South Korea’s $35 Billion AI Data Center: A Technological and Economic Game-Changer

South Korea is positioning itself at the forefront of the global artificial intelligence (AI) race with plans to construct a massive data center in South Jeolla province, boasting a power capacity of up to 3 gigawatts. Announced by Stock Farm Road, an investment group co-founded by LG heir Brian Koo and Amin Badr-El-Din of BADR Investments, this ambitious project carries an estimated price tag of $35 billion, with an initial investment of $10 billion. Set to break ground in early 2025 and target completion by 2028, the facility could redefine the technological and economic landscape both domestically and internationally.

A Strategic Vision for AI Dominance

The scale of this data center is unprecedented, dwarfing most existing facilities where capacities rarely exceed 1 gigawatt. For context, it’s nearly three times the size of the Stargate project in Texas, a collaboration between OpenAI and SoftBank. This leap reflects South Korea’s strategic intent to meet the skyrocketing demand for AI compute power, driven by advancements in machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision. As Epoch AI forecasts suggest, the largest AI models could require over 5 gigawatts by 2030, making this project a timely investment in future-proof infrastructure.

Stock Farm Road’s leadership sees it as more than just hardware. “This is a strategic leap forward for Korea’s global technological leadership,” said Amin Badr-El-Din in a statement reported by Artificial Intelligence News. The involvement of Brian Koo, leveraging his LG lineage, adds industrial heft, while partnerships with South Jeolla’s provincial government ensure logistical support through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for energy and water access.

South Jeolla: A Calculated Location Choice

The decision to site the data center in South Jeolla, a southwestern province far from Seoul’s crowded tech hubs, is both tactical and economic. Lower land costs and access to underutilized power generation—primarily from coal and nuclear plants—make it an attractive spot, as noted by Data Center Dynamics. The South Korean government bolsters this choice with a 50% discount on electric facility levies for data centers outside the capital region until May 2026, according to W.Media. This incentive aligns with a broader policy to decentralize tech infrastructure, easing strain on Seoul’s grid and fostering regional growth.

Powering the Beast: Innovation Meets Challenge

A 3-gigawatt facility demands a robust energy strategy, and South Korea is exploring a mix of traditional and cutting-edge solutions. An MoU between LS Electric and Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Corporation, reported by Data Center Dynamics, hints at small modular reactors (SMRs) with a 170MW capacity as a potential power source. Meanwhile, Samsung and Korea Southeast Power are collaborating on a hydrogen-powered data center model, per another Data Center Dynamics report. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) underscores the need for South Korea to triple its renewable energy capacity by 2030 to sustain such AI-driven demands, suggesting a hybrid approach could emerge.

Yet, energy isn’t the only hurdle. Supply chain constraints—particularly for AI-critical chips like Nvidia’s GPUs—pose risks, as Mint highlights. Behind-the-meter agreements with power providers may mitigate grid pressures, but securing materials and talent in a competitive global market remains a concern.

Economic Ripple Effects

The economic upside is substantial. Computer Weekly estimates the project will create 10,000 jobs spanning energy, construction, and R&D, injecting vitality into South Jeolla’s economy. Beyond direct employment, the data center could attract a cluster of AI startups, tech giants, and research institutions, mirroring Silicon Valley’s ecosystem. Local players like Naver and Samsung, alongside international firms such as OpenAI (via its Kakao partnership, per Reuters), and SK Telecom’s GPU cloud venture with Lambda (Data Center Dynamics), are poised to tap this resource.

South Korea’s government sees this as a cornerstone of its Digital New Deal, a policy framework aimed at accelerating digital transformation, as outlined by Credence Research. The $35 billion investment could yield long-term dividends, positioning the country as a hub for AI innovation and challenging competitors like the U.S. and China.

A Global Benchmark

Globally, the project sets a high bar. OpenAI’s rumored 5-gigawatt ambitions, reported by Fortune, and the broader strain on power grids detailed by Bloomberg illustrate the escalating energy demands of AI. South Korea’s 3-gigawatt facility, however, benefits from a proactive government and a concentrated industrial base—advantages over regions like Malaysia or India, which offer lower costs but lack comparable infrastructure, per Mint.

Business Implications

For enterprises, this data center signals opportunity. Its capacity could slash latency and costs for AI workloads, attracting cloud providers, hyperscalers, and firms needing high-performance computing. Partnerships with SK Telecom or Kakao could open doors for tailored AI services, while the facility’s scale might pressure competitors to accelerate their own infrastructure investments.

With construction looming, the focus shifts to execution. Can South Korea secure the power and chips needed to bring this vision to life? Will it balance economic growth with environmental sustainability? The answers will shape not just the project’s success but South Korea’s standing in the global tech race. For now, the announcement alone marks a bold statement: in the age of AI, South Korea intends to lead, not follow.

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Key Data Points:

• Power Capacity: Up to 3 gigawatts
• Cost: $35 billion total, $10 billion initial
• Timeline: Start early 2025, complete 2028
• Jobs: 10,000 projected
• Backers: Stock Farm Road (Brian Koo, Amin Badr-El-Din)
• Location: South Jeolla province

Sources:

• Wall Street Journal, Mint, Computer Weekly, Data Center Dynamics, W.Media, IEEFA, Reuters, Credence Research, Fortune, Bloomberg, Statista, Artificial Intelligence News

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X Raises Premium+ Subscription to $40 Per Month On the Strength of Grok 3

February 18, 2025 – Elon Musk’s X has once again stirred the pot with a bold pricing decision that’s reverberating across the business and social media spheres. The company has raised its Premium+ subscription tier to $40 per month (or $395 annually) for new web subscribers, an 81.8% jump from its previous $22 rate—itself a recent hike from $16 in December 2024. This escalation, effective immediately, follows the launch of Grok 3, xAI’s latest AI model touted as the “smartest AI on earth.” For businesses, influencers, and everyday users, the move sparks a pivotal question: Does the inclusion of Grok 3 justify this steep price increase, or is X testing the limits of its monetization strategy?

From a business perspective, X’s decision to nearly double the Premium+ cost—explicitly tied to the integration of Grok 3—offers a compelling case study in value proposition, customer retention, and competitive positioning. Let’s unpack the rationale, the enhanced offerings, and the broader implications for companies leveraging X as a critical engagement and marketing platform, while weaving in diverse perspectives from X users and industry analyses.

The Context: A Pivot to Subscriptions and AI Innovation

Since Elon Musk’s 2022 acquisition of Twitter (now X), the platform has grappled with a sharp decline in advertising revenue—down as much as 50% in early 2024—due to brand safety concerns and Musk’s unconventional leadership. This has accelerated X’s shift from an ad-reliant model to a subscription-driven one. The Premium+ tier, launched in October 2023, promised an ad-free experience, boosted visibility, and exclusive perks. Now, with Grok 3’s release on February 17, 2025, X is doubling down on this strategy, explicitly linking the price hike to the AI’s advanced capabilities—a move confirmed by TechCrunch, which noted the adjustment came “hours after” the Grok 3 unveiling.

X just raised the price of Premium + from $22 to $40 per month. And you need Premium + to get access to Grok 3. pic.twitter.com/VQDclX2iSj

— RyanRejoice (@sonicshifts) February 18, 2025

The logic is clear: X aims to offset development costs and position Premium+ as a premium offering by bundling Grok 3, a model Musk claims outstrips rivals like OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Google’s Gemini in benchmarks like AIME (math-focused AI evaluation). But does this justify the leap from $22 to $40 for businesses and users?

The Enhanced Value Proposition: Grok 3 Takes Center Stage

At $40 per month, Premium+ now includes:

• An ad-free experience across all timelines.
• “Largest reply prioritization” for heightened visibility.
• Access to Grok 3’s cutting-edge features, like “DeepSearch” and enhanced reasoning (currently exclusive to Premium+ in select regions).
• Creator tools, including article publishing and revenue-sharing.

The standout addition is Grok 3, developed with over 200,000 GPUs at xAI’s Memphis data center—10 times the compute power of its predecessor, Grok 2, per Musk’s livestreamed remarks. Digital Trends highlights that this AI, trained on expanded datasets including court filings, promises “more accurate replies” and excels in math, science, and coding tasks. For businesses, this could mean leveraging Grok 3 for real-time market analysis, customer insights, or content creation—tools that extend beyond traditional social media benefits. The ad-free experience and reply prioritization further enhance brand professionalism and engagement, critical in a platform increasingly crowded with verified accounts.

Yet, execution is key. X posts reveal a polarized response.

@rovvmut_ questioned the 80% jump, asking, “That’s an 80% jump—for what? Faster access to an AI that’s still finding its feet?” Meanwhile,

@Psynsei fumed over the lack of notification, writing, “Yesterday after Grok 3 X raises price from 22 to fucking 40 dollars a month and proceeds to not give us any warning? What the fuck

@elonmusk.” TechCrunch noted pricing inconsistencies—some users saw $39.83 or $48.40 during signup—adding to the confusion.

The Business Case: ROI vs. Sticker Shock

X’s logic hinges on Grok 3’s perceived value driving subscriptions to offset its massive development costs and declining ad revenue. With 550 million monthly active users (per Musk), converting just 1% (5.5 million) to Premium+ at $40/month yields $220 million monthly—dwarfing the $11 million Twitter Blue earned in its first three months post-2022 relaunch. For businesses entrenched in X—like tech firms, media outlets, or e-commerce brands—the AI tools and visibility could deliver a strong ROI. As Digital Trends suggests, Grok 3’s “DeepSearch” feature, which scans the web and X for comprehensive answers, could be a game-changer for real-time marketing or competitive analysis.

However, the steep hike risks alienating smaller businesses and budget-conscious users.

@TurtleTribune’s scathing “Who even uses Grok? I can’t believe that X wants to charge $50 a month for Grok 3 Garbage” reflects a sentiment echoed across X: the price may outpace perceived value, especially with Grok 3 still in beta and plagued by “imperfections,” as Musk admitted. For companies where X is a secondary channel, the $480 annual cost might not pencil out, particularly amid platform glitches and bot issues that

@DadBodBaba cited as unresolved priorities.

Competitive Landscape: X’s AI Bet vs. Rivals

X’s $40/month Premium+ now outprices Meta’s $11.99/month verification subscriptions and contrasts with free platforms like Bluesky. Grok 3 is X’s differentiator, with Musk claiming it surpasses GPT-4o and DeepSeek’s R1 in early testing—a bold assertion TechCrunch flagged as tied to its exclusive Premium+ access. If Grok 3 delivers, businesses might view it as a dual-purpose tool—social media enhancer and AI assistant—outshining cheaper rivals. Yet, with regional access limits and competitors like Google’s Gemini offering “Deep Research” at $20/month (per Digital Trends), X’s premium positioning faces scrutiny.

User Sentiment: A Mixed Bag from X

X users offer a real-time pulse.

@Psynsei’s frustration—“I’m lucky I saw it and downgraded or else I’d be screwed”—highlights notification failures, while

@rovvmut_ warned Premium+ could become “a luxury tier most people won’t touch.” Conversely, Musk loyalists see upside; one user praised Grok 3 as “a steal if it delivers.” This split mirrors a broader challenge: X must prove Grok 3’s worth to justify the cost amid lingering platform woes.

The Bigger Picture: A Subscription-First, AI-Powered Future?

Musk’s vision of a fully subscription-based X—hinted at with tests like the $1 annual fee in 2023—gains traction with this move. Tying the $40 price to Grok 3 signals a bet on AI as the platform’s future, potentially creating a premium, bot-free ecosystem appealing to brands. Yet, as TechCrunch notes, the rapid hike from $16 to $22 to $40 in months risks user backlash, especially without clear communication. The revenue could fund creator payouts and fixes, but if adoption stalls, X might shrink to a niche player.

The Verdict: Genius Move or Miscalculation?

X’s $40/month Premium+ hike, driven by Grok 3’s inclusion, is a calculated play to marry AI innovation with subscription revenue. For businesses reliant on X, the AI’s potential—paired with visibility and ad-free perks—could justify the cost, especially if Grok 3 outpaces rivals as promised. However, the abrupt increase, inconsistent pricing, and unresolved platform issues threaten to alienate users, as X posts like

@TurtleTribune’s suggest. X is betting that Grok 3’s brilliance will silence doubters, but execution must match ambition. For companies, the choice is strategic: invest in X’s AI-driven evolution or wait to see if the price holds. As one user quipped, “$40/month is either a steal or a scam—time will tell.”

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Acer Poised to Raise Computer Prices 10% in Response to Tariffs

Computer maker Acer has announced plans to raise prices by 10% across the board in response to US tariffs on goods from China.

President Donald Trump made tariffs a key part of his presidential campaign and wasted no time implementing them on rivals and allies alike. The 10% tariff on goods from China is already beginning to have an effect, with Acer saying it’s the reason for an immediate price increase.

“We will have to adjust the end user price to reflect the tariff,” said Jason Chen, CEO of Acer, according to The Telegraph. “We think 10pc probably will be the default price increase because of the import tax. It’s very straightforward.”

As the outlet points out Acer’s high-end laptops cost up to $3,700, meaning a 10% increase could result in a substantially higher price for the consumer.

Acer has opened the door to moving production outside of China , to avoid the tariffs, although the company has not committed to where. While it has said moving production to the U.S. is an option, the company will face the same issue other manufacturers face, namely that the U.S. doesn’t have the computer production infrastructure that other countries have. India or Vietnam could also emerge as options, with both countries investing heavily in building out their computer production infrastructure.

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Grok 3.0 Unveiled: A Technical Leap Forward in the AI Arms Race

February 18, 2025 – The artificial intelligence landscape has been set ablaze with the official launch of Grok 3.0, the latest flagship model from Elon Musk’s xAI. Announced on Monday, February 17, at 8:00 PM Pacific Time via a live demo streamed on X, Grok 3.0 is being heralded as a game-changer in the fiercely competitive world of generative AI. With Musk dubbing it the “smartest AI on Earth” and tech leaders buzzing about its potential, this release marks a pivotal moment in AI development. From its unprecedented computational scale to its innovative training methodologies, here’s a deep dive into what makes Grok 3.0 a technical marvel—and how it stacks up against its rivals.

A Monumental Technical Achievement

At the heart of Grok 3.0’s prowess is its training infrastructure: xAI’s Colossus supercomputer, a behemoth powered by 200,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs. During the launch event, Musk revealed that Grok 3.0 was trained with ten times the computational power of its predecessor, Grok 2, and that the cluster size had doubled in just 92 days after an initial deployment of 100,000 GPUs in 122 days. This makes it the largest fully connected H100 cluster ever built, a feat xAI engineers described as “monumental” given the tight timeline.

“We didn’t have much time because we wanted to launch Grok 3 as quickly as possible,” an xAI executive explained during the demo. “We’ve used all this computing power to continuously improve the product along the way.” This scale is a significant escalation in the AI arms race, testing the limits of scaling laws—principles suggesting that larger compute and data lead to proportionally better performance. Gavin Baker, a prominent tech investor, noted on X in December 2024, “This will be the first real test of scaling laws for training, arguably since GPT-4. If scaling laws hold, Grok 3 should be a major leap forward in AI’s state of the art.”

Unlike many competitors relying on real-world data scraped from the web, Grok 3.0 leverages synthetic datasets designed to simulate diverse scenarios. Musk emphasized this shift during the World Governments Summit in Dubai on February 13, stating, “It’s trained on a lot of synthetic data and can reflect on its mistakes to achieve logical consistency.” This approach, combined with reinforcement learning and human feedback loops, aims to minimize “hallucinations”—AI-generated inaccuracies—by enabling the model to self-correct in real time. Early benchmarks showcased at the launch suggest this strategy is paying off, with Grok 3.0 outperforming rivals in science, math, and coding tasks.

What Tech and AI Leaders Are Saying

The announcement has sparked a flurry of reactions from industry luminaries. Elon Musk, ever the provocateur, claimed at the Dubai summit, “This might be the last time that an AI is better than Grok,” a bold assertion reflecting his confidence in xAI’s trajectory. During the launch, he praised the team’s efforts, saying, “Grok 3 is an order of magnitude more capable than Grok 2 in a very short period of time. It’s scary smart.”

Ethan Mollick, an AI researcher, commented on X post-launch: “Based on the announcement… X has caught up with the frontier of released models VERY quickly. If they continue to scale this fast, they are a major player.” Mollick also noted parallels with OpenAI’s playbook, suggesting xAI is adopting proven strategies while pushing boundaries with compute scale.

Not all feedback was universally glowing. Benjamin De Kraker, a former xAI engineer, had previously ranked Grok 3.0 below OpenAI’s o1 models in coding ability based on internal tests, a post that led to his resignation after xAI reportedly demanded its deletion. While this critique predates the final release, it underscores the high stakes and scrutiny surrounding Grok 3.0’s claims.

AI expert Dr. Alan D. Thompson praised Grok’s real-time data access via X integration, stating, “This feature sets it apart from competitors, offering fresh insights and potentially enhancing user experience with continuously updated information.” Meanwhile, posts on X from users like

@iruletheworldmo, claiming insider knowledge, hyped a reasoning model that “blows past full o3 scores,” amplifying anticipation.

Comparing Grok 3.0 to Rivals

Grok 3.0 enters a crowded field dominated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT (GPT-4o), Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, and China’s DeepSeek R1. xAI showcased comparison benchmarks at the launch, asserting Grok 3.0 Reasoning surpasses Gemini 2 Pro, DeepSeek V3, and ChatGPT-4o in standardized tests like AIME 2025 (math), alongside coding and science tasks. A standout claim came from Chatbot Arena, where an early Grok 3.0 iteration (codename “chocolate”) scored 1402, the first model to break 1400, edging out OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4o-latest at 1377.

Technical Differentiators

• Compute Scale: Grok 3.0’s 200,000-GPU training dwarfs ChatGPT-4o’s estimated 10,000–20,000 GPU cluster and DeepSeek’s leaner, cost-efficient approach. This brute-force scaling aligns with Musk’s vision of accelerating AI breakthroughs.
• Synthetic Data & Self-Correction: Unlike GPT-4o and Gemini, which rely heavily on web-scraped data, Grok 3.0’s synthetic training reduces legal risks and biases, while its self-correcting mechanism aims for higher logical accuracy. OpenAI’s o1 and DeepSeek’s R1 also feature reasoning capabilities, but xAI claims Grok 3.0’s “Big Brain” mode offers superior adaptability.
• Real-Time X Integration: A native advantage over rivals, Grok 3.0 pulls live data from X, making it uniquely responsive to current events—a capability ChatGPT and Gemini lack without external plugins.
• Reasoning Models: Grok 3.0 Reasoning and its smaller sibling, Grok 3 mini Reasoning, mimic OpenAI’s o1 series by “thinking through” problems step-by-step. xAI asserts Grok 3.0 Reasoning beats o1-mini-high on AIME 2025, though independent verification is pending.

Features and Accessibility

Grok 3.0 introduces “DeepSearch,” a next-generation search engine rivaling OpenAI’s Deep Research, scanning X and the web for comprehensive answers. Multimodal capabilities—analyzing images alongside text—mirror ChatGPT-4o and Gemini, but xAI’s Flux-based image generation (enhanced by the new Auroria model) promises photorealistic precision. Voice mode, teased for release within a week, could challenge ChatGPT’s conversational edge.

Initially rolled out to X Premium+ subscribers ($50/month), Grok 3.0 also offers a standalone “SuperGrok” subscription ($30/month or $300/year) for unlimited queries and early feature access. This tiered model contrasts with ChatGPT’s broader free tier and DeepSeek’s open-source approach, potentially limiting Grok’s immediate reach.

Rival Responses

OpenAI, facing Musk’s $97.4 billion buyout bid (rejected in February), has doubled down with free reasoning models like o1. DeepSeek’s R1, built on a fraction of Western budgets, has disrupted the market, prompting xAI to accelerate Grok 3.0’s timeline. Google’s Gemini 2.0 series remains a formidable contender with its vast parameter count, though it lacks Grok’s real-time data edge.

The Bigger Picture

Grok 3.0’s launch isn’t just a technical milestone—it’s a statement. Musk’s xAI, founded in 2023, has catapulted from underdog to frontrunner in under two years, leveraging massive compute, synthetic data innovation, and X’s ecosystem. The model’s beta status—expect “imperfections at first,” Musk cautioned—belies its ambition: daily improvements aim to outpace rivals’ static updates.

Yet challenges loom. Grok’s X-centric data raises misinformation risks, a concern amplified by its less restrictive content policies. Independent benchmarks will determine if its performance claims hold against OpenAI’s polish, Google’s scale, and DeepSeek’s efficiency. Mollick’s X post hints at an API play, but its adoption remains uncertain amidst established ecosystems.

For now, Grok 3.0 stands as a testament to scaling laws’ enduring power and xAI’s relentless pace. As Musk mused during the demo, referencing Robert Heinlein’s “Stranger in a Strange Land,” “To grok is to deeply understand—and empathy is part of that.” Whether Grok 3.0 truly “groks” the world better than its rivals, it’s undeniably redefined the AI frontier. The race is far from over, but xAI has just fired a shot heard across the tech universe.

Elon Musk Stuns World w/ Release of Grok 3

Full announcement w/ improved audio clarity & volume.

w/ @xai, @elonmusk, @ibab, @jimmybajimmyba, @Yuhu_ai_

00:00 Teaser
01:43 Mission and Vision of XAI
2:56 Team Introductions
03:13 Grok's Progress and Capabilities
04:02 Scaling Up:… pic.twitter.com/YBKd5QWUx3

— Hans C Nelson (@HansCNelson) February 18, 2025

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Chase to Block Zelle Payments to Social Media & Messaging Contacts

JPMorgan Chase Bank is making a change to its Zelle policy, blocking payments “originating from contact made through social media…and/or social media messaging apps.”

While a convenient way to send payments from one bank account to another, Zelle scams have been on the rise. In fact, according to the bank, “nearly 50% of scams reported to Chase originate on social media,” with many of these being Zelle scams.

As a result, Chase says it is taking action to crack down on those scams:

Alert, coming soon: For your protection, Chase will not allow you to send Zelle® payments identified as originating from contact through social media

The company explains further in its Zelle Service Agreement and Privacy Notice:

As a recipient or sender of any transfer using the Service, you acknowledge and agree that we may, in our discretion, (A) delay, block or cancel a payment, (B) put a hold on the amount of such payment to or from the Pay From Account or other account (as permitted by applicable law), or (C), charge back and/or claim a refund from you for the amount of such payment, for various reasons including, but not limited to, fraud, scams, suspicious or illegal activity, ineligible or improper payment, payment does not comply with our policies, network rules or terms of service, duplicate payment, incorrect payment (amount or recipient), or otherwise to meet our regulatory, network or other legal obligations. This may include, but is not limited to, payments identified as originating from contact made through social media, social media marketplaces, and/or social media messaging apps. For example, we may delay or hold your payment if we need additional time to verify your identity, the identity of the person sending or receiving the money, or details about the payment, or the payment may be delayed or held due to technical difficulties or circumstances beyond our control. If we delay or block a payment that you have initiated, we will notify you in your account online and/or through email or text message.

Chase’s measures illustrate the growing challenges involved in keeping consumers safe when non-traditional financial apps are in play.

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Musk’s DOGE and IRS On the Verge of Violating the Privacy of Every American

Elon Musk and his unofficial DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) are trying to gain access to IRS taxpayer data, a move that pushes legal limits.

DOGE has been targeting several government agencies, gutting them in an effort to rein in spending. The Internal Revenue Server appears to be its latest target, with The Washington Post reporting that DOGE is asking for broad access to IRS data, including highly sensitive taxpayer data and tax returns.

The data in question includes the Integrated Data Retrieval System (IDRS), which provides a mechanism for IRS employees to access the agency’s most sensitive and private taxpayer data. Access to IDRS is carefully regulated, with federal law only allowing access under very specific circumstances.

• Law enforcement can only access the data with a court order.
• IRS and Treasury Department employees can only access the data for purposes related to audits, collections, tax enforcement, revenue collection, and some administration functions.
• Even lawmakers cannot access the data.

According to The Guardian, the White House defended its efforts to give DOGE access under the guise of rooting out fraud.

“Waste, fraud and abuse have been deeply entrenched in our broken system for far too long,” said White House spokesperson Harrison Fields. “It takes direct access to the system to identify and fix it.”

What the White House did not explain is how looking at taxpayers’ private data will reveal “waste, fraud and abuse.”

Despite the lack of a good reason for DOGE to be accessing IDRS, the Post reports that the agency “is considering a memorandum of understanding” that would give DOGE broad access.

The Legal Questions

One of the biggest questions many have is whether it is even legal for DOGE to access taxpayer data. Senators Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren have written to Acting IRS Commissioner Douglas O’Donnell demanding information regarding giving DOGE access.

As you are aware, tax returns and return information are subject to strong legal privacy protections under Sections 6103 and 7213A of the tax code.2 These laws were strengthened nearly 50 years ago with strong bipartisan majorities of Congress in response to President Nixon’s abuse of the IRS to target his political enemies. These reforms also included prohibitions on executive branch influence over taxpayer audits and other investigations. 3 These prohibitions have long prevented political appointees in previous administrations from accessing the private tax records of hundreds of millions of Americans, and allowing DOGE officials sweeping access these systems may be in violation of these statutes. Violations of these taxpayer privacy laws, including unauthorized access to or disclosure of tax returns and return information, can result in criminal penalties, including incarceration. In one recent example, a contractor working for the IRS who leaked taxpayer information was sentenced in 2024 to five years in federal prison.

While Section 6103 of the tax code prohibits any unauthorized disclosure of tax returns or information contained in tax returns, Section 7213A also makes it unlawful for any federal officer, employee, or authorized viewer to willfully inspect a return or return information for a purpose other than one specifically authorized by law, with inspection defined expansively, to include “any examination of a return or return information.”5 Therefore, improper inspection of tax return information is illegal, even if it has not been made public or disclosed to any unauthorized recipients.

Even if individuals affiliated with DOGE are employed by Treasury, their access to tax information may not be legal. For inspection of taxpayer information to be lawful, it must be made to or by an authorized person for an authorized purpose. While Treasury employees, such as IRS personnel, can access tax return information for their official duties involving tax administration, such as conducting audits or processing tax returns, they generally may not access them for reasons unrelated to those purposes. In addition, there are significant restrictions on access to tax return information for others in the employ of the federal government. There are serious statutory and regulatory restrictions on when employees outside the Treasury Department may gain access to tax return information. To date, no information on DOGE employees or any others executing orders on Musk’s behalf have revealed any clear, stated purpose as to why they need access to return information, whether they have followed all required laws to gain access to IRS systems, and what steps the IRS has taken to ensure that inspection of tax return is contained to authorized personnel and not disclosed to any unauthorized parties.

The two senators also directly address the legality of whether an executive order is enough to grant DOGE access.

No executive order requiring agency heads to provide DOGE personnel access to IRS records or information technology systems supersedes the federal tax code. Software engineers working for Musk seeking to gain access to tax return information have no right to hoover up taxpayer data and send that data back to any other part of the federal government and may be breaking the law if they are doing so. DOGE engineers also have no legal right to snoop around and inspect the tax returns of millions of American citizens unless expressly permitted under Section 6103.

The senators’ full letter can be read here and dives into even greater details about the legal implications.

Ethical Concerns

In addition to the strictly legal issues are the ethical questions raised by giving DOGE access. For example, the IRS’ own Taxpayer Bill of Rights assures taxpayers that this kind of scenario will not happen.

The Right to Privacy

Taxpayers have the right to expect that any IRS inquiry, examination, or enforcement action will comply with the law and be no more intrusive than necessary, and will respect all due process rights, including search and seizure protections and will provide, where applicable, a collection due process hearing.

Learn more about your right to privacy.

The Right to Confidentiality

Taxpayers have the right to expect that any information they provide to the IRS will not be disclosed unless authorized by the taxpayer or by law. Taxpayers have the right to expect appropriate action will be taken against employees, return preparers, and others who wrongfully use or disclose taxpayer return information.

Learn more about your right to confidentiality.

Given the number of government websites that have had information purged, below is a screenshot of the sections in question.

IRS Taxpayer Bill of Rights

Conclusion

DOGE’s request to access Americans’ most private and sensitive data is a disturbing turn of events, one that has not been clearly explained and is likely in direction violation of the law. The revelation is even more concerning when considering previous reports that indicate DOGE is guilty of embarrassing lapses in cybersecurity, meaning their access to IRS data could open the door to an unprecedented avalanche of cybersecurity breaches.

Observers are also questioning why an administration that promised to reign in Big Tech has seemingly handed the keys of the kingdom to one of Big Tech’s most controversial executives and is now on the verge of handing over Americans’ most sensitive and private data to that same tech mogul.

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Gnome Software Developers Consider Dropping RPM Support

The developers of Gnome Software have floated the idea of dropping support for RPM packages entirely, in favor of Flatpaks.

Gnome Software is the software center for the Gnome desktop environment (DE), and is a popular option for other DEs that don’t have their own software center, such as Xfce. Gnome Software is especially front-and-center on Fedora Workstation, given the amount of overlap between Fedora and Gnome developers.

In a mailing list post, user tqcharm recently recommended that Gnome Software completely remove support for RPMs, the native format for apps in the Red Hat/Fedora world.

Since the consensus seems to be that RPMs should be at the end of the priority list, what about decoupling (removing) RPMs from GNOME Software completely?

This might seem to be a step back, but it would make GNOME Software more consistent between Workstation and Silverblue, and support Fedora in its goal to make Flatpaks the primary packaging option.

That would leave RPMs to be a choice of the more advanced users, who seem to prefer the powerful dnf over GNOME Software anyway.

With RPMs missing from GNOME Software, prioritizing package sources becomes easier too: be it Fedora Core > Flathub Verified (or Probably Safe) -> Fedora Extended -> Flathub Extended or similar.

Michael Catanzaro, a Red Hat engineer, as well as a prominent Fedora and Gnome developer, replied with the following:

Removing RPM applications is my long term goal, but I’m not sure how quickly we’ll be able to get there.

Flatpaks, as well as Snaps, are a containerized app format that bundles all the necessary dependencies within the app, rather than relying on the underlying system. This is similar to how applications work on macOS, and solve many of the dependency issues that can arise when trying to have the latest software on older, point release distros.

Despite the advantages they offer, Flatpaks still have some disadvantages. For example, Flatpaks are designed primarily with desktop apps in mind, and are not suited for command-line apps. Flatpaks can also take up more space than traditional apps, although this becomes less of a factor as more Flatpaks are installed, since Flatpaks can share dependencies among themselves.

In addition, many Linux users still prefer traditional app package formats, such as RPMs in the Red Hat/Fedora/openSUSE world and DEBs in the Debian/Ubuntu world. There is also the question of how Gnome Software would handle native packages on other Linux distros, such as Debian and Ubuntu-based distros.

Ultimately, Gnome developers have a longstanding reputation for removing functionality the vast majority of users consider important, such as maximize/minimize window buttons, desktop icons, and more. The philosophy has contributed to many users transitioning to KDE Plasma, Cinnamon, or Xfce, all of which maintain the traditional desktop paradigm.

If Gnome developers move forward with this plan, it’s a move that will likely alienate even more users.

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