Explore every episode of the podcast The Lens – Story of the Week

Every Friday, the story nine major newsrooms cover most, read more closely: Who has a say, what is supposed to change, and how would we know if that assessment is wrong?

https://lens.jonas-voigt.com/en/

Ahead of the October 25 runoff, no ruling on either disqualification motion is known as of October 22, and for Lula’s motion Agência Brasil gives no deadline for the rapporteur. Only the platform question has a provisional answer: the electoral court TSE has ordered Meta to treat both camps equally, most recently with a fine of 1 million reais a day.

• On October 21 both camps asked the electoral court to strike the other’s candidacy (Agência Brasil; tagesschau)
• First round: Flávio Bolsonaro 47.03%, Lula 45.16%, a margin of 2,227,651 votes (TSE; own calculation)
• In a Lupa sample, 920 of 972 suspect posts used AI, and 60% of the confirmed cases carried no label (Lupa, via Diário do Grande ABC; not checked against the original)

The full issue with all sources: https://lens.jonas-voigt.com/en/issues/004-brasilien/

The main thing that can stop the merger is the vote at Tesla. Under Tesla’s charter, a majority of all outstanding shares, meaning shares in circulation, must approve, about 1.98 billion. Authorities can review the deal and extend deadlines, and suits on the company’s behalf face high hurdles in Texas.

• At Tesla, what counts is a majority of all 3,952,648,559 shares, not just of the votes cast (Tesla certificate of formation; proxy)
• Musk holds 17.7% of Tesla’s outstanding shares and about 82% of the votes at SpaceX (Tesla proxy, own calculation; SpaceX prospectus)
• Both sides have formed special committees; there are no terms (Tesla 10-Q; SpaceX 10-Q)

The full issue with all sources: https://lens.jonas-voigt.com/en/issues/003-tesla-spacex/

So far Macron has answered with measures of public order: curfews, protest bans and fast-track trials. According to CGT leader Binet, Prime Minister Lecornu named not a single measure to the unions on October 21. Money depends on the 2027 budget, whose revenue part comes to a vote on November 3.

• Macron wants to allow only union marches on Saturday; Lyon and Marseille ban all demonstrations (franceinfo; BBC)
• Ten-year government bonds yielded 5.002% on Oct 21 and 5.089% on Oct 22, above US Treasuries for the first time since 2013 (DLF; Guardian)
• The National Assembly votes on the revenue part of the budget on November 3, and the CGT has called a strike for November 5 (Assemblée nationale; DLF)

The full issue with all sources: https://lens.jonas-voigt.com/en/issues/002-frankreich/

The judgment sets a number, but it does not yet change how Meta handles data. The court has not decided on injunctive terms that could, and Meta has announced an appeal. On the day of the judgment the stock rose 2 percent.

• Meta is to pay New Mexico $25 billion; the statute would have allowed up to $219.5 billion (CNBC; own calculation)
• The court counted 43,899,720 violations, and the statute allows up to $5,000 for each (TechPolicy.Press; CNBC)
• The other states settled their Cambridge Analytica claims in August for about $459 million (TechPolicy.Press; TNW citing Reuters)

The full issue with all sources: https://lens.jonas-voigt.com/en/issues/001-meta-new-mexico/