10 things in tech you need to know today

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1. The White House has asked the Supreme Court to let President Trump once again block people on Twitter with his personal account. The petition argues that Trump's use of his personal Twitter account and its functionality, which includes the ability to block users, is "independent of his presidential office."
2. Uber's ex-security head has been charged in connection with the cover-up of a 2016 hack that affected 57 million customers. The criminal charges may be the first ever filed against an executive regarding a company's response to a data breach.
3. The FTC reportedly interviewed Mark Zuckerberg in an antitrust investigation — one year after it fined Facebook $5 billion for privacy violations. The exec's testimony could be used to help inform the FTC's investigation into Facebook.
4. Uber and Lyft avoided a California shutdown thanks to an emergency stay in their court battle over driver status. Shares of both companies spiked as much as 7% after the stay was granted, erasing earlier losses from earlier Thursday when Lyft it would suspend service.
5. Google quietly bought an office-development site near Seattle for $40 million. The sale is significant because it suggests Google is moving ahead with office-expansion plans despite the pandemic, which has caused other companies to pull back.
6. Secretive data company Palantir has moved its headquarters to Denver from Palo Alto after its CEO called Silicon Valley a 'monoculture'. CEO Alex Karp and the company's cofounder and chairman, investor Peter Thiel, have long criticized Silicon Valley.
7. Two Facebook security staffers have been accused of taking part in a plot to obtain concealed weapon licenses with false info.At the time, both workers were employed by AS Solution, a contractor that Facebook uses for executive security.
8. Twitter chair and ex-Google CFO Patrick Pichette has backed deep tech startup Apheris in a $3 million seed round. Apheris helps private companies navigate the complexities of local data privacy laws, allowing them to extract insights from datasets through the use of AI technology.
9. Airbnb banned all events and limited houses to 16 people as it confidentially filed for IPO. The move is the latest in a string of initiatives aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic, the company said
10. Tesla owners looking for love can now join a dating network exclusively for 'like-minded Elon stans'. The app's set-up is akin to that of Tinder or Bumble, except the only people that appear on the app are fellow Tesla cult followers.

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