Society

The Global Engagement Center, a State Department unit that called out Russian and Chinese propaganda campaigns and became a MAGA boogeyman, has been shut down. Team Trump is promising that it’s just the start of an examination of alleged censorship during the Biden administration—and the first Trump administration too. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called…

AmeriCorps, the US federal agency that oversees volunteerism and service work, abruptly pulled teams of young people out of a variety of community service projects across the country on Tuesday. The work stoppage was due to cuts attributed to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, volunteers were informed Tuesday afternoon. WIRED spoke with seven workers…

In an eleventh-hour scramble before a key contract was set to expire on Tuesday night, the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency renewed its funding for the longtime software-vulnerability-tracking project known as the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures Program. Managed by the nonprofit research-and-development group MITRE, the CVE Program is a linchpin of global cybersecurity—providing…

As the chaotic rollout of President Donald Trump’s tariffs last week rattled the nerves of companies across nearly every industry in America and around the globe, one small business owner in the San Francisco Bay Area was trying to figure out if he could finagle his way through a loophole. Eric Mueller of the punk…

The trial between the US Federal Trade Commission and Meta began this week—and the future of the company is at stake. The FTC wants Meta to sell off two prized assets, Instagram and WhatsApp, arguing that it acquired them illegally to suppress competition. Today on the show, senior writer Paresh Dave joins host Zoë Schiffer…

Over the past decade, platforms like Airbnb and Turo have made it simple for people to earn extra cash by renting out their spare bedrooms or cars—but what about a pair of jeans from Zara or a lawn mower that’s been catching dust? It turns out, there’s a market for that stuff too. Recently, a…

Attorneys suing the United States government over its use of vanishing Signal messages to coordinate military strikes last month in Yemen allege that new court filings by the government reveal a “calculated strategy” by Trump administration officials to evade transparency laws through the illegal destruction of government records. US defense and intelligence agencies on Monday…

The anonymous image board 4chan has survived years of controversy. It weathered user and advertiser boycotts as well as damning accusations that it incubated hate speech that may have fueled mass shootings. Users have convened on 4chan to plan hacks like DDoS attacks, and conspiracy theories that festered on 4chan even reportedly inspired the January…

It may not have the shine it once did, but Max (previously HBO Max) is still home to some of the best TV shows of the past 25 years, from The Sopranos and The Wire to Game of Thrones and The Leftovers. Whether you’re a longtime fan of the “it’s not TV” cable network or a Max newbie trying to…

T. Thomason’s US touring visa doesn’t expire until June—but the Canadian pop artist is pulling out of a festival appearance in Belfast, Maine, next month because he doesn’t want to be targeted at the border as a nonbinary trans man. Last week, Thomason, 30, who splits his time between Toronto and Wolfville, Nova Scotia, announced…