Technology
Meta’s beef with the press flares at its antitrust trial
Long-simmering tension between Silicon Valley and the press that covers it is surfacing during the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust trial against Meta.
During a heated cross-examination of the FTC’s key economic expert, Scott Hemphill, Meta’s lead attorney, Mark Hansen, noted that Hemphill joined Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes and former Biden official Tim Wu in pitching regulators on an antitrust probe of the company back in 2019. The pitch deck for the probe that was shown in court included “public recognition” of the company’s aggressive acquisition strategy from two reporters: Kara Swisher, who currently hosts two podcasts for The Verge’s parent company, Vox Media, and Om Malik, the founder of the early tech blog GigaOm who is now a venture capitalist.
In an attempt to undercut Hemphill’s credibility, Hansen caught Swisher and Malik in the crossfire. He called Malik a “failed blogger” with an axe to grind against Meta. He then suggested that Swisher, whom he referred to as a Vanity Fair columnist (she last wrote for the site in 2015), was similarly biased against the company. In court, he projected a headline about her recently calling Mark Zuckerberg a “small little creature with a shriveled soul.”
The 2019 pitch deck shown at court by Hansen also cited a Post story to support that Facebook should be investigated as a monopoly. Meta’s Hansen asked if Hemphill agreed that “The New York Post is a scandal sheet,” to which he replied that he didn’t “have a view one way or another.” Hansen showed the infamous Post front page headline, “Headless Body in Topless Bar,” to make his point.
The exchange resurfaced years-old tensions between the press and tech titans. After experiencing relatively positive coverage during the early, aspirational days of Silicon Valley, Facebook and a handful of startups grew to become the largest platforms in the world. Along the way, they’ve chafed at increasingly critical coverage of their businesses.
Malik and Swisher have indeed both criticized Meta and its executives. In 2016, Malik critiqued Facebook’s intentions for offering free access to its apps and others in India, after board member Marc Andreesseen blamed local resistance to the program on “anti-colonialism” in a later-deleted tweet. “I am suspicious of any for-profit company arguing its good intentions and its free gifts,” Malik wrote at the time.
It was not the first time Meta has pointed a finger at the media while at trial
Tuesday’s exchange was not the first time that Meta has pointed a finger at the media while at trial. When discussing major scandals like Cambridge Analytica from the witness stand, company leaders have chalked up downswings in user sentiment to negative media attention and testified that Meta’s services haven’t seen comparable declines in engagement.
The FTC has argued that this fact is a sign of monopoly power because people can’t leave Facebook and Instagram without viable alternatives. A judge will ultimately decide if that is true or not. In the meantime, Meta’s grudges with the press are on full display.
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The LG CLOiD robot and the LG OLED evo AI Wallpaper TV are displayed onstage during an LG Electronics news conference at CES 2026, an annual consumer electronics trade show, in Las Vegas, Jan. 5, 2026. (REUTERS/Steve Marcus)
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Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.
IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:
– CES 2026 showstoppers: 10 gadgets you have to see
– Construction giant unveils AI to help prevent job site accidents: ‘It’s essentially a personal assistant’
– Fox News gets exclusive look at company helping businesses nationwide harness AI-powered robots to boost efficiency and fill labor gaps
CES 2026 put health tech front and center, with companies showcasing smarter ways to support prevention, mobility and long-term wellness. (CES)
FUTURE IS NOW: Every January, the Consumer Electronics Show, better known as CES, takes over Las Vegas. It’s where tech companies show off what they’re building next, from products that are almost ready to buy to ideas that feel pulled from the future.
SAFER SITES: Construction equipment giant Caterpillar has unveiled a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool designed to improve job site safety and boost efficiency as the industry grapples with labor shortages.
FUTURE OF WELLNESS: The Consumer Electronics Show, better known as CES, is the world’s largest consumer technology event, and it’s underway in Las Vegas. It takes over the city every January for four days and draws global attention from tech companies, startups, researchers, investors and journalists, of course.
FUTURE OF WORK: As artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving, Fox News got an exclusive look at a company helping businesses nationwide harness AI-powered robots to boost efficiency and fill labor gaps. RobotLAB, with 36 locations across the country and headquartered in Texas, houses more than 50 different types of robots, from cleaning and customer service bots to security bots.
The LG CLOiD robot and the LG OLED evo AI Wallpaper TV are displayed onstage during an LG Electronics news conference at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, Jan. 5, 2026. (REUTERS/Steve Marcus)
COMPUTE CRUNCH: The price tag for competing in the artificial intelligence race is rapidly climbing, fueling demand for advanced computing power and the high-end chips that are needed to support it. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) CEO Lisa Su said demand for AI computing is accelerating as industries rush to expand their capabilities.
AI GONE WRONG: A California teenager used a chatbot over several months for drug-use guidance on ChatGPT, his mother said. Sam Nelson, 18, was preparing for college when he asked an AI chatbot how many grams of kratom, a plant-based painkiller commonly sold at smoke shops and gas stations across the country, he would need to get a strong high, his mother, Leila Turner-Scott, told SFGate, according to the New York Post.
DR CHAT: ‘The Big Money Show’ panelists weigh in on a report on people turning to ChatGPT for medical and healthcare questions.
‘FUNDAMENTALLY DEFLATIONARY’: OpenAI Board Chair Bret Taylor discusses artificial intelligence’s potential to change traditional work and its increasing use in healthcare on ‘Varney & Co.’
MIND TRAP ALERT: Artificial intelligence chatbots are quickly becoming part of our daily lives. Many of us turn to them for ideas, advice or conversation. For most, that interaction feels harmless. However, mental health experts now warn that for a small group of vulnerable people, long and emotionally charged conversations with AI may worsen delusions or psychotic symptoms.
A California teenager sought drug-use guidance from a ChatGPT chatbot over several months while preparing for college, his mother told SFGate, according to the New York Post. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
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These AI projects include Prometheus, the first of several supercluster computing systems, which is expected to come online in New Albany, Ohio, sometime this year. Meta is funding the construction of new nuclear reactors as part of the agreements, the first of which may come online “as early as 2030.” These announcements are part of Meta’s ongoing goal to support its future AI operations with nuclear energy, having previously signed a deal with Constellation to revive an aging nuclear power plant last year.
Financial information for the agreements hasn’t been released, but Meta says that it will “pay the full costs for energy used by our data centers so consumers don’t bear these expenses.”
“Our agreements with Vistra, TerraPower, Oklo, and Constellation make Meta one of the most significant corporate purchasers of nuclear energy in American history,” Meta’s chief global affairs officer, Joel Kaplan, said in the announcement. “State-of-the-art data centers and AI infrastructure are essential to securing America’s position as a global leader in AI.”
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