The Download: a censorship conspiracy theory and the first virus created by AI

This is today’s edition of The Download , our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.

For years, narratives about a “censorship-industrial complex” spread in right-wing circles. The theory claimed that, under the guise of combating disinformation, a sprawling constellation of government agencies, academics, civil society groups, and Big Tech platforms was suppressing conservative and populist speech online.

What began as a relatively niche conspiracy theory from the far right was able to—and continues to—influence a wide range of actions by the second Trump administration. In myriad ways, the idea of the censorship-industrial complex, or CIC, explains the logic behind how the administration operates both at home and internationally.

Over the past nine months, MIT Technology Review and Type Investigations have traced how the theory came to influence the country’s most powerful individuals. We found that it took off in 2023, driven by a handful of individuals, with support from a close-knit group of right-wing organizations and media outlets—and an internet activist named Mike Benz at its center.

Read the full story on how the CIC framework has shaped government action .

—Eileen Guo, Gisela Perez de Acha, and Martin Sona

Join us next week for a subscriber-only Roundtables discussion about how the “censorship-industrial complex” idea started, where it’s going, and what it means for the future of American democracy and the internet. Subscribers can register for free .

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 AI has designed new viruses from scratch for the first time Scientists trained AI on DNA sequences to design new genomes. ( BBC ) + The result was 16 novel viruses which pose no threat to people. ( WSJ $) + They could lead to medical breakthroughs—or biological weapons. ( Axios ) + And more complex AI-designed life forms. ( MIT Technology Review )

2 Meta has been hit with its biggest child safety penalty yet A New Mexico judge fined the firm $567 million over harms to kids. ( BBC ) + The ruling is the second phase of a landmark trial Meta lost. ( Guardian ) + A jury found Meta misled users over child safety. ( NYT $) + The total fine now stands at $942 million. ( WSJ $)

3 One of China’s top AI models broke out of its testing sandbox Kimi K3 escaped containment and accessed the open internet. ( SCMP ) + But didn’t hack an external system. ( Bloomberg $) + Researchers say Kimi has fewer guardrails than rival models. ( Wired $)