10 things in tech you need to know today

REUTERS/Mike Blake

Mike Bloomberg.

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

1. WeWork paid over $2 million in cash to a woman who threatened to expose claims of sex, illegal drugs, and discrimination in a horrifying 50-page document. With at least one external law firm, WeWork launched an investigation that would later find credible evidence of sexual relations between coworkers and drug use.
   
2. Huawei is downplaying coronavirus impact on its smartphone sales, but experts say it will suffer more than Apple. Analysts said factory shutdowns, employee travel plans, and supply chain issues would all dent Huawei's performance.
   
3. Google AI will no longer use gender labels like 'woman' or 'man' on images of people to avoid bias. Google emailed Cloud Vision API customers on Thursday morning stating that it won't use labels that pertain to gender because you can't deduce someone's gender by their appearance alone.
4. Two major US startup investors, Sequoia Capital and Microsoft's M12, have struggled to recruit talent in London as each plots expansion to Europe. According to three sources, Sequoia held talks with partners at VC firms Accel and Index Partners for its upcoming London office - but neither decided to join.
5. Google has been resisting demands from the Justice Department to surrender documents for an antitrust probe, the Wall Street Journal reports. A Google spokeswoman said the company is concerned because the probe has brought in outside advisers who "work with our competitors and vocal complainants."
6. Mike Bloomberg's social media strategy came under fire as Twitter suspended 70 pro-Bloomberg accounts for platform manipulation. The accounts in question were tweeting support for Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg using identical messages.
7. Facebook has reportedly shown users 1.5 billion Bloomberg 2020 ads, more than twice as many as all other presidential candidates combined, including Trump. Since launching his campaign in November, Bloomberg has spent $45 million on Facebook ads - also more than his opponents combined, The Guardian found.
8. The coronavirus is causing Amazon to worry whether it can get enough stock in ready for Prime Day, according to a report from the New York Times. Prime Day takes place in July, and the company reportedly sent an email to brands on Wednesday expressing concern that logistical problems arising from restrictions and slowdowns on Chinese goods could affect it this year.
9. Inventor of the web Tim Berners-Lee raised $10 million last year for his company Inrupt which is trying to build a new, decentralized version of the web, the Financial Times reports. Inrupt is using the money to build an open source decentralised platform called Solid.
10. Trump's campaign reportedly paid millions to buy out the ad space on YouTube's homepage ahead of the election, ensuring it will reach viewers at a crucial time. Obama made a similar ad buy on the YouTube homepage on Election Day during the 2012 race.
    
    

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