ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
US Senate targets sexual deepfakes amid furor over Grok images on X
Senator Dick Durbin spoke with reporters at the Senate subway on Capitol Hill on Jan. 8.Mariam Zuhaib/Associated Press
The US Senate unanimously passed legislation Tuesday that would allow victims to sue over nonconsensual, sexually explicit AI-generated images in response to a widening uproar over a flood of graphic content on billionaire Elon Musk’s X platform. Under the measure, known as the Defiance Act, victims would gain the federal civil right to sue perpetrators responsible for creating the pornographic images. It builds on a law enacted last year that requires social media companies to remove such content within 48 hours of a victim’s request. The bill seeks to address a growing global controversy over the thousands of images of undressed women and girls that have been produced without their permission on X using the platform’s Grok AI tool. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, who requested the bill’s passage, called the Grok images “horrible.” — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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MEDIA
BBC seeks to dismiss Trump’s $10b defamation suit in Fla. court
A pedestrian walked outside the BBC headquarters in London on Nov. 12.Kin Cheung/Associated Press
The BBC plans to ask a court to throw out President Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the British broadcaster, court papers show. Trump filed a lawsuit in December over the way the BBC edited a speech he gave on Jan. 6, 2021. The claim, filed in a Florida federal court, seeks $5 billion in damages for defamation and $5 billion for unfair trade practices. The speech took place before some of Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol as Congress was poised to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election that Trump falsely alleged was stolen from him. The BBC had broadcast the documentary — titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — days before the 2024 US presidential election. It spliced together three quotes from two sections of the 2021 speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.” Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully. The broadcaster has apologized to Trump over the edit of the Jan. 6 speech. But the publicly funded BBC rejects claims it defamed him. The furor triggered the resignations of the BBC’s top executive and its head of news. Papers filed Monday in US District Court in Miami say the BBC will file a motion to dismiss the case on March 17 on the basis that the court lacks jurisdiction and Trump failed to state a claim. The BBC is asking the court to postpone discovery — the pretrial process in which parties must turn over documents and other information — pending a decision on the motion to dismiss. The discovery process could require the BBC to hand over reams of emails and other materials related to its coverage of Trump. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
FEDERAL RESERVE
Trump says furor over Powell probe won’t delay Fed nomination
Birds on the outside of the Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington, D.C.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump said he would announce his nomination to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell within “the next few weeks” despite the backlash over a Justice Department probe into the remodeling of the central bank’s headquarters that has threatened his ability to secure a confirmation. Trump was asked about his plans during a factory tour in Michigan and indicated he planned to push ahead despite concern expressed by key Republican lawmakers. The president also criticized Senator Thom Tillis, a retiring North Carolina Republican and swing vote on the Senate Banking Committee, who has said he would block nominations to the central bank until the investigation was resolved. “That’s why Thom’s not going to be a senator any longer,” Trump said. Earlier Tuesday, Trump offered at least a tacit defense of the probe — which Powell and critics have called an effort to influence policy — criticizing the chair over cost overruns during the construction project. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
PAYMENTS
Trump targets card swipe fees after interest rate threats
Mastercard and Visa credit cards.Keith Srakocic/Associated Press
First President Trump targeted the interest rates credit card companies levy against US consumers. Now he’s targeting the interchange fees that merchants must pay to tap, swipe, and insert their cards at checkout by endorsing a measure on Capitol Hill that aims to boost competition among payment networks. Trump called on lawmakers in a social media post early Tuesday to support legislation known as the Credit Card Competition Act, a bipartisan measure that would require larger banks to offer retailers the ability to bypass dominant networks Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. for transactions, taking direct aim at what has been a lucrative business model. Shares of Visa dropped 4.5 percent on Tuesday, while Mastercard declined 3.8 percent and American Express Co. fell 0.4 percent. Trump said the legislation would “stop the out of control Swipe Fee ripoff.” Republican Senator Roger Marshall and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin reintroduced the legislation on Tuesday. The bill has been backed for years by the nation’s big retailers seeking to shrink the processing fees they must pay for credit cards, which tend to be far higher in the United States than in other countries, but many congressional allies of the banks have opposed the measure. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
RADIO
SiriusXM rehires Chris Cuomo to host morning talk show
Chris Cuomo at the WarnerMedia Upfront in New York in 2019.Evan Agostini/Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Chris Cuomo is returning to SiriusXM, putting him on the air with morning and evening talk shows. He will host a two-hour weekday show centered on listener calls on the satellite radio company’s P.O.T.U.S. channel, starting Jan. 20 at 7 a.m. Eastern. Guests on his first few shows include Democratic Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Republican Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, sportscaster Bob Costas, and political consultant James Carville, the company said Tuesday. Cuomo previously hosted a show at the network but quit in 2021, shortly after he was fired from CNN when it was revealed that he assisted his brother, former Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in fighting accusations of sexual harassment. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
HEALTH CARE
Fewer Americans sign up for Affordable Care Act health insurance as costs spike
Pages from the US Affordable Care Act health insurance website healthcare.gov.Patrick Sison/Associated Press
Fewer Americans are signing up for Affordable Care Act health insurance plans this year, new federal data show, as expiring subsidies and other factors push health expenses too high for many to manage. Nationally, around 800,000 fewer people have selected plans compared with a similar time last year, marking a 3.5 percent drop in total enrollment so far. That includes a decrease in both new consumers signing up for ACA plans and existing enrollees reupping them. The new data released Monday evening by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are only a snapshot of a continuously changing pool of enrollees. They include sign-ups through Jan. 3 in states that use Healthcare.gov for ACA plans and through Dec. 27 for states that have their own ACA marketplaces. In most states, the period for shopping for plans continues through Jan. 15 for plans that start in February. But even though it’s early, the data build on fears that expiring enhanced tax credits could cause a dip in enrollment and force many Americans to make tough decisions to delay buying health insurance, look for alternatives, or forgo it entirely. Experts warn that the number of people who have signed up for plans may still drop even further, as enrollees get their first bill in January and some choose to cancel. — ASSOCIATED PRESS