Reporting sheds light on Facebook’s hiring practices, Google I/O returns virtually this year, and Toronto schools are going remote.
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Thursday, April 8 and I’m your host Baneet Braich.
Facebook did not hire Black employees because they were not a ‘culture fit,’ report says from technology
A Washington Post story about Facebook’s hiring practices is adding fuel to claims the company discriminates against Black applicants. The story quotes a number of sources, as well as complaints filed to the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about managers telling Black applicants things like “There’s no doubt you can do the job, but we’re really looking for a culture fit.” Facebook has denied taking culture fit into account when hiring but and told the Post it was adding “diversity and inclusion goals to senior leaders’ performance reviews.”
Google’s I/O event is returning this year and will be entirely virtual due to the pandemic. The event will take place from May 18th–20th and will be free to attend. The website is live and you can register for two days of consumer and developer-focused keynotes, technical sessions, workshops, meetups and more. The full schedule will be out later this month, so we’ll just have to wait and see what Google reveals this time.
And lastly, Ontario schools are going fully virtual. Fast spreading COVID variants have led to closing down schools in the province for at least two weeks until April 18. Now schools are pivoting to remote learning once again and the order could be extended if the data on covid tracking suggests no improvement. CTV reports that preschoolers will still be able to attend daycares inside Toronto District School Board locations during the closure.
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire Newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. I’m Baneet Braich, thanks for listening!