NPR, which usually plays the role of soft-spoken sidekick, was the main character of yesterday’s Twitter drama. The social media platform put a “US state-affiliated media” tag on NPR’s account, a loaded label that suggests it’s an accessory to the US government.

Some no-background: Twitter started using the label in the pre-Elon Musk days of 2020 for transparency, defining state-affiliated media as “outlets where the state exercises control over editorial content.” Up until Tuesday night, its policy explicitly said that state-funded media operating with editorial independence, like the BBC and…NPR did not fall into the category. But, like a newly dumped ex cleansing their grid, Twitter seems to have deleted all mentions of NPR from the policy.

Why now? Twitter, which has no PR department, hasn’t said why it started lumping NPR in with news sites notorious for spreading government propaganda, like China Daily and Russia Today. But Musk tweeted, “Seems accurate” in response to a tweet about the new label.

Whatever Twitter’s reasons, NPR’s chief communications officer told the NYT that less than 1% of the org’s yearly operating budget comes from government-funded grants. Most of the organization’s funding comes from individual and business donations. Other media orgs that receive substantial government funding, like Voice of America and the US military newspaper Stars and Stripes, don’t have the label, the Washington Post noted.

The label’s addition not only suggests to the NPR account’s 8.8 million Twitter followers (and anyone who views it) that its reporting is less than credible, but it also means NPR will not be amplified via Twitter’s recommendation algorithm.

This is part of a pattern for Musk’s Twitter: The site recently took away the main New York Times account’s verification badge while leaving them on for other news outlets after the Times said it wouldn’t pay for the blue check. And several reporters who criticized Musk had their accounts suspended last year.—MM

McCarthy met with Taiwan’s leader despite China’s strong objections. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy sat down with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, making him the most senior US official to meet with a Taiwanese leader on US soil. Tensions have run high between the US and China over Taiwan, which China claims as its own, since McCarthy’s predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, took a trip there in August. Earlier this week, China warned that if McCarthy took the meeting, it could provoke a “severe confrontation.”

Rupert Murdoch may take the stand. It’s been a busy week for News Corp.’s 92-year-old executive chair: First, Murdoch reportedly called off his engagement just weeks after announcing it, and now a judge has stated that he can be forced to testify at trial in Dominion’s $1.6 billion defamation suit over Fox News personalities’ on-air statements on the 2020 election. The judge overseeing the case said that if Dominion were to subpoena Murdoch and fellow exec Lachlan Murdoch (Rupert’s son) to appear in the courtroom, he “would not quash it,” despite Fox’s arguments that the testimony isn’t necessary.

“Operation Cookie Monster” is less fun than it sounds. It’s the code name for a coordinated, international law enforcement effort in which the FBI and other authorities seized Genesis Market, a notorious online marketplace for stolen login credentials. According to the DOJ, over 80 million credentials that could be used to access accounts had been sold through the site since it opened in 2018. In a sweep targeting both site administrators and customers, police arrested 119 people, Europol said.

When it comes to burrito bowls named after a smoke-dried jalapeno pepper, fast-casual chain Chipotle believes Highlander-style there can only be one. Just in time for today’s National Burrito Day promotion, the Mexican grill slapped its rival for lunchtime supremacy, Sweetgreen, with a trademark lawsuit over the salad spot’s new “Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl.”

The suit, filed in California federal court Tuesday, claims Sweetgreen is trying to take advantage of customer goodwill toward the Chipotle brand. It further maintains that Sweetgreen has advertised the new bowl using the word “Chipotle” in the font and style used for Chipotle’s logo and deployed an ad background color similar to the brand’s trademarked Adobo Red hue.

In a press release introducing the new menu item last week, Sweetgreen said it was named for the “thoughtfully-sourced chipotle powder that provides the perfect slightly spicy, smokey bite.” But Chipotle’s legal complaint asserts that industry publications—and even Sweetgreen’s own social media comments—have noted the similarity to Chipotle’s offerings.

Big picture: News of the lawsuit sent Sweetgreen’s stock plunging yesterday. It ended the day down 6.26%—another setback for the salad-maker, whose shares are down ~20% in 2023 so far as it struggles to turn a profit. Chipotle, meanwhile, has seen its stock surge 24% this year thanks to strong sales.—AR

Artificial intelligence is being used to create Balenciaga-fied versions of movies and TV shows—a lucky hit of positive publicity for the high-fashion brand that was wrapped up in scandals last year.

A timeline for those of you out touching grass:

• YouTube channel demonflyingfox posted “Harry Potter by Balenciaga” three weeks ago (it now has over four million views). Since then, demonflyingfox and a similar channel called Abandoned Films that started posting content at the same time have continued posting Balenciaga crossovers. Popular videos include takes on Star Wars and Lord of the Rings.
• Separately, about two weeks ago, an AI-generated photo of Pope Francis in a Balenciaga coat made by a man in Chicago went mega-viral on Twitter after first being posted on Reddit and Facebook.

How do they do it? By using AI image generators such as Midjourney and AI voice generators like Eleven Labs—which Abandoned Films tagged in the LOTR video where a snatched Boromir says, “One does not simply walk into a Balenciaga fashion show.”

Balenciaga could use the hype: The brand was boycotted by customers after its 2022 holiday campaign featured child models holding bags shaped like teddy bears wearing bondage gear. These AI crossover videos could distract from the scandals, judging by praiseful comments on the videos like “This is better than any actual commercial for Balenciaga.”—JW

Stat: Despite advice to the contrary from every personal finance guru on the internet, most people don’t ask for more money when they’re offered a job: 58% of men and 61% of women said they didn’t when they were last hired, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. But even when they do ask for more cash, women are less likely to get it than men are. Of those that did negotiate, 38% of women said they were only given the original offer compared to 31% of men.

Quote: “Queen Camilla”

We expected the biggest news about the invitations to the coronation for the UK’s King Charles III to be whether one made its way to Harry and Meghan’s mailbox in Montecito, but the wording of the invite itself is also getting headlines. Why? Because it refers to monarch’s wife as “Queen Camilla” rather than as “Queen Consort,” the title she has been using since Queen Elizabeth’s death. Given Camilla’s sometimes fraught relationship with the British press and public (and the late Princess Diana), only 7% of Britons thought she should become queen when the pair married in 2005—so her first official use of the title is drawing some attention.

Read: How cellphones have changed our brains. (BBC)

Get ready to sing along: A compilation of the most popular song of every month since January 1980.

Color correct: This quiz asks you to guess the color of tech brand logos.

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Three headlines and a lie

Three of these headlines are real and one is faker than any photo of an unlikely subject in an overly puffy coat. Can you spot the odd one out?

1. Hawaiian airline offers to fund ‘any hobby imaginable’ for pilots who join its team
2. North Carolina seeks to ban participation trophies for children
3. Giant stolen Dairy Queen spoon found in Phoenix middle school yard
4. How to find STEVE, the elusive cousin of the northern lights aurora

If you enjoy traveling, exploring, or relaxing more than your day job, check out Money With Katie’s free guide on early retirement. It’s got all of the essential tips to clear your calendar for good. Check it out.

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