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Early Facebook Employees Slam the Company On Its Stance On Inflammatory Posts

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Facebook recently sent shockwaves by refusing to take action against inflammatory posts put up by President Trump. As the US continues to burn following the shameful murder of a black man by a police officer, the government has taken a very strong-handed tactic. While other social media platforms have cornered and called out Trump for his callous statements, Facebook has remained mum. Trump’s tweet, which stated, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” was met with rage from almost everyone. After a walk-out protest by existing employees, Facebook now comes under fire from old employees. Read on to find out more about what happened, and how it can affect the company’s policy guidelines.

Employees Slam Facebook

The pressure seems to be mounting from all sides on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. His refusal to take stringent action against inflammatory posts put up by President Donald Trump has been met with much criticism. The latest backlash came from 33 previous early-stage employees, including those who drafted the company’s original community guidelines. Their open letter was published by The New York Times, as the group slammed Facebook for its current stance.

Call For Action

Several arguments that the letter makes have been made before by various fringe groups, media houses, and activists. However, the letter is a strong case against Zuckerberg’s stand on the issue. The group argues that Facebook’s position concerning moderating the President is inconsistent. The letter also calls out the company for exposing the dangers of free speech, while also having a double-standard when it comes to freedom of speech. 

Zuckerberg has stated that the company will not be an “arbiter of truth” and that this stand comes after many conversations, introspection, and research. While he reprimands the President for his racist language, he stated that the post does not serve as a “dog whistle for vigilantes.” However, after mounting dissent from both employees and the online community, he has promised to re-examine company policy regarding posts that mention the use of force.

Zuckerberg’s Stance

However, the authors of the letter argue that President Trump’s post threatens violence and sends a signal to take cues from him. As we now live in the age of live-streaming atrocities like mass shootings, they believe that Facebook should take a better stand on the issue. Trump’s post has a history stemmed in racism and targets people who are easily persuaded. The group believes Facebook should not allow his words to have such a far-reaching influence, which could prove fatal and dangerous.

Demands in the Letter

The letter also asks the company’s leadership to reconsider their policies and fact-check politicians. They also believe that like Twitter, Facebook, too, should start explicitly labeling posts that violate their policies on political speech. The group consists of people who had drafted Facebook’s first Community Standards and helped create its connection to free speech. The authors state that the Facebook they joined and worked for tried to empower and protect people. It aimed to allow freedom of expression, up to an extent where it did not explicitly harm anyone. While there were disagreements, all the employees agreed that keeping people safe was the most important thing. However, the letter states that they fear those guidelines have now changed. 

Though they no longer work at Facebook, they remain proud of what they built together and feel sad not being able to recognize it anymore. The group also believes that they have a responsibility to raise their voice, as they helped build the company, and gave it the power it enjoys now. As it checks the speech of non-politicians, the group believes that this brings out a double-standard in the company. The letter blasts the company for not taking a noble stand against hate speech and for freedom. The group even calls the company’s stand “cowardly” for it should hold the opinions of politicians to a higher standard than the ordinary people.

It will be interesting to see how the company retaliates. For now, Facebook and its CEO have remained mum and have not commented on this letter. With pressure mounting, Facebook might have to rethink its policies and adopt something that is more acceptable to the public.

mark zuckerberg

Even after the virtual walkout, Zuckerberg adheres to defending Trump saying Facebook gives voice to people

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The recent brutal death of the African American George Floyd on the hands of a police officer has caused civil unrest in the U.S. Every citizen of the nation and other parts of the world has raised voice against the concrete racism that seems to continue even in the 21st century. The situation was triggered after Donald Trump’s inflammatory comment and tweets saying, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”. The city is burning with the rage of seeking vengeance and in the meantime, Facebook got caught in the situation. While the tweets of Trump was marked misleading by Twitter, Facebook chose to defend the president. This brought a lot of criticism and also internal instability questioning the principles of Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook VS Twitter

Media and press have raised a lot of questions on how Facebook and Twitter handled the comments and tweets of Donald Trump. While Twitter decided to label Trump’s tweet, Facebook wants to keep a wide view on political grounds. Many people raised questions about Zuckerberg’s integrity and defending the president. But, Zuckerberg said that both Facebook and Twitter have similar regulations regarding election misinformation.

According to Zuckerberg, the political posts and comments are one of the most sensitive topics on social media platforms. And, the company scrutinizes every post related to the matter. But, this time Facebook decided to not take such action as it is important for people to be aware of what their president says. He lastly said that, while Twitter has always been messy, Facebook is trying to maintain a balance and give voice to as many people as possible.

Zuckerberg’s defending ground

Facebook’s decision to not label or remove the misleading information about the election has also upset the employees. Apart from being criticized by the external sources, many employees of Facebook protested against the company’s policies. Several Facebook employees chose to conduct a virtual walkout and two of them already resigned from the company.

In response to all the internal disputes, Zuckerberg conducted an extended conference with his employees. He said that Trump’s posts have upset him as well and it was difficult to take a decision of not removing it. Keeping aside the personal opinion, Facebook CEO said it was the right thing to do. He further said that though Trump’s posts were upsetting, they are valuable to the people of the country.

Facebook has always tried to give voice and free expression to as many people as possible. But, many people still believe that this is a desperate move to avoid the rage of Trump. Regarding the voter misinformation, Zuckerberg said that it will be the top priority for the next few months and it might launch a “voter hub” as well.

What if the unrest continues?

Though the political posts are the ones that undergo several cross-examinations, policies might change it the dispute continues. Mark Zuckerberg said that if the nation of U.S. witnesses prolonged civil unrest, the company will make some changes to its policy thus labeling similar kinds of posts. Stricter rules will be applied to any information that can cause or promote violence. But, these regulations might not be applied for every nation because Facebook handles the nations with ongoing conflicts differently.

Facebook’s controversial policies and harmful polarization

In response to the regulation of its policy regarding political affairs, Facebook addressed and criticized an article from The Wall Street Journal. The article suggested that Facebook is ignoring its own research algorithm about harmful polarization. Facebook was accused of contributing to any kind of polarization which has a tremendous negative impact on our society.

In response to this, a Facebook spokesperson said that the company is trying its best to limit the post of any harmful content. Since 2016, the company has applied strict rules and strengthened its policy. So, this kind of remarks that can harm the reputation of the platform can be strongly disagreeable. Moreover, the company has donated $2 million in funding to support independent research ideas on polarization.

Conclusion

With the degree of unrest increasing among U.S citizens, Facebook is likely to receive more criticism, both internal and external. Though Mark Zuckerberg has assured that the platform has an overall positive impact on the world, it might have to bend some rules when the time comes.

Donald Trump

Facebook Employees Protest Over Company’s Handling of Trump’s Inflammatory Posts

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The U.S. has been set ablaze by protests concerning the brutal killing of African American George Floyd. The country has been burning due to these protests for almost a week now, and several celebrities and companies have come out in support of the movement. The protests stand in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter campaign, calling for more action against systemic racism. Amidst all this, President Trump has been admonished for posting inflammatory tweets and comments. AS per a New York Times report, dozens of Facebook employees are protesting to challenge the company’s response to these posts by the President. Read on to know more about what’s happening and why it is important.

People Against Trump

Several Facebook employees decided to do a virtual walkout to show their disagreement with how the company is handling Trump’s posts. These employees asked for time-offs and even signed out with out-of-office responses to work emails as a sign of protest. They also notified senders that they were protesting against the company’s stand toward the President’s posts. Facebook acknowledged the walkout and said that it will not ask employees to apply their paid time off.

Trump’s Inflammatory Posts

The issue began to build when after last week’s killing of an unarmed black man, Floyd, Trump stated, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” He posted the same on both Twitter and Facebook, through his official handles. The statement has a very racially prominent history, as in the 1960s, it was used by white policemen during the civil unrest in Miami. The President later stated that he did not know about the history of the phrase. Twitter was quick in reporting the tweet by stating that it went against the platform’s guidelines. As the tweet glorified violence, it was tagged as being offensive and then reported.

Donald Trump
Image Source – Techcrunch.com

Facebook’s Stand

Unlike Twitter, however, Facebook took a different stand by doing nothing! CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that their policy allowed discussion regarding the use of force. He went on to state that the situation calls for a questioning of the limits of such discussions. He justified not taking action against the Donald J. Trump post by stating that people had to know that the government would use force. Just last week, the White House announced that it would try to punish social media platforms for curtailing the right to freedom of expression. This came as a direct result of Twitter fact-checking the President’s tweets. Soon after, Zuckerberg contrasted and compared the policies of Twitter and Facebook. On a Fox News interview, Zuckerberg spoke out against platforms that acted as the “arbiter of truth” for things individuals said online.

Trump
Image Source – Techcrunch.com

Further Moves

Employees have also created and shared petitions that request Facebook to add more diversity to their positions. Some have even gone far enough to threaten the CEO with their resignation unless he rethinks his stance. A handful even spoke out against Facebook on Twitter, including Head of Portal Design Andrew Crow. He stated that allowing the platform to incite violence is unacceptable, whoever the individual who posts is. Surprisingly, the company has permitted internal unrest to spew into the open, something that has rarely happened in the past. While other tech platforms have faced the ire of employees for their political opinions, Facebook seemed to keep grievances within their walls. However, with this move, the company has alienated even top brass, such as Director of Product Management, Jason Toff. He, too, took to Twitter to say that he was “not proud” of how the company was behaving. An Instagram employee, Katie Zhu, said that she was “ashamed” at how the company is acting. 

Zuckerberg responded by declaring that the company would donate $10 million for fighting racial injustice in the U.S. The post regarding the same said that the company allowed employees to show their dissent. It also claimed that Facebook would always seek their feedback and try to grow in the process. It will be interesting to see whether the company now rethink their stands and make amends, or continue with the same principles.

SpaceX

SpaceX Falcon 9 take-off will create a new history for human spaceflight

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The success of the second demonstration of Crew Dragon will bring immense respect and glory to the private space company, SpaceX. The two NASA astronauts, Douglas Hurley and Bob Behnken took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday. If Demo-2 becomes successful, Elon Musk’s company will be the first private organization to send astronauts into space.

Also Read: SpaceX Prototype Passes Important Cold Pressure Test

The prestigious moment

After ten long years, America made a big move in the aerospace sector. SpaceX has been working on this mission for more than two decades now. Finally, the take-off was successful sending humans on a private company vehicle. The automated spacecraft on which they set off their journey to space is called the Crew Dragon. This spacecraft is a gumdrop-shaped capsule that will transfer humans to and from International Space Station.

The astronauts began their journey at 3:22 PM EDT on last Saturday. The launch took place from Launch Complex 39A in NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. It was supposed to take place on 27th May but was delayed due to bad weather. Twelve minutes after the launch, Falcon 9 dropped the Crew Dragon along with the duo in the orbit. According to the plan, they will spend the next day in the orbit followed by docking with the International Space Station.

Success of SpaceX

It is a huge deal for a private company to design a spacecraft and carry out a successful take-off. The entire nation of America is looking up to SpaceX with plenty of hope. This might be the company to turn the wheel for the future of spaceflight and begin a new era. Elon Musk and his company have worked diligently to make this moment come true.

NASA also enlisted another company, Boeing to design and develop a new spacecraft that will be versatile enough to take astronauts to and from ISS. But, it seems like SpaceX didn’t give up on the mission and emerged out as the first company to make it possible. Demo-2 is the last test to check if Crew Dragon is capable of carrying out regular human spaceflight operations. Till now, Russia’s Soyuz rocket is the only successful vehicle to transfer astronauts to and from ISS. So, the people of the United Nation are praying immensely for this to be a success.

Demo-1 Mission

The first demonstration of Crew Dragon known as Demo-1 Mission took place in March 2019. But, the first test didn’t have humans on board. The spacecraft took off successfully docked with the ISS and returned safely on Earth. This was also a breakthrough as the Crew Dragon became the first American automated spacecraft to travel safely to and from ISS.

Douglas Hurley and Bob Behnken 

Before becoming the spacecraft commander for Demo-2, Douglas was a fighter pilot and a test pilot. He worked with the US Marine Corps and decided to join NASA in 2000. Apart from the launch of Crew Dragon, Douglas has been to space twice (2009 & 2011).

Bob is a veteran Air Force test pilot. He has completed two space shuttle flights in 2008 & 2010 respectively. His main responsibility in the Demo-2 Mission is docking and undocking.

The Commercial Crew Program and Crew Dragon

The expense of NASA was high to get access to a single seat on Soyuz. This made NASA come up with The Commercial Crew Program which also extended corporation with the private sector. NASA Administrator, Jim Bridenstine said that this will welcome a new beginning giving more people access to human spaceflight.

The Crew Dragon is designed in such a way that it will automatically dock with the ISS. But, the capsule is also provided with manual touchscreen monitors to try things manually. The docking was scheduled at 10:20 AM EDT on Monday. The astronauts will land back on Earth within the next six to sixteen weeks. The capsule is equipped with four parachutes which will lower the vehicle on the Atlantic Ocean. A SpaceX recovery boat will approach them from there.

Is it only the trailer?

If this mission is successful, it will mark the journey of SpaceX in human spaceflight. NASA will certify the Crew Dragon for carrying out regular human transfer operations to and from ISS. The next launch is planned for 30th August which will include four astronauts. SpaceX is also working on a new monster rocket called Starship. It looks like SpaceX will take mankind on many unexplored space journeys. Until then, may the force be strong with them!

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Government Denies Flipkart Permission to Enter the Food Retail Space

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The world knew that something big was in motion when Walmart bought a majority stake in Flipkart. The major e-commerce platform had become extremely popular in India in recent years. Since India has a large population in need of household supplies and other goods, Flipkart was booming. Walmart, a major wholesale and retail player in the US with thousands of stores, wanted to become a part of this massive industry. However, a recent landmark decision by the Indian government has made things difficult for them. Here’s a look at what the decision and what it means for the retail giant. 

India Says No

The Indian government dismissed Flipkart’s plan to make its entry into the retail food business. This move will serve as a considerable setback for Walmart, which was planning on expanding into this space in India. The American retain giant owns the majority of the e-commerce firm and was hoping to use this plan to get back on its feet. Due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the e-commerce platform was facing a massive downturn. The company recently released a statement that Asia, which was the world’s third-largest market, had been one of the worst-hit by the pandemic. 

Laying Down the Law

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, through its wing, the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade rejected Flipkart’s proposal. Flipkart competes directly with Amazon India and wanted to enter the retail food space to make up for their losses and gain a better foothold in the Indian market. The government body turned down this proposal by stating that it violated regulatory guidelines. The proposed new business, titled Flipkart FarmerMart, cannot be accepted as it is structured on 100% FDI funding. The Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of Flipkart, Rajneesh Kumar, said they would re-evaluate their proposal and reapply soon.

Flipkart’s Response

Rajneesh also said that Flipkart focuses on building an innovation-driven platform and marketplace. He also said that the company believes it can significantly help India’s farmers and even its food processing sector through this initiative. The proposed plan would help boost the retail food chain supply and make the entire process more transparent and credible. Furthermore, Flipkart also believes that the scheme would help Indian farmers improve their income, and therefore, support the Indian agricultural sector. 

Flipkart’s Plan

The e-commerce giant had come out with such a plan last October. Flipkart’s CEO, Kalyan Krishnamurthy, had said that the company would invest over $258 million in this new venture. The investment would majorly go into supporting and improving the local agriculture-ecosystem. The company would also help develop the supply chain by working with thousands of farmers, farmers’ associations, and the food processing industry. The plan was to help improve the agricultural sector while also making high-quality food available to millions of Indians across the nation. 

Indian Government’s Stand

Other e-commerce platforms, such as Zomato, Grofers, and Amazon, had entered this space and gotten approval for the same. Up until recently, the government had permitted 100% foreign direct investment in this sector. However, it has since reevaluated those guidelines and made changes. As per the new decision, food retail functions as any other marketplace that bridges the gap between third-party sellers and buyers. Therefore, such agencies can only provide a platform for business to occur. They cannot offer their own products or have equity in any firm that sells on its platform. 

Most of these e-commerce platforms want to enter the food and grocery sector as it enables them to engage with customers frequently. As per studies, this sector remains relatively untouched, as it accounts for only 1% of total online sales. Walmart recently stated that the government’s strict lockdown measures and the overall effect of the pandemic had affected global growth. Most states in India had restricted e-commerce platforms from delivering in a bid to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. It will be interesting to see how the international retail giant will bounce back from this setback.

Spellcheck with google and microsoft

Spellcheck experience gets better in Windows with the collaboration of Google and Microsoft

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Any software should regularly monitor its updates to up with the fast-changing world. Skipping the tiniest change can also shake the stability of user experience thus resulting in negative feedback. Keeping that in mind, Microsoft Edge and other Chromium browsers didn’t have an impressive spellchecker until now. Yesterday, the company decided to introduce a new spellcheck experience, Windows Spellcheck. As the name goes, it is exclusive to all the Windows users with OS Windows 8.1 or above.

What has replaced Hunspell?

Hunspell is one of the most popular spellcheckers that was previously used by Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. It is an open-source program written in C++. But, Windows Spellcheck has finally replaced it in an attempt to wipe out the existing problems with acronyms, customized dictionaries, etc.

The new Windows Spellcheck for Microsoft Edge and Chromium browsers will have several benefits. Apart from the support for acronyms, abbreviations, and a shared custom dictionary, the new tool will also support additional languages, dialects, URLs, and email addresses. Previously, a red underline appeared in all of these which won’t happen anymore.

Microsoft’s opinion

Microsoft’s Edge team said that the collaboration of Google with the company has benefited Windows users in several ways. The user experience for both Edge and Chrome has improved especially since Microsoft decided to work with Google last year. Many big changes are yet to take place apart from the Windows Spellcheck.

Moreover, apart from the new spellchecker that rolled out yesterday, the scrolling experience of Microsoft Edge also improved last month. The company is also currently working on the Chromium Project to improve the same for Chrome. Microsoft has also helped Google back in January to improve the management of Chrome.

The Chromium Project

Microsoft introduced Microsoft Edge to the Windows users in 2015 and since then it didn’t make any major progress. It was after a couple of years that Microsoft’s team spoke to Bill Gates and decided to switch to Chromium. This was a big step for the company and also the engineering concept was different for both Edge and Chromium. So, at first, they were a bit nervous but after they made the news public in December 2018, the company received mostly positive feedbacks. Mozilla didn’t approve the change though and said they will “fight for a truly open web”.

The engineering team put a lot of effort to create a better ecosystem for both the users and the two companies. Over the years, the relationship between these two companies went haywire at certain points. But, the recent development of this new feature might bring back peace as is advantageous to both the companies.

How to enable spellcheck in Microsoft Edge?

Remember, for most of the users they don’t need to enable the spellcheck exclusively. The tool will automatically inherit the preferred language from Window settings. But, you can always visit the edge://settings/languages page to make the changes according to your language preference. 

To install additional languages to evaluate it with Windows spellcheck, here are the following steps.

  • Go to settings in your Windows PC.
  • Under settings to the section of Time & Language.
  • Click Language and then select on Add a preferred language.

If the user is unable to install the preferred language, then Microsoft will automatically start working with the spellchecker powered by Hunspell. Also, the new version of this Windows Spellcheck will be available for Edge version 83 and above.

How to enable spellcheck in Google Chrome?

Though the feature of Windows Spellcheck is the default for the Edge users it is not the same with Chrome users. The Google Chrome users need to follow these steps mentioned below to enable the Windows Spellcheck.

  • Open Google Chrome of version 83 or above.
  • Go to chrome://flags.
  • A search bar will appear. Type “Use the Windows OS spell checker” in the search bar.
  • From the drop-down menu select Enable. 
  • Re-launch the browser to implement the feature of Windows Spellcheck. 

Conclusion

Always remember to turn on the Windows OS spellcheck. Windows is providing another additional option of spellcheck, that is, Hybrid spellcheck. It allows the user to use both Windows spellcheck and Hunspell. The change is instead of typing “Use the Windows OS spell checker” in the search bar, go for “Use hybrid spell checking on Windows”.