Crypto News: Weekend Edition: ‘We have a lot of fear’

Welcome to the weekend!

This week a major US sports organization said it was reviewing plans to launch men's and women's pro leagues in a sport that will also make its Olympics debut in 2028 — do you know which sport? Find out by playing Pointed, our new weekly news quiz that tests not only what you know, but how confident you are that you know it.

What makes for good listening while training to go pro? Our audio playlist, available in the Bloomberg app (Menu → Weekend Edition). We've got six great stories, read by professional voice actors, to make you smarter in under an hour.

Don't miss Sunday's Forecast, in which we regret to inform you that the chaos is here to stay. For unlimited access to Bloomberg.com, subscribe.

Awaiting a Reckoning

On a Friday morning in 2022, 19-year-old Kyla Palomaki woke up to two haunting messages. One was a text from her boyfriend Jordan: "Kyla, I love you so much. I made a mistake and wish I could continue but I can't do this anymore." The other, from an unfamiliar Instagram account, contained a photo of Jordan naked. Kyla would soon discover her boyfriend had died by suicide after becoming a victim of sextortion.

Over the past two years, more than 2,000 lawsuits have been filed against social media companies, alleging that they've addicted children to screens, connected them to predators, fed them harmful content and coaxed them to suicide. Can't Look Away, a new Bloomberg documentary, goes on the ground with a scrappy law firm trying a novel tactic to hold companies accountable. The social media industry has survived countless PR crises, Olivia Carville writes, but what it should really fear is a jury.

Weekend Essay

The Case Against Social Media

Grieving families are united by a quest for corporate accountability.

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If social media platforms' tendency to move fast and break things incentivizes growth over safety, the Trump administration's tendency to do the same incentivizes uncertainty over stability. Such is life in the perpetual uncertainty machine, Shawn Donnan writes. If you are managing money today, you are confronting a fracturing global economy with few clear patterns. If you are building a business, you'd better be nimble. And if you're waiting for the chaos to end, don't hold your breath.

Weekend Essay

The Uncertainty Is Not Going to End

Tariffs are just the latest symptom, but the causes go beyond Trump.

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Every economic shock is different, and no one really knows where things will stand at the end of Trump's term — in the US, or the European Union. The EU's three biggest economies may ultimately be shaped by three women on the populist right, writes Flavia Krause-Jackson, each with her own complicated origin story. Together, Italy's Giorgia Meloni, France's Marine Le Pen and Germany's Alice Weidel embody a movement that has emerged from the fringes and shed its postwar guilt to take once-taboo nationalist pride into the mainstream.

Weekend Essay

The Three Graces of Europe's Right

The future of the EU may depend on which of their visions prevails.

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Dispatches

Copenhagen, Denmark
Between the peaceful waterfront and the traffic-clogged 02 ring road, the Fisketorvet mall has become a battleground in the global trade wars. On the ground floor, a Føtex grocery store recently introduced a new way for shoppers to fight Trump tariffs: small black stars that indicate goods made in the EU. The stars "make it easier to make a choice," said shopper Kirsten Mogensen, who uses them "to avoid supporting the Americans."

Illustration: Maggie Cowles for Bloomberg

Phnom Penh, Cambodia
As the lead consultant for a program sponsored by USAID, Dyna Doum has toiled for years to eliminate malaria from his native Cambodia. But in late January, Doum found himself out of a job as US cuts to foreign aid brought decades of malaria work to a standstill and left even surviving programs in limbo. "We were in the last mile of malaria elimination," Doum says. "Imagine an engine is running at 100 miles per hour and suddenly stops. Only panic is left to fill the void."

Illustration: Isabella Cotier for Bloomberg

One Family's Journey

"We have a lot of fear. More every day."

Pedro Tonito

To the Tonito family, the US represented the possibility of a better, safer life. So like millions before them, they endured unfathomable dangers to reach it. The family isn't in the country illegally. They have a pending immigration case, and the Temporary Protected Status that for the moment shields more than 1 million foreigners from deportation. But the Tonitos don't have legal status — putting them in limbo as the Trump administration tries to deliver on its threats.

Weekend Plans

What we're reading: The Thinking Machine by Stephen Witt and The Nvidia Way by Tae Kim. Both books try to feel out Nvidia founder Jensen Huang's place in the pantheon of tech visionaries.

What we're doing: "spaving." Loyalty points have seeped into every area of our lives, so much so that people sometimes spend more than they intended to under the illusion that they're saving money.

What we're wondering: What does America want from Nauru? Trade between the US and the tiny island nation is a drop in the bucket of the global economy. That didn't stop Trump from slapping Nauru with 30% reciprocal tariffs.

What we're studying: the art of diplomacy. Scholars tend to present diplomacy as the work of bureaucrats operating in a rigid system, but in reality foreign policy has always happened outside the official channels.

What we're not studying: manufacturing. In China, officials are urging young people to skip college and attend vocational school — a tough sell for a path that has long been stigmatized as an inferior choice for underachieving students.

One Last Thing

"It was a perfect blend of romance, culture and adventure."

From call center workers to billionaire tycoons, Indians tend to spend lavishly on their weddings. But a growing number of them are opting for more intimate celebrations — and taking those festivities outside the country. These multi-day destination weddings are lifting economies from Vietnam to Mexico, where hotels, wedding planners and caterers bid for events that can bring in $1 million or more.

Read the Story

One last last thing

As Trump's trade war rattles markets, Bloomberg Surveillance goes beyond the headlines with special coverage Sunday April 6 from 5-7pm EDT. Join hosts Jonathan Ferro and Lisa Abramowicz for real-time insight from economists, market strategists and policymakers.

Watch on Bloomberg.com/live and TV<GO> on the Terminal.