Good morning. Over the past two weeks, more than 300,000 English speakers voted on the official Oxford Dictionary Word of the Year. The results are finally in. And the winner is… GOBLIN MODE.

Defined as ‘a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations,' goblin mode is the quintessential vibe of 2022.

For us here at the DONUT it means eating salad with our hands, giving ourselves a haircut, making peanut butter and pizza sandwiches, watching reality tv on the big screen while scrolling social media on the tiny screen, then giving away all of our worldly possessions, renaming ourselves to Gronut and moving into a cave.

In other news, every DONUT Gronut newsletter will now start with the phrase, “To my preciousnesses.”

⏰🚀 Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news takes 3.85 minutes to read.

“As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others.”

–Sam Levenson (1911-1980)

In Thursday's edition, we mistakenly said Holy Roman Emperor Charles V was one of the most powerful men of the 1700s, instead of the 1500s, aka the 16th century (he died in 1558)🤦‍♀️. Thanks to Shea for being the first to bring this to our attention!

There’s a new sheriff in charge of Twitter: Elon Musk. And so far into his inaugural term, content moderation decisions on the platform are looking a lot different.

Since taking over, Musk has:

• Laid off an undisclosed number of content moderators.
• Reinstated over 12,000 previously-banned accounts (including Kanye, who was re-banned on Friday).
• Facilitated the release of “The Twitter Files,” which provide insight into the company’s internal moderation decisions.

And like flint hitting steel, these moves have reignited debate among congressional lawmakers over Section 230, a law that gives broad legal protections to websites hosting user-generated content.

🤔 What is Section 230?… Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act is one of the most important laws governing how the Internet works in America today. In fact, many experts argue that it’s laid the groundwork for current online giants – Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, TikTok, Reddit, etc. – to thrive.

Essentially, Section 230 means two things: 1) websites can’t be sued for libel or defamation in regards to users’ posts, and 2) websites can moderate themselves by removing posts – as long as they’re acting in “good faith.”

• For example: if a Twitter user claims Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson skips leg day, Twitter itself can’t be sued for libel/defamation – only the post’s original author can.
• Twitter also can’t be sued if it decides to remove that user’s post in “good faith” (as decided by a judge, if it comes to that).

📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, what’s the best way for society to handle online content moderation? (Click a link below to record your vote. Results and the best longform responses will be featured in tomorrow's newsletter.)

• Have the 1st Amendment apply to social media sites
• Hold tech companies legally liable for extremist content (e.g., hate speech/misinformation)
• Do nothing, Section 230 works fine as it is
• Create an independent, third-party judiciary to oversee moderation disputes, similar to real-life
• Other/unsure

🇮🇷 Iran’s attorney general said the nationwide law requiring women to wear hijabs in public is under review. The country’s parliament and Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution will announce the result of their review on Friday of next week. The attorney general also claimed the country is abolishing its morality police, which are tasked with enforcing the country’s Islamic dress code, but those comments were later refuted by Iranian state media.

🛢️ OPEC+ will stick with its previously-agreed-to oil production cuts amidst new Russian sanctions. In a statement, the Saudi-led group, which includes Russia, said the move will allow it more time to assess the market impact of a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil, which was imposed last week by the G7 nations and Australia. In October, OPEC+ voted to cut production by 2 million barrels per day despite pushback from the White House, citing a global slowdown in demand.

🇷🇺 Russia is burning through missiles in Ukraine faster than it can produce them, a top US official said Saturday. National Intelligence Director Avril Haines told NBC News that Russia is using up ammo at a rate too fast for its defense industry to keep up, prompting Moscow to look to other sources such as North Korea. The Pentagon last month said Russia is firing up to 20,000 artillery rounds per day, compared with 4,000–7,000 from Ukraine.

😌 Allow The WMarketplace to soothe your shopping anxiety with the 2022 Holiday Gift Guides. From home cooks to hostesses and amateur mixologists, these new guides are filled with unique, women-owned gifts for everyone on your list. 

🎁 Categories include:

• Cooking
• Festive drinks
• Hostess gifts
• Self care
• Pets, and tons more!

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While celebrity breakups can be big news, it’s business breakups that have a bigger real-world impact. And boy, do we have some tea🍵.

In recent weeks, Apple has reportedly accelerated the shift of its supply chain away from China, where it currently makes 90% of its devices. This marks a major shift in the supply chain strategy that played a key part in building the world’s most valuable company.

🍏 Background: Apple products were originally manufactured in the USA. But come the late 1990s, as Mac sales slowed and profits dwindled, then-CEO Steve Jobs decided to look into outsourcing (fun fact: the person chosen to head up this project was none other than current CEO Tim Cook, the company’s operations chief at the time).

The company ended up choosing the Foxconn Technology Group, a Taiwanese supplier, as one of its manufacturing partners in China. And like the honeymoon phase in relationships, things just… worked.

Over time, Apple grew to become Foxconn’s biggest customer, and similarly, Foxconn is Apple’s biggest supplier. It currently operates “iPhone City,” a factory-city consisting of 300,000 workers that can produce more than 500,000 iPhones per day for Apple.

And though the labor cost is certainly lower in China, that’s not where the country's true secret sauce lies. Rather, it’s in its large labor pool, manufacturing know-how, and well-developed supply chain, per a report from Bloomberg Intelligence, which estimates it would take Apple eight years to move 10% of its production away from China.

• Apple’s longer-term goal is to ship 40% to 45% of iPhones from India, compared with a single-digit percentage currently, the WSJ reports.
• Vietnam is expected to shoulder more of the manufacturing for other Apple products, such as AirPods, smartwatches, and laptops.

⚙️📉 Zoom out: If you’ve been seeing less “Made in China” labels over the past few years, that’s not your imagination. According to Kearney Consulting’s annual Reshoring Index, 55% of US manufacturing imports came from China in 2021, down from 66% in 2018.

💬 Quoted…​​ “They were wired to Alameda, and…I can only speculate about what happened after that.”

In an interview with the WSJ over the weekend, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried said he had little insight into the workings of sister trading firm Alameda Research, despite owning 90% of the company.

• Quick reminder: SBF’s replacement at now-bankrupt FTX has said the crypto exchange secretly lent billions of dollars worth of customers’ funds to Alameda.

⚽🤑 Stat of the Day: The US women's national soccer team collectively made $5.85 million as the result of the men’s 2022 World Cup victory over Iran, thanks to a new collective bargaining agreement. That figure is nearly equal to the amount the women’s team made from winning the last two World Cups combined ($6 million).

🤯 Did You Know?... Brussel sprouts used to have a bitter taste, until Dutch breeders in the ‘90s cross-pollinated different varieties to isolate and edit out the gene causing bitterness.

📖 Worth a Read: The World Cup of Microsoft Excel → (The Atlantic)

• ☝️The Pentagon unveiled its brand-new stealth nuclear bomber, the B-21 Raider, on Friday; priced at ~$700 million a pop, the B-21 is America’s first new bomber aircraft in 30+ years; while exact details are scarce, gov’t officials said the plane was built with next-gen tech designed to evade the most sophisticated radars; the Air Force plans to eventually build 100 B-21s.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 📊🤑 The US added 263,000 jobs in November, per a Labor Department report released on Friday, while unemployment remained at 3.7%. | The US personal savings rate hit 2.7% in October, the lowest rate since 2005 and the 2nd lowest on record according to newly released data from the Commerce Department.
• 🎤 26 Taylor Swift fans are suing Ticketmaster for “fraud, price-fixing, and antitrust violations” that gave scalpers priority to purchase tickets to the upcoming Eras tour, per a Deadline report.
• 🏥 Billions in Covid-19 related federal aid to hospitals was misallocated, per a new investigation by the WSJ; 1,257 hospitals received $16.7 billion on top of existing $53.6 billion profits while 1,644 hospitals operating at a -$129.1 billion loss only received $35 billion in aid.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏈 The College Football Playoffs are set: #1 Georgia plays #4 Ohio State in the Peach Bowl, while #2 Michigan faces #3 TCU in the Fiesta Bowl; both games are scheduled for Dec. 31, with the national championship on Jan. 9.
• 🎟️ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever holds the #1 spot at the domestic box office for the fourth straight week with $17.6 million; R-rated action comedy Violent Night came in second with $13.3 million.
• ⚽ Team USA is headed home following 3-1 World Cup loss to Netherlands; Argentina, France, and England also joined the Dutch in moving on to the quarterfinals. See the full bracket here.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🧠🔎 A new Stanford study found teenagers’ brains aged several years faster than normal during 2020’s Covid lockdowns, based on an analysis of 163 MRI scans – half taken before the pandemic and half during. | Stanford University is investigating President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, a neuroscientist, and former biotech executive, over allegations that he fabricated research results in papers published between 1999 and 2008.
• 💉 An experimental HIV vaccine produced the sort of immune response that scientists had been hoping for in 97% of recipients in its first human clinical trial, with no serious side effects reported, per a new study published in Science.
• 🚽 Georgia Tech engineers developed an AI system that analyzes the sound of people’s urination, flatulence, and diarrhea to monitor public health; this device is called the Synthetic Human Acoustic Reproduction Testing machine (S.H.A.R.T. for short).

EVERYTHING ELSE

• 🚫⚡ A North Carolina county is under a state of emergency following a mass power outage authorities believe was intentionally caused by gunfire; the outage could leave ~45,000 residents without electricity for days.
• 🗳️ A Democratic committee approved a proposal on Friday that would re-order the party's presidential primary calendar, replacing Iowa with South Carolina as the first caucus; the proposal will go to the full DNC for ratification early next year.
• 🏛️🚂 President Biden signed legislation on Friday imposing a new contract on ~115,000 railway workers, ending the possibility of a national strike. (Background)

CLICKBAIT

• 🥊 Americans vs. Brits: Which animals could you beat in a fight?

On Monday, we covered NYC’s new plan to involuntarily hospitalize homeless people who appear to be mentally ill and pose a serious risk to themselves or others.

❓ Our question to you: ​​Do you agree with NYC Mayor Adams’ new directive to address mental health among the city’s homeless population?

• 👍 Yes: 56%
• 👎 No: 19%
• 🤷‍♀️ Unsure/other: 25%

See the full 360° view.

+Note on sample size: We received 7,232 votes, and 285 longform responses.

Monday: International Ninja Day🥷

Tuesday: Voters hit the polls in Georgia for a runoff Senate election

Wednesday: The 81st anniversary of Pearl Harbor

Thursday: Disney+ ad-supported tier launches

Friday: Preliminary consumer sentiment data for December

Smells had a lot to be thankful for this year. After being discovered hidden in a suitcase going through TSA security at JFK airport, the orange tabby was sent home to be with his owners – who had no idea the mischievous cat had even snuck into their luggage in the first place. 

😸🍽 Fe-line just fine: Luckily, Smells was unharmed in the suitcase after going through the X-ray machine. The TSA gave an update on the kitty on Thanksgiving, showing him enjoying a hearty spread at his home in Brooklyn. 

Can you guess the definitions of these Greek/Latin root words?

1. Ab
2. Dors
3. Phil
4. Sol (unrelated to the sun)
5. Stru

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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What to do: Copy your unique link below, then send it to anyone who you think would like the DONUT. Once you hit each milestone, you'll get an email with a link to claim your prize. (Pro tip: there's no need to ration points, you're entitled to a prize at each tier.)

Start referring.👇

1. Ab = Away from (e.g., absent, abstain)
2. Dors = Back (dorsal)
3. Phil = Love, friendship (philosophy, philandering)
4. Sol = Comfort, soothe (consolation, solace)
5. Stru = To make up/build (construction, construe)