| | | | | | | Presented By Auth0 | | | | Axios Login | | By Scott Rosenberg ·Aug 04, 2021 | | Missed you all yesterday! And we'll miss you again tomorrow. Login will be back Friday morning. Today's edition is 1,312 words, a 5-minute read. | | | | | | 1 big thing: China's homegrown techlash |  | | | Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios | | | | With the Chinese government accelerating moves against its own tech industry, China is — for now — prioritizing Communist Party control of the domestic economy over aggressive international competition. Why it matters: China and the U.S. are both playing a long game, with tech as the playing field, companies as the pieces and domination of the global economy as the stakes. Driving the news: A state-owned newspaper in China denounced online gaming as "opium for the mind" Tuesday, driving down shares of Tencent and other Chinese firms, the Wall Street Journal reports. - "Within hours the article was no longer accessible on the paper's website, before later reappearing with some of its harsher language removed," including the "opium" line.
- But the move is in line with a range of other steps China has taken over the last eight months to rein in its tech sector, from new restrictions on online tutoring firms to limits on firms' overseas investment deals.
Catch up quick: China's own "techlash" kicked off in November, when the Chinese government blocked the IPO for Ant Financial, founded by Alibaba billionaire Jack Ma. - The move was followed in April by a wave of antitrust actions, including a $2.8 billion fine for Alibaba.
- Soon after the $73 billion IPO by China's ride-hailing giant, DiDi, government regulators barred its app from app stores.
The big picture: Some of these moves were justified on data security grounds, others on behalf of increasing competition. But China experts say the thread that ties them all together is the party's determination to show tech-sector giants and wealthy moguls who's boss. Between the lines: "Disruption" is a byword for U.S. tech entrepreneurs determined to challenge incumbents, but for many in China — and certainly for the government — it's a dirty word. Chinese leaders fear instability and see online platforms promoting it in two different ways: - Allowing social media platforms to grow independently powerful threatens the ruling party's tight hold on information in any future crisis.
- Some experts believe the Chinese government worries about U.S.-scale inequality driven by tech entrepreneurs amassing Jeff Bezos-scale private wealth.
Yes, but: Other observers suggest that Chinese business and culture has a bias towards manufacturing, hardware and physical goods, and against the kind of immaterial goods created by the software and financial industries. - China's role as foundry of the world's tech products gives it a strategic advantage.
- Its online platforms and software face an uphill challenge with users and partners in the U.S., Europe and elsewhere, who see Chinese companies as untrustworthy, given laws requiring them to share data with the government.
- TikTok remains China's most successful software export, but its survival in the U.S. during the Trump era hung by a thread.
Meanwhile, Chinese companies have come to question the reliability of U.S. partners and suppliers following the Trump administration's broad bans on many of China's leading tech firms. For China today, self-sufficiency looks like a necessity. The bottom line: China seeks continued economic growth and global power. But if that quest ever threatens to spark opposition to the party or enable dissent, the government will always choose stability. |     | | | | | | 2. Activision Blizzard workers say HR failed them |  | | | Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios | | | | Following a lawsuit filed by California against Activision Blizzard, allegations of harassment, misconduct, and assault continue to emerge from people who point to the company's HR department as being part of the larger problem, Axios Gaming's Megan Farokhmanesh reports. Why it matters: Sources say the company's culture favors a clan mentality and functioned under a broken HR department that undermined and discounted victims' experiences, and did not protect their identities. - According to a dozen current and former Activision Blizzard employees, several requesting anonymity to speak freely, harassment and misconduct were well-known and well-documented despite the company saying the allegations are "incorrect, old, and out of context."
- Not only did Activision Blizzard fail to protect those in harm's way, it actively shielded abusers from punitive action, sources tell Axios.
In a comment to Axios, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson said the company takes "every allegation seriously and will investigate all claims." Driving the news: Blizzard announced Tuesday that president J. Allen Brack is stepping down two weeks after being named in the lawsuit. - Jesse Meschuk, SVP of global human resources for Activision Blizzard, is no longer with the company, a spokesperson confirmed to Axios.
Details: Four current and former employees of Activision Blizzard described to Axios direct interactions with HR during the past decade in which they said representatives bullied, belittled, or showed skepticism after being informed of alleged harassment or assault. - Employees who have gone to HR with complaints say the department had a reputation for doing nothing.
- A former employee, whose harassment came directly from their boss, tells Axios they felt they had no tools to resolve their problem.
Go deeper: Read the full story. | | | | | | | | 3. Facebook aims to target ads at encrypted content | | Facebook is gobbling up key researchers in the field of homomorphic encryption so that it might someday be able to personalize ads based on the content of encrypted messages, The Information reports. Why it matters: As the owner of WhatsApp, Facebook is one of the largest public providers of end-to-end encryption in the world. - But the same encryption technology that gives WhatsApp its extra value also gets in Facebook's way when it wants to target ads to its users.
Enter homomorphic encryption, a format that could allow companies to analyze the content of encrypted messages without actually decrypting them. How it works: Homomorphic encryption allows computational processes to be performed on data while it remains encrypted — but honestly, I couldn't tell you how. This site has some good information. Microsoft, Amazon and Google are also exploring uses of homomorphic encryption, according to The Information. | | | | | | | | A message from Auth0 | | Beat the bots: How to secure the state of your identity | | |  | | | | Credential stuffing attacks, fraudulent registrations and breached credentials are the most pervasive threats to digital security and identity. Gain insights and learn mitigation strategies with Auth0̸'s report, The State of Secure Identity. | | | | | | 4. Commuter's e-scooter drives like a motorcycle |  | | | Photo: app | | | | A new high-performance electric scooter is being billed as the transportation solution for urban residents who want an EV but don't have dedicated parking and can't exactly hang a charging cable out their apartment window, Joann Muller reports in Axios' What's Next newsletter. What's happening: The $7,495 Zapp i300 is positioned as a daily commuter vehicle for urban dwellers — offering the convenience of a scooter and the performance of a motorcycle. Debuting this month in Paris, it's headed to Asia and the U.S. next year. The big picture: Powered, road-legal scooters are popular in many parts of the world, and the $109 billion global scooter market is transitioning to electric power at a faster rate than cars. - "Europeans and Asians continue to embrace this mode of personal urban mobility, and are adopting electric versions quickly. We hope savvy urban Americans will do so soon," said Swin Chatsuwan, founder and CEO of the British company.
The battery may be the most novel feature: The i300 is equipped with two 1.4-kilowatt-hour, independent, portable battery packs, housed under the rider's feet, which provide improved stability. - With both batteries on board, the scooter's range is 40 miles, but it can also operate on just one battery.
What to watch: Zapp has not yet decided which city to begin deployment in the U.S., and riders might require a motorcycle license. | | | | | | | | 5. Take note | | ICYMI - Facebook blocked researchers at NYU's Ad Observatory Project from accessing its platform, saying it was protecting users' privacy. "Facebook is silencing us because our work often calls attention to problems on its platform," one researcher told Bloomberg.
- A preliminary call by the National Labor Relations Board recommends a re-do of the vote that a union lost at Amazon's Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse in April. A final NLRB decision is expected in coming weeks, per the Washington Post. (Axios)
- The FTC told companies that its reviews of mergers and acquisitions are backed up, and some may take longer than 30 days. (Axios)
| | | | | | | | 6. After you Login | | Ina had quite the busy day yesterday in Tokyo, including getting her Olympic reporter's credential exchanged for a photographer's (photographers can still write) and then repairing her glasses with super glue — before capturing this and other photos of Simone Biles competing on the balance beam. Photo: Ina Fried/Axios | | | | | | | | A message from Auth0 | | Beat the bots: How to secure the state of your identity | | | | | | | | Credential stuffing attacks, fraudulent registrations and breached credentials are the most pervasive threats to digital security and identity. Gain insights and learn mitigation strategies with Auth0̸'s report, The State of Secure Identity. | | |  | | It'll help you deliver employee communications more effectively. | | | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here.
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