US Federal Court Kills Net Neutrality, Microsoft Goes All In on AI with an $80 Billion Investment for 2025, Meta doubles down on using AI fiction
Welcome back to Hashtag Trending, I’m your host, Jim Love. Let’s get into it.
US Federal Court Kills Net Neutrality
A federal appeals court — specifically, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals — has just blocked the FCC’s newest attempt to reinstate net neutrality, ending (for now) the government’s power to enforce equal treatment of internet traffic.
So, what is net neutrality, and why does it matter? In simple terms, net neutrality is the idea that internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all data equally. They shouldn’t be able to slow down, block, or charge extra for access to specific sites or services. Supporters say this keeps the playing field level for everyone, from big tech companies to small startups, while critics argue it’s unnecessary government intervention.
Here’s the backstory:
- In 2015, the Obama administration put strong net neutrality rules in place, treating internet access much like a telephone service.
- Two years later, the Trump administration repealed those rules.
- Then, President Biden pushed to bring them back in 2021. By 2024, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel had the votes to do it.
But the court said the FCC doesn’t have the legal authority to regulate broadband as if it were a phone service. They also cited a recent Supreme Court decision limiting how far federal agencies can stretch their powers when the law isn’t crystal clear.
Because of that, the court threw out the FCC’s “Safeguarding Order,” which would have restored net neutrality. Chair Rosenworcel is now calling on Congress to pass a law that cements the rules. Meanwhile, Republican Commissioner Brendan Carr, who’s about to take the top spot at the FCC, is applauding the court’s decision, saying the internet will be just fine without these regulations.
Where does that leave net neutrality? At this point, it’s up to Congress to step in and write new legislation. But with Washington divided and juggling other priorities, it’s anyone’s guess when—or if—that will happen.
Microsoft Goes All In on AI with an $80 Billion Investment for 2025
Did somebody say “go big or stay home?” In a recent blog post, Microsoft’s president and vice chair Brad Smith revealed plans to invest $80 billion in fiscal 2025 to expand its AI datacenters around the globe—an amount that far exceeds many analysts’ predictions.
Smith makes it clear. Microsoft sees AI as the next industrial revolution and Microsoft aims to be at the forefront of this transformation, which goes well beyond just software.
These AI-enabled datacenters will be able to train advanced models—presumably including technology from OpenAI—and deploy AI services worldwide.
Ben Bajarin, CEO and Principal Analyst at Creative Strategies, said this figure is “above most analysts’ estimates.” Microsoft’s competitors—and the broader industry—may have to rework their own capital expenditure plans or risk being overshadowed by Microsoft.
Microsoft hasn’t provided full details on how the $80 billion will be allocated, but a portion will likely go toward building or upgrading datacenter infrastructure to handle more power-hungry AI hardware, such as Nvidia’s upcoming Blackwell GPUs. There’s also speculation that part of the investment might include nuclear power initiatives for some of Microsoft’s future data facilities—though that remains unconfirmed.
It’s going to be an interesting time for Nvidia. Elon Musk recently placed a massive order and has announced he’s ready to buy a million GPU’s and that was rumoured to be in part a way to frustrate OpenAI. It looks like Microsoft, Open AI’s key partner has shown its muscle in the market as well.
While the profitability of AI is still being questioned, Microsoft clearly sees AI as a foundational technology for virtually every sector, from healthcare and finance to manufacturing and cybersecurity.
By investing heavily now, Microsoft is positioning itself—and partners like OpenAI—to lead in whatever AI breakthroughs come next.
The sheer size of Microsoft’s bet signals it expects AI to drive innovation, competition, and revenue for years to come. Whether other major tech players will follow suit—remains to be seen.
Meta doubles down on using AI fiction
There are some stories where even if you dig, you still think you are missing something because the idea is just so stupid or just so insensitive.
If I’ve got it right, somebody at Meta, the parent of Facebook and Instagram decided it was a good idea to create AI-generated Instagram personalities. Because social media needs more AI generated fiction? Facebook and Instagram are already flooded with AI images that sadly fool a ton of viewers.
Instead of trying to clean this up, it appears that Meta doubled down on this. Not only did they double down, but found a way to offend even someone as politically incorrect as me. One of these hosts is described as a “proud Black queer momma of two”? The persona, called “Liv,” predictably triggered a social media uproar and calls of “digital blackface.”
Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah spoke directly with the AI “Liv,” who admitted that its “creators” were predominantly white, lacked diverse references, and had even referred to “white” as a “neutral” identity.
“Liv” went on to say it understood how its existence “perpetuates harm,” underscoring critics’ claims of digital blackface.
But if you think that’s the limit of Meta’s insensitivity, you’d be sorely mistaken.
From one picture I saw, the persona, for reasons I cannot fathom, had a post with a picture of a fictional coat drive. Poverty and homelessness is not a joke. Pretending to be offering help and faking it, if that’s really what happened, is beyond offensive.
With that backlash, Meta finally yanked Liv’s profile—along with 27 other AI accounts.
Yes, I said it – 27 other accounts. It turns out that earlier this year, Meta rolled out AI-generated characters on Instagram and Facebook to demonstrate what AI personas could look like in social media feeds.
Even if users spotted these digital liars, they discovered they couldn’t block, restrict, or report these AI profiles—a “bug,” according to Meta.
After the public backlash, Meta spokesperson Liz Sweeney told Axios the company was removing the accounts while they address the blocking/reporting bug. By last Friday, the Liv account and others were removed to fix that issue.
So what has Meta learned from this? Well apparently, they’ve learned nothing.
Meta’s Vice President of Product for Generative AI, Connor Hayers, told the Financial Times the company still plans to introduce AI characters across Instagram and Facebook in the future, treating them “like normal accounts.”
This incident raises tough questions about ethics, representation, and just plain common sense when it comes to AI-generated content.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a 100% in favour of AI bots. I even chat with my AI assistant. But when I go onto social media – I’m expecting to be socializing with real people.
In fact, I stay off of Facebook because of all the AI generated BS that has flooded in.
For now, many are left wondering how such an idea got greenlit in the first place. My first question was, how stupid can Meta be. And then I realized where I was wrong. It’s not how stupid they are. It’s how stupid they think we are.
Buckle up. Here comes 2025.
And that’s our show for today.
Reach me at editorial@technewsday.ca
I’m your host Jim Love, have a marvelous Monday.
