Facebook engineer quits saying Facebook profits off of hate, Apple’s battle with Epic Games continues, and a new robot is coming to Canada.
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It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Thursday, Sept.10, and I’m your host Baneet Braich.
A Facebook engineer has quit criticizing the company of profiting from hate in the US and globally. The engineer Ashok Chandwaney says Facebook should remove content that promotes violence. He referenced Trump’s quote which said “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he also referenced an event in Wisconsin that promoted violence and yet Facebook did not remove it. Several employees have left Facebook in recent months with similar concerns. Facebook has recently taken steps to crack down on hate speech such as a ban on militia groups. Chandwaney says that Facebook has not resigned from social value to him rather he says that, “ In all my roles across the company, at the end of the day, the decisions have actually come down to business value.”
Apple continues its battle with Epic Games and has filed a countersuit alleging Epic Games breached its contract with Apple. The tech giant is asking to be awarded punitive damages as well. The story goes back to when Fortnight’s update allowed users to pay for in-game content without giving Apple a cut. Apple fought back and deleted the game from the app store and then Epic Games sued! And after that Apple suspended Epic’s developer account. Epic Games has until Sept 18. to respond.
Canada’s got a new robot. Boston Dynamics recently announced its first commercially available product will soon be in Canada. Covid-19 has increased the radar for robots as companies need to keep automating going but transmission down low. Spot is a $74,500 robot that can perform a variety of tasks. One of its recent missions was teleoperation in hospitals. If you’re in need of a robot well you can have one provided you have the funds!
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. I’m Baneet Braich, thanks for listening.