Enrique Abeyta:

Anthropic Wins Injunction Against Trump Administration Over Defense Department Saga

A federal judge has sided with Anthropic in its twisty legal battle with the Trump administration, awarding the tech company an injunction against the government's recent order that labeled it a "supply-chain risk," The Wall Street Journal reports.

On Thursday, Judge Rita F. Lin of the Northern District of California ordered the Trump administration to rescind its recent designation of Anthropic as a security risk, as well as to back off its order that federal agencies cut ties with the company.

"It looks like an attempt to cripple Anthropic," Lin reportedly said during the court proceedings. Lin ultimately argued that the government's orders had flouted free speech protections for the company.

The drama between the Pentagon and Anthropic erupted last month over a dispute concerning guidelines for the government's usage of the AI company's software. Anthropic had reportedly sought to enforce certain limits on how the government could use its AI models, such as banning their use in autonomous weapons systems or mass surveillance. The government disagreed with those limitations, ultimately labeling the company a supply-chain risk – a designation typically reserved for foreign actors.

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Ari Goldschmidt:

Elon Musk Loses Big in Court; X Boycott Perfectly Legal

On Thursday, Elon Musk lost his lawsuit alleging that advertisers violated antitrust law by colluding on an ad boycott after he took over Twitter, gutted content moderation teams, and disbanded the Trust and Safety Council.

In her opinion, U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle wrote that the lawsuit was dismissed because Musk failed to state a claim. His arguments that advertisers acted against their own best interests by avoiding advertising on his platform, now called X, did not plead facts showing that consumers were harmed. Without consumer harm, there can be no antitrust violation, the judge wrote, deeming the ad boycott perfectly legal.

"The very nature of the alleged conspiracy does not state an antitrust claim, and the Court therefore has no qualm dismissing with prejudice," Boyle said. At one point, she emphasized, "the question underlying antitrust injury is whether consumers – not competitors – have been harmed."

For Musk, the loss is likely significant. He had argued that advertisers should be "criminally prosecuted" after allies in Congress released a report claiming they were conspiring to tank Twitter's revenue with the supposed goal of censoring conservative voices.

As of this writing, Musk has not commented on the ruling.

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Greg Guenthner:

Cathie Wood's Ark Invest Dumps Meta, Nvidia and Bitcoin ETF Shares in Major Tech Sell-Off

Ark Invest, the investment firm of notable tech investor Cathie Wood, shed millions of dollars' worth of shares of major tech stocks on Thursday, significantly trimming positions in Nvidia and Meta while also diminishing its exposure to Bitcoin via its own Bitcoin ETF. 

The firm's Thursday activity saw it part with nearly $41 million worth of Meta (META) and more than $26 million in Nvidia (NVDA), both of which have fallen further since the opening bell on Friday, dropping 2.98% and 1.55%, respectively. 

The prominent tech stocks have fared much worse over the last month, with META dropping more than 17% over that time to change hands around $531. The bulk of those losses – around 10% – have come in the last week as the social media platform lost a pair of social media addiction lawsuits that said it failed to protect young users.

Nvidia has held up better, but still dipped around 5% in the last month as uncertainty surrounds the conflict in Iran. The firm was also hit with a class action lawsuit over alleged crypto mining revenue gaps.

Ark also shed around $11 million worth of shares in its spot Bitcoin ETF (ARKB).

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