Louise Matsakis
senior business editor @wired.com focused on AI, China, and Silicon Valley. Send tips to louise_matsakis.83 on Signal. How I work with sources: louisematsakis.com/sourcefaq
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisTwo men claiming to be newly appointed Trump appointees were blocked from entering the US Copyright Office this morning. Scoop from @knibbs.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/us-cop...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisSccoooop OpenAI and the FDA Are Holding Talks About Using AI In Drug Evaluation: www.wired.com/story/openai...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisScoooop w/@lmatsakis.bsky.social: A 'Trump Card Visa' is already showing up on immigration forms (courtesy of DOGE): www.wired.com/story/doge-t...
- Reposted by Louise Matsakis"WIRED confirmed that citizens of China, Russia, Ukraine, South Korea and many other countries are eligible to select the Trump Card Visa option in Global Entry applications." New details on the Trump "gold card visa" from @zoeschiffer.bsky.social @lmatsakis.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/doge-t...
- SCOOP: Elon Musk's DOGE has started rolling out a dedicated website and other digital infrastructure for Trump's $5 million gold card program, which he said would allow wealthy people to buy US residency. From me & @zoeschiffer.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/doge-t...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisNEW: a coalition of states and startups are suing the nuclear regulatory commission, saying that there are too many regulations standing in the way of nuclear progress. some nuclear experts say removing regulations is the exact wrong move at a fragile moment of public nuclear acceptance:
- SCOOP: Jamieson Greer, Trump's top advisor on matters related to international trade, consulted for Chinese ecommerce giant Shein before joining the White House, according to a former Shein employee and internal documents seen by WIRED. By @timmclaughlin3.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/shein-...
- At 2 PM EST today me and @zeyiyang.bsky.social are doing an Reddit AMA about Temu, answering all your questions about Chinese e-commerce, tariffs, higher prices, and more. Hit us up! www.reddit.com/r/TemuThings...
- Reposted by Louise Matsakisabsolutely, so to make sure everyone can get the info they need we’re running an AMA on r/TemuThings tomorrow at 2 pm ET with the amazing @zeyiyang.bsky.social and @lmatsakis.bsky.social ! leave your questions here:
- NEW from @zeyiyang.bsky.social: The wife of professor Xiaofeng Wang, who was abruptly fired by Indiana University the same day the couple’s houses were searched by the FBI last month, said on Monday that she believes her family has been unfairly targeted www.wired.com/story/profes...
- Reposted by Louise Matsakis“I hate to say it—I think they beat us at capitalism.” www.wired.com/story/tariff...
- Reposted by Louise Matsakisi don't know how we come back from this www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/w...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisI, increasingly on the “old” side of the continental divide of culture, keep hearing from people on the other side that China has been gaining in coolness. Many will cry propaganda. But there’s something real in zany videos or gallows political humor or just dreaming of a thing *not this.*
- I wrote about how Trump's trade war is falling flat in a moment when Americans don't feel as negatively about China as they once did www.wired.com/story/china-...
- I wrote about how Trump's trade war is falling flat in a moment when Americans don't feel as negatively about China as they once did www.wired.com/story/china-...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisAnecdotal, but I see a ton of TikToks these days that glamorize daily life, travel, and commerce in China. (Maybe glamorize isn’t even the right word—depict in a straightforwardly appealing way?) V good piece by @lmatsakis.bsky.social on the rise of China’s soft power and the decline of the U.S.’s
- I checked a few super pro-Trump media sites to get a sense of how they're messaging in this moment. Here's one of the top opinion pieces right now on Townhall. Can't say I find this narrative very inspiring or convincing. "reality doesn't care about your hopes and aspirations."
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisI wrote about the impossibly complex supply chain defining every aspect of consumer technology, the near impossibility of an America-first iPhone, the possibility that perhaps we do not need to be buying so many of these things 🌞
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisOne notable tech winner from Trump's tariffs: Palantir, which jumped on the announcement to promote an AI service they claim helps businesses ensure that “tariff-related decisions consider the full operational context.” www.wired.com/story/trump-...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisThis situation is really wild, @wired.com breaks down what they know: www.wired.com/story/xiaofe...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisScoop: We got updates about the cybersecurity prof Xiaofeng Wang: A document circulating among academics says Indiana U has been inquiring Wang about involvement in a research project with alleged Chinese funding. Wang's attorney says he & his wife are safe and have no pending criminal charges.
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisNEW, with @zeyiyang.bsky.social + @lmatsakis.bsky.social: The FBI raided the homes of an Indiana Uni comp sci prof & his wife last week. They disappeared. Now, sources say this followed a months-long IU review into whether he got unreported research funding from China: www.wired.com/story/xiaofe...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisNEW: A lawyer for Xiaofeng Wang and his wife says they are “safe” after FBI searches of their homes and Wang's sudden dismissal from Indiana University, where he taught for over 20 years. @zeyiyang.bsky.social @lmatsakis.bsky.social & @carolinehaskins.bsky.social report www.wired.com/story/xiaofe...
- Scoop: Before professor Xiaofeng Wang and his wife disappeared, the school is said to have been reviewing for months whether he received unreported research funding from China. By @zeyiyang.bsky.social @carolinehaskins.bsky.social and me www.wired.com/story/xiaofe...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisA prominent computer scientist who has spent 20 years publishing academic papers on cryptography, privacy, and cybersecurity has gone incommunicado, had his professor profile removed by employer Indiana University, & had his homes raided by the FBI. No one knows why. arstechnica.com/security/202...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisElon Musk's AI startup xAI has acquired X, because of course. With @lmatsakis.bsky.social: www.wired.com/story/xai-x-...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisSo I dived deep into the online & offline activities of Maye Musk, Elon's mom. Here, she has immersed herself into the Trump power circles and partisan narratives; but in China, she's still the fashion influencer who visits "nearly every month" and poses with Chinese art and Tesla cars.
- SCOOP: A decade ago, Elon Musk boasted on Twitter about meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Details of the meeting were later deleted from his profile, but we uncovered them because they lived on in a retweet....from Musk's mom, Maye Musk. By @zeyiyang.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/maye-m...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisThanks @wired.com for sharing & contextualising this news. Research like atomic spectroscopy is foundational to many areas of science & should be supported.
- SCOOP: The Trump administration is planning to eliminate an entire team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology responsible for publishing critical data that underpins advanced scientific research around the world. from me and @willknight.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/nist-d...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisCan confirm that many of my colleagues regularly use these databases — they contain information about atomic energy levels, transitions, ionization energies etc that are essential for interpreting astrophysical spectra — and are very worried about what will happen if they're not maintained. 🧪
- SCOOP: The Trump administration is planning to eliminate an entire team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology responsible for publishing critical data that underpins advanced scientific research around the world. from me and @willknight.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/nist-d...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisUnder Trump, the National Institute of Standards and Technology plans to lay off an entire team responsible for critical atomic measurement data used in areas like semiconductor manufacturing and nuclear fusion. Scoop by @lmatsakis.bsky.social & @willknight.bsky.social: www.wired.com/story/nist-d...
- SCOOP: The Trump administration is planning to eliminate an entire team at the National Institute of Standards and Technology responsible for publishing critical data that underpins advanced scientific research around the world. from me and @willknight.bsky.social www.wired.com/story/nist-d...
- When I read the details of what ICE did in this case—showing up at the house of a young protestor’s parents, texting them out of the blue—a wave of familiarity washed over me. It eerily reminds me of the way China seeks to intimidate student activists and journalists
- Attorney General Pam Bondi says that attacks on Tesla cars and charging statations are “domestic terrorism” as @carolinehaskins.bsky.social reports, that could give law enforcement more leeway to surveil protestors and potentially even share info w/ Tesla www.wired.com/story/fbi-te...
- "I had a Canadian passport, lawyers, resources, media attention, friends, family, and even politicians advocating for me. And yet, I was still detained for nearly two weeks." medium.com/@jasminemoon...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisSCOOP: More than 300 FTC blogs published under FTC Chair Lina Khan disappeared this morning. They included posts critical of Amazon, Microsoft, and generative AI. www.wired.com/story/federa...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisMy latest: Generative AI is enabling a brute force attack against the algorithms that control reality. AI slop is taking over every algorithmically controlled social media platform and search platform, and the tech platforms are helping: www.404media.co/ai-slop-is-a...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisDOGE's cuts to the USDA included a large amount of highly specialized workers checking plants and animals at ports. Logistics experts believe this will lead to a cascade of issues, from groceries spoiling to raised prices: www.wired.com/story/usda-f...
- “They were unaware that the clinic was closing because America’s leaders have already taken actions to let impoverished women bleed to death in the dust here.” www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
- can't think of a stupider way to immediately undermine US innovation, aside from haphazardly slashing federal research grants as the Trump admin is already doing www.foxnews.com/politics/chi...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisNEW: Employees at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency tell WIRED they’re struggling to protect the US while the administration dismisses their colleagues and poisons their partnerships.
- Looking back, I think an incredibly dumb mistake that helped lead to this moment was the unchecked glorification of “manufacturing jobs”
- "Really, what more could be said? Something unbelievable had happened: A young father was grieving the death of his 6-year-old from measles." www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
- Reposted by Louise MatsakisThe U.S. State Dept is killing an air monitoring program that helped pressure China to clean up Beijing's air, and later expanded to cities around the world. "I’ve never seen an initiative of the US government have such an immediate, dramatic impact in a country." www.wired.com/story/air-mo...
