Congrats to all the news orgs that signed syndication deals with this company. You’ve licensed your journalism to be a core component of Trump’s illegal war machine. Great job everyone 👏

https://twitter.com/sama/status/2027578652477821175

A special shoutout to the editor-in-chief & CEO of the Guardian, Kath Viner & Anna Bateson. The deal with OpenAI was an unforced error which legitimised OpenAI’s illegal scraping of Guardian data & IP. In exchange for a quick buck. The NYTimes, in contrast, chose to sue.

PREDICTION: If Andrew is charged (no assumption of guilt etc), we are going to have a crisis of both the press & judiciary.

In Britain, it is an offence to publish ANY info on defendant beyond bare facts.

But! US outlets can print whatever they like…
1/ Contempt of court is foundational principle of British justice: press must not prejudice a jury trial.

Editors risk a prison sentence if found in breach.

Even in digital age, the law held…but how could it possibly withstand deluge of US coverage in a case like this??
3/

NEW: Our investigation for @thenerve_news reveals not only that Peter Thiel’s Palantir is completely enmeshed in our critical national infrastructure.

It’s also the ‘cloud support’ for our nuclear weapons system
1/ Palantir’s stated mission is to defend America. Peter Thiel is a radical libertarian who does not believe ‘freedom & democracy are compatible’.

Yet, the UK is overwhelmingly dependent on Palantir’s services. As a national security threat, this is off the charts.
2/

Compare & contrast. This is Trump’s demand for Greenland. And this is Hitler’s for the Sudetenland.

There is no difference. The language. The unstoppable need to dominate. The megalomania. It’s the same.

And Keir Starmer’s response is appeasement. We are in that moment.
1/
I’m back to mocking up my own headlines for my newsletter because the press - esp here in the UK - is failing to meet the moment.

We’re now trapped between Russia in the east. And the US in the west. Two hostile states openly seeking to crush us.

2/
open.substack.com/pub/broligarch…

The sentencing hearing of Nathan Gill has begun.

Follow @thenerve_news for updates throughout the day.
1/

https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1991790799109902452

The barrister for the Crown has laid out the background and context for the case, including Ukraine's efforts to join the European Union.
2/

NEW: The entire BBC news cycle is an abject lesson in the disaster economics of information.

This isn’t just a news story. It’s a teachable example of real-time information collapse. We can’t fix that but we can & must save the BBC.
1/ I wrote this back in Jan. What is happening to BBC is part of a systemic issue: total information collapse.

This is what happens when justified grievance, bad faith actors & Silicon Valley companies converge: erosion of trust in all institutions.
2/

broligarchy.substack.com/p/total-inform…

NEW: Russian interference case heads to Europe's 'Supreme Court'.

Ex-MPs - @CarolineLucas Ben Bradshaw & @AlynSmith - with @allthecitizens take landmark case to 'Grand Chamber'.

Case claims UK govt in breach of law for refusing to investigate foreign interference.
1/ It's pretty extraordinary timing in a case that has been running since 2020 & publication of Russia Report.

As Gill pleads guilty to taking Russian bribes, why is UK government *still* refusing to investigate Russian interference??
2/

thenational.scot/news/25561454.…

NEW: Police knew a Kremlin spy ring recruited former leader of Reform Wales at least 3 years ago.

So why was Nathan Gill not charged till Feb this year?

Pls read part 2 of @thenerve_news special investigation into Nathan Gill. And please share!
1/ Meet Nadia Sass.

This is the wife of the man who bribed Nathan Gill.

Today @thenerve_news reveals how she was a key part of the Kremlin operation that targeted not just Gill but at least 2 other MEPs and a member of the House of Lords.


2/ thenerve.news/p/nathan-gill-…

REVEALED: Donald Trump has picked Tony Blair for central role in Gaza ‘peace plan’…

…but in our inaugural investigation for @thenerve_news, we reveal extensive previously unreported links to Israeli defence, media & tech. 🧵
1/

(Link in next tweet) Tony Blair’s Institute has taken nearly half a billion $ from tech billionaire Larry Ellison.

His company Oracle is deeply embedded in Israeli govt & military.

Larry Ellison is a personal friend of Netanyahu.
2/
thenerve.news/p/tony-blair-i…

The targeting & killing of journalists in Gaza & the failure of the media to show collective solidarity & to take collective action is…incomprehensible.

I feel a such profound sense of shame & failure. It’s not just the death of journalists. It’s the death of journalism.
1/

https://twitter.com/gazanotice/status/1959890434915713238

This is Mariam Abu Daka, one of 3 journalists killed in latest strike, warning that journalists are being deliberately targeted & killed.

‘The Israeli occupation targets journalists because they tell the truth’

She calls for urgent international protection. It did not come.
2/

Nick Clegg made a reported £100m from Facebook. And now the reputation laundering begins.

Congrats to him on this magnificent PR coup. Nicely played, Clegg. A glossy magazine profile AND extract in the paper that created the Facebook PR crisis that led to his hiring.

1/ It’s an abject reminder of how mainstream outlets are played by Silicon Valley, by the cosy rules of access journalism & the genre framing of the celeb interview.

Clegg never submitted to a proper interview in his time at Facebook & now gets to spin & whitewash & conceal all while still under a FB NDA.
2/

Earlier this year, I lost my beloved job at my beloved Observer when the Guardian, in its great wisdom, gave the newspaper away to a podcast company...who promptly sacked me.

So, forgive my delight today, in being nominated for FIVE awards in the British Podcast Awards!!
1/
Huge kudos to super producers @RuthAbrahams5 of Sergei & the Westminster Spy Ring & @GeorgiaJCatt & @ByrnesyGsy for Stalked.

Plus the brilliant & brave Hannah Mossman-Moore & Sergei Cristo 👏 👏 👏. Both FEARLESS in completely different ways.

2/bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

NEW: The court did not find a breach of the law.

BUT it upheld 2/3 points inc that foreign interference (inc disinfo) *is* a threat to fair elections (which UK had denied!)

Lawyers say hugely significant judgement with far-reaching consequences. AND that an appeal should be considered
1/ Here's the meat of the judgement. The court upheld the first two points. It only refused the third and final point.

The legal team said they were amazed by how far the court had gone in upholding the bulk of their arguments, and that the ruling opens the door to many other potential cases.
2/

Fuckity bye.

RIP, the Guardian-Observer 1993-2025. It wasn't a natural death.

The biggest journalistic bloodletting in a generation.

Rest in power ✊

open.substack.com/pub/broligarch… Today, the Observer ‘transfers’ to Tortoise Media, a process that involved neither journalists nor readers.

This is 100+ journalists being ‘banged out’ of the Guardian offices, an old Fleet Street custom that’s usually a jolly occasion. This felt more like a medieval damnation.

NEW: My piece for the Observer on how I was so deep into my investigation into Cambridge Analytica that I failed to realise that Hannah - my ex's daughter - was facing a human version of it: a stalker who was harvesting her data and weaponising it against her.
1/
theguardian.com/world/2025/mar… I write about how I finally realised the scale of what was happening to Hannah, how comprehensively the police had failed her & how another woman, from the same class as her at the same school had also had a stalker, Alice Ruggles. Her stalker had murdered her.
2/

Last week, the new owners of the Observer wrote to tell me they would *not* be issuing me with a new contract.

So...I want to say publicly that it was an absolute privilege to speak on behalf of my Observer colleagues during our strike. I don't regret doing so. And I learned so much from it.
1/ It means my 20 years at the Guardian & Observer is drawing to a close 😢. For most of that time, it's been the journalistic job of my dreams. I worked with the best editors, photographers & designers & got to do stories that wouldn't have been possible anywhere else. I know how lucky I've been.
2/

This is what should be on every front page right now. What's happening in the US right now is an illegal power grab by a private citizen.

IT'S A COUP.

It's a digital coup. It's Musk who's leading it. The consequences are terrifying. And it's coming for us next.
1/ Please read this. I'm far from alone in saying it. The great
@TimothyDSnyder, @RBReich, @ruthbenghiat have all been shouting it.

There's superb reporting happening into every aspect of what's happening. But there's no framing. It's all facts, no story.
broligarchy.substack.com/p/it-is-a-coup

Britain: we have to understand wtf we’ve done. We’ve allowed one of Trump’s closest allies have access to our entire NHS data systems. This is the CEO of Palantir telling shareholders that ‘when it’s necessary to scare enemies & on occasion kill them’

https://twitter.com/stockmktnewz/status/1886557329904300411

This is the co-founder of Palantir which runs the NHS’s federated data systems this morning on Trump’s plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza.
2/

There is much more I want to say on this but if you’re in the US right now, you need to understand that Silicon Valley is your creepy ex boyfriend. Who’s now conspiring with Donald Trump. They have your data & it can & will be weaponized against you.

https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1886724188255252506

Understand: the first use case of all technology is always against woman. A predator(s) used technology to surveille, harass & intimidate Hannah. And this is now what’s coming for journalists, activists, civil servants, lawyers & many more in the USA now.

NEW: Hannah is my ex-step daughter. And when I was in middle of my Cambridge Analytica investigation, she had a stalker. Stalkers. A whole cast of characters making her life hell. In 2021, I approached the BBC: could we try & nail the perpetrator(s)?
1/

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/sta… This was Han during those years. You would never know how much she was hiding from the world. Every day brought a new wave of abuse & threats that she dealt with alone. She finally opened up & told me the whole story in the dark winter lockdown of 2021.
2/

This is president of @Google - a company accused of illegally harvesting copyrighted work - saying journalists need to learn to use AI or ‘risk missing out’.

He’s just been appointed to the board of @guardian. I hope every journalist in the org watches this & asks: why? This is a headline in @pressgazette today. This is a rapacious company whose business practices have done more to undermine journalism than almost any other yet he has been appointed to Guardian board while *still actually working for Google*. The conflict of interest is off the charts

archive.is/2025.01.30-115…