Olivia Solon
oliviasolon.bsky.social
Olivia Solon
@oliviasolon.bsky.social
Covering tech at Bloomberg from London
Signal: @oliviasolon.13
Email: osolon2@bloomberg.net
The new poop emoji
So the president of the United States plans to meet with Putin in Hungary, and when a reporter asked where that plan came from, this was the reply of the United States government www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
October 17, 2025 at 1:35 PM
AppLovin has shut down a product linked to user and short-seller allegations that apps were being downloaded to mobile phones without consent.

The product, called Array, was offered to device-makers and carriers to promote or preload apps on phones.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AppLovin Axes Product Tied to Unwanted App Download Allegations
AppLovin Corp. said it has shut down a product linked to user and short-seller allegations that apps were being downloaded to mobile phones without consent.
www.bloomberg.com
October 15, 2025 at 3:11 PM
The SEC has been probing AppLovin over its data-collection practices, according to people familiar with the matter

My latest for @bloomberg.com

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
AppLovin Has Been Probed By SEC Over Data-Collection Practices
The Securities and Exchange Commission has been probing the data-collection practices of the mobile advertising tech company AppLovin Corp., according to people familiar with the matter. The company’s...
www.bloomberg.com
October 6, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Olivia Solon
September 18, 2025 at 9:50 AM
AI infrastructure ouroboros:

Microsoft funds OpenAI, which pays for Microsoft & other cloud/data center companies for compute, and those cloud companies buy Nvidia GPUs, and Nvidia props those companies up with investment and guarantees to buy unused compute capacity.
September 18, 2025 at 9:43 AM
In 2021, a report alleged that Evolution’s casino games could be played in sanctioned markets. The company denied the allegations, saying this wasn’t possible without “sophisticated technical manipulation.” It also sued the law firm that submitted the report to a regulator.
August 13, 2025 at 6:16 AM
Devastated to learn that the Ibiza club Bezos and Sanchez went to was DC10. Stick to Ushuaia!
August 8, 2025 at 6:04 AM
A series of short-seller reports about AppLovin have exposed the ugly underbelly of mobile ad tech

www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...
AppLovin Short Sellers Discover Mobile Ad Tech’s Ugly Underbelly
Welcome to Tech In Depth, our daily newsletter about the business of tech from Bloomberg’s journalists around the world. Today, Olivia Solon addresses the spate of reports alleging one of Google and M...
www.bloomberg.com
July 23, 2025 at 6:42 PM
I like how hyperscalers shifted from using shell companies to develop data centers as quietly as possible to avoid community pitchforks to calling them things like Gigazilla and bragging about how they will consume all of Spain’s power and water
July 14, 2025 at 8:29 PM
Reposted by Olivia Solon
New by @oliviasolon.bsky.social ( @bloomberg.com) and @tomasstatius.bsky.social ( @lighthousereports.com): a EU border control system - with biometric info on 1.7 million people - has extremely serious cybersecurity issues.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

This is why these stories are important:
Cybersecurity Flaws Plagued EU Border Control System, Audit Shows
An information-sharing system used by EU border forces to flag illegal immigrants and suspected criminals in real time was rife with software and security vulnerabilities, according to emails and conf...
www.bloomberg.com
July 3, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Reposted by Olivia Solon
This reporting by @tomasstatius.bsky.social @oliviasolon.bsky.social follows our previous exposé of a related EU biometric border system fiasco involving French industrial group Atos bsky.app/profile/ligh...
It’s 5yrs and waiting since the EU boasted that a €142mn “smart borders” system would see it biometrically track people in/out of the bloc. Atos, a French IT firm cosy with Brussels, was supposed to do the bulk of the job.

Documents obtained by @lhreports.bsky.social @bloomberg.com reveal a fiasco
July 2, 2025 at 1:11 PM
An information-sharing system used by EU border forces to flag illegal immigrants and suspected criminals in real time was rife with software & security vulnerabilities, according to confidential documents seen by @bloomberg.com and @lighthousereports.com

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
EU Border Software Vulnerable to Hacks, Confidential Reports Warn
An information-sharing system used by EU border forces to flag illegal immigrants and suspected criminals in real time was rife with software and security vulnerabilities, according to emails and conf...
www.bloomberg.com
July 2, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Journalists in movies are usually depicted as highly unethical -- sleeping with sources, making covert recordings, breaking into places to steal documents.

But really we're spending 6 hours trawling LinkedIn for current and former employees.
June 27, 2025 at 8:10 AM
The absolute entitlement with which my kids demand water. They cannot wait 5 minutes for their thirst to be quenched.

In the 80s we never had access to water. No water bottles. We survived as desiccated husks, lucky to get the occasional cup of orange squash.
June 23, 2025 at 5:28 AM
What's with these natalist/god complex billionaires?

Telegram founder Pavel Durov says he has fathered 6 kids with three partners as well as more than 100 other kids via his sperm donations.

www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Telegram’s Durov to Leave Fortune to 100 Children He’s Fathered
Telegram billionaire founder and Chief Executive Officer Pavel Durov plans to leave his vast fortune to the more than 100 children he’s fathered, according to an interview with France’s Le Point magaz...
www.bloomberg.com
June 19, 2025 at 2:08 PM
“Imagine a woven butterfly”
June 19, 2025 at 11:28 AM
Reposted by Olivia Solon
"I'm sorry, you're right to point out the mistake. I didn't bomb the target you asked for, I bombed something statistically resembling the target you asked for. I'll do better next time!"
“OpenAI mentioned a deal with the DoD in a blog post that announces the launch of a larger initiative called “OpenAI for Government”. As that name implies, the program aims to bring OpenAI’s tech to Washington.”

www.theregister.com/2025/06/17/d...
OpenAI scores $200m Defense Department AI pilot deal
: DoD says deal covers 'warfighting'. OpenAI merely mentions healthcare and 'supporting proactive cyber defense'
www.theregister.com
June 17, 2025 at 5:54 AM
Reposted by Olivia Solon
Stolen from a friend's IG:
June 16, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Reposted by Olivia Solon
I just tried to pre-order the Trump T1 Phone, the new all gold phone from the Trump Organization. The website failed, went to an error page, and then charged my credit card the wrong amount of $64.70. I have no idea whether or how I’ll receive the phone.

www.404media.co/trump-mobile...
I Tried Pre-Ordering the Trump Phone. The Page Failed and It Charged My Credit Card the Wrong Amount
I got a confirmation email saying I'll get another confirmation when it's shipped. But I haven't provided a shipping address.
www.404media.co
June 16, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Reposted by Olivia Solon
If anyone wants a dumb story then if you ask Amazon Alexa to “play More by Pulp” (the name of their new album) it just plays “more random old songs” by Pulp and is probably hitting their streaming numbers.
June 16, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Reposted by Olivia Solon
I imagine all these jobs will go with AI
June 16, 2025 at 8:15 AM
It is astonishing how much the information ecosystem as accessed via Google search has deteriorated over the past 2 years.
June 16, 2025 at 6:51 AM
Reposted by Olivia Solon
Great – looks as if the White House used AI to draft a health report and wound up inserting citations for articles that don’t exist. They put cheating high schoolers to shame.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/29/w...
White House Health Report Included Fake Citations
www.nytimes.com
May 30, 2025 at 5:09 AM
French movies perform well in France but it's been a while since there's been an international hit.

Dimitri Rassam wants to change that with The Accursed Kings -- the riskiest movie project out of France since Luc Besson's ~$200m sci-fi flop Valerian

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
French Producer Woos Hollywood With Epic That Inspired Game of Thrones
His godfather is Francis Ford Coppola and his family is French cinema royalty, but Dimitri Rassam says he’s carving his own path with plans to make a global blockbuster
www.bloomberg.com
May 19, 2025 at 6:10 AM