So I’m telling you something you already know. This country is very divided politically. In fact, it’s the worst I’ve seen in my lifetime. Silicon Valley and IT service aren’t immune. Facebook isn’t immune. This is the Facebook face off.
So here is what’s happening. Conservative Facebook employees formally complain about the intolerance, even sometimes bullying, of liberal Facebook employees. Also, these complaints reached the New York Times. Over 100 joined this complaint. But you can bet there will be more. Furthermore, this group has a name. They call themselves ‘FB’ers for Political Diversity’. This group just started last week. There’s more to this Facebook face off.
Facebook engineer Brian Amergie started this movement. He calls Facebook a ‘political monoculture’. He then talks about how Facebook promotes free thinking. But in the office, mobs often attack people who don’t think like them. Others must agree. Because more people are speaking out. Also, this isn’t the first time Facebook got in trouble about this. Because in 2016, they had to form a group ‘Facebook Avon’. It’s where conservative Facebook employees could talk about their ideas without fear of cursing, trolling, or censorship. But they shut down that group in December 2016. Keep in mind that was just one month after that crazy election.
The magazine Business Insider tried to contact both Facebook and Amergie about this. But this isn’t unique. Silicon Valley is known for being a die hard liberal Democrat territory. In fact, of all the billionaires there, I think only one openly supported Trump. And being a supporter of his is dangerous in that part of the country. Look, I’m not here to take sides. Nor am I here to endorse anybody. But I do want to encourage understanding. I also want to encourage civility. There’s too much hatred going on. That includes both sides. So if this is what it takes to bring peace to the IT support world, then good. Can’t we all just get along?
So Walmart wants to become a huge player in the IT support game. In fact, they may be already. But Walmart wants more. Maybe that’s why Walmart buys out Flipkart and partners with India.
Walmart leaders said they bought Flipkart for $16 billion. Flipkart is an e-commerce firm out of India. The deal includes a 77% share of Walmart, so now they own over three fourths of Flipkart. This deal also guarantees $2 billion for equity funding. This will help them become a public company one day. However, Flipkart’s leadership will still be under India’s leadership. They will still be backed by India’s corporations like Tencent and Tiger Global.
There are other reasons why Walmart buys out Flipkart. According to one Walmart COO, she admires their problem solving skills. She also likes their AI space and how they’re using and advancing data usage. This is the same company that recently created a IT service platform called PhonePe. I’m sure many in India may worry about losing their jobs due to this. That often happens in mergers. But they shouldn’t be, or so they say. Walmart assures India they will work with the country to bring job creation and growth. They say they will also help bring support to farmers.
Let’s get the elephant out of the room. They want to compete with Amazon as the top online business dog. Every year, they face off with Amazon for online sales. Walmart and Amazon are definitely rivals, and they feel this merger will help them beat Amazon.? I will give them credit. India is one of the largest nations in the world. India is also one of the up and coming nations in technology. So I see why they’re partnering with India to get to that next level. So with this acquisition, don’t you think Walmart can pay their employees a little better?
So I tried to avoid this for the longest time. But I’m an Android user. In fact, many of our computer repair customers are Droid users. And just about everybody uses Google. Then I have to ask the question: Is Google still tracking us?
So the AP (associated press) came out with an investigative report this week. Google is supposed to stop recording our location when we turn our location history off. However, an AP report says Google is not honoring that. This could affect around two billion Android users (I told you there were many of us). Also, this could affect countless iPhone users, because many of them use Google Maps on their iPhone.
What’s happening is apps like Google Maps and weather apps take snapshots of your location, even when you turn off location history. We can thank a feature they call Google Web & Activity for this. By default, this is what takes your location, whether you want it too or not. As you can bet, lawmakers and privacy rights advocates are not letting this one slide. In fact, one researcher in New York City turned off his location history. But whenever this researcher checked the weather on his Android, he found Google still tracked him. This happened to him several times in just a matter of days.
Everywhere, IT support experts expressed disappointment in Google for this flaw. And quite frankly, so do I. Google is a company that prides itself on privacy rights and tech ethics. At least they did answer have an answer to these shortcomings. Of course, this spokesperson says yes Google offers a turn off option, and this is just a flew as we continue to improve Google location. What I wanted to hear is how they’re going to make this right. Is Google still tracking us?
So Facebook has a tradition. Whenever it’s your birthday, you can choose to ask friends to donate to a certain charity. Then you have the numbers that back that up. Facebook birthdays raise 300 million in charity.
So yesterday they celebrated the first anniversary of birthday fundraisers. Here, users can create a donation drive to their favorite charity. Also keep in mind there are over 750,000 charities to choose from. Furthermore, keep in mind this feature isn’t in all nations yet. So you can expect this to keep growing. But wait…there’s more. New features are coming to this birthday donation feature.
What if can’t choose which charity we want to support on our birthday? Then Facebook will give you more info on them in the feature selection tool. That way, you can learn about each and every charity you may be considering. They’re also letting Pages create and donate to these causes. Then add matching donations with other charities. With these new features coming out, you can even set up a monthly donation. So far, the most popular charities are St. Jude’s Hospital, The American Cancer Society and the ASPCA. They used to have a fee for this service, but that ended back in November 2017. That means you can be confident that all of the money is going where it is needed most.
I’m talking about this because you read so much negativity about Facebook and other IT support companies. It’s nice to report about something good. One customer from our Boston computer service shop put up a birthday button on his Facebook. On his one birthday, he raised over $2,000 to the Jimmy Fund, a local organization that help kids fight cancer. This works. I often see my own Facebook friends use this feature. It worked for them. Facebook birthdays raise 300 million in charity. Which charity are you picking for your birthday?
So this weekend has been a bad one for Infowars and it’s host, Alex Jones. If you don’t know what Infowars is, it’s a controversial right-wing alternative media platform. Infowars vs social media: A free speech threat?
First, Facebook punished Infowars. They got rid of four of their podcasts in the last week. Then, they gave Alex Jones a 30-day ban from Facebook altogether. That’s just Jones’ page, but the Infowars page goes on as normal, except for these four episodes. But this punishment is for, “repeated violations of community standards”. Also, one Facebook leader accuses these pages of ‘glorifying violence and using language to dehumanize others’.
You Tube did the same thing Facebook did recently. Then there is Apple, who took the strongest stance of them all. Because Apple removed all Infowars and Alex Jones content altogether. The only one they left was, ‘Real News with David Knight’. Apple says they used hate speech and violated their policies. One Apple spokesperson said, “Apple does not tolerate hate speech, and we have clear guidelines that creators and developers must follow to ensure we provide a safe environment for all of our users”. We don’t know when, or if, Apple will let them back again. Don’t hold your breath.
Infowars has caused? controversy for around 20 years. They claimed the government knew, and even helped plot the 9/11 attacks. They also claimed mass shootings like Sandy Hook in 2012 and San Bernadino in 2015 were conspiracy theories. It got so bad that Sandy Hook families are suing. This is Infowars vs social media. Personally, I don’t like the things Infowars or Alex Jones says. But there is concern here. What are they going to call hate speech? Is every IT service company going to wipe people out because they say something they don’t like? Will a little blogger like me in my computer repair shop be punished because I offended somebody? That is the real fear. Because I’ve had Facebook friends be put in ‘Facebook jail’ even for the slightest thing these days. Is this punishing haters? Or is this a free speech threat?
So this story starts in 2010. That is when Google took their search engine, and other services away from China. This was because of China’s ridiculous censorship laws. But now, there seems to be a change. Will Google come back to China?
However, the rumor mill is in overdrive; Google might bring back a censored version of Google to China. And it might happen by early 2019. If this does happen, then Chinese consumers can expect blocks, and lots of them. This means they won’t get Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. That’s because the Chinese gov’t made them illegal. It also won’t include American or British news media, like The New York Times or BBC. They’re illegal in China, too.
Google doesn’t confirm this. But they don’t deny it, either. But IT support insiders say this mission is so secret that they’re code naming it Dragonfly (gee, where have I heard that name before). So far, only top Google leaders and executives know the details. For years, people speculated Google is trying to get back into China. Play Store is one way, and that’s already gaining momentum. The Chinese consumers clearly want this, but the tough part is convincing the Chinese government.
But Google isn’t giving up soon. In fact, Google CEO Sundar Pichai is in constant meetings with Chinese authorities to make this happen. At least that’s what they say. But why, after years of division, is China and Google trying to work it out? Because they need each other. China has the largest population in the world. Google is the largest IT service entity in the world. China also has the largest economy in the world. Google needs those over one billion potential customers to continue to grow. And China needs this entity to compete with the west on the technology front. Will Google come back to China?
