CIA director’s missing Signal messages pour gasoline on major Trump administration scandal

Welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Drop, where we bring you the latest tech and politics news from the past week.

The CIA’s chief data officer recently testified in court that he could not find any significant messages from CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s Signal app in an ongoing lawsuit related to the use of the messaging app by top Trump officials to share sensitive U.S. military plans. The missing messages have raised concerns among national security officials and the organization behind the lawsuit, American Oversight.

In another legal battle, the Trump administration is facing a lawsuit over the deletion of an online database designed to track federal fund spending. The database was a crucial source of information about the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) funding.

Meta’s trial, where the U.S. government has accused Facebook’s parent company of holding a monopoly, began with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony. The outcome of the case could lead to Meta being required to divest some of its social media platforms.

Federal employees have expressed fears of being monitored by Trump administration officials to suppress dissent, according to a report by The Guardian. The administration’s tactics to dehumanize migrants by marking them as deceased in the Social Security system have also drawn criticism.

These are just some of the stories making waves in the tech and political spheres. Stay tuned for more updates and analysis.