10 things in tech you need to know today

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Wednesday.

1. WhatsApp is suing NSO Group after investigating an attack that sent malware to 1,400 devices and targeted over 100 human rights defenders and journalists. WhatsApp head Will Cathcart penned an op-ed in The Washington Post explaining the reasons for WhatsApp's decision.
2. Huawei snarled back at US attempts to freeze it out of $8.5 billion in mobile subsidies. The US appears to be stepping up its attempts to weaken Huawei's presence in the country, judging by a blog post from FCC chairman Ajit Pai.
3. Netflix competitor HBO Max is set to launch in May for $15 per month. According to Vox, HBO Max will feature all of HBO's programming as well as original shows.
4. TikTok 's owner is denying it wants to go public next year. The Financial Times reported Monday that ByteDance, the Chinese company worth a reported $75 billion that owns TikTok, wants to go public in Hong Kong early next year, but a TikTok spokesman denied this.
5. Mark Zuckerberg claimed Facebook was founded with political expression in mind, but a former Facebook exec called that 'pretty obviously incorrect.' Zuckerberg was called out on his revisionist history by former Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos in an interview published by Columbia Journalism Review this week.
6. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren got behind the Facebook employees slamming Mark Zuckerberg for allowing lies in political ads. According to an internal letter obtained by The New York Times on Monday, 250 Facebook employees are petitioning CEO Mark Zuckerberg to change the company's policy not to fact-check political advertising.
7. A man ran for governor of California just to post false Facebook ads. San Francisco-based Adriel Hampton told CNN he will use his newfound candidate status to run false ads about President Trump, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, as well as other Facebook and Twitter execs.
8. Juul has confirmed plans to cut 500 jobs as it prepares for a ban on flavored pods, which make up 80% of its US sales. The e-cigarette giant is also cutting all ads across the US.
9. The latest 'Call of Duty' game is facing backlash for its depiction of Russia. Both Russian media and Metacritic reviewers have criticised 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare,' BBC News reports.
10. Over 60 new emoji have just arrived for iPhones, including gender-neutral people and an otter. Apple has updated nearly 400 emoji symbols on the iPhone with the iOS 13.2 software update, according to Emojipedia.

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