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Updated, with additional comments: Elon Musk again attacked the centerpiece of Donald Trump’s legislative agenda, the Big Beautiful Bill Act, this time calling the tax and spending package a “disgusting abomination.”

Musk posted against the legislation late into the night on Tuesday, as GOP leaders on the Hill played defense.

Musk wrote on X on Tuesday, “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.”

“It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt.”

Later, he wrote, “In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people.”

Musk has poured hundreds of millions into supporting Trump, and the GOP had been expecting him to play a major role in the midterms next year.

Martina McBride spoke on Capitol Hill in support of the No Fakes Act on Wednesday, calling unauthorized AI and deepfakes “just terrifying,” as she called for legislation to be passed to defend artists.

“I’m pleading with you to give me the tools to stop that kind of betrayal,” McBride said at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing, per Billboard. “[The No Fakes Act could] set America on the right course to develop the world’s best AI while preserving the sacred qualities that make our country so special: authenticity, integrity, humanity, and our endlessly inspiring...

Country singer Martina McBride is the latest entertainer to testify on Capitol Hill on the need for proposed legislation to protect individuals voices and likenesses from unauthorized use, including in AI deepfakes.

A coalition of unions and guilds, studios and record labels are pushing for passage of the No Fakes Act, which gives individuals the right to authorize the use of their voice and likeness in digital replication.

At a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing this afternoon, McBride warned that without action, the livelihoods of younger artists could be at risk and established performers like her would face damage to their reputations.

In her own case, she pointed to her works that touch on problems like domestic violence.

“Many fans have told me that the song ‘Independence Day’ has given them strength, and in some cases, the song has been the catalyst that they need to leave an abusive situation. Imagine...

In his delusional mind, President Donald Trump seemed to believe that Taylor Swift might have endorsed his presidency, claiming during his 2024 campaign that he’s “made her so much money” and thinking that because she once made country music, she’d have to vote Republican.

But no, since 2018, the Eras Tour pop star has been adamant in supporting Democratic causes. And she endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz in their run for president and VP in the 2024 election following Trump’s failed debate against Harris.

“I’m...

Sheryl Crow is opening up about the struggles of living in the red state of Tennessee as a liberal progressive.

In a new interview, the 63-year-old “All I Wanna Do” singer shared a scary story when an armed man appeared on her property shortly after she sold her Tesla in protest of Elon Musk using Doge to cut what she considers government services.

Keep reading to find out more…“This feels different, because when I came out against Walmart carrying guns [in a 1996 song], not everybody was armed — and certainly I didn’t live in Tennessee, where everybody is armed,” Sheryl shared with Variety.

“So yeah, there was a moment where I actually really felt very afraid: A man got on my property, in my barn, who was armed,” she continued. “It doesn’t feel safe when you’re dealing with people who are so committed.”

Sheryl has lived in Tennessee for over...

A Congressional effort to address the rise of deepfaked images and videos has the support of several major tech companies, including YouTube. As the Google-affiliated platform expands its own suite of AI-combatting tools, it is throwing its weight behind the No Fakes Act, which was reintroduced in Congress this week.

The No Fakes Act is a bipartisan proposal that gives individuals the right to control digital replications of their likeness. That ownership can be transferred to an estate in the event of the affected individual’s death, and digital likeness rights would not expire until 70 years postmortem.

The bill is sponsored by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tn), Chris Coons (D-de), Thom Tillis (R-nc), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Mn). It failed to gain traction upon its initial introduction last year, with organizations like the Motion Picture Association (MPA) questioning whether the statute would violate First Amendment free speech protections.

Blackburn and co.

YouTube came out in support of the “No Fakes Act,” which was reintroduced by Republican and Democrat members of Congress earlier Wednesday.

In a blog post, the tech giant also said it was expanding a pilot program that is designed to identify and manage AI-generated content featuring the “likeness,” including the face, of creators, artists, and other famous or influential figures.

“For nearly two decades, YouTube has been at the forefront of handling rights management at scale, and we understand the importance of collaborating with partners to tackle these issues proactively,” said Leslie Miller, VP Public Policy at YouTube. “Now, we’re applying that expertise and dedication to partnership to ensure the responsible deployment of innovative AI tools.”

The No Fakes Act would give individuals the right to control the use of their digital likeness, as part of an effort to limit the use of AI deepfakes and voice clones.

A number of major YouTube stars have signed on to a pilot program that will give high-profile figures more control over their likenesses on the platform.

The video platform says that creators like MrBeast (real name Jimmy Donaldson), Mkbhd (Marques Brownlee) and Mark Rober have signed on to test the tool, which was announced last year. The tool’s rollout comes as generative AI tech makes it almost trivially easy to replicate the appearance or voice or a celebrity.

When it first announced the tool last year, YouTube unveiled a partnership with CAA that will let its clients, including athletes, musicians and athletes, try it out as part of a pilot program. The news on Wednesday expands that pool to high-profile creators.

The tool surfaces AI-generated content featuring a famous person’s likeness, and allows them to request removal.

YouTube’s pilot expansion was made in connection to the news...

YouTube endorsed a ban on AI “deepfakes” on Wednesday, as lawmakers renewed efforts to stamp out unauthorized digital clones of people’s voices and images.

Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., originally introduced the No Fakes Act in 2023, which would make it illegal to distribute a computer-generated likeness of a person without their consent. SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 performers, and the Recording Industry Association of America have each made the bill a top priority, as they fear that artificial intelligence will lead to a deluge of impersonation.

The Motion Picture Association, which represents the major film and TV studios, endorsed the bill last year, after allowances were made for recreations of historical figures. Since then, the RIAA has negotiated with YouTube over the liability that platforms could face if they host AI deepfakes.

“We brought together the people affected by the impacts and challenges of AI and the people...

Senate and House lawmakers Wednesday reintroduced legislation that will give individuals the right to control the use of their digital likeness, as part of an effort to limit the use of AI deepfakes and voice clones.

The No Fakes Act was introduced last year but failed to advance in Congress even with bipartisan support and changes that alleviated First Amendment worries.

The legislation gives individuals the right to authorize the use of their voice and likeness in digital replication. The digital replication right does not expire at a person’s death, and can be transferred and licensed by heirs, executors and others. That post-mortem right, though, terminates no longer than 70 years after an individual’s passing.

The legislation is sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tn), Sen. Chris Coons (D-de), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-Nc) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-mn). In the House, the sponsors are Rep.

A bipartisan group of senators has reintroduced legislation aimed at taking on unauthorized uses of voices and likenesses for AI-generated deepfakes, gaining support from stakeholders in the entertainment and tech industries.

Sens. Chris Coons (D-de), Marsha Blackburn (R-tn), Amy Klobuchar (D-mn) and Thom Tillis (R-nc) reintroduced the No Fakes (Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe) Act on Wednesday alongside Reps. María Elvira Salazar (R-fl-27), Madeleine Dean (D-pa-4), Nathaniel Moran (R-tx-1) and Becca Balint (D-vt-At Large) nearly a year after the bill was first introduced last July. Entertainment organizations like SAG-AFTRA, the RIAA and the MPA had voiced their support of the bill last time, and the newly reintroduced bill has also drawn support from the likes of YouTube and OpenAI.

The bill would establish a federal right for every American to their voice and visual likeness, a particularly sought-after distinction for famous actors and recording artists. Per a press release,...

Republican senators don’t seem too worried about all of the damning reporting emerging about Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth.

“They’re throwing disparaging remarks at someone who has earned a great deal of credibility. Are soldiers sometimes wild childs? Yeah, that can happen,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) told NBC News on Monday, the day after The New Yorker reported that Hegseth’s problematic behavior led two separate veterans groups to force him out of his leadership role.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) added that he’s “known Pete for a while,...

There’s apparently still plenty of money to be made in crypto because The Black Keys have signed on to play the final show of “The America Loves Crypto Tour,” which is a not-at-all ridiculously named concert series hosted by the (we kid you not) Stand with Crypto Alliance political action committee.

The “intimate show” goes down next Friday, October 25th at the Akron Civic Theatre in The Black Keys’ hometown of Akron, Ohio. Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are just the latest musicians to play in support of the Pac. Previous shows featured performances from Black Pumas, 070 Shake, Big Sean, Jessie Murph, Lauv, and of course, The Chainsmokers.

So while the music industry’s Nft boom is long gone, it appears crypto’s big bet on the 2024 elections has offered a new set of opportunities.

Stand with Crypto Alliance’s endorsements in the upcoming election include notorious Republicans like Ted Cruz,...

Willie Nelson and Margo Price encouraged their fans in Texas and Tennessee to register to vote and cast a ballot in favor of the states’ respective Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate. In Texas, Colin Allred is trying to unseat Republican Ted Cruz, while Gloria Johnson — one of the Tennessee Three — is challenging Republican Marsha Blackburn.

In a video filmed around a table on Nelson’s tour bus, the country songwriters endorse Allred and Johnson in a short speech. “I know we’re all talking about the presidential race, and that’s important,...

Taylor Swift uses her platform and influence to support Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for the upcoming US election. The singer previously expressed this on a social media post that went viral a few days ago.

Credits: Taylor Swift via CBS News

In a resurfaced clip from her Netflix documentary film Taylor Swift: Miss Americana, she voices her political opinions that not even her family, who fear for her safety, could stop her from endorsing her chosen political candidates.

Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana Documentary Proved Her Silence On Political Issues Is Now Over

From a country pop singer to one of the most influential music icons in the world, Taylor Swift has proven her success in the industry, and with millions of fans across the globe, it is safe to assume that many also support her advocacies.

The music diva has been firm in her...

Fourteen-time Grammy award-winning recording artist and international pop icon Taylor Swift made a rare political statement on Monday night, which was a big one. Deploying her Instagram account, which has over 283 million followers, she came out in support of Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid for the presidency, and against former President Donald Trump. She used a pointed image—a glamor shot, originally taken for her Time magazine “Person of the Year” spread, including one of her pet cats, Benjamin Button.

The fact that Swift is a cat owner and also does not have children places her in a group that has been tarnished by J.D. Vance, the opposing vice presidential candidate, who has mocked “childless cat ladies.” Indeed, Swift’s lengthy caption concludes with “Childless Cat Lady.”

Swift, whose concert appearances have had demonstrative effects on local economies, is rare to go off-book with a political statement like this.

The arrival of artificial intelligence hit Hollywood like an earthquake.

It was 2022. Layoffs, cost-cutting and what appeared to be an inevitable strike from writers was looming and the industry was in flux. That fall, OpenAI released an early demo of ChatGPT in what became the first momentous moment of the tech entering the public consciousness. Everything changed, starting with “Heart on my Sleeve,” a song that used AI versions of voices from Drake and the Weeknd.

SAG-AFTRA mobilized its fleet of lobbyists in Washington D.C, as did the Recording Industry Association of America, according to people familiar with the situation. They found receptive ears in Senators Chris Coons, Marsha Blackburn, Amy Klobuchar and Thom Tillis, who later unveiled a discussion draft of the legislation providing protections from unauthorized uses of their appearance and voice in generative AI tools. On July 31, an updated version of the bill was introduced — a...

A bipartisan group of US Senators has formally introduced the No Fakes Act, a long overdue bill aiming to protect individuals’ voices and visual likenesses from being exploited by AI companies.

Senators Chris Coons (D-de), Marsha Blackburn (R-tn), Amy Klobuchar (D-mn), and Thom Tillis (R-nc) introduced the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act on Wednesday (July 31st) after first releasing a discussion draft this past October.

According to a press release, the No Fakes Act would “hold individuals or companies liable for damages for producing, hosting, or sharing a digital replica of an individual performing in an audiovisual work, image, or sound recording that the individual never actually appeared in or otherwise approved.”

“Americans from all walks of life are increasingly seeing AI being used to create deepfakes in ads, images, music, and videos without their consent,” said Senator Klobuchar in a statement. “We need our laws...

A bipartisan group of US Senators has formally introduced the No Fakes Act, a long overdue bill aiming to protect individuals’ voices and visual likenesses from being exploited by AI companies.

Senators Chris Coons (D-de), Marsha Blackburn (R-tn), Amy Klobuchar (D-mn), and Thom Tillis (R-nc) introduced the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act on Wednesday (July 31st) after first releasing a discussion draft this past October.

According to a press release, the No Fakes Act would “hold individuals or companies liable for damages for producing, hosting, or sharing a digital replica of an individual performing in an audiovisual work, image, or sound recording that the individual never actually appeared in or otherwise approved.”

“Americans from all walks of life are increasingly seeing AI being used to create deepfakes in ads, images, music, and videos without their consent,” said Senator Klobuchar in a statement. “We need our laws...

A bipartisan group of senators officially introduced a long-anticipated bill on Wednesday designed to protect peoples’ voices and visual likenesses from being exploited with artificial intelligence re-creations without their permission.

Senators Chris Coons (D-de), Marsha Blackburn (R-tn), Amy Klobuchar (D-mn) and Thom Tillis introduced the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (No Fakes) Act on Wednesday, about eight months after first introducing a discussion draft of that bill last October.

No Fakes is similar to the No AI Fraud Act introduced in Congress earlier this year and establishes...

As SAG-AFTRA been pushing for protections against AI, the studios have been reluctant to support any legislation that might crack down on its uses too broadly. But now, it appears that the parties are on the same page as they’ve both thrown their support behind a newly introduced bipartisan Senate bill.

The No Fakes Act (read it here) finally received support from the studios via the Motion Picture Association on Wednesday, after the group had warned of potential First Amendment violations earlier this year.

The bill is sponsored by Sens. Chris Coons (D-de), Marsha Blackburn (R-tn), Amy Klobuchar (D-Mn) and Thom Tillis (R-nc).

“We support protecting performers from generative AI abuse – and this bill thoughtfully establishes federal protections against harmful uses of digital replicas, while respecting First Amendment rights and creative freedoms,” a statement from MPA CEO Charles Rivkin read. “We particularly appreciate the sponsors’ inclusion of safeguards...

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle sat for a tense, heated testimony before the House Oversight Committee, where she was grilled over the agency’s failure to prevent an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.

In her opening statement, Cheatle called the shooting “the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.” Cheatle also said she takes “full responsibility for any security lapse of our agency.”

The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Matthew Crooks, was able to gain access to a...

Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump detailed the recent attempt made on his life, for those on hand for the closing night of the Republican National Convention.

Trump’s remarks on Thursday night came just five days after said assassination attempt at a Butler, Pa., campaign rally.

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In his first official act since being asked to run as Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick in the 2024 election, Sen. Jd Vance told an audience at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday: “Tonight is a night of hope — a celebration of what America once was, and with God’s grace, what it will soon be again.”

Vance formally accepted the nomination to be Trump’s running mate and laid out his vision for the country in a speech to the crowd at Fiserv Forum and Wisconsin Center District in Milwaukee, Wis. “My fellow Americans, this moment is not about me.

In his first official act since being asked to run as Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick in the 2024 election, Sen. J.D. Vance told an audience at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday: “Tonight is a night of hope — a celebration of what America once was, and with God’s grace, what it will soon be again.”

Vance formally accepted the nomination to be Trump’s running mate and laid out his vision for the country in a speech to the crowd at Fiserv Forum and Wisconsin Center District in Milwaukee, Wis. “My fellow Americans, this moment is not about me.

As the world’s wealthiest people were lining up behind former President Donald Trump’s candidacy, the Republican Party served up hours of programming at its convention designed to woo the working class with (mostly) fake populism.

During the first day of the Republican National Convention, the theme was “Make America Wealthy Again.” The evening’s program was a calibrated pitch to the working class — with speakers and video messages repeatedly slamming President Joe Biden over inflation, higher gas prices and grocery bills, and credit card debt.

Consistent with Trump...

The Republican National Convention opened Monday afternoon, with a boosted security presence following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

That has given the proceedings a different tenor of coverage, with Trump expected to appear on the floor Monday night to a rousing reception of delegates and supporters.

Before the Trump rally shooting, correspondents already were looking to a convention that would be more than just a coronation of the Republican nominee, as he has yet to announce his vice presidential running mate. The former president has signaled that will come today.

Now, with the assassination attempt and concerns over the escalation of political violence, media focus will be on the speakers and the extent to which they display messages of unity versus red meat rhetoric.

“The reality is, this whole convention now is going to be really colored by what happened the other, and just the images of him pumping first and saying,...

Tucker Carlson is among the celebrity names slated to speak at next week’s Republican National Convention, reportedly in a plum spot on Thursday night before Donald Trump himself accepts the party nomination.

In addition to a long list of elected officials who are backing Trump, the speaker lineup also includes celebrities like Amber Rose, the model, rapper and former stripper; Dana White, the CEO of UFC; and Savannah Chrisley, the TV personality whose parents are serving prison time for fraud and tax evasion. Also on the bill: Lee Greenwood and Chris Janson.

Notably missing from the lineup: Former First Lady Melania Trump and the former president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump. They each spoke at the 2016 and 2020 conventions.

House GOP leaders like Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Majority Whip Tom Emmer are on the list, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Minority Whip John Thune and Republican...

Donald Trump is in his “Reputation” era.

The former president muses about pop princess Taylor Swift in a new book about his years as a reality star, “Apprentice in Wonderland: How Donald Trump and Mark Burnett Took America Through the Looking Glass,” written by Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh.

When Setoodeh asked Trump his thoughts on the musical mastermind in November 2023, he was effusive in his praise — of her appearance, that is.

“I think she’s beautiful — very beautiful! I find her very beautiful. I think she’s liberal. She probably doesn’t like Trump. I hear she’s very talented,” he said. “I think she’s very beautiful, actually — unusually beautiful!”

Swift had been rumored to be a secret Republican during the 2016 election cycle, before she publicly endorsed Tennessee Democratic candidates Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives in 2018.

“In the past I’ve been reluctant...

SAG-AFTRA’s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland urged lawmakers to move forward with an AI bill which seeks to provide historic protection against generative artificial intelligence.

“AI technology, left unregulated, poses an existential threat not only to SAG-AFTRA’s members, but to civil discourse, student health & welfare, democracy and national security,” he said during his testimony to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property about the No Fakes Act (read it here).

In addition to requiring informed consent for digital replicas, the bipartisan No Fakes Act — or the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe Act — offers historic federal IP protections against the misappropriation of voice and likeness performance in sound recordings and audiovisual works.

Artificial intelligence was a cornerstone of SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations with the Hollywood studios last year and one of the sticking points that prompted the actors union to go on strike for 148 days. As a result,...

FKA twigs has proactively taken AI into her own hands to develop a deepfake version of herself to handle fan interactions while she focuses on music, Rolling Stone reports.

“In the past year, I have developed my own deepfake version of myself that is not only trained in my personality but also can use my exact tone of voice to speak many languages,” FKA twigs shared in written testimony ahead of her appearance before Senate on Tuesday (April 30th).

Praising the technology as a “highly valuable” tool “when under the control of the artist,” the British musician continued, “I will be engaging my AI twigs later this year to extend my reach and handle my online social media interactions, whilst I continue to focus on my art from the comfort and solace of my studio.”

FKA twigs will be giving testimony about “AI twigs” during a hearing before the Senate...

More than 250 artists, including Billie Eilish, Green Day, Sia and Cyndi Lauper, signed a letter Thursday urging the Senate Commerce Committee to support a bill that would reform the ticketing system for live events.

The Fans First Act, which was initially introduced in December by Sens. John Cornyn, Amy Klobuchar, Marsha Blackburn, Peter Welch, Roger Wicker and Ben Ray Lujan, aims to address flaws in the current live event ticketing system. The bill hopes to increase transparency in ticket sales, protect consumers from fake or overpriced tickets, and hold those who engage in illegal ticket sale practices accountable.

“As artists and members of the music community, we rely on touring for our livelihood, and we value music fans above all else,” the letter said in part. “We are joining together to say that the current system is broken: predatory resellers and secondary platforms engage in deceptive ticketing practices to inflate...

President Joe Biden urged Israel not to launch a counter-strike against Iran, telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. will not participate in one. Iran on Saturday launched drones and missiles to attack Israel — most of which were intercepted by forces from the U.S., Israel, and other countries in the region.

In a phone call with Netanyahu late Saturday, Biden told Netanyahu, “You got a win. Take the win,” according to a senior U.S. official who spoke with Axios. Biden further told Netanyahu that the U.

When a bunch of all-stars get together to record a song for a cause, the result can often be cringey. But “Tennessee Rise,” featuring the pulpit-ready voices of Brittany Howard, Allison Russell, Katie Pruitt, Amanda Shires, Fancy Hagood, Emmylou Harris, and more, hits all the marks.

The heavenly choir anthem was recorded to encourage Tennesseans to register and vote for Gloria Johnson, who is challenging Republican incumbent U.S. senator — and the state’s Darth Vader — Marsha Blackburn in the November election. Johnson is one of the lawmakers known as “The Tennessee Three,...

Lady Gaga unleashed a righteous invective against the ugly responses to her International Women’s Day post with trans actor/influencer Dylan Mulvaney. “I feel very protective in this moment, not only of Dylan, but of the trans community who continues to lead the way with their endless grace and inspiration in the face of constant degradation, intolerance, and physical, verbal, and mental violence,” Gaga said on Instagram. “I certainly do not speak for this community, but I have something to say.”

On Sunday, Mulvaney shared a photo of herself...

Sinbad is thanking “fans and friends” for their enduring support following his first major appearance in more than three years.

The beloved comedian, now 67, suffered a stroke in November 2020 — and with the exception of a still image shared to his Instagram in 2022, had not been seen in public until last month.

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On Feb. 29, Sinbad joined...

Even U.S. President Joe Biden is talking about pop star Taylor Swift. Frankly speaking, who isn’t. Biden made light of the conspiracy theory that he and Swift are working together. During an appearance on a late-night show, the President had a readily available answer to the question of whether or not the Blank Space singer will endorse him in 2024.

There have been conspiracies that Taylor Swift may endorse the current U.S. President Joe Biden in the upcoming elections. When asked about it during an interview, Biden did not hesitate once before answering.

Taylor Swift in the music video for Bejeweled

U.S. President Joe Biden On Whether or Not He and Taylor Swift Are Working Together

There is no doubt regarding the fact that Taylor Swift has a significant influence on millions of people, young and older people alike. So, if she were to actually endorse someone for the elections,...

After the news of Toby Keith’s death broke overnight, reactions from the stars of the country music world and beyond followed, as some legendary figures and admirers of the late Nashville star began to share tributes online.

Keith “passed peacefully last night on Feb. 5, surrounded by his family,” read his official website’s announcement of his death; he was 62. The news came two years after the singer posted about his stomach cancer diagnosis on his official Instagram page.

His Instagram page is where many are directing their reactions and condolences following the news. “God Bless you and Family,” singer Randy Houser commented. “Hard to imagine an America without Toby Keith in it.”

Actor Stephen Baldwin commented, “Wow this announcement has totally taken my breath away. I’ve been praying for Toby and it is truly wonderful to know he is finally home praise Jesus” and Georgia-based singer-songwriter Channing Wilson wrote,...

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, X CEO Linda Yaccarino and other tech industry leaders faced a grilling from lawmakers today as they appeared for a landmark Senate hearing on the online exploitation of children.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-il) blamed the tech platforms at the outset for allowing the exploitation to proliferate, while dismissing the latest efforts the companies have taken to boost safety.

“They are responsible for many of the dangers our children face online,” Durbin said, calling it a “crisis in America.”

“Mr. Zuckerberg, you and the companies before us, I know you don’t mean it to be so, but you have blood on your hands. You have a product that is killing people,” said the top Republican on the committee, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-Sc), told Zuckerberg, as he sat at the witness table.

He called for the repeal of Section 230, the provision of a...

Update: There’s a reason that attacks on Taylor Swift continued throughout the day today: She’s a celebrity guaranteed to drive web traffic, particularly to right-wing media figures advancing ever more outlandish conspiracy theories. For much of today, social media focused on figures like Jack Posobiec and Benny Johnson, who benefit from the attention even if it’s to try to discredit them.

While a Swift endorsement of Joe Biden may very well hold enough sway to be of concern to Donald Trump’s campaign, the fixation on cooking up conspiracy theories about her has more to do with what draws attention in a hyper-competitive universe of voices on the right.

Erick Erickson, the conservative commentator, wrote on X/Twitter, “Let me explain what is actually going on with these hucksters, charlatans, and grifters on the right. They don’t believe it. They hope you might believe it. They...

When notorious pedophile and wealthy financier Jeffrey Epstein died in a jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors, he left conspiracy theorists with a tangled web of lurid mysteries that would keep them busy for years to come. Suspicions that Epstein hadn’t really hanged himself soon gave way to claims of a vast coverup — the man supposedly murdered to prevent him from revealing the worst secrets of the global elite.

Now, four years later, far-right politicians and commentators are again fixated on Epstein’s personal connections,...

Even as the issue of protecting performers from the misuse of artificial intelligence continues to vex the labor negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, a second front has just opened.

On Oct. 12, four U.S. Senators presented a bipartisan “discussion draft” of legislation intended to protect actors, singers and others from having AI programs generate their likenesses and voices without their informed written consent. The “Nurture Originals, Foster Art and Keep Entertainment Safe” (No Fakes) Act would allow people, companies and platforms to be sued for producing or hosting so-called “digital replicas.”

The No Fakes Act is being sponsored by Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-tn), Chris Coons (D-de), Amy Klobuchar (D-mn) and Thom Tillis (R-nc). It represents the federal government’s first attempt to prevent the misappropriation of voice and likeness performances in audiovisual works and sound recordings. The rights created under this prospective legislation...

This is Day 92 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

At the first actors to picket after Wednesday night’s breakdown of their talks with the studios and streamers, SAG-AFTRA members in New York City said that they were disappointed by the setback but “holding strong” to their demands.

Striking actors who gathered Thursday outside Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery offices also cheered the announcement of bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Senate to protect them from artificial intelligence.

Writers joining them on the picket line after ratifying their own contract this week urged the actors to stay strong.

“It’s tactics,” The Wire creator David Simon told Deadline, speaking of the studios’ decision to suspend the talks and criticize SAG-AFTRA for demanding a share of studio profits. “They say you can’t have something and you’ll never get something, and ‘DGA settled for this and you don’t understand our industry.

ByteDance is buying up more real estate for TikTok employees in the United States. The Beijing-based parent company — which is currently the subject of a U.S. Senate inquiry — has purchased 143,000 square feet of real estate to add to its footprint in Culver City.

TikTok has already established a presence in Culver City. In 2020, the video app moved into five-floor office in the Los Angeles suburb.

Initially, that complex included 120,000 square feet of space, but it’s about to get a massive upgrade. As first reported by the brokerage Savills, ByteDance is adding 53,202 square feet to its existing lease. It’s also acquiring another 90,049 square feet of space at a separate Culver City address. That deal is a sublease agreement.

According to Savills, the deal was the fourth-largest office deal in Los Angeles during the third quarter. TikTok also operates out of several other U.S. offices, including spaces in Chicago,...

President Taylor Swift drove a record-smashing amount of traffic to Vote.org Tuesday (September 19th) on National Voter Registration Day. After she shared an Instagram story urging fans to participate in this fall’s off-year elections, the website saw more than 35,000 new voters register in one day, Axios reports.

“I’ve been so lucky to see so many of you guys at my US shows recently,” Swift wrote in a text post on her Instagram story. “I’ve heard you raise your voices, and I know how powerful they are. Make sure you’re ready to use them in our elections this year!”

To be exact, Vote.org says that 35,252 people newly registered to vote on Tuesday, marking a 23% jump from last year’s National Voter Registration Day and the largest annual increase since the 2020 general election year. There was also a 115% increase in 18-year-olds registering compared to last year.

For the second time in less than two months, YouTube is responding to a critical inquiry into its advertising practices. Senators Ed Markey (D-ma) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tn) have written a letter to the FTC asking for an investigation into YouTube’s ad placements on videos intended for children.

The latest to-do over children’s online safety started with a report from Adalytics. The ad data platform — which previously argued that the Google Video Partners program “misled” buyers — raised questions about the data collection that could be happening on kid-friendly content.

According to an Adalytics report, spots from major “adult” brands have run as pre-roll ads next to videos from CoComelon, Kids Diana Show, and other major family channels. When viewers clicked on those ads, cookies were added to their devices “for the purposes of ad targeting and tracking on the browsers of consumers watching YouTube videos that are clearly labeled as ‘for kids.

Republicans are flip-flopping on who they want to investigate Hunter Biden.

Last September, Sen. Ted Cruz along with several other Republicans authored a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland requesting that U.S. Attorney David Weiss be given “special counsel protections and authorities to conduct the Hunter Biden investigation.” But now that Garland has appointed Weiss as special counsel in the investigation, Cruz is claiming that Weiss is a “wildly inappropriate” choice.

Cruz alleged that Weiss “was a U.S. Attorney hand-picked to lead this investigation who spent the last...

Hunter Biden is pleading guilty to two federal misdemeanor charges related to failing to pay his taxes, the Justice Department announced in a court filing on Tuesday.

The president’s son has reached an agreement to plead guilty on two counts of “willful failure to pay federal income tax.” Biden has also been charged with “possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance.” He reached a pretrial diversion for the firearms charged, and it is likely to be dismissed if he meets certain conditions.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman told lawmakers on Tuesday that the “right thing to do” is to make sure that content owners “get significant upside benefit” from artificial intelligence technology that has raised new concerns over copyright and compensation.

At a Senate subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, Altman was questioned by some lawmakers over the use of copyrighted material to train OpenAI’s ChatGPT to generate new works. The use of AI is an issue in the Writers Guild of America strike against the studios, but content creators in general have raised concerns over what the technology means for protection of their intellectual property.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tn) said that the music artists in her state “should be able to decide if their copyrighted songs and images are going to be used to train these models.” She cited OpenAI’s Jukebox, which generates music in “a variety of genres and artist styles.

Republicans in the Tennessee state house who voted Thursday to expel from the legislature two Black Democrats (while narrowly failing to do the same to a white colleague) were in the wrong, former Republican senator Scott Brown said Sunday on CNN State of the Union.

Brown, who represented Massachusetts from 2010 to 2013 and went on to serve as Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa during the Trump administration, urged the two sides to find “common ground” because “this is a very, very serious issue–what’s going on with gun violence around this country.