FILE - Former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Sept. 3, 2022. A key decision over whether Trump’s social media platform Truth Social will merge with a cash-rich company and get $1.3 billion to take on Twitter has been put off for another month. The potential partner, Digital World Acquisition Corp., on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, postponed a shareholder vote to extend by a year a deadline to close its merger with Trump’s company and release funds to pay its bills. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)
Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter
{beacon}
Technology
Technology
The Big Story
Truth Social merger approved after hurdles
Shareholders of Digital World Acquisition Corp. approved a merger Friday with Truth Social, a media startup owned by former President Trump, teeing up its stock market debut and a potential $3.5 billion windfall for Trump.
The merger to take Trump’s Truth Social platform public has faced several setbacks since talks began in October 2021.
A former DWAC board member and two others were charged with insider trading last June after they allegedly made $22 million by buying stock in the company ahead of the merger announcement.
The company was also fined $18 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission last July for allegedly misleading investors and the agency by failing to disclose that DWAC’s future CEO and board chair had been in talks with TMTG before going public.
In regulatory filings ahead of Friday’s shareholder vote, DWAC pointed to its previous dustups with the SEC as a potential risk.
It also cited Trump’s role in TMTG as a risk factor, noting the company’s “success depends in part on the popularity of its brand and the reputation and popularity” of the former president.
The Arizona Agenda, a local newsletter covering state politics, made a deepfake of Kari Lake warning readers about the “terrifying new age” of artificial intelligence (AI) interference in elections. “Hi, I’m Kari Lake. Subscribe to the Arizona Agenda for hard-hitting, real news and a preview of the terrifying artificial intelligence coming your way in the next election, like this video, which is an AI deepfake the Arizona Agenda …
Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) called on the Director of National Intelligence on Thursday to declassify information about the national security risks posed by TikTok, as the Senate considers legislation that could ban the popular app. “We are deeply troubled by the information and concerns raised by the intelligence community in recent classified briefings to Congress,” Blumenthal and Blackburn …
Advances in oil and gas drilling have cut costs for a form of clean power that could help replace fossil fuels, according to the Department of Energy. Now the agency is going all in on geothermal energy, which uses heat from deep within the Earth to produce largely pollution-free electricity. The agency projects that geothermal could supply the energy equivalent of 4 million households by 2030 — and that its investment could …
News we’ve flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:
OpenAI pitches video tool to Hollywood
ChatGPT maker OpenAI plans to meet with studios, media executives and talent agencies in Los Angeles next week, as part of a push to pitch its new video generation tool, Sora, to Hollywood, Bloomberg reported.
Altman’s Reddit stake worth over $600M
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s stake in Reddit is now worth over $613 million after the social media site went public on Thursday, CNBC reported.
In Other News
Branch out with other reads on The Hill:
The UN adopts a resolution backing efforts to ensure artificial intelligence is safe
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The General Assembly approved the first United Nations resolution on artificial intelligence Thursday, giving global support to an international effort to ensure the powerful new technology benefits all nations, respects human rights and is “safe, secure and trustworthy.” The …
LONDON (AP) — It’ll likely take years before the U.S. government’s massive antitrust lawsuit against Apple is resolved — but the iPhone maker’s troubles with European regulators offer a glimpse of what changes American customers may see down the line. The U.S. lawsuit seeks to stop …
The House approved a $1.2 trillion government funding bill Friday, sending the sprawling package to the Senate hours before the deadline and officially … Read more
House Oversight and Accountability Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) suggested the impeachment vote against President Biden may not be the “best path” and … Read more
