Global Tech Roundup: Microsoft Employees Protest Discrimination Against Women, Australia Passes Law Against Social Media Companies and Others

Another week with a lot of happenings in the tech space has come to an end. It’s time to give you a rundown of those stories that made headlines across the globe.

Australia Passes Law to Hold Social Media Companies Responsible for Violent Content

The Australian House of Representatives has passed a law which mandated social media platforms to ‘expeditiously’ remove contents that depict violent activities like rape, murder, kidnapping, terrorist attacks etc, or face severe punishments.

This move was in response to the massacre of about 50 people in a mosque in New Zealand.

According to the new legislation, if a social media platform fails to pull down such content in a timely fashion, employees could face prison time and the company would be forced to part with up to 10% of its annual profit as fine. Although there are serious debates about how this would affect free speech, countries like India are also considering such a move to checkmate spread of fake news.

Amazon to Launch 3,236 Satellites to Provide Internet to Underserved Communities from Space

Global tech company, Amazon might have concluded plans to launch 3,236 satellites into space with which it would ‘rain down’ internet access to underserved communities around the world.

According to recent filings made with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the project called Project Kuiper, would see the satellites launched at 3 different altitudes: 784 satellites would be launched at a height of 367 miles; 1,296 will be launched at 379 miles; while 1,156 satellites will be launched at 391 miles up in the skies.

Together, these satellites are expected to cover 95% of earth’s population.

This is exceptional and I know many people around the world can’t wait for this to happen already.

Microsoft Employees Protest Discrimination Against Women to CEO Nadella

A group of Microsoft employees turned up in a meeting with CEO, Satya Nadella to protest the company’s treatment of women. The protesters asked the CEO to look into claims of discrimination against women in promotion and advancement, as well as claims of sexual harassment.

This protest was sparked by a female employee who wrote a disheartening mail about how she hit a brick wall despite all her attempts to gain promotion and how the ‘boy’s club won’ all the time. CEO Nadella expressed his sadness and disappointment and promised the protesters additional transparency in promotion and advancement. We also hope they look into the sexual harassment claims as well.