Apple is facing questions about its handling of sexism in the workplace after it placed a female employee on leave following tweets about her experiences at the company. Ashley Gjøvik, a senior engineering program manager with Apple, says she has spent months speaking with Apple about unsafe working conditions, sexism and a hostile work environment.

Her comments were first reported by The Verge, which notes the company closed a previous investigation into Gjøvik's claims — apparently without taking any action. Gjøvik said Apple initially responded to her complaints of sexism by suggesting she request “disability accommodations.”

On Wednesday, she was placed on “indefinite paid administrative leave” while Apple conducts a new investigation. In a statement to The Verge, she said the company “implied they did not want me on Slack where I had been vocal about my concerns with certain policies at the company.”

In a series of tweets, Gjøvik provided several examples of interactions she brought to the attention of Apple’s employee relations, who allegedly told her the behavior was “ok.” In one exchange, a manager referred to her “tone” in presentations, and said “I didn’t hear you going up an octave at the end of your statements.” She added that comments about her tone were also included in a mid-year review at one point.

She also said that Apple employee relations told her it was “okay” after she received complaints that a diversity training she led was “too hard on the white man.” In another exchange, she said a “heartfelt email” asking leadership to show “support of women and condemn sexism and sexual assault” in 2018 was brushed off — an interaction the company’s employee relations also allegedly said was okay. 

"We are and have always been deeply committed to creating and maintaining a positive and inclusive workplace,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement. “We take all concerns seriously and we thoroughly investigate whenever a concern is raised and, out of respect for the privacy of any individuals involved, we do not discuss specific employee matters.”

Apple is reportedly planning an update that would allow it to scan iPhones for images of child sexual abuse. According to the Financial Times, the company has been briefing security researchers on the “neuralMatch” system, which would “continuously scan photos that are stored on a US user’s iPhone and have also been uploaded to its iCloud back-up system.”

The system would “proactively alert a team of human reviewers if it believes illegal imagery is detected” and human reviewers would alert law enforcement if the images were verified. The neuralMatch system, which was trained using a database from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, will be limited to iPhones in the United States to start, the report says.

The move would be somewhat of an about face for Apple, which has previously stood up to law enforcement to defend users’ privacy. The company famously clashed with the FBI in 2016 after it refused to unlock an iPhone belonging to the man behind the San Bernardino terror attack. CEO Tim Cook said at the time that the government’s request was “chilling” and would have far-reaching consequences that could effectively create a backdoor for more government surveillance. (The FBI ultimately turned to an outside security firm to unlock the phone.)

Now, security researchers are raising similar concerns. Though there’s broad support for increasing efforts to fight child abuse, researchers who spoke to the FT said that it could open the door for authoritarian regimes to spy on their citizens, since a system designed to detect one type of imagery could be expanded to other types of content, like terrorism or other content perceived as “anti-government.”

At the same time, Apple and other companies have faced mounting pressure to find ways to cooperate with law enforcement. As the report points out, social media platforms and cloud storage providers like iCloud already have systems to detect child sexual abuse imagery, but extending such efforts to images on a device would be a significant shift for the company.

Apple declined to comment to FT, but the company could release more details about its plans “as soon as this week.”

WhatsApp is adding disappearing photo messages to its app. Called “view once” photos, the new feature allows users to send photos and videos in chats that can only be viewed a single time before disappearing.

The Snapchat-like feature is similar to Instagram and Messenger’s disappearing photo features. When snapping a picture in WhatsApp, users can select the timer icon to set the photo to “view once.” Unlike regular photo or video messages, the “view once” images won’t preview in the chat and can’t be downloaded to your device.

Facebook is billing the feature as one for “private moments” or for sending potentially sensitive information like Wi-Fi passwords. As always, people should be wary of just how “private” these kinds of messages really are. In a help article, the company notes that the recipient can still take a screenshot or record their screen while opening a “view once” photo and, unlike Snapchat, WhatsApp won’t let the sender know when a screenshot has been taken. The company also points out that “view once” photos that are reported will be made visible to WhatsApp.

Twitter’s Spaces is getting another update that makes the audio feature easier to share and discover. Now, users will be able to compose a new tweet directly from the Space, which will link to the audio chat and any accompanying hashtags. While it was previously possible to compose new tweets while listening to a Space, having the composer directly in the space will allow participants to more easily tweet about the conversation as it’s happening.

On iOS, Twitter is also adding new “guest management” controls, that allows hosts to more easily view who is in a Space and who has requested to speak. Finally, the company is adding a new search feature to the Spaces tab it started testing in June. Now, instead of just a curated list of active Spaces, users with access to the tab will also be able to search for Spaces by title or the name or handle of a host. (No update on when more people will have access to the Spaces section of the app, though.)

Twitter has been steadily updating Spaces since introducing the Clubhouse competitor late last year. The company has recently added support for a web version of the feature and has started experimenting with allowing hosts to sell tickets to the conversations.

Newly public Robinhood has ambitions to be much more than just a stock-trading app, according to its CEO. In an interview with the AP, CEO Vlad Tenev said that, eventually, he wants to turn Robinhood into “the single money app” his users need.

Though Tenev didn’t use the word “bank,” his description certainly sounds more like a bank than the current iteration of Robinhood.

Over time, we want to be the single money app, the most trusted and most culturally relevant money app worldwide. So, everything that you use your money for, you should be able to do through Robinhood.

Anytime you receive a paycheck direct deposit, we’d like you to do that through Robinhood. Your emergency fund, your bill pay, your day-to-day spending, we’d like for customers to use us for that. And of course, all types of investing ranging from more discretionary investing to long-term retirement savings as well.

Tenev didn’t elaborate on exactly how these plans could take shape. And though it’s not necessarily surprising the company would want to expand the types of services it offers, the CEO’s comments will likely raise more than a few eyebrows.

The app, which became popular for its simple interface and commission-free trading, has also drawn criticism for many of its practices. The SEC fined the company $65 million last year, for misleading users about how it executes trades. It was also hit with a class action lawsuit earlier this year after it restricted trading on GameStop and other “meme stocks.” The company has also been accused of making the stock market feel too much like a casino, particularly for younger and less-savvy investors.

Facebook users are spending a lot more time watching video, and short-form video like Instagram Reels is growing fast. Speaking during the company’s second-quarter earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that “video now accounts for almost half of all time spent on Facebook.” And on Instagram, TikTok competitor Reels is the “largest contributor to engagement growth.”

Though he stopped short of sharing more specific stats, the new details suggest Instagram’s Reels may be gaining more traction as the company vies for creator talent. Zuckerberg also noted that the company’s focus on creators and shopping would also help it reach its longer term goal of becoming a “metaverse company.”

Facebook revealed earlier this week that it was tapping an Instagram exec to start a new team focused on creating a metaverse. “You can kind of think about this as an embodied internet that you're inside of rather than just looking at,” Zuckerberg said. “You're basically gonna be able to do everything that you can on the internet today, as well as some things that don't make sense on the internet today like dancing.”

Zuckerberg’s comments come as the company reported some of its strongest growth in years, with revenue of more than $29 billion, an increase of 56 percent from last year. The company also reported more than 3.5 billion “monthly active people,” though user growth in the US once again remained flat.

Despite the strong numbers this quarter, the company warned that the rest of 2021 could look very different. Facebook expects revenue and growth to “decelerate significantly” in the second half of the year, said CFO Dave Wehner. He also noted that Apple’s iOS 14.5 update, which allows users to opt out of the social network’s ad tracking, would have a “greater impact” next quarter.

Developing...

Twitter is the latest social media platform to experiment with new shopping features. The company is allowing a handful of brands to place a “Shop Module” at the top of their profiles that links to products their followers can buy.

While it’s not the first time Twitter has tried out shopping features, it’s the first time the company has incorporated shopping directly into the profile. With the change, businesses can highlight a handful of products in a carousel in between the main profile info and their timeline. The feature is limited to only a few brands, including GameStop and bag-maker Arden Cove, in the US for now.

While up until now Twitter hasn’t pursued shopping as aggressively as some other platforms, the company has recently signaled that could soon change. A “shop” button for tweets has also been spotted, and the company recently introduced new “business profiles.” Shopping features could also have interesting implications for creators, a demographic Twitter has also made a recent push to pursue with new money-making features. Allowing creators to showcase their existing merch shop from their profile could provide an additional boost, and help the company compete with Facebook’s creator shops.

Snapchat is updating its in-app map to help users keep track of places they’ve visited, and where they may want to go next. An update rolling out today adds a new “Places” section to the map, with educated sections for recommendations, locations you’ve visited and “favorites” to remember.

The idea is similar to Foursquare (the original check-in based iteration), except “checking in” in this case consists of tagging a specific location in a Snap. Places you’ve tagged are automatically saved in your “visited” tab, but you can also manually add establishments to your “favorites” list. Interestingly, Snap is also using the new feature to generate recommendations. The “popular” section of the map will surface a list of personalized suggestions based on places you’ve been and what’s popular in your area.

Though the Snap Map has been around for years the company has been working to make it more useful — and more visible — within the app. The company gave the feature more prominent placement in a redesign last year, and plans to add Map Layers, a feature that allows third-parties like Ticketmaster to incorporate events and other content directly into the map.

Facebook is taking new steps to limit advertisers’ ability to reach teens with targeted ads. With the change, advertisers will no longer be able to use “interests” or information gleaned from other services to show ads to Facebook, Instagram and Messenger’s youngest users.

The change won’t prevent advertisers from reaching teens at all — they can still use broad demographic information like age, gender, and location — but the update will prevent more granular data from being used, including info from third-party websites and apps.

Instagram is also making several changes to make teens on its platform less visible. The app will begin making new accounts private by default for teens younger than 16, though teens as young as 13 can still opt for a public-facing account if they wish. Instagram said that in early tests “eight out of ten young people accepted the private default settings during sign-up,” suggesting the change could lead more teens to have non-public accounts.

For teens who do opt for public accounts, Instagram is making it more difficult for adults they don’t know to interact with them in the app. The company says it has “developed new technology” that makes it easier to identify “potentially suspicious behavior” in adults who could pose a risk to teens.

According to Instagram, adults flagged as “potentially suspicious” will be blocked from following teens or commenting on their posts (the app has previously limited adults ability to direct message teens). These adults also won’t see content from teens in Reels, Explore and other in-app recommendations. The company isn’t sharing many details about how it determines which adults might be sketchy, but said one factor would be adults who get blocked or reported by younger users.

The changes come as Instagram is vying for younger users. The company has publicly discussed future plans for a version of its service for children younger than 13 years old. That idea, which the company has said is in early stages, has already prompted pushback from lawmakers and other officials. But Facebook is still pushing ahead with the idea. In a separate blog post, the company again said it plans to work with experts in child development and online safety as it creates the service, and that it welcomes "productive collaboration with lawmakers."

Joe Biden said that Facebook and other social media platforms are “killing people” by allowing misinformation about COVID-19 to spread on their platforms.

Biden’s comments came in response to a reporter who asked the president what his message to “platforms like Facebook” was regarding misinformation about COVID-19. “They’re killing people,” Biden said. “I mean they’re really — look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people.”

His remarks, one day after the Surgeon general issued an unusual health advisory on the dangers of vaccine misinformation, comes amid mounting pressure for Facebook and other platforms to do more to address misinformation about the coronavirus vaccines. But Facebook has come under particular scrutiny due to its size, and spotty history with countering vaccine falsehoods.

A widely cited reported from the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that much of the vaccine misinformation that spreads online can be linked to just 12 individuals — many of whom remain active on Facebook despite the company’s attempts to crack down on vaccine misinformation in recent months. Facebook didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.