Image by Trump White House Archived, from Flickr

AI Video of Trump Kissing Musk’s Feet Broadcast In Federal Agency Offices

• Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
• Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

An AI-generated video depicting President Donald Trump sucking Elon Musk’s toes aired on a loop across the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Monday morning, as first reported by 404Media .

In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!

• Hackers targeted HUD’s systems on the first day of mandatory office return.
• HUD staff returned to office after remote work ban lifted by executive order.
• The incident raises concerns about cybersecurity protocols at federal agencies.

The video, captioned “LONG LIVE THE REAL KING,” reportedly played for five minutes before building staff struggled to shut it off, sending employees across multiple floors to manually unplug the televisions.

Journalist Marisa Kabas shared footage of the event on Bluesky, describing how HUD staff were left scrambling to turn off the video after it continued to loop uncontrollably.

The 19-second clip showed Trump sucking Musk’s feet, a scene that seemed to satirize their increasingly close relationship. The prank video coincided with the mandatory return-to-office order for federal employees, following an executive decision to end remote work, as noted by 404 Media.

An unnamed HUD employee provided additional details to WIRED , confirming that workers had to physically intervene by shutting off each screen manually.

“Another waste of taxpayer dollars and resources,” said HUD spokesperson Kasey Lovett, adding that “appropriate action will be taken for all involved.”

The video was a bizarre moment of viral political satire at a time when tensions are rising over the government’s approach to workforce reductions.

Musk, who has become a prominent figure in Trump’s administration, is leading the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is tasked with cutting federal spending and restructuring agencies, as noted by Forbes .

These efforts have been controversial, with significant layoffs anticipated across government departments, including HUD.

In a leaked memo, seen by The Washington Post , the Trump administration outlined plans to eliminate over 4,000 HUD positions, including workers involved in disaster recovery, rental subsidies, and housing for first-time buyers.

The move has sparked outrage, especially as it directly targets employees who handle critical services for low-income communities. “We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” said Russell Vought, Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in a 2023 speech , as reported by 404 Media.

Musk’s influence over the federal government continues to grow. Last week, he made headlines with an ultimatum to federal employees, demanding that they report their weekly accomplishments or resign, as reported by 404 Media.

The video prank is just the latest in a series of incidents that highlight the unusual nature of the Trump-Musk relationship, which has come under increasing scrutiny as the pair continue to shape the future of the U.S. government.

Photo by Sadman Sakib on Unsplash

Bluesky’s Photo-Sharing App Flashes Now Available on App Store

• Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
• Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

Flashes, Bluesky’s new photo-sharing platform, released its 1.0.1 version on the App Store today. Flashes for Bluesky is free and available for download on iOS, while Android, and web users will have to wait longer.

In a Rush? Here are the Quick Facts!

• Flashes, Bluesky’s new photo-sharing app, is now available for iOS.
• The app syncs with Bluesky and supports up to 4 photos per post and 1-minute videos.
• Flashes aims to compete with popular photo and video platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.

“Welcome to Flashes, a native photo and video-focused app for the Bluesky social network!,” states the description on the App Store . “Flashes makes it easy to share stunning photos and videos while keeping full compatibility with Bluesky’s open ecosystem.”

Last week, Flashes shared a public announcement on Bluesky saying that the app was almost ready—the beta version still needed fixes—and inviting users to pre-order and get the app as soon as it was ready and released. Nearly 10,000 users quickly registered to be among the first ones to try the app.

Now that the app is ready for download, Flashes has warned about a few issues. “When creating a new account make sure you don’t re-use an email you have used with any other Bluesky account yet,” states a post on Bluesky, explaining that the signup process won’t work with a reused email but a fix is in development. Users are advised to use unique email addresses or add suffixes to Gmail handles as a workaround.

Bluesky announced Flashes in January , as a strategy to support users looking for Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Facebook alternatives. The new image-focused app supports photos primarily but also short videos.

The platform currently supports up to 4 photos per post and 1-min videos, but the developer expects to support longer videos and more photos in the near future.

Flashes is built on Bluesky’s AT Protocol, which means that it automatically synchronizes with Bluesky. Every post shared on Flashes will also appear on Bluesky for now, part of the future plan is to run Flashes on its own network—but as part of the fediverse ecosystem.