Dozens of Reddit's communities, or subreddits, have discussed or enacted bans on links to Elon Musk's X in response to Musk's gestures at a Trump inaugural event that manyinterpreted as a Nazi salute.
The big picture: Social media users have been criticizing Musk for the gesture, posting videos of him raising his arm side by side with neo-Nazis doing the same.
MrBeast, one of the most successful internet creators, may join a bid by real estate mogul and Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt to buy TikTok's U.S. arm, McCourt told Axios' Sara Fischer in Davos on Wednesday.
Why it matters: McCourt has said that he's gotten $20 billion in commitments to his bid but hasn't detailed who the investors are — as the popular app's future has remained in flux.
Axios has multiple leaders and journalists circulating around Davos this year, having conversations with industry leaders on important topics. Check out what some of them are saying...
Hours after President Trump announced a major artificial intelligence investment, it faced skepticism from one of his closest allies: DOGE head Elon Musk.
Why it matters: Musk publicly undermining the $500 billion project, led by OpenAI and other tech titans, could draw Trump's ire.
When Donald Trump's companies released a celebrity meme coin just ahead of the presidential inauguration, it set a new standard for instant hype in a cryptocurrency launch, based on fresh research from a blockchain tax startup.
Why it matters: The meme coin boom of 2024 was just given a nitro boost for the new year by the most powerful man in the world.
Small and midsized companies are feeling good about the coming business environment, and that could be a tailwind for a seller of private jets, Textron CEO Scott Donnelly said.
Why it matters: It's an anecdotal, but more tangible, confirmation of recent data indicating that the election fueled a surge in CEO confidence.
Nielsen has received accreditation for its Big Data + Panel national TV measurement from the Media Rating Council (MRC), certifying its ability to combine first-party viewership data with its panel.
Why it matters: The certification better positions Nielsen to accurately capture viewership for TV networks and advertisers after the rise of media fragmentation and streaming challenged its traditional methods.
President Trump issued a sweeping executive order Tuesday night revoking decades of diversity and affirmative action practices in federal government.
Why it matters: This takes the current anti-DEI activism on diversity, equity and inclusion to a new level — abolishing decades of government standards on diversity and equal opportunity, and seeking to crack down on the same in the private sector.
A deal will get done to ensure that TikTok remains available in the U.S., General Atlantic CEO Bill Ford told Axios during an event on Wednesday in Davos, Switzerland.
Why it matters: General Atlantic is a major investor in TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance. Ford is on ByteDance's board of directors.
"Volatile" is the one word that describes the tech industry's new reality under the second Trump administration.
Why it matters: With AI booming, social media splintering and crypto inflating, the giant companies that drive today's economy face a huge spike in uncertainty.
The Trump administration is directing agencies to move to close federal diversity, equity and inclusion offices and place DEI staff on paid leave by 5pm Wednesday ET ahead of being laid off.
The big picture: The memorandum that the Office of Personnel Management sent to federal agencies on Tuesday follows President Trump's signing of an executive order a day earlier to dismantle DEI initiatives within the federal government.
President Trump on Tuesday announced he signed a full and unconditional pardon for Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the unlawful Silk Road marketplace who was convicted of drug trafficking charges.
The big picture: Trump vowed on the campaign trail to commute Ulbricht's sentence as he sought backing to be the Republican Party's presidential nominee from Libertarians, who view the Silk Road founder as a hero.
