Meta employees react after the rollback of DEI programs — both for and against
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Meta employees spoke out on its internal forum against the tech giant’s decision Friday to roll back its diversity, equity, and inclusion program. Staffers criticized the move in comments on the post announcing the changes on the internal platform Workplace. More than 390 employees reacted with a teary-eyed emoji to the…
What went wrong for 23andMe
23andMe struggled in 2024. But it hasn’t given up yet. 23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki sounded optimistic about the company’s future during an earnings call in February last year. She said the biotech company, which offers direct-to-consumer genetic testing, made strides with its new preventive care membership service, signed a $20 million research agreement with biopharma…
Mark Zuckerberg says AI could soon do the work of Meta’s midlevel engineers
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the work of midlevel software engineers can soon be outsourced to AI. This year coding might go from one of the most sought-after skills on the job market to one that can be fully automated. Mark Zuckerberg said that Meta and some of the biggest companies in the tech industry…
Leaked memo: Meta rolls back its DEI programs
Meta is scaling back its DEI programs. Meta is rolling back its DEI programs, B-17 has learned. The company’s vice president of human resources, Janelle Gale, announced the move on its internal communication platform, Workplace, on Friday, which was seen by B-17. “We will no longer have a team focused on DEI,” Gale wrote in…
Trump has finally been sentenced in his felony hush-money case. Here’s what’s next.
Donald Trump appears on a Manhattan courtroom video screen with attorney Todd Blanche during his hush-money sentencing. Donald Trump received no punishment for the 34-count conviction handed down by a jury in his New York hush-money case. The president-elect’s sentencing, though, finalizes his status as a felon, heralding a new chapter of legal proceedings. Trump,…
Mark Zuckerberg tells Joe Rogan that he thinks Trump will protect American companies’ ‘strategic advantage’
Mark Zuckerberg said that he thinks Trump will defend American tech companies abroad. Mark Zuckerberg told Joe Rogan in a podcast episode on Friday that he thinks President-elect Donald Trump will help American businesses, calling technology companies in particular a “bright spot” in the economy. “I think it’s a strategic advantage for the United States…
Meta’s Chief Diversity Officer says the company’s employee resource groups survive DEI cull: memo
Meta Chief Diversity Officer Maxine Williams. Meta Chief Diversity Officer Maxine Williams told staff in a memo on Friday that the company’s decision to back off DEI efforts won’t impact employee-resource groups, according to an internal post viewed by B-17. Employee-resource groups, or ERGs, are worker-led communities that create a sense of belonging at a…
TikTok ban seems highly likely after Supreme Court hearing, legal experts say
TikTok is fighting for its life as it faces a US ban set to arrive in a little over a week. On Friday, it argued its case before the Supreme Court. The justices peppered attorneys on both sides with questions about a law that compels TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to divest from the US version…
See the US military’s special C-130 Hercules water bombers that are joining the LA wildfire fight
A Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) equipped C-130 aircraft drops fire retardant on wildfires in Healdsburg, California. The Department of Defense deployed modified C-130 aircraft and Navy helicopters to support efforts to contain the destructive wildfires burning in Los Angeles. A wildfire started in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Tuesday and…
