Trump’s latest troll post angers Democrats: ‘The dumbest of times’

Howard Koplowitz, AL.com

"Trump’s posting about being 'Acting President of Venezuela' when he’s not even acting like a president at home."

Supreme Leader Posts Shocking Cartoon of Crumbling Trump

Yahoo Entertainment

The White House Is Amplifying Fake Accounts of 'Sonic Weapons' in Venezuela

Jim Vorel, Jezebel

The U.S. media is happy to launder White House sci-fi lies about sonic weapons, if they get to use phrases like "vomiting blood."

★ ‘Fuck You, Make Me’ Without Saying the Words

John Gruber, Daringfireball.net

Make the Trump administration object. Make them defend the indefensible — in public. Make clear why the apps were removed from the app stores and force Musk — and Trump, if he chooses — to argue that those things are A-OK by them. In court.

This Week In Techdirt History: January 4th – 10th

Leigh Beadon, Techdirt

Five Years Ago This week in 2021, 60 Minutes aired some pure misleading moral panic about Section 230, while Parler (remember Parler?) was desperately seeking attention by pretending it didn’t need Section 230, and Ajit Pai grew a last-minute backbone and ref…

Here’s When Elon Musk Will Finally Have to Reckon With His Nonconsensual Porn Generator

AJ Dellinger, Gizmodo.com

It would be deeply embarrassing if the law has to go into effect before X acts.

The Memes Are the Point

Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic

Why the Trump administration is posting messages like “THIS IS OUR HEMISPHERE” after the attack on Venezuela

War Room Photos Catch Trump and Goons Scrolling Social Media

Yahoo Entertainment

Elon Musk’s Grok AI Tool Admits It Posted Explicit Photos of Children

Adrienne Mahsa Varkiani, The New Republic

Elon Musk’s Grok AI chatbot admitted on Friday that it has been posting sexualized images of children on X, blaming “lapses in safeguard” for the content.“We’ve identified lapses in safeguards and are urgently fixing them—[Child sexual abuse material] is ille…

After watching X’s ownership issues play out, marketers brace for TikTok whiplash in 2026

Kimeko McCoy, Digiday

TikTok's ownership drama has echoes of X (formerly Twitter), but ad performance has kept marketers for fleeing—for now.

Trump’s Drone Ban Is Corrupt, Protectionist Nonsense Dressed Up As A National Security Fix

Karl Bode, Techdirt

For years we had to listen to a bipartisan roster of lawmakers insist that TikTok was one of the greatest national security threats to ever face the nation. In reality, they were mostly just interested in protecting Facebook from a short-form video company it…

Donald Trump Attacks Kennedy Family on Truth Social Hours After Death of JFK's Granddaughter Tatiana Schlossberg

Yahoo Entertainment

Trump, 79, Falls for Karoline Leavitt ‘Rate My Butt’ Account

Leigh Kimmins, Daily Beast

President Donald Trump has repeatedly amplified a fake Karoline Leavitt X account that once asked followers to rate the White House press secretary’s butt...

“Comically Bad”: Stranger Things 5 Gets Brutally Roasted Online After ‘Cringe’ Penultimate Episode

Analice Couto, Boredpanda.com

“Perhaps it's not review bombing and is, in fact, the fans actual feelings about the episode?”

“Never Had Cancer”: Video Of Kate Middleton’s “Scar” During Christmas Appearance Sparks Wild Conspiracy Theories

Karina Babenok, Boredpanda.com

"She knows what she’s doing!”

ICYMI: Trump Wished Us 'What May Be' Our Last 'Merry Christmas'

Danielle Han, Jezebel

The president spent Christmas Day on a crazed posting spree, Truth Social-ing more than 100 times.

Trump Spent This Christmas Having His Most Deranged Meltdown Yet

Edith Olmsted, The New Republic

What’s Grandpa Trump’s version of telling stories by the fire on Christmas? It seems to be unleashing a flurry of more than 100 posts on Truth Social lying, complaining, and congratulating himself. In the early hours of Thursday, Trump published a torrent of …

Glenn Beck reveals the one thing he should have NEVER said about Donald Trump

BlazeTV Staff, TheBlaze

What many don’t know is that there are two sides to Donald Trump: the public persona known for scathing Truth Social posts and humiliating contentious reporters and the incredibly gracious family man behind the bombast.Before Glenn Beck knew the difference, h…

Marsha Blackburn Bundles Every Bad Tech Bill Into One, Slaps Trump’s Name On It

Mike Masnick, Techdirt

Fourteen years ago, right after the FCC issued its order on net neutrality, Marsha Blackburn flipped out and released a video talking (misleadingly!) about how wonderful Facebook and Twitter were and how they would be destroyed if the big evil government inte…

Vimeo Scrambles to Fix ‘Internal Processes’ After Threats to Staff Picks’ Curatorial Independence

Chris O'Falt, IndieWire

Vimeo said mistakes were made in its “rushed” response to child protection laws, but concerns about the Staff Picks curation team’s independence linger.

Anti-Palestinian Billionaires Will Now Control What TikTok Users See

Sunjeev Bery, The Intercept

Users need to revolt against what will very likely be an even more widespread effort to censor voices critical of Israel. The post Anti-Palestinian Billionaires Will Now Control What TikTok Users See appeared first on The Intercept.

Leaked Memo Reveals Why TikTok's New US Owners May Have Less Power Than Expected

Bibhu Pattnaik, Yahoo Entertainment

TikTok has finalized a deal with new US owners including Oracle, MGX, and Silver Lake. However, these investors will not have significant control over key...

TikTok Owner Signs Deal To Avoid US Ban

BeauHD, Slashdot.org

TikTok's owner ByteDance has signed a deal creating a U.S.-focused joint venture majority-owned by American and global investors, allowing the app to avoid a U.S. ban while ByteDance retains a minority stake. The BBC reports: Half of the joint venture will be…

Senators Want To Hold The Open Internet Hostage, Demand Zuckerberg Write The Ransom Note

Mike Masnick, Techdirt

Not this shit again. A bipartisan group of the most anti-internet Senators around have released their latest version of a plan to “sunset Section 230.” We went over this last year when they floated the same idea: they have no actual plan for how to make sure …