The American designers of the Scythe boardgame, along with others, are very worried by Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports. CC-licensed photo by Farley Santos on Flickr.
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A selection of 10 links for you. Cutting it up. I’m @charlesarthur on Twitter. On Threads: charles_arthur. On Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@charlesarthur. On Bluesky: @charlesarthur.bsky.social. Observations and links welcome.
Exclusive: how the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg got added to the White House Signal group chat • The Guardian
Hugo Lowell:
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[Trump’s national security adviser Mike] Waltz’s phone had saved [Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey] Goldberg’s number as part of an unlikely series of events that started when Goldberg emailed the Trump campaign last October.
According to three people briefed on the internal investigation, Goldberg had emailed the campaign about a story that criticized Trump for his attitude towards wounded service members. To push back against the story, the campaign enlisted the help of Waltz, their national security surrogate.
Goldberg’s email was forwarded to then Trump spokesperson Brian Hughes, who then copied and pasted the content of the email – including the signature block with Goldberg’s phone number – into a text message that he sent to Waltz, so that he could be briefed on the forthcoming story.
Waltz did not ultimately call Goldberg, the people said, but in an extraordinary twist, inadvertently ended up saving Goldberg’s number in his iPhone – under the contact card for Hughes, now the spokesperson for the national security council.
A day after that Goldberg story was published, on 22 October, Waltz appeared on CNN to defend Trump. “Don’t take it from me, take it from the 13 Abbey Gate Gold Star families, some of whom stood on a stage in front of a 30,000 person crowd and said how he helped them heal,” Waltz said.
According to the White House, the number was erroneously saved during a “contact suggestion update” by Waltz’s iPhone, which one person described as the function where an iPhone algorithm adds a previously unknown number to an existing contact that it detects may be related.
The mistake went unnoticed until last month when Waltz sought to add Hughes to the Signal group chat – but ended up adding Goldberg’s number to the 13 March message chain named “Houthi PC small group”, where several top US officials discussed plans for strikes against the Houthis.
Waltz said in the immediate aftermath of the incident that he had never met or communicated with Goldberg. He also suggested on Fox News that Goldberg’s number had been “sucked” into his phone, seemingly in reference to how his iPhone had saved Goldberg’s number.
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People who can’t correctly add a phone number to their contacts, but sure, put them in charge of nuclear codes and the entire American economy.
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European Union prepares major penalties against Elon Musk’s X • The New York Times
Adam Satariano:
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European Union regulators are preparing major penalties against Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, for breaking a landmark law to combat illicit content and disinformation, said four people with knowledge of the plans, a move that is likely to ratchet up tensions with the United States by targeting one of President Trump’s closest advisers.
The penalties are set to include a fine and demands for product changes, said the people, who declined to be identified discussing an ongoing investigation. These are expected to be announced this summer and would be the first issued under a new EU law intended to force social media companies to police their services, they said.
European authorities have been weighing how large a fine to issue X as they consider the risks of further antagonizing Mr. Trump amid wider trans-Atlantic disputes over trade, tariffs and the war in Ukraine. The fine could surpass $1bn, one person said, as regulators seek to make an example of X to deter other companies from violating the law, the Digital Services Act.
EU officials said their investigation into X was progressing independently from tariff negotiations after Mr. Trump announced major new levies this week. The investigation began in 2023, and regulators last year issued a preliminary ruling that X had violated the law.
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That might be tariff leverage, in time.
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OpenAI, Google reject UK’s AI copyright plan • POLITICO
Joseph Bambridge:
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Leading AI companies OpenAI and Google have rejected the U.K. government’s preferred solution to the thorny issue of AI and copyright.
Their positions, set out in responses to a consultation which closed in February, will pile further pressure on the government over the proposals, which have already sparked protests from creatives and lawmakers.
The submissions were requested by the U.K. parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, after representatives of both companies declined to give evidence to MPs on their respective positions.
The government’s “preferred option” in the consultation proposed amending copyright law to allow AI companies to train their models on public content for commercial purposes without permission from rights holders, unless rights holders “reserve their rights” by opting out.
The changes would be coupled with greater transparency requirements on AI firms, according to the government’s proposal.
POLITICO has reported that ministers plan to commit to publishing reviews into technical solutions for how these conditions could be met in a bid to quell criticism of the plans.
But in its response to the consultation, OpenAI said experience from other jurisdictions including the EU shows that opt-out models face “significant implementation challenges,” while transparency obligations could see developers “deprioritize the market.”
“The U.K. has a rare opportunity to cement itself as the AI capital of Europe by making choices that avoid policy uncertainty, foster innovation, and drive economic growth,” the company said, calling for a broad copyright exemption.
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A story repeated again and again: rapacious company says that if you make its life harder, well, then, you’re shooting yourself in the foot, so of course you have to exempt it from all the normal laws that apply to smaller companies.
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‘Netflix levy’ would ‘price out’ consumers, says Irish minister for media • RTE
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Minister for Media Patrick O’Donovan has expressed his opposition to proposals for a levy on streaming services like Netflix, saying that people would be priced out of being able to purchase entertainment services.
Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics, Mr O’Donovan said he did not see why a so-called ‘Netflix levy’ would be imposed on consumers, and would bring a memo to the Cabinet on the matter.
The legislation that established Comisiún na Méan provided for the streaming levy to be charged in order to provide funding for the production of home-produced programming.
Preparations for applying the levy had been taking place during the term of the previous minister, Catherine Martin.
Under the proposed changes Mr O’Donovan intends bringing to the legislation, the concept of levies on streaming platforms will be retained, but the decision to action such levies will have to be agreed by the minister.
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The proposal is hardly gigantic: no fixed figure set, but perhaps 2-3% of each streamer’s national income. Hard to see how that would lead them to price people out of buying them. Plus what happened to the much-vaunted advertising version, which is at a lower price? The idea is that the levy then funds local productions.
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Doge’s attack on social security causing ‘complete, utter chaos’, staff says • The Guardian
Michael Sainato:
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Office closures, staffing and service cuts, and policy changes at the Social Security Administration (SSA) have caused “complete, utter chaos” and are threatening to send the agency into a “death spiral”, according to workers at the agency.
The SSA operates the largest government program in the US, administering social insurance programs, including retirement, disability and survivor benefits.
An average of almost 69 million Americans per month will receive a social security benefit in 2025, totaling about $1.6tn in benefits paid during the year and accounting for 22% of the federal budget. While expensive and challenged by an ageing population, social security remains overwhelmingly popular with Americans. But the agency has been dubbed a “Ponzi scheme” by Elon Musk, the billionaire whose so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) is currently slashing its staff and budgets.
“They have these ‘concepts of plans’ that they’re hoping are sticking but in reality, are really hurting American people,” said a longtime SSA employee and military veteran who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “No one knows what’s going on. They’re just coming up with ideas at the top of their head.”
The SSA website has crashed several times this month. Wired reported Doge staff want to migrate all social security data and rewrite code in months, which could cause system collapse and further outages.
The agency plans to eliminate the jobs of 7,000 workers at the agency through voluntary buyouts, resignations or firings, though the union representing SSA employees anticipate even more firings beyond cutting staff to 50,000 workers.
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This is not going to be fixed quickly, or perhaps at all. The question is what the US will look like in the aftermath of all this. Tariffs hitting consumers; veterans and social security having payments delayed or denied. It’s a recipe for an uprising – except most of the people are far too old to take part in real rioting on the street.
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TikTok gets another 75-day reprieve from ban • MacRumors
Juli Clover:
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U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said that he is signing an executive order to keep TikTok running for an additional 75 days as his administration continues to work on the sale of the social network’s U.S. operations.
TikTok was barred from operating in the United States when the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act went into effect on January 19, but Trump at the time ordered the Department of Justice not to enforce the law for a 75-day period. The window was set to expire on Saturday, April 5 if TikTok did not reach a deal to sell to an American company, but TikTok now has another two and a half months.
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“Ehh, just don’t enforce the law! What could be the harm in that?”
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Trump tariffs terrify board game designers • Ars Technica
Nate Anderson:
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Board game designer and entrepreneur Jamey Stegmaier has published hit games like Scythe and Wingspan—the latter a personal favorite of mine, with a delightfully gentle theme about birds—but this week found him in a gloomy mood.
“Last night I tried to work on a new game I’m brainstorming,” he wrote in a blog post on Thursday, “but it’s really hard to create something for the future when that future looks so grim. I mostly just found myself staring blankly at the enormity of the newly announced 54% tariff on goods manufactured in China and imported to the US.”
Most US board games are made in China, though Germany (the home of modern hobby board gaming) also has manufacturing facilities. While printed content, such as card games, can be manufactured in the US, it’s far harder to find anyone who can make intricate board pieces like bespoke wooden bits and custom dice. And if you can, the price is often astronomical. “I recall getting quoted a cost of $10 for just a standard empty box from a company in the US that specializes in making boxes,” Stegmaier noted—though a complete game can be produced and boxed in China for that same amount.
Meredith Placko is the CEO of Steve Jackson Games, which produces titles like Munchkin, and she had a similar take. “Some people ask, ‘Why not manufacture in the US?’ I wish we could,” she wrote in a post on Thursday. “But the infrastructure to support full-scale boardgame production—specialty dice making, die-cutting, custom plastic and wood components—doesn’t meaningfully exist here yet. I’ve gotten quotes. I’ve talked to factories. Even when the willingness is there, the equipment, labour, and timelines simply aren’t.”
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Related: Switch 2 shipments to the US uncertain due to tariffs.
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Here’s the iPhone. Here’s the iPhone with tariffs • WSJ
Joanna Stern, Adrienne Tong and Nicole Nguyen:
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Take a look at this iPhone 16 Pro. Your cost, for the 256GB version, is $1,100. The cost of all the hardware inside—aka the bill of materials—was about $550 to Apple when the phone was introduced, says Wayne Lam, research analyst at TechInsights, which breaks down major products. Throw in assembly and testing and Apple’s cost rises to around $580. Even when you account for Apple’s advertising budget and all the included services—iMessage, iCloud, etc.—there’s still a healthy profit margin.
Now factor in the newly announced tariff for goods from China, which currently totals 54%. The cost rises to around $850. That profit margin would shrink dramatically if Apple didn’t up the price. And you don’t become a trillion-dollar gadget company by charging for things at cost.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the company’s pricing plans or manufacturing details.
So what about that American-made iPhone? Wouldn’t it at least save on tariffs? Apple would still pay levies on the device’s many imported parts. Plus, a manufacturing move to the U.S. would be “a massive, mammoth undertaking” that would take years, says Barton Crockett, senior research analyst at brokerage firm Rosenblatt Securities.
And the phone itself would likely cost more—a lot more. The assembly ecosystem in China is labor intensive and wouldn’t make economic sense in the U.S., Crockett explains. “It’s not clear you can make a competitively priced smartphone here.”
By Lam’s estimates, the assembly labor that might cost $30 per phone in China could cost $300 in the U.S. And if every single component, from the touchscreen display to the internal storage were built here? Yep, a bajillion dollars. And maybe a magic wand.
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There’s a ridiculous amount of magical thinking being used to support Trump’s tariffs, which are nonsensical on their face – based on trade deficits rather than actual tariffs (this More Or Less podcast episode explains it). Once these price changes start to hit, things are going to get wild.
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I study measles. I’m terrified we’re headed for an epidemic • The New York Times
Michael Mina:
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We used to think of measles outbreaks in the United States as isolated events: short-lived and confined to close-knit communities with low vaccination rates. A flare here, a bubble there. But as those bubbles grow and converge, the United States could be at risk for tens of thousands of cases.
Measles was declared eliminated in this country in 2000. That didn’t mean the virus disappeared. It meant we stopped it from spreading freely. It was a hard-won public health triumph made possible by decades of vaccination. But that protection is now unraveling.
Vaccine skepticism has become increasingly mainstream, amplified by pandemic-era backlash, a torrent of online misinformation and support from the new health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been at the center of vaccine misinformation for over a decade. A growing outbreak in Texas, and cases in over a dozen states, shows how fragile our defenses have become.
Measles is among the most contagious viruses known. A single case can cause dozens more in places where people are unvaccinated. Infants too young for vaccination, immune-compromised people and the elderly are all at risk. Measles isn’t just a fever and rash. It can cause pneumonia, brain inflammation, permanent disability and death. The virus can go dormant in the body only to re-emerge a decade or so after infection and cause rapid and fatal brain tissue deterioration.
It also has a more insidious legacy, one I helped discover. In 2015, I led a team that found that measles can erase the immune system’s protective memory of prior infections. This “immune amnesia,” as it’s called, leaves people vulnerable to viruses and bacteria they were once protected against.
…The current measles outbreak, with more than 480 cases, largely in unvaccinated children, is gearing up to be the worst in years. And it’s likely just the beginning. Recent studies estimate that more than nine million American children are susceptible to measles. The number of people susceptible balloons further still when you add the 3.6 million infants who are too young to be vaccinated and the millions of immunocompromised Americans who can’t safely receive the vaccine.
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Two children have died so far in Texas. It’s the most insane thing ever, though vaccine refusal was rising in some states. The CDC’s stats on this are years out of date.
‘If you want dystopia, look out your window!’ Black Mirror is back – and going beyond tech hell • The Guardian
Gabriel Tate:
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There is a more reflective, almost nostalgic tone to this seventh season. The episode Plaything flashes back to [Charlie] Brooker’s early years as a gaming journalist in a Bandersnatch-adjacent slice of computer-induced madness; Eulogy immerses Paul Giamatti in his memories as he literally enters decades-old photos; gaslighting parable Bête Noire forces Siena Kelly’s chocolatier to reckon with youthful misdemeanours; Hotel Reverie stars Emma Corrin as a 1940s matinee idol falling for Issa Rae’s modern film star, who plays her white, male love interest in an AI remake of a vintage romance.
“Quite a lot of the technology is being used to relive things or bring them back into the present,” concedes Brooker. “It wasn’t conscious, but then I have a lot more past than future. There’s probably more social commentary and more emotive or vulnerable episodes. That doesn’t mean we don’t go to disturbing places or deliver those chills, but people come to Black Mirror expecting to be surprised, so you can’t give them exactly what they want. I’d say there’s a little less dystopia. If you want that, there’s a 24-hour panel showing it called your window. You don’t necessarily want to see something saying: things are going to get worse.”
…As a family man, Brooker – “the most empathetic father I’ve ever seen,” reckons Rhoades – has some extra skin in the game. “If I play my hand too overtly, my sons will get all secretive about this stuff,” he shrugs. “Luckily, they haven’t got bogged down in the Andrew Tate world of algorithms spewing up shit, but I do worry about them sitting there in front of YouTube and then before you know it …” He grimaces. “I’ve installed all the parental controls you can, but it’s more that I’m struggling to keep up with the weird things they’ll come out with. [Bizarre YouTube animation] Skibidi Toilet is their pop music, their equivalent of ‘Turn that noise down!’ I’d have been into that at their age, I reckon.”
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The new series is available from Thursday 10 April. The trailer looks very interesting.
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| • Why do social networks drive us a little mad? • Why does angry content seem to dominate what we see? • How much of a role do algorithms play in affecting what we see and do online? • What can we do about it? • Did Facebook have any inkling of what was coming in Myanmar in 2016? Read Social Warming, my latest book, and find answers – and more. |
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