Welcome to The Hill's Technology newsletter {beacon} Technology Technology   The Big Story  X becomes backdrop for Senate leader fight  The race for the next Senate majority leader ramped up over the weekend, with prominent figures taking to social media platform X to catapult their endorsements.  © AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth A series of prominent GOP and MAGA figures took to X over the weekend to urge the Senate Republican Conference to elect Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) as the chamber's next majority leader.    The secret-ballot vote for GOP leader will be held Wednesday.   Elon Musk, the owner of X, SpaceX and Tesla, was among the voices, posting on X Sunday, "Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader!"   The remarks were made in a repost of Scott's pledge on X to "do whatever it takes" to get President-elect Trump's nominations through the chamber "as soon as possible" by allow him to make recess appointments, which has not happened in years.    In a pinned post first published on Sunday morning, Musk circulated a poll asking X users to choose between Scott, Republican Whip John Thune (R-S.D.), Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) or an "other" option for who they'd like to see as the next Senate GOP leader.    Scott garnered 65.5 percent of the vote on X, while "other" received 22.6 percent and Thune and Cornyn — who are both jockeying for the role — each received single-digit support. The poll received more than 1 million votes and had nearly 37 million views.    Conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson joined the conversation on X, accusing Thune and Cornyn, who have served in the Senate since 2005 and 2002 and are close allies of current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), of secretly hating Trump.    “What the hell is going on in the U.S. Senate? Hours after Donald Trump wins the most conclusive mandate in 40 years, Mitch McConnell engineers a coup against his agenda by calling early leadership elections in the Senate. Two of the three candidates hate Trump and what he ran on,” Carlson posted on X.   Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who both may be in line for a senior position in the Trump administration, also endorsed Scott on X.    While the use of social media for the broadcast of views and support is nothing new to politicians, especially among Trump's bandwagon, Musk's involvement and the use of X is the latest sign of the tech mogul's increasing shift into the political fray.    Musk, who emerged as one of Trump's most visible allies in the run-up to the race, could be in line for an official role in the next White House and has reportedly spent recent days with the president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago estate.    Despite the swirling conversations, the biggest star in the MAGA universe, Trump, has yet to make an endorsement in the Senate leadership race.   Read more from The Hill's Alexander Bolton here.    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:   Musk, RFK Jr., and other MAGA stars back Scott for leader Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have joined other MAGA celebrities in calling on Republican senators to elect Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) as the next Senate majority leader. Musk and Kennedy were just two of several prominent allies of President-elect Trump, including conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson and Vivek Ramaswamy, to back Scott in hopes of shaking up a race where Senate Republican …  Full Story   Petition urges Trump to make Musk special adviser on AI Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI), an artificial intelligence (AI) advocacy group, is calling on President-elect Trump to make Elon Musk a special adviser on AI in his second administration. The nonprofit launched the petition Monday, arguing Musk is well-positioned to help ensure that the U.S. continues to lead on AI.  “There’s no one better positioned to help the Trump Administration navigate this new technology,” …  Full Story   ChatGPT blocked over 250,000 image generations of presidential candidates, OpenAI says ChatGPT rejected over 250,000 AI image requests in the month leading up to Election Day according to a Friday blog post from OpenAI.  Users tried to generate photos of President-elect Trump, Vice President Harris, Vice President-elect Vance, President Biden and Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) “We’ve applied safety measures to ChatGPT to refuse requests to generate images of real people, including politicians,” the company wrote. …  Full Story   The Refresh  News we've flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics:   FTX sues Binance for $1.8 billion The now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX is suing fellow crypto exchange Binance and its former CEO to recover $1.76 billion that it alleges was fraudulently transferred by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, The Verge reported.   US orders TSMC to halt chip shipments to China The Biden administration has ordered Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to halt the shipment of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, Reuters reported.   On Our Radar  Upcoming news themes and events we're watching: Nvidia heads to the Supreme Court on Wednesday over a class-action lawsuit that accused the chipmaker of misleading investors about its dependence on crypto mining.   What Others are Reading  Two key stories on The Hill right now: Trump selects Lee Zeldin to lead EPA President-elect Trump has selected former Rep.  Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, putting a second New Yorker … Read more Warren: Trump transition ‘already breaking the law’ Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said on Monday that President elect-Trump “and his transition team are already breaking” a law on presidential transition. … Read more   What Others are Reading  Opinion related to tech submitted to The Hill: A few helpful suggestions for President Trump on NASA space policy     You're all caught up. See you tomorrow!