Kanye West wants to purchase Parler, Amazon is allegedly struggling to retain its workers, and Meta will be selling Giphy to comply to appease regulatory watchdogs.
 |
 |
 |
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Wednesday, October 19, and I’m your host, Samira Balsara.
Controversial musician Kanye West is offering to purchase social platform Parler. After being barred from Instagram and Twitter for his antisemitic messages, West, now known as Ye, said in a press release that he sought for a platform to “freely express ourselves,” especially when it comes to conservative opinions. Parler appears to be interested in the offer, noting that the parent company, Parlement Technologies, has entered into an agreement in principle to sell. The platform emphasized that the acquisition will help to build an “uncancelable” ecosystem where all voices are heard.
Amazon appears to be having trouble retaining talent. According to an internal document obtained by Engadget, only a third of Amazon’s new hires stayed with the company for more than 90 days, far above industry averages. Their work termination is both voluntary and involuntary, ranging from quitting, being fired, or getting laid off. However, an important stat is regretted attrition, or the rate workers decide to quit, which is twice as high as unregretted attrition. In addition to the bleak staffing crisis, the documents, and the internal research papers it was based on, condemned Amazon for poor employee training.
The controversy with Giphy, the motion image sharing platform purchased by Meta two years ago, is once again heating up. The U.K competition regulators have ordered the sale of the service. According to the watchdog, the divestment would protect millions of social media users and reduce Facebook’s power in social media. In October, Meta was fined 50 million pounds for refusing to supply information when ordered to keep Giphy’s business separate. Although Meta had originally appealed the decision, it has now agreed to comply with the order and will be selling the service.
Americans can finally purchase cheaper hearing aids for mild-to-moderate hearing loss. These new hearing aids are available over the counter from retailers like Walgreens, CVS and Walmart without a prescription. The higher accessibility is expected to benefit nearly 30 million adults with hearing issues. This new market shift was made possible by a 2017 proposal that asked the Food and Drug Administration to impose stronger regulations around over the counter devices. Previously, people with hearing issues had to go through a costly medical exam and obtain a prescription to acquire hearing aids.
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 briefings 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. Also, catch the next episode of Hashtag Tendances, our weekly Hashtag Trending episode in French, which drops every Thursday morning. If you have a suggestion or a tip, drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thank you for listening, I’m Samira Balsara.
