Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🇨🇳 China’s online propaganda strategy is changing
• 🎧 Spotify is raising prices (again)
• 🤔 How one volunteer prevented a cyberattack from infecting the world

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a ~5.19-minute read (1,381 words).

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“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

–Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

It’s long been known that China (and other governments) run social media propaganda campaigns to advance their own interests – similar to your narcissistic ex.

In Beijing’s case, though, its “Spamouflage” tactics haven’t appeared very effective. But recent reports from the NY Times and Institute for Strategic Dialogue indicate the country’s government has made a strategic shift ahead of November’s US election, with new tactics that have the potential to be very effective indeed.

• China’s initial strategy involved pushing official propaganda about the superiority of its economy, culture, and way of life – then, when that proved ineffective, it began stoking anti-democracy and anti-American sentiment (which also didn’t seem to work too well), the NY Times reports.
• Recently, however, propaganda campaigns connected to China have spawned from a network of accounts impersonating Americans. These accounts attack individual politicians and work to exploit the partisan divides already present in issues such as gay rights, immigration, and crime.
• For example: The Institute for Strategic Dialogue identified four accounts linked to China that are posing “convincingly” as supporters of Donald Trump and MAGA. These accounts are seeing organic engagement and success in building authentic pro-Trump audiences, while posting content implying that politicians, in particular Joe Biden, are pedophiles, linked to Jeffrey Epstein, and potentially Satanic.

However, an overall political tilt has not yet emerged. Researchers say Beijing’s desired US election outcome still remains unclear. According to a February report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, TikTok accounts run by a China propaganda arm targeted candidates from both political parties during the 2022 election cycle.

📸 Big picture: China’s new strategy, which echoes Russia’s influence campaign surrounding the 2016 election, has been more successful at attracting actual users’ attention. And, as it’s becoming more difficult for researchers to identify and counter than previous efforts, experts are channeling the Monsters Inc. sock protocol and raising the alarm (23-19!).

• Elise Thomas, a senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told the NY Times: “The worry has always been, what if one day [these accounts run by China] wake up and are effective? Potentially, this could be the beginning of them waking up and being effective.”

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🇹🇼 Taiwan experienced its strongest earthquake in 25 years. A 7.4 magnitude earthquake – along with 100+ aftershocks – killed at least nine people in eastern Taiwan yesterday and injured an additional 1,000+. The quake caused tsunami warnings to be issued across Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines, which were later lifted. It also forced the evacuation of several chip-making facilities in Taiwan, the world’s largest producer of semiconductors, though its main manufacturer expects to resume operations today.

🇺🇦 Ukraine lowered its military draft age in a bid to add more troops. President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bill into law on Tuesday that lowers the age of military conscription from 27 to 25, marking the most significant overhaul of Ukraine’s war bureaucracy since Russia first invaded over two years ago. The bill comes as front-line Ukrainian military commanders say they’re short on personnel ahead of an expected Russian offensive this summer.

🌎💸 The world’s wealthiest people are richer than ever. According to an annual Forbes report, the collective wealth of the world’s 2,781 billionaires increased by $2 trillion over the past year to reach a record $14.2 trillion – more than the GDP of every country except the US and China. The US is home to the most billionaires at 813, followed by China with 473 and India with 200.

Spotify, the streaming service that acts as a status symbol similar to iMessage and its blue bubbles, is planning to raise prices in several key markets for the second time in a year, according to a new Bloomberg report.

The streaming giant will up-the-cost of its paid plans by $1 to $2 per month in five markets by the end of April, including the UK, Australia, and Pakistan. Prices are expected to increase in the US later this year, per Bloomberg.

Audiobooks = the future. This latest price-jump is aimed at helping Spotify generate more revenue from audiobooks, a service it introduced late last year. The company currently pays publishers for the audiobooks, but provides its users on paid plans with up to 15 hours of free listening.

• Spotify is also introducing a basic paid tier alongside the price raise without audiobooks. It’ll cost ~$11/month, or what its Individual Premium users are paying now.

📸 Big picture: This paid-plan overhaul is part of Spotify’s push to diversify its revenue away from music. The company has lost money every year since it went public in 2018, largely because it pays out about 70% of its sales in royalties to the music industry. For context, Spotify paid record labels, artists, and others more than $9 billion last year – from $13.2 billion in revenue.

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Linux, an operating system used by ~4% of computers worldwide and nearly half of all software developers, narrowly avoided a massive cyberattack last weekend thanks to an off-the-clock Microsoft developer.

What happened? Andres Freund, who volunteers for a major Linux-based database, noticed several strange things in recent weeks while running tests. And, after some sleuthing, he discovered someone had inserted malicious code into a tool called XZ Utils, which is used across nearly every Linux computer to compress large files.

Freund identified the person who submitted the malicious code as Jia Tan, one of two main XZ Utils developers – who ended up being involved in a complex social engineering scheme that would make Mr. Robot proud.

• Tan, who likely used a pseudonym, started by sending apparently legitimate patches to XZ Utils in 2021.
• Tan was soon added to the tool’s main dev team after two other people – who investigators believe were faked by Tan – complained to the project’s creator about its slow development.
• Once Tan was added to XZ Utils’ main team, they became increasingly involved in the project’s affairs, culminating with the addition of malicious code this past February.

📝 Bottom line: If Tan’s cyberattack hadn’t been identified so quickly by Freund, a large majority of the world’s Linux users could have unwittingly had their systems compromised for years.

💬 Quoted… “I just think it’s an eventuality.”

• Thursday could soon become the new Friday, according to billionaire financier and New York Mets owner Steve Cohen. In a CNBC interview yesterday, Cohen said he thinks a four-day work week will become commonplace in America in the near future, largely due to the increasing presence of AI and the fact that Fridays are generally less productive. And, like any savvy investor, Cohen is looking to capitalize on his prediction. The billionaire says he’s focusing on investments in golf leagues – including reported talks with the PGA Tour – since he thinks interest in the game will spike after workers receive an extra weekend day.

📚💰 Stat of the Day: College textbook prices in the US have increased by 1,401% over the past 50 years, or nearly 3x the rate of inflation, per a new analysis from My eLearning World. The report also found 66% of college students have opted not to purchase “essential” course materials at some point due to their prohibitive cost.

🤔 Did You Know?... Due to a lack of atmosphere, temperatures on the Moon range from up to 250°F in sunlight to as low as -208°F after nightfall. However, scientists have discovered certain Moon caves and shaded pits where temperatures always hover around a comfy 63°F.

📰 Worth a Read: Lessons from sports psychology research → (Knowable Magazine)

• ☝️ On Tuesday, scientists in San Francisco Bay carried out a first-of-its-kind experiment aimed at mitigating the effects of global warming; the test involved spraying salt particles in the air to brighten clouds and bounce some of the Sun’s rays back into space.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Forecaster

• 💰 US markets closed mixed yesterday (S&P: +0.1%; Dow: -0.1%; Nasdaq: +0.2%).
• 🐭🗳️ Disney leadership won its proxy fight against activist investor Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners yesterday, with shareholders voting to reelect Disney’s full board of directors. | ⚖️ Former President Trump is suing two Trump Media co-founders in an attempt to zero-out their stake in the company.
• 💻 Intel reported a $7 billion operating loss for its chip manufacturing unit in 2023, up from a $5.2 billion loss in 2022; it marks Intel’s first such financial disclosure.

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏈 The Buffalo Bills are reportedly trading WR Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans; the Bills will receive a 2nd round draft pick and send two late-round picks to the Texans.
• 🧑‍🍳 The 2024 James Beard Award finalists, a collection of the best restaurants and individual chefs in America, were unveiled yesterday.
• 🏀 LSU women’s basketball star Angel Reese officially declared for the WNBA draft, forgoing her final year of eligibility.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with NoNetz

• 🤖 OpenAI announced plans to make ChatGPT available to use without an account, though such users will lack certain features.
• 👀 Some people are effectively able to see more “images per second” than others, meaning they have an innate advantage in certain sports, video games, and other activities where response time is crucial, per a new study.
• 🌒📲 See a few simple tips for safely photographing next Monday’s total solar eclipse on your cell phone.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🎓 ~1 million prospective US college students applying for financial aid – or 20% of all such applicants – could receive inaccurate offers due to errors in tax data, the Education Department announced.
• ⚖️🚭 A group of civil rights and medical organizations ​​are suing the FDA over its failure to ban menthol cigarettes by the March 2024 deadline the agency had set for itself.
• 🗳️ Wisconsin voters approved a constitutional amendment on Tuesday that bans private money support for elections.

CLICKBAIT

• 🤔🐘 Why Botswana is threatening to send Germany 20,000 elephants.

Yesterday, we covered how many experts think the ongoing youth mental health crisis is related to the rise of smartphones and social media.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, is the rising popularity of smartphones and social media the main factor behind America’s youth mental health crisis?

• 👍 Yes: 66%
• 👎 No: 15%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 19%

Click here to read some of the best longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 6,972 votes and 360 longform responses.

The average Crested Pekin duck lives a maximum of 12 years. 

So, when Erna the Crested Pekin turned 17 this week, it was understandably cause for a major celebration. 

🤩 What a star... Erna was rescued in 2007 by the West Place Animal Sanctuary team in Rhode Island, and has become an icon on the farm ever since.

• She's the token "foster mom," raising countless rescue chicks as her own over the years. Her loving nature has made her a favorite among staff.
• For Erna's birthday, they threw her a party with special artwork, decorations, heartfelt songs, and a delectable birthday cake adorned with blueberries – her favorite treat.

Which African country, pictured above, served as the setting for the planet Tatooine in Star Wars?

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