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Meta has joined the ranks of major companies that are scaling back or, in its case, terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. In a memo sent on Friday, Jan. 10, through Meta’s internal communications tool Workplace, Janelle Gale, the company’s vice president of human resources, announced updates to “our hiring, development, and procurement practices,” effective immediately, according to Axios. “The legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing,” Gale wrote in the memo. “The Supreme Court of the United States has recently made decisions signaling a shift in how courts will approach DEI. … The term ‘DEI’ has also become charged, in part because it is understood by some as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others.” Going forward, Meta will no longer have a dedicated DEI team. Maxine Williams, the company’s standing chief diversity officer, will transition to a new...
The Supreme Court convened at 10 a.m. EST on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025, to hear arguments regarding a law that could potentially ban TikTok in the United States. According to NBC News., lawyers for TikTok, some of its users, and the Biden administration are presenting their oral arguments before the conservative-majority court’s nine justices. A preliminary decision may be reached within days, if not hours, after the oral arguments conclude. Chinese Internet entrepreneur Zhang Yiming co-founded TikTok in 2012 as part of technology company ByteDance, per its website. The social media platform’s algorithm provides users with short-form video content tailored to their interests. NBC reported that Yiming launched TikTok in the U.S. in 2018. It has since become increasingly popular, boasting 170 million American users. Following concerns that the app was a national security threat, the U.S. government, with broad bipartisan support, passed a law requiring ByteDance to divest from the company...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Overhyped tech sectors of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence have seen a recent resurgence in the past year. Most of AI’s rise can be attributed to the hype and fear that surrounds its use. If you ask OpenAI CEO Sam Altman his thoughts, he’ll tell you that AI is needed to bring us into the future, but to scientists like Dr. Joy Buolamwini who approaches the use of AI cautiously, its lack of regulation can prove harmful to people of color. Despite doubts about the use of AI technology, it’s become almost ubiquitous in culture. Students have used ChatGPT for essay assignments, workers are using ChatGPT to write emails , and others have suggested using AI to create something as simple as grocery lists and corresponding menus. But even as AI and cryptocurrency continue to experience unprecedented growth, experts predict that AI will reach its peak in 2025 and then burst. Still, a second Donald...
Meta is discontinuing its fact-checking system. On Tuesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan announced that the tech giant would transition to a community notes model — similar to the system on Elon Musk’s X — to “restore free expression,” according to a news release. “Meta’s platforms are built to be places where people can express themselves freely,” said Kaplan in the release. “That can be messy. On platforms where billions of people can have a voice, all the good, bad, and ugly is on display. But that’s free expression.” Kaplan noted that societal and political pressure to moderate content has pushed the company to develop increasingly complex systems to manage content across its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram , in recent years. “Too much harmless content gets censored, too many people find themselves wrongly locked up in ‘Facebook jail,’ and we are often too slow to respond when they do,” he added. Zuckerberg also believes the...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Corporate companies have gutted and targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs throughout 2024. As we head into 2025, efforts to reverse these changes will only increase. DEI programs have been the center of several political battles since Republicans wrongfully came to attack critical race theory. Just as conservatives have a woeful misunderstanding of critical race theory and where it applies, DEI has become a buzzword associated with the aforementioned cultural wars. What Is DEI? DEI initiatives are implemented in schools, businesses, and government agencies to address inequities within historically marginalized groups. According to Erica Foldy, a professor at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, initiatives could include training, organizational policies and practices, and organizational culture. DEI isn’t just a rule or legislation created for organizations to pat...
Mexico is launching a new initiative to help migrants alert local consulates if they believe they are about to be detained in the United States. The country is developing a mobile app called “Alert Button,” which, in addition to alerting consulates, will also allow Mexican nationals who fear imminent detention to notify pre-selected family members and report the situation to its secretary of foreign affairs, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, ABC News reported . De la Fuente announced the app is intended for “emergency cases” and is expected to be available in January 2025, coinciding with the beginning of President-elect Donald Trump’s administration . The secretary also outlined additional protective measures, emphasizing that to deport someone from the U.S., “you need a court order, a final sentence of deportation or removal, and that is where the consular team will be very aware that due process is complied with,” according to ABC. Trump has repeatedly pledged to launch mass deportations...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Americans aren’t the only ones prepping for another tedious four years under President-elect Donald Trump. Since the results of the 2024 election projected Donald Trump as the winner, tech leaders from companies like Meta, Amazon, OpenAI, and others have shelled out seven-figure investments to Trump’s inaugural fund. According to CBS News, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has donated $1 million and plans to stream the inauguration on Prime. Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, will donate $1 million, along with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who delivered an optimistic statement about the President-elect’s election win. “President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead,” Altman said in a statement, per The Associated Press. Elon Musk, CEO of X, Tesla, and SpaceX, and general pop culture menace has been a lurking presence...
If you’ve been following the stock market in recent days you may already be familiar with SoftBank, a multinational internet services and investment firm operating out of Japan. The business has received a ton of press since Monday morning after CEO Masayoshi Son announced a proposed $100 billion in investments over the next four calendar years. This plan, which was developed in collaboration with the incoming Trump administration , is projected to create 100,000 new jobs within the United States, particularly in artificial intelligence and similar internet-based infrastructure. Per the Wall Street Journal , SoftBank’s stock (SFTBY) received a massive bump in the day following the announcement, accounting for a 4.4 percent rise in the Japanese market and a 1.3 percent rise on the New York Stock Exchange . To better understand exactly what this means for our country, infrastructure and the stock market of today, we’ll have to take a moment to examine SoftBank’s business model and...
Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign made significant payments to the production companies of Oprah Winfrey and Beyoncé. Campaign finance records from the Federal Election Commission show that Parkwood Production Media LLC, Beyoncé’s production company, received $165,000 on Nov. 19, 2024, according to USA Today. The payment arrived roughly a month after the singer appeared alongside Harris at a campaign event in Houston, TX, her hometown. While Beyoncé did not perform at the Oct. 25, 2024, event at Shell Energy Stadium, she and her Destiny’s Child groupmate Kelly Rowland publicly endorsed Harris in front of the roughly 30,000 attendees. The event focused on reproductive rights , a key issue Harris emphasized on the campaign trail. On Oct. 15, 2024, Harris’ campaign also paid $1 million — split into two $500,000 payments — to Harpo Productions, Winfrey’s media company, USA Today reports. Winfrey explained that the money was for Harpo’s work producing Harris’ “Unite for America”...
His inauguration is still weeks away, but since championing the 2024 election , Donald Trump has been making his presence felt across America. The East Coast native has big plans to implement changes across the nation, from teaming up with Robert F. Kennedy on health initiatives to making cryptocurrency more accessible. On Monday, Nov. 18, it was revealed that Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) is in “advanced talks” to acquire Bakkt (BKKT), a well-established crypto exchange company not long after the president-elect launched his World Liberty Financial initiative. The former is majority-owned by NYSE parent company Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) which is led by CEO Jeff Sprecher, husband of former Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler, who was also co-chair of Trump’s inaugural committee . Neither Bakkt nor its future potential owners have confirmed the Financial Times ‘ reports just yet, but there have been notable jumps in both stocks since the rumor mill began turning this week....
Interest rates have been cut once again by the Federal Reserve. According to CNBC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System voted to lower interest rates to a range between 4.5% to 4.75%. It had previously lowered rates in March 2024, which had been the first time since 2020, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. While this may seem like a hopeful sign, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell shared mixed views about the economy. CNBC mentions Powell expressed “feeling good” about the economy, but also shared the following remarks during a press conference on Thursday, Nov. 7. “The federal government’s fiscal path, fiscal policy, is on an unsustainable path,” Powell said. “The level of our debt relative to the economy is not unsuitable, the path is unsustainable. And we see that in a very large deficit, you’re at full employment [and] that’s expected to continue, so it’s important that be dealt with. It is ultimately a threat to the economy.” Other economists are weighing in on...
With the 2024 presidential election right around the corner, we are going to take a look at how the two candidates take drastically different stances on tech. Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have supported policies that would impact how the tech industry can or cannot do business for years to come. Kamala Harris’ Impact On The Tech Industry During her time as vice president of the United States, Harris backed three key pieces of legislation that have impacted the tech industry. They are the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act. All of these acts were meant to spur different forms of economic growth here in the United States and bolster our own productivity vs. relying on foreign powers. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill in 2021 invested money into two categories of interest to founders and investors: energy and climate. In energy, some of the more notable companies would be the larger...
The world is waiting on you to get it done, Joe! A recurring question for current President Joe Biden is when he plans to fulfill his promises of forgiving the student debt impacting thousands of Americans. That question might have been answered according to reports from Complex that a host of borrowers could be eligible for a new program that would significantly slash or eliminate the debt. The move is possible through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program which was launched 15 years ago to help borrowers working in public servant-facing positions which include education, health care, emergency services, and others. Eligible borrowers will be credited for up to 10 years of monthly payments.
Bye Trump! CNN reports that Facebook has altered its rules to give former President Donald Trump the boot from its platform until January 7, 2023. The date will mark two years since he was initially suspended following the attacks at the nation’s Capitol building. From there, Facebook says that it will assess the circumstances to see if he should even be allowed back onto the social media platform. This move seals the deal that would prevent Trump from posting from his Facebook account which had tens of millions of followers and just ahead of the 2022 midterm election. However, the announcement leaves a window of opportunity open for the possibility of the suspension being lifted ahead of the 2024 presidential election. In a post on Friday (June 4), Facebook’s vice president for global affairs, Nick Clegg, said that once the two-year period is up, the social media platform “will look to experts to assess whether the risk to public safety has receded. We will evaluate external...
In the weeks leading up to Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the president received backlash for wanting to host his first rally of the year on Juneteenth in the city that was once home to Black Wall Street. He pushed the rally to June 20th, but that was not good enough for those who did not want the streets of Tulsa overthrown by his racist followers. On June 15, Donald Trump took to Twitter to announce that nearly one million MAGA supporters would be attending his campaign rally in downtown Tulsa. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1272521253136498690?s=20 “Almost One Million people request tickets for the Saturday Night Rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma,” he tweeted. At every turn, he made it a point to brag about the huge attendance at his upcoming rally. Compilation of people bragging about a million people signing up for the rally pic.twitter.com/X9EHPSvv8Z — Acyn (@Acyn) June 21, 2020 In anticipation of such a large turnout, the BOK Center, which only has a...