10 things in tech you need to know today

Associated Press

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of Calif., speaks during a news conference, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Friday.

1. Alphabet broke a market cap of $1 trillion for the first time ever. Alphabet joins Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon in a small group of US companies that have reached the milestone.
2. Nancy Pelosi slammed Facebook, calling the tech giant "shameful" and "very irresponsible." House Speaker criticized the social media juggernaut as the row over the company's size and influence over elections continued.
3. Microsoft announced its plan to become carbon negative by 2030. The company's ultimate goal is to remove from the environment by 2050 all of the carbon the company has emitted since it was founded in 1975.
4. Facebook has cancelled efforts to put ads in WhatsApp, more than a year after its founders resigned in protest of the effort. The decision to disband a team dedicated to implementing ads on WhatsApp is a surprising turnaround in Facebook's efforts to monetize the messaging app.
5. An Amazon Prime Air partner is laying off 1,600 workers as Amazon brings more jobs in-house. Amazon partner Pinnacle Logistics is laying off workers based at Baltimore-Washington International airport.
6. Facebook has blocked an Israeli firm which claims to be able to "subconsciously influence" users. The social media giant has issued a cease and desist notice to The Spinner which uses posts disguised as editorial content, according to the BBC.
7. SoftBank has offered to invest up to $40 billion in Indonesia's capital. Bloomberg reports that the Indonesian government is set to meet SoftBank's Masayoshi Son in Davos and Tokyo as the Japanese firm decides its investment strategy.
8. Turkey has lifted a ban on Wikipedia after two and half years after the country's top court ruled it unconstitutional. The online encyclopedia was blocked in Turkey in April 2017, after it refused to delete articles critical of the country's government, the New York Times reported.
9. A Tesla sales employee sent a mass email to her coworkers asking for salespeople to get a pay raise after a "devastating" cut in commissions. Tesla salespeople have had their ability to earn commissions cut with one staff member asking for a 15% salary increase to compensate.
10. NBC will launch its streaming service Peacock in July. The company's platform will likely include ads alongside exclusive content and will likely have three separate subscription tiers, The Verge reported.

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