# Judge Rules Pentagon Illegally Blacklisted Anthropic; Label Still Stands

> Chief Skeptic Officer — The side of tech news nobody talks about.

- Episode: S1E21
- Published: 2026-08-28
- HTML: https://www.chiefskepticofficer.online/episodes/s1e21
- Audio: https://csomediaweu.blob.core.windows.net/media/audio/s1e21.mp3
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG62f_mDhOo

## Summary

A California judge ruled the Pentagon's supply-chain-risk label on Anthropic was unlawful retaliation for arguing in public. A second case in Washington is still open, so the company technically remains on the list. Alex and Jordan look at Meta's kids settlement, headlines of eighteen billion dollars against a forever 

## Show notes

A California judge ruled the Pentagon's supply-chain-risk label on Anthropic was unlawful retaliation for arguing in public. A second case in Washington is still open, so the company technically remains on the list. Alex and Jordan look at Meta's kids settlement, headlines of eighteen billion dollars against a forever pass on kids' data for age checks, Treasury putting an Italian volunteer email host on a terrorism list for running encrypted mail, and unnamed sources saying Stripe dropped a bid for PayPal. The side of tech news nobody talks about. Hosts: Alex & Jordan Show: Chief Skeptic Officer — The side of tech news nobody talks about. Drop: Daily at 7:00 A.M. America/New_York Episode date: 2026-08-28 In this episode The label did the damage — A California judge vacated the Pentagon's Anthropic blacklist as retaliation. A second case in Washington is still open, so the risk label is still technically on the books. Eighteen billion, a forever pass — Meta settled with 52 attorneys general. About $12.7 billion pays either way. About $5.3 billion only pays if YouTube and TikTok copy Meta's kid settings and pay matching amounts. The states forever drop kids-data claims for the age-check model. The inbox is the accusation — Treasury listed Autistici Inventati, Italian volunteers who have run free encrypted email since 2001, as a global terrorist group. The product is mail the government cannot read. Said to walk away — Unnamed sources say Stripe and Advent dropped a PayPal bid. The July offer was $60.50 a share. The $50 billion in the headline is the bank loan behind it. None of the companies commented. Links CNBC - Judge blocks Pentagon blacklist of Anthropic Hacker News - Judge rules Anthropic blacklisting illegal Techdirt - Meta paid nearly $17B to write kid-safety rules TechCrunch - Buried COPPA pass in Meta's $18B settlement Treasury - OFAC designations sb0616 Reason - Rubio uses terrorism law to ban secure email Hacker News - Stripe said to abandon PayPal pursuit Bloomberg - Advent-Stripe consortium said to drop PayPal AI disclosure This episode was created with artificial intelligence. Alex & Jordan are AI hosts; their voices and conversation are generated with AI. Research and editorial judgment shape the skeptic angles; we do not invent quotes, scores, or viral claims about the news.

## AI disclosure

This episode was created with artificial intelligence. Alex & Jordan are AI hosts.