What you missed in April 2025

Brazil’s crackdown on social media, Elon Musk’s war on empathy, how BYD is leaving Tesla in the dust, and more!

Photos: Flickr/TSE, Flickr/Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons/Matti Blume

Will Elon Musk really curtail the time he spends at DOGE dismantling the US government? Is the AI boom finally dipping as data center investments are paired back? I’m sure they were some of the big stories you might have encountered over the past month, but there are a lot of others that may have bypassed your radar — and that’s the point of this monthly recap.

Paid subscribers will find three longform stories I pulled out of the last month, along with other recommended reads, labor updates, and a whole slew of other tech stories from around the world you might want to know about. If you’re not already subscribed, sign up today to get the full thing.

Before getting into the roundup though, a quick update from my end. I was happy to see the positive response to my piece about getting off US tech. Recalibrating the digital services I use is proving to be a big project, and beyond the post where I outline my experience and what I’ve switched to, I may do even more on the subject. Expect more on that later this month!

Through April, I appeared on Naomi Klein’s Zeteo podcast, The Majority Report, and Democracy Now. Down in New Zealand, I was on the current affairs program Q+A with Jack Tame and spoke with Radio New Zealand, and later spoke with Klassekampen in Norway about the Canadian election. The guys over at Second Thought also had me in another of their videos to explain why Elon Musk is pushing far-right parties in Europe.

On top of all that, Tech Won’t Save Us celebrated its 5th birthday and System Crash continues to get better with every passing week. Later this month I’ll also be doing some talks in Berlin, followed by one in Amsterdam next month. Consider coming along if you’re in those cities!

With all that said, enjoy the roundup!

— Paris