theverge--2020-03-04--Jack Dorsey is in for the fight of his life

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Were there not a deadly coronavirus spreading across the globe , I suspect more of us might be talking about a different disruption to life as we know it : the potential end of Jack Dorsey ’ s latest tenure as the CEO of Twitter .
Dorsey cofounded Twitter , was its first CEO , and returned in 2015 as its fourth .
Throughout that time , he has been one of the more unconventional leaders in business .
As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the company ’ s early years , Hatching Twitter , Dorsey was forced out of the job initially because he spent too much time doing yoga and attending fashion design classes .
When he returned as CEO in 2015 , replacing Dick Costolo , it was just as improbable .
The board had said initially it would consider only a full-time employee to run the company .
By that point Dorsey had founded a second successful business , the payments company Square , and was leading it as CEO .
But after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — of which Dorsey was then chairman — settled on him anyway , and he has led it ever since .
It has been a rocky tenure .
For most of Dorsey ’ s time as CEO , Twitter has been unprofitable .
It has not offered much product innovation , nor has it acquired its way to significant user growth .
Like other tech platforms , it was exploited productively by Russia during the 2016 election .
The company has made many , many promises about what it might do eventually , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ harassing one another , and then mostly under-delivered .
Then there is the question of stock price — the metric that , for good and bad , all CEOs are ultimately held accountable to .
Since he returned , Twitter shares are down 6.2 percent , Bloomberg reported last week , while Facebook ’ s are up 121 percent .
It is not difficult , in short , to make a case against Jack Dorsey , and now someone has .
The activist investor Elliott Management Corp. has taken a roughly 4 percent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forth four nominees to the company ’ s board , with the goal of replacing Dorsey as CEO .
What is this Elliott Management Corp. ?
It ’ s a hedge fund led by the billionaire Paul Singer .
Sheelah Kolhatkar profiled him in the New Yorker in 2018 .
Kolhatkar described Singer as ... one of the most powerful , and most unyielding , investors in the world .
Singer , who is seventy-three , with a trim white beard and oval spectacles , is deeply involved in everything Elliott does .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but Singer is best known as an “ activist ” investor , using his fund ’ s resources—about thirty-five billion dollars—to buy stock in companies in which it detects weaknesses .
Elliott then pressures the company to make changes to its business , with the goal of improving the stock price .
Elliott ’ s executives say that most of their investment campaigns proceed without significant conflict , but a noticeable number seem to end up mired in drama .
A signature Elliott tactic is the release of a letter harshly criticizing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which is often followed by the executive ’ s resignation or the sale of the company .
One of Singer ’ s few unsuccessful campaigns , to block a merger within Samsung , eventually led to the impeachment and imprisonment of the South Korean President after Singer ’ s opponents became so desperate to fend off his attack that they allegedly began bribing government officials .
From the outside , it can seem as if Elliott is causing the drama , but the firm argues that it simply identifies preëxisting problems and acts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Activist investing is controversial : critics believe that it can force companies to lay off workers and curtail investment in new products in favor of schemes that boost short-term profits , while proponents view it as a useful source of pressure on C.E.O.s to reduce waste and manage their companies more effectively .
In the press , Singer and similar investors have been compared to vultures , wolves , and hyenas .
Bloomberg has called Singer “ aggressive , tenacious and litigious to a fault , ” anointing him “ The World ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s ventures have been consistently successful , with average annual returns of almost fourteen per cent , making him and his employees enormously wealthy .
The mere news that Elliott has invested in a company often causes its stock price to go up—creating even more wealth for Elliott .
Singer has been deploying his riches in Republican politics , where he is one of the G.O.P.
’ s top donors and a powerful influence on the Party and its President .
According to those who know Singer , in politics , as in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whatever it takes to win .
To reiterate : the world ’ s most feared investor now has Jack Dorsey in his sights .
What happens next ?
In the short term , employees and allies have rallied around Dorsey .
On Monday , internal pro-Dorsey discussions bubbled onto Twitter itself , where a few dozen employees tweeted with the hashtag # WeBackJack .
Tesla CEO Elon Musk , who recently appeared via FaceTime at Twitter ’ s annual employee conference , tweeted his support as well , posting that Dorsey has “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” In the long term , Bloomberg ’ s Matt Levine speculates that the move might push more founders to seek dual-class voting stock to insulate them from activist investors like Singer .
That ’ s what Mark Zuckerberg did at Facebook , and later Evan Spiegel did at Snap .
Noting that Snap is in a far worse financial position than Twitter — and facing zero consequences from investors over it , because they have no real means of legal resource — Levine writes : But the most interesting question is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s what happens in the medium term .
Which is to say : can Dorsey survive this ?
The experience of previous CEOs whom Singer has put through the ringer suggests that the answer might well be no .
The case against Twitter leadership over the past decade is thick and damning , and promising it will all get better in the future won ’ t play as well with a hedge fund as it has on the podcast circuit .
At the same time , it ’ s at least a little @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now , when Twitter has become consistently profitable , returned to user growth , and finally started to pick up the pace of product development .
It ’ s still easy to make the case that Twitter can and should be much bigger and better than it is — it just feels a bit rude to make that case when the company finally , and to the surprise of many of those of us who have covered it for the past decade , begins to turn it around .
But business ain ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” clearly isn ’ t cutting it for Paul Singer .
Unless something changes dramatically , it would appear that Jack Dorsey is in for the fight of his life .
Yesterday in the newsletter I wrote “ Today Facebook is arguably the entry point to technology for most people .
In some parts of the world , it ’ s said that Facebook is the internet itself .
And it ’ s operating at a much larger scale than Facebook ever did.
” Thank you to my mother for writing to ask @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at a larger scale than Microsoft ever did .
In fact , I did .
Thanks mom .
Also apologies to Drew Harwell and Erin Cox , whom we mistakenly identified as reporters for the New York Times .
In fact they are distinguished reporters for the Washington Post .
The Verge Guide to the 2020 Election Fourteen states are voting in the Super Tuesday primary .
While you wait for the results to come in , I invite you to look at our package on what ’ s at stake for Silicon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the general election and beyond .
Start with this essay from our editor-in-chief , Nilay Patel , on why and how we ’ re covering the race .
From there , you can look at four “ living guides ” to key issues facing the technology industry : • Makena Kelly is keeping an up-to-date guide of all the big bills and other legislative proposals Congress is considering .
• Zoe Schiffer is keeping this guide of moves to weaken encryption .
• Russell Brandom is keeping this guide of all the big @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tech platforms .
• And I am keeping this guide to the debate around Section 230 and other efforts to regulate speech online .
Our hope is that you find these guides useful in the coming months and will keep them bookmarked .
On our end , we ’ ll update them whenever events warrant .
Let us know what you think — and , if you have an idea for another guide , please send it my way .
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ search results for the coronavirus outbreak to information from mainstream health organizations .
Trending up : Google is making videoconferencing tools available for free to customers to aid them during mandatory work-from-home orders related to the coronavirus outbreak .
A computational biologist is arguing that Washington state could be about to see an explosion in cases .
( Helen Branswell / STAT News ) Bipartisan negotiators on Capitol Hill are closing in on a $ 7.5 billion emergency spending bill to fight the coronavirus .
The legislation is likely to be announced Tuesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , before moving to the Senate .
( Erica Werner / The Washington Post ) • Emerald City Comic Con will go ahead as scheduled despite rising fears over the spread of coronavirus .
The event is taking place as planned March 12-15 at the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle , drawing criticism from people worried about the likelihood of spreading disease .
( Thomas Wilde / GeekWire ) • Canceling South by Southwest would be a devastating blow for the Austin economy — which helps to explain why it hasn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dan Solomon / Texas Monthly ) • Intel and TikTok were among the companies that pulled out of SXSW today , joining Facebook and Twitter .
• Stripe is encouraging employees to work from home , pausing business travel and discouraging personal travel , and suspending visitors to the Stripe office due to the coronavirus spread .
( Stripe ) Elsewhere in the outbreak : Airbnb planned to IPO in 2020 .
But those plans could be put on hold if the travel market continues to struggle with the spread of the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fake cures and coronavirus conspiracy theories are flooding WhatsApp .
The app is encrypted , making it difficult to stop viral messages since even Facebook can ’ t always see what they say .
( Tony Romm / The Washington Post ) ⭐ Congress is expected to introduce new legislation on Wednesday that would force tech companies to take aggressive steps to stop child sexual exploitation online , or risk losing their legal protections under Section 230 .
The Earn It Act is also widely seen as a way to stop tech companies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This bill is awful .
Tony Romm at The Washington Post reports : Venture capitalists and tech executives are voicing their support for moderate presidential candidates like Mike Bloomberg and Pete Buttigieg ( before he dropped out ) .
They ’ re increasingly worried about a Bernie Sanders win , although many of their employees are campaigning for him .
( Nellie Bowles and Erin Griffith / The New York Times ) Mike Bloomberg is spending far more money on ads promoting gun control than on his ability to beat Trump in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ move in a deep-red state — but also shows how candidates are sharing different messages with different voters on Facebook using microtargeting .
( Jeremy B. Merrill / Quartz ) The US government has reached out to TikTok to talk about political misinformation .
The Chinese-owned app has grown increasingly popular in the US , and has frequently been used for sharing political memes despite the company ’ s attempt to not becoming a platform for talking politics .
( Alfred Ng / CNET ) Reddit has a reputation as a toxic rumor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an unlikely home for passionate users who aim to call out disinformation as it spreads .
( Steven Melendez / Fast Company ) Facebook removed networks of accounts engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior originating in India , Egypt , Russia , Iran , Myanmar and Vietnam .
The news comes as part of the company ’ s first monthly report on coordinated inauthentic behavior .
The right-wing media ecosystem is distinct and insular from the rest of the mainstream press , says Harvard professor Yochai Benkler .
This asymmetry will play a major @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drivers are mass media , business , and domestic political actors , not Russians , Facebook , algorithms or bots .
( Mathew Ingram / Galley by CJR ) TurboTax ’ s parent company Intuit just acquired Credit Karma for $ 7.1 billion .
The deal raises serious antitrust concerns , according to legal experts , since Credit Karma was a TurboTax competitor .
It ’ s Facebook buying Instagram all over again , but will regulators notice ?
( Eric Newcomer / Bloomberg ) ⭐ Facebook said it would support existing government-backed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when it releases its Calibra wallet later this year .
That will include the US dollar and the euro .
The move is being seen as a direct response to the intense regulatory pressure Facebook faced since announcing Libra last year .
Here ’ s The Information ’ s Alex Heath : Drug companies are growing bolder about advertising on Facebook .
The practice is exposing loopholes around the way data can be used to show consumers relevant ads about their personal health .
( Nitasha Tiku / The Washington Post ) Facebook @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patrol its data centers .
The high-tech initiative could boost the firm ’ s profits and help revolutionize the data center industry — and potentially prompt some job losses .
( Rob Price / Business Insider ) A breast cancer advocate says she discovered a loophole in Facebook ’ s privacy settings that could put the health data of millions of people at risk .
She ’ s filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission , saying that Facebook had an obligation to protect membership lists for health groups and failed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The loophole has since been closed .
( Ryan Prior / CNN ) To make Messenger lighter and faster , Facebook rewrote the app from the ground up .
The new version is 30MB , less than a quarter of its peak size .
It ’ s also gone from 1.7 million lines of code to 360,000 .
In a new study published in American Economic Review , deactivating Facebook was shown to free up 60 minutes of time for participants .
It also had a small but significant impact on improving their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) WhatsApp is finally getting a new dark mode on iOS and Android today .
After months of beta testing on both mobile operating systems , the WhatsApp dark mode will be available for all users .
( Tom Warren / The Verge ) Let ’ s go full-on prepper to close out the day .
Here , from Business Insider , is how to clean your smartphone of germs without damaging the screen .
And here , from The Verge , is how to make your own hand sanitizer .
Send us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hand sanitizer : casey @ theverge.com and zoe @ theverge.com .

Were there not a deadly coronavirus spreading across the globe, I suspect more of us might be talking about a different disruption to life as we know it: the potential end of Jack Dorsey’s latest tenure as the CEO of Twitter.
Dorsey cofounded Twitter, was its first CEO, and returned in 2015 as its fourth. Throughout that time, he has been one of the more unconventional leaders in business. As recounted in Nick Bilton’s history of the company’s early years, Hatching Twitter, Dorsey was forced out of the job initially because he spent too much time doing yoga and attending fashion design classes.
When he returned as CEO in 2015, replacing Dick Costolo, it was just as improbable. The board had said initially it would consider only a full-time employee to run the company. By that point Dorsey had founded a second successful business, the payments company Square, and was leading it as CEO. But after a search, Twitter’s board — of which Dorsey was then chairman — settled on him anyway, and he has led it ever since.
It has been a rocky tenure. For most of Dorsey’s time as CEO, Twitter has been unprofitable. It has not offered much product innovation, nor has it acquired its way to significant user growth. Like other tech platforms, it was exploited productively by Russia during the 2016 election. The company has made many, many promises about what it might do eventually, starting with its unyielding problem with users harassing one another, and then mostly under-delivered.
Then there is the question of stock price — the metric that, for good and bad, all CEOs are ultimately held accountable to. Since he returned, Twitter shares are down 6.2 percent, Bloomberg reported last week, while Facebook’s are up 121 percent.
(Also Dorsey plans to decamp to somewhere in Africa at some point this year, for an unspecified length of time. Lot going on with this man!)
It is not difficult, in short, to make a case against Jack Dorsey, and now someone has. The activist investor Elliott Management Corp. has taken a roughly 4 percent stake in Twitter and has now put forth four nominees to the company’s board, with the goal of replacing Dorsey as CEO.
In Axios, Dan Primack argues Elliott’s case:
- Dorsey only can devote part of his attention to Twitter, given that he also runs payments company Square (in which he has a larger financial interest). And this is only exacerbated by Dorsey’s plans to spend much of 2020 in Africa, to better understand the continent’s fintech revolution (i.e., something that is much more pertinent to Square than to Twitter). - Twitter under Dorsey has experienced consistent executive turnover and has repeatedly dropped the product innovation ball (particularly in mothballing Vine, which was TikTok before TikTok).
What is this Elliott Management Corp.? It’s a hedge fund led by the billionaire Paul Singer. Sheelah Kolhatkar profiled him in the New Yorker in 2018. Kolhatkar described Singer as ...
one of the most powerful, and most unyielding, investors in the world. Singer, who is seventy-three, with a trim white beard and oval spectacles, is deeply involved in everything Elliott does. The firm has many kinds of investments, but Singer is best known as an “activist” investor, using his fund’s resources—about thirty-five billion dollars—to buy stock in companies in which it detects weaknesses. Elliott then pressures the company to make changes to its business, with the goal of improving the stock price. Elliott’s executives say that most of their investment campaigns proceed without significant conflict, but a noticeable number seem to end up mired in drama. A signature Elliott tactic is the release of a letter harshly criticizing the target company’s C.E.O., which is often followed by the executive’s resignation or the sale of the company. One of Singer’s few unsuccessful campaigns, to block a merger within Samsung, eventually led to the impeachment and imprisonment of the South Korean President after Singer’s opponents became so desperate to fend off his attack that they allegedly began bribing government officials. From the outside, it can seem as if Elliott is causing the drama, but the firm argues that it simply identifies preëxisting problems and acts as a check on the system. Activist investing is controversial: critics believe that it can force companies to lay off workers and curtail investment in new products in favor of schemes that boost short-term profits, while proponents view it as a useful source of pressure on C.E.O.s to reduce waste and manage their companies more effectively. In the press, Singer and similar investors have been compared to vultures, wolves, and hyenas. Bloomberg has called Singer “aggressive, tenacious and litigious to a fault,” anointing him “The World’s Most Feared Investor.” Singer’s ventures have been consistently successful, with average annual returns of almost fourteen per cent, making him and his employees enormously wealthy. The mere news that Elliott has invested in a company often causes its stock price to go up—creating even more wealth for Elliott. Singer has been deploying his riches in Republican politics, where he is one of the G.O.P.’s top donors and a powerful influence on the Party and its President. According to those who know Singer, in politics, as in business, he is intent on doing whatever it takes to win.
To reiterate: the world’s most feared investor now has Jack Dorsey in his sights. What happens next?
In the short term, employees and allies have rallied around Dorsey. On Monday, internal pro-Dorsey discussions bubbled onto Twitter itself, where a few dozen employees tweeted with the hashtag #WeBackJack. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who recently appeared via FaceTime at Twitter’s annual employee conference, tweeted his support as well, posting that Dorsey has “a good [heart emoji].”
In the long term, Bloomberg’s Matt Levine speculates that the move might push more founders to seek dual-class voting stock to insulate them from activist investors like Singer. That’s what Mark Zuckerberg did at Facebook, and later Evan Spiegel did at Snap. Noting that Snap is in a far worse financial position than Twitter — and facing zero consequences from investors over it, because they have no real means of legal resource — Levine writes:
An Elliott-led ejection of a public-company CEO is not a pretty sight. (One CEO deposed by Elliott memorably commented that “when he began to research Elliott online, the experience was like ‘Googling this thing on your arm and it says, “You’re going to die.”’”) If you’re a public investor and you bought shares of Snap in its IPO, the experience might lead you to object to dual-class stock in future IPOs. But if you’re a tech founder and you watch Elliott wage an ugly proxy fight to get rid of Jack Dorsey for the venial sin of working half-days at his company, the experience might lead you to insist on dual-class stock in your own IPO. Twitter is a little bad, and its founder is in the crosshairs of big scary Elliott; Snap is worse, and its founders are fine because they had the foresight to prevent this. The whole point of dual-class stock is to protect tech founders from Elliott so that they can follow their bliss in a long-term visionary way!
But the most interesting question is the least answerable question, and that’s what happens in the medium term. Which is to say: can Dorsey survive this? The experience of previous CEOs whom Singer has put through the ringer suggests that the answer might well be no. The case against Twitter leadership over the past decade is thick and damning, and promising it will all get better in the future won’t play as well with a hedge fund as it has on the podcast circuit.
At the same time, it’s at least a little curious that Singer is making his move now, when Twitter has become consistently profitable, returned to user growth, and finally started to pick up the pace of product development. It’s still easy to make the case that Twitter can and should be much bigger and better than it is — it just feels a bit rude to make that case when the company finally, and to the surprise of many of those of us who have covered it for the past decade, begins to turn it around.
But business ain’t beanbag, and “good enough” clearly isn’t cutting it for Paul Singer. Unless something changes dramatically, it would appear that Jack Dorsey is in for the fight of his life.
Pushback
Yesterday in the newsletter I wrote “Today Facebook is arguably the entry point to technology for most people. In some parts of the world, it’s said that Facebook is the internet itself. And it’s operating at a much larger scale than Facebook ever did.” Thank you to my mother for writing to ask whether I meant that Facebook is operating at a larger scale than Microsoft ever did. In fact, I did. Thanks mom.
Also apologies to Drew Harwell and Erin Cox, whom we mistakenly identified as reporters for the New York Times. In fact they are distinguished reporters for the Washington Post.
The Verge Guide to the 2020 Election
Fourteen states are voting in the Super Tuesday primary. While you wait for the results to come in, I invite you to look at our package on what’s at stake for Silicon Valley in the months leading up to the general election and beyond. Start with this essay from our editor-in-chief, Nilay Patel, on why and how we’re covering the race. From there, you can look at four “living guides” to key issues facing the technology industry:
Our hope is that you find these guides useful in the coming months and will keep them bookmarked. On our end, we’ll update them whenever events warrant. Let us know what you think — and, if you have an idea for another guide, please send it my way.
The Ratio
Today in news that could affect public perception of the big tech platforms.
🔼 Trending up: Pinterest is limiting search results for the coronavirus outbreak to information from mainstream health organizations.
Outbreak
Big headlines:
A computational biologist is arguing that Washington state could be about to see an explosion in cases. (Helen Branswell / STAT News)
Bipartisan negotiators on Capitol Hill are closing in on a $7.5 billion emergency spending bill to fight the coronavirus. The legislation is likely to be announced Tuesday and pass the House later this week, before moving to the Senate. (Erica Werner / The Washington Post)
On the conference front:
On the travel front:
Elsewhere in the outbreak:
Airbnb planned to IPO in 2020. But those plans could be put on hold if the travel market continues to struggle with the spread of the coronavirus. (Olivia Carville / Bloomberg)
Fake cures and coronavirus conspiracy theories are flooding WhatsApp. The app is encrypted, making it difficult to stop viral messages since even Facebook can’t always see what they say. (Tony Romm / The Washington Post)
Governing
⭐ Congress is expected to introduce new legislation on Wednesday that would force tech companies to take aggressive steps to stop child sexual exploitation online, or risk losing their legal protections under Section 230. The Earn It Act is also widely seen as a way to stop tech companies from using encryption on their messaging platforms. This bill is awful. Tony Romm at The Washington Post reports:
The industry has grown especially apprehensive about lawmakers’ latest political salvo, fearing it is unworkable and could pave the way for the Justice Department and other law enforcement agents to burrow into their networks, devices and services to aid their investigations. Doing so could undermine end-to-end encryption, security technology that makes it so that only the sender and recipient of a message can see its contents. On Tuesday, Facebook aired early doubts about the bill before it had even been released. The fate of encryption is critical for the company, given that its messaging service, WhatsApp, is secured this way, and Facebook aims to deploy encryption further across its chat tools.
Venture capitalists and tech executives are voicing their support for moderate presidential candidates like Mike Bloomberg and Pete Buttigieg (before he dropped out). They’re increasingly worried about a Bernie Sanders win, although many of their employees are campaigning for him. (Nellie Bowles and Erin Griffith / The New York Times)
Mike Bloomberg is spending far more money on ads promoting gun control than on his ability to beat Trump in Texas. It’s a surprising move in a deep-red state — but also shows how candidates are sharing different messages with different voters on Facebook using microtargeting. (Jeremy B. Merrill / Quartz)
The US government has reached out to TikTok to talk about political misinformation. The Chinese-owned app has grown increasingly popular in the US, and has frequently been used for sharing political memes despite the company’s attempt to not becoming a platform for talking politics. (Alfred Ng / CNET)
Reddit has a reputation as a toxic rumor mill. But the site has become an unlikely home for passionate users who aim to call out disinformation as it spreads. (Steven Melendez / Fast Company)
Facebook removed networks of accounts engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior originating in India, Egypt, Russia, Iran, Myanmar and Vietnam. The news comes as part of the company’s first monthly report on coordinated inauthentic behavior.
The right-wing media ecosystem is distinct and insular from the rest of the mainstream press, says Harvard professor Yochai Benkler. This asymmetry will play a major role in 2020 — but the primary drivers are mass media, business, and domestic political actors, not Russians, Facebook, algorithms or bots. (Mathew Ingram / Galley by CJR)
TurboTax’s parent company Intuit just acquired Credit Karma for $7.1 billion. The deal raises serious antitrust concerns, according to legal experts, since Credit Karma was a TurboTax competitor. It’s Facebook buying Instagram all over again, but will regulators notice? (Eric Newcomer / Bloomberg)
Industry
⭐ Facebook said it would support existing government-backed currencies in addition to the Libra token when it releases its Calibra wallet later this year. That will include the US dollar and the euro. The move is being seen as a direct response to the intense regulatory pressure Facebook faced since announcing Libra last year. Here’s The Information’s Alex Heath:
The external Libra Association, which is made up of companies Facebook courted to help govern the project, intends to introduce a Libra token along with the collection of digital government-issued currencies, another person familiar with the plans said. Facebook is expected to emphasize the digital versions of existing government currencies in its own wallet. Facebook has pushed the planned release of its digital wallet, dubbed Calibra, to October of this year rather than June as previously planned, the three people said. The wallet’s release will coincide with the launch of the digital currencies. The initial rollout of the wallet, which Facebook hopes to have available in WhatsApp and Messenger, could be restricted to certain countries based on the local currencies that it ultimately supports. Facebook’s new strategy could meet less resistance from financial regulators, who fear the social network’s influence over the direction of Libra.
Drug companies are growing bolder about advertising on Facebook. The practice is exposing loopholes around the way data can be used to show consumers relevant ads about their personal health. (Nitasha Tiku / The Washington Post)
Facebook has built a fleet of robots to patrol its data centers. The high-tech initiative could boost the firm’s profits and help revolutionize the data center industry — and potentially prompt some job losses. (Rob Price / Business Insider)
A breast cancer advocate says she discovered a loophole in Facebook’s privacy settings that could put the health data of millions of people at risk. She’s filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, saying that Facebook had an obligation to protect membership lists for health groups and failed to disclose the alleged vulnerability to users. The loophole has since been closed. (Ryan Prior / CNN)
To make Messenger lighter and faster, Facebook rewrote the app from the ground up. The new version is 30MB, less than a quarter of its peak size. It’s also gone from 1.7 million lines of code to 360,000.
In a new study published in American Economic Review, deactivating Facebook was shown to free up 60 minutes of time for participants. It also had a small but significant impact on improving their overall well being. (Cal Newport)
WhatsApp is finally getting a new dark mode on iOS and Android today. After months of beta testing on both mobile operating systems, the WhatsApp dark mode will be available for all users. (Tom Warren / The Verge)
And finally...
Let’s go full-on prepper to close out the day.
Here, from Business Insider, is how to clean your smartphone of germs without damaging the screen.
And here, from The Verge, is how to make your own hand sanitizer.
Have a wonderful evening.
Talk to us


theverge--2020-03-04--Twitter for Android now supports multiple lists you can swipe between

Twitter is updating its Android app this week to support up to five lists as alternative timelines in the main home section of the app .
You can use these lists to quickly swipe between different groups of accounts that you ’ ve organized into a Twitter list .
It ’ s a far more convenient way to access lists which were previously buried inside the menu system .
This new lists support was added to Twitter for iOS six months ago , so it ’ s taken a surprising amount of time to arrive on Android .
Twitter lists @ @ @ @ @ @ @ want to follow on the service , or just as a way to curate a list of popular accounts for particular topics .
TweetDeck , the column-based interface for Twitter , has prioritized lists for years , and now both the mobile Twitter apps will display these lists as vertical timelines that are easy to access .
Twitter ’ s latest Android updates follow the addition of threaded replies on iOS , which improves how standard tweets and replies are differentiated in the app .
The updated app now draws a clear line @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Twitter is rolling out the new lists support in Android today , and you can grab the latest update over at the Google Play Store .

Twitter is updating its Android app this week to support up to five lists as alternative timelines in the main home section of the app. You can use these lists to quickly swipe between different groups of accounts that you’ve organized into a Twitter list. It’s a far more convenient way to access lists which were previously buried inside the menu system.
This new lists support was added to Twitter for iOS six months ago, so it’s taken a surprising amount of time to arrive on Android. Twitter lists are ideal for accounts you might not want to follow on the service, or just as a way to curate a list of popular accounts for particular topics. TweetDeck, the column-based interface for Twitter, has prioritized lists for years, and now both the mobile Twitter apps will display these lists as vertical timelines that are easy to access.
Twitter’s latest Android updates follow the addition of threaded replies on iOS, which improves how standard tweets and replies are differentiated in the app. The updated app now draws a clear line between a parent tweet and the replies.


theverge--2020-03-04--The Simpsons will stream on Disney Plus in the UK

One of the biggest mysteries surrounding Disney Plus ’ launch in the UK has been solved : The Simpsons will be available to stream .
A Sky representative told The Verge that “ The Simpsons will remain on Sky co-exclusive for new [ seasons ] and including the back catalogue.
” When asked if back seasons will be shared between Sky and Disney Plus , the representative confirmed that to be true .
A tweet from Disney confirms more than 600 episodes will be available to stream .
There are currently just over 670 episodes of The Simpsons right now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assume it ’ s nearly every episode if not every episode .
Much like other popular properties in Disney ’ s arsenal , streaming rights to The Simpsons were tied up in licensing hell .
Although Disney owns the full rights to stream The Simpsons in the United States , thanks to its acquisition of 21st Century Fox , those rights didn ’ t extend overseas .
“ The Simpsons will remain on Sky co-exclusive for new [ seasons ] and including the back catalogue ” Sky , the UK satellite provider , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Century Fox and Disney in 2018 .
Since Sky previously secured the rights to Fox content , including The Simpsons , those rights transferred to Comcast .
The sale gave Comcast an entry point into some of Europe ’ s biggest markets , including Britain , Ireland , Germany , Austria , and Italy .
Sky struck a multiyear deal with Disney today , however , bringing Disney Plus to Sky ’ s Q boxes .
Prior to Disney Plus , the Netflix app was also integrated into Sky Q set-top boxes .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ partnership with Disney over three decades and we ’ re pleased that our customers in the UK and Ireland can continue to enjoy their world-class content – all in one place on Sky Q , ” Jeremy Darroch , Sky CEO , said in a statement .
For a while , it seemed like The Simpsons wouldn ’ t be available on Disney Plus in the UK because of the rights issue .
Sky ’ s managing director of content , Zai Bennett , told BBC Radio 5 last week that “ for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year or so , our customers will not notice any difference at all to what they have got ” when it comes to The Simpsons .
The move suggests that Disney has engaged in hefty licensing agreements , similar to negotiations Disney entered into with various companies before Disney Plus launched in the United States .
In order to get Star Wars : The Force Awakens back before Disney Plus launched , the company worked with Starz on a deal advertising its competitor ’ s streaming service in a one-time promotion .
A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the lead-up to Disney Plus at an event in November that negotiations were ongoing to ensure that Disney Plus would have as many Marvel titles as possible at launch .
As a result , Disney went from previously announcing under 10 Marvel movies to having nearly all 23 on the service by launch .
The last remaining question is whether The Simpsons ’ aspect ratio will be fixed by March 24th .
Disney still hasn ’ t resolved the issue in the United States .

One of the biggest mysteries surrounding Disney Plus’ launch in the UK has been solved: The Simpsons will be available to stream.
A Sky representative told The Verge that “The Simpsons will remain on Sky co-exclusive for new [seasons] and including the back catalogue.” When asked if back seasons will be shared between Sky and Disney Plus, the representative confirmed that to be true. A tweet from Disney confirms more than 600 episodes will be available to stream. There are currently just over 670 episodes of The Simpsons right now, so it’s safe to assume it’s nearly every episode if not every episode.
Much like other popular properties in Disney’s arsenal, streaming rights to The Simpsons were tied up in licensing hell. Although Disney owns the full rights to stream The Simpsons in the United States, thanks to its acquisition of 21st Century Fox, those rights didn’t extend overseas.
“The Simpsons will remain on Sky co-exclusive for new [seasons] and including the back catalogue”
Sky, the UK satellite provider, was sold off to Comcast by 21st Century Fox and Disney in 2018. Since Sky previously secured the rights to Fox content, including The Simpsons, those rights transferred to Comcast. The sale gave Comcast an entry point into some of Europe’s biggest markets, including Britain, Ireland, Germany, Austria, and Italy. Sky struck a multiyear deal with Disney today, however, bringing Disney Plus to Sky’s Q boxes. Prior to Disney Plus, the Netflix app was also integrated into Sky Q set-top boxes.
“We’ve built a strong partnership with Disney over three decades and we’re pleased that our customers in the UK and Ireland can continue to enjoy their world-class content – all in one place on Sky Q,” Jeremy Darroch, Sky CEO, said in a statement.
For a while, it seemed like The Simpsons wouldn’t be available on Disney Plus in the UK because of the rights issue. Sky’s managing director of content, Zai Bennett, told BBC Radio 5 last week that “for the immediate term, for the next year or so, our customers will not notice any difference at all to what they have got” when it comes to The Simpsons.
The move suggests that Disney has engaged in hefty licensing agreements, similar to negotiations Disney entered into with various companies before Disney Plus launched in the United States. In order to get Star Wars: The Force Awakens back before Disney Plus launched, the company worked with Starz on a deal advertising its competitor’s streaming service in a one-time promotion.
A Disney executive also told The Verge in the lead-up to Disney Plus at an event in November that negotiations were ongoing to ensure that Disney Plus would have as many Marvel titles as possible at launch. As a result, Disney went from previously announcing under 10 Marvel movies to having nearly all 23 on the service by launch.
The last remaining question is whether The Simpsons’ aspect ratio will be fixed by March 24th. Disney still hasn’t resolved the issue in the United States.


theverge--2020-03-04--Castlevania: Symphony of the Night gets surprise mobile release

“ What is an app ?
A miserable little pile of secrets !
” At least , that may well apply to this particular app — Konami just released a mobile version of genre-defining side-scrolling action-RPG classic Castlevania : Symphony of the Night seemingly without announcement or warning .
The game is available on both iOS and Android and costs $ 2.99 without any in-app purchases .
It appears to be based on the PSP and PS4 versions of the game rather than the PlayStation original .
There ’ s support for external controllers , achievements , and a “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ played in six languages : English , Japanese , German , French , Italian , and Spanish .
Symphony of the Night was the first Castlevania game from writer/director/producer Koji “ Iga ” Igarashi , and it switched the series ’ focus from all-out action to Metroid-influenced exploration and adventure .
The game was incredibly influential , spawning not only several subsequent “ Igavanias ” in the series but countless more “ Metroidvanias , ” often from indie developers .
Igarashi himself returned to the idea last year with the excellent throwback Bloodstained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mobile version ’ s surprise release may have been timed to the launch of the latest season of Netflix ’ s reasonably well-received anime adaptation of the series , which is landing on March 5th .
A touchscreen won ’ t be the best way to experience Symphony of the Night ’ s action , but $ 2.99 is a pretty good deal .

“What is an app? A miserable little pile of secrets!” At least, that may well apply to this particular app — Konami just released a mobile version of genre-defining side-scrolling action-RPG classic Castlevania: Symphony of the Night seemingly without announcement or warning.
The game is available on both iOS and Android and costs $2.99 without any in-app purchases. It appears to be based on the PSP and PS4 versions of the game rather than the PlayStation original. There’s support for external controllers, achievements, and a “new continue feature.” It can be played in six languages: English, Japanese, German, French, Italian, and Spanish.
Symphony of the Night was the first Castlevania game from writer/director/producer Koji “Iga” Igarashi, and it switched the series’ focus from all-out action to Metroid-influenced exploration and adventure. The game was incredibly influential, spawning not only several subsequent “Igavanias” in the series but countless more “Metroidvanias,” often from indie developers. Igarashi himself returned to the idea last year with the excellent throwback Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.


theverge--2020-03-04--Samsung now makes ultra-curved monitors for offices as well as gamers

Samsung ’ s big monitor push at CES this year was all about curvature .
The 1000R measurement of its Odyssey G9 and G7 gaming monitors is intended to more accurately match the human eye ’ s field of view .
I tried out the colossal 49-inch G9 and it did indeed feel like the screen was wrapped around me , even though for some reason Samsung decided to demo it with the 16:9-only Overwatch .
But these panels don ’ t only have to be good for gaming — I could see them making a big difference to productivity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Odyssey models look like they were assembled with repurposed components from a starship hyperdrive .
Could you get away with this in your office ?
That ’ s probably why Samsung is now expanding its 1000R range to include more austere designs .
As noted by SamMobile , the T55 range comes in 24 , 27 , and 32-inch sizes , all with FreeSync-compatible 75Hz 1080p VA displays .
They also have a fabric texture on the back panel , thin bezels , and a slim metal base .
Unfortunately , that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ good on your desk , they ’ re not going to offer anything near the resolution or real estate of the Odyssey models .
Samsung says the 1000R curvature still helps reduce eye strain , which is obviously a consideration for office workers , but the difference isn ’ t going to be as dramatic on smaller 16:9 panels .
Still , this is a sign that Samsung is serious about this whole 1000R thing , and maybe we ’ ll see some more tasteful ultrawide models split the difference at some point @ @ @ @ @ @ @ T55 range hasn ’ t yet been announced .

Samsung’s big monitor push at CES this year was all about curvature. The 1000R measurement of its Odyssey G9 and G7 gaming monitors is intended to more accurately match the human eye’s field of view. I tried out the colossal 49-inch G9 and it did indeed feel like the screen was wrapped around me, even though for some reason Samsung decided to demo it with the 16:9-only Overwatch.
But these panels don’t only have to be good for gaming — I could see them making a big difference to productivity, too. The problem is that the Odyssey models look like they were assembled with repurposed components from a starship hyperdrive.
Could you get away with this in your office?
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Maybe not.
That’s probably why Samsung is now expanding its 1000R range to include more austere designs. As noted by SamMobile, the T55 range comes in 24, 27, and 32-inch sizes, all with FreeSync-compatible 75Hz 1080p VA displays. They also have a fabric texture on the back panel, thin bezels, and a slim metal base.
Unfortunately, that means that while these monitors might look good on your desk, they’re not going to offer anything near the resolution or real estate of the Odyssey models. Samsung says the 1000R curvature still helps reduce eye strain, which is obviously a consideration for office workers, but the difference isn’t going to be as dramatic on smaller 16:9 panels.


theverge--2020-03-03--Amazon confirms Seattle employee is in quarantine with coronavirus

An Amazon employee in Seattle has tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus , as first reported by The New York Times .
“ We ’ re supporting the affected employee who is in quarantine , ” the company tells The Verge in a statement .
The employee is based out of the company ’ s “ Brazil ” ( SEA53 ) building , according to an internal memo sent out to Amazon employees and obtained by The Verge .
They went home feeling unwell on Tuesday , February 25th and haven ’ t returned to Amazon premises since .
Amazon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ close contact with the person .
Two employees in Italy also tested positive Earlier this week Amazon confirmed that two of its employees in Italy had contracted the virus and were in quarantine .
The company had already requested that its nearly 800,000 employees halt non-essential travel within the US and elsewhere .
Amazon has also had to deal with price gouging and misinformation on its marketplace in the wake of the virus outbreak .
Nine people have died in Washington state from the novel coronavirus — and it ’ s the only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ occurred .
There ’ s an ongoing outbreak of the virus in nearby Kirkland , Washington , where it spread among residents of a nursing facility .
The virus may have been spreading undetected in Washington for six weeks , according to a genetic analysis .
The spread wasn ’ t noticed until last week because the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hadn ’ t been testing people with no known exposure to the illness .

An Amazon employee in Seattle has tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus, as first reported by The New York Times. “We’re supporting the affected employee who is in quarantine,” the company tells The Verge in a statement.
The employee is based out of the company’s “Brazil” (SEA53) building, according to an internal memo sent out to Amazon employees and obtained by The Verge. They went home feeling unwell on Tuesday, February 25th and haven’t returned to Amazon premises since. Amazon has notified employees who have been in close contact with the person.
Two employees in Italy also tested positive
Earlier this week Amazon confirmed that two of its employees in Italy had contracted the virus and were in quarantine. The company had already requested that its nearly 800,000 employees halt non-essential travel within the US and elsewhere. Amazon has also had to deal with price gouging and misinformation on its marketplace in the wake of the virus outbreak.
Nine people have died in Washington state from the novel coronavirus — and it’s the only place in the U.S. where deaths have occurred. There’s an ongoing outbreak of the virus in nearby Kirkland, Washington, where it spread among residents of a nursing facility.


theverge--2020-03-03--WeChat has been censoring keywords about coronavirus, study finds

China ’ s most popular messaging app , Tencent-owned WeChat , has been censoring keywords about coronavirus since as early as January 1st , an analysis found .
Popular Chinese livestreaming platform YY has been censoring coronavirus content , too .
To make this determination , the research group Citizen Lab scripted group chat conversations and sent them to three test WeChat accounts , two in Canada and one in China .
The chat conversations consisted of article headlines and text .
The group , which is affiliated with the University of Toronto , sent them from one of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and observed which messages the Chinese account got .
132 keyword combinations were censored in January , but that number rose to 516 keywords by the second week of February .
On WeChat , 384 new censored keywords were added in two weeks in February On YY , which is similar to Twitch or Mixer , 45 keywords were added to a blacklist on December 31st , 2019 ; five of those keywords were removed on February 10th , Citizen Lab found .
YY ’ s blacklist is in the app itself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ uses a remote server for censorship .
Public health officials from China first informed the World Health Organization about the virus at the end of December .
The censorship has been going on since at least January 1st , and continued through the most intense part of the outbreak .
WeChat has a monthly active user base of over one billion people — which means that a lot of users may have missed important information about the coronavirus , as well as how to prevent its spread .
Censored keywords included factual information @ @ @ @ @ @ @ government ’ s epidemic policies , and the name of Li Wenliang , a doctor who was among the earliest to warn the population about the disease .
Li caught the disease while treating coronavirus patients and died on February 7th .
His story created public outcry against the government ’ s handling of the coronavirus .
It ’ s not clear why the two companies decided to censor coronavirus keywords It ’ s not clear why the two companies decided to censor keywords about coronavirus , though it ’ s possible they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chinese government .
WeChat has close ties with the Chinese government , and the government has already used WeChat and Twitter to track down people Chinese officials felt were sharing negative information about the coronavirus outbreak .
The censorship is particularly pernicious because the WeChat is a crucial part of many Chinese people ’ s lives , David Jacobson , a professor of global business strategy at SMU ’ s Cox School of Business and a visiting professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing , told BuzzFeed News .
“ As a platform , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Jacobson said in an interview with BuzzFeed News .
“ You can pay for things .
You can do so much more .
”

China’s most popular messaging app, Tencent-owned WeChat, has been censoring keywords about coronavirus since as early as January 1st, an analysis found. Popular Chinese livestreaming platform YY has been censoring coronavirus content, too.
To make this determination, the research group Citizen Lab scripted group chat conversations and sent them to three test WeChat accounts, two in Canada and one in China. The chat conversations consisted of article headlines and text. The group, which is affiliated with the University of Toronto, sent them from one of the Canadian WeChat accounts to the Chinese one, and observed which messages the Chinese account got. 132 keyword combinations were censored in January, but that number rose to 516 keywords by the second week of February.
On WeChat, 384 new censored keywords were added in two weeks in February
On YY, which is similar to Twitch or Mixer, 45 keywords were added to a blacklist on December 31st, 2019; five of those keywords were removed on February 10th, Citizen Lab found. YY’s blacklist is in the app itself, unlike WeChat’s, which uses a remote server for censorship.
Public health officials from China first informed the World Health Organization about the virus at the end of December. The censorship has been going on since at least January 1st, and continued through the most intense part of the outbreak. WeChat has a monthly active user base of over one billion people — which means that a lot of users may have missed important information about the coronavirus, as well as how to prevent its spread.
Censored keywords included factual information on the disease, references to the government’s epidemic policies, and the name of Li Wenliang, a doctor who was among the earliest to warn the population about the disease. Li caught the disease while treating coronavirus patients and died on February 7th. His story created public outcry against the government’s handling of the coronavirus.
It’s not clear why the two companies decided to censor coronavirus keywords
It’s not clear why the two companies decided to censor keywords about coronavirus, though it’s possible they were ordered to do so by the Chinese government. WeChat has close ties with the Chinese government, and the government has already used WeChat and Twitter to track down people Chinese officials felt were sharing negative information about the coronavirus outbreak.


theverge--2020-03-04--IBM stops all domestic travel for internal meetings due to coronavirus

IBM announced Wednesday that it ’ s halting all domestic travel for internal meetings and cutting down on international travel because of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak .
The company is also banning employee participation in external events with more than 1,000 attendees .
IBM says those restrictions apply through the end of March .
IBM is also changing its IBM Think 2020 developer conference into a “ digital-first ” event , though the conference will still place from May 5th to May 7th .
Domestic travel for work with clients is still allowed , but the company is encouraging employees @ @ @ @ @ @ @ IBM ’ s restrictions are similar to those announced by other tech companies Canceling conferences , or making them virtual , prevents crowds where the virus can spread — and limiting in-person contact is aimed at the same thing .
Preventing employees from attending large group events is a form of “ social distancing , ” which may prevent people from coming into contact with others who are sick .
IBM ’ s restrictions announced today are similar to others announced by tech companies due to coronavirus fears .
Google , for example @ @ @ @ @ @ @ limited employee travel .
Facebook has restricted social visits to company offices .
Twitter is “ strongly encouraging ” its employees to work from home .
If an IBM employee travels to a “ restricted ” location , which is presumably one of the countries with larger outbreaks such as China , Italy , or Iran , the company is requiring the employee to self-quarantine for 14 days after their trip is completed .
COVID-19 , the disease caused by the novel coronavirus , has infected more than 95,000 people globally and killed @ @ @ @ @

IBM announced Wednesday that it’s halting all domestic travel for internal meetings and cutting down on international travel because of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The company is also banning employee participation in external events with more than 1,000 attendees. IBM says those restrictions apply through the end of March.
IBM is also changing its IBM Think 2020 developer conference into a “digital-first” event, though the conference will still place from May 5th to May 7th. Domestic travel for work with clients is still allowed, but the company is encouraging employees to hold meetings virtually when possible.
IBM’s restrictions are similar to those announced by other tech companies
Canceling conferences, or making them virtual, prevents crowds where the virus can spread — and limiting in-person contact is aimed at the same thing. Preventing employees from attending large group events is a form of “social distancing,” which may prevent people from coming into contact with others who are sick.
If an IBM employee travels to a “restricted” location, which is presumably one of the countries with larger outbreaks such as China, Italy, or Iran, the company is requiring the employee to self-quarantine for 14 days after their trip is completed.


theverge--2020-03-04--Quibi has raised close to $2 billion, and it hasn’t even launched yet

Video streaming service Quibi , which will debut next month , has raised another $ 750 million in funding , according to the Wall Street Journal .
That brings the total investment in an app hardly anyone ’ s seen to $ 1.75 billion .
The company didn ’ t name the recent investors .
And $ 400 million of that $ 750 million was raised at the end of 2019 , the Journal reports .
It ’ s a sign that investors are feeling confident about Quibi ’ s chances of succeeding in a quickly-growing space — and that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jeffrey Katzenberg .
As Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch told The Hollywood Reporter in October 2019 , “ If anyone can make it work , it ’ s Jeffrey.
” If Disney wants to sell you Star Wars , Quibi wants to sell subscribers the idea of high quality , premium series and films split into chunks no longer than 10 minutes in length .
Content that can be consumed waiting in line for coffee , or on a subway .
But though founder Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman have touted a number @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the app yet .
People who have seen shows have seen them pre-loaded on a device , meaning they haven ’ t had a chance to play with the app .
The company is gambling on its signature Turnstyle tech , which changes the point-of-view when a phone switches from landscape to portrait mode .
“ If anyone can make it work , it ’ s Jeffrey ” Barry Diller , who was once Katzenberg ’ s boss at Paramount , co-founded the Fox Broadcasting Company , and is currently chairman of IAC @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is “ a giant and gutsy speculation.
” Diller added that “ most people when they hear it aren ’ t overwhelmed by the idea , which makes it all the gutsier.
” Still , Diller noted that Katzenberg is going all in on the idea , and that ’ s where much of the hype comes from : Katzenberg helped turn Disney animation around in the late ‘ 80s and early ‘ 90s under then CEO Michael Eisner .
His reputation precedes him .
“ This is hope , his great hope @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s library ] there is going to be a giant hit , ” Diller said .
“ That in there is going to be something that makes people say , ‘ Oh , my God , I ’ ve got to see it.
’ ” Quibi won ’ t compete with the Netflixes and Disney Plus ’ of the world , though .
Katzenberg sees it as competing with apps that take up time on your phone for free — Instagram , YouTube and , increasingly , TikTok .
That ’ s where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s where he ’ s trying to convince investors that a $ 4.99 streaming service with ads ( $ 7.99 without ads ) can not only survive , but thrive when it launches on April 6th .
“ We ’ re competing against free , ” Katzenberg told The Verge in January .
“ We have to offer something that is meaningfully , measurably , quantifiably , creatively different .
”

Video streaming service Quibi, which will debut next month, has raised another $750 million in funding, according to the Wall Street Journal. That brings the total investment in an app hardly anyone’s seen to $1.75 billion.
The company didn’t name the recent investors. And $400 million of that $750 million was raised at the end of 2019, the Journal reports. It’s a sign that investors are feeling confident about Quibi’s chances of succeeding in a quickly-growing space — and that confidence may have to do with founder Jeffrey Katzenberg. As Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch told The Hollywood Reporter in October 2019, “If anyone can make it work, it’s Jeffrey.”
(Disclosure: Vox Media, which owns The Verge, has a deal with Quibi to produce a Polygon Daily Essential, and there have been early talks about a Verge show.)
If Disney wants to sell you Star Wars, Quibi wants to sell subscribers the idea of high quality, premium series and films split into chunks no longer than 10 minutes in length. Content that can be consumed waiting in line for coffee, or on a subway. But though founder Katzenberg and CEO Meg Whitman have touted a number of shows, no one has seen the app yet. People who have seen shows have seen them pre-loaded on a device, meaning they haven’t had a chance to play with the app. The company is gambling on its signature Turnstyle tech, which changes the point-of-view when a phone switches from landscape to portrait mode.
“If anyone can make it work, it’s Jeffrey”
Barry Diller, who was once Katzenberg’s boss at Paramount, co-founded the Fox Broadcasting Company, and is currently chairman of IAC, told NBC News today that Quibi is “a giant and gutsy speculation.” Diller added that “most people when they hear it aren’t overwhelmed by the idea, which makes it all the gutsier.” Still, Diller noted that Katzenberg is going all in on the idea, and that’s where much of the hype comes from: Katzenberg helped turn Disney animation around in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s under then CEO Michael Eisner. His reputation precedes him.
“This is hope, his great hope: that somewhere in [Quibi’s library] there is going to be a giant hit,” Diller said. “That in there is going to be something that makes people say, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve got to see it.’”
Quibi won’t compete with the Netflixes and Disney Plus’ of the world, though. Katzenberg sees it as competing with apps that take up time on your phone for free — Instagram, YouTube and, increasingly, TikTok. That’s where Katzenberg is trying to play, and it’s where he’s trying to convince investors that a $4.99 streaming service with ads ($7.99 without ads) can not only survive, but thrive when it launches on April 6th.


theverge--2020-03-04--Etsy has started cracking down on coronavirus merchandise

Etsy is escalating its response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak by removing merchandise on the platform that mention the virus or COVID-19 , the respiratory illness it causes in human beings , according to a new report from BuzzFeed News .
Hundreds of listings have already been removed under the new policy .
The decision is aimed , it seems , mostly at combating misinformation , as countless items listed on Etsy have been falsely claiming to protect against the virus , the company says .
As a result , however , BuzzFeed News notes that a fair amount of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ read “ Straight Outta Wuhan ” and even science-related and educational products like coronavirus-shaped crochet art are also being flagged for removal .
Etsy is targeting items claiming to protect against the virus or exploit it for financial gain Etsy says this is because it ’ s also including items that may be exploiting the outbreak for financial gain as part of its ban .
It is unclear how Etsy is determining whether something is purely education or violating its new policy , or whether a human moderation team is reviewing individual listings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ respond to a request for comment .
“ In order to keep our marketplace safe , our team is prioritizing taking down any listings that claim to protect against coronavirus , ” an Etsy spokesperson tells BuzzFeed News .
“ In the past few days alone , we have removed thousands of items that make such medical claims .
We have also taken down hundreds of items that attempt to exploit the developing coronavirus situation .
Our teams continue to automatically and manually review and remove items that violate our policies.
” In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the items aren ’ t being removed but are no longer showing up when you search for “ coronavirus ” on Etsy .
So far , the coronavirus has infected nearly 100,000 people worldwide from nearly 80 countries , and it has a global mortality rate of 3.4 percent , the World Health Organization announced on Tuesday .
After initially showing up in the Seattle area of Washington state in the US , the outbreak has since spread to California , New York , and other states , claiming 11 lives so @ @

Etsy is escalating its response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak by removing merchandise on the platform that mention the virus or COVID-19, the respiratory illness it causes in human beings, according to a new report from BuzzFeed News. Hundreds of listings have already been removed under the new policy.
The decision is aimed, it seems, mostly at combating misinformation, as countless items listed on Etsy have been falsely claiming to protect against the virus, the company says. As a result, however, BuzzFeed News notes that a fair amount of innocuous and parody merchandise like t-shirts that read “Straight Outta Wuhan” and even science-related and educational products like coronavirus-shaped crochet art are also being flagged for removal.
Etsy is targeting items claiming to protect against the virus or exploit it for financial gain
Etsy says this is because it’s also including items that may be exploiting the outbreak for financial gain as part of its ban. It is unclear how Etsy is determining whether something is purely education or violating its new policy, or whether a human moderation team is reviewing individual listings for compliance. We’ve asked the company for further details about its process in this regard.
“In order to keep our marketplace safe, our team is prioritizing taking down any listings that claim to protect against coronavirus,” the company said in a statement given to The Verge. “In the past few days alone, we have removed thousands of items that make such medical claims. We have also taken down hundreds of items that attempt to exploit the developing coronavirus situation. Our teams continue to automatically and manually review and remove items that violate our policies.”
In some cases, as BuzzFeed News notes, the items aren’t being removed but are no longer showing up when you search for “coronavirus” on Etsy. So far, the coronavirus has infected nearly 100,000 people worldwide from nearly 80 countries, and it has a global mortality rate of 3.4 percent, the World Health Organization announced on Tuesday. After initially showing up in the Seattle area of Washington state in the US, the outbreak has since spread to California, New York, and other states, claiming 11 lives so far.


theverge--2020-03-04--Valve explains one of Half-Life: Alyx’s first levels in this video tour

You can now check out perhaps our best look yet at the VR-only Half-Life : Alyx , the next game in Valve ’ s seminal franchise , thanks to a new video with 13 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay posted by IGN .
The video takes the main character Alyx through one of the game ’ s earlier levels , which was first shown off in a shorter clip on Monday , while Valve ’ s Robin Walker and Corey Peters and IGN ’ s Tom Marks discuss what ’ s going on .
Valve says it considers the level in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to combat.
” It teaches players how to do things like reload their gun , pick up items , and how to fight classic Half-Life enemies like zombies , ceiling-mounted barnacles , and the series ’ iconic headcrabs .
The game has to teach the player in a very methodical manner because of the new ways to think about movement and combat when playing in VR .
The level is designed with slower enemies to help you learn the game ’ s mechanics The Valve employees discuss how this level is primarily designed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chance to learn the game ’ s mechanics without being too at risk of failing .
In one of the player ’ s first encounters with a zombie , for example , a zombie is spotted from a good distance away , and it slowly ambles straight toward the player while they ’ re both in a narrow train car .
The situation forces players to learn how to take the enemy down , but there ’ s plenty of time to do so , and it ’ s a pretty straight shot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ another zombie is reaching through a window , teaching players that enemies may act as distractions — but even if it seems like a threat , it looks as if the zombie can ’ t actually reach the character .
It ’ s a cool video , and I recommend you watch it from beginning to end .
Walker and Peters provide interesting commentary , and seeing 13 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay really helped me get a grasp on what it might actually feel like to play Half-Life : Alyx when it releases @ @ @ @

You can now check out perhaps our best look yet at the VR-only Half-Life: Alyx, the next game in Valve’s seminal franchise, thanks to a new video with 13 minutes of uninterrupted gameplay posted by IGN. The video takes the main character Alyx through one of the game’s earlier levels, which was first shown off in a shorter clip on Monday, while Valve’s Robin Walker and Corey Peters and IGN’s Tom Marks discuss what’s going on.
Valve says it considers the level in the video to be the “intro to combat.” It teaches players how to do things like reload their gun, pick up items, and how to fight classic Half-Life enemies like zombies, ceiling-mounted barnacles, and the series’ iconic headcrabs. The game has to teach the player in a very methodical manner because of the new ways to think about movement and combat when playing in VR.
The level is designed with slower enemies to help you learn the game’s mechanics
The Valve employees discuss how this level is primarily designed with slower enemies to give players the chance to learn the game’s mechanics without being too at risk of failing. In one of the player’s first encounters with a zombie, for example, a zombie is spotted from a good distance away, and it slowly ambles straight toward the player while they’re both in a narrow train car.
The situation forces players to learn how to take the enemy down, but there’s plenty of time to do so, and it’s a pretty straight shot. And off to the side, another zombie is reaching through a window, teaching players that enemies may act as distractions — but even if it seems like a threat, it looks as if the zombie can’t actually reach the character.


theverge--2020-03-04--Apple is experiencing a shortage of replacement iPhones due to coronavirus

Apple has informed its tech support retail employees that stock of replacement iPhones will be strained for the next few weeks , according to Apple Store employees who spoke with Bloomberg .
This shortage marks one of the first instances of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and its many ripple effects on industries worldwide , affecting the iPhone maker ’ s existing product supply .
Bloomberg notes that the company ’ s iPhone 11 and iPad Pro lines are beginning to see shortages as well .
The company shared in a recent investor call that it does not expect to meet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of 2020 , and Apple CEO Tim Cook has also said worldwide iPhone supply would be “ temporarily constrained.
” But it wasn ’ t clear at the time that the effects of the coronavirus would hit existing products like replacement iPhones , too .
Some Apple Store locations are short on individual parts , too If your iPhone is heavily damaged — to the point of needing to be replaced — there will reportedly be a limited supply of replacement devices to swap it out for over the course of the next @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also notes that some Apple Store locations are short on individual parts , meaning that in those cases , minor repairs that are normally handled in-store may not be possible due to shortages .
This doesn ’ t mean you ’ re without any options if your iPhone isn ’ t working .
Bloomberg says a memo from Apple told employees that stores are authorized to mail replacement iPhones to customers whenever they become available , or loan out iPhones until a replacement arrives .
Bloomberg notes that Apple has reopened most of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ due to the COVID-19 virus .
That could be a sign that other parts of Apple ’ s business may soon function normally .
Also , that Apple expects the shortage to last for up to four weeks could mean it ’ s already ramping up the restocking of replacement phones in the meantime .

Apple has informed its tech support retail employees that stock of replacement iPhones will be strained for the next few weeks, according to Apple Store employees who spoke with Bloomberg. This shortage marks one of the first instances of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and its many ripple effects on industries worldwide, affecting the iPhone maker’s existing product supply. Bloomberg notes that the company’s iPhone 11 and iPad Pro lines are beginning to see shortages as well.
The company shared in a recent investor call that it does not expect to meet revenue goals for the second fiscal quarter of 2020, and Apple CEO Tim Cook has also said worldwide iPhone supply would be “temporarily constrained.” But it wasn’t clear at the time that the effects of the coronavirus would hit existing products like replacement iPhones, too.
Some Apple Store locations are short on individual parts, too
If your iPhone is heavily damaged — to the point of needing to be replaced — there will reportedly be a limited supply of replacement devices to swap it out for over the course of the next two to four weeks. The report also notes that some Apple Store locations are short on individual parts, meaning that in those cases, minor repairs that are normally handled in-store may not be possible due to shortages.
This doesn’t mean you’re without any options if your iPhone isn’t working. Bloomberg says a memo from Apple told employees that stores are authorized to mail replacement iPhones to customers whenever they become available, or loan out iPhones until a replacement arrives.


theverge--2020-03-04--Boosted lays off ‘significant portion’ of its employees

Boosted , the company that basically created the market for electric skateboards , has laid off a “ significant portion ” of its roughly 130-person team amid a serious cash crunch .
Boosted ’ s CEO Jeff Russakow and CTO John Ulmen said in a blog post on the company ’ s website that the “ Boosted brand will continue to pursue strategic options under new ownership.
” It ’ s unclear exactly how many were laid off , but two people with knowledge of the layoffs tell The Verge that an overwhelming majority of Boosted ’ s employees were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A few customer service and operations team members are being kept on to help wind down the business , these people say .
“ We understand this news will come as a surprise to many of you , but unfortunately , developing , manufacturing , and maintaining electric vehicles is highly capital-intensive , and over the last year-and-a-half our business has faced an additional unplanned challenge with the high expense of the US-China tariff war , ” Russakow and Ulmen wrote .
Boosted raised nearly $ 80 million in 2018 , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year later Boosted has struggled financially since attempting to add a rugged electric scooter called the Rev to its lineup last year , as The Verge first reported in February .
Russakow said at the time that Boosted was in the “ fund-raising process ” and was “ far along in advanced talks with a new investor and current investors to finalize our next round , ” and that the company “ has not had any layoffs , and no layoffs are planned or pending.
” What happened to those talks are unclear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about the company ’ s customer service have been piling up in recent weeks , as people have been asking the company on places like Twitter and Reddit about delayed shipments , unanswered requests , and problems with skateboards ( including problems with getting repaired skateboards returned ) .
Boosted was founded in 2012 out of a Stanford startup incubator , and quickly launched a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign .
The company started shipping boards in 2014 , and has released multiple new versions in the years since .
Boosted raised close to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2018 .
But the expense of developing and launching the Rev , as well as the company ’ s growth into other countries , apparently drained some of those financial resources .
The company ’ s financial position also took a big hit after Trump started a trade war with China .
Boosted has had its boards manufactured in China since 2016 , and so they got slammed by the 25 percent tariffs imposed by the president .
Boosted actually applied for and was granted exclusions from the tariffs in late 2019 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reimbursed , as The Verge reported last month , meaning the company is likely still out millions of dollars .
As the company sought new funding , it also lost a number of top employees , including three vice presidents and the company ’ s chief marketing officer within the span of two months .
The company was also falling behind on payments to suppliers and vendors .
Boosted ’ s not the only one in the broader “ micromobility ” space to have struggled to survive .
Fellow electric skateboard startup Inboard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ last year .
Los Angeles-based e-bike startup Wheels laid off a bunch of employees just last week despite taking in $ 100 million in funding .

Boosted, the company that basically created the market for electric skateboards, has laid off a “significant portion” of its roughly 130-person team amid a serious cash crunch. Boosted’s CEO Jeff Russakow and CTO John Ulmen said in a blog post on the company’s website that the “Boosted brand will continue to pursue strategic options under new ownership.”
It’s unclear exactly how many were laid off, but two people with knowledge of the layoffs tell The Verge that an overwhelming majority of Boosted’s employees were let go with one week of severance. A few customer service and operations team members are being kept on to help wind down the business, these people say.
“We understand this news will come as a surprise to many of you, but unfortunately, developing, manufacturing, and maintaining electric vehicles is highly capital-intensive, and over the last year-and-a-half our business has faced an additional unplanned challenge with the high expense of the US-China tariff war,” Russakow and Ulmen wrote.
Boosted raised nearly $80 million in 2018, but was left searching for more funding one year later
Boosted has struggled financially since attempting to add a rugged electric scooter called the Rev to its lineup last year, as The Verge first reported in February. Russakow said at the time that Boosted was in the “fund-raising process” and was “far along in advanced talks with a new investor and current investors to finalize our next round,” and that the company “has not had any layoffs, and no layoffs are planned or pending.” What happened to those talks are unclear.
What is clear is that complaints about the company’s customer service have been piling up in recent weeks, as people have been asking the company on places like Twitter and Reddit about delayed shipments, unanswered requests, and problems with skateboards (including problems with getting repaired skateboards returned).
Boosted was founded in 2012 out of a Stanford startup incubator, and quickly launched a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign. The company started shipping boards in 2014, and has released multiple new versions in the years since.
Boosted raised close to $80 million at the end of 2018. But the expense of developing and launching the Rev, as well as the company’s growth into other countries, apparently drained some of those financial resources.
The company’s financial position also took a big hit after Trump started a trade war with China. Boosted has had its boards manufactured in China since 2016, and so they got slammed by the 25 percent tariffs imposed by the president. Boosted actually applied for and was granted exclusions from the tariffs in late 2019, but the company has not yet been reimbursed, as The Verge reported last month, meaning the company is likely still out millions of dollars.
As the company sought new funding, it also lost a number of top employees, including three vice presidents and the company’s chief marketing officer within the span of two months. The company was also falling behind on payments to suppliers and vendors.


theverge--2020-03-04--Logitech G says this app will improve gaming audio if you take a picture of your ear

Logitech G is launching support for a new app that lets you customize your gaming audio for better immersion .
The app is supposed to let you hear game sounds like large-scale battles , nearby footsteps , or racing sounds on a race track more clearly .
The new app is called Immerse and was made by Embody , a spatial audio company , in partnership with Logitech G. Embody says on its website that Immerse was designed to let PC gamers “ hear game audio as you hear sounds in the real world , ” and make sounds appear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you .
An app that lets you “ hear game audio as you hear sounds in the real world ” The Immerse app uses AI to create a personalized sound profile for each user .
When you sign up for the app , Immerse requires you to scan a QR code and then take a picture of your right ear using your smartphone .
Immerse ’ s AI then uses algorithms to analyze all of the parts of your ear to predict how your ears receive sound .
The Immerse app is a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at $ 3 per month in addition to a free trial period that lasts two weeks .
I played a little bit of the Resident Evil 2 remake using my Logitech G433 headset with the app ’ s “ Close Combat ” mode enabled ; this allowed me to hear more precisely where enemies were and take in the groans of the undead .
Then I tested out Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition with an expanded sound field , allowing me to hear smaller sounds from a farther distance , such as enemies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supports more than a dozen Logitech G headsets , including the G Pro X and Pro gaming headsets as well as the Logitech G533 , which we noted was a “ PC gamer ’ s dream headset ” during our CES 2017 coverage .
In addition to Logitech , Immerse also offers support for headsets made by Beyerdynamic .
So , there is a possibility that Embody will team up with other headset companies to provide more accessibility to its customized in-game audio in the future .

Logitech G is launching support for a new app that lets you customize your gaming audio for better immersion. The app is supposed to let you hear game sounds like large-scale battles, nearby footsteps, or racing sounds on a race track more clearly.
The new app is called Immerse and was made by Embody, a spatial audio company, in partnership with Logitech G. Embody says on its website that Immerse was designed to let PC gamers “hear game audio as you hear sounds in the real world,” and make sounds appear to be closer or farther away from you.
An app that lets you “hear game audio as you hear sounds in the real world”
The Immerse app uses AI to create a personalized sound profile for each user. When you sign up for the app, Immerse requires you to scan a QR code and then take a picture of your right ear using your smartphone. Immerse’s AI then uses algorithms to analyze all of the parts of your ear to predict how your ears receive sound.
The Immerse app is a paid subscription service, with subscriptions starting at $3 per month in addition to a free trial period that lasts two weeks. I played a little bit of the Resident Evil 2 remake using my Logitech G433 headset with the app’s “Close Combat” mode enabled; this allowed me to hear more precisely where enemies were and take in the groans of the undead. Then I tested out Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition with an expanded sound field, allowing me to hear smaller sounds from a farther distance, such as enemies roaming the environment.
The Immerse app supports more than a dozen Logitech G headsets, including the G Pro X and Pro gaming headsets as well as the Logitech G533, which we noted was a “PC gamer’s dream headset” during our CES 2017 coverage.


theverge--2020-03-04--Senator slams Amazon over coronavirus price gouging on hand sanitizer and face masks

US Senator Ed Markey ( D-MA ) is harshly criticizing what he sees as Amazon ’ s inconsistent response to ongoing coronavirus-related price gouging on the e-commerce company ’ s third-party Marketplace platform .
While Markey is acknowledging that Amazon is indeed removing an ever-increasing number of listings , he said Wednesday in a new letter to CEO Jeff Bezos that Amazon ’ s response needs to improve .
He ’ s chiefly concerned about the lack of transparency around how it determines a product is having its prices unfairly raised and the process Amazon undergoes to detect that and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Amazon took appropriate first steps in response to this price gouging when it announced it had removed ‘ tens of thousands ’ of listings and reiterated that sellers on its platform must comply with its Fair Price Policy , ” Markey writes .
“ But continued reports of price gouging and a lack of transparency have left customers exposed to unfair trade practices.
” He cites a Wired report that quoted a seller admitting the enforcement can be “ haphazard.
” Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gouging activity was first picked up on last month as COVID-19 , the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus , began spreading worldwide .
It ’ s hitting popular health and safety products like 3M-produced face masks and sanitization items like Purell hand sanitizer .
Neither of those companies are the ones raising the prices .
Instead , it ’ s third-party resellers who are doing so , and it ’ s against Amazon ’ s Fair Pricing Policy that specifically warns against price gouging .
Amazon has taken down more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ keeps happening As Wired reported , some items were having their prices increased by three to four times the standard level .
Since then , the gouging has become noticeably worse , with 24-packs of 2-ounce hand sanitizer bottles seeing jumps from $ 10 per box to more than $ 400 .
Shipping costs are also being raised to exorbitant levels .
There are numerous state laws against price gouging during times of emergency on essential items like bottled water .
And Amazon ’ s own policy dictates that you may not drastically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a recent average or charge excessive shipping fees regardless of what the product is .
Yet the company relies on user reports and its own internal detection systems for sussing out the bad actors , and quite often , offending listings slip through the cracks .
That ’ s proving especially true during a health crisis like the coronavirus .
Markey is calling on Amazon , which he says has a “ particular responsibility to guard against price gouging in current circumstances , ” to answer certain questions .
Those include how it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what level an item is considered unfairly priced , how many warnings and removals or suspensions it ’ s given out so far , and what resources it ’ s devoting to combating the ongoing price gouging problem .
In a statement given to ABC News earlier this week , Amazon acknowledged the issue as a growing concern both for the integrity of its platform and for customers who may be running low on options to secure supplies during a time of increased public health concern .
“ There is no place for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ company spokesperson told the news organization .
“ We are disappointed that bad actors are attempting to artificially raise prices on basic-need products during a global health crisis , and , in line with our longstanding policy , have recently blocked or removed tens of thousands of offers.
” Amazon said this week it ’ s also removed more than 1 million listings over price gouging .

US Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) is harshly criticizing what he sees as Amazon’s inconsistent response to ongoing coronavirus-related price gouging on the e-commerce company’s third-party Marketplace platform. While Markey is acknowledging that Amazon is indeed removing an ever-increasing number of listings, he said Wednesday in a new letter to CEO Jeff Bezos that Amazon’s response needs to improve. He’s chiefly concerned about the lack of transparency around how it determines a product is having its prices unfairly raised and the process Amazon undergoes to detect that and then take action.
“Last week, Amazon took appropriate first steps in response to this price gouging when it announced it had removed ‘tens of thousands’ of listings and reiterated that sellers on its platform must comply with its Fair Price Policy,” Markey writes. “But continued reports of price gouging and a lack of transparency have left customers exposed to unfair trade practices.” He cites a Wired report that quoted a seller admitting the enforcement can be “haphazard.”
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Markey’s letter.
The price gouging activity was first picked up on last month as COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, began spreading worldwide. It’s hitting popular health and safety products like 3M-produced face masks and sanitization items like Purell hand sanitizer. Neither of those companies are the ones raising the prices. Instead, it’s third-party resellers who are doing so, and it’s against Amazon’s Fair Pricing Policy that specifically warns against price gouging.
Amazon has taken down more than 1 million listings, but price gouging keeps happening
As Wired reported, some items were having their prices increased by three to four times the standard level. Since then, the gouging has become noticeably worse, with 24-packs of 2-ounce hand sanitizer bottles seeing jumps from $10 per box to more than $400. Shipping costs are also being raised to exorbitant levels.
There are numerous state laws against price gouging during times of emergency on essential items like bottled water. And Amazon’s own policy dictates that you may not drastically increase the price of items well above a recent average or charge excessive shipping fees regardless of what the product is. Yet the company relies on user reports and its own internal detection systems for sussing out the bad actors, and quite often, offending listings slip through the cracks. That’s proving especially true during a health crisis like the coronavirus.
Markey is calling on Amazon, which he says has a “particular responsibility to guard against price gouging in current circumstances,” to answer certain questions. Those include how it determines price gouging is occurring, at what level an item is considered unfairly priced, how many warnings and removals or suspensions it’s given out so far, and what resources it’s devoting to combating the ongoing price gouging problem.
In a statement given to ABC News earlier this week, Amazon acknowledged the issue as a growing concern both for the integrity of its platform and for customers who may be running low on options to secure supplies during a time of increased public health concern.