Max von Thun

brb while I add “legionnaire of the Antichrist” to my CV

OpenAI following in the venerable tradition of aspiring monopolists complaining about today's monopolies to regulators – just as Google supported antitrust action against Microsoft in the early 2000s.

They aren't wrong though – competition enforcers are asleep at the wheel when it comes to AI.

Can Japan satisfy the world’s thirst for matcha? Booming demand is straining a supply chain that prioritises quality and cannot expand quickly enough

Read of the day: Can Japan satisfy the world’s thirst for matcha? just a great story from Harry Dempsey and @urbandirt.bsky.social reporting from Shizuoka and Uji www.ft.com/content/be14...

Bank of England flags risk of ‘sudden correction’ in tech stocks inflated by AI Financial Policy Committee warns equity prices are at levels comparable with dotcom bubble

"Surging valuations of artificial intelligence companies are intensifying the risk of a -sudden correction' in global financial markets after equity prices reached levels comparable with the dotcom bubble, the Bank of England has warned." on.ft.com/4mSeT4Q

Tommy Robinson posted a neo-Nazi blog that accused me and my fellow Jews Jack Straw and Barbara Roche of conspiring to flood the UK with immigrants.

This is the rhythm of life in Gaza City, writes Mohammed al-Sawwaf: displacement after displacement, death after death, with no time for mourning—only desperate attempts to save whoever is left.

dumb dogshit as ever

While the Trump administration complains about “censorship” by European regulators, Google and Apple are quietly removing apps the government doesn’t like.

The hypocrisy isn’t an accident - it’s the whole point.

Is there a reason I ask that the Times are using a picture of asylum seekers in a boat to describe rules for migrants who came on legal routes such as skilled worker visas for doctors?

More than half of Americans get their news regularly from Tiktok. And this has more than doubled in 5 years. Tiktok has become a key gateway to news and politics.

This makes ownership of and content on the platform even more important.

Source: @pewresearch.org

A historic failure of US government/congressional oversight has given us a dystopian world in which the biggest social media platforms are owned by Zuckerberg, Musk and this guy. Europe is right to chart a different path.

There's another option – enforce your rules and stop pretending that the US is still Europe's ally.

This is not un-related to the "rural people are inherently moral, kind, and pure, unlike those mean spiritually corrupt city folk" noble savage bullshit.

Boomer radicalisation is such a ln overlooked problem

What a totally original idea!

Inside the Tony Blair Institute Who really benefits from the former PM’s tech evangelism?

Suspect this New Statesman deep dive into the Tony Blair Institute makes the case that the correct "Economist descriptor" for the TBI is now "Oracle dealership" rather than "think tank" www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

Germany's Merz criticises US' fundamental shift from following rules German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticised the United States on Friday for no longer following the rules, part of what he called a fundamental shift in Europe's transatlantic partner.

1/This is Transatlantic leadership! In historic move, German Chancellor Merz calls out US: “democracy is under pressure, freedom of expression is being questioned, and the independence of the judiciary is being repressed“.
www.reuters.com/technology/g...

“We studied more than 70 different elections that took place in 12 western European countries over several decades, and found that when mainstream parties take more anti-immigration positions, it leads to more support for the radical right, not less.”

Telling and depressing poll - both for the results and the sheer normalisation of polling 'Should people who are married to a British citizen/are working and paying taxes/have lived in the UK for over twenty years... have their permanent tight to stay removed and be deported' like a normal policy.

One of the best things I’ve read on the existential threat posed by the alliance between far-right populists and the tech broligarchy.

Instead of standing up for the citizens that elected them, politicians are hoodwinked by the tech bros flimsy promises of technological utopia.

on.ft.com/3WbdPy4

Great article by @megafreda.bsky.social! Thanks for the shoutout for my cloud work w/ @openmarkets.bsky.social (w/ @maxvonthun.bsky.social and @danielahanley.bsky.social)

The EU Must Revise Its Merger Guidelines To Strengthen Innovation, Security, and Democracy - ProMarket Max von Thun and Claire Lavin argue that the European Commission must revise its merger guidelines to emphasize how competition policy can protect goals beyond prices, including innovation, security, and democracy. This will create a more prosperous European Union.

NEW: @maxvonthun.bsky.social and Claire Lavin (@openmarkets.bsky.social) argue that the European Commission must revise its merger guidelines to emphasize how competition policy can protect goals beyond prices, including innovation, security, and democracy.

Funny…

I remember when they promised Brexit would do that.

Protecting Big Tech, not free speech Trump and Farage are using censorship as a cloak for disinformation

"Rightwing populists all over Europe want to destroy the ability of the UK and the EU to regulate large tech platforms — a move that might threaten their disinformation campaigns with genuine political debate."

@ranaforoohar.bsky.social

www.ft.com/content/62b1...

The AI Industry Has a Dirty Secret Researchers have found that trust in artificial intelligence falls among people as they become more AI literate.

“people with lower AI literacy are typically more receptive to AI,"

"people with lower AI literacy are more likely to perceive AI as magical and experience feelings of awe in the face of AI's execution of tasks that seem to require uniquely human attributes."

futurism.com/more-people-...

One of the weaknesses of modern liberalism is not realising this and so not using state power in a responsible way to regulate companies.

Here's how doctors say you should ask AI for medical help | CBC Radio Many doctors think patients should avoid consulting artificial intelligence for medical advice. Still, with roughly 6.5 million Canadians without a primary care provider, doctors acknowledge they can'...

Mostly, they say “don’t.”

Cooper suggests asylum seekers could be moved into warehouses instead of hotels – UK politics live Home secretary says government aims to ‘shrink the whole asylum system’ and is looking at ‘military and industrial sites’

When centrists adopt far-right rhetoric, they don’t make themselves stronger. They make themselves look inauthentic, legitimise the far right, and shift the political debate onto terrain defined by their opponents.
www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

While it's disappointing that the Commission didn't announce a structural remedy today, it's encouraging to see that it's still very much on the table.

This might sound like a lot of money, but Google has already been fined over €8 billion in the EU, and remains as dominant as ever. Until a few weeks ago, the Commission was convinced that a break up was the only viable path to dismantling Google's adtech monopoly - and that remains true.