| This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an unmarried couple checking into Bloomberg Opinion's opinions. Sign up here. If you had been able to see Mark's Zuckerberg's private Facebook feed in 2015 — the year he and his wife started a nonprofit dedicated to fighting disease and improving education — it might have looked like this: What about now? A peek at Zuckerberg's feed so far in 2025 — the year he went on Joe Rogan and ended Meta's commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion — might look something like this: In doing away with fact-checkers and diversity programs, Beth Kowitt says, Zuckerberg has abandoned Facebook's original mission — to make the world a better place. "He's whittled his ambitions simply to tech overlord," she writes (free read). Although Zuckerberg's case is extreme, she adds, "the trend is pointing in the same direction: CEOs are spending much less time, energy and money trying to publicly position themselves as change agents." It's not just in the US. In India, Mihir Sharma says deepening social divisions are forcing corporations and CEOs to make political decisions. Oyo Hotels, a Softbank-backed chain, announced last week that it would no longer allow unmarried couples to check into its hotels in Meerut, a northern city about an hour's drive from Delhi. The ensuing controversy ought to be a lesson for all companies facing unpredictable political tides, says Mihir: "Policies begun for political reasons will have to be abandoned for political reasons. The biggest loser is often the company caught in the middle." Speaking of getting caught in the middle: Guess who's attending the president-elect's swearing-in ceremony? There's Zuckerberg, who's throwing Trump an inauguration party. Elon Musk, who Patricia Lopez says is increasingly at odds with Trump's anti-immigrant MAGA base. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, who's also over fact-checking. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who is kissing the ring in the hopes of salvation. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who's trying to sell "AI for America." And Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who became "best friends" with Musk today, apparently: "What's clear is companies don't feel much of a need to virtue signal anymore," Beth writes. "And no wonder: The public isn't all that interested in virtue right now (Exhibit A: the election of the country's first felon-in-chief), and business is having an increasingly hard time convincing Americans that it ever had much of it." Bonus Big Tech Reading: Musk says there'll be more humanoid robots than people by 2040. Europe offers fertile ground for his vision. — Lionel Laurent Ants are wild. They outlived dinosaurs. They don't have lungs. They have two stomachs — one for them, one for a friend. They can carry things that are 50 times heavier than their body weight. And they engage in global warfare that spans six continents. No wonder they're smarter than humans! Well, some of the time: "When scientists constructed a puzzle-solving task and pitted teams of people against teams of ants, the insects sometimes proved to be the smarter species," F.D. Flam writes. Here's what happened: The experiment used two versions of the same maze — one ant-sized and the other scaled to the size of a tennis court. Both species had to transport a T-shaped object — something bulky compared with their bodies — through a tricky series of openings. It was a bit like moving an awkwardly large couch through a narrow hallway or stairwell. The object had to be in just the right orientation to pass through the first opening and then rotate to pass through the second. In videos that recently went viral, the ants — called longhorn crazy ants (Paratrechina longicornis) — danced through the exercise with such grace that even ant experts were amazed. The groups of humans appeared to bumble clumsily through the task. Some teams of ants solved the puzzle faster than some teams of humans.
F.D. says it's a lesson you could bring to your next staff meeting. The ants were able to self-organize instead of following a designated leader, which helped them seamlessly cooperate even as they encountered new challenges. Taylor Swift has saved a lot of things: The economy. The NFL. Copyright law. This guy. Now add Target to that list. Her Target-exclusive Eras Tour Book helped the retailer achieve record sales between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. "Target must now build on the fourth-quarter momentum," writes Andrea Felsted. "For the past year or so, it has oscillated between beating expectations and coming up short, frustrating investors. That task won't be easy given that competitor Walmart Inc. is wooing Target's more affluent customers with stylish fashion and fancy food."  California's awful wildfires have David Fickling thinking about Australia's 2019-2020 bushfire season, when 33 people died and 3,000-plus homes burned. "In a world where wildfire is becoming more frequent and devastating as a result of global changes to the climate, there are lessons to be learned from how other countries handle the same combustible mix of parched vegetation and dry, windy weather," he writes. By employing "prescribed burns" — a practice that dates back to Indigenous fire control — firefighters in Australia can control the pace of the fire and cause less damage. "The US is gradually moving toward the same policy," he writes, but there's still a long way to go. If Democrats want to regain trust on immigration, they can start with the Laken Riley Act. — Bloomberg editorial board Scott Bessent, Trump's pick to fix the deficit, only offered pie-in-the-sky solutions. — Jonathan Levin They finally unveiled Nintendo's Swith 2! But the games that come next will be crucial. — Gearoid Reidy Without Hindenburg Research, who will be the corporate policeman for the financial world? — Chris Hughes Sports fans — not leagues — will feel the cost of wildfires and other climate disasters the most. — Adam Minter Polestar makes beautiful EVs, but it needs a rich benefactor to keep the wheels turning. — Chris Bryant Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio reveal a lot about America's next foreign policy. — Andreas Kluth The "No Buy 2025" social media challenge will backfire in the long run. — Erin Lowry Cellphone bans have bipartisan momentum. Capitol Hill staffers want a 32-hour workweek. Walgreens has a $200 million fridge door fiasco. A physics paper on Cacio e Pepe. A trademark war with Ugg boots. A song that transcends language. A Lego house that's built for a vampire. Notes: Please send sparkly Edward and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. Sign up here and find us on Bluesky, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and Threads. | 
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