Files from Jori Negin-Shecter
Apple takes a hit after Epic Games App Store ruling, Google allegedly fires employees rather than providing benefits, and Walmart clears the air about a fake cryptocurrency report.
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It’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Tuesday, September 14, and I’m your host, Samira Balsara.
Apple’s shares tumbled over three per cent last Friday following a court ruling relating to their ongoing Epic Games trial, according to an article from Bloomberg. The company saw losses in valuation of up to US$85 billion after a federal judge ruled that developers would be allowed to steer mobile customers to third party payment methods, a move that is certain to cut into Apple’s bottom line. While Apple did lose out on their ironclad grip on in-app payments, the judge also ruled in favour of Apple in requiring Epic Games to pay damages for breach of contract. The creators of the immensely popular Fortnite, Epic Games have been locked in a legal battle with Apple and Google over their App store policies since mid-2020.
A joint report from the New York Times and The Guardian has revealed a number of scathing indictments against tech giant Google and some of their less ethical business practices. Amongst the newspaper’s findings include the discovery of a Google manager that suggested firing multiple contract employees rather than provide them with benefits, according to Business Insider. The Times reports further that while the idea was suggested, Google did ultimately only dismiss one of the employees with three months pay, while hiring the rest of the employees. The reports also found other issues including the underpayment of contract workers, with some contract workers alleging that they were treated as “second-class employees.”
Walmart tells CNBC a press release on GlobeNewswire announcing an apparent crypto payments deal is fake https://t.co/b9NLF3ayPQ
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) September 13, 2021
And finally, Walmart has told CNBC that a press release by GlobeNewsWire announcing plans for the company to allow Cryptocurrency payments via Litecoin is fake. A Walmart spokesperson confirmed the release was not authentic, explaining that Walmart had reached out to GlobeNewsWire to investigate. While Walmart saw little in the way of impact by the false release, Litecoin was reportedly “a little too eager and shared the story from the Litecoin Twitter account,” as per CNBC, as they tweeted the news out Monday afternoon. Following the clarification by Walmart, the Cryptocurrency quickly fell 20 per cent, while also issuing an apology for sharing the incorrect news.
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. Also, catch the next episode of Hashtag Tendances, our weekly Hashtag Trending episode in French, which drops every Friday at 3 pm. If you have a suggestion or tip, please drop us a line in the comments or via email. Thanks for listening, I’m Samira Balsara.