Once upon a time, the tech industry had little interest in the grubby business of partisan politics. For startup founders and Big Tech executives alike, innovation and growth were the only pursuits deemed worthy of their ilk.
Occasionally, if Washington, D.C., did something that threatened business interests—as was the case with SOPA and Net Neutrality—techies would rally. Otherwise, the debasing act of getting political was a job delegated to the lobbyists.
You’d never know it today from the way Silicon Valley’s tech elites are behaving. Take Elon Musk’s sharing of an edited video of a Kamala Harris campaign ad, in which the presidential candidate’s AI-altered voice describes herself as a “diversity hire.” Some, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, accused Musk of deception by posting a manipulated deepfake video. Musk shot back, pointing out that the video was clearly labeled a parody and therefore not deceptive.
Intentionally deceptive or not, the fact that such a prominent tech executive is actively engaging in sophomoric political antics is a striking change from the tech scene of old.
Fortune’s Jessica Mathews took a close look at the situation in a recent story about Silicon Valley’s descent into political theater. The division between Trump supporters and Team Kamala has resulted in frequent public spats between tech founders and VCs and vows to break business ties with those on the other side of the aisle.
As Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Macguire, who donated $300,000 to Trump’s campaign, told Mathews:
“I lost lots of friends and disappointed family as well,” he said. “But that’s ok, I was expecting it. It’s sad we live in a time of such extreme polarization.”
Indeed it is.
Alexei Oreskovic
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NEWSWORTHY
It's Big Tech's big earnings week. Get ready for a blizzard of tech financial results starting Tuesday, as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Intel, Snapchat, Qualcomm, and AMD all report their quarterly earnings results this week. The market took a brutal beating last week after Alphabet's so-so results and Tesla's sharp drop in profits. But the better-than-expected U.S. GDP figures released at the end of last week may have calmed some nerves and could augur well for the tech companies' forthcoming report cards.
Apple's AI arriving tardy to the party. Apple's new AI features, dubbed Apple Intelligence, which were previewed with much fanfare at the company's developer conference in June, will not be available until October, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. That means the AI features won't be available in the new iPhones, which are due for release in September. Users will have to wait for a software update to get their AI.
Twitch's "zombie" fears. Amazon-owned livestreaming app Twitch is a mainstay for video gamers, who broadcast themselves playing Call of Duty, Fortnite, and other games to large audiences of rapt fans. But according to a Wall Street Journal report on Monday, this popularity is not translating into profits. Twitch, which Amazon acquired for roughly $1 billion in 2014, remains unprofitable. Some insiders told the Journal they fear Twitch could become one of Amazon's "zombie brands"—businesses that still exist, but get little resources or support from the company.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Apple reportedly in talks for an ad-supported tier of Apple TV+, by Chris Morris
Sam Altman issues call to arms to ensure ‘democratic AI’ will defeat ‘authoritarian AI’, by Jason Ma
How Singapore drives almost a third of U.S. chipmaker Micron’s revenue, by Lionel Lim
Justice Dept. says TikTok could allow China to influence elections, by Chris Morris
BEFORE YOU GO
An even darker side of web scams. There's a truly chilling story in the Wall Street Journal about the criminal enterprises behind online "pig butchering scams," which seek to dupe victims into romantic relationships and then steal their money. But the prey of these scams aren't the only victims.
The report details the story of "Billy," an Ethiopian IT engineer who was enslaved by Chinese gangs in Myanmar and forced to sit at a computer all day scamming strangers by pretending to be a woman. When Billy went on strike, he was hung by handcuffs for a week and tortured. According to the report, which likens the situation to a dystopian episode of the Black Mirror television show, the UN believes hundreds of thousands of people may be living a similar nightmare of "forced criminality."
