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Melania Trumps self-titled documentary may have been more than a mediocre movie: Its also the grounds for questioning whether Amazon violated federal anti-bribery laws. In a March 15 letter, a group of U.S. lawmakers, including Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), called on Amazon to explain its deal to acquire Melania, particularly about the reasoning behind its sky-high price tag. Amazon spent $40 million to acquire the movie (and the rights to a proposed docuseries), the most expensive deal for a commissioned documentary ever, and $26 million more than Disney, the next highest bidder, offered for the first ladys film. “The fact that Amazon is seeking favorable treatment from the Trump administration while paying a far-above-market sum to produce and promote the Trump familys film raises questions about Amazons exposure under federal anti-bribery law,” the letter states, as revealed to USA Today. “When corporate giants […] transfer tens of millions of dollars to the family of a sitting president, that not only raises questions about corporate governance but also risks eroding public trust in the fairness of our economic and political systems.” The documentary deal joins a growing list of controversial interactions between Amazon and the Trump administration. The company donated $1 million to Donald Trumps reelection campaign, with founder Jeff Bezos himself attending his inauguration in 2025. Amazon also backed down on its plan to display how Trumps tariffs were impacting its prices, after the president reportedly spoke to Bezos directly. He did the right thing. Good guy, Trump said of Bezos to reporters at the time. The letter also cites evidence that Amazon and Bezos have financial stakes in being on good terms with the Trump administration, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseths visit to one of Bezoss Blue Origin space facilities in February of this year. The letter gives Amazon a deadline of March 30 to respond to a list of questions “to assist Congress in understanding the circumstances surrounding this transaction and in assessing Amazons compliance with applicable federal anti-bribery laws.” Giant corporations shouldnt be able to bribe their way out of paying taxes or fines theyve been issued for breaking the law,” Warren said in a statement about the letter to USA Today. “If Amazon is bribing the Trump administration, the company and its executives should be subject to criminal penalties. Among the letters demands is a commercial rationale for the $40 million Amazon shelled out for the film, along with the $35 million the company then spent on marketing. Those numbers seem to make little sense when taking Melania at its artistic merits: The movie was almost universally panned, not only for its controversial subject matter (the first ladys life in the two weeks leading up to Trumps second inauguration) or its choice of director (Brett Ratner, who previously hadnt made a film since 2017 after allegations of sexual misconduct), but for what critics called its poor craft of filmmaking. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a critics score of only 11%, with reviewers decrying it as shallow, agonizingly dull, and two hours of almost pure absence. At Sunday night’s Academy Awards ceremony, Jimmy Kimmel poked fun at the film while presenting the award for best documentary, saying: He is gonna be mad that his wife wasn’t nominated for this, all without ever mentioning Trumps name. Amazon did not reply to Fast Companys request for comment by the time of publication. But the company has previously fielded accusations of bribery surrounding the deal, with a spokesperson saying at the time: “We licensed the film for one reason and one reason onlybecause we think customers are going to love it.”
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E-Commerce
Encyclopedia Britannica is suing OpenAI for allegedly misusing its reference materials to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models. The Chicago-based Britannica Group runs Britannica.com and Merriam-webster.com, the online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Creator of the 250-year-old Encyclopaedia Britannica, the company ended its print edition in 2012, survived Wikipedia, and has since focused on educational software and digital growth, including selling artificial intelligence agent software, according to The New York Times. Britannica had acquired Melingo AI in 2000, which offers “AI-powered solutions and naturallanguage processing” in multiple languages by leveraging artificial intelligence and computational linguistics, according to Britannica’s website. The Britannica Group alleges OpenAIwhich is backed by Microsoftused information from its encyclopedia and dictionary to train its AI chatbot ChatGPT. The problem is, OpenAI now automatically generates AI summaries of that content on its own platform, which is resulting in Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster’s own web traffic plummeting. The lawsuit was filed in a Manhattan court on Friday. “Our models empower innovation, and are trained on publicly available data and grounded in fair use,” an OpenAI spokesperson told Fast Company in an email statement. “ChatGPT helps enhance human creativity, advance scientific discovery and medical research, and enable hundreds of millions of people to improve their daily lives.” Fast Company has also reached out to the Britannica Group for comment. Since 2013, the Britannica Group, also known as Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., has not only survived, but is thriving. In 2024, it took the first steps to go public, filing a draft registration statement for an initial public offering at a valuation of around $1 billion, The New York Times and Yahoo Finance reported.
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E-Commerce
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles has been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer but plans to continue working through her treatment, retaining her place as one of President Donald Trumps closest aides during a period of political turbulence. Wiles, 68, announced on Monday that she had been diagnosed over the previous week. She gave no indication she would pull back from her work as she undergoes treatment. Nearly one in eight women in the United States will face this diagnosis, said Wiles, who’s the first woman to hold her position. Every day, these women continue to raise their families, go to work, and serve their communities with strength and determination. I now join their ranks. In a social media post, Trump described Wiles as one of the strongest people I know and said her prognosis is excellent. During the treatment period, she will be spending virtually full time at the White House, which makes me, as President, very happy! Trump said on his Truth Social platform. She will soon be better than ever! Within 20 minutes of Trump’s post, Wiles was sitting alongside the president at a meeting of the Kennedy Center board of trustees. In opening remarks, Trump said Wiles had already begun treatment and described her diagnosis as a minor difficulty” that she would overcome. It comes as the Republican president confronts mounting challenges on global and national fronts, from the war in Iran and soaring oil prices to this falls midterm elections and Americans’ concerns over affordability. Wiles is a longtime Trump ally who rose from his campaign co-chair to his closest adviser and counsel. She spent decades as a lobbyist and political operative in Florida and led his 2016 effort in the state. She mostly shuns the spotlight but drew attention in December with an unusually candid Vanity Fair interview in which she made critical remarks about Trump administration leaders including Vice President JD Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi. Trump underscored his trust in Wiles in the aftermath, calling the interview a hit piece and describing Wiles as fantastic. More than 300,000 women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, according to the American Cancer Society. Treatment varies depending on how early the cancer is caught but usually involves either removing the tumor, followed by radiation, or removing the breast, whats called a mastectomy. The cancers stage, subtype, and genetic makeup can help determine if additional treatment of the original tumor is needed, or certain therapy to help prevent recurrence. In his Monday post, Trump reiterated that Wiles is tough and deeply committed to serving the American People. Melania and I are with her in every way, and we look forward to working with Susie on the many big and wonderful things that are happening for the benefit of our Country, Trump said, referring to first lady Melania Trump. By Collin Binkley, Associated Press AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report.
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E-Commerce
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