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| Presented By Facebook |
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| Axios AM |
| By Mike Allen ·Oct 20, 2021 |
| 🐪 Happy Wednesday. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,174 words ... 4½ minutes. Edited by Zachary Basu. 📱At 12:30 p.m. ET today, please join Axios' Stef Kight for a virtual briefing on immigration reform. Guests: Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Welcome.US CEO Nazanin Ash and Welcome.US co-founder Cecilia Muñoz. Register here. |
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| 1 big thing: Big changes in Big Tech |
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| Behind the scenes of "Squid Game." Photo: Netflix |
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| Facebook plans rebranding moves to emphasize its future as a "metaverse company," and Netflix is adopting a new, more nuanced take on Dave Chappelle, according to reports overnight. - Why it matters: With both companies under fire internally and externally, their CEOs are trying to re-channel the conversation.
1. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's closely guarded name-change plan is "meant to signal the tech giant's ambition to be known for more than social media," The Verge scoops. "The rebrand would likely position the blue Facebook app as one of many products under a parent company overseeing groups like Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and more." - That would be like Alphabet as an umbrella over Google. Facebook declined to comment.
- One possibility includes "Horizon," per The Verge.
- Facebook said Sunday that it's creating 10,000 jobs in Europe to build "the metaverse — a new phase of interconnected virtual experiences using technologies like virtual and augmented reality."
🎞️ 2. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told The Wall Street Journal he "screwed up" in how he communicated with employees who were upset over "The Closer," the comedy special in which Dave Chappelle made remarks that offended the transgender community. - "What I should have led with in those emails was humanity," Sarandos said. "I should have recognized the fact that a group of our employees was really hurting."
- But he said there are no plans to remove the show.
"The Closer" is currently among the top 10 most popular Netflix shows in the U.S., and it was as high as No. 3 earlier this week, The Journal says. - Netflix said yesterday that "Squid Game" is now officially its biggest show ever, with 142 million member-households globally watching the title in its first four weeks. More from Sara Fischer.
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| 2. Global vaccine gap |
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| Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios |
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| Pressure is rising on the Biden administration to get more COVID vaccines to the world, particularly low-income countries, Axios' Caitlin Owens reports. - Biden officials, in turn, are pushing Moderna to do more.
Why it matters: Getting global vaccination rates as high as possible isn't just a humanitarian effort. It also reduces the risk of vaccine-resistant variants emerging. A hopeful note: Vaccine manufacturing is accelerating. The big picture: Nearly half of the world's population has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, the N.Y. Times reports (subscription). - But as of now, more than three-quarters of doses have been administered in high- or upper-middle-income countries.
Moderna — which has received billions of dollars from the U.S. government — is facing particularly intense criticism for selling its vaccine nearly exclusively to rich countries. - The administration is currently in talks with the company about selling substantial quantities of doses at a not-for-profit price to go to low-income countries, which Pfizer has already agreed to do.
- Share this story.
⚡ Breaking overnight: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will funnel up to $120 million worth of molnupiravir, an experimental antiviral COVID treatment from Merck, to lower-income countries. Keep reading. |
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| 3. Bolsarono accused of "crimes against humanity" for COVID fail |
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| Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro during a press conference at Palácio do Planalto in Brasilia yesterday. Photo: Andressa Anholete/Getty Images |
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| A Brazilian Senate report will recommend President Jair Bolsonaro be charged with "crimes against humanity" for his COVID-19 policies, alleging that the right-wing leader intentionally allowed the virus to spread in a failed effort to reach herd immunity, the N.Y. Times reports (subscription). - Why it matters: One year out from Brazil's elections, the extraordinary allegations underscore the depth of national fury at a president who actively downplayed the virus as "a little flu," encouraged mass gatherings, and spurned masks and vaccines.
The six-month special investigation, which featured nightly testimony about "bribery schemes and disinformation operations," blames Bolsonaro's policies for the deaths of more than 300,000 Brazilians, or half the country's current COVID-19 death toll. - What to watch: Brazil's attorney general, a Bolsonaro appointee, will have 30 days to decide whether to pursue criminal charges against the president, three of his sons and more than 60 other officials named in the report.
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| A message from Facebook |
| Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations |
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| Jack is one of 40,000 people working on safety and security issues at Facebook. Hear more from Jack on why Facebook supports updating regulations on the internet's most pressing challenges, including content moderation. |
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| 4. Scoop: Jake Sullivan discussed Saudi-Israel normalization with MBS |
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| Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA and Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images |
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| During a recent meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan raised the idea of the kingdom normalizing relations with Israel, U.S. and Arab sources tell Barak Ravid, author of Axios Tel Aviv. - Why it matters: Saudi Arabia would be the biggest regional player to sign onto the Abraham Accords peace agreement with Israel. Such a breakthrough would likely convince other Arab and Muslim countries to follow suit.
Behind the scenes: Sullivan raised the issue in a Sept. 27 meeting in Neom, a futuristic planned city on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast. Bin Salman didn't reject it. - Instead, the Saudis said it would take time and gave Sullivan a list of steps that would have to be taken first.
Keep reading. |
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| 5. 💰 Charted: Who makes what |
 Data: Hired.com. Chart: Will Chase/Axios Hat tip: Axios Philadelphia |
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| 6. First look: Harris' union drive |
| Vice President Harris on Air Force Two after landing in Las Vegas last week. Photo: Kent Nishimura/L.A. Times via Getty Images Vice President Harris and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh will announce new guidelines today to encourage federal workers to join unions, a White House official tells Axios' Hans Nichols. - The administration also wants to promote the federal workforce as a venue for women and workers of color to join the labor movement.
Why it matters: The Biden administration wants to bolster the collective bargaining power of workers across the country — and will start at home, with changes in the federal workforce. Context: With more than 2.1 million non-postal employees, the federal government is the largest U.S. employer. - But only 20% of federal employees belong to a union.
Share this story. |
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| 7. Scoop: Raffensperger's new push |
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| Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger discusses ballot counting in Atlanta on Nov. 6. Photo: Jessica McGowan/Getty Images |
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| Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who bucked President Trump's pressure to "find" votes, tells Emma Hurt of Axios Atlanta he wants a bipartisan federal commission on election reform. - His model: a 2005 commission co-chaired by former Democratic President Jimmy Carter and former Republican Secretary of State James Baker.
Georgia's top election official finds himself in something of a political no-man's land: A January poll by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found he was more popular with Ds than Rs. |
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| 8. 1 hoop thing: NBA @ 75 |
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| Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios |
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| The NBA — then the Basketball Association of America (BAA) — started in 1946 with 11 teams and 160 players. Arenas were smaller. So were the players. And all the players were white, AP's Tim Reynolds writes. - Why it matters: Today, the 30 NBA franchises are worth at least $100 billion. The league has a fan base in every corner of the globe, and a reputation of being a leader on social issues.
Flashback: The first official game was Nov. 1, 1946, at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The New York Knickerbockers beat the Toronto Huskies, 68-66. - The Philadelphia Warriors — now the Golden State Warriors — won the league's first title in 1947, over the Chicago Stags.
- For Season 2, a 60-game schedule was pared to 48 to save money on travel.
Keep reading. ... NBA timeline ... More today in Axios Sports. |
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| A message from Facebook |
| Facebook's industry-leading investments are stopping bad actors |
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| We've invested $13 billion in teams and technology over the last 5 years to enhance safety. It's working: In just the past few months, we took down 1.7 billion fake accounts to stop bad actors from doing harm. But there's more to do. Learn more about how we're working to help you connect safely. |
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