Google's internal political battles continue to spread to the public

This is an unfortunate time at Google.

Since James Damore's controversy last year, Google has had to deal with regular eruptions of disgruntled employees who want to protest in public against the company's policy. In January, a former safety engineer said that he had been prevented from sharing his views on diversity. This summer, a group of employees successfully pressured the company to stop building an AI project for the military. A similar group is currently trying to prevent the company from returning to China.

All this happened in an unusually public way – and in a political environment that is increasingly hostile to Google and its parent company, Alphabet. President Trump repeatedly tweeted unfounded allegations that the company was biased against the Conservatives. Legislators have conducted hearings that seem primarily intended to embarrass Google and its giant technology counterparts.

On Wednesday, while Attorney General Jeff Sessions could open an investigation on antitrust laws and consumer protection against tech companies, someone gave him a gift: a one-hour video of the first meeting. you from Google after the 2016 US presidential election the most discouraged executives try to comfort the employees to whom they address themselves.

The video seems to have circulated for six months; the New York TimesJack Nicas referred in a March article. Now, Breitbart has posted the entire meeting, known internally as TGIF, to everyone.

I know what you think: finally, a chance to review the 2016 elections!

The video is less risky than Breitbart's breathtaking framing – and almost comical notations in depth – might suggest it. Meetings like this have been held in many companies after the November elections, progressives, people of color, LGBT people and other marginalized communities facing what a Trump administration could represent for them and their families and loved ones. . These concerns were … not without foundation! Around the world, leaders felt compelled to reassure employees that they understood their fears and that they would do their best to support them.

And, of course, some of them – including immigrants, like Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google – have themselves been disappointed by the news.

"Most people here are very upset and very sad," says Brin at the beginning of the meeting. "I find this election deeply shocking and I know that many of you too. It's a stressful time and it conflicts with many of our values. I think it's a good time to think about that. … So many people apparently do not share the values ​​we have.

At the same time, leaders do not directly criticize Trump, nor suggest that their political convictions will result in changes to the products or services of the company.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the audience that many employees had sent him an email telling him that they feared the consequences of a Trump administration. He encourages them to speak out, to reach out to political opponents and to adopt the democratic process.

"It was a fair and democratic process, and we honor it," says Kent Walker, who leads Google's legal and policy team.

In a statement to Buzzfeed, Google notes that the company encourages people to share their views. "For more than 20 years, everyone at Google has been able to freely express their opinions at these meetings," said the company. "Nothing was said at this meeting or any other meeting to suggest that political bias influences the way we build or operate our products. On the contrary, our products are designed for everyone and we design them with extraordinary care to be a reliable source of information for all, regardless of the political point of view. "

I think that's true, although I'm not sure it's important. Conservative organizations quickly called the video "a gun". I expect legislators to quote from them in future hearings. And even if the individual links in the chain of evidence suggesting that Google is "biased" are little more than a series of accidents, the endless repetition of the right-hand noise machine could still make it a powerful narrative.

I consider video as a time capsule. It is no secret that groups of Google employees have opposed the Trump agenda, especially with regard to immigration. In any case, the video captures a moment when the Googlers were more unified. One of them forwarded it to Breitbart – knowing very well what would follow – which offers even more evidence that this time has passed.

Democracy

Vote on the EU Copyright Directive: Articles 11 and 13 Approved

My colleague James Vincent gives us an overview of the European Union Copyright Directive, which some critics say threatens the Internet as we know it. Its provisions could strengthen existing businesses while breaking parts of the Internet for the rest of us. He faces a final vote in January, but should move on:

Critics of the Copyright Directive say that these provisions are disastrous. In the case of Article 11, they note that attempts to "tax" platforms such as Google News for article sharing have repeatedly failed and that the system could be abused by the trolls of the author's right.

Article 13, they say, is even worse. Legislation requires that platforms work proactively with rights holders to prevent users from downloading copyrighted content. The only way to do this would be to scan all downloaded data on sites like YouTube and Facebook. This would create an incredible burden for small platforms and could be used as a large-scale censorship mechanism. It is for this reason that personalities like the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, and the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee, have strongly opposed the directive.

Wikimedia calls the European Copyright Directive "a missed opportunity"

Wikipedia and Reddit are among EU critics: my colleague Russell Brandom reports:

"Today's vote has dealt a significant blow to the open Internet and to small businesses like Reddit," said one representative. The edge. "It is disappointing to see Parliament ignore the concerns of voters and experts who know the Internet better, including its architects. We are assessing what this means for Reddit and we will continue to inform our community.

Trump approves sanctions for foreigners meddling in elections

Hey, he actually signed it!

"We felt that it was important to demonstrate that the president took the lead on this issue, that he cared a lot about him – that the integrity of our elections and our constitutional process are he priorities, "said John Bolton.

In order, the president declared a national emergency, an action required by the sanctions authority, to deal with the threat of foreign interference in the US elections.

Large technology companies must appear before the Senate to discuss confidentiality

The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on September 26 to discuss privacy practices at Google, Facebook, Amazon and Twitter, reports John D. McKinnon:

"Americans have a hard time understanding what is collected and how it is used," said Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.), chairman of the committee. "We are holding this hearing to help inform consumers and determine where the federal government may need to stand."

The audience will allow legislators to understand how Internet companies have fueled their rapid growth by harnessing consumer data to sell advertising and other services and products.

How the game apps that Captivate Kids collect their data

Here is an article that could be presented at this hearing on September 26: A lawsuit filed by the Attorney General of New Mexico accuses a popular applications maker as well as online advertising companies run by Google and Twitter to violate the law on the privacy of children. Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Natasha Singer, Aaron Krolik and Michael H. Keller:

Before Kim Slingerland downloaded the Fun Kid Racing app for her 5 year old son, Shane, she was checking if she was in the family section of the Google Play Store and was considered age appropriate. The game, which allows children to run cartoon cars with animal drivers, has been downloaded millions of times.

Until last month, the application also shared user data, sometimes including the precise location of devices, with more than half a dozen advertising and tracking companies in line. On Tuesday night, the New Mexico Attorney General filed a lawsuit stating that the Fun Kid Racing maker had violated the federal children's privacy law through dozens of Android apps sharing the data. children.

Nearly 600 accounts linked to Russia tweeted about the health law

Russian trolls can also be politicians, report Stephanie Armor and Paul Overberg:

A newly identified group of nearly 10,000 tweets shows that while Russian trolls often focus on issues as delicate as Hillary Clinton's email or athletes kneeling at the national anthem, they also target

Nearly 600 IRA-related accounts were published on Twitter about ACA and Health Policy from 2014 through May, the most prolific tweeting hundreds of times, says the new file. An account, called TEN_GOP, has grown from less than 1,000 subscribers to more than 138,000 in two years, sending 60 tweets that could reach more than four million people.

Somewhere else

Reddit has banned the conspiracy QAnon subreddit r / GreatAwakening

It is not entirely clear why, but one of the main QAnon moonbats gathering places has been closed. This is apparently part of a larger effort to start implementing the rules adopted last year.

Reddit has banned its QAnon conspiracy theories subprogram, saying it violates the rules against "incitement to violence, harassment and dissemination of personal information". Brandy Zadrozny, NBC News reporter tweeted about the ban from r / GreatAwakening earlier today. This is the second high-level purge of a QAnon subroutine – a card called r / CBTS_stream was banned in March for repeatedly violating the Reddit guidelines. Some users of the sub-program grouped themselves into the clone of Reddit, Voat, which takes a more moderate approach to moderation.

Instagram COO Marne Levine is back to Facebook to become one of its key leaders

The CEO of Instagram, Marne Levine, who has kept a low profile while helping to make the brand a major company for Facebook, will now resume all partnerships at Big Blue, reports Kurt Wagner, who has just returned to office after his honeymoon. Congratulations Kurt!

This is a big promotion for Levine, who will join Facebook's management team, although his appointment is not a complete surprise. She was a likely internal candidate for the position, as reported by recoding last month, and was a top Facebook executive at the social giant's public policy before joining Instagram. She is also Sandberg's best friend.

"Since arriving at Instagram four years ago, Marne has been an invaluable COO," said Kevin Systrom, CEO of Instagram, in a statement shared with recoding. "We have grown from a community of 300 million to more than a billion, from a team of just over 100 to over a thousand employees, and we have opened offices around the world. There are few executives within the scope and skills of the Marne.

Snapchat shares hit record low in terms of search acquisition

It's hard to overstate Snap's bad year from a business perspective. Two years ago, the company paid $ 114 million for a mobile search app called Vurb; his CEO resigned Wednesday without bothering to acquire all his shares. One of the reasons it was an easier choice than it could have been otherwise, is that the stock has fallen to a historically low level on Wednesday, reports Josh Constine:

Given that Snap is known to weight its stock purchase schedules, Lo could leave more than half of its holdings on the table. This decision should worry investors. As founder, Lo has already won a large portion of the purchase price, which includes $ 21 million in cash and $ 83 million in shares.

Since last July, Snap has lost a ton of talent, including SV Sehn, vice president of engineering, Chloe Drimal, senior vice president of human and legal resources, Robyn Thomas and vice president of securities Martin Lev , Drew Vollero, vice president Tom Conrad's co-founder Jonathan Wegener, head of the Entertainment team, Mark Randall, director of advertising technology Sriram Krishnan, sales chief Jeff Lucas and, last week, his Chief Operating Officer Imran Khan.

A Peddler of Fake Reviews – TripAdvisor

In a significant development, a person who has committed fraud by writing false reviews will receive a prison sentence in Italy:

An Italian court sentenced a nine-month jail sentence against a person who wrote fake hotel reviews on TripAdvisor in exchange for a sum of money from hotels. An Italian court has decided that writing false TripAdvisor reviews using a false identity is illegal and sentenced to nine months in jail.

Some students want to abolish classroom presentations

Taylor Lorenz reports that teens hope to use the pressure of social media to break out of one of the most feared rituals of education: talk in front of the class:

In recent years, students have begun to make classroom presentations that discriminate against people who are anxious, demanding that teachers come up with alternatives. This week, a tweet published by 15-year-old high school student stating "Stop forcing students to come to class and give them the choice not to do it" has collected over 130,000 retweets and nearly half a million "likes". A similar feeling tweeted in january also accumulated thousands of likes and retweets. And the teachers listen.

Apple iPhone 2018 event: the biggest ads

Apple announced Wednesday three new iPhone models: the XS, the XS Max and the XR. Catch up here!

Launches

Instagram will send a pop-up on opioid addiction support if you are looking for some hashtags

After months of criticism about how easy it is to find drugs on the platform, Instagram is adding some basic steps to guide drug users to resources that can help them, starting with a message that pops up when you search medication:

"If you or someone you know is fighting opioid or substance abuse, find ways to get free and confidential treatment recommendations, as well as information on addictions, prevention and recovery."

The user can then choose to get support resources developed by Instagram with the Addiction and Mental Health Services Administration, the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Addiction and the Partnership for Children Without Drugs. There will also be tips for family and friends of people with addiction issues.

Take

The metamorphosis of Silicon Valley C.E.O.s: from fat to boring

Farhad Manjoo is studying why Elon Musk aside, technology CEOs are no longer flashy.

It's no mystery that technology leaders are turning inward. "Tech is now such an important and dominant industry," said Joshua Reeves, the proudly boring founder and CEO of Gusto, a startup that makes human resources software. "The mentality of flying by-the-seat-of-your-pants is simply not viable when you have a trillion dollar market capitalization or you have more influence than many governments around the world.

Apple's iPhone event, checking the facts on Facebook, again Vimeo Pivots [$]

Ben Thompson kindly linked yesterday's newsletter about fact checking on Facebook and made this smart point:

Oh, and by the way, read over the title of the article that I started: does the author think it's true that the idea of ​​fact-checking on Facebook censor ThinkProgress because a conservative site told him to do it? Or is the thirst for clicks worth choosing hyperbole over the truth, and the indignation is less tied to the search for objective truth and more to the insistence that the powers that apply its own political goals?

And finally …

You already know that I think email is the future of the media. Could this also be the future of Apple events?

Talk to me

Send me tips, questions, corrections and an Apple Watch Series 4: [email protected].