Bill Nguyen is paying (in tokens) to live in the AI future www.semafor.com/article/04/2...
The man who is paying to see the future
Serial entrepreneur Bill Nguyen says his use of AI has moved beyond chatbot to body double.
semafor.com
Ben Smith
@semaforben.bsky.social
Semafor EIC, author of "Traffic" out May 2
A fun hint for fans of @praddenkeefe's Winds of Change pod: It had a big CIA audience (!) after it came out, but he can't say what he's learned since. (At 16:10 here) youtu.be/t2oTgAmHXJk
Patrick Radden Keefe on Page-Turning Journalism, His Own Celebrity, & The Humanity Behind His Work
YouTube video by Semafor
youtu.be
Loved talking shop with @semaforben.bsky.social and @maxtani.bsky.social! Surreal to finally meet two people whose voices I’ve logged so many hours with.
Ben Smith@semaforben.bsky.social · 4mo agoFascinating conversation with @bsky.app's @rose.bsky.team about what they are thinking and how they feel about you, dear user www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZbd...
Fascinating conversation with @bsky.app's @rose.bsky.team about what they are thinking and how they feel about you, dear user www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZbd...
Bluesky COO Rose Wang On Building a Better Social Network
YouTube video by Semafor
youtube.com
(Semafor) - The New York Times and Washington Post learned of a secret US raid on Venezuela soon before it was scheduled to begin Friday night — but held off publishing what they knew to avoid endangering US troops .. @semafor.com www.semafor.com/article/01/0...
In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites. He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him. www.wsj.com/world/china/...
ICE Holding Chinese Man Who Documented Uyghur Camps
Heng Guan is awaiting an immigration hearing on Monday that could lead to his removal from the U.S. and ultimately land him back in China, according to his lawyer and a New York-based activist group.
wsj.com
Honoured that "Our Dear Friends in Moscow" was recommended this week by @semafor.com Editor-in-Chief @semaforben.bsky.social — thank you!
At our media summit, I asked @BrendanCarrFCC about the l view that the greatest threat to free speech is him -- the government. He disagreed and said it was the social media companies. At 5:30 here www.youtube.com/watch?v=SB64...
View from FCC | Innovating to Restore Trust in News
YouTube video by Semafor Events
youtube.com
SCOOP: A Dark Money Group Is Secretly Funding High-Profile Democratic Influencers, raising questions about ethics in the independent media space
A Dark Money Group Is Secretly Funding High-Profile Democratic Influencers
An initiative aimed at boosting Democrats online offers influencers up to $8,000 a month to push the party line. All they have to do is keep it secret—and agree to restrictions on their content.
wired.com
"Oh, it's the worst industry in the history of industries." @mcuban.bsky.social tells @maxtani.bsky.social and @semaforben.bsky.social how he views the current media landscape, and why he doesn't invest much in the space these days.
Pretty remarkable: The New York Post and others are currently running with a document from the (strange and fascinating) Durham Annex that the Durham Annex (a few pages later) says is a Russian fake, all in the broader interest of debunking "Russiagate" nypost.com/2025/07/31/u...
Read the documents that prove Hillary Clinton OK’d plan to ‘smear’ Trump with Russia collusion
Special counsel John Durham uncovered the information during a multi-year probe into intelligence activities during the 2016 election.
nypost.com
I do treasure this letter Tom Lehrer, who just died 60 years after he vanished from the stage, sent me when I tried to write about him www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/tom...
New: Palantir's CTO and several early employees are raising money to launch Founders Films, a film and TV production studio that aims to "say yes to projects about American exceptionalism, name America’s enemies, back artists unconditionally, take risk on novel IP.” www.semafor.com/article/07/2...
The panicky elites dumping millions into last-minute attack ads against @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social should have been investing time and money to recruit, educate, and encourage young leaders. My latest in @nymag.com
The Political Class Is Responsible for the Man They’re Trying to Stop
He’s what happens when the status quo fails.
nymag.com
Great point from @semaforben.bsky.social about how - when the news goes crazy - your most senior sources are just scratching their heads, like the rest of us. I remember it from the Brexit wars - cabinet ministers were happy to chat because no one had a clue what would happen.
The most plugged-in people in Washington are reading the same tweets you are, @semaforben.bsky.social writes.
Politics, when nothing’s behind the scenes
The most plugged-in people in Washington are reading the same tweets you are.
semafor.com
.@maxwelltani scoop: CA State Senators @SenJoshBecker & @SenatorUmberg are opening an inquiry into Paramount's talks with Trump, and inviting Bill Owens and Wendy McMahon to testify www.semafor.com/article/05/3...
California opens inquiry into Paramount and Trump
The California Senate’s move follows a letter from three US senators to the embattled media company.
semafor.com
Reality continuing to disintegrate around the edges per @daveweigel.bsky.social @kadiagoba.bsky.social www.semafor.com/article/05/2...
Scoop: The top contributor to X's Community Notes is a security startup that set up an automated process to flag crypto scam tweets. It's posted 52,000 times! Read the remarkable details from @mantzarlis.com on @indicator.media: indicator.media/p/the-top-co...
The top Community Notes contributor is...an antivirus startup?
I thought someone was gaming X’s crowdsourced moderation; instead, they appear to be helping clean up the platform’s mess for free.
indicator.media
that's right
Drew Harwell@drewharwell.com · last yr."I spoke with a few congressional staffers who said that they had tried using Bluesky as an alternative to Twitter after Twitter was purchased by Elon Musk, but they gave up after their bosses kept getting yelled at by Democratic users angry at their impotence" www.semafor.com/newsletter/0...
"I spoke with a few congressional staffers who said that they had tried using Bluesky as an alternative to Twitter after Twitter was purchased by Elon Musk, but they gave up after their bosses kept getting yelled at by Democratic users angry at their impotence" www.semafor.com/newsletter/0...
Semafor Media: 🟡 Anti-woke identity crisis | Semafor
In today’s edition: How a slice of the media ecosystem is adapting to Trump in power.
semafor.com
Fascinating @semaforben.bsky.social piece on the Silicon Valley-led group chats that have shaped a lot of tech and political discourse over the past few years - and continue to. www.semafor.com/article/04/2...
I spoke with @semaforben.bsky.social about his big @semafor.com piece on Silicon Valley's group chats for the Techmeme Ride Home podcast today. Episode dropping around noon eastern. youtu.be/Stn7MnUlZQE
Semafor's Ben Smith On His Piece About Silicon Valley's Group Chats
YouTube video by Techmeme Ride Home Podcast
youtu.be