theverge--2020-05-28--How to think about polarization on Facebook

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On Tuesday , the Wall Street Journal published a report about Facebook ’ s efforts to fight polarization since 2016 , based on internal documents and interviews with current and former employees .
Rich with detail , the report describes how Facebook researched ways to reduce the spread of divisive content on the platform , and in many cases set aside the recommendations of employees working on the problem .
Here are Jeff Horwitz and Deepa Seetharaman : The first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” can mean a lot of things , and that can make the discussion about Facebook ’ s contribution to the problem difficult .
You can use it in a narrow sense to talk about the way that a news feed full of partisan sentiment could divide the country .
But you could also use it as an umbrella term to talk about initiatives related to what Facebook and other social networks have lately taken to calling “ platform integrity ” — removing hate speech , for example , or labeling misinformation .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ polarization ” is that while it has a lot of negative effects , it ’ s worth thinking about what your proposed alternative to it would be .
Is it national unity ?
One-party rule ?
Or just everyone being more polite to one another ?
The question gets at the challenge of “ fighting ” polarization if you ’ re a tech company CEO : even if you see it as an enemy , it ’ s not clear what metric you would rally your company around to deal with it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ report with significant frustration .
Guy Rosen , who oversees these efforts , published a blog post on Wednesday laying out some of the steps the company has taken since 2016 to fight “ polarization ” — here used in that umbrella-term sense of the word .
The steps include shifting the News Feed to include more posts from friends and family than publishers ; starting a fact-checking program ; more rapidly detecting hate speech and other malicious content using machine-learning systems and an expanded content moderation workforce ; and removing groups that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Among the reasons the company was frustrated with the story , according to an internal Workplace post I saw , is that Facebook had spent “ several months ” talking with the Journal reporters about their findings .
The company gave them a variety of executives to speak with on and off the record , including Joel Kaplan , its vice president of global public policy , who often pops up in stories like this to complain that some action might disproportionately hurt conservatives .
In any case , there are two things @ @ @ @ @ @ @ story and Facebook ’ s response to it .
One is an internal tension in the way Facebook thinks about polarization .
And the other is my worry that asking Facebook to solve for divisiveness could distract from the related but distinct issues around the viral promotion of conspiracies , misinformation , and hate speech .
First , that internal tension .
On one hand , the initiatives Rosen describes to fight polarization are all real .
Facebook has invested significantly in platform integrity over the past several years .
And , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there are good reasons not to implement every suggestion a team brings you .
Some might be less effective than other efforts that were implemented , for example , or they might have unintended negative consequences .
Clearly some employees on the team feel like most of their ideas weren ’ t used , or were watered down , including employees I ’ ve spoken with myself over the years .
But that ’ s true of a lot of teams at a lot of companies , and it doesn ’ t mean @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
On the other hand , Facebook executives largely reject the idea that the platform is polarizing in the tearing-the-country-apart sense of the word .
The C-suite read closely a working paper that my colleague Ezra Klein wrote about earlier this year that casts doubt on social networks ’ contribution to the problem .
The paper by Levi Boxell , Matthew Gentzkow , and Jesse Shapiro studies what is known as “ affective polarization , ” which Klein defines as “ the difference between how warmly people view the political party they favor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They found that affective polarization had increased faster in the United States than anywhere else — but that in several large , modernized nations with high internet usage , polarization was actually decreasing .
Klein wrote : Klein , who published a book on the subject this year , believes that social networks contribute to polarization in other ways .
But the fact that there are many large countries where Facebook usage is high and polarization is decreasing helps to explain why the issue is not top of mind for Facebook ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s own stated inclination against platforms making editorial judgments on speech .
( Which he reiterated at a virtual shareholders ’ meeting today . )
So here you have a case where Facebook can be “ right ” in a platform integrity sense — look at all these anti-polarization initiatives !
— while the Journal is right in a larger one : Facebook has been designed as a place for open discussion , and human nature ensures that those discussions will often be heated and polarizing , and the company has chosen to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the debates .
And it does so because executives think the world benefits from raucous , few-holds-barred discussions , and because they aren ’ t persuaded that those discussions are tearing countries apart .
Where Facebook can ’ t wriggle off the hook , I think , is in the Journal ’ s revelation of just how important its algorithmic choices have been in the spread of polarizing speech .
Again , here the problem isn ’ t “ polarization ” in the abstract — but in concrete harms related to anti-science , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grow using Facebook ’ s tools .
The company often suggests that its embrace of free speech has created a neutral platform , when in fact its design choices often reward division with greater distribution .
This is the part of the Journal ’ s report that I found most compelling : Facebook says that extremist groups are no longer recommended .
But just today , the disinformation researcher Nina Jankowicz joined an “ alternative health ” group on Facebook and immediately saw recommendations that she join other groups related to white supremacy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ultimately , despite its efforts so far , Facebook continues to unwittingly recruit followers for bad actors , who use it to spread hate speech and misinformation detrimental to the public health .
The good news is that the company has teams working on those problems , and surely will develop new solutions over time .
The question raised by the Journal is , when that happens , how closely their bosses will listen to them .
On Tuesday , Twitter added a link to two of President Trump ’ s tweets , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It took this action because Trump , as part of a disinformation campaign alleging that voting by mail will trigger massive vote fraud , was appearing to interfere with the democratic process in violation of the company ’ s policies .
Trump was outraged about the links , and tweeted about being censored to his 80 million followers .
He threatened to shut down social media companies .
He said “ big action ” would follow .
At the direction of a White House spokeswoman , right-wing trolls began to harass Yoel Roth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ integrity , who has previously tweeted criticism of Trump .
Members of Congress including Marco Rubio and Josh Hawley tweeted that Twitter ’ s action could not stand , and that social platforms should lose Section 230 protections for moderating speech — willfully misunderstanding Section 230 in the way that they always do .
Late in the day , there was word of a forthcoming executive order , with no other details .
I could spend a lot of time here speculating about the coming battle between social networks and the Republican establishment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ efforts to moderate their unwieldy platforms going head-to-head with Republicans ’ bad-faith attempts to portray them as politically biased .
But the past few years have taught us that while Congress is happy to kick and scream about the failures of tech platforms , it remains loath to actually regulate them .
It ’ s true that we have seen some apparent retaliation from Trump against social networks — the strange fair housing suit filed against Facebook last year comes to mind .
And several antitrust cases are currently underway that could result @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most part , as Makena Kelly writes today in The Verge , the bluster is as far as it ever really goes : In fact , as former Twitter spokesman Nu Wexler noted , Trump has even less leverage over Twitter than he does over other tech companies .
“ Twitter don ’ t sell political ads , they ’ re not big enough for an antitrust threat , and he ’ s clearly hooked on the platform , ” Wexler tweeted .
And whatever Trump may think , as the law professor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Amendment protects Twitter from Trump .
The First Amendment doesn ’ t protect Trump from Twitter.
” Facts and logic aside , get ready : you ’ re about to hear a lot more cries from people complaining that they have been censored by Twitter .
And it will be all over Twitter .
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms .
Trending sideways : YouTube began fixing an error in its moderation system that caused comments containing certain Chinese-language phrases critical of China ’ s Communist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ company still won ’ t explain what caused the deletions in the first place , though some are speculating that Chinese trolls trained the YouTube algorithm to block the terms .
( James Vincent / The Verge ) Trending down : Harry Sentoso , a warehouse worker in Irvine who was part of Amazon ’ s COVID-19 hiring spree , died after two weeks on the job .
Sentoso was presumed to have the novel coronavirus after his wife tested positive .
( Sam Dean / Los Angeles Times ) Total cases in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deaths in the US : At least 100,000 Total test results ( positive and negative ) in New York : 1,774,128 Total test results ( positive and negative ) in New Jersey : 635,892 Data from The New York Times .
Test data from The COVID Tracking Project .
⭐Whistleblowers say Facebook failed to warn investors about illegal activity happening on its platform .
A complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday includes dozens of pages of screenshots of opioids and other drugs for sale on Facebook and Instagram , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : Facebook ran a multi-year charm offensive to develop friendly relationships with powerful state prosecutors who could use their investigative powers to harm the company ’ s revenue growth .
In the end , the strategy had mixed results : Most of those attorneys general are now investigating the company for possible antitrust violations .
I never cease to be amazed how ineffective tech lobbying is , given the money that gets spent on it ( Naomi Nix / Bloomberg ) A federal appeals court rejected claims that Twitter , Facebook , Apple @ @ @ @ @ @ @ views online .
The decision affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit by the nonprofit group Freedom Watch and the right-wing YouTube personality Laura Loomer , who accused the companies of violating antitrust laws and the First Amendment in a coordinated political plot .
( Erik Larson / Bloomberg ) The Arizona attorney general sued Google for allegedly tracking users ’ locations without permission .
The case appears to hinge on whether Android menus were too confusing for the average person to navigate .
( Tony Romm / Washington Post ) India ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Google abused its market position to unfairly promote its mobile payments app .
The complaint alleges Google hurt competition by prominently displaying Google Pay inside the Android app store in India .
( Aditya Kalra and Aditi Shah / Reuters ) Google sent 1,755 warnings to users whose accounts were targets of government-backed attackers last month .
The company highlighted new activity from “ hack-for-hire ” firms , many based in India , that have been creating Gmail accounts spoofing the World Health Organization .
( Google ) Switzerland is now piloting a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Apple-Google framework .
The app , SwissCovid , is the first to put the Apple-Google model to use .
( Christine Fisher / Engadget ) Silicon Valley ’ s billionaire Democrats are spending tens of millions of dollars to help Joe Biden catch up to President Trump ’ s lead on digital campaigning .
These billionaires ’ arsenals are funding everything from nerdy political science experiments to divisive partisan news sites to rivalrous attempts to overhaul the party ’ s beleaguered data file .
( Theodore Schleifer / Recode ) A war has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is moderated .
The feud started when a list of “ PowerMods ” began circulating , with the title “ 92 of top 500 subreddits are controlled by just 4 people.
” ( David Pierce / Protocol ) Twitter ’ s anti-porn filters blocked the name of Boris Johnson ’ s chief adviser , Dominic Cummings , from trending on the platform .
Cummings has dominated British news for almost a week after coming under fire for traveling across the country during the coronavirus lockdown .
It ’ s nice to read a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a change .
( Alex Hern / The Guardian ) ⭐TikTok ’ s parent ByteDance generated more than $ 3 billion of net profit last year .
The company ’ s revenue more than doubled from the year before , to $ 17 billion , propelled by high growth in user traffic .
Here are Katie Roof and Zheping Huang at Bloomberg : Facebook ’ s experimental app division has a new product out today called Collab .
The app lets users create short music videos using other people ’ s posts , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( Nick Statt / The Verge ) Facebook ’ s annual shareholder meeting was held virtually on Wednesday .
One item on the agenda was a call for Mark Zuckerberg to relinquish his position as chair of Facebook ’ s board of directors , and be replaced by an independent figure .
Somehow it failed !
( Rob Price / Business Insider ) Instagram will start sharing revenue with creators for the first time , through ads in IGTV and badges that viewers can purchase on Instagram Live .
The company has hinted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than a year , often saying the long-form video offering would be the most likely place it ’ d first pay creators .
Any time creators are develop a direct relationship with their audience and profit from it , I get super happy .
( Ashley Carman / The Verge ) Google is rolling out a series of updates aimed at helping local businesses adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic .
The company is expanding a product that allows businesses to sell gift cards during the government shutdown .
It ’ s also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ delivery partners for customers that want to order through third-party apps .
( Sarah Perez / TechCrunch ) About half of remote workers in the US report feeling less connected to their company , more stressed in ways that negatively impact their work , and say they are working more hours from home .
The downsides could become prominent as more companies extend remote working deadlines beyond the coronavirus pandemic .
( Kim Hart / Axios ) Stuff to occupy you online during the quarantine .
Watch HBO Max .
It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diluting the HBO brand !
Turn your Fuji camera into a high-end webcam with this new software .
It works over USB .
Subscribe to a new newsletter from Google walkout organizer Claire Stapleton .
Tech Support promises to offer “ existential advice for today ’ s tech worker.
” Replace your Zoom calls with a Sims-style virtual hangout .
It ’ s a new twist on video chat from a company called Teeoh .
Call 1-775-HOT-VINE to hear audio clips of famous Vines .
I just did and it was extremely charming @ @ @ @ @ @ @ questions , and polarizing Facebook posts : casey @ theverge.com and zoe @ theverge.com .

I.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal published a report about Facebook’s efforts to fight polarization since 2016, based on internal documents and interviews with current and former employees. Rich with detail, the report describes how Facebook researched ways to reduce the spread of divisive content on the platform, and in many cases set aside the recommendations of employees working on the problem. Here are Jeff Horwitz and Deepa Seetharaman:
“Our algorithms exploit the human brain’s attraction to divisiveness,” read a slide from a 2018 presentation. “If left unchecked,” it warned, Facebook would feed users “more and more divisive content in an effort to gain user attention & increase time on the platform.” [...] Fixing the polarization problem would be difficult, requiring Facebook to rethink some of its core products. Most notably, the project forced Facebook to consider how it prioritized “user engagement”—a metric involving time spent, likes, shares and comments that for years had been the lodestar of its system.
The first thing to say is that “polarization” can mean a lot of things, and that can make the discussion about Facebook’s contribution to the problem difficult. You can use it in a narrow sense to talk about the way that a news feed full of partisan sentiment could divide the country. But you could also use it as an umbrella term to talk about initiatives related to what Facebook and other social networks have lately taken to calling “platform integrity” — removing hate speech, for example, or labeling misinformation.
The second thing to say about “polarization” is that while it has a lot of negative effects, it’s worth thinking about what your proposed alternative to it would be. Is it national unity? One-party rule? Or just everyone being more polite to one another? The question gets at the challenge of “fighting” polarization if you’re a tech company CEO: even if you see it as an enemy, it’s not clear what metric you would rally your company around to deal with it.
Anyway, Facebook reacted to the Journal report with significant frustration. Guy Rosen, who oversees these efforts, published a blog post on Wednesday laying out some of the steps the company has taken since 2016 to fight “polarization” — here used in that umbrella-term sense of the word. The steps include shifting the News Feed to include more posts from friends and family than publishers; starting a fact-checking program; more rapidly detecting hate speech and other malicious content using machine-learning systems and an expanded content moderation workforce; and removing groups that violate Facebook policies from algorithmic recommendations.
Rosen writes:
We’ve taken a number of important steps to reduce the amount of content that could drive polarization on our platform, sometimes at the expense of revenues. This job won’t ever be complete because at the end of the day, online discourse is an extension of society and ours is highly polarized. But it is our job to reduce polarization’s impact on how people experience our products. We are committed to doing just that.
Among the reasons the company was frustrated with the story, according to an internal Workplace post I saw, is that Facebook had spent “several months” talking with the Journal reporters about their findings. The company gave them a variety of executives to speak with on and off the record, including Joel Kaplan, its vice president of global public policy, who often pops up in stories like this to complain that some action might disproportionately hurt conservatives.
In any case, there are two things I think are worth mentioning about this story and Facebook’s response to it. One is an internal tension in the way Facebook thinks about polarization. And the other is my worry that asking Facebook to solve for divisiveness could distract from the related but distinct issues around the viral promotion of conspiracies, misinformation, and hate speech.
First, that internal tension. On one hand, the initiatives Rosen describes to fight polarization are all real. Facebook has invested significantly in platform integrity over the past several years. And, as some Facebook employees told me yesterday, there are good reasons not to implement every suggestion a team brings you. Some might be less effective than other efforts that were implemented, for example, or they might have unintended negative consequences. Clearly some employees on the team feel like most of their ideas weren’t used, or were watered down, including employees I’ve spoken with myself over the years. But that’s true of a lot of teams at a lot of companies, and it doesn’t mean that all their efforts were for nought.
On the other hand, Facebook executives largely reject the idea that the platform is polarizing in the tearing-the-country-apart sense of the word. The C-suite read closely a working paper that my colleague Ezra Klein wrote about earlier this year that casts doubt on social networks’ contribution to the problem. The paper by Levi Boxell, Matthew Gentzkow, and Jesse Shapiro studies what is known as “affective polarization,” which Klein defines as “the difference between how warmly people view the political party they favor and the political party they oppose.” They found that affective polarization had increased faster in the United States than anywhere else — but that in several large, modernized nations with high internet usage, polarization was actually decreasing. Klein wrote:
One theory this lets us reject is that polarization is a byproduct of internet penetration or digital media usage. Internet usage has risen fastest in countries with falling polarization, and much of the run-up in US polarization predates digital media and is concentrated among older populations with more analogue news habits.
Klein, who published a book on the subject this year, believes that social networks contribute to polarization in other ways. But the fact that there are many large countries where Facebook usage is high and polarization is decreasing helps to explain why the issue is not top of mind for Facebook’s C-suite. As does Mark Zuckerberg’s own stated inclination against platforms making editorial judgments on speech. (Which he reiterated at a virtual shareholders’ meeting today.)
So here you have a case where Facebook can be “right” in a platform integrity sense — look at all these anti-polarization initiatives! — while the Journal is right in a larger one: Facebook has been designed as a place for open discussion, and human nature ensures that those discussions will often be heated and polarizing, and the company has chosen to take a relatively light touch in managing the debates. And it does so because executives think the world benefits from raucous, few-holds-barred discussions, and because they aren’t persuaded that those discussions are tearing countries apart.
Where Facebook can’t wriggle off the hook, I think, is in the Journal’s revelation of just how important its algorithmic choices have been in the spread of polarizing speech. Again, here the problem isn’t “polarization” in the abstract — but in concrete harms related to anti-science, conspiracy, and hate groups, which grow using Facebook’s tools. The company often suggests that its embrace of free speech has created a neutral platform, when in fact its design choices often reward division with greater distribution.
This is the part of the Journal’s report that I found most compelling:
The high number of extremist groups was concerning, the presentation says. Worse was Facebook’s realization that its algorithms were responsible for their growth. The 2016 presentation states that “64% of all extremist group joins are due to our recommendation tools” and that most of the activity came from the platform’s “Groups You Should Join” and “Discover” algorithms: “Our recommendation systems grow the problem.”
Facebook says that extremist groups are no longer recommended. But just today, the disinformation researcher Nina Jankowicz joined an “alternative health” group on Facebook and immediately saw recommendations that she join other groups related to white supremacy, anti-vaccine activism, and QAnon.
Ultimately, despite its efforts so far, Facebook continues to unwittingly recruit followers for bad actors, who use it to spread hate speech and misinformation detrimental to the public health. The good news is that the company has teams working on those problems, and surely will develop new solutions over time. The question raised by the Journal is, when that happens, how closely their bosses will listen to them.
II.
On Tuesday, Twitter added a link to two of President Trump’s tweets , designating them as “potentially misleading.” It took this action because Trump, as part of a disinformation campaign alleging that voting by mail will trigger massive vote fraud, was appearing to interfere with the democratic process in violation of the company’s policies.
Trump was outraged about the links, and tweeted about being censored to his 80 million followers. He threatened to shut down social media companies. He said “big action” would follow. At the direction of a White House spokeswoman, right-wing trolls began to harass Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of site integrity, who has previously tweeted criticism of Trump. Members of Congress including Marco Rubio and Josh Hawley tweeted that Twitter’s action could not stand, and that social platforms should lose Section 230 protections for moderating speech — willfully misunderstanding Section 230 in the way that they always do. Late in the day, there was word of a forthcoming executive order, with no other details.
I could spend a lot of time here speculating about the coming battle between social networks and the Republican establishment, with Silicon Valley’s struggling efforts to moderate their unwieldy platforms going head-to-head with Republicans’ bad-faith attempts to portray them as politically biased. But the past few years have taught us that while Congress is happy to kick and scream about the failures of tech platforms, it remains loath to actually regulate them.
It’s true that we have seen some apparent retaliation from Trump against social networks — the strange fair housing suit filed against Facebook last year comes to mind. And several antitrust cases are currently underway that could result in significant action. But for the most part, as Makena Kelly writes today in The Verge, the bluster is as far as it ever really goes:
The president has never followed through on his threats and used his considerable powers to place legal limits on how these companies operate. His fights with the tech companies last just long enough to generate headlines, but flame out before they can make a meaningful policy impact. And despite the wave of conservative anger currently raining down on Twitter, there’s no reason to think this one will be any different. Those flameouts are most tangible in the courts. On the same day as Trump’s tweets, the US Court of Appeals in Washington ruled against the nonprofit group Freedom Watch and fringe right figure Laura Loomer in a case purporting that Facebook, Google, and Twitter conspired to suppress conservative content online, according to Bloomberg. Whether it be Loomer or Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) fighting the bias battle, the courts have yet to rule in their favor.
In fact, as former Twitter spokesman Nu Wexler noted, Trump has even less leverage over Twitter than he does over other tech companies. “Twitter don’t sell political ads, they’re not big enough for an antitrust threat, and he’s clearly hooked on the platform,” Wexler tweeted. And whatever Trump may think, as the law professor Kate Klonick noted, “The First Amendment protects Twitter from Trump. The First Amendment doesn’t protect Trump from Twitter.”
Facts and logic aside, get ready: you’re about to hear a lot more cries from people complaining that they have been censored by Twitter. And it will be all over Twitter.
The Ratio
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms.
🔃 Trending sideways: YouTube began fixing an error in its moderation system that caused comments containing certain Chinese-language phrases critical of China’s Communist Party to be automatically deleted. The company still won’t explain what caused the deletions in the first place, though some are speculating that Chinese trolls trained the YouTube algorithm to block the terms. (James Vincent / The Verge)
🔽 Trending down: Harry Sentoso, a warehouse worker in Irvine who was part of Amazon’s COVID-19 hiring spree, died after two weeks on the job. Sentoso was presumed to have the novel coronavirus after his wife tested positive. (Sam Dean / Los Angeles Times)
Virus tracker
Total cases in the US: More than 1,701,500
Total deaths in the US: At least 100,000
Reported cases in California: 100,371
Total test results (positive and negative) in California: 1,696,396
Reported cases in New York: 369,801
Total test results (positive and negative) in New York: 1,774,128
Reported cases in New Jersey: 156,628
Total test results (positive and negative) in New Jersey: 635,892
Reported cases in Illinois: 114,448
Total test results (positive and negative) in Illinois: 786,794
Governing
⭐Whistleblowers say Facebook failed to warn investors about illegal activity happening on its platform. A complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Tuesday includes dozens of pages of screenshots of opioids and other drugs for sale on Facebook and Instagram, reports Nitasha Tiku at The Washington Post:
The filing is part of a campaign by the National Whistleblower Center to hold Facebook accountable for unchecked criminal activity on its properties. By petitioning the SEC, the consortium is attempting to get around a bedrock law — Section 230 of the Communications and Decency Act — that exempts Internet companies from liability for the user-generated content on their platform. Instead, the complaint focuses on federal securities law, arguing that Facebook’s failure to tell shareholders about the extent of illegal activity on its platform is a violation of its fiduciary duty. If Facebook alienates advertisers and has to shoulder the true cost of scrubbing criminals from its social networks, it could affect investors in the company, the complaint argues.
Facebook ran a multi-year charm offensive to develop friendly relationships with powerful state prosecutors who could use their investigative powers to harm the company’s revenue growth. In the end, the strategy had mixed results: Most of those attorneys general are now investigating the company for possible antitrust violations. I never cease to be amazed how ineffective tech lobbying is, given the money that gets spent on it (Naomi Nix / Bloomberg)
A federal appeals court rejected claims that Twitter, Facebook, Apple, and Google conspired to suppress conservative views online. The decision affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit by the nonprofit group Freedom Watch and the right-wing YouTube personality Laura Loomer, who accused the companies of violating antitrust laws and the First Amendment in a coordinated political plot. (Erik Larson / Bloomberg)
The Arizona attorney general sued Google for allegedly tracking users’ locations without permission. The case appears to hinge on whether Android menus were too confusing for the average person to navigate. (Tony Romm / Washington Post)
India’s antitrust body is looking into allegations that Google abused its market position to unfairly promote its mobile payments app. The complaint alleges Google hurt competition by prominently displaying Google Pay inside the Android app store in India. (Aditya Kalra and Aditi Shah / Reuters)
Google sent 1,755 warnings to users whose accounts were targets of government-backed attackers last month. The company highlighted new activity from “hack-for-hire” firms, many based in India, that have been creating Gmail accounts spoofing the World Health Organization. (Google)
Switzerland is now piloting a COVID-19 contact tracing app that uses the Apple-Google framework. The app, SwissCovid, is the first to put the Apple-Google model to use. (Christine Fisher / Engadget)
Silicon Valley’s billionaire Democrats are spending tens of millions of dollars to help Joe Biden catch up to President Trump’s lead on digital campaigning. These billionaires’ arsenals are funding everything from nerdy political science experiments to divisive partisan news sites to rivalrous attempts to overhaul the party’s beleaguered data file. (Theodore Schleifer / Recode)
A war has broken out on Reddit regarding how content is moderated. The feud started when a list of “PowerMods” began circulating, with the title “92 of top 500 subreddits are controlled by just 4 people.” (David Pierce / Protocol)
Twitter’s anti-porn filters blocked the name of Boris Johnson’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, from trending on the platform. Cummings has dominated British news for almost a week after coming under fire for traveling across the country during the coronavirus lockdown. It’s nice to read a truly funny story about content moderation for a change. (Alex Hern / The Guardian)
Industry
⭐TikTok’s parent ByteDance generated more than $3 billion of net profit last year. The company’s revenue more than doubled from the year before, to $17 billion, propelled by high growth in user traffic. Here are Katie Roof and Zheping Huang at Bloomberg:
The company owes much of its success to TikTok, now the online repository of choice for lip-synching and dance videos by American teens. The ambitious company is also pushing aggressively into a plethora of new arenas from gaming and search to music. ByteDance could fetch a valuation of between $150 billion and $180 billion in an initial public offering, a premium relative to sales of as much as 20% to social media giant Tencent thanks to a larger global footprint and burgeoning games business, estimated Ke Yan, Singapore-based analyst with DZT Research.
Facebook’s experimental app division has a new product out today called Collab. The app lets users create short music videos using other people’s posts, which sounds a lot like TikTok. (Nick Statt / The Verge)
Facebook’s annual shareholder meeting was held virtually on Wednesday. One item on the agenda was a call for Mark Zuckerberg to relinquish his position as chair of Facebook’s board of directors, and be replaced by an independent figure. Somehow it failed! (Rob Price / Business Insider)
Instagram will start sharing revenue with creators for the first time, through ads in IGTV and badges that viewers can purchase on Instagram Live. The company has hinted that ads would come to IGTV for more than a year, often saying the long-form video offering would be the most likely place it’d first pay creators. Any time creators are develop a direct relationship with their audience and profit from it, I get super happy. (Ashley Carman / The Verge)
Google is rolling out a series of updates aimed at helping local businesses adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company is expanding a product that allows businesses to sell gift cards during the government shutdown. It’s also allowing restaurants to point to their preferred delivery partners for customers that want to order through third-party apps. (Sarah Perez / TechCrunch)
About half of remote workers in the US report feeling less connected to their company, more stressed in ways that negatively impact their work, and say they are working more hours from home. The downsides could become prominent as more companies extend remote working deadlines beyond the coronavirus pandemic. (Kim Hart / Axios)
Things to do
Stuff to occupy you online during the quarantine.
Watch HBO Max. It’s here, and it’s totally diluting the HBO brand!
Turn your Fuji camera into a high-end webcam with this new software. It works over USB.
Subscribe to a new newsletter from Google walkout organizer Claire Stapleton. Tech Support promises to offer “existential advice for today’s tech worker.”
Replace your Zoom calls with a Sims-style virtual hangout. It’s a new twist on video chat from a company called Teeoh.
Call 1-775-HOT-VINE to hear audio clips of famous Vines. I just did and it was extremely charming.
Those good tweets ...
Talk to us


theverge--2020-05-28--Philips Hue TV sync box now supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision

The box that syncs Philips Hue lights with whatever ’ s on your TV is getting a big update today : it now supports two major HDR standards : HDR10+ and Dolby Vision .
At launch , the longly named Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box could analyze content playing at up to 4K at 60Hz , but it only supported regular HDR10 .
For people with newer TV sets or who are serious about home theater , that ’ d be a major miss , since the HDR10+ standard and Dolby Vision are now more common and offer better @ @ @ @ @ @ @ box has just done nothing when those higher-quality signals were passed through .
After today ’ s update , the box should work with a lot more systems and content .
The device analyzes pretty much any video content that ’ s being passed to your TV , figures out the dominant colors , and then constantly changes nearby Hue lightbulbs to match the color .
It ’ s supposed to provide a more immersive experience while gaming or watching movies .
( Though your enjoyment , I ’ m sure , will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ growing tiring . )
Today ’ s update also adds voice control to the sync box through Alexa , Google Assistant , and Siri , letting you turn it on or off , switch HDMI inputs , and more .
It ’ s also now able to support controls from infrared TV remotes and Logitech ’ s Harmony universal remote .
The Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box sells for $ 230 , though it currently appears to be out of stock at a number of storefronts , including the Philips Hue website @

The box that syncs Philips Hue lights with whatever’s on your TV is getting a big update today: it now supports two major HDR standards: HDR10+ and Dolby Vision.
At launch, the longly named Philips Hue Play HDMI Sync Box could analyze content playing at up to 4K at 60Hz, but it only supported regular HDR10. For people with newer TV sets or who are serious about home theater, that’d be a major miss, since the HDR10+ standard and Dolby Vision are now more common and offer better image quality. Until now, the box has just done nothing when those higher-quality signals were passed through.
After today’s update, the box should work with a lot more systems and content. The device analyzes pretty much any video content that’s being passed to your TV, figures out the dominant colors, and then constantly changes nearby Hue lightbulbs to match the color. It’s supposed to provide a more immersive experience while gaming or watching movies. (Though your enjoyment, I’m sure, will vary — I can imagine the effect growing tiring.)
Today’s update also adds voice control to the sync box through Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri, letting you turn it on or off, switch HDMI inputs, and more. It’s also now able to support controls from infrared TV remotes and Logitech’s Harmony universal remote.


theverge--2020-05-28--Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz to step down

Rony Abovitz , the co-founder and CEO of lavishly funded augmented reality company Magic Leap , will step down from his position , reports Business Insider .
Abovitz ’ s planned departure , which doesn ’ t yet have a concrete date , marks an unceremonious end to his tenure at the helm of Magic Leap , a once-buzzy startup that earned a high profile for how secretive it was early on about its technology and the eye-popping amounts of venture capital it raised .
Magic Leap has so far raised about $ 3 billion dollars over the last decade @ @ @ @ @ @ @ product , the Magic Leap 1 headset .
The company raised $ 350 million of that funding just earlier this month , after laying off about 1,000 employees back in April and ditching its consumer business to focus on selling enterprise-grade devices to companies .
Abovitz will stay on at the company for the time being , BI reports .
He ’ ll remain CEO for now until a replacement is publicly named and takes on the role ; it ’ s not clear if Magic Leap ’ s board has decided on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to announce it yet .
Abovitz describes the change as “ a natural next step ” for Magic Leap , and after he is no longer in charge he will “ provide strategy and vision from a Board level , ” according to a company memo Abovitz sent to employees on Thursday and obtained by BI .

Rony Abovitz, the co-founder and CEO of lavishly funded augmented reality company Magic Leap, will step down from his position, reports Business Insider . Abovitz’s planned departure, which doesn’t yet have a concrete date, marks an unceremonious end to his tenure at the helm of Magic Leap, a once-buzzy startup that earned a high profile for how secretive it was early on about its technology and the eye-popping amounts of venture capital it raised.
Abovitz will stay on at the company for the time being, BI reports. He’ll remain CEO for now until a replacement is publicly named and takes on the role; it’s not clear if Magic Leap’s board has decided on someone already and has simply decided not to announce it yet. Abovitz describes the change as “a natural next step” for Magic Leap, and after he is no longer in charge he will “provide strategy and vision from a Board level,” according to a company memo Abovitz sent to employees on Thursday and obtained by BI.


theverge--2020-05-28--A sequel to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie is in development

A sequel to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie is in development , as first reported by Variety .
It ’ s unclear when the film might be released , but Sonic the Hedgehog director Jeff Fowler and screenwriters Pat Casey and Josh Miller are all returning for the sequel .
Fowler confirmed that he ’ ll be back to direct on Twitter .
Sonic the Hedgehog was a hit for Paramount , earning $ 70 million in its first four days in theaters this February , according to Variety .
However , the film initially had some controversy because of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The first design for Sonic ’ s movie representation was strangely ( horrifyingly ) humanlike .
The backlash to the look was strong enough that Paramount delayed the first movie from November to February to fix Sonic ’ s appearance .
Sonic ’ s final design looked much better , harkening back his iconic look from the Sonic video games .
“ The new Sonic is so adorable that it almost makes up for a pretty generic plot and a human cast that play the roles of ‘ heroic ’ and ‘ bad @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extras in The Good Place , ” said former Verge staffer Dami Lee in her review of the film .
It ’ s unclear if Ben Schwartz will be back as the voice of Sonic or if Jim Carrey will return as Dr. Robotnik for the sequel , but it seems like a safe bet that they ’ ll return .

A sequel to the Sonic the Hedgehog movie is in development, as first reported by Variety. It’s unclear when the film might be released, but Sonic the Hedgehog director Jeff Fowler and screenwriters Pat Casey and Josh Miller are all returning for the sequel.
Fowler confirmed that he’ll be back to direct on Twitter.
Sonic the Hedgehog was a hit for Paramount, earning $70 million in its first four days in theaters this February, according to Variety. However, the film initially had some controversy because of the design of its titular character.
The first design for Sonic’s movie representation was strangely (horrifyingly) humanlike. The backlash to the look was strong enough that Paramount delayed the first movie from November to February to fix Sonic’s appearance. Sonic’s final design looked much better, harkening back his iconic look from the Sonic video games.
“The new Sonic is so adorable that it almost makes up for a pretty generic plot and a human cast that play the roles of ‘heroic’ and ‘bad’ so straight, they could be extras in The Good Place,” said former Verge staffer Dami Lee in her review of the film.


theverge--2020-05-28--Twitter now lets you schedule tweets from its web app

Twitter says you can now schedule tweets right from the main web app .
When composing a tweet , you @ @ @ @ @ icon on the bottom row of icons at the bottom of the compose window .
@ @ @ @ @ specify when you want your tweet to be sent .
Twitter had originally said it @ @ @ @ @ the feature back in November , and if you didn ’ t have access to @ @ @ @ @ to use Tweetdeck or another third-party service that supported the feature if you wanted to @ @ @ @ @ you can also now save draft tweets in the web app .
However , drafts @ @ @ @ @ app will only sync to other instances of the web app , according to Twitter @ @ @ @ @ Twitter ’ s mobile app won ’ t sync to the web .
Here ’ @ @ @ @ @ showing how both scheduling and saving a draft tweet works :

Twitter says you can now schedule tweets right from the main web app. When composing a tweet, you should see a little calendar icon on the bottom row of icons at the bottom of the compose window. Click that and you can specify when you want your tweet to be sent.
Twitter had originally said it was “experimenting” with the feature back in November, and if you didn’t have access to that experiment, you needed to use Tweetdeck or another third-party service that supported the feature if you wanted to schedule tweets.
Twitter says you can also now save draft tweets in the web app. However, drafts you write on the web app will only sync to other instances of the web app, according to Twitter, meaning drafts written in Twitter’s mobile app won’t sync to the web.


theverge--2020-05-28--Elon Musk reaches first Tesla compensation award worth nearly $800 million

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has unlocked the first of 12 possible stock option awards from the massive compensation plan he signed in 2018 , and it ’ s worth nearly $ 800 million .
The company disclosed on Thursday that Musk now has the option to buy 1.69 million of its shares because Tesla eclipsed $ 20 billion in total revenue over the last four quarters and a market capitalization of more than $ 100 billion — the first in a series of tandem milestones Tesla must hit for Musk to realize the full value of the plan .
Tesla @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when the markets closed on Thursday , meaning those shares are worth about $ 1.36 billion .
But Musk only has to pay a $ 350.02 per share “ strike price ” to get them , according to the agreement , or a total of about $ 591 million — meaning he could net around $ 770 million depending on when he pulls the trigger .
If Tesla ’ s stock price keeps going up , and the company hits additional revenue goals , Musk could wind up collecting around 20.3 million new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , clearing a path for him to collect tens of billions of dollars or more .
The full plan could net Musk tens of billions of dollars Musk does not collect a salary at Tesla , and the company originally categorized the compensation plan — which replaced one from 2012 — as an “ at-risk performance award ” that “ ensures [ Musk ] will be compensated only if Tesla and all of its shareholders do extraordinarily well.
” Musk is worth around $ 40 billion on paper already , but has downplayed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out that he reinvests a lot of the money he makes back into his own companies and is relatively cash poor .
But he also borrows against his Tesla holdings and puts that money into his companies as well , so the more of the company he owns , the more money he could have access to in the future .
Confirmation of the award was tucked inside Tesla ’ s annual “ proxy filing , ” a document that lays out what shareholders should expect at the company ’ s annual meeting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ place on July 7th , according to the filing .
While many companies have been holding online-only shareholder meetings during the pandemic , Tesla says it will hold an in-person event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View , California in addition to a webcast .
The company is leaving room for that to change , though .
“ [ W ] e will continue to monitor public health and travel safety protocols required or recommended by federal , state and local governments .
If necessary or advisable to protect our personnel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ date , time , location and/or format of the 2020 Annual Meeting , ” the company writes .
Shareholders will have seven proposals to vote on at that meeting , the first three of which are from Tesla .
The first is to reelect Elon Musk and Tesla chairwoman Robyn Denholm to the board of directors , and to approve the recently-announced appointment of Hiromichi Mizuno .
The second is to approve compensation for Tesla ’ s executives .
The third is to reappoint PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as Tesla ’ s auditor .
Proposal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , who wants Tesla to start spending money on advertising — something Musk has famously avoided .
Danforth says Tesla should “ spend at least $ 50/car produced to advertise its products/services in order to increase brand and product awareness and interest , achieve other goals set forth in the supporting statement below and to help mitigate and/or reduce harm to Tesla ’ s goals , objectives , reputation and finances.
” Tesla ’ s annual shareholder meeting will be on July 7th , and the company is hosting people in person Danforth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tesla announced in Q1-19 that it would shut down retail stores and start focusing solely on website based sales instead.
” He says Tesla ads could “ mitigate and dilute substantial FUD ( “ Fear , Uncertainty , Doubt ” ) and misinformation campaigns sponsored by competitors and detractors worldwide and steer the narrative more favorably , ” and “ increase knowledge and support for climate damage avoidance worldwide.
” “ Tesla ’ s call to action via advertisements will ring loudly and credibly with billions of consumers , many of whom who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at all .
This call to action has never been more necessary or important than right now , ” he writes .
Tesla disagrees , and is recommending shareholders vote down the proposal .
“ While we welcome stockholder feedback , we also believe we have an experienced management team that is best situated to determine Tesla ’ s day-to-day business operations , including our sales and marketing practices and expenditures , ” the company writes .
Tesla also disagrees with Danforth ’ s assessment of the changes it made last year to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comes from shareholder James McRitchie , who wants these votes to be measured by a simple majority — something he ’ s done repeatedly in the past .
Tesla recommends voting it down .
Proposal six is for Tesla to scrap forced arbitration .
It comes from impact investment firm Nia , which argues that forced arbitration “ limits employees ’ remedies for wrongdoing , keeps misconduct secret , precludes employees from suing in court when discrimination and harassment occur , and prevents employees from learning about shared concerns.
” “ Continuing to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ may be removed , with retroactive implications , creates a long-tail risk for Tesla , ” Nia writes .
“ Investors ’ concerns about non-transparent working conditions , which allow for potential harassment and discrimination , are particularly pertinent to Tesla , which has faced allegations of sexual harassment and racial discrimination.
” Tesla disagrees , and recommends shareholders vote against the proposal .
The company defends its use of arbitration , and says Nia “ does not state convincing support for a correlation between arbitration and harassment , discrimination , or limits @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proposal comes from the Sisters of the Good Shepherd New York Province , who want Tesla to prepare a report about human rights violations at the companies it buys raw materials from .
Tesla believes the Supplier Code of Conduct and Human Rights and Conflicts Minerals Policy on its website and the company ’ s annual conflict minerals report ( the 2019 version of which was published Thursday ) go far enough , and recommends shareholders vote against the proposal .

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has unlocked the first of 12 possible stock option awards from the massive compensation plan he signed in 2018, and it’s worth nearly $800 million. The company disclosed on Thursday that Musk now has the option to buy 1.69 million of its shares because Tesla eclipsed $20 billion in total revenue over the last four quarters and a market capitalization of more than $100 billion — the first in a series of tandem milestones Tesla must hit for Musk to realize the full value of the plan.
Tesla’s stock price was $805.81 when the markets closed on Thursday, meaning those shares are worth about $1.36 billion. But Musk only has to pay a $350.02 per share “strike price” to get them, according to the agreement, or a total of about $591 million — meaning he could net around $770 million depending on when he pulls the trigger.
If Tesla’s stock price keeps going up, and the company hits additional revenue goals, Musk could wind up collecting around 20.3 million new shares of Tesla at that strike price, clearing a path for him to collect tens of billions of dollars or more.
The full plan could net Musk tens of billions of dollars
Musk does not collect a salary at Tesla, and the company originally categorized the compensation plan — which replaced one from 2012 — as an “at-risk performance award” that “ensures [Musk] will be compensated only if Tesla and all of its shareholders do extraordinarily well.” Musk is worth around $40 billion on paper already, but has downplayed his personal wealth. He repeatedly points out that he reinvests a lot of the money he makes back into his own companies and is relatively cash poor. But he also borrows against his Tesla holdings and puts that money into his companies as well, so the more of the company he owns, the more money he could have access to in the future.
Confirmation of the award was tucked inside Tesla’s annual “proxy filing,” a document that lays out what shareholders should expect at the company’s annual meeting. This year that meeting will take place on July 7th, according to the filing. While many companies have been holding online-only shareholder meetings during the pandemic, Tesla says it will hold an in-person event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California in addition to a webcast. The company is leaving room for that to change, though.
“[W]e will continue to monitor public health and travel safety protocols required or recommended by federal, state and local governments. If necessary or advisable to protect our personnel and stockholders, we will change the date, time, location and/or format of the 2020 Annual Meeting,” the company writes.
Shareholders will have seven proposals to vote on at that meeting, the first three of which are from Tesla. The first is to reelect Elon Musk and Tesla chairwoman Robyn Denholm to the board of directors, and to approve the recently-announced appointment of Hiromichi Mizuno. The second is to approve compensation for Tesla’s executives. The third is to reappoint PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as Tesla’s auditor.
Proposal four is from shareholder James M. Danforth, who wants Tesla to start spending money on advertising — something Musk has famously avoided. Danforth says Tesla should “spend at least $50/car produced to advertise its products/services in order to increase brand and product awareness and interest, achieve other goals set forth in the supporting statement below and to help mitigate and/or reduce harm to Tesla’s goals, objectives, reputation and finances.”
Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting will be on July 7th, and the company is hosting people in person
Danforth says advertising “became necessary the moment Tesla announced in Q1-19 that it would shut down retail stores and start focusing solely on website based sales instead.” He says Tesla ads could “mitigate and dilute substantial FUD (“Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt”) and misinformation campaigns sponsored by competitors and detractors worldwide and steer the narrative more favorably,” and “increase knowledge and support for climate damage avoidance worldwide.”
“Tesla’s call to action via advertisements will ring loudly and credibly with billions of consumers, many of whom who don’t know who Tesla is at all. This call to action has never been more necessary or important than right now,” he writes.
Tesla disagrees, and is recommending shareholders vote down the proposal. “While we welcome stockholder feedback, we also believe we have an experienced management team that is best situated to determine Tesla’s day-to-day business operations, including our sales and marketing practices and expenditures,” the company writes. Tesla also disagrees with Danforth’s assessment of the changes it made last year to its retail operations.
The fifth proposal comes from shareholder James McRitchie, who wants these votes to be measured by a simple majority — something he’s done repeatedly in the past. Tesla recommends voting it down.
Proposal six is for Tesla to scrap forced arbitration. It comes from impact investment firm Nia, which argues that forced arbitration “limits employees’ remedies for wrongdoing, keeps misconduct secret, precludes employees from suing in court when discrimination and harassment occur, and prevents employees from learning about shared concerns.”
“Continuing to rely on arbitration clauses when these protections may be removed, with retroactive implications, creates a long-tail risk for Tesla,” Nia writes. “Investors’ concerns about non-transparent working conditions, which allow for potential harassment and discrimination, are particularly pertinent to Tesla, which has faced allegations of sexual harassment and racial discrimination.”
Tesla disagrees, and recommends shareholders vote against the proposal. The company defends its use of arbitration, and says Nia “does not state convincing support for a correlation between arbitration and harassment, discrimination, or limits on employee grievances generally.”


theverge--2020-05-28--EA and the NFL extend exclusive partnership for Madden games until 2026

Electronic Arts and the National Football League have renewed the exclusivity contract that gives the game publisher exclusive rights to make so-called simulation football games , which is the classification used for photorealistic football games featuring licensed team names and real players .
The contract now extends to May 2026 , although financial terms of the deal , like past contracts between EA and the NFL , were not disclosed .
The deal was voted on and approved on Thursday , although Polygon reports the terms were decided before today ’ s vote among team owners and that any such @ @ @ @ @ @ @ licensing renewal is merely a formality at this point .
While some football fans may have been hoping for the NFL to expand its licensing to other sports game franchises like 2K , EA and its Madden series will remain the only way to play simulation football for the foreseeable future .
2K Sports , owned by competing video game publisher Take-Two Interactive , signed a deal with the NFL back in March that grants it rights to make non-simulation football games .
That means 2K can not revive its Madden competitor NFL @ @ @ @ @ @ @ EA and NFL deal calls “ arcade-style games , youth games , and casual/mobile games .
”

Electronic Arts and the National Football League have renewed the exclusivity contract that gives the game publisher exclusive rights to make so-called simulation football games, which is the classification used for photorealistic football games featuring licensed team names and real players.
The contract now extends to May 2026, although financial terms of the deal, like past contracts between EA and the NFL, were not disclosed. The deal was voted on and approved on Thursday, although Polygon reports the terms were decided before today’s vote among team owners and that any such vote over NFL’s video game licensing renewal is merely a formality at this point.


theverge--2020-05-28--Google and Microsoft worked together to improve spellcheck in Chrome and Edge

Google and Microsoft have worked together to improve the spellcheck experience in Chrome and Edge .
The latest versions of Chrome and Edge are now powered by the built-in Windows Spellcheck feature rather than the previous Hunspell open source implementation .
The switch means spellcheck within Chrome and Edge will now have better support for URLs , acronyms , email addresses , and an improved shared custom dictionary .
“ This feature was developed as a collaboration between Google and Microsoft engineers in the Chromium project , enabling all Chromium-based browsers to benefit from Windows Spellcheck integration , ” explains @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you ’ re not seeing the new spellcheck support show up in Chrome , then you may need to enable a flag to get it straight away .
Head to chrome : //flags/ and search for “ Use the Windows OS spell checker ” and enable this setting and restart Chrome .
Microsoft has been contributing to Chromium and helping improve both Edge and Chrome ever since its surprise decision to switch to Chromium last year .
While there have been hundreds of commits , user-facing changes aren ’ t always obvious like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Google improve Chrome ’ s tab management back in January , and Microsoft is also working to improve scrolling in Chromium with bounce effects and percentage-based scrolling .

Google and Microsoft have worked together to improve the spellcheck experience in Chrome and Edge. The latest versions of Chrome and Edge are now powered by the built-in Windows Spellcheck feature rather than the previous Hunspell open source implementation. The switch means spellcheck within Chrome and Edge will now have better support for URLs, acronyms, email addresses, and an improved shared custom dictionary.
“This feature was developed as a collaboration between Google and Microsoft engineers in the Chromium project, enabling all Chromium-based browsers to benefit from Windows Spellcheck integration,” explains Microsoft’s Edge team.
The Windows Spellcheck improvements in Edge.
If you’re not seeing the new spellcheck support show up in Chrome, then you may need to enable a flag to get it straight away. Head to chrome://flags/ and search for “Use the Windows OS spell checker” and enable this setting and restart Chrome.
Microsoft has been contributing to Chromium and helping improve both Edge and Chrome ever since its surprise decision to switch to Chromium last year. While there have been hundreds of commits, user-facing changes aren’t always obvious like this.


theverge--2020-05-28--WarnerMedia yanks HBO Max’s ‘currently available’ titles list after discrepancies discovered

As part of HBO Max ’ s launch , WarnerMedia included a list of titles currently available to stream on day one , but after discrepancies were discovered between what WarnerMedia advertised and what was actually streaming , the company has pulled the list .
The Dark Knight , 13 Going on 30 , The Matrix , and The Hobbit : The Desolation of Smaug are just some of the titles originally advertised on WarnerMedia ’ s website but aren ’ t actually on HBO Max .
A spokesperson for the company told The Verge that they are “ updating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s complete.
” Other titles include Man of Steel , Gossip Girl , The Iron Giant , and The West Wing .
Missing titles happen .
Rights deals are being made up until the last minute , and it ’ s possible some of the titles originally listed as “ available now ” were scheduled for later in the year .
The Dark Knight , for example , is currently not on HBO Max , but considering it appeared in early marketing material for HBO Max , it will presumably be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s another example of how confusing HBO Max ’ s launch has become , with people scrambling to figure out what ’ s on the platform and how to actually get it .
Missing titles happen ; rights deals are being made up until the last minute As Verge contributor Joshua Rivera pointed out , marketing for HBO Max “ tells you what you can expect ( Batman Begins was in its promotional ads ) , but not when to expect it ( none of Nolan ’ s Batman films are on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of having an at-launch list is to help answer the latter problem , so it ’ s understandable that people who might have signed up for Max looking to binge Christopher Nolan ’ s Dark Knight series — a series they were originally told by WarnerMedia would be on the service — would be frustrated over it not being there .
This is a bigger issue HBO Max will face from people who assume every WarnerMedia property will be on their streaming service — a platform that promises HBO and then some .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Comics titles on HBO Max , which has a dedicated hub , were disappointed to find that many , including the critically acclaimed Harley Quinn , are only on DC Universe — a totally separate streaming service owned by WarnerMedia .
Adding to the complexity is the fact that titles tend to come and go on streaming services .
For example , Justice League , which is currently available on HBO Max , is set to leave the service for a period of time but will return to HBO Max later in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Verge .
It will eventually come back , but that means that Justice League — a core part of the DC Extended Universe that DC fans will assume is on HBO Max , a streaming service promoting DC films — won ’ t be there for an unknown amount of time .
Licensing makes streaming feel more fragmented .
Finding out how to watch anything and everything often requires a quick Google search , and then remembering if that ’ s a streaming service someone has a subscription for in the long line @ @ @ @ @ @ @ HBO Max launched with the promise to make it easier , and it ’ s likely that all those classic WarnerMedia properties will appear on the streaming service at some point .
It ’ s still very early on , but a conglomerate like WarnerMedia needs time to get everything set up .
It ’ s a fragmented library , with rights deals all over the place ; not having certain things at launch sucks for customers , but it ’ s understandable .
For now , though , WarnerMedia is working on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s current offerings , and hopefully that will clear up some of the confusion .

As part of HBO Max’s launch, WarnerMedia included a list of titles currently available to stream on day one, but after discrepancies were discovered between what WarnerMedia advertised and what was actually streaming, the company has pulled the list.
The Dark Knight, 13 Going on 30, The Matrix, and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug are just some of the titles originally advertised on WarnerMedia’s website but aren’t actually on HBO Max. A spokesperson for the company told The Verge that they are “updating this section and will post again once it’s complete.” Other titles include Man of Steel, Gossip Girl, The Iron Giant, and The West Wing.
Missing titles happen. Rights deals are being made up until the last minute, and it’s possible some of the titles originally listed as “available now” were scheduled for later in the year. The Dark Knight, for example, is currently not on HBO Max, but considering it appeared in early marketing material for HBO Max, it will presumably be there in the future. It’s another example of how confusing HBO Max’s launch has become, with people scrambling to figure out what’s on the platform and how to actually get it.
Missing titles happen; rights deals are being made up until the last minute
As Verge contributor Joshua Rivera pointed out, marketing for HBO Max “tells you what you can expect (Batman Begins was in its promotional ads), but not when to expect it (none of Nolan’s Batman films are on the service).” The whole point of having an at-launch list is to help answer the latter problem, so it’s understandable that people who might have signed up for Max looking to binge Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight series — a series they were originally told by WarnerMedia would be on the service — would be frustrated over it not being there.
This is a bigger issue HBO Max will face from people who assume every WarnerMedia property will be on their streaming service — a platform that promises HBO and then some. For example: people looking for DC Comics titles on HBO Max, which has a dedicated hub, were disappointed to find that many, including the critically acclaimed Harley Quinn, are only on DC Universe — a totally separate streaming service owned by WarnerMedia.
Adding to the complexity is the fact that titles tend to come and go on streaming services. For example, Justice League, which is currently available on HBO Max, is set to leave the service for a period of time but will return to HBO Max later in the year, a spokesperson confirmed to The Verge. It will eventually come back, but that means that Justice League — a core part of the DC Extended Universe that DC fans will assume is on HBO Max, a streaming service promoting DC films — won’t be there for an unknown amount of time.
Licensing makes streaming feel more fragmented. Finding out how to watch anything and everything often requires a quick Google search, and then remembering if that’s a streaming service someone has a subscription for in the long line of subscriptions that rule our lives. HBO Max launched with the promise to make it easier, and it’s likely that all those classic WarnerMedia properties will appear on the streaming service at some point.


theverge--2020-05-28--DoorDash’s new Storefront feature will help restaurants set up their own websites

DoorDash on Thursday launched a new initiative called Storefront to help restaurants create websites and directly manage online pickup and delivery orders .
As the COVID-19 pandemic has forced restaurants to pause their sit-down service , many have become increasingly reliant on delivery platforms like DoorDash , as well as competitors Grubhub , Postmates , and Uber Eats .
These partnerships , of course , saddle restaurants with all kinds of commissions and fees , but they ’ re still necessities for many that lack their own delivery infrastructure or a website to facilitate online orders .
DoorDash ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ own online stores instead ; 40 percent of DoorDash ’ s partners don ’ t have any online ordering system , by the company ’ s estimate .
With DoorDash Storefront , the company says restaurant owners can create these sites “ at the click of a button.
” Restaurants will manage these stores themselves , with orders coming directly to them ( though DoorDash will still fulfill delivery requests and take a cut ) .
DoorDash Storefront is in testing now and will be “ widely available ” in July , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ waitlist now on DoorDash ’ s website .
The company will also waive a number of fees through the rest of 2020 — including those for setup , subscription , and merchant delivery — for restaurants in the US and Canada with five or fewer locations .
Those small businesses also qualify for a new promotion under DoorDash ’ s Weblinks program .
Through Weblinks , restaurants who would rather DoorDash handle their online orders can place a DoorDash button on their website and redirect customers to the platform .
DoorDash is waiving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ orders through the end of 2020 ; signups for that service are open now .
Finally , DoorDash is launching a promotion called Local Restaurant Saturday , which will waive delivery fees on orders from local businesses on Saturdays in June .
Subscribers to DashPass , DoorDash ’ s monthly subscription service that waives delivery fees for orders above $ 12 , will also receive 10 percent off pickup orders in June .
DoorDash Storefront will be widely available in July DoorDash says it intends for these promotions , part of an effort @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” to help smaller establishments survive the pandemic .
“ As we turn towards the future , the most important thing is to come together to help the restaurants that mean so much to our communities , ” reads DoorDash ’ s blog post .
Of course , DoorDash ’ s promotions won ’ t last forever , and the waived fees will presumably return in 2021 .
As a viral pizzeria owner proved earlier this month when he bought his own inventory from DoorDash at a profit , the company ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on-demand platforms — often involves losing huge amounts of cash to acquire more participating businesses in the short term .
That ’ s what makes this initiative look like a smart , but not exclusively altruistic move for the company : more restaurants dependent on its ecosystem now means more profit down the line when commissions kick back in .
Nevertheless , it ’ s a nice change of pace to see new delivery initiatives that give options and agency to restaurants .
Competing services have seen scrutiny in recent years for attempts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ partners , primarily by exploiting search results and masquerading as the business owners themselves .
Earlier this month , BuzzFeed News highlighted a long-standing Grubhub policy of putting its own custom phone numbers onto business ’ s platform pages , fooling customers into calling Grubhub when they meant to call restaurants directly ( and enabling Grubhub to collect a fee for the call ) .
Last year , the company also came under fire for making fake websites to impersonate restaurants in an effort to capture more customer orders .
Back in January @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its platform without their permission .

DoorDash on Thursday launched a new initiative called Storefront to help restaurants create websites and directly manage online pickup and delivery orders.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has forced restaurants to pause their sit-down service, many have become increasingly reliant on delivery platforms like DoorDash, as well as competitors Grubhub, Postmates, and Uber Eats. These partnerships, of course, saddle restaurants with all kinds of commissions and fees, but they’re still necessities for many that lack their own delivery infrastructure or a website to facilitate online orders.
DoorDash’s goal is to help businesses create their own online stores instead; 40 percent of DoorDash’s partners don’t have any online ordering system, by the company’s estimate. With DoorDash Storefront, the company says restaurant owners can create these sites “at the click of a button.” Restaurants will manage these stores themselves, with orders coming directly to them (though DoorDash will still fulfill delivery requests and take a cut).
Image: DoorDash
DoorDash Storefront is in testing now and will be “widely available” in July, the company says. Restaurants can join the waitlist now on DoorDash’s website. The company will also waive a number of fees through the rest of 2020 — including those for setup, subscription, and merchant delivery — for restaurants in the US and Canada with five or fewer locations.
Those small businesses also qualify for a new promotion under DoorDash’s Weblinks program. Through Weblinks, restaurants who would rather DoorDash handle their online orders can place a DoorDash button on their website and redirect customers to the platform. DoorDash is waiving commission fees on those delivery and pickup orders through the end of 2020; signups for that service are open now.
Finally, DoorDash is launching a promotion called Local Restaurant Saturday, which will waive delivery fees on orders from local businesses on Saturdays in June. Subscribers to DashPass, DoorDash’s monthly subscription service that waives delivery fees for orders above $12, will also receive 10 percent off pickup orders in June.
DoorDash Storefront will be widely available in July
DoorDash says it intends for these promotions, part of an effort it calls “Main Street Strong,” to help smaller establishments survive the pandemic. “As we turn towards the future, the most important thing is to come together to help the restaurants that mean so much to our communities,” reads DoorDash’s blog post.
Of course, DoorDash’s promotions won’t last forever, and the waived fees will presumably return in 2021. As a viral pizzeria owner proved earlier this month when he bought his own inventory from DoorDash at a profit, the company’s business model — like those of many on-demand platforms — often involves losing huge amounts of cash to acquire more participating businesses in the short term. That’s what makes this initiative look like a smart, but not exclusively altruistic move for the company: more restaurants dependent on its ecosystem now means more profit down the line when commissions kick back in.
Nevertheless, it’s a nice change of pace to see new delivery initiatives that give options and agency to restaurants. Competing services have seen scrutiny in recent years for attempts to load more fees onto their participating partners, primarily by exploiting search results and masquerading as the business owners themselves.


theverge--2020-05-28--How to stop FaceTime from resizing your call windows

During a group call , FaceTime automatically enlarges the window of whoever ’ s speaking .
This means when you have four or more people on a call , the windows will resize , float , and bounce around during a group call .
It can be distracting and confusing .
If you ’ d rather keep all of your FaceTime windows static and the same size during a call , there is quick way to do that in the latest iOS and iPadOS versions , as well as the latest version of macOS .
These instructions are for an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ iPad should be similar .
First , make sure your FaceTime app is up to date by checking to see if you ’ re running iOS 13.5 or iPadOS 13.5 : • If an update is available , you ’ ll see it here .
If not , your device will tell you it ’ s up to date .
Now that your software ’ s up to date , here ’ s how you can stop the windows from resizing .
First , make sure your Mac is running Catalina 10.15.5 : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the left corner of the menu bar .
• You ’ ll see what macOS you ’ re on and if any updates are available here .
• Click on “ FaceTime ” in the left side of the menu bar at the top of the screen .
• In the pop-up window , under “ Automatic Prominence , ” uncheck the box next to “ Speaking.
” During the call you can double-click on a person ’ s window to maximize them , and this will gray out the other windows , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s windows will remain static and the same size .
The corners of the windows will still overlap on both mobile and desktop .

During a group call, FaceTime automatically enlarges the window of whoever’s speaking. This means when you have four or more people on a call, the windows will resize, float, and bounce around during a group call. It can be distracting and confusing.
If you’d rather keep all of your FaceTime windows static and the same size during a call, there is quick way to do that in the latest iOS and iPadOS versions, as well as the latest version of macOS.
On iPhone
These instructions are for an iPhone, but the process for the iPad should be similar. First, make sure your FaceTime app is up to date by checking to see if you’re running iOS 13.5 or iPadOS 13.5:
Open settings.
Go to “General.”
Tap “Software Update.”
If an update is available, you’ll see it here. If not, your device will tell you it’s up to date.
Start by checking for software updates. If your device is not up to date, you’ll be able to update it here.
Now that your software’s up to date, here’s how you can stop the windows from resizing.
Open settings.
Scroll down and tap FaceTime.
Navigate to “Automatic Prominence.”
Toggle off “Speaking.”
Open up FaceTime in settings. Under “Automatic Prominence,” toggle off “Speaking.”
On a Mac
First, make sure your Mac is running Catalina 10.15.5:
Click on the apple icon in the left corner of the menu bar.
Select “System Preferences.”
Open “Software Update.”
You’ll see what macOS you’re on and if any updates are available here.
To change your FaceTime preferences:
Open up FaceTime.
Click on “FaceTime” in the left side of the menu bar at the top of the screen.
Select “Preferences” (or press ⌘ - ,).
In the pop-up window, under “Automatic Prominence,” uncheck the box next to “Speaking.”
Leave the box next to “Speaking” unchecked.


theverge--2020-05-28--G Suite customers will soon be able to make Google Voice calls right from Gmail

Google will soon let G Suite customers with Google Voice licenses make Google Voice calls right from their Gmail inbox .
The new feature seems like a handy way to make a Google Voice call without needing to jump to a second tab to do so .
If the feature is rolled out to you , you ’ ll be able to access Google Voice from the toolbar on the right side of your inbox , which is where you might currently see icons for Google Calendar , Keep , and Tasks .
Here ’ s a GIF from Google @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Google says the feature will begin rolling out on June 3rd , though you ’ ll only be able use it from Chrome or Firefox on a computer .
Earlier this month , Google announced that you ’ d be able to access its Meet videoconferencing service from your Gmail inbox ( though the Meet icon is on your left sidebar ) .
That integration and the new Google Voice Gmail integration revealed today could be useful if you spend a lot of your day working through emails and making calls .
Google @ @ @ @ @ @ @ call transfer feature for Google Voice ’ s iOS , Android , and web apps to G Suite customers with Google Voice licenses , the company announced .
To transfer a call , it appears users can just tap on a “ transfer ” button on the call menu and select a contact .
Here ’ s a picture of the call transfer process , from Google : Google doesn ’ t currently have plans to bring either of the features announced today to consumers , the company tells The Verge .
Update @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Added context from Google .

Google will soon let G Suite customers with Google Voice licenses make Google Voice calls right from their Gmail inbox. The new feature seems like a handy way to make a Google Voice call without needing to jump to a second tab to do so.
If the feature is rolled out to you, you’ll be able to access Google Voice from the toolbar on the right side of your inbox, which is where you might currently see icons for Google Calendar, Keep, and Tasks. Here’s a GIF from Google showing what the interface looks like.
Google says the feature will begin rolling out on June 3rd, though you’ll only be able use it from Chrome or Firefox on a computer.
Earlier this month, Google announced that you’d be able to access its Meet videoconferencing service from your Gmail inbox (though the Meet icon is on your left sidebar). That integration and the new Google Voice Gmail integration revealed today could be useful if you spend a lot of your day working through emails and making calls.
Google has also already started rolling out a call transfer feature for Google Voice’s iOS, Android, and web apps to G Suite customers with Google Voice licenses, the company announced. To transfer a call, it appears users can just tap on a “transfer” button on the call menu and select a contact. Here’s a picture of the call transfer process, from Google:
Image: Google
Google doesn’t currently have plans to bring either of the features announced today to consumers, the company tells The Verge.


theverge--2020-05-29--The Verge’s Father’s Day Gift Guide 2020

When it comes to loved ones like a parent or significant other , it can often be hard to think of a good unique gift idea .
So with the help of The Verge ’ s staff of experts , we ’ ve put together a list of things we think would make great Father ’ s Day gifts or might give you some inspiration for your own unique gift idea .
These are things that have either served the staff well or things they wish they had .
Compiled below is a list of eight items , from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ V60 gooseneck ) to the inexpensive and stylish Tissot Everytime Swissmatic watch , that would make great gifts for any parent at a reasonable price point .
There are many cheaper vessels for hot water , but Hario ’ s V60 Gooseneck kettle heats quickly , and rarely needs to be cleaned .
What ’ s best , though , is that it delivers a perfect , measured pour so you don ’ t get carried away with a delicate drink .
Price : ~ $ 46 Buy on : Amazon The Instant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ knife of the kitchen .
With it , you can easily make a ton of different meals , or you can just use it to make batches of rice and broth .
It ’ s useful , and if you ’ re short on space for appliances , it ’ s well worth picking up .
Price : ~ $ 79 Buy on : Amazon Best Buy Bloomingdale ’ s If you ’ ve got an iPhone , there ’ s basically one smartwatch to get : an Apple Watch .
The latest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ works well even when you don ’ t have your iPhone handy , and can track basically all your fitness activities right from your wrist .
Price : ~ $ 399 Buy on : Apple Best Buy B & H Class up their commute with a new briefcase , like this sleek and durable canvas/leather option from Filson , which will look great and keep your important work gear safe .
Price : ~ $ 325 Buy on : Filson Beloved by Silicon Valley startups , Allbirds are basically the internet ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get past all of the social media hype , what ’ s left is actually a really comfortable , easy-to-clean pair of shoes that are great for the office or a walk in the park .
Price : ~ $ 95 to $ 135 Buy on : Allbirds Keeping track of your health has never been more important , and the latest Fitbit Charge 4 is the best that company offers in one tiny tracker .
You can use it to control Spotify songs , make contactless payments , and track your location @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Price : ~ $ 150 Buy on : Best Buy For years , Amazon ’ s Kindles have ruled the e-reader space .
And for nearly as long , the Paperwhite has been the model that nearly everyone should get .
With an integrated light , a crisp display , and a virtually endless battery life — and only slightly more expensive than Amazon ’ s entry-level model — it ’ s not just the best e-reader ; it ’ s almost better than physical paper .
Price : ~ $ 130 Buy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all the rage , but a good mechanical watch will outlast them all .
Tissot ’ s Everytime watches offer a classic design that looks good with nearly everything , while the Swiss-made movement will keep ticking without any batteries , chargers , or even solar panels — just wind it and you ’ re good to go .
It ’ s the kind of watch that lasts a lifetime , instead of just until the next hardware refresh .
Price : ~ $ 258 Buy on : Amazon Vox Media has affiliate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ content , though Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links .
For more information , see our ethics policy .
Prices displayed are based on the MSRP at time of posting .

When it comes to loved ones like a parent or significant other, it can often be hard to think of a good unique gift idea. So with the help of The Verge’s staff of experts, we’ve put together a list of things we think would make great Father’s Day gifts or might give you some inspiration for your own unique gift idea.
These are things that have either served the staff well or things they wish they had. Compiled below is a list of eight items, from the ideal pour-over coffee kettle (the Hario V60 gooseneck) to the inexpensive and stylish Tissot Everytime Swissmatic watch, that would make great gifts for any parent at a reasonable price point.
Hario V60 Gooseneck kettle
There are many cheaper vessels for hot water, but Hario’s V60 Gooseneck kettle heats quickly, and rarely needs to be cleaned. What’s best, though, is that it delivers a perfect, measured pour so you don’t get carried away with a delicate drink. Price: ~$46
Buy on:
Amazon
Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1
The Instant Pot pressure cooker is the Swiss Army knife of the kitchen. With it, you can easily make a ton of different meals, or you can just use it to make batches of rice and broth. It’s useful, and if you’re short on space for appliances, it’s well worth picking up. Price: ~$79
Buy on:
Amazon
Best Buy
Bloomingdale’s
Apple Watch
If you’ve got an iPhone, there’s basically one smartwatch to get: an Apple Watch. The latest model has an always on display, works well even when you don’t have your iPhone handy, and can track basically all your fitness activities right from your wrist. Price: ~$399
Buy on:
Apple
Best Buy
B&H
Filson Original Briefcase
Class up their commute with a new briefcase, like this sleek and durable canvas/leather option from Filson, which will look great and keep your important work gear safe. Price: ~$325
Buy on:
Filson
Allbirds shoes
Beloved by Silicon Valley startups, Allbirds are basically the internet’s favorite shoes. But if you can get past all of the social media hype, what’s left is actually a really comfortable, easy-to-clean pair of shoes that are great for the office or a walk in the park. Price: ~$95 to $135
Buy on:
Allbirds
Fitbit Charge 4
Keeping track of your health has never been more important, and the latest Fitbit Charge 4 is the best that company offers in one tiny tracker. You can use it to control Spotify songs, make contactless payments, and track your location without ever bringing a phone along. Price: ~$150
Buy on:
Best Buy
Amazon Kindle Paperwhite
For years, Amazon’s Kindles have ruled the e-reader space. And for nearly as long, the Paperwhite has been the model that nearly everyone should get. With an integrated light, a crisp display, and a virtually endless battery life — and only slightly more expensive than Amazon’s entry-level model — it’s not just the best e-reader; it’s almost better than physical paper. Price: ~$130
Buy on:
Amazon
Tissot Everytime Swissmatic Watch
Smart watches may be all the rage, but a good mechanical watch will outlast them all. Tissot’s Everytime watches offer a classic design that looks good with nearly everything, while the Swiss-made movement will keep ticking without any batteries, chargers, or even solar panels — just wind it and you’re good to go. It’s the kind of watch that lasts a lifetime, instead of just until the next hardware refresh. Price: ~$258
Buy on:
Amazon


theverge--2020-05-29--What does Tesla slashing car prices really mean for the company?

Well , I was going to write about the historic crewed launch and SpaceX , Tesla ’ s overachieving older sibling , but then the launch got scrubbed .
Instead , let ’ s discuss money .
Tesla cut prices on several vehicles earlier this week : the Model S and X now cost $ 74,990 and $ 79,990 — respectively — for their base model , a $ 5,000 drop .
The Performance versions of both cars , which are more expensive , have also dropped by $ 5,000 .
The Model 3 ’ s cheapest model , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now $ 37,990 , a $ 2,000 decrease .
All Model 3s are also now $ 2,000 cheaper .
( The pricing is slightly different for the Model 3s in China , however . )
The Model Y , introduced this year , remains unchanged .
So did Tesla ’ s closing stock price the day after the announcement .
Remember when Tesla CEO Elon Musk decided to reopen the Fremont factory on the weekend of May 9th , ahead of the May 18th date targeted by local health officials ?
This should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggest the opposite .
Sales of all autos , generally , tanked in the last two months : in March , sales plummeted and April wasn ’ t much better .
Tesla isn ’ t the only automaker attempting to lure buyers back — 0 percent financing , deferred payment plans , and other incentives are popping up all over the place .
Maybe that ’ s because trend forecaster IHS Markit has projected a 22 percent drop in the global auto market this year , as rising unemployment means less demand for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to fall 18 percent worldwide this year , according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance .
There might be more clarity on what the price cuts mean if we knew how many cars Tesla sold in March and April , but like many automakers , Tesla shares its numbers on a quarterly basis .
The explanations of what the price cuts mean vary .
The explanations are as follows : • Tesla isn ’ t immune to the pressures facing other automakers .
• The price cuts target older vehicles and suggest they have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on federal tax incentives for electric vehicles and a strong economy to boost sales — and now both are gone .
• Other automakers are offering deals , so Tesla needs to offer deals to remain competitive .
• Tesla wants to meet its delivery goals .
Let ’ s talk for a moment about camp number five , the “ delivery goals ” camp .
Now , Tesla had a surprisingly good first quarter !
Despite shutdowns at its Chinese and US factories , Tesla told its investors it might still meet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this year .
Price cuts sure seem like one way of making sure that happens .
Historically , Tesla investors don ’ t seem to care much about profits The first quarter of 2020 was “ pacing to be the strongest quarter of deliveries until our operations were interrupted in March , ” the company said in its quarterly results .
Price cuts will lower Tesla ’ s profit margin , but if the goal is demonstrating that Tesla can meet its goals for deliveries , that may not matter .
Historically , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care much about profits — the first quarter profit in 2020 was just its fifth in the last three years .
It ’ s also possible that Model Y sales are strong enough that they ’ ll make up for whatever money is lost on the older cars .
There ’ s also the proxy statement released yesterday .
In it , James Danforth , who owns 850 shares of Tesla stock , suggests spending $ 50 per car on paid advertising .
“ Its [ sic ] self-evident that advertising can increase @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interest , ” Danforth ’ s statement says — the “ [ sic ] ” apppears in the filing and is not my addition .
Advertising may also allow Tesla to respond to “ misinformation campaigns sponsored by competitors and detractors worldwide , and steer the narrative more favorably.
” Tesla ’ s board of directors recommends that shareholders vote against this proposal , saying it “ would not serve the best interests of Tesla or our stockholders.
” Further , Danforth “ presents no evidence that Tesla has insufficient visibility with prospective @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the arbitrary amount suggested by the proponent or at all , would increase such visibility in a manner favorable to the Company or its shareholders.
” Tesla delivered “ a record 367,656 ” vehicles , an increase of 50 percent from the previous year , the statement notes .
Tesla ’ s directors have a pretty good point !
This week alone , Jay Leno featured the forthcoming Tesla Cybertruck and Elon Musk on CNBC , Teslas were used to drive astronauts to the scrubbed SpaceX launch , and an influencer posted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ test .
The goal of this price cut may be more about reassuring shareholders that Tesla can meet its goals , even in the face of factory shutdowns , than it is about anything else .
That doesn ’ t make the other possible explanations wrong — all of them can be true at the same time .
But keeping shareholders happy may be the most important part .

This Week in Elon This Week in Elon is a limited-run newsletter that is occasionally revived when there’s Too Much News. And right there, this is Too Much News. You can subscribe here.
Well, I was going to write about the historic crewed launch and SpaceX, Tesla’s overachieving older sibling, but then the launch got scrubbed. Instead, let’s discuss money.
Tesla cut prices on several vehicles earlier this week: the Model S and X now cost $74,990 and $79,990 — respectively — for their base model, a $5,000 drop. The Performance versions of both cars, which are more expensive, have also dropped by $5,000. The Model 3’s cheapest model, the Standard Range Plus Model 3, is now $37,990, a $2,000 decrease. All Model 3s are also now $2,000 cheaper. (The pricing is slightly different for the Model 3s in China, however.)
The Model Y, introduced this year, remains unchanged. So did Tesla’s closing stock price the day after the announcement.
Remember when Tesla CEO Elon Musk decided to reopen the Fremont factory on the weekend of May 9th, ahead of the May 18th date targeted by local health officials? This should suggest high demand. The price cuts suggest the opposite.
There might be more clarity on what the price cuts mean if we knew how many cars Tesla sold in March and April, but like many automakers, Tesla shares its numbers on a quarterly basis.
The explanations of what the price cuts mean vary. The explanations are as follows:
Tesla isn’t immune to the pressures facing other automakers. The price cuts target older vehicles and suggest they have peaked in demand. Tesla relied on federal tax incentives for electric vehicles and a strong economy to boost sales — and now both are gone. Other automakers are offering deals, so Tesla needs to offer deals to remain competitive. Tesla wants to meet its delivery goals.
Let’s talk for a moment about camp number five, the “delivery goals” camp. Now, Tesla had a surprisingly good first quarter! Despite shutdowns at its Chinese and US factories, Tesla told its investors it might still meet its goal of delivering 500,000 vehicles worldwide this year. Price cuts sure seem like one way of making sure that happens.
Historically, Tesla investors don’t seem to care much about profits
The first quarter of 2020 was “pacing to be the strongest quarter of deliveries until our operations were interrupted in March,” the company said in its quarterly results. Price cuts will lower Tesla’s profit margin, but if the goal is demonstrating that Tesla can meet its goals for deliveries, that may not matter. Historically, Tesla investors don’t seem to care much about profits — the first quarter profit in 2020 was just its fifth in the last three years. It’s also possible that Model Y sales are strong enough that they’ll make up for whatever money is lost on the older cars.
There’s also the proxy statement released yesterday. In it, James Danforth, who owns 850 shares of Tesla stock, suggests spending $50 per car on paid advertising. “Its [sic] self-evident that advertising can increase brand value, product awareness, and interest,” Danforth’s statement says — the “[sic]” apppears in the filing and is not my addition. Advertising may also allow Tesla to respond to “misinformation campaigns sponsored by competitors and detractors worldwide, and steer the narrative more favorably.”
Tesla’s board of directors recommends that shareholders vote against this proposal, saying it “would not serve the best interests of Tesla or our stockholders.” Further, Danforth “presents no evidence that Tesla has insufficient visibility with prospective customers or that paid advertising, whether at the arbitrary amount suggested by the proponent or at all, would increase such visibility in a manner favorable to the Company or its shareholders.” Tesla delivered “a record 367,656” vehicles, an increase of 50 percent from the previous year, the statement notes.