🪙 A trillion-dollar coin

…and Twitter fails to moderate graphic content   Imagining a world with a trillion-dollar coin (Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images)   Yesterday’s Market Moves   Dow Jones 33,562 (-0.17%) S&P 500 4,119 (-0.46%) Nasdaq 12,180 (-0.63%) Bitcoin $27,620 (-0.36%) Dow Jones 33,562 (-0.17%) S&P 500 4,119 (-0.46%) Nasdaq 12,180 (-0.63%) Bitcoin $27,620 (-0.36%) Hey Snackers, “AI Drake” isn’t the only music bot facing [Spotify]( scrutiny. The streamer reportedly [pulled]( tens of thousands of songs uploaded by AI startup Boomy on suspicions that bots weren’t just writing the songs but also artificially inflating listener counts. Stocks ticked down after more volatility at regional banks — and as investors waited out the debt-ceiling impasse and eyed April’s consumer inflation report (coming today). MINT With the US debt ceiling fast approaching, wacky workarounds enter the chat 11th-hour dramatics… with the largest economy on the line. President Biden and House Speaker McCarthy met yesterday to discuss the debt ceiling, which the government could hit as soon as June 1. If elected officials fail to reach an agreement, Treasury Secretary Yellen predicted an "economic catastrophe." Now, instead of waiting on budget consensus, experts are [proposing]( alternative solutions so that the US can keep paying its bills: - Pocket change: #MintTheCoin proponents — including legal scholars and pundits — argue that the Treasury could mint a single trillion-dollar coin. Poof: $$ problems gone. - Not your parents' bonds: Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said the US could issue “premium bonds,” which would have higher interest rates and could theoretically be sold at above face value. - Constitution check: When all else fails, ignore it? Some say that the 14th Amendment renders the debt ceiling unconstitutional. Yellen for a solution… Janet Yellen said it's unlikely the Fed would accept a trillion-dollar coin, and even fans of the premium-bond play say it could run into legal speed bumps. But if officials don't reach an agreement to raise (or suspend) the ceiling, the Treasury could be forced to decide which bills to pay. Picture: interest still paid on Treasury securities, but paused Social Security checks and delayed federal-contractor payments. Meanwhile, the White House warned that a protracted default could lead to millions of job losses, plunging stock values, and an "immediate" recession. THE TAKEAWAY Stale problems create space for fresh fixes… This is far from the first time officials have played debt-ceiling chicken (or that a trillion-dollar coin's been pitched). But it could be the first time the US intentionally defaults on its debt. A last-minute deal is still on the table, but barring a bipartisan resolution, seemingly out-there solutions could gain traction. Safety Graphic images from the Texas mall shooting got past Twitter moderation, drawing criticism Sensitive content… Graphic images showing victims of the deadly shooting at a Texas mall began [circulating]( on Twitter over the weekend, and some content was still up on Monday. The content is against Twitter’s stated policies prohibiting “gratuitous gore,” specifically “dismembered or mutilated humans.” - Twitter’s problem: NYT journalist Benjamin Mullin said the images were “less prominent” on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, and searches on those platforms mostly surfaced news articles and less sensitive eyewitness content. Meanwhile, Twitter users said the images flooded their feeds. Under Elon’s reign… Musk has made sweeping changes to Twitter since becoming CEO, including affecting the platform’s ability to moderate content with algorithms and with humans catching sensitive material that gets into users’ feeds. - Missing moderators: While [Meta]( and YouTube have invested heavily in hiring large teams of moderators, Twitter laid them off as part of mass cuts initiated by Musk. Last month, the EU told Twitter it needed to hire more moderators to comply with a new set of digital safety rules. - Technical tweaks: Users who pay for a premium (checkmark) Twitter subscription get their content algorithmically prioritized above free accounts, and users say that’s helped surface images of the shooting, especially in the “For You” feed added in January. THE TAKEAWAY Not all costs are cuttable… Musk has focused on steep cost cuts (including selling Twitter HQ’s furniture) and revenue-boosting initiatives (like subscriptions) to revive Twitter’s finances. But the rapid belt-tightening may’ve missed a notch somewhere. The company’s revenue reportedly plummeted 40% from December 2021 to last year, mainly because of advertisers exiting the platform en masse… largely over content moderation. What else we're Snackin' - [Check-in]( [Airbnb]( reported a record # of nights booked and swung to a $117M profit, saying revenue had doubled since the pandemic. But shares fell after the rental go-to gave a muted forecast. - [Net]( [Fox]( $788M defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems (likely the largest ever) pushed it to a quarterly loss, despite an 18% revenue bump from the Super Bowl and growth at ad-supported streamer Tubi. - [Zzz]( [Tempur Sealy]( agreed to buy Mattress Firm in a $4B deal that would give it a combined 3K stores and 21K employees. The sleep industry has been kept up at night by waning spend on big items like $1.5K+ mattresses. - [Bowser]( [Nintendo]( didn’t catch ’em all last year: the Japanese gaming giant’s earnings fell as Switch sales dropped 22%. But its newest Zelda game (ETA: this week) could revive interest in the aging console. - [AIs-with-that]( [Wendy’s]( plans to roll out an AI-chatbot-powered drive-thru next month, in partnership with [Google](. Carl’s Jr. parent CKE also announced it would begin using the tech at some locations. 🍪 Thanks for Snacking with us! Want to share the Snacks? Invite your friends to sign up [here](. Snack Fact Of the Day Old-school check-fraud nearly doubled last year from 2021, with banks filing 680K reports [Read more]( Wednesday - Consumer-price index for April - Earnings expected from Roblox, Wendy’s, Disney, Beyond Meat, Cheesecake Factory, Robinhood, The New York Times, and GoodRx Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Beyond Meat, Disney, Google, and Robinhood Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... [See more]( [Sherwood Terms and Conditions]( • [Our Editorial Principles]( • [Contact Us](mailto:hellosnacks@sherwoodmedia.com) • [Privacy Policy]( • [Advertise with us](mailto:advertising@sherwoodmedia.com) [Unsubscribe](