10 things in tech you need to know today
Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Monday.
- Apple Card is facing a formal investigation by Wall Street regulators over gender discrimination allegations made in a viral tweet. Web programmer and author David Heinemeier Hansson shared on Twitter that he was offered 20 times the credit limit of his wife, and when he confronted customer service representatives, they were dismissive of the issue.
- Jeff Bezos reportedly called Michael Bloomberg and asked him if he would run for president earlier this year. According to Recode, Bezos asked Bloomberg the question after the collapse of Amazon's plans to build a second headquarters in New York City earlier this year.
- Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Jamal Khashoggi's murder was 'a mistake' by the Saudi government, and defended his firm's ties to the regime. Khosrowshahi later clarified to Axios in an email that Khashoggi's murder was "reprehensible and should not be forgotten or excused."
- A dozen current and former employees said car-leasing firm Fair's unconstrained growth was its undoing, after the SoftBank-backed company burned through nearly $400 million in 10 months. Insiders told Business Insider the startup hired people it didn't have jobs for and bought millions of dollars in inventory it lost track of.
- Facebook is facing allegations of ongoing racism and discrimination among its workforce. Employees have been sharing and discussing an anonymously authored blog post that alleges racism at the company has gotten worse over the past year and quotes what it says are 12 current and former employees on their experiences, Business Insider has learned.
- Facebook has rejected calls to ban political ads on its platform ahead of a general election in the UK on December 12. The company told journalists that it wanted to allow politicians and candidates to speak to voters through paid ads - and that it won't fact-check their claims.
- Child porn runs rampant on big tech platforms despite detection and prevention methods, according to a New York Times investigation. Massive inconsistencies across tech companies and platforms in addressing the material leave gaping holes that pedophiles and criminals easily exploit.
- Hot AI startup UiPath's job cuts were triggered after it burned cash faster than expected and missed its revenue target, according to an internal document. UiPath's third-quarter annual recurring revenue totaled $296 million, below its target of $343 million, according to the presentation.
- Amazon's video streaming service Twitch is bleeding its most popular stars. Popular streamers including Ninja, Shroud, and King Gothalion have left the service.
- Silicon Valley firms are putting internal employee newsletters on the walls of bathrooms stalls to reach workers while they poop. Companies like Facebook, Google, and Yelp are all sticking up newsletters, memos, workplace training drills and other important messages for their workforce on the walls of toilet stalls, ensuring workers can learn more about the business while they do their business.
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