verso

SourcesFilm 02

The Oracle

On YouTube as “The Billionaire Who’s Buying America”

Verso · published

Watch the film on YouTube

Corrections and updates

  1. 14:13We say only three of 60 Minutes’ longtime correspondents were left, then name four people who had gone. The three who stayed were Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim. Stephen Colbert hosted The Late Show; he was never a 60 Minutes correspondent.
  2. 21:54Britain’s digital ID scheme was scrapped by the new government in July 2026.
  3. 3:35346 million pledged shares was the September 2025 figure. On 25 September 2026, after the film was finished, Bloomberg reported that Ellison had pledged about $9.2 billion more.
The machine: Ellison’s holdings drawn as one body. Oracle and OpenAI, TikTok US, CBS, CNN.
The machine: Ellison’s holdings drawn as one body. Oracle and OpenAI, TikTok US, CBS, CNN.

Key documents

  1. primaryParamount press release

    Paramount to Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery archived

    terms of the pending CNN-owning deal

  2. primary

    Oracle 10-K, FY2026 (year ended 31 May 2026)

    $43B new debt, $5B new equity, capex >$55B, negative free cash flow ≈ $23.7–24B

  3. primaryOracle

    Equity and Debt Financing Plan for Calendar Year 2026 (investor-relations release) archived

    Oracle’s own $45–50B financing target for the year

  4. primaryS&P Global Ratings

    Rating action, 9 Jul 2026 archived

    BBB- from BBB, stable outlook

  5. primary

    Oracle DEF 14A (proxy statement) archived

    filed reflecting the 19 Sep 2025 disclosure · 346,000,000 shares pledged as collateral for personal indebtedness, as of 19 Sep 2025

  6. primaryOracle Investor Relations

    Larry Ellison Cancels His Plan to Sell Oracle Stock archived

    “no shares sold,” “no other plans to sell”

  7. primary

    SEC 8-K disclosing the cancellation

  8. primaryC-SPAN

    President Trump on AI Infrastructure Investment archived

    the original recording

  9. primary

    Roll Call / Factba.se transcript archived

    verbatim transcript with in-event timestamps

  10. primaryParamount Skydance Corp

    Form 8-K12B, Aug 2025 archived

    records the corporate close

  11. primary

    Warner Bros. Discovery DEFM14A archived

    shareholder-facing merger terms

  12. primaryGallupfielded 2–18 Mar 2026, n=1,0002026

    Americans Oppose Data Centers in Their Area archived

    71% oppose a new AI data centre nearby, 48% “strongly”

  13. primaryPew Research Centerfielded 22–28 Jun 2026

    Americans and AI in 2026 archived

    52% more concerned than excited about AI, up from 37% in 2021

  14. primary

    Ipsos/Reuters poll landing archived

    fielded ~Jun 2026, n=4,531 · 57% would oppose a data centre in their own community

  15. primary

    PJM Interconnection capacity auction results (2025–2026 delivery year), cited via IEEFA archived

    data centres drove roughly two-thirds of a record clearing-price jump, ~+833% y/y

  16. primary

    Data Center Watch, Q1 2026 report archived

    at least 75 projects worth ~$130 billion blocked or delayed in Q1 2026 alone

  17. primaryWorld Economic ForumDavos, Jan 2026

    Official session “Conversation with Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft,” with BlackRock’s Larry Fink: “We will quickly lose even the social permission to actually take something like energy, which is a scarce resource, and use it to generate these tokens” archived

    full video: youtube.com archived

  18. primaryGibson Dunn client alert on the executive order text and mechanism

    DOJ “AI Litigation Task Force,” active from 10 Jan 2026, challenges state AI laws in federal court archived

  19. primaryProtecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Actsigned by President Biden 24 Apr 2024

    Required ByteDance to divest by 19 Jan 2025 or face a ban, one 90-day extension allowed with evidence of “significant progress” to Congress archived

    (statute text: congress.gov archived)

  20. primary

    Sen. Ed Markey (with Schiff, Luján) oversight letter to the FCC quoting Commissioner Anna Gomez’s dissent archived

    the deal gives Paramount “never-before-seen controls over newsroom decisions and editorial content”

  21. primaryParamount press release

    Paramount Announces Deal to Acquire The Free Press archived

    $150 million, Weiss named CBS News editor-in-chief

  22. primaryCBS NewsYouTube upload, 29 Aug 2026

    Project Jupiter’s water needs, Oracle named “one of the backers,” no mention of the Ellison family’s ownership of CBS archived

  23. primary

    Paramount press release / SEC 8-K confirming Ellison-family control of Paramount Skydance (parent of CBS) archived

    establishes the ownership fact the CBS segment omits

  24. primary

    SEC/TikTok USDS binding agreement archived

    closing memo cited by press (Shou Zi Chew internal memo, 18 Dec 2025) · deal structure, close date 22 Jan 2026 (secondary mirror of the primary memo; original memo text not independently located)

  25. primary

    Sen. Ed Markey press release, “Senator Markey Presses TikTok, Oracle on National Security Concerns” archived

    confirms Oracle’s “Trusted Security Partner” role and algorithm-retraining mandate

  26. primaryNYU Center for Social Media, AI, and Politics (CSMaP)

    Was there censorship on TikTok after the U.S. takeover? archived

    original analysis of 100,000+ videos; posts on ICE, Epstein, Alex Pretti, recipes, the Oscars all dropped simultaneously on 25 Jan; researchers say the pattern points to an outage, not targeted censorship, but “cannot rule out” subtler moderation

  27. primaryMeta Newsroom

    More Speech and Fewer Mistakes archived

    official announcement and video

  28. primary

    Elon Musk archived

    own post on X (28 Mar 2025) · “xAI has acquired X in an all-stock transaction. The combination values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion.”

  29. primaryOpenAI

    OpenAI acquires TBPN archived

    company’s own announcement

  30. primaryReuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford

    Journalism, Media, and Technology Trends and Predictions 2026 archived

    Chartbeat data across 2,500+ sites: Google organic search traffic to news sites down 33% globally, 38% in the US, Nov 2024–Nov 2025

  31. primaryOracle

    US Defense and Intelligence archived

    Oracle’s own marketing page states “We started with the US Government as our first customer. Today, 1,000+ public sector organizations and 100% of federal cabinet agencies build, modernize, and innovate with Oracle”

  32. primaryGOV.UK25 Sept 2025

    New digital ID scheme to be rolled out across UK archived

    the government’s own announcement, framed around Right to Work checks

  33. primaryHouse of Commons Library

    Digital ID in the UK archived

    Parliament’s own briefing and timeline

  34. primary

    WBD 8-K (27 Feb 2026 merger agreement exhibit) archived

    deal “expected to close in Q3 2026” (i.e., by 30 Sept 2026); a $0.25/share quarterly “ticking fee” applies for every quarter after 30 Sept 2026 that it has not closed

The film, chapter by chapter82 claims

01Cold open: best behavior6 claims · 16 sources

  1. Ellison told Oracle’s own investors AI would keep citizens “on their best behavior” because it is “constantly recording and reporting everything” (Sept 2024) key

    1. ★ strongesttradeTechCrunch

      Oracle’s Larry Ellison says that AI will someday track your every move archived

      quotes the “best behavior” line verbatim

    2. tradeThe Register

      Oracle cloud AI will enable mass surveillance, says Ellison

      same quote, independent wording match

    3. reportFortune

      Larry Ellison predicts rise of the modern surveillance state archived

      third independent outlet; notes Oracle did not respond for comment

    4. other404 Media

      Larry Ellison’s AI-Powered Surveillance Dystopia Is Already Here archived

      extra body-camera/drone lines, sourced to Business Insider’s original report

  2. The man who runs that company is, by late 2026, positioned to control CBS, a stake in TikTok’s algorithm, and — if the Warner deal closes — CNN key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryParamount press release

      Paramount to Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery archived

      terms of the pending CNN-owning deal

    2. reportCNBC

      David Ellison has wasted no time putting his stamp on Paramount archived

      confirms CBS ownership since Aug 2025 close

    3. reportYahoo Finance / Bloomberg

      Ellison Pledges $9.2 Billion More in Oracle Shares as Collateral

      confirms, in passing, WBD still “planned $111 billion acquisition,” not yet closed as of 25 Sep 2026

  3. $16 million payment to the President — the Paramount–Trump “60 Minutes” settlement (2 Jul 2025)

    1. ★ strongestreportVariety

      Paramount pays $16 million to settle Trump’s “60 Minutes” lawsuit archived

      figure, date, presidential-library earmark, no apology

    2. reportCNN

      Paramount pays $16 million to settle Trump’s 60 Minutes lawsuit

      independent confirmation

  4. A late-night host’s show was cancelled three days after he called the settlement a “bribe”

    1. ★ strongestreportWashington Post

      Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ is ending archived

      CBS’s “purely financial” framing, three-day gap from the monologue

    2. reportNPR

      CBS cancels ‘The Late Show’ with Stephen Colbert archived

      independent confirmation of dates

    3. tradeDeadline

      Stephen Colbert calls the $16M Trump settlement a “big fat bribe” archived

      dates the monologue that preceded the cancellation by 3 days

  5. A newsroom went silent about its own owner — CBS covered Project Jupiter’s water use without naming who owns CBS

    1. ★ strongestother

      CBS News (YouTube), Project Jupiter’s water needs archived

      names Oracle as “one of the backers,” never names Ellison as CBS’s owner — primary text of the segment itself

  6. The word “Oracle” — taken from a CIA project in 1977

    1. ★ strongestotherWikipedia

      Larry Ellison archived

      Ampex → CIA-funded database project code-named “Oracle” (1977) → Software Development Laboratories → Oracle Corp

    2. otherGizmodo

      Larry Ellison’s Oracle Started As a CIA Project archived

      the $50,000, two-year CIA contract detail

    3. otherNextgov/FCW2014

      Oracle, the CIA and government’s role in picking winners archived

      third independent account

Clips in this chapter

  • Larry Ellison, Oracle Financial Analyst Meeting

    12 Sept 2024, Oracle CloudWorld: original recording not found publicly (Oracle’s investor-relations replay page did not load; no contemporaneous YouTube upload of the actual Q&A was located). Clip upload used in the film: Straight Arrow, youtube.com archived

02The bet9 claims · 33 sources

  1. Oracle’s ~$300 billion compute contract with OpenAI, Sept 2025 — the stock jump, and one day as the world’s richest man key

    1. ★ strongestreportBloomberg

      Oracle Co-Founder Larry Ellison Closes In on Elon Musk as World’s Richest Man archived

      Bloomberg Billionaires Index, biggest single-day wealth gain on record

    2. reportCNBC

      OpenAI, Oracle sign $300 billion computing deal archived

      contract size, five-year term

    3. tradeData Center Frontier

      OpenAI and Oracle’s $300B Stargate Deal archived

      corroborates contract scope

    4. reportFortune

      Larry Ellison loses $34 billion in a week archived

      confirms the pullback within the week

    5. reportAxios

      Larry Ellison’s net worth soars past Musk archived

      independent confirmation of the ranking

  2. In fiscal 2026 Oracle borrowed $43B, spent over $55B on data centres, and burned roughly $24B more cash than it took in key

    1. ★ strongestprimary

      Oracle 10-K, FY2026 (year ended 31 May 2026)

      $43B new debt, $5B new equity, capex >$55B, negative free cash flow ≈ $23.7–24B

    2. reportYahoo/S&P summary

      Oracle stock shrugs off pressure archived

      corroborates the FY2026 figures

    3. primaryOracle

      Equity and Debt Financing Plan for Calendar Year 2026 (investor-relations release) archived

      Oracle’s own $45–50B financing target for the year

  3. About half of Oracle’s future promised work (its $638B backlog) comes from OpenAI, a company that has never turned a profit key

    1. ★ strongestreportcomputing.co.uk

      Oracle under pressure after ratings downgrade over AI expansion

      cites S&P’s own note on the ~50% OpenAI concentration of Oracle’s $638B RPO

    2. report

      Yahoo/S&P summary archived

    Note: the concentration figure is S&P’s estimate, not a figure Oracle discloses.

  4. July 2026: S&P cut Oracle to BBB-, one notch above junk; the same summer its default-insurance cost hit a record above the 2008 crisis peak key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryS&P Global Ratings

      Rating action, 9 Jul 2026 archived

      BBB- from BBB, stable outlook

    2. reportReuters (via Investing.com)

      Explainer: what are credit default swaps and why are investors watching Oracle’s archived

      confirms the CDS-above-2008-peak comparison

    3. reportYahoo Finance

      Oracle Hits Troubling Level Not Seen Since 2008 archived

      independent confirmation, 24 Jul 2026 record of ~203 bps

    4. otherCNBC

      Oracle’s credit default swaps are plummeting after financing plans archived

      shows the spread had eased earlier in the year before the July record, for context

  5. About 21,000 Oracle jobs were cut in fiscal 2026 (162,000 → 141,000)

    1. ★ strongestreportCNBC

      Oracle cut about 21,000 jobs in its latest fiscal year archived

      headcount figures, $1.8B restructuring charge

    2. primary

      Oracle 10-K, FY2026

      confirms headcount and restructuring-plan disclosure

  6. Ellison borrows against his Oracle stock instead of selling it; pledged 346 million shares as collateral by September 2025, and about $9.2 billion more by September 2026; terms undisclosed key

    1. ★ strongestprimary

      Oracle DEF 14A (proxy statement) archived

      filed reflecting the 19 Sep 2025 disclosure · 346,000,000 shares pledged as collateral for personal indebtedness, as of 19 Sep 2025

    2. reportTheStreet

      How much Oracle stock is Larry Ellison using as loan collateral? archived

      explains the pledge-not-sell mechanism, ~$50B value at the Sep 2026 share price

    3. reportMotley Fool

      Larry Ellison owns 40.6% of Oracle and has backstopped... archived

      corroborates the mechanism and the separate $40.4B WBD guarantee

    4. reportBloomberg

      Ellison Pledges $9.2 Billion More in Oracle Shares as Collateral

      the pledge grew about 19% after the 2025 proxy

  7. 11 Sept 2026: a filing showed a plan to sell up to $7.5 billion of Oracle stock; Ellison cancelled it the next day, no reason given key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryOracle Investor Relations

      Larry Ellison Cancels His Plan to Sell Oracle Stock archived

      “no shares sold,” “no other plans to sell”

    2. primary

      SEC 8-K disclosing the cancellation

    3. reportCNBC

      Larry Ellison nixes plan to offload up to $7.5 billion worth of Oracle stock archived

    4. other24/7 Wall St.

      Larry Ellison Cancels Plan to Sell $7.5 Billion in Oracle Stock archived

      links it (as press inference, not an Oracle-stated reason) to a ~$200B net-worth drop over the year

  8. 24 Sept 2026: Oracle sent a force-majeure notice on Project Jupiter; the gas pipeline slipped to 2027 and an air permit is pending; Oracle says the project is on schedule key

    1. ★ strongesttradeTechCrunch

      Oracle sends force majeure notice on its New Mexico Stargate data center archived

      breaking report, both parties quoted

    2. reportCNBC

      Oracle sends ‘force majeure’ notice about data center project — stock drops 3% archived

      Oracle spokesperson: “Project Jupiter remains on our planned schedule”

    3. reportABQ Journal

      Oracle invokes force majeure on Project Jupiter, but says data center still on track archived

    4. tradeBloomberg Law

      Oracle Cites Force Majeure to Shield Itself on Big Data Center archived

      pipeline pushed from Aug 2026 to Feb 2027; pending Bloom Energy air permit

    5. reportSource NM

      Proposed gas pipeline for Project Jupiter data center delayed to 2027

      independent confirmation of the pipeline slip

  9. 21 January 2025, White House: Ellison, Trump, Sam Altman and Masayoshi Son announce Stargate, $500 billion for AI data centres key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryC-SPAN

      President Trump on AI Infrastructure Investment archived

      the original recording

    2. primary

      Roll Call / Factba.se transcript archived

      verbatim transcript with in-event timestamps

    3. reportFortune

      Sam Altman, Larry Ellison and Masayoshi Son join Trump to announce $500 billion Stargate project archived

    4. reportCNN

      Stargate: Trump announces a $500 billion AI infrastructure investment archived

      independent confirmation of the $500B figure and attendees

Clips in this chapter

  • Donald Trump, White House, Stargate announcement

    original full video: C-SPAN, c-span.org archived (21 Jan 2025). Clip upload used in the film: The Thinking Conservative, youtube.com archived

  • Larry Ellison, White House, Stargate announcement (cancer-vaccine/health-records passage)

    same event, 21 Jan 2025; original full video: C-SPAN link above; full-event verbatim transcript: Roll Call/Factba.se (link above). Clip upload used in the film: Forbes Breaking News, youtube.com archived

03The obvious answer10 claims · 28 sources

  1. August 2025: Skydance took over Paramount, and with it CBS, for $8 billion; David Ellison became chairman and CEO key

    1. ★ strongestreportVariety

      Paramount-Skydance merger officially closes archived

      $8B, close date

    2. reportCNBC

      David Ellison has wasted no time putting his stamp on Paramount archived

      confirms Chairman/CEO title

    3. primaryParamount Skydance Corp

      Form 8-K12B, Aug 2025 archived

      records the corporate close

    4. reportForbes (via Fortune-sourced reporting)

      How the world’s second-richest person’s son closed the deal archived

      notes a separate ~277M-share/$47B Ellison pledge tied specifically to Skydance financing — separate from the $40.4B WBD guarantee

  2. David Ellison said in 2025 there was “no must-have” for Paramount to buy Warner Bros. — months before his father put tens of billions on the line to get it key

    1. ★ strongesttradeVariety (au.variety.com)2025

      David Ellison Downplays Paramount’s Need to Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery: ‘There’s No Must-Have for Us’ archived

      direct, named, on-record quote

    Cross-reference: the $40.4B Larry Ellison personal guarantee below is the fact this claim is set against.

  3. Paramount agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery for $31 a share (~$110 billion including debt) after Netflix walked away in February 2026 key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryParamount press release

      Paramount to Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery archived

      $31.00/share cash, terms

    2. primary

      Warner Bros. Discovery DEFM14A archived

      shareholder-facing merger terms

    3. reportDeadline (trade press, dated)

      Warner Bros. shareholders back sale to Paramount archived

      confirms the deal proceeded to a shareholder vote

  4. Warner’s board initially preferred Netflix’s offer and called Paramount’s financing “illusory”

    1. ★ strongestreportCNN

      Paramount, Warner Bros. and the Ellisons’ revised deal archived

      financing dispute

    2. reportNBC News

      Paramount beefs up its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery with new Larry Ellison guarantee archived

    3. reportFox Business

      Paramount refuses to back down in Warner Bros. Discovery takeover fight against Netflix archived

      independent confirmation of the “illusory” characterization dispute

  5. To win, Larry Ellison signed a personal guarantee of $40.4 billion; eighteen banks lined up about $49 billion in loans key

    1. ★ strongestreportCNN

      Paramount, Warner Bros. and the Ellisons’ revised deal archived

      $40.4B personal guarantee, first reported

    2. reportYahoo Finance

      Larry Ellison guarantees $40.4 billion archived

    3. reportFortune

      Larry Ellison’s personal guarantee archived

    4. primaryWarner Bros. Discovery DEFM14A

      Records the ~$49B / 18-lender debt-commitment structure led by Bank of America, Citigroup and Apollo archived

  6. Kushner’s Affinity Partners was briefly part of the bid, then dropped out

    1. ★ strongestreportCNBC

      Kushner’s Affinity exits Paramount-WBD bid financing archived

    2. tradeDeadline

      Jared Kushner, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery archived

    3. reportAxios

      Jared Kushner, Paramount, Warner Bros., Netflix archived

      confirms his initial involvement before exit

  7. 38.5% of the combined company belongs to Saudi, Emirati and Qatari funds (~$24 billion) — but every vote stays with the Ellisons and their partner key

    1. ★ strongesttradeVariety

      Paramount-Warner Bros. to be 38.5% owned by Saudi, UAE and Qatari funds archived

      filing-based, internally consistent (PIF 15.1% + UAE 12.8% + QIA 10.6%)

    2. tradeHollywood Reporter

      Paramount, Middle East funding, WBD buy, PIF, Qatar, Abu Dhabi archived

    3. tradeVariety

      The ~$24 billion figure archived

    4. primaryParamount press release

      Confirms Ellison family + RedBird Capital retain 100% voting power via Class B shares; the $47B new Class B shares at $16.02/share, “fully committed” by the Ellison family and RedBird archived

  8. Washington’s real interest in the deal was the piece with CNN in it

    1. ★ strongestreportCNN

      CNN, Paramount, Ellison, Bari Weiss, WBD merger archived

      CNN’s own media desk on the stakes for its own newsroom

    2. tradeHollywood Reporter

      CNN wary of Bari Weiss oversight, Paramount, Warner Bros. merger archived

    3. reportFortune

      Trump says Warner Bros. deal should include sale of CNN archived

      Trump’s own on-record push for CNN specifically

  9. David Ellison frames the deal as a technology play: “We want to be the most technologically capable media company”

    1. ★ strongestreportCNBC transcript

      Paramount Skydance Chairman & CEO David Ellison speaks with CNBC’s David Faber on “Squawk on the Street” archived

      full verbatim transcript

    2. report

      CNBC video clip of the same interview archived

  10. Streaming needs scale; Warner Bros. brings HBO, DC and Harry Potter

    1. ★ strongestprimaryParamount investor materials

      Paramount to Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, investor release archived

      company’s own synergy/subscriber-scale figures (200M+ combined gross subscribers, ~15,000-title library)

    Note: this is the companies’ own stated business case, sourced to the companies themselves.

Clips in this chapter

  • David Ellison, Paramount Skydance CEO

    CNBC “Squawk on the Street,” 8 Aug 2025. Original full interview: CNBC transcript above (full verbatim record); CNBC’s own published video segment carrying the quote is the same clip used in the film: youtube.com archived

Where the data centres go: the United States, with the fights lit.
Where the data centres go: the United States, with the fights lit.
71% of Americans oppose a new AI data centre where they live (Gallup, March 2026).
71% of Americans oppose a new AI data centre where they live (Gallup, March 2026).
04The threat to the bet12 claims · 41 sources

  1. Americans have turned against AI and data centres key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryGallupfielded 2–18 Mar 2026, n=1,0002026

      Americans Oppose Data Centers in Their Area archived

      71% oppose a new AI data centre nearby, 48% “strongly”

    2. primaryPew Research Centerfielded 22–28 Jun 2026

      Americans and AI in 2026 archived

      52% more concerned than excited about AI, up from 37% in 2021

    3. primary

      Ipsos/Reuters poll landing archived

      fielded ~Jun 2026, n=4,531 · 57% would oppose a data centre in their own community

    4. reportUS News

      Americans Wary of AI-Driven Data Center Boom, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Shows archived

      64% disagree rapid buildout is “mainly a good thing”

  2. Data centres are raising electricity bills, and Americans expect more key

    1. ★ strongestprimary

      PJM Interconnection capacity auction results (2025–2026 delivery year), cited via IEEFA archived

      data centres drove roughly two-thirds of a record clearing-price jump, ~+833% y/y

    2. reportCanary Media

      PJM’s record capacity costs are already showing up on residential bills (Pepco DC +$21/month from Jun 2025) archived

    3. reportSierra Club press release2026

      PJM capacity auction hits price cap for a third consecutive time archived

    4. reportUS News (Reuters/Ipsos poll write-up)

      77% worried AI will make their electricity more expensive archived

  3. Local opposition is blocking data centres at scale, nationwide key

    1. ★ strongestprimary

      Data Center Watch, Q1 2026 report archived

      at least 75 projects worth ~$130 billion blocked or delayed in Q1 2026 alone

    2. reportNewsweek, on the same report

      Largest single-quarter concentration of blocked and delayed data center projects on record archived

    3. primary

      Data Center Watch, Q1 2026 report archived

      active opposition groups more than doubled, 396 → 833, across 49 states

    4. trade

      Tom’s Hardware, on Data Center Watch’s Q2 2026 report archived

      opposition blocked a further $68B in Q2, ~$200B blocked H1 2026

  4. Tucson killed an Amazon-linked data centre 7–0

    1. ★ strongestreportDemocracy Now!

      Tucson City Council Votes Unanimously to Reject Project Blue, a Proposed Data Center Linked to Amazon archived

    2. reportAZ Luminaria

      Tucson City Council rejects Project Blue data center amid intense community pressure archived

      vote detail, 7-0

    3. reportTucson Sentinel

      Tucson City Council pulls plug on Amazon’s Project Blue archived

    4. reportKOLD

      County/city leaders confirm Amazon has pulled out of the project entirely archived

  5. Indianapolis banned new data centres until end of 2027

    1. ★ strongestreportWTHR

      Indianapolis City-County Council sets final vote on Franklin Township/Google data centre amid growing opposition

    2. reportWFYI

      Data-centre moratorium advances for Indianapolis, through end of 2027, Marion County archived

  6. 142 protests, 42 states, one day — 18 July 2026

    1. ★ strongestreportUS News (Reuters via US News wire)

      “US data center protests go national as backlash grows,” 18 Jul 2026 archived

    2. other

      GV Wire mirror of the same wire story

      same date

    3. other

      HumansFirst (organizer) own event page archived

      claims to have already stopped ~$98B in projects

  7. Doña Ana County approved $165B in bonds for Project Jupiter, 4–1, after a shouting hearing key

    1. ★ strongestreportEl Paso Matters

      Project Jupiter data center in Santa Teresa approved by Doña Ana commissioners archived

      4-1, room “erupted in anger” after ~7-hour hearing

    2. reportABQ Journal

      Doña Ana County approves historic $165B bond for data center

    3. otherCourthouse News

      Separate nonprofit suit seeking to block the $165 billion project outright archived

  8. Residents found out the county signed an NDA before the public vote

    1. ★ strongestreportKVIA

      New Mexico Environmental Law Center sues Doña Ana commissioners; suit cites a non-disclosure agreement and closed-door meetings before the public vote archived

    2. report

      BorderReport

      same suit, same date

    3. reportSource NM

      Project Jupiter pits demand for data against New Mexico’s finite natural resources archived

      NDA and water detail

  9. The cooling system needs ≥10 million gallons to fill, in a desert where farmers face steep cuts; residents sued

    1. ★ strongestreportKVIA / Source NM

      ≥10 million gallons cited for closed-loop cooling initial fill, part of the same lawsuit archived

    2. primaryInside Climate News

      The Clock Is Ticking for New Mexico to Cut Rio Grande Water Use archived

      New Mexico must cut Lower Rio Grande groundwater pumping by 18,200 acre-feet/yr within 10 years

    3. reportNature World News

      Elephant Butte Reservoir at ~1.4% full; Rio Grande farms from Hatch to El Paso “stretch thin supplies” archived

    4. other

      EBID (Elephant Butte Irrigation District) own reporting archived

      farmers expecting a 4-inch 2026 allotment against a normal 3-acre-foot (36-inch) entitlement · roughly a 90% cut

    5. primaryNPR

      Worries over water as a giant data center moves into the New Mexico desert archived

  10. Later meetings ended with protesters under arrest

    1. ★ strongestreportKRQE

      Surveillance video shows lead-up to arrests of Project Jupiter protesters at a Doña Ana County meeting (named: Orin Parnell, Kiki Garden, Abeguil Salugsugan)

    2. reportABQ Journal

      Unacceptable use of force at county meeting draws criticism archived

    3. reportSanta Fe New Mexican

      Two more protesters cited for disorderly conduct, Sylvia Yancey detained ~20 minutes, Sep 2026 archived

  11. Memphis: the same fight at Musk’s data centre, gas turbines by a mostly Black neighbourhood

    1. ★ strongestreportmlk50.com

      Activists block xAI Colossus in Boxtown, a 90%-Black southwest Memphis neighbourhood, protesting gas-turbine pollution archived

    2. reportDemocracy Now!

      Memphis xAI data-centre pollution coverage archived

    3. report

      WREG

      protesters block drive to xAI in southwest Memphis

  12. “Social permission”: Microsoft’s own CEO names the risk key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryWorld Economic ForumDavos, Jan 2026

      Official session “Conversation with Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft,” with BlackRock’s Larry Fink: “We will quickly lose even the social permission to actually take something like energy, which is a scarce resource, and use it to generate these tokens” archived

      full video: youtube.com archived

    2. tradeCNBC

      Energy costs will decide which countries win the AI race, Microsoft’s Nadella says archived

      same quote, in context

    3. other

      TechRadar archived

      same quote reproduced verbatim

Clips in this chapter

  • Doña Ana County resident

    Project Jupiter fight, 2026: original full report — KFOX14 news package (same upload is the original context; no separate longer speech exists) · youtube.com archived

  • Ryan Overstreet, Boxtown organizer

    Memphis xAI protest, 2026: original full report — WREG News Channel 3 package · youtube.com

  • WCNC anchor

    data-centre opposition explainer, 2026: original full segment — WCNC · youtube.com archived

  • Protester

    Memphis/Nashville-area data-centre protest, 2026: original full report — WKRN News 2 package · youtube.com archived

  • Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO

    Davos, Jan 2026: original full video — World Economic Forum’s own YouTube upload, “Conversation with Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft,” youtube.com archived (alt full cut: youtube.com archived); clip upload used: Snippet Circus · youtube.com archived

Signed in Washington: TikTok, Stargate, Paramount, Warner. Every piece needs a signature.
Signed in Washington: TikTok, Stargate, Paramount, Warner. Every piece needs a signature.
05Who can overrule a county7 claims · 22 sources

  1. Washington moved: a $125M super PAC to stop states writing AI rules key

    1. ★ strongesttradeCNBC

      AI industry super PAC Leading the Future raised $125 million archived

    2. otherGizmodo

      Marc Andreessen-backed super PAC pours millions into fighting state AI regulations archived

      names OpenAI president Greg Brockman as a backer

    3. otherWikipedia, “Leading the Future”

      Consolidates backers (a16z, Brockman, Palantir’s Joe Lonsdale, SV Angel’s Ron Conway, Perplexity) and the mission (Wikipedia only as extra, not alone) archived

  2. 11 December 2025: executive order sends DOJ after state AI laws key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryGibson Dunn client alert on the executive order text and mechanism

      DOJ “AI Litigation Task Force,” active from 10 Jan 2026, challenges state AI laws in federal court archived

    2. other

      Manatt client alert archived

      same EO, corroborating date and DOJ task-force mechanism

  3. H1 2026: 11 of the biggest tech/AI firms spent ~$41M lobbying Congress

    1. ★ strongesttradeCNBC

      OpenAI/Anthropic lobbying spend record in Q2 2026, part of the same wave archived

    2. tradeAxios

      Anthropic ramps up lobbying spending amid AI policy fights archived

    3. otherIssue One

      Lobbying disclosures reveal Big Tech spends more than $226,000 per day to buy influence archived

      the $41M/11-company, H1 2026 aggregate figure

  4. Ellison’s own ties to Washington: the fundraiser, the 2020 call, the $45M gift key

    1. ★ strongestreportWashington Post

      Larry Ellison joined a Nov. 14, 2020 call with Trump-world figures (Jay Sekulow, Sean Hannity, Sen. Lindsey Graham) on contesting the election archived

      about a week after Election Day

    2. tradeFortune

      Ellison hosts a Trump fundraiser at his Rancho Mirage, CA estate, tickets up to $250,000 archived

    3. ★ strongesttradeFortune

      “Larry Ellison quietly gave $45 million” to a pro-Trump group, in the context of Oracle’s AI/Stargate/TikTok/Paramount stakes archived

  5. Congress passed a divest-or-ban law; the President kept TikTok running, with Oracle inside the deal key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryProtecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Actsigned by President Biden 24 Apr 2024

      Required ByteDance to divest by 19 Jan 2025 or face a ban, one 90-day extension allowed with evidence of “significant progress” to Congress archived

      (statute text: congress.gov archived)

    2. otherNYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights

      Trump Is Defying the Law to Keep TikTok Alive archived

      Trump issued deadline extensions via executive order without submitting the legally required evidence of progress to Congress

    3. tradeCNBC

      Oracle and Silver Lake join the TikTok investor group as Trump extends the deal deadline archived

    4. reportNBC News

      Trump signs executive order on the TikTok deal archived

      explainer of the legal mechanism used

  6. A Democratic senator: the President kept TikTok online only by ignoring the law’s central goal

    1. ★ strongestprimarySen. Ed Markeypress release, 29 May 2026: letter to TikTok USDS and Oracle’s Clay Magouyrk/Mike Sicilia

      President Trump managed to keep TikTok online only by ignoring the law’s central goal and relying on vague, unproven safeguards... archived

    2. reportUS News

      Same quote and letter, independent write-up archived

    3. report

      KVIA/CNN Business pickup archived

      same date, same letter

  7. Every piece of Ellison’s bet runs through Washington approvals key

    1. primaryStargate announced at the White House

      With Trump, Ellison, Altman, Son archived

      Roll Call/Factba.se transcript of the event

    2. ★ strongestreportVariety

      FCC approves Skydance–Paramount merger 2-1, with DEI-drop and CBS News ombudsman conditions, chaired by Trump appointee Brendan Carr archived

    3. reportDeadline

      Paramount settles a 12-state antitrust suit to clear the last state-level obstacle to the Warner Bros. Discovery deal, which also needed DOJ/FCC sign-off archived

    4. reportNPR

      Same settlement, DOJ/FCC dependency confirmed archived

06The price: the news16 claims · 45 sources

  1. Paramount paid $16M to settle Trump’s suit while the FCC merger vote was pending, no apology, money to his library key

    1. ★ strongestreportCNN

      Paramount pays $16 million to settle Trump’s 60 Minutes lawsuit

      money earmarked for Trump’s future presidential library, no personal payment, no apology

    2. tradeVariety

      Same settlement, confirms library earmark and no-apology term archived

  2. Stephen Colbert calls the settlement a “big fat bribe”

    1. ★ strongestreportWashington Post

      Colbert’s Late Show cancelled, references the 14 Jul monologue calling the deal a “big fat bribe” archived

    2. reportNPR

      Same sequence archived

    3. tradeDeadline

      The original monologue and the exact “big fat bribe” line archived

  3. Three days later, CBS ends The Late Show, calls it “purely financial”

    1. ★ strongestreportWashington Post

      CBS’s own language: “purely a financial decision... not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount” archived

    2. reportNPR

      Corroborates CBS’s statement and the 3-day gap after the monologue archived

  4. FCC approves the merger with DEI and ombudsman conditions; Carr and Gomez on the record key

    1. ★ strongesttradeVariety

      Skydance commits to eliminate DEI policies at Paramount and install a CBS News ombudsman for bias complaints for at least two years; vote 2-1 archived

    2. reportPBS NewsHour

      Carr, on camera archived

      “Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly”

    3. other

      The Wrap archived

      same FCC vote and Carr quote

    4. primary

      Sen. Ed Markey (with Schiff, Luján) oversight letter to the FCC quoting Commissioner Anna Gomez’s dissent archived

      the deal gives Paramount “never-before-seen controls over newsroom decisions and editorial content”

  5. The Free Press purchase; Bari Weiss becomes CBS News editor-in-chief, reports to David Ellison key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryParamount press release

      Paramount Announces Deal to Acquire The Free Press archived

      $150 million, Weiss named CBS News editor-in-chief

    2. reportCNN

      Same deal, confirms Weiss reports directly to David Ellison archived

    3. reportCBS News’ own report

      Confirms terms and reporting line archived

  6. Weiss pulls the CECOT investigation hours before air; Alfonsi: “not editorial, it is political” key

    1. ★ strongestreportNPR

      “CBS chief Bari Weiss pulls 60 Minutes story” on CECOT, ~3 hours before broadcast; Alfonsi’s memo quoted directly archived

    2. reportAl Jazeera

      Same sequence, corroborates the memo language archived

    3. reportDemocracy Now!

      Independent corroboration archived

  7. The story got out via a Canadian broadcaster; CBS aired a revised version a month later

    1. ★ strongestreportNPR

      Global TV in Canada had already loaded the original cut into its on-demand system before CBS’s “kill” notice, so it circulated online archived

    2. report

      Al Jazeera archived

      corroborates the leak route and the revised 18 Jan 2026 broadcast

  8. Cecilia Vega: “censorship, both imposed and self-driven”

    1. ★ strongestreportDetroit News

      Vega on leaving 60 Minutes archived

      “censorship, both imposed and self-driven”; reporting teams held back pitches “out of fear of internal repercussions”

    2. other

      Yahoo/Entertainment archived

      same quote, same date

    3. trade

      Deadline archived

      same quote, 2026

  9. Scott Pelley: told to “inject falsehoods and bias,” refused, fired June 2026 key

    1. ★ strongestreportNBC News

      CBS News fires 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley archived

      Pelley’s on-record quote, verbatim

    2. report

      PBS NewsHour archived

      same firing, same quote

    3. otherFox News

      FCC Chair Brendan Carr calls Pelley “completely out of touch” after the firing archived

  10. Pelley, Alfonsi and Vega gone; Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim stay as the last longtime correspondents key

    1. ★ strongestreportCNN

      Remaining ‘60 Minutes’ correspondents say they’re staying archived

      the three who stayed, and who left

    2. tradeDeadline

      Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker And Jon Wertheim Say They Will Stay At ‘60 Minutes’ archived

      their joint memo

    3. reportNBC News

      60 Minutes: Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, Jon Wertheim to stay archived

      independent confirmation

    4. reportAxios

      “60 Minutes” correspondents Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker and Jon Wertheim say they’ll stay archived

      names the ousted: Pelley, Alfonsi, Vega

  11. Then CNN: the President’s wishes made public key

    1. ★ strongestreportCNN

      Trump enters Warner Bros. fight, says it’s ‘imperative that CNN be sold’ archived

      at a White House roundtable, in response to a reporter’s question

    2. tradeFortune

      Same quote and event archived

    3. other

      Poynter commentary, “Donald Trump’s mission to get CNN sold,” same episode in context

  12. Paramount wins Warner, and CNN with it; Weiss to oversee both, newsroom “wary” key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryParamount press release

      Definitive merger agreement, $31.00/share, ~$110–111B enterprise value, includes CNN archived

    2. reportCNN’s own media desk

      Internal discussion of Bari Weiss overseeing both CBS News and CNN archived

    3. tradeHollywood Reporter

      CNN staff described as “wary” of Weiss oversight given Ellison’s closeness to Trump archived

  13. Shareholders sue: side deal with the President — CNN changes, up to $20M in free advertising key

    1. ★ strongesttradeHollywood Reporter

      David and Larry Ellison Sued by Paramount Investor Over Alleged Trump Side Deal archived

      CNN overhaul plus up to $20 million in free advertising alleged

    2. trade

      Variety archived

      same suit, Delaware Chancery Court, filed mid-Jul 2026

    3. otherThe Hill

      Paramount shareholder sues Ellisons, alleging ‘illegal’ Trump deal

    4. tradeDeadline

      Paramount’s rebuttal archived

      calls the suit “recycled allegations,” says no commitments were made on news coverage

    Note: an allegation in a lawsuit, not a court finding.

  14. White House Correspondents’ Dinner, July 2026 — Trump on Ellison and CBS

    1. ★ strongestreportVariety

      Trump’s WHCA remarks, 24 Jul 2026, Waldorf Astoria DC archived

    2. reportCNN

      Same event archived

    3. otherMediaPost

      Full quote archived

      “he’s going to make, I think, fantastic changes... next year, they’re going to call it the Trump White House Correspondents’ Dinner”

  15. Our own check: CBS posted nothing about its own settlement or Pelley’s firing; NBC+CNN posted 15

    1. ★ strongestprimary

      Verso’s own count of the CBS News, NBC News and CNN YouTube channels, made on 26 September 2026.

  16. CBS covered the water fight, named Oracle “one of the backers,” never said who owns CBS key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryCBS NewsYouTube upload, 29 Aug 2026

      Project Jupiter’s water needs, Oracle named “one of the backers,” no mention of the Ellison family’s ownership of CBS archived

    2. primary

      Paramount press release / SEC 8-K confirming Ellison-family control of Paramount Skydance (parent of CBS) archived

      establishes the ownership fact the CBS segment omits

Clips in this chapter

  • Stephen Colbert

    “big fat bribe” monologue, 14 Jul 2025: original full video — The Late Show’s own channel · youtube.com archived

  • Stephen Colbert

    Late Show cancellation announcement, 17 Jul 2025: original full video — The Late Show’s own channel · youtube.com archived

  • Brendan Carr, FCC chair

    course-correction remarks, 2025: original full interview — PBS NewsHour’s own channel (same segment as the clip) · youtube.com archived

  • Anna Gomez, FCC commissioner

    dissent remarks, 2025: clip — MS NOW · youtube.com archived — original fuller statement also on the record via the Markey/Schiff/Luján oversight letter (PDF above); a longer MS NOW segment was not separately located.

  • Donald Trump

    White House Correspondents’ Dinner, 24 Jul 2026: original full speech — Forbes Breaking News’ own upload is itself the full-speech recording (matches the “FULL SPEECH” video referenced in reporting) · youtube.com archived

The feed: one company holds the switch.
The feed: one company holds the switch.
07The feed5 claims · 16 sources

  1. Oracle’s stake in TikTok’s US venture, and its role over the algorithm key

    1. primary

      SEC/TikTok USDS binding agreement archived

      closing memo cited by press (Shou Zi Chew internal memo, 18 Dec 2025) · deal structure, close date 22 Jan 2026 (secondary mirror of the primary memo; original memo text not independently located)

    2. ★ strongestreportCNBC

      After a shaky start, TikTok’s U.S. joint venture lands on its feet archived

      confirms Oracle/Silver Lake/MGX each 15%, Oracle as data host

    3. reportVariety

      TikTok U.S. Joint Venture Deal Set to Close in January With Investors Including Oracle, Silver Lake, Abu Dhabi’s MGX archived

      names Oracle (15%), Silver Lake (American PE firm), MGX (Abu Dhabi fund)

    4. primary

      Sen. Ed Markey press release, “Senator Markey Presses TikTok, Oracle on National Security Concerns” archived

      confirms Oracle’s “Trusted Security Partner” role and algorithm-retraining mandate

    5. tradeHollywood Reporter

      Tiktok Sale Done: Oracle, Silver Lake Among Buyers archived

      corroborates ownership split

  2. TikTok censorship claims, three days after close, and Oracle’s outage explanation key

    1. ★ strongestreportCNBC

      TikTok denies ICE, Epstein censorship, blames power outages at the new US venture archived

      users reported ICE/Epstein posts vanishing; TikTok’s Oracle-data-center-outage explanation

    2. otherGood Authority (NYU CSMaP)

      “Was there censorship on TikTok after the U.S. takeover?” (early 2026) archived

      ties the outage to a winter storm hitting Oracle’s Ashburn, VA data centers around 25 Jan 2026

  3. NYU researchers found every topic dropped at once — a technical outage, not proven censorship key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryNYU Center for Social Media, AI, and Politics (CSMaP)

      Was there censorship on TikTok after the U.S. takeover? archived

      original analysis of 100,000+ videos; posts on ICE, Epstein, Alex Pretti, recipes, the Oscars all dropped simultaneously on 25 Jan; researchers say the pattern points to an outage, not targeted censorship, but “cannot rule out” subtler moderation

    2. other

      Good Authority (mirror of the CSMaP analysis, same authors) archived

    3. reportNPR/Houston Public Media

      Researchers say no evidence of TikTok censorship, but they remain wary archived

      independent confirmation of the CSMaP finding and its caveat

  4. California Governor Newsom announces a review into TikTok censorship claims

    1. reportDeadline

      Gavin Newsom Says He’s Launching Review... archived

      announcement of the review

    2. otherThe Hill

      Newsom launches review of TikTok over claims of suppressed Trump criticism archived

      corroborates

  5. Senator Markey’s May 2026 letter, and no reported answer

    1. ★ strongestprimary

      Sen. Ed Markey letter to Oracle CEOs on TikTok USDS (PDF, 29 May 2026) archived

      asks how ByteDance source code and the algorithm are being reviewed

    2. primary

      Sen. Ed Markey press release archived

    3. reportCNN Business

      A spin-off deal saved TikTok’s US future. Sen. Ed Markey is questioning if it puts national security at risk archived

    4. otherU.S. News

      US Senator Presses TikTok US Joint Venture and Oracle on User Data Safeguards archived

    Verification of “no public answer”: a fresh search for any Oracle/TikTok USDS response to the Markey letter (run 27 Sept 2026) turned up nothing past the May 2026 letter itself — no outlet reports a reply. This is an absence-of-evidence finding, not a document proving silence; noted as such.

He is not the only one: Zuckerberg, Bezos, Musk, OpenAI.
He is not the only one: Zuckerberg, Bezos, Musk, OpenAI.
08He is not the only one8 claims · 32 sources

  1. Bezos dictates the Washington Post’s opinion line, the editor quits, then the paper cuts a third of its staff key

    1. reportNPR

      Jeff Bezos revamps Washington Post opinion section, leading editor to quit archived

    2. reportNBC News

      Jeff Bezos overhauls Washington Post opinion section... archived

      confirms opinion editor David Shipley’s resignation

    3. reportNPR

      Washington Post announces sweeping layoffs archived

      confirms roughly a third of staff cut

    4. reportAxios

      Washington Post announces sweeping layoffs amid financial distress archived

    5. tradePoynter

      The Washington Post lays off a third of its staff archived

      quotes Executive Editor Matt Murray: “Our organic search has fallen by nearly half in the last three years”

    6. otherCBS News

      Washington Post begins sweeping layoffs as it sharply scales back news coverage archived

    7. otherWashingtonian

      Actually, the Washington Post Layoffs Were a Bigger Bloodbath Than You Thought archived

      staff reaction (Guild count of ~400 lost over three years; chief economics correspondent Jeff Stein: “a tragic day...”)

  2. Zuckerberg ends Meta’s fact-checking program key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryMeta Newsroom

      More Speech and Fewer Mistakes archived

      official announcement and video

    2. reportNPR

      Meta says it will end fact-checking as Silicon Valley prepares for Trump archived

    3. reportWashington Post

      Meta ends fact-checking, drawing praise from Trump archived

    4. reportABC News

      Facebook, Instagram dump fact-checkers citing election as ‘cultural tipping point’ archived

  3. Musk folds X into xAI, then xAI into SpaceX key

    1. ★ strongestprimary

      Elon Musk archived

      own post on X (28 Mar 2025) · “xAI has acquired X in an all-stock transaction. The combination values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion.”

    2. reportCNBC

      Elon Musk says xAI has acquired X in deal that values social media site at $33 billion archived

    3. tradeTechCrunch

      Elon Musk says xAI acquired X archived

    4. reportCNBC

      Musk’s xAI, SpaceX combo is the biggest merger of all time, valued at $1.25 trillion archived

      SpaceX absorbs the X+xAI combination

    5. reportBloomberg

      Musk’s SpaceX Combines With xAI at $1.25 Trillion Valuation

  4. OpenAI buys TBPN, a daily tech show key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryOpenAI

      OpenAI acquires TBPN archived

      company’s own announcement

    2. tradeTechCrunch

      OpenAI acquires TBPN, the buzzy founder-led business talk show archived

    3. reportCNBC

      OpenAI acquires popular tech podcast TBPN archived

    4. reportNPR

      Why OpenAI bought ‘SportsCenter for Silicon Valley’ archived

  5. Google’s AI answers cut click-through roughly in half key

    1. otherSearch Engine Land

      Google’s AI Overviews are hurting clicks: Pew study archived

      8% click-through with an AI summary present vs 15% without; 1% click a cited source inside the summary

    2. otherAI Weekly

      Pew: AI summaries cut Google click-throughs to 8% from 15% archived

    3. tradeThe Register

      Google AI Overviews are killing the web, Pew study shows (again) archived

      notes Google disputed the study’s methodology — flag this dispute alongside the figure

  6. Google search traffic to news sites fell by more than a third in a year key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryReuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford

      Journalism, Media, and Technology Trends and Predictions 2026 archived

      Chartbeat data across 2,500+ sites: Google organic search traffic to news sites down 33% globally, 38% in the US, Nov 2024–Nov 2025

    2. otherPress Gazette

      Global publisher Google traffic dropped by a third in 2025 archived

    3. tradeSearch Engine Land

      News publishers expect search traffic to drop 43% by 2029 archived

      corroborating figures from the same RISJ report

  7. OpenAI’s News Corp licensing deal, ~$250 million over five years

    1. ★ strongestprimaryOpenAI

      A landmark multi-year global partnership with News Corp archived

    2. tradeVariety2024

      News Corp Inks OpenAI Licensing Deal Potentially Worth More Than $250 Million archived

      sources the $250M/5-year figure to the Wall Street Journal

    3. otherNieman Journalism Lab

      OpenAI and News Corp strike a content deal valued at over $250 million archived

  8. The New York Times is still suing OpenAI

    1. ★ strongestreportAxios8 Sept 2026

      Historic NYT v. OpenAI copyright battle heats up archived

      confirms the case remains active as of Sept 2026, now at summary-judgment briefing

    2. reportWashington Post2 Sept 2026

      DOJ urges judge to rule for OpenAI, Microsoft in N.Y. Times lawsuit archived

    3. otherWikipedia (secondary summary, use as a lead only)

      The New York Times v. Microsoft and OpenAI archived

Clips in this chapter

  • Mark Zuckerberg, Meta CEO

    announcing the end of fact-checking, 7 Jan 2025: original video via Meta Newsroom about.fb.com archived (Meta’s own posting); clip upload (Guardian News) youtube.com archived

  • Ben Brasch, Washington Post reporter (laid off)

    rally outside the Post’s office, 5 Feb 2026, on Bezos’s refusal to run the paper at a loss: full segment, Democracy Now! (6 Feb 2026), democracynow.org archived; clip upload youtube.com archived

  • John Coogan and Jordi Hays, TBPN hosts

    announcing OpenAI’s acquisition on air, 2 Apr 2026: original full episode / clip upload (TBPN’s own channel) youtube.com archived — confirmed by CNBC/TechCrunch as the actual on-air reveal (“we have some huge news,” “this is not an April Fool’s joke”)

  • Marc Andreessen, a16z

    on “going direct” and telling your own story through owned media: original full video, a16z’s own channel, “The Media Game Has Changed” (a16z New Media Summit, published 19 Jun 2026), youtube.com archived; see also a16z.com/podcast/a16zs-new-media-playbook/. Andreessen Horowitz’s backing of the “Leading the Future” AI super PAC is separately confirmed (Wikipedia; CNBC, 30 Jan 2026, cnbc.com archived) — the insert itself does not mention the PAC by name.

The machine, close: the organs that watch.
The machine, close: the organs that watch.
09The Oracle8 claims · 30 sources

  1. 1977: a CIA-funded database project named Oracle becomes the company’s first customer and its name key

    1. ★ strongestotherGizmodo2014

      “Larry Ellison’s Oracle Started As a CIA Project” (republished/referenced through 2025–26 coverage) archived

      Ellison’s group at Ampex worked on a CIA database project code-named “Oracle,” meant to answer “any question about anything”; CIA became the first customer; the company later took the project’s name

    2. otherWikipedia

      Larry Ellison archived

      corroborates the Ampex → CIA “Oracle” project → Software Development Laboratories (1977) → Oracle Systems (1983) chain

    3. primaryOracle

      US Defense and Intelligence archived

      Oracle’s own marketing page states “We started with the US Government as our first customer. Today, 1,000+ public sector organizations and 100% of federal cabinet agencies build, modernize, and innovate with Oracle”

  2. September 2001: national ID card push, “privacy is largely an illusion,” and the November walk-back key

    1. ★ strongestotherThe Register24 Sept 2001

      Make ID cards compulsory, urges Oracle boss archived

      Ellison’s KPIX interview: national ID card with photo and digitized thumbprint, checked against a central database

    2. otherComputerworld2001

      Ellison offers free software for national ID archived

      confirms the free-software offer

    3. otherStanford Law School

      “Privacy? We Got Over It” (media roundup, cites a 2008 WSJ column revisiting the KPIX interview) archived

      full “this privacy you’re concerned about is largely an illusion... you can go onto the Internet and get a credit report about your neighbor” quote

    4. otherComputerworld

      Oracle’s Ellison backs off ID card idea, foresees Q2 miss archived

      the Comdex walk-back, “I have never been for a national ID card,” reframed as backing a national standard built on existing IDs (driver’s licenses, passports)

    5. otherSlate

      Would a national ID card work? archived

      contemporaneous corroboration of the walk-back episode

  3. September 2024: “best behavior,” constant recording, body cameras, drones key

    1. ★ strongestotherTechCrunch16 Sept 2024

      Oracle’s Larry Ellison says that AI will someday track your every move archived

      “The police will be on their best behavior because we’re constantly watching and recording”; “Every police officer is going to be supervised at all times”

    2. otherThe Register16 Sept 2024

      Oracle cloud AI will enable mass surveillance, says Ellison

      identical core quote independently confirmed

    3. tradeFortune17 Sept 2024

      Larry Ellison predicts rise of the modern surveillance state archived

      third independent outlet on the same passage; notes Oracle did not respond to a request for comment

    4. otherTechRadarSept 2024

      Quote of the day... archived

      fourth outlet, same wording

  4. Oracle’s $115 million privacy settlement

    1. ★ strongestotherCBS San Francisco

      Oracle settles suit over tracking your data for $115M archived

    2. otherCMSWire

      Oracle Agrees to Pay $115 Million to Settle Consumer Data Privacy Lawsuit archived

      confirms Oracle admitted no wrongdoing; tracked online/offline activity, sold profiles

  5. February 2025, Dubai: Ellison beside Blair, “unify all the national data” key

    1. ★ strongestreportLighthouse Reports (co-published with New Statesman, Democracy for Sale)24 Sept 2025

      Blair and the Billionaire archived

      direct quote: “The NHS in the UK has an incredible amount of population data... but it was fragmented”

    2. otherCrikey26 Sept 2025

      Tony Blair, Larry Ellison, and the AI data grab archived

      corroborates the exchange and its framing

    3. otherEmirates 24|7

      Oracle CTO: National data must be unified in sovereign data centres... archived

      confirms the event and the “unify the data” framing from Oracle’s own side

    Original video for the insert: World Governments Summit’s own channel, published 12 Feb 2025 — youtube.com archived

  6. Ellison Foundation’s ~$350 million (£257 million) to the Tony Blair Institute, and its response key

    1. ★ strongestreportLighthouse Reports24 Sept 2025

      Blair and the Billionaire archived

      $130 million invested 2021–23 plus $218 million pledged since (≈ $348M ≈ £257m at the reporting-period exchange rate — $350 million and £257 million are the same figure in two currencies); also documents Oracle and TBI staff “scouting opportunities” together

    2. otherThe Register

      Ellison big donor of Blair Institute vaccine DB plan archived

      earliest confirmed donation figures ($33.8M in 2021, $49.4M pledged)

    3. otherDemocracy for Sale (Substack, co-publisher of the Lighthouse investigation)

      Larry Ellison’s £257m bet on Tony Blair archived

  7. September 2025: the institute calls for a digital ID, Britain announces one within days; the new government scrapped it in July 2026 key

    1. ★ strongestprimaryGOV.UK25 Sept 2025

      New digital ID scheme to be rolled out across UK archived

      the government’s own announcement, framed around Right to Work checks

    2. report

      New Statesman / Lighthouse Reports / Democracy for Sale archived

      reporting that Starmer’s announcement came within about 48 hours of a TBI report calling for digital ID adoption

    3. otherInstitute.global (Tony Blair Institute’s own site)Sept 2025

      Time for Digital ID: A New Consensus for a State That Works archived

      TBI’s own report calling for digital ID, published within days of the government’s announcement

    4. reportTechCrunch

      UK government scraps plans for digital ID cards after millions of Brits opposed archived

      the scheme cancelled

    5. reportAl Jazeera

      Burnham’s move to scrap UK’s digital ID plans earns cheers and criticism archived

      the cancellation and the reaction

    6. primaryHouse of Commons Library

      Digital ID in the UK archived

      Parliament’s own briefing and timeline

    7. otherWikipedia

      UK Digital ID archived

      timeline summary

  8. Oracle’s UK public-sector footprint, more than £1 billion since 2022

    1. ★ strongestreportLighthouse Reports24 Sept 2025

      Blair and the Billionaire archived

      "£1.1 billion in UK public-sector revenue since the start of 2022”

    2. tradeThe Register

      UK Home Office signs up for £54 million in Oracle cloud archived

      one component contract within that footprint

    3. otherTotal Telecom

      Oracle wins decade-long £1bn UK govt SaaS contract archived

      a separate, later £1bn multi-department deal (DWP, Defra, MoJ, Home Office), separate from the £1.1bn cumulative figure

Clips in this chapter

  • Larry Ellison, Oracle co-founder

    World Governments Summit, Dubai, with Tony Blair, 12 Feb 2025: original full video (World Governments Summit’s own channel) youtube.com archived; also mirrored by Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (published 13 Feb 2025) youtube.com archived.

10The test1 claim · 5 sources

  1. The Warner deal: state settlement on 21 Sept 2026; closing expected in early October, pending the court’s approval key

    1. ★ strongestprimary

      WBD 8-K (27 Feb 2026 merger agreement exhibit) archived

      deal “expected to close in Q3 2026” (i.e., by 30 Sept 2026); a $0.25/share quarterly “ticking fee” applies for every quarter after 30 Sept 2026 that it has not closed

    2. report

      CNBC/wire reporting on the 21 Sept 2026 state-AG settlement archived

      clears the last major state-level obstacle

    3. reportCNN Business22 Sept 2026

      What we know — and don’t — about Paramount’s Hollywood plans archived

      “in the coming weeks, Paramount will take control of CNN”; separately reports Warner CEO David Zaslav told staff in an internal memo the merger is expected to take effect “by early October”

    4. reportNPR

      Paramount settles state lawsuit over Warner Bros. deal archived

      the settlement with 12 state attorneys general

    5. otherWikipedia

      Proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance archived

      running timeline, court approval pending

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