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If hunting for a job this year feels punishing, youre not aloneand new employment numbers back that up. New data from the Labor Department shows that in 2025, the American economy is starting to fray at the seams. For the first time since late 2020, the U.S. is losing jobs. A revision to Junes employment report revealed that the U.S. actually lost 13,000 jobs that month. The previous report showed a gain of 14,000 jobs, a figure that was revised down by 27,000 jobs lost in the new report. Julys data was revised up by 6,000 to 79,000 jobs gained that month, but the June dip into negative territory is an ominous red flag for the American economy that captures what many job seekers are seeing on the ground in 2025. The jobs report is the first since President Trump fired the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics over an unfavorable report that showed slow hiring in July and adjusted numbers in prior months downward. In my opinion, todays Jobs Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad, Trump said on Truth Social, after firing the longtime government employee. In August, U.S. employers added just 22,000 jobs as unemployment inched up to 4.3%, the highest rate since 2021. When setting the pandemic-era unemployment spike aside as an outlier, last month saw the largest share of Americans unemployed since September 2017. According to the report, more than 25% of unemployed workers have been without a job for longer than a six month stretch. Trump lashes out against new jobs numbers Responding to the jobs report on Truth Social, President Trump blamed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for the dismal numbers. “Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell should have lowered rates long ago,” Trump wrote. Trump has repeatedly bashed Powell over the Federal Reserves decision to hold off on lowering interest rates, an approach intended to keep a lid on inflation. Prices on goods and services soared after 2020, sending interest rates up and putting the Fed on high alert. While Trump gave the jobs report revision his customary conspiratorial spin, revisions to employment numbers are completely routine and arent published with politics in mind. An FAQ section in the report even addresses the issue of revisions, explaining that by including data that rolls in after each report, the Labor Department is able to paint a more accurate picture of the American labor marketnot a more politicized one. The establishment survey revises its initial monthly estimates twice, in the immediately succeeding 2 months, to incorporate additional sample receipts from respondents in the survey and recalculated seasonal adjustment factors, according to the report. A year defined by chaos Trump wants to pin the bad jobs news on Powell, but the chaos of the U.S. economy in 2025 at least partly has the president to blame. Trump took office and immediately cut the federal workforce to the bone, leaving tens of thousands of workers scrambling into other sectors for employment. Trumps endless barrage of tariffs loaded extra weight onto already high consumer prices while sowing chaos and confusion in global trade, with no clear benefit. To make matters even more complex, courts may unwind some of Trumps haphazardly laid plans, which could force the federal government to pay back taxes it has already collected. Against that backdrop, the American economy is a walking contradiction. There are more unemployed people than there are open jobs, but investors are happier than ever. Job seekers forced to wade through a process redefined by AI are drowning in a sea of thousands of auto-generated résumés flung at every open position. Meanwhile, companies boast about slashing their human workforces in favor of AI, pulling up the ladder for anyone seeking entry-level work. Concerns around inflation still loom, but given the latest jobs report, the Federal Reserve will almost certainly move to cut interest rates soon. That move wont be designed to please Trump, but rather to take some weight off of the economy before it sinks under the collective weight of so much chaos.
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A post circulating on Facebook shows a man named Henek, a violinist allegedly forced to play in the camps orchestra at Auschwitz. “His role: to play music as fellow prisoners were led to the gas chambers, reads the caption. But there is no Holocaust victim by the name of Henek. The image is also AI-generated. Publishing fake, AI-generated images of Auschwitz is not only a dangerous distortion. Such fabrication disrespects victims and harasses their memory.If you see such posts, please dont share them. Instead, follow the official @AuschwitzMuseum, where every name, every photo, and pic.twitter.com/8sMBxvPkOt— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) July 6, 2025 A new BBC investigation uncovered an international network of spammers posting fabricated Holocaust images on Facebook to profit from Metas content-monetization program. In recent months, images of children abandoned on train tracks or lovers meeting across concentration camp fences have appeared on Facebook, attracting clicks and shares. None of the victims or stories are real. According to the BBC, the images originate from spam networks in Pakistan, India, Vietnam, and Nigeria, where AI slop creators trade tips in private groups about exploiting Metas monetization scheme. Holocaust imagery, in particular, has proven to be a reliable traffic driver. One account claimed to generate more than 1.2 billion views and 16,000 in four months from mass-produced content. The BBC also interviewed a Pakistani man enrolled in these monetization schemes. While he does not post Holocaust content, he said the work has become his sole source of income, noting that posts targeting U.K., U.S., and European audiences earn up to eight times more than those aimed at Asia. Many history-themed pages and groups impersonate businesses to build audiences and qualify for monetization before pivoting to churn out Holocaust AI slop. Meta told the BBC the images themselves do not violate its policies but confirmed it had removed certain spam accounts flagged in the investigation. (Fast Company has reached out to Meta for comment.) In an X post earlier this year, the Auschwitz Museum addressed the disturbing trend and the impact it has on real victims and their families: What makes this particularly troubling is that their posts copy real contentincluding names, dates, and biographical facts taken directly from our posts,” the museum wrote. “Yet they pair this information with fabricated, AI-generated images that mislead viewers. The use of artificial intelligence to generate fictional images of Auschwitz victimsas done by the Facebook page 90s History (https://t.co/oNPzY9Ykq0)is not a tribute. It is a profound act of disrespect to the memory of those who suffered and were murdered in Auschwitz. It pic.twitter.com/wCdtySoBWK— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) May 22, 2025 The post continued: The history of Auschwitz is a well-documented story. Altering its visual record with AI imagery introduces distortion, no matter the intent. Using made-up images, no matter how poignant they seem, is a dangerous distortion of facts.
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E-Commerce
European Union regulators on Friday hit Google with a 2.95 billion euro ($3.5 billion) fine for breaching the blocs competition rules by favoring its own digital advertising services, marking the fourth such antitrust penalty for the company. The European Commission, the 27-nation blocs executive branch and top antitrust enforcer, also ordered the U.S. tech giant to end its self-preferencing practices and take steps to stop conflicts of interest along the advertising technology supply chain. EU regulators had previously threatened a breakup of the company but held off on that threat for the time being. Google said the decision was wrong and that it would appeal. It imposes an unjustified fine and requires changes that will hurt thousands of European businesses by making it harder for them to make money, Lee-Anne Mulholland, the companys global head of regulatory affairs, said in a statement. The decision was long overdue, coming more than two years after the European Commission announced antitrust charges against Google. The commission had said at the time that the only way to satisfy antitrust concerns about Googles lucrative digital ad business was to sell off parts of its business. However, this decision made only a brief mention of possible divestment and comes amid renewed tensions between Brussels and the Trump administration over trade, tariffs and technology regulation. Top EU officials had said earlier that the commission was seeking a forced sale because past cases that ended with fines and requirements for Google to stop anti-competitive practices have not worked, allowing the company to continue its behavior in a different form. It’s the second time in a week that Google has avoided a breakup. Google is also under fire on a separate front in the U.S., where prosecutors want the company to sell off its Chrome browser after a judge found the company had an illegal monopoly in online search. On Tuesday, a U.S. federal judge found that Google had illegal monopoly in online search and ordered a shake-up of its search engine but rebuffed the government’s attempt to break up the company by forcing a sale of its Chrome browser. But the EU indicated that breakup option is not totally off the table. Google has 60 days to tell the Commission its proposals to end its conflicts of interest, and if the regulators aren’t satisfied they will propose an appropriate remedy. The Commission has already signaled its preliminary view that only the divestment by Google of part of its services would address the situation of inherent conflicts of interest, but it first wishes to hear and assess Googles proposal, it said in a press release. The commissions penalty follows a formal investigation that it opened in June 2021, looking into whether Google violated the blocs competition rules by favoring its own online display advertising technology services at the expense of rival publishers, advertisers and advertising technology services. Its investigation found that Google abused its dominant positions in the ad-technology ecosystem, the commission said. Online display ads are banners and text that appear on websites and are personalized based on an internet users browsing history. Mulholland said, “Theres nothing anticompetitive in providing services for ad buyers and sellers, and there are more alternatives to our services than ever before. Google is facing pressure on other fronts. In a separate U.S. case, the Justice Department asked a federal judge in May to force the company to sell off its AdX business and DFP ad platform tools that are also at the heart of the EU case. They connect advertisers with publishers who have ad space to sell on their sites. The case is scheduled to move to the penalty phase, known as remedy hearings, in late September. Authorities in Canada and Britain are also targeting the company over its digital ad business.
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