Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives for a U.S. Senate bipartisan Artificial Intelligence Insight Forum at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2023.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — Three Democratic members of the Senate Committee on Armed Services have asked the Pentagon for information about SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and whether he “directed the unilateral disabling or impediment of function of Starlink satellite communications terminals used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in southern Ukraine in 2022,” or ever had the authority to do so.
Democratic Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tammy Duckworth of Illinois wrote a letter Friday to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to express their “serious concerns about whether Musk has personally intervened to undermine a key U.S. partner at a critical juncture.”
Their questions follow the publication of a biography of Elon Musk, who is CEO of SpaceX and automaker Tesla, and owner and chief technology officer of the social network X, formerly known as Twitter. In the book, author Walter Isaacson wrote that a Ukrainian drone submarine attack on Russian warships was disrupted by a disconnect from Starlink, ordered by Musk.
Excerpts from the book raised alarm bells in Washington, among NATO allies and in the Ukrainian capital. After they were published, Musk painted himself as a peacekeeper and wrote on social media that he did not disconnect Starlink over Crimea, but rather denied a request by Ukraine to provide it there. He wrote, “If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.” Isaacson has issued a correction to his biography stating that connectivity had already been disabled in the affected area, and that Musk had simply refused a request to turn it on.
Musk also argued, as he has in the past, that Ukraine should strike a “truce” with Russia. Musk’s “peace plan” argument was shouted down by Ukraine officials, politicians and Putin experts.
On Tuesday, in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Isaacson discussed SpaceX developing a military-grade version of Starlink, which would help resolve concerns expressed by Musk regarding the satellite networks’ use in war.
CNBC asked the U.S. Department of Defense several questions pertaining to SpaceX, including whether the department would be re-evaluating any of the company’s government contracts, whether Musk’s calls for a truce between Ukraine and Russia reflect the U.S. government’s position and whether Musk’s conduct, including taking personal meetings with Putin in the past, had been in line with the terms of contracts awarded to his company.
A spokesperson for the department, Jeff Jurgensen, told CNBC via email, “The Department does contract with Starlink for satellite communication services in support of our Ukrainian partners,” but declined to offer further details or answer the specific questions posed.
He added that the Department of Defense “continues to work closely with commercial industry to ensure we have the right capabilities the Ukrainians need to defend themselves — and more broadly — the kind of communication and space-related capabilities necessary to accomplish our own global missions and support our national defense strategy.”
Earlier in the week, Sen. Warren called for a Congressional probe of Musk and SpaceX. “Congress needs to investigate what’s happened here, and whether we have adequate tools to make sure foreign policy is conducted by the government and not by one billionaire,” Warren said Monday, Bloomberg first reported.
SpaceX is currently working to obtain a new license from the Federal Aviation Administration and approvals from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to resume test flights for its Starship Super Heavy launch vehicle from its Boca Chica, Texas, facility. An earlier test flight this year resulted in an explosion and a mishap investigation overseen and recently completed by the FAA.
The company plans to use Starship to launch and deploy its next generation Starlink satellites. Musk also envisions Starship taking astronauts and supplies to the moon, and eventually, Mars.
Paxton sued Google in 2022 for allegedly unlawfully tracking and collecting the private data of users.
The attorney general said the settlement, which covers allegations in two separate lawsuits against the search engine and app giant, dwarfed all past settlements by other states with Google for similar data privacy violations.
Google’s settlement comes nearly 10 months after Paxton obtained a $1.4 billion settlement for Texas from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to resolve claims of unauthorized use of biometric data by users of those popular social media platforms.
“In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law,” Paxton said in a statement on Friday.
“For years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services. I fought back and won,” said Paxton.
“This $1.375 billion settlement is a major win for Texans’ privacy and tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust.”
Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said the company did not admit any wrongdoing or liability in the settlement, which involves allegations related to the Chrome browser’s incognito setting, disclosures related to location history on the Google Maps app, and biometric claims related to Google Photo.
Castaneda said Google does not have to make any changes to products in connection with the settlement and that all of the policy changes that the company made in connection with the allegations were previously announced or implemented.
“This settles a raft of old claims, many of which have already been resolved elsewhere, concerning product policies we have long since changed,” Castaneda said.
“We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services.”
Virtual care company Omada Health filed for an IPO on Friday, the latest digital health company that’s signaled its intent to hit the public markets despite a turbulent economy.
Founded in 2012, Omada offers virtual care programs to support patients with chronic conditions like prediabetes, diabetes and hypertension. The company describes its approach as a “between-visit care model” that is complementary to the broader health-care ecosystem, according to its prospectus.
Revenue increased 57% in the first quarter to $55 million, up from $35.1 million during the same period last year, the filing said. The San Francisco-based company generated $169.8 million in revenue during 2024, up 38% from $122.8 million the previous year.
Omada’s net loss narrowed to $9.4 million during its first quarter from $19 million during the same period last year. It reported a net loss of $47.1 million in 2024, compared to a $67.5 million net loss during 2023.
The IPO market has been largely dormant across the tech sector for the past three years, and within digital health, it’s been almost completely dead. After President Donald Trump announced a sweeping tariff policy that plunged U.S. markets into turmoil last month, taking a company public is an even riskier endeavor. Online lender Klarna delayed its long-anticipated IPO, as did ticket marketplace StubHub.
But Omada Health isn’t the first digital health company to file for its public market debut this year. Virtual physical therapy startup Hinge Health filed its prospectus in March, and provided an update with its first-quarter earnings on Monday, a signal to investors that it’s looking to forge ahead.
Omada contracts with employers, and the company said it works with more than 2,000 customers and supports 679,000 members as of March 31. More than 156 million Americans suffer from at least one chronic condition, so there is a significant market opportunity, according to the company’s filing.
In 2022, Omada announced a $192 million funding round that pushed its valuation above $1 billion. U.S. Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and Fidelity’s FMR LLC are the largest outside shareholders in the company, each owning between 9% and 10% of the stock.
“To our prospective shareholders, thank you for learning more about Omada. I invite you join our journey,” Omada co-founder and CEO Sean Duffy said in the filing. “In front of us is a unique chance to build a promising and successful business while truly changing lives.”
Liz Reid, vice president, search, Google speaks during an event in New Delhi on December 19, 2022.
Sajjad Hussain | AFP | Getty Images
Testimony in Google‘s antitrust search remedies trial that wrapped hearings Friday shows how the company is calculating possible changes proposed by the Department of Justice.
Google head of search Liz Reid testified in court Tuesday that the company would need to divert between 1,000 and 2,000 employees, roughly 20% of Google’s search organization, to carry out some of the proposed remedies, a source with knowledge of the proceedings confirmed.
The testimony comes during the final days of the remedies trial, which will determine what penalties should be taken against Google after a judge last year ruled the company has held an illegal monopoly in its core market of internet search.
The DOJ, which filed the original antitrust suit and proposed remedies, asked the judge to force Google to share its data used for generating search results, such as click data. It also asked for the company to remove the use of “compelled syndication,” which refers to the practice of making certain deals with companies to ensure its search engine remains the default choice in browsers and smartphones.
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The DOJ also proposed the company divest its Chrome browser but that was not included in Reid’s initial calculation, the source confirmed.
Reid on Tuesday said Google’s proprietary “Knowledge Graph” database, which it uses to surface search results, contains more than 500 billion facts, according to the source, and that Google has invested more than $20 billion in engineering costs and content acquisition over more than a decade.
“People ask Google questions they wouldn’t ask anyone else,” she said, according to the source.
Reid echoed Google’s argument that sharing its data would create privacy risks, the source confirmed.
Closing arguments for the search remedies trial will take place May 29th and 30th, followed by the judge’s decision expected in August.
The company faces a separate remedies trial for its advertising tech business, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 22.