10 things in tech you need to know today
by Callum BurroughsGood morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Friday.
- Trump signed an executive order threatening social media companies after Twitter fact-checked his tweets. The move comes two days after Twitter fact-checked two of Trump's tweets pushing false claims about voting by mail.
- Satirical websites are testing Facebook's policy on not being the 'arbiter of truth' by running false headlines claiming Mark Zuckerberg is dead or abusive. The websites shared satirical articles with fictional headlines about CEO Mark Zuckerberg to Facebook on Wednesday.
- The House ditched a bill that would renew and expand the FBI's surveillance powers after Trump threatened to veto it. The bill drew backlash last week from progressives and civil liberties groups, who warned it would let the FBI conduct warrantless searches of Americans' web-browsing history.
- The ACLU has sued facial recognition firm Clearview AI, calling the facial recognition firm a 'nightmare scenario' for privacy. The American Civil Liberties Union alleges that the company violated a well-known biometric privacy law in Illinois by storing user data, the Verge reported.
- Rony Abovitz is stepping down as Magic's Leap CEO, describing the move as 'a natural next step.' The announcement comes just a few weeks after the company cut half of its staff and made a pivot to enterprise after raising fresh funds.
- Cisco is buying 400-employee startup ThousandEyes, which launched by using thrown-away computer servers. ThousandEyes is used many big-name tech companies and said it had $100 million under contract for its 2020 fiscal year.
- ByteDance, the owner of the hugely successful app TikTok, is set to move some of its decision making power outside of China. The company recently brought in Disney's Kevin Mayer to be its CEO and is set to look outside of China amid increasing global tensions, Reuters reported.
- SoftBank is handing two Vision Fund managing partners new roles following the conglomerate's record losses earlier this year. The group lost $18 billion recently and is under pressure from activist investor Elliott Management, Bloomberg reported.
- Uber is destroying thousands of electric bikes and scooters, following the sale of its Jump business to Lime. The ride hailing company recently led a fresh investment round in Lime but said it had decided to destroy thousands of its older-model vehicles due to maintenance, liability and safety concerns.
- US lawmakers are pushing through legislation to speed up broadband funding after coronavirus exposed a lack of access in rural areas. Senior lawmakers have proposed a $16 billion bill to speed up broadband infrastructure funding by the FCC, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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