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South Korea has suspended all downloads of Chinese AI company DeepSeek’s chatbot over concerns the app doesn’t comply with laws about protecting personal information. Since DeepSeek jolted the industry last month with its powerful, cheaper-to-produce AI model, it has been popular with users worldwide despite concerns it is sending data to China. In response, lawmakers in countries including the U.S., Australia, Italy, and Taiwan have introduced measures meant to bar DeepSeek from government devices.
The Social Security Administration‘s acting commissioner has stepped down from her role at the agency over Department of Government Efficiency requests to access Social Security recipient information, according to two people familiar with the official’s departure who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Acting Commissioner Michelle King’s departure from the agency over the weekend — after more than 30 years of service — was initiated after King refused to provide DOGE staffers at the SSA with access to sensitive information, the people said Monday.
The White House has replaced her as acting commissioner with Leland Dudek, who currently works at the SSA, the people said.
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields released a statement Monday night saying: “President Trump has nominated the highly qualified and talented Frank Bisignano to lead the Social Security Administration, and we expect him to be swiftly confirmed in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the agency will be led by a career Social Security anti-fraud expert as the acting commissioner.”
Fields added, “President Trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of the American people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long.”
King’s exit from the administration is one of several departures of high-ranking officials concerned about DOGE staffers’ potential unlawful access to private taxpayer information.
DOGE has accessed Treasury payment systems and is attempting to access Internal Revenue Service databases.
Since Republican President Donald Trump has retaken the White House, his billionaire adviser Elon Musk has rapidly burrowed deep into federal agencies while avoiding public scrutiny of his work through the DOGE group.
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, an advocacy group for the preservation of Social Security benefits, said of DOGE’s efforts that “there is no way to overstate how serious a breach this is. And my understanding is that it has already occurred.”
“The information collected and securely held by the Social Security Administration is highly sensitive,” she said. “SSA has data on everyone who has a Social Security number, which is virtually all Americans, everyone who has Medicare, and every low-income American who has applied for Social Security’s means-tested companion program, Supplemental Security Income.”
“If there is an evil intent to punish perceived enemies, someone could erase your earnings record, making it impossible to collect the Social Security and Medicare benefits you have earned.”
The future of Social Security has become a top political issue and was a major point of contention in the 2024 election. About 72.5 million people, including retirees, disabled people, and children, receive Social Security benefits.
When the Trump administration’s crypto czar, David Sacks, recently held a news conference to announce a new congressional working group to advance cryptocurrency regulation, many digital asset enthusiasts were unimpressed and underwhelmed.
“There were a lot of people on X who felt like this wasn’t, you know, a mind-blowing announcement,” Sacks said on a podcast a few days later, referring to the social media outlet formerly known as Twitter. But Sacks said having the White House and key members of Congress committed to passing key crypto legislation in the next year, possibly within six months, was worth celebrating. “We’ve never had that before, so that is pretty monumental,” he said.
Sacks’ defensiveness highlights a new reality in Washington: After spending heavily to help elect Trump and other crypto-friendly lawmakers, the industry is emboldened, impatient, and eager to cement its influence in politics and mainstream financial systems.
“Time is critical,” Ji Hun Kim, president and acting CEO at the Crypto Council for Innovation said at a recent House committee hearing titled: “A Golden Age of Digital Assets: Charting a Path Forward.”
The crypto industry has scored some early wins since Trump took office, including the repeal of an accounting rule by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and an executive order by the president directing a working group to study and propose changes to crypto regulations as well as the possible formation of a strategic government reserve of cryptocurrencies within 180 days.
As the industry calls for more substantive action, some crypto companies are looking to exert their influence by trying to punish old enemies.
Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of the crypto exchange Gemini, said his firm won’t hire any MIT graduates as punishment for the school rehiring former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler to teach classes.
“Not even interns for our summer intern program,” Winklevoss said on X. The move came after Coinbase’s CEO announced his firm wouldn’t work with any law firms that hired any of Gensler’s former deputies who’d committed “bad deeds” toward the crypto industry. The Gensler SEC was the most aggressive financial regulator in trying to police the crypto industry.
Congress has held several hearings in recent weeks where crypto supporters have aired grievances over how they were treated during the Biden administration, particularly around how regulators allegedly forced banks to cut ties with crypto companies.
And new Republican leadership at the SEC has criticized the agency’s past performance under Gensler and promised a new day while making it clear that day won’t be tomorrow.
“It took us a long time to get into this mess,” SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who is leading a new crypto task force, said in a lengthy statement on the agency’s website. “Please be patient.”
The SEC recently asked a federal court to pause ongoing litigation against Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, because leadership is now rethinking previous enforcement actions.
Sacks and crypto-friendly lawmakers expect two pieces of legislation to become law. One would set regulations and reserve requirements for issuers of stablecoins, a type of crypto that’s exploded in popularity and whose value is typically tied to the dollar or other traditional currencies.
The other piece of legislation aims to set clear rules for how crypto exchanges and other companies operate, as well as decide which digital assets are regulated as securities, like stocks, and which should be considered commodities, like gold or oil. Securities generally face stricter regulations.
Similar legislation has stalled in past years but many in the crypto industry expect broad, bipartisan support for passage this time. That’s due in part to the heavy political spending by the crypto industry. Fairshake, the crypto super PAC that was one of the biggest spenders in last year’s election, said recently it has already amassed a huge war chest for next year’s midterms. One of the crypto industry’s biggest wins last year was helping knock off former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio and crypto critic who led the Senate’s banking committee.
“The Democrats have gotten the message,” said crypto investor Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as communications director during Trump’s first term, “They don’t want to be in the 2026 campaign having a crypto army against them.”
Just like crypto prices, the industry’s popularity and influence are prone to wild upswings and falls. A few years ago, the Super Bowl was packed with celebrities doing commercials for crypto companies and mogul Sam Bankman-Fried had easy access to the top halls of power.
That popularity and influence waned after Bankman-Fried’s company collapsed amid massive criminal fraud, a market meltdown and other scandals -- before roaring back with Trump’s victory.
But while showing a united front for the election, debates over the crypto legislation and other policy proposals risk exposing fault lines among the industry’s many different tribes and strong and eccentric personalities.
The CEO of Ripple, for example, caused waves when he said he’d like to see a U.S. government reserve of crypto include multiple digital assets rather than bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. The idea is a nonstarter for many Bitcoin diehards.
A new report from JPMorgan highlighted how some of the proposals in the stablecoin legislation related to how those coins hold reserves could pose a “significant challenge” to Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin.
The CEO of Tether, which recently relocated to crypto-friendly El Salvador, responded on social media by disputing the bank’s findings and calling its analysts “salty.”
The New York Times is taking a big step in integrating AI into its newsroom and product teams, signaling a shift in how major media organizations approach the technology. With the launch of internal tools like Echo and the adoption of AI-driven assistance for SEO headlines, summaries, social copy, and coding, the Times is both embracing AI’s potential and setting boundaries for its responsible use.
This move highlights a growing trend—AI as a tool to enhance journalism, not replace it. The Times’ approach underscores the tension between leveraging AI for efficiency and maintaining the editorial integrity that defines great reporting.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is seeking access to troves of sensitive taxpayer data at the IRS, two people familiar with the inner workings of the plan who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly told The Associated Press on Monday.
If successful, Musk and his group would have access to millions of tightly controlled files that include taxpayer information, bank records, and other sensitive records. The people who spoke to the AP and requested anonymity said DOGE is specifically seeking to access the IRS’ Integrated Data Retrieval System, which enables employees “to have instantaneous visual access to certain taxpayer accounts,” according to the IRS website.
Advocates fear that the potential unlawful release of taxpayer records could be used to maliciously target Americans, violate their privacy,y and create other ramifications.
Harrison Fields, a White House spokesman, said in an emailed statement that “waste, fraud, and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long. It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it.”
“DOGE will continue to shine a light on the fraud they uncover as the American people deserve to know what their government has been spending their hard-earned tax dollars on,” he said.
Democratic lawmakers are trying to fight against DOGE plans to access IRS data. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter Monday to acting IRS Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell, demanding copies of any memos that would grant IRS system access to Musk or DOGE. The senators are also seeking justifications for DOGE efforts to inspect tax returns and private bank records.
Along with fears that DOGE access to taxpayer data may not be legal, “we are also extremely concerned that DOGE personnel meddling with IRS systems in the middle of tax filing season could, inadvertently or otherwise, cause breakdowns that may delay the issuance of tax refunds indefinitely,” the letter reads.
“Any delay in refunds could be financially devastating to millions of Americans who plan their budgets around timely refunds every spring.”
Jan. 27 was the official start date of the 2025 tax season, and the IRS expects more than 140 million tax returns to be filed by the April 15 deadline.
The Washington Post on Sunday first reported on DOGE’s plans to access taxpayer data.
The news comes as the IRS plans to lay off thousands of probationary workers in the middle of tax season, according to two sources familiar with the agency’s plans who were unauthorized to discuss them publicly. Cuts could happen as soon as this week.
Previously, IRS employees involved in the 2025 tax season were told they would not be allowed to accept a buyout offer from the Trump administration until after the taxpayer filing deadline, according to a letter sent recently to IRS employees.
Additionally, attorneys general from 14 states challenged the authority of DOGE to access sensitive government data housed at Treasury and exercise “virtually unchecked power” in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, says the actions taken by Musk at the helm of DOGE can only be taken by a nominated and Senate-confirmed official. It cites constitutional provisions that delineate the powers of Congress and the president.
A new account on Musk’s social media site X, called DOGE IRS, says, “DOGE is seeking help from the public!” The account asks users to reach out “with insights on finding and fixing waste, fraud, and abuse relating to the Internal Revenue Service.”
Sales of Jellycat-branded plushies have skyrocketed in recent years, and it’s not just children driving the demand. Much of the British brand’s popularity — U.S. sales grew by 41% in a year — “hinges on enthusiastic Gen Z consumers,” Fortune reports. The generation has recast playing with stuffed animals into adulthood as something to be celebrated — and posted about. Jellycat has marketed directly to young adults through pop-ups and on TikTok, helping propel the plush toy market to nearly $12 billion.
Two of Intel's competitors, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Broadcom, are exploring deals that could result in the chipmaker being split in two, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing anonymous sources. Broadcom is assessing Intel’s semiconductor design and marketing businesses, but won’t pursue a deal unless it can secure a partner for the manufacturing unit. Meanwhile, TSMC is eyeing Intel’s chip plants, potentially through an investor group. Broadcom and TSMC are working separately; talks are in preliminary stages.
Major U.S. banks such as Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and Citigroup are easing up on public support for diversity and inclusion programs, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing anonymous sources. After making a major push into DEI in 2020, the Wall Street giants are now reworking language around these initiatives, with changes expected in annual reports and company policies. It echoes moves from other companies including Ford, McDonald's, Meta, and Walmart amid concerns about new legal risks.
Southwest Airlines is eliminating 1,750 jobs, or 15% of its corporate workforce, in the first major layoffs in the company’s 53-year history.
The Dallas-based airline said Monday that the job cuts would be focused almost entirely on “corporate overhead and leadership positions,” including senior leadership and directors. Eleven senior leadership positions, representing 15% of the company’s senior management committee, are being eliminated.
The job cuts, which are scheduled to be mostly completed by the end of June, are part of a plan by the airline to slash costs and transform the company into a “leaner, faster, and more agile organization,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in a statement.
“This decision is unprecedented in our 53-year history, and change requires that we make difficult decisions,” Jordan said.
Southwest estimated that the job cuts will save the company about $210 million this year and roughly $300 million in 2026.
In November, the airline offered buyouts and extended leaves of absence to airport workers, including customer service agents, baggage handlers, and cargo workers, in a bid to avoid “overstaffing in certain locations.”
The company has been under pressure from hedge fund Elliott Investment Management to increase profits and boost the stock price, which has fallen sharply since early 2021. Southwest shares are down 9.9% so far this year.
The two sides reached a truce in October to avoid a proxy fight, but Elliott won several seats on the Southwest board, which it can use to keep pressure on Jordan and other executives.