Good morning. If you’re in the United States, happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
Did you know that only 1 in 5 high schools on Native American reservations offers computer science? (The national average is nearly 3 in 5.)
What’s more, just 0.02% of total venture capital invested goes to folks who identify as Native, even though they’re 3% of the U.S. population. (To put that in perspective: Black women, who account for 7.8% of the nation, receive 0.39% percent of VC dollars…and they’re not exactly cheering about it.)
Much progress made, far more to go. The news below. —Andrew Nusca
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TikTok layoffs favor AI moderation
Chalk one up for the machines.
TikTok said Friday that it would lay off 500 employees, most of whom moderated content on the service. It’s a relative fraction of the 110,000 people that its parent company ByteDance employs worldwide.
TikTok said the changes are an attempt to improve the quality of its moderation, which is surely a bitter pill to swallow if you were among those to receive a pink slip. TikTok moderation is presently done by a mix of humans and machines, but it’s not an even split: 80% of violations are managed by the latter, the company told Reuters.
Content—and financial savings—is surely on TikTok’s mind. Beijing-based ownership is one reason U.S. legislators have the social media service in its sights; the other reason is allegations that TikTok knowingly addicted and harmed young users of its service in a bid to boost engagement. (Addiction? On a social media service? Groundbreaking.)
TikTok is currently wading through an array of investigations and lawsuits in the U.S. and elsewhere, plus that pesky January 19, 2025 deadline for the company to find a U.S. government-approved buyer or risk an outright ban. So far, “I am ByteDance, I am TikTok, and we are not the same person” has not convinced the authorities. —AN
Uber and Lyft lock out NYC drivers
In New York, Alicia Keys once sang, there's nothing you can't do…except log into Uber or Lyft when the companies don’t want to pay you.
A new Bloomberg report details how the ride-hailing services locked out drivers, who under a local law are supposed to be paid for time between trips. A great way to save millions of dollars? Don’t let ‘em log in to begin with.
The lockouts, which struck without warning, “occurred almost every hour of every day” and affected hundreds of drivers, according to the report. Lockouts affected even drivers working in high-demand areas, sometimes pushing up fares because of the decrease in supply.
Uber and Lyft acknowledged to the outlet the existence of the practice and the harm it causes drivers, but blamed the New York City law that requires minimum pay for rideshare workers. (Unlike elsewhere, New York’s law is variable rather than fixed, based in part on a “utilization rate” that lockouts can influence.)
For now, the ride-hailing companies are operating under a summer agreement with the city’s mayor and taxi authority to end lockouts, provided business returns remain acceptable. But it’s hardly binding. —AN
U.S. labor board accuses Apple of worker interference
The National Labor Relations Board accused Apple of interfering with U.S. workers’ rights to collectively advocate for themselves, according to a complaint reportedly filed last week.
The accusations run the gamut. According to the NLRB, Apple illegally fired an employee who advocated for workplace changes on Slack, required a different worker to delete a post made with their personal social media account, maintained illegal work rules around the acceptable uses of Slack, and created the impression that employees were being surveilled on social media.
It’s not the first time the labor relations board complained about Applethis month, and we’re not even halfway through it. Just last week, the NLRB said Apple illegally required employees to sign unlawful confidentiality, nondisclosure, and noncompete agreements.
Apple told Reuters it “strongly disagreed” with the claims. A hearing is set for February—provided, of course, the parties don’t settle first. —AN
Meta’s Threads under fire, Bluesky pounces
It ain’t easy being a Meta employee with a statement chain, and no, I’m not talking about Mark Zuckerberg.
Adam Mosseri, the Facebook product designer turned Instagram chief, has been taking heat from all sides after users of IG’s X competitor Threads noticed a number of hijinks on the service, including disappearing posts, declining engagement, and account lockouts.
“We … have already found mistakes and made changes,” Mosseri posted on the service. Was AI to blame? Quite the opposite, it turns out: “Our reviewers (people) were making calls without being provided the context on how conversations played out.” We’ve all been there, dude.
Microblogging rival Bluesky, created by Twitter veterans but considerably lagging in relative popularity, saw an opportunity and pounced. The company created its own Threads account and went to town: “we're not like the other girls... we're not owned by a billionaire 🤪” Ooh, burn. —AN
The chips are alright
The semiconductor industry must be mightily relieved, because the mining of a key material has resumed following an assault by Hurricane Helene.
The hurricane hit Spruce Pine—a North Carolina town that happens to be the world’s main source of high-purity quartz—hard. The material is an essential part of the crucibles in which chips are made.
Now Sibelco, one of the big miners there, says its production has restarted and shipments have resumed.
“While the road to full recovery for our communities will be long, restarting our operations and resuming shipments to customers are important contributors to rebuilding the local economy,” said CEO Hilmar Rode.
The Quartz Corp, which is the other big miner in Spruce Pine, still hasn’t resumed its own operations. But at least the chip sector isn’t going to grind to a halt anytime soon. —David Meyer
More data
—Assessing the possible outcomes of Google’s antitrust suit. Search for answers no more.
—The “Salt Typhoon” hack of U.S. broadband providers is now looking like “a devastating counterintelligence failure.” Ruh roh.
—Coming soon: Streaming Xbox games you own. The feature was first promised—checks watch—four years ago.
—Apple opens a new research hub in Shenzhen. Its market share in China is shrinking.
—Cerebras IPO under scrutiny. Big banks reportedly passed over customer concentration concerns.
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