Welcome to The Hill's Technology newsletter{beacon} Technology Technology   The Big Story Elon Musk's big bet pays off Elon Musk's massive bet on former President Trump appears to have paid off, as the billionaire owner of Tesla and SpaceX looks ahead to a forthcoming administration likely to boost his companies and his own political power. © Associated Press/Julia Demaree NikhinsonTrump squarely defeated Vice President Harris in Tuesday's election, sweeping the battleground states and winning the popular vote.  In his victory speech in the early hours of the morning Wednesdsay, the president-elect offered a shoutout to Musk.  “We have a new star,” Trump said. “A star is born — Elon!”  As congratulations rolled in for the Republican presidential victor, several key figures in the business world also gave credit to Musk.   “Congrats @realDonaldTrump,” billionaire investor and Harris surrogate Mark Cuban wrote in a post on X, the social platform owned by Musk. “You won fair and square. Congrats to @elonmusk as well. #Godspeed.”   Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly served as White House communications director under Trump and has since become a critic of his old boss, also offered congratulations to Trump and Musk over an “incredibly well executed” campaign.   Musk endorsed Trump in July, shortly after the former president was shot in the ear in an attempted assassination at a campaign rally. The move and months that followed marked a major rightward shift for Musk, who previously shied away from the political world and even criticized Trump at times.   The billionaire has since used his massive platform on X and immense wealth to boost the former president, launching a pro-Trump super PAC, to which he contributed about $118 million.  America PAC played a key role in the Trump campaign’s get-out-the-vote efforts in swing states, occasionally drawing scrutiny with its boundary-pushing methods, such as its daily $1 million giveaways to registered swing state voters in the final weeks of the election.   Musk himself took an active role in boosting Trump’s bid, appearing at several rallies alongside the president-elect and holding a series of town halls in Pennsylvania.  GOP strategist Chris Johnson suggested Musk made the “bet” that a Trump administration would make room for innovation without government oversight.   “When you see the expansion of these bureaucracies and that getting in the way of tech development or manufacturing or energy development, you can see why they’re sympathetic,” Johnson told The Hill.  “And I think that’s the bet that Elon is making, is that a Trump administration is going to allow for the kinds of development of energy, technologies, manufacturing … with less government interference than a Democratic administration.”  Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.  Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter, we're Julia Shapero and Miranda Nazzaro — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley.   Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.   Essential Reads  How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future:  Bill Gates congratulates Trump after reported $50M donation backing HarrisBillionaire Bill Gates, who reportedly gave $50 million to a PAC backing Vice President Harris in this year’s election, congratulated President-elect Trump on Thursday afternoon following his decisive win. “Congratulations to President Trump and VP-elect Vance,” Gates said in a post on the social platform X. “America is at its strongest when we use ingenuity and innovation to improve lives here in the U.S. and around the world.” …  Full Story  Top tech leaders congratulate Trump on winThe leaders of the world’s biggest technology companies offered congratulations to President-elect Trump on Wednesday after he secured a second term in office.  Despite Trump’s rocky relationship with tech leaders, the messages flooded in quickly Wednesday morning.  Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who often feuded with Trump during his first administration, congratulated the president-elect on “an extraordinary political comeback …  Full Story  Musk credits podcast appearances for Trump win: ‘He’s just being a normal person’ Tech billionaire Elon Musk attributed President-elect Trump’s election victory, at least in part, to the lengthy podcast interviews he did during the campaign. In an interview late Tuesday with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Musk said Trump’s podcast appearances showed the American public that he was a normal person. “I think it made a big difference that President Trump and soon-to-be Vice President Vance went …  Full Story   The Refresh  News we've flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics: Anthropic, AWS, Palantir join forces to serve defense customers Anthropic is working with Palantir and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to bring artificial intelligence (AI) models to classified environments for U.S. intelligence and defense agencies, TechCrunch reported.   Australia proposes youth social media ban Australia plans to consider legislation that would ban social media for children under 16 years old, citing risks to their mental and physical health, Reuters reported.   In Other News  Branch out with other reads on The Hill:Supreme Court hears Facebook’s bid to block Cambridge Analytica shareholder suit The Supreme Court considered Wednesday a bid from Facebook to block a shareholder lawsuit over the Cambridge Analytica data scandal from moving forward.  Shareholders sued the social media company after the public became widely aware of the scandal in 2018, accusing Facebook of misleading investors in an earlier securities filing by failing to mention Cambridge Analytica’s misuse of user data.   While the tech … Full Story   What Others are Reading  Two key stories on The Hill right now: Sanders ignites Democratic battle over election loss Democrats are pointing fingers and scrambling for answers over what went wrong with their message on the economy after a resounding loss by Vice President … Read more 2 Democrats speak out against transgender athletes after Trump win  Two House Democrats said they oppose transgender athletes competing in women’s sports in the immediate aftermath of President-elect Trump’s decisive … Read more  What Others are Reading  Opinion related to tech submitted to The Hill: Feeding AI’s appetite: Who pays the price for power-hungry data centers?    You're all caught up. See you tomorrow!