Louise Matsakis / Wired: Days before TikTok briefly went dark, Instagram and Facebook made design tweaks, released new features, and ran ads promoting its apps as TikTok alternatives — In the days before TikTok went dark, Instagram and Facebook released a flurry of new features and ran advertisements promoting its platforms as a comparable alternative.
Donald Trump pardoned the creator of the world’s first dark-web drug market, who is now a libertarian cause célèbre in some parts of the crypto community.
In the days before TikTok went dark, Instagram and Facebook released a flurry of new features and ran advertisements promoting its platforms as a comparable alternative.
When he launched his own cryptocurrency, Donald Trump produced unimaginable wealth from thin air. But it will come at a cost to someone.
When he launched his own cryptocurrency, Donald Trump produced unimaginable wealth from thin air. But it will come at a cost to someone.
A marketing campaign brief obtained by WIRED reveals how the Chinese app is trying to capitalize on its sudden international popularity.
Less than 24 hours after the app went dark, TikTok says President-elect Donald Trump has given it the reassurance it needs to resume service in the US.
Lemon8, CapCut, and Gauth are among the other victims of the US ban on ByteDance-owned apps.
After President Biden declined to reassure Apple, Google, and Oracle that they wouldn’t be fined for giving Americans access to TikTok, the app’s hopes now hang on president-elect Trump.
The Meta CEO is abandoning his commitment to the truth in favor of a Trump-style playbook.
The China-controlled EV brand has been losing tens of thousands of dollars on every car sold. With a US ban on Chinese car sales looming, the company needs to quickly turn things around.
Joel Khalili / Wired: A look at Pump.Fun, a service for launching memecoins that has generated $350M+ in revenue via a 1% trading fee in the 12 months since its launch in Jan. 2024 — Pump.Fun raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in its first year in operation. Despite some growing pains, its creators say this is just the beginning.
Job listings posted in China this week indicate that Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, is struggling to handle an influx of new users joining the platform from TikTok.
The same lawyers handling a lawsuit over the infamous Hawk Tuah crypto coin are bringing a new class action against memecoin platform Pump.Fun for allegedly putting investors in high financial risk.
It’s a major get for Murati’s mysterious startup, which has also poached engineers and researchers from a number of other prominent AI firms.
Zeyi Yang / Wired: Job listings show Xiaohongshu is rushing to hire English-speaking moderators to help manage the unexpected influx of English videos and posts on the platform — Job listings posted in China this week indicate that Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, is struggling to handle an influx of new users joining the platform from TikTok.
Zoë Schiffer / Wired: Sources: Mira Murati's AI startup has poached about 10 researchers and engineers, including former OpenAI Head of Special Projects Jonathan Lachman, from rivals — It's a major get for Murati's mysterious startup, which has also poached engineers and researchers from a number of other prominent AI firms.
The hosts of Uncanny Valley spent the week following the advice of AI chatbots when it came to shopping, fitness, and parenting. Here’s how it went.
Calculating air pollution from wildfires and other events has become more complicated. That doesn’t mean it’s necessarily more accurate.
Over a dozen programs used by creators of nonconsensual explicit images have evaded detection on the developer platform, WIRED has found.
The incoming president of the United States is also a social media mogul. We’re keeping a running tally of his stake in Truth Social—and how his fortunes change with its ups and downs.
Crypto execs funneled millions in donations to swing this election, and now their man is in charge. Here’s how Donald Trump’s “crypto cabinet” could shape the next four years.
Paresh Dave / Wired: Four current Meta employees, citing internal discussions, say the actual number of full-time staff who will have to relocate from California to Texas is limited — Mark Zuckerberg said content moderation teams in California will relocate to Texas to help reduce bias.
Eric Geller / Wired: Joe Biden plans to issue a cybersecurity EO to improve the way the government monitors its networks, buys software, uses AI, and punishes foreign hackers — US president Joe Biden just issued a 40-page executive order that aims to bolster federal cybersecurity protections, directs government use of AI …
Mark Zuckerberg said content moderation teams in California will relocate to Texas to help reduce bias. In practice, employees aren’t expecting many forced relocations.
The US is increasingly intent on winning the AI race with China. Experts say this ignores the benefits of collaboration—and the danger of unintended consequences.
A new report, shared exclusively with WIRED, shows how an AI content mill with hundreds of sites managed to pull big-name advertisers into their schemes.
Pump.Fun raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in its first year in operation. Despite some growing pains, its creators say this is just the beginning.
Bradley Hope / Wired: A profile of Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan, the chess-obsessed intelligence chief who oversees UAE's $1.5T sovereign wealth and wants to make UAE an AI superpower — Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan—the UAE's chess-obsessed, jiujitsu-loving intelligence chief—controls vast sums of sovereign wealth.
Less than a week before Donald Trump takes office, the SEC has filed a complaint against his most prominent benefactor.
Tahnoun bin Zayed al Nahyan—the UAE’s chess-obsessed, jiujitsu-loving intelligence chief—controls vast sums of sovereign wealth. America’s AI giants are scrambling for a piece of it.
Huione Guarantee, a gray market researchers believe is central to the online scam ecosystem, now includes a messaging app, stablecoin, and crypto exchange—while facilitating $24 billion in transactions.
Reece Rogers / Wired: How Cleo AI and Bright, AI chatbots offering personalized financial advice, often function as a way to sell high-interest loans and cash advances to young users — AI finance apps are reaching Gen Z and millennial users with personalized chatbots that offer money advice—and upsell them big-time.
A UK judge ruled against James Howells, who has been trying to get a hard drive with private keys to a cryptocurrency fortune out of a landfill for over a decade.
Some say they joined Xiaohongshu, which translates to “little red book,” to spite the US government after a ban on TikTok became more likely.
Some say they joined Xiaohongshu, which translates to “little red book,” to spite the US government after a ban on TikTok became more likely.
The US government has announced a radical plan to control exports of cutting-edge AI technology to most nations.
The US government has announced a radical plan to control exports of cutting-edge AI technology to most nations.
The holders of the vast majority of the world’s wealth? Men. So many men—from Trump and Musk and Putin to every CEO, crypto schmo, and solar bro in between.
AI finance apps are reaching Gen Z and millennial users with personalized chatbots that offer money advice—and upsell them big time.
From tunnels to Tesla factories to SpaceX launch facilities, there’s barely a place on Earth that doesn’t feel the gravitational pull of humanity’s wealthiest reply guy.
Will Knight / Wired: The US' chip export rules enter a 120-day consultation period, requiring the Trump administration to consider input, potentially modify, and enforce the rules — The US government has announced a radical plan to control exports of cutting-edge AI technology to most nations.
So far Meta has only abandoned fact-checking in the US. If and when it expands, the move will be a major blow to the Latin American news ecosystem.
So far Meta has only abandoned fact-checking in the US. If and when it expands, the move will be a major blow to the Latin American news ecosystem.
In a new proposal issued Friday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is seeking to regulate virtual currencies used in Roblox and other video games like US dollars.
Joseph Cox / Wired: A hack of location data firm Gravy reveals Candy Crush, Tinder, and thousands of other apps are being used to steal user location data; apps may not even know — A hack of location data company Gravy Analytics has revealed which apps are—knowingly or not—being used to collect your information behind the scenes.
One of the most important AI copyright legal battles just took a major turn.
Texas has become a leading enforcer of internet rules. Its latest probe includes some platforms that privacy experts describe as unusual suspects.
The fate of TikTok now rests in the hands of the US Supreme Court. If a law banning the social video app this month is upheld, it won’t disappear from your phone—but it will get messy fast.
This week we break down the new government committee being led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.