26:01.560 But you get what I'm saying. You can also find 0:26:01.600 --> 0:26:05.320 it in other places, like vacation rentals, right, so Airbnb 0:26:05.480 --> 0:26:09.280 has been brought in as a possible perpetrator of these 0:26:09.359 --> 0:26:12.600 kinds of junk fees or car rentals. It can be 0:26:12.640 --> 0:26:15.920 like that too, where you'll see one price quoted as 0:26:15.960 --> 0:26:18.679 you log into a car rental company, but as you 0:26:18.760 --> 0:26:22.000 go through it suddenly balloons as you get further into 0:26:22.000 --> 0:26:24.280 the process. Not all car rental companies are like that, 0:26:24.320 --> 0:26:27.080 by the way, I've noticed that a few have started 0:26:27.119 --> 0:26:31.000 to already post what the full price would be on 0:26:31.040 --> 0:26:35.119 that initial screen, and I think that's admirable because not 0:26:35.200 --> 0:26:37.200 every one of them does that. A lot of them 0:26:37.680 --> 0:26:39.560 starts off with a price where you're like, oh wow, 0:26:39.600 --> 0:26:42.080 it's like eighty bucks for the full week. That's not bad. 0:26:42.560 --> 0:26:44.280 Then you click through and you're like, oh wait, it's 0:26:44.359 --> 0:26:46.440 actually like two hundred and seventy dollars for the full 0:26:46.440 --> 0:26:48.720 week once you add all these fees in. So the 0:26:48.840 --> 0:26:53.720