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February 28, 2026, 8:35 AM
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@secwar:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth directs the DOD to designate Anthropic as a supply chain risk, barring military contractors from doing business with the company  —  This week, Anthropic delivered a master class in arrogance and betrayal as well as a textbook case of how not to do business with the United States Government or the Pentagon. Our position has never wavered and will never waver: the Department of War must have full, unrestricted
More: TechCrunch, VentureBeat, The Verge, New York Times, CBS News, The Hill, MS NOW, Neowin, One America News Network, RTÉ, Flux, Freedom Frequency, Implicator.ai, and CNBC
X: @deanwball, @whitehouse, @ilyasut, @deanwball, @boazbaraktcs, @janleike, @petereharrell, @jachiam0, @quantian1, @yuchenj_uw, @briana_reilly, @thezvi, @peterwildeford, @ike_saul, @jasminewsun, @danprimack, @tszzl, @chrisrmcguire, @sporadica, @davidafrench, @jasminewsun, @growing_daniel, @brianschatz, @alexolegimas, @tautologer, @janleike, @michaelsobolik, @douthatnyt, @boztank, @johnofa, @alexolegimas, @petereharrell, @eigenrobot, @josephpolitano, @josephpolitano, @fujikanaeda, @chrisrmcguire, @nickbryantny, @tszzl, @chheplo, @memetic_theory, @envisionedluna, @danwwang, @deanwball, @s_oheigeartaigh, @mualphaxi, @thezvi, @jeffladish, @luke_metro, @alecstapp, @deredleritt3r, @scaling01, @sporadica, @josephpolitano, @bpodgursky, @teortaxestex, @adamkovac, @kelseytuoc, @wholemars, @natesilver538, @deanwball, @deanwball, @beffjezos, @adamscochran, @thezvi, @scottlincicome, @martinshkreli, @aidan_mclau, @tszzl, @cernovich, @signulll, @afinetheorem, @kantrowitz, @senmarkey, @eggerdc, @sporadica, @gilduran76, @kelseytuoc, @bonecondor, @deanwball, @deredleritt3r, @paulnovosad, @jamessurowiecki, @mattparlmer, @mreflow, @sethbannon, @kyliebytes, @shawmakesmagic, @aricohn, @afinetheorem, @charliebul58993, @tysonbrody, @rabois, @stevesi, @alpha_co, @tszzl, @josephpolitano, @repdonbeyer, @drakeevans, @mert, @ericlevitz, @ericbahn, @pfau, @jack_g_nicastro, @alexbores, @jachiam0, @autismcapital, @jimsciutto, @charliebul58993, @aricohn, @__nmca__, @deanwball, @rushdoshi, @emeriticus, @trq212, @mikulaja, @kevinroose, @jacquesthibs, @dvassallo, @cixliv, @senmarkkelly, @kevinroose, @danprimack, @deredleritt3r, @willdepue, @rcbregman, and @tszzl
Bluesky: @ianbassin, @bbkogan, @edzitron.com, and @alanrozenshtein.com.  Threads: @alexfalcone
Forums: Hacker News, r/Conservative, and r/slatestarcodex
Anthropic:
Anthropic says it'll challenge “any supply chain risk designation in court” and that the designation would only affect contractors' use of Claude on DOD work  —  Earlier today, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth shared on X that he is directing the Department of War to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk.
Axios:
President Trump calls Anthropic a “radical left, woke company” and says he is directing every federal agency in the US to stop using its products  —  The Trump administration has decided to blacklist Anthropic in the most consequential and controversial policy decision to date …
Bloomberg:
Two coalitions of workers, including employees of Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, ask their companies to join Anthropic in refusing DOD's demands  —  Anthropic PBC got a vote of support from Silicon Valley workers for its increasingly contentious public-relations battle with the Pentagon …
Washington Post:
Sources detail how the standoff between the Pentagon and Anthropic escalated after discussions about using Claude during hypothetical nuclear missile attacks
Sam Altman / @sama:
Sam Altman says OpenAI reached an agreement with the DOD to deploy its models in DOD's classified network and asks DOD to extend those terms to all AI companies  —  Tonight, we reached an agreement with the Department of War to deploy our models in their classified network. In all of our interactions, the DoW displayed a deep respect for safety and a desire to partner to achieve the best possible outcome. AI safety and wide distribution of
Sharon Goldman / Fortune:
Source: Sam Altman told employees the DOD is willing to let OpenAI build its own “safety stack” and won't force OpenAI to comply if its model refuses a task  —  Sam Altman told OpenAI employees at an all-hands meeting on Friday afternoon that a potential agreement is emerging …
Axios:
Sam Altman says OpenAI shares Anthropic's red lines with respect to AI use by the military, which are “an issue for the whole industry”
About Amazon:
Amazon will invest $15B in OpenAI initially, followed by $35B if certain conditions are met; OpenAI commits to consuming ~2 GW of Trainium capacity through AWS
Kate Knibbs / Wired:
OpenAI fired an employee for insider trading on prediction markets like Polymarket; Unusual Whales has flagged 77 suspected insider trades around OpenAI events  —  Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi are big business, and some Big Tech employees are testing boundaries by making trades based on insider knowledge.
Dina Bass / Bloomberg:
Dell stock closes up 22%, its biggest single-day gain since March 1, 2024, after the company gave an outlook for sales of its AI servers that exceeded estimates  —  Dell Technologies Inc. shares jumped the most in two years after the company gave an outlook for sales of its artificial intelligence servers …
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Paramount agrees to acquire WBD, paying $31 per share in cash, giving WBD an enterprise value of $110B; Paramount paid a $2.8B breakup fee to Netflix  —  Netflix backed away from its $87.2 billion deal on Thursday. … The two companies formally unveiled the deal Friday after Netflix formally bowed …
Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
Source: India issued a blocking order on February 24 to restrict access to developer database service Supabase; the government did not publicly cite a reason  —  Supabase, a popular developer database platform, is facing disruptions in India — one of its key markets — has been blocked in India, TechCrunch has learned.

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Featured Podcasts

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 Anthropic vs. The Pentagon, Bloodbath at Block, The Citrini Selloff
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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:35 AM ET, February 28, 2026.

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From Mediagazer

Bloomberg:
How Paramount's David Ellison deployed financial backing and political lobbying, including his well-connected chief legal adviser, to beat Netflix and win WBD

CNN:
CNN employees and viewers have serious concerns about whether Ellison will uphold CNN's editorial independence amid severe political pressure

Jeremy Barr / The Guardian:
Memo: another CBS News producer leaves, after 46 years, and says, “We've been told to aim our reporting at a particular part of the political spectrum”

More News

Fast Company:
A look at a local group's lawsuit against Micron over its $100B New York manufacturing complex, alleging a rushed permitting process and environmental review
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
A federal judge issues a preliminary injunction blocking Virginia from enforcing a new law restricting children's social media use, on First Amendment grounds

Earlier Picks

The Atlantic:
Court docs from a New Mexico trial reveal internal divisions at Meta as Instagram teen safety initiatives conflicted with growth and engagement goals
OpenAI:
OpenAI says ChatGPT has 900M+ weekly active users, 50M+ consumer subscribers, and weekly Codex users have more than tripled since the start of the year to 1.6M
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: multiple federal agencies raised concerns about Grok's safety and reliability in recent months, before DOD approved Grok for use in classified settings
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