It's important to note that the DoJ is pursuing Alphabet for other matters, most importantly for monopolizing online search.

These two articles explains it well:

https://www.macrumors.com/2024/08/05/google-search-antitrust-monopoly/

https://www.macrumors.com/2025/03/10/doj-google-chrome-sale/

and the DoJ is pushing for divestiture of the Google Chrome browser. It has back burnered divestiture of the Android operating system but that's still something they could push for later.

It's worth pointing out that many these DoJ actions started before the current administration which does not seem to be pulling the reins on the DoJ's pursuit.

My guess is that Meta let this shoddy redaction happen on purpose. It doesn't seem to hurt them as much as their competitors.

They should know what properly redacted documents are especially how much they are paying their legal team. And it's not their first time in a courtroom either.

This is just a reflection of the company's senior management's values and morals.

Unsurprising.

jfabula1 said:

So I’m thinking, if a US company get very successful in their business model & it get rich it becomes monopolistic.. 
Will Facebook be the next? 

Meta is currently being investigated over their alleged monopoly of social networking and messaging. It's all over the news, don't know how one could miss that if you read any business news at all. There's talk that Meta might have to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp.

Microsoft has been scrutinized as well for anti-trust behavior. Apple has come under fire for how they operate their App Store. In fact they had to open up their walled garden in the EU to let third-party app stores in. That was a couple of years ago.

To all extent, all of the Fortune 100 companies with consumer-facing businesses will come under scrutiny from time to time with various agencies worldwide focusing on the top 20 companies or so.

For sure Alphabet is also being scrutinized for YouTube's dominance. Today's declaration of a monopolistic ad network is directly tied to Google Search (which is also considered monopolistic) because Google AdWords has been the long-time cash cow for Google (now Alphabet).

Look, AI-assisted writing tools are really just like any other tool or convenience.

Did you cook your own dinner last night? Or did you just order DoorDash? Dump a jar of spaghetti sauce in a saucepan? Use a food processor instead of chopping up ingredients with a knife? Use canned chicken stock? Did you paint your last image or did you just snap a photo with your smartphone?

Tools exist to make lives easier whether it be a Skil-saw, automobile, or digital service like Apple Intelligence's Image Clean Up. It's really up to the individual to decide how to use it. You are still free to fire up Photoshop or The GIMP and edit your images manually. Or dodge-and-burn like Ansel Adams. Or just use a pencil on paper and an eraser. I suck at Photoshop so something like Image Clean Up helps me because I could spend hours on an image and not get the same results as using an AI-assisted photo editing tool.

How long would it take you to bake the perfect baguette, your sister's wedding cake, a scone? Don't want to pick up leaves? Get a rake. Thing raking is too slow? Get a leaf blower.

For sure AI is here to stay and even sticking your head in the sand isn't going to make it go away.

And no one is pointing a gun at your head saying you need to use Meta's AI tools when you are on Facebook. You are still free to type your own thoughts using your own brain cells instead of Meta Llama.

For sure, AI-assisted writing tools reduces some of the tedium and time of composing certain types of written communications. For sure some people have better writing skills than others. AI-assisted writing tools simply reduce some of the time and/or improve the output for some less talented writers. It doesn't actually make them better writers or thinkers. We have been over this countless times before.

Hell, I'm pretty disappointed with all consumer-facing AI because it still can't handle junk e-mail. That is absolutely pathetic and everyone working on consumer-facing LLMs should be utterly ashamed at their lack of ability here in April 2025. Sure, writing tools are fine. But give us something that will help everyone. No one benefits from wasting time triaging through junkmail.

This is how moronic consumer-facing LLM-based AI tools are in 2025. There are great things happening in the commercial/enterprise side of things (pharmaceutial research, semiconductor design, financial services). But from a consumer perspective, it's almost all embarrassingly lame. AI writing tools are one of the few things today's consumer-facing LLMs can actually do reasonably decently.

AI IS NOT GOING AWAY AND WHINING ABOUT IT WON'T DO SQUAT.

Is Apple Intelligence's Image Clean Up feature better than an expert Photoshop user? Probably not. Is it faster than rank Photoshop-illiterate Joe Consumer? Absolutely. These consumer-facing tools are being aimed at a broad market, not for people who have 20+ years of professional, on-the-job Photoshop experience. Some of you have excellent Photoshop skills. We understand, good for you. Some of you also might be superior bakers, carpenters, seamstresses. We get that too.

AI-writing tools aren't targeted at professional writers, editors, etc. They're aimed at the ordinary office worker who probably doesn't have a Master's Degree in English, Comparative Literature, Classics, whatever (hell, some might be writing in a language different than their native tongue). AI isn't going to write War & Peace, a Pulitzer-prize winning poetry collection or wedding gift thank you notes.

We have been over this time and time before.

It's a shame that there are no updates for the iOS 17.7 and other related OSes. Not everyone has jumped to iOS/iPadOS 18 or macOS Sequoia. I have two iPhones on iOS 17.7.2 and an iPad on iPadOS 17.7.2. There are also two Macs running Sonoma 14.7.5 in the house.

Should I A.) assume that iOS 17.7 does not have any of these vulnerabilities (unlikely), or B.) Apple is just being lazy (jury is still out).

Many of us are still deliberately staying on an older version of the operating systems for a variety of different reasons. My main reason is that iOS 18 is still too buggy. I might upgrade to iOS 18/Sequoia in June but I'll decide later. I have skipped entire generations like Crapalina.

Apple is doing a disservice by not providing timely security updates to these older operating systems or at least offering some sort of communication confirming that these older OSes are not vulnerable. Not that Apple has ever shown any propensity to being transparent about security matters.