In an editorial published Wednesday in state-owned media, the Chinese Communist Party explicitly states that Chinese law “prohibits the export of core technologies such as short video algorithms, drawing a red line for the TikTok transaction.” 

That doesn’t mean President Donald Trump and ByteDance won’t still make a deal. TikTok has been planning for the possibility, reportedly exploring options like creating a U.S.-only version of the For You algorithm or a separate U.S. TikTok app. Either way, the platform’s defining feature could look very different than it does today.

Let’s get into the headlines,

AI juggernaut Anthropic has partnered with startup Binti, which provides a digital platform for more than 12,000 social workers, in an effort to build new tools to help them manage their cases more easily. The partnership aims to cut back on paperwork—one of the biggest stumbling blocks to meaningful social work that assists at-risk children—by adding features such as the ability to transcribe recordings of meetings with families and then use that information to fill out reports.

Fawn Weaver founded Tennessee whiskey brand Uncle Nearest to honor the formerly enslaved Nearest Green, who taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey, and it made her one of Forbes’ Richest Self-Made Women in 2024. But now she’s fighting for control of the company after it defaulted on $108 million in loans, and a judge placed the business under a receivership, which would give an independent individual the legal power to make sure the creditor gets repaid.

In a major roadblock to the Trump Administration’s efforts to quell the uproar over the Jeffrey Epstein files, a federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury materials in its prosecution against the disgraced financier. Instead, New York Judge Richard Berman suggested the DOJ release its files in the case, noting the information in the grand jury materials “pales in comparison.”

Texas House lawmakers approved a new gerrymandered map Wednesday that would likely give Republicans five additional congressional seats, following a lengthy delay after dozens of Democratic state legislators left Texas to prevent the House from reaching a quorum. The new map has set up a battle with Democratic-led states, including California, which will attempt to even the scales ahead of the 2026 midterms.