Trump’s first 100 days: all the news impacting the tech industry
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump has promised everything from saving TikTok from a ban to rolling back Biden-era electric vehicle policies. President Donald Trump kicked off the first day of his presidency by signing...
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Trump is absolutely going to make ByteDance sell TikTok or shut down again.
Here he is talking about it during today’s big data center announcement, with Larry Ellison, Sam Altman, and Masa Son standing in the room with him.
Extreme First Amendment issues with having the government own a social platform aside, it’s striking how he keeps talking about “permits” even though nothing in the TikTok bill has anything to do with permits. Once a real-estate guy, always a real-estate guy, I suppose.
Trump pardons Silk Road operator Ross Ulbricht
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge; Getty Images
On Tuesday night, President Donald Trump issued a pardon to Ross Ulbricht, who ran the dark web marketplace Silk Road under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts.” Ulbricht has been serving a life sentence without parole since 2015, when he was convicted of multiple charges, including the distribution of narcotics.
The Silk Road marketplace, which was only accessible through the Tor network, became one of the most prevalent early commercial uses of Bitcoin. Buyers and sellers traded in illicit drugs, forged passports, and more.
OpenAI and Softbank are starting a $500 billion AI data center company
A plan to build a system of data centers for artificial intelligence has been revealed in a White House press conference, with Masayoshi Son, Sam Altman, and Larry Ellison joining Donald Trump to announce The Stargate Project. Their companies, Softbank, OpenAI, and Oracle (respectively), along with MGX are listed as “initial equity funders” for $500 billion in investments over the next four years, “building new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States.”
According to a statement from OpenAI, “Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI” are the initial tech partners, with a buildout “currently underway” starting in Texas as other sites across the country are evaluated. It also says that “Oracle, NVIDIA, and OpenAI will closely collaborate to build and operate this computing system.”
CBS News reports OpenAI, Oracle, and Softbank will announce a ‘Stargate’ AI data center project.
It’s reportedly part of “billions of dollars in private sector investment to build artificial intelligence infrastructure” that Donald Trump is preparing to announce, with the first project in Texas. Oddly, earlier rumors about “Stargate” included Microsoft and this one doesn’t so far, but their connection with OpenAI has grown more complicated since then.
Executives from the companies are expected to say they plan to commit $100 billion initially and pour up to $500 billion into Stargate over the next four years.
A federal website on reproductive rights has vanished
A federal website for information on reproductive rights and healthcare access is suddenly down, following Donald Trump’s inauguration yesterday. Reproductiverights.gov seemed to be offline as of last night, CBS reports.
The Biden administration launched the website in 2022 in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. On top of information about abortion rights, the website also included resources on accessing preventative care, including breast and cervical cancer screenings, prenatal care, and HIV screening. (The Internet Archive has a snapshot of what the website looked like as recently as January 15th.)
Donald Trump rescinds Biden-era executive order on AI safety
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
In his executive actions on day one of his presidency, Donald Trump rescinded an executive order Joe Biden signed in 2023 to establish safety guidelines for generative AI.
The Biden-era order required developers of large AI models like OpenAI’s GPT lineup to share the results of safety tests with the US government. It also directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop standards for safety testing, and it tasked other federal agencies with assessing any potential chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, cybersecurity, or critical infrastructure risks AI might pose.
Trump signs executive order to reverse Biden’s electric vehicle policies
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
President Donald Trump signed an executive order signaling his intention to eliminate the Biden administration’s electric vehicle policies, which he has falsely labeled a “mandate.” Trump also signed an order signaling his intent to weaken tailpipe emission standards, which would be a major blow to the environment.
The orders were among a barrage of executive actions taken by Trump in the immediate aftermath of his inauguration on Monday, as he set to work undoing some of the accomplishments of the Biden administration. He also declared a “national energy emergency” in a move meant to weaken environmental standards and allow corporations to pollute more freely.
Trump signs order refusing to enforce TikTok ban for 75 days
Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images
President Donald Trump has issued an executive order telling the Department of Justice to not enforce a rule that demands TikTok spin off from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a ban.
The order, issued on Trump’s first day in office, is meant to effectively extend the deadline established by the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act for ByteDance to sell its stake by undercutting penalties on American companies like Apple and Google working with TikTok. It directs the attorney general “not to take any action to enforce the Act for a period of 75 days from today to allow my Administration an opportunity to determine the appropriate course forward in an orderly way.” The AG is supposed to “issue a letter to each provider stating that there has been no violation of the statute and that there is no liability for any conduct that occurred.”
Brendan Carr is officially in charge of the FCC
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
Brendan Carr is now formally the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, giving him the power to set the agency’s agenda and usher through a host of regulations with major implications for the tech and media industries as soon as he has a Republican majority.
In a statement, Carr named a few areas of focus: “issues ranging from tech and media regulation to unleashing new opportunities for jobs and growth through agency actions on spectrum, infrastructure, and the space economy.”
Vivek Ramaswamy steps down from DOGE
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
Vivek Ramaswamy has stepped down from co-leading President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), according to The Associated Press. The official line as to why Ramaswamy is moving on is that he plans to run for elected office — he reportedly intends to run for Ohio governor.
“Vivek Ramaswamy played a critical role in helping us create DOGE,” spokesperson Anna Kelly says in the statement to AP. “He intends to run for elected office soon, which requires him to remain outside of DOGE, based on the structure that we announced today. We thank him immensely for his contributions over the last 2 months and expect him to play a vital role in making America great again.”
Trump declares a ‘national energy emergency’
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images
Donald Trump said today he’ll declare a “national energy emergency,” a move meant to speed the development of fossil fuel infrastructure. He signed an executive order doing so this evening.
The actions taken on his first day in office mark the start of President Trump’s attempts to boost oil and gas and retreat from global climate goals. He campaigned on promises to “drill, baby, drill” and undo Biden-era policies to reduce pollution and stop climate change.
