Welcome back to your daily memorandum talking tech, business, AI, markets, and more. 🗞️

In today’s edition we are tackling the following:

🧠 Times sues Perplexity for copying articles and evading copyright protections.
📉 Brazil’s markets fall after Bolsonaro endorses son Flavio for 2026 race.
🎵 Spotify Wrapped 2025 hits record global engagement on launch day.
⚡ Cloudflare outage disrupts major services after maintenance error.
💼 Meta signs AI news deals to power its chatbot.

TECHNOLOGY

• EU Fines X $140 Mln for Breaching Online Content Rules, TikTok Settles with Concessions (Reuters) 

  ^{_{More: BBC}}

  • European Commission fined X 120 million euros for deceptive blue checkmarks and blocking researchers from accessing public data.

  • TikTok avoided penalty by pledging transparency improvements to advertising library after similar Digital Services Act violations in May.

  • Vice President JD Vance called action censorship over free speech while EU officials defended enforcing digital standards consistently.

• New York Times Sues A.I. Start-Up Perplexity Over Use of Copyrighted Work (New York Times) 

  _{^{More: TechCrunch, Axios, CNBC}}

  • Times alleges Perplexity reproduced articles verbatim while attributing fabricated hallucinations to newspaper violating trademark and copyright protections.

  • Startup bypassed technical barriers including robots.txt protocols and IP blocking using stealth tactics despite repeated cease-and-desist demands.

  • Second major AI lawsuit for Times follows December 2023 OpenAI case joining growing wave exceeding forty copyright cases nationwide.

• Spotify says Wrapped 2025 is its biggest yet with 200M users first day (TechCrunch)

  ^{_{More: Yahoo, Business Insider}}

  • Engagement for Spotify Wrapped surged as the campaign attracted massive early participation across several major regions.

  • Platform highlighted stronger listener retention and increased playlist sharing compared with previous annual editions.

  • Results underline sustained demand for personalized music features that reinforce user identity and platform loyalty.

BUSINESS

• Netflix Lines Up $59 Billion of Debt for Warner Bros. Deal (Bloomberg) 
  ^{_{More: Fortune, NBC News, Yahoo Finance}}

  • Wells Fargo BNP Paribas HSBC providing unsecured bridge loan supporting seventy-two billion dollar Warner Bros Discovery acquisition deal.

  • Transaction valued at twenty-seven seventy-five per share creates entertainment behemoth uniting world's largest streamer with century-old Hollywood studio.

  • Bridge represents Wells Fargo's twenty-nine point five billion dollar commitment biggest single bank investment-grade facility amid M&A revival.

• Meta Strikes Multiple AI Deals with News Publishers (Axios) 

  ^{_{More: Press Gazette}}

  • Meta signed multiyear commercial AI agreements with USA Today People CNN Fox News Daily Caller Washington Examiner Le Monde.

  • Deals provide Meta AI chatbot real-time verified news with attribution links reversing 2022 decision abandoning publisher partnerships entirely.

  • Move includes conservative outlets addressing previous accusations of political bias while competing against OpenAI Perplexity Gemini licensing strategies.

• Incoming Czech PM Babis’ business empire spans chickens to fertility clinics (Reuters)

  ^{_{More: Yahoo Finance}}

  • Andrej Babiš’s conglomerate Agrofert comprises 230+ companies in agriculture, chemicals, food, and fuels.

  • To address conflict-of-interest concerns, Babiš transferred Agrofert into an independent trust before assuming premiership.

  • Agrofert reported about US$10.2 billion in 2024 revenue and employs roughly 29,000 people across Central Europe.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Chinese-Linked Hackers Use Back Door for Potential 'Sabotage,' US and Canada Say (Reuters) 

  _{^{More: The Record, CyberScoop, Nextgov}}

  • CISA NSA Canadian Cyber Security warned Brickstorm malware enables long-term access disruption potential sabotage targeting government IT entities.

  • State-backed hackers maintained access from April 2024 through September 2025 stealing credentials enabling full computer control networkswide.

  • Malware targets VMware vSphere servers exploiting gaps where detection tools cannot deploy making identification exceptionally difficult for defenders.

• Bolsonaro Chose Son Flavio to Run in 2026 Election, Ally Says (Bloomberg) 

  _{^{More: Devdiscourse}}

  • Former president endorsed Senator Flavio Bolsonaro for presidential run dashing investor hopes for Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas.

  • Brazilian real weakened two point three percent worst intraday drop since October following Metropoles report confirming dynastic succession plans.

  • Decision positions family continuation despite Jair Bolsonaro's electoral ban through 2030 and ongoing coup conspiracy trial facing imprisonment.

• Argentina to Sell Local Law Bond in Dollars Amid Milei Momentum (Bloomberg) 

  _{^{More: Buenos Aires Times, Bloomberg Law}}

  • Argentina announced Bonar bond tender maturing November 2029 with six point five percent coupon seizing momentum from Milei's midterm victory.

  • Proceeds address four point five billion dollars January bond payments plus similar July maturities without depleting central bank reserves.

  • Serial defaulter prepares global market return after years locked out seeking rebuild investor confidence following 2020 international debt default.

FUTURISM

• Cloudflare Says It Fixed Outage That Slowed Banking Sites, Zoom (Bloomberg) 

  _{^{More: ABC News, Euronews, Insurance Journal}}

  • Infrastructure provider resolved outage affecting banks Shopify Zoom LinkedIn Friday morning caused by database change during planned maintenance.

  • Incident disrupted Norwegian Swedish government sites including central banks sovereign wealth funds highlighting concentration risk in internet infrastructure.

  • Second major Cloudflare failure within three weeks following November disruption affecting ChatGPT League of Legends prompting reliability concerns.

• Apple Departures Point to Challenges for iPhone's Dominance (Wall Street Journal) 

  _{^{More: MacRumors, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider}}

  • Dozens of engineers designers with audio watch robotics expertise departed Apple for OpenAI building dedicated hardware division.

  • LinkedIn review shows former contributors to flagship categories including wearable industrial design platform audio technologies joining OpenAI systematically.

  • Apple also announced departures of general counsel Kate Adams environmental VP Lisa Jackson amid broader executive shakeup across company.

• AI Data Centers' Ram Is Getting Really, Really Expensive (Futurism) 

  • High-bandwidth memory prices surged over 300% year-over-year driven by insatiable AI training infrastructure demand globally.

  • Samsung SK Hynix Micron struggle meeting HBM demand with capacity constraints limiting GPU production for Microsoft Google Meta OpenAI.

  • Industry analysts predict shortages persisting through 2026 as chip manufacturers race expand specialized memory manufacturing capacity aggressively.

CONTENT

• Axios AI+ Summit: Demis Hassabis on Advancing AI (Axios)

  • Hassabis outlines DeepMind’s latest progress, emphasizing breakthroughs in reasoning systems and long-term scientific applications.

  • Mike Allen asks how frontier models reshape competition as Hassabis describes escalating compute needs and strategic global partnerships.

  • Discussion highlights regulatory momentum and stresses balancing innovation ambitions with safety standards guiding AI’s next development phase.

• I Watched “Maybe Some People Should Just Give Up” (ThePrimeTime)

  • ThePrimeTime examines NeetCodeIO’s video, exploring themes of motivation struggles and the pressures shaping online productivity.

  • Dissects how creator culture frames perseverance, contrasting genuine self-improvement with performative grit rewarded by algorithms.

  • Discussion considers audience expectations and why burnout cycles persist despite widespread awareness of healthier learning approaches.

• How to Fix Your Attention with Daniel Pink (Daniel Pink)

  • Pink explains rising attention fragmentation and shares research on reclaiming focus through deliberate practice and environmental design.

  • He details routines that signal the brain to enter deep work, including rituals, baselines, breaks, and sustainable cognitive pacing.

  • Insights show how small mindset shifts restore momentum, helping creators overcome blocks and maintain consistent long-form output.

EXTRAS

• CDC panel votes to limit newborn hepatitis B vaccine recommendation (The New York Times)
  ^{_{More:  ABC News, The Guardian}}

  • The federal advisory committee ended the long-standing policy recommending universal hepatitis B vaccination at birth.

  • Now only infants whose mothers test positive (or whose status is unknown) will automatically get the vaccine at birth.

  • Most other newborns will receive the first dose after two months, pending parental and doctor discretion.

• Trump administration considered building a ballroom at the White House, new filings show (The New York Times)

  • Internal documents reveal proposals to add a private ballroom inside the presidential residence.

  • The plan raised ethical and legal concerns about use of public funds for personal benefit.

  • Some White House officials expressed doubts over historical precedent and architectural constraints.

• Spot crypto products begin trading on CFTC-registered exchanges (Reuters)
  _{^{More: Bloomberg, FT, CoinDesk}}

• The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission authorized spot crypto trading on federally registered exchanges.

• The move aims to bring digital-asset trades under regulated framework, boosting market transparency.

• Industry stakeholders welcome clearer rules under current regulatory authorities, hoping for broader adoption.

AND MORE

• Chinese and U.S. officials held a “constructive” call reaffirming trade-deal commitments under the 2025 Busan agreement.

• China pledged to boost imports and sign more trade and investment deals through 2030.

• The European Union fined platform X €120 million under digital-content laws, reinforcing Big Tech regulation.

• Markets rallied amid rising bets on an upcoming U.S. interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

• Former Czech premier Andrej Babis will return as prime minister on December 9, after transferring his business holdings.

• AI startup Harvey confirmed an $8 billion valuation, highlighting ongoing investor enthusiasm in the sector.

• Your brand deserves to be in front of people who actually make decisions. That’s Memo’s audience.*

• Hardware shake-ups continue: Apple’s general counsel and policy head depart amid executive restructuring.

• Streaming service Spotify announced that its 2025 Wrapped campaign drew over 200 million users on first day.