Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Mark Zuckerberg in Aaron Sorkin's 'The Social Network.'
Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Friday.
- Facebook's chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, doubled down on the firm's stance on political advertising, saying the company allowed the ads on free-speech grounds even though they didn't bring in much revenue and had caused a huge hassle. Sandberg told Bloomberg that political ads are worth less than 1% of the social network's revenue, amidst criticism that the firm doesn't fact-check lies in political ads.
- Adam Neumann demoted his chief of staff for being pregnant, according to a new complaint against the ousted CEO and WeWork. In a complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in New York, Medina Bardhi said she was demoted following each of her pregnancies and that her male replacements made substantially more money.
- An online spat broke out between screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who fictionalized Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in his film "The Social Network", and Zuckerberg himself. Sorkin slammed Zuckerberg's stance on permitting lies in political ads in a New York Times op-ed, while Zuckerberg countered by quoting a speech made by one of Sorkin's own characters about free expression.
- Tim Cook said during Apple's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday that he's optimistic that the US and China will come to a trade agreement. The US and China are close to finalizing the first stage of a trade agreement, which may prevent further tariff escalations.
- A Vice investigation revealed a "nationwide scam" on Airbnb, uncovering a US network of fake hosts who used phony listings to collect thousands of dollars from victims. The investigation appeared to show that Airbnb, a platform that relies hugely on trust, does little to confirm that hosts are who they say they are.
- Google has updated its definition of "Googleyness," a slightly vague factor in the hiring process, The Information reported. According to The Information, Google changed its hiring manual with a new directive to "avoid confusing Googleyness with culture fit, which can leave room for bias."
- Leaked images claiming to show Motorola's foldable Razr smartphone suggest it will look like a modernized version of the iconic flip phone. Motorola is unveiling its Razr-style foldable smartphone on November 13, and a recent image leak of the new Razr was obtained by Dutch tech site Mobielkopen and appears to show the new Razr will look a lot like its predecessor.
- Apple CEO Tim Cook is positioning the firm's new $250 AirPods Pro as complementary to rather than replacements for people's current AirPods. He told analysts that people who already own AirPods would probably want an extra pair "for the times that they need noise cancellation."
- Creators of color on TikTok are asking for better representation on the app's "For You" page and are using the app's audio sharing feature to make videos calling out the problem, Mashable reported. 20-year-old TikTok user Larry Hudson III posted an audio clip calling for black users to repost and ask for greater visibility.
- SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son appeared to fall asleep during a panel appearance at Saudi Arabia's annual massive investment conference, dubbed "Davos in the desert." On a recording of the conference posted on YouTube, Son can be seen visibly nodding off for around 25 seconds as the panelist next to him talks, then waking up after his head slumps down.
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