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The group chats that changed America | Semafor

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Last Thursday morning, a bit before 10 am in Austin and nearly 11 pm in Singapore, Joe Lonsdale had enough of Balaji Srinivasan’s views on China. “This is insane CCP thinking,” Lonsdale, a co-founder of Palantir, wrote to a 300-member Signal group. “Not sure what leaders hang out w you in Singapore but on this you have been taken over by a crazy China mind virus.” Srinivasan, a former Coinbase chief technology officer and influential tech figure who now lives in the city-state, responded that China “executed extremely well over 45 years. Any analysis that doesn’t take that into account makes it seem like the US could have held it back.” It was a normal, robust disagreement among friends in a friendly space (as both raced to X to declare, after I emailed them about it). And it was just another day in Chatham House, a giant and raucous Signal group that forms part of the sprawling network of influential private chats that began during the fervid early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and w

The group chats that changed America | Semafor Intelligence for the New World Economy Semafor World Economy The group chats that changed America Ben Smith Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Semafor Apr 27, 2025, 9:23pm EDT Media Share Al Lucca/Semafor Post Email Whatsapp Copy link Sign up for Semafor Media: Media’s essential read. Read it now . Email address Sign Up In this article: The Scoop Ben’s view Notable The Scoop Last Thursday morning, a bit before 10 am in Austin and nearly 11 pm in Singapore, Joe Lonsdale had enough of Balaji Srinivasan’s views on China. “This is insane CCP thinking,” L

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