With help from Emily Birnbaum, Leah Nylen and Gavin Bade
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— Fighting back: Secretary of State Antony Blinken is joining today’s Christchurch Call to Action summit on combating online extremism.
— Tech talks: Major tech companies are throwing their support behind a work authorization program often relied on by the spouses of immigrant tech workers.
— MT exclusive: A survey paid for by Uber previews some of the arguments we’re likely to hear as D.C. takes up the great debate on gig work.
IT’S FRIDAY (AND SOON, THE WEEKEND); WELCOME TO MORNING TECH. I’m your host, Benjamin Din. Fun fact: I graduated from Northwestern, which was where I learned to love all the different seasons. (Who knew there was a fourth season, winter?) Also, go ‘Cats! Have you been to Heavenston? Let me know.
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TODAY: TECH AND WORLD LEADERS CONVENE TO FIGHT ONLINE TERRORIST CONTENT — The virtual gathering, hosted by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron with global leaders and major tech companies, was first held two years ago in response to live-streamed terrorist attacks on mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, and is part of a global pledge to eliminate online extremist content.
— What’s new this time: Although Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and Google had signed on, the Trump administration declined to join. But last week, the White House announced that the U.S. would join the pledge and participate in the summit. Blinken will represent the U.S., a senior administration official told MT.
— What to expect: The summit aims to develop a plan to reinforce existing protocols and further work on algorithms to combat hate speech, a French official told reporters this week, according to our colleague Laura Kayali.
And France sees a role for the United States, the official said: The international community “counts on the U.S. to positively contribute to the political pressure [on online platforms], which is the driving force behind the call.”
However, the State Department said last week that the U.S. would be careful to emphasize the importance of freedom of speech. “Put simply, we remain of the view that the preferred way to defeat terrorist and violent extremist speech is more speech: to counter it with credible, alternative narratives that promote rather than restrict free expression,” spokesperson Ned Price said.
TECH TITANS PUSH TO PROTECT H-4 WORK AUTHORIZATIONS — Google, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Twitter are among the tech companies and trade associations submitting an amicus brief today in a D.C. court case that could have major ramifications for the industry.
— The case in question: Save Jobs USA — a group of IT workers who say they lost their jobs to highly skilled workers who came to the U.S. on H-1B visas — is asking a federal court to overturn a Department of Homeland Security rule that grants work authorization to H-4 visa holders, specifically the spouses of H-1B visa holders who are seeking permanent residency.
This is a big deal for tech companies, which often sponsor H-1B visas and argue that the U.S. needs an immigration system that allows skilled foreign workers into the country to foster innovation. If the rule were dismissed, the workers’ spouses would be allowed into the country but not allowed to work.
“That hurts their family, impacts our ability to compete for talent, and harms our economy,” Catherine Lacavera, Google’s vice president of legal, wrote in a blog post.
MT EXCLUSIVE: UBER SURVEYS DRIVERS ON PROP 22 FALLOUT — The app-based companies behind the gig economy have been closely watching President Joe Biden and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh to see whether they back the labor movement’s burgeoning push to reclassify gig workers as full-fledged employees entitled to benefits.
Walsh caused such a stir last month when he said most gig workers should be classified as employees that he had to walk his comments back, but the administration’s overall attitude towards gig worker reclassification has been ambiguous. The battle over this issue has raged for years, although a coalition of gig companies, including Uber and Lyft, notched a win last year with Proposition 22, a California ballot initiative that exempted gig drivers from the state’s reclassification law.
— Looking at the numbers: Having dodged regulation once, Uber probably wants to avoid an even higher-stakes repeat. Enter a new Uber-funded survey by research firm Benenson Strategy Group, which concluded that California-based Uber and Uber Eats drivers are mostly pleased with their work under Prop 22, according to survey data provided to MT.
Among the results: Sixty-three percent of drivers surveyed said they have experienced changes to their benefits, compensation or protections as a result of Prop 22, including better pay. Eighty-two percent said they are happy the initiative passed, and more than half said they’d be worse off if they were now classified as employees.
— Healthy skepticism: The sample size on this survey is only 378 interviews, with a margin of error of plus or minus about five percentage points, and Uber paid for it. But it reflects Uber’s attempt to answer the question at the center of the gig work debate: What do the workers really want?
FIRST IN MT: MORE TENSIONS OVER ANTI-FRAUD BILL — In a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee today, Adam Kovacevich, CEO of the tech coalition Chamber of Progress, slammed the INFORM Consumers Act, S. 936 (117), a bipartisan bill that would crack down on stolen or fraudulent goods by requiring online marketplaces to verify the identities of high-volume third-party sellers.
He highlighted attempts to pass similar bills in state legislatures that have stalled or failed, ultimately saying a federal bill would be “an overreaction to an exaggerated problem, with considerable collateral damage.” It’s the latest salvo in an increasingly expensive lobbying battle between online marketplaces like Amazon — a member of Kovacevich’s group — and brick-and-mortar retailers.
NEXT STAGE FOR ENDLESS FRONTIER — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday on the Senate floor that he still aims to bring the Endless Frontier Act, S. 1260 (117), to a floor vote next week — even though lawmakers, during Wednesday’s Senate Commerce markup, tacked on an amendment that significantly changed the bill’s funding structure.
HOW HARD CAN IT BE TO BUY ONLINE GAME CURRENCY? — Maybe a little harder than Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers thought. Earlier in Epic Games’ antitrust trial against Apple, the judge mentioned that browsers might offer a solution: The iPhone-maker could keep its hefty 30 percent commission but not prevent developers from steering customers to cheaper options outside of Apple’s App Store.
Apple expert Lorin Hitt testified as much on Wednesday and Thursday, saying consumers “are willing to and able to move across platforms” when playing games, such as from their phone to a PC.
— Bringing the receipts: But Epic lawyer Yonatan Even painstakingly went through a spreadsheet from Hitt on various games’ availability, showing multiple examples of games that supposedly could be played across platforms, but not all versions were from the same developer, a signal that ensuring games work across platforms might not be as easy for game developers as Apple suggested. The Epic attorney repeated the exercise for games that Hitt said allowed users to buy in-game currency through a web browser for use on an iPhone, to no avail.
Even said Epic’s team found only three games where such in-browser purchases work: Roblox and PubG, along with Epic’s own Fortnite. Hitt said he personally bought V-Bucks, Fortnite’s in-game currency, on a browser.
“Did you try for anything else?” the judge asked Hitt. “It looked pretty difficult based on the examples they provided.”
I GUESS SOMEBODY’S NERVOUS — On Thursday night, Apple sent Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) a point-by-point rebuttal to testimony offered last month by Spotify, Tile and Match Group that portrayed Apple as anticompetitive.
The Senate confirmed Don Graves to be deputy secretary of Commerce. … Emily Libreco will lead the communications and marketing function at Lerer Hippeau, a New York venture capital fund. She previously managed communications for Melinda Gates at Pivotal Ventures. … Susan Hendrick joins Ripple as senior director of policy communications after five years at Uber. … Glenn Reynolds is joining the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions as vice president of technology policy and government relations. … Bill Staples will become New Relic’s CEO, replacing Lew Cirne, who will become executive chairman of the board.
The State Department is partnering with Google’s Women Techmakers to launch the Women Tech Founders Program for 50 women from the Middle East and North Africa. … Google Cloud and SpaceX’s Starlink are partnering to help boost businesses and consumers’ secure access to the cloud and internet. … The Day One Project is launching a talent hub to help scientists and technologists discover pathways to serve in the federal government.
Undercover: “Activists and Ex-Spy Said to Have Plotted to Discredit Trump ‘Enemies’ in Government,” featuring a cameo from Oracle CEO Safra Catz. More from NYT.
Changing tides: A poll shows Americans are souring on Big Tech, according to Axios.
On a roll: Amazon is going on a hiring spree, to the tune of 75,000 workers, WSJ reports.
Tips, comments, suggestions? Send them along via email to our team: Bob King ([email protected]), Heidi Vogt ([email protected]), John Hendel ([email protected]), Cristiano Lima ([email protected]), Alexandra S. Levine ([email protected]), Leah Nylen ([email protected]), Emily Birnbaum ([email protected]), and Benjamin Din ([email protected]). Got an event for our calendar? Send details to [email protected]. And don’t forget: Add @MorningTech and @PoliticoPro on Twitter.
HAVE AN AWESOME WEEKEND!