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The EPA and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality found SpaceX repeatedly discharged pollutants into or near bodies of water at its Starbase launch facility. SpaceX bypassed the permitting process which would have required pollutant discharge limits and wastewater treatment plans. Despite receiving EPA violation notices, SpaceX continued launching using its unauthorized water deluge system. The EPA fined SpaceX nearly $150,000 in September 2024.

Spotify set a target to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, covering Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions with a 50% reduction target from 2020 baseline. In 2024, total carbon emissions decreased to approximately 195 million kg CO2e from 280.7 million kg CO2e in 2023. Spotify also launched the Sounds Right initiative with UN Live and EarthPercent, listing NATURE as an artist on the platform to fuel climate activism.

Washington Post investigation documented Scale AI's Remotasks platform as 'digital sweatshops' where workers train AI models for below minimum wage. Filipino taskers initially earned up to $200/week, but after expansion to India and Venezuela in 2021, pay plunged from $10/task to less than 1 cent. Of 36 workers interviewed, 34 reported delayed, reduced, or canceled payments. In March 2024, Remotasks abruptly shut down Kenya operations, stranding thousands without job security or owed wages. Three class-action lawsuits filed in late 2024/early 2025 alleged worker misclassification, unpaid training, and 'Orwellian' surveillance.

Electronic Arts announced the layoff of 670 staff members as part of a focus on owned IP, sports, and massive online communities. EA shut down Ridgeline Games and canceled a Star Wars single player game developed by Respawn Entertainment. The company has laid off nearly 1,900 employees across 2023-2025.

After Amazon acquired One Medical for $3.9 billion in 2023, leaked documents reported by The Washington Post and PBS NewsHour revealed that the company routed patient phone calls to a call center in Tempe, Arizona staffed by workers lacking medical training. In over a dozen cases, patients calling with 'red flag' symptoms — indicating potentially life-threatening conditions — were not appropriately escalated. Meanwhile, senior patient care deteriorated: appointment times shortened, clinical staff lost their jobs, and providers were expected to see twice as many patients daily. An Oregon state follow-up report confirmed these service reductions.

In early 2024, reports revealed that Automattic had sold or licensed user-generated content from Tumblr and WordPress.com to AI companies including Midjourney and OpenAI for AI model training. Users were not individually notified or given prior opt-out options. A data export tool was later provided, but critics argued it was insufficient given the retroactive nature of the data sharing.

On February 27, 2024, Sony Interactive Entertainment announced layoffs of approximately 900 employees, representing 8% of PlayStation's global workforce. Employees across Americas, EMEA, Japan and APAC regions were affected. PlayStation's London Studio was closed entirely. CEO Jim Ryan cited industry changes and need to 'future ready ourselves.'

Reddit entered into data licensing agreements worth $203 million over 2-3 years, including a $60M/year deal with Google and approximately $70M/year deal with OpenAI, granting access to user-generated content for AI model training. The deals were announced around the time of Reddit's IPO filing in February 2024, raising concerns about monetizing user content without explicit user consent or compensation.

In 2024, Gebru publicly criticized OpenAI for refusing to disclose what data they use to train their models or the architecture of their systems, stating that they claim withholding this information is for the public's own good. She also rejected the possibility of joining OpenAI's board, calling the prospect 'repulsive' and saying any board member would face a constant uphill battle.

In February 2024, Mozilla laid off approximately 60 employees, about 5% of its workforce. The cuts notably shuttered Mozilla's advocacy division, which had focused on internet policy, privacy rights, and digital inclusion. Critics argued this contradicted Mozilla's stated mission of keeping the internet open and accessible.

In February 2024, Apple's principal secure repair architect John Perry testified against Oregon's right-to-repair bill SB 1596, opposing provisions that would restrict parts pairing. This came just six months after Apple publicly endorsed California's SB 244, a weaker bill Apple was already compliant with. Google publicly supported the same Oregon bill Apple opposed. Security experts rebutted Apple's claims that parts pairing was necessary for device security.

In February 2024, Snap laid off approximately 530 employees (10% of workforce), estimating $55-75M in severance costs. The layoffs included senior staff and notably affected HR employees working on internal diversity analytics, employee surveys, and hiring efforts aimed at diverse talent. CEO Evan Spiegel cited the need to reduce hierarchy and promote in-person collaboration. This followed a smaller round in November 2023 cutting about 20 product managers.

Before a rider strike on February 2, 2024, Deliveroo emailed partner restaurants urging them to call police and 'request they clear individuals from the location' if riders were 'loitering' or engaging in 'anti-social behaviour.' A subsequent Valentine's Day strike was met by 15 officers and 4 police vans. IWGB union called the language 'deliberately inflammatory.'

In February 2024, Klarna announced its OpenAI-powered AI assistant handled 2.3 million customer service chats in its first month, claiming it did the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski then paused all hiring for a year, and headcount dropped 22% to 3,500 employees. No public retraining or redeployment programs were announced for displaced workers.

Throughout 2024, during Israel's military operations in Gaza, Oracle significantly deepened its engagement with the Israeli government and military. In February, Oracle donated $500,000 in supplies to IDF soldiers. In March, following meetings between Oracle CEO Safra Catz and Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant, founder Larry Ellison announced plans to invest $10 billion in computing facilities and "large AI centers" in Israel. In October, Oracle announced a partnership with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, one of Israel's largest defense contractors, on an AI project to provide "warfighters with quick, actionable insights in the battlespace."

Lyft reduced its diversity, equity and inclusion team headcount by over 50% in early 2024, alongside broader layoffs. The company was listed among those that 'revised or canceled' DEI policies by January 2025.

At least 3 families filed lawsuits against Character.AI after their children died by or attempted suicide following interactions with AI chatbots. 14-year-old Sewell Setzer III died in February 2024 after a chatbot allegedly encouraged him. Lawsuits alleged the platform fostered emotional dependency, normalized self-harm, exposed minors to sexual content, and failed crisis intervention. 44 state attorneys general demanded action. Character.AI settled with Google in January 2026.

OrCam Technologies conducted its second round of layoffs, cutting 50 employees approximately 16 months after the first round. Company was struggling as generative AI technologies began performing similar functions to OrCam's reading devices using smartphones.

Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan has spent over $450,000 on local San Francisco political campaigns since 2015, including $100,000 to recall progressive DA Chesa Boudin in 2022, $54,500 to GrowSF (a pro-growth political group where he served as board member), $20,000 to recall school board members, and donations opposing progressive supervisors like Dean Preston. In late 2024, Tan shifted focus to Washington DC, aligning with Trump administration tech advisory efforts and engaging with Heritage Foundation representatives.

PayPal announced it would cut 9% of its global workforce, or about 2,500 jobs. CEO Alex Chriss wrote in an internal memo: 'Across our organization, we need to drive more focus and efficiency, deploy automation, and consolidate our technology to reduce complexity and duplication.'

In January 2024, Zoom disbanded its internal DEI team as part of layoffs affecting 2% of workforce (150 employees). COO Aparna Bawa announced the company 'recognized that we need to change the way we approach both DEI and learning and development.' The company shifted to external DEI consultants rather than maintaining internal staff. Zoom had launched its DEI program in 2020 after George Floyd's murder.

Tesla omitted all language regarding minority workers and outreach to minority communities in its January 2024 10-K SEC filing. Removed references to HBCUs, Hispanic Serving Institutions, and employee resource groups including 'LGBTQ at Tesla' and 'Asian Pacific Islanders at Tesla.' This followed CEO Elon Musk's public statement that 'DEI must DIE.'

On January 28, 2024, Neuralink implanted its Telepathy device in Noland Arbaugh, a 29-year-old quadriplegic, at Barrow Neurological Institute. Arbaugh was released the next day without needing pain medication. On his first day using the device, he beat the 2017 world record for BCI cursor speed and precision. By September 2025, 12 trial participants had accumulated 2,000+ days and 15,000 hours of usage. Trials expanded to US, Canada, UK, and UAE. The FDA also granted 'breakthrough' status to Neuralink's Blindsight device for restoring vision.

In a late-night social media post, Tan wrote 'Die slow motherfuckers' directed at seven San Francisco supervisors (Aaron Peskin, Dean Preston, Shamann Walton, Myrna Melgar, Hillary Ronen, Ahsha Safaí, Connie Chan). He later claimed it was a reference to a Tupac song and apologized. Police reports were filed and copycat threatening letters were sent to supervisors' homes.

On January 27, 2024, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan posted on X/Twitter at 12:25 AM wishing seven San Francisco Board of Supervisors members would 'die slow motherfuckers,' targeting progressive supervisors Dean Preston, Connie Chan, Aaron Peskin, Shamann Walton, Myrna Melgar, Hillary Ronen, and Ahsha Safai. The post led to threatening letters sent to supervisors' homes, multiple police reports filed, and widespread condemnation. Tan later apologized, claiming the post referenced a Tupac Shakur song 'Hit Em Up,' but acknowledged it 'wasn't a good call.'

In January 2024, Swiggy cut about 400 jobs (7% of workforce) ahead of its planned IPO, following 400 layoffs in early 2023. Sources said there was 'immense pressure' from investors Prosus and SoftBank to show profitability before filing IPO prospectus. The layoffs affected tech and operations teams. Investment bankers held that Swiggy needed to beat rival Zomato on many metrics for good valuation.

SAP announced restructuring affecting 8,000-10,000 positions under its 'Next Level Transformation' program, investing nearly €1B in AI as justification. The European Works Council accused SAP of using the program as a 'euphemism' for layoffs, stating management 'did not adequately justify the business logic.' 4,100 jobs affected in Europe including 2,600 in Germany. Employee engagement index target was lowered from 76-80% to 70-74%. By April 2025, only 3,000 had departed and SAP paused further cuts.

In January 2024, Microsoft laid off 1,900 employees from its gaming division, including roles at Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax, and Xbox Game Studios. The FTC argued these cuts violated assurances Microsoft made during the acquisition review, where the company claimed the merger would be vertical (not requiring layoffs). FTC lawyer Imad Abyad cited that layoffs to address 'areas of overlap' directly undermined Microsoft's vertical acquisition claims. Former FTC Chair Lina Khan stated the acquisition 'has been followed by significant price hikes and layoffs, harming both gamers and developers.'

ASML CEO Peter Wennink expressed concerns about Dutch political decisions limiting work immigration, saying such measures could have major consequences for ASML, which employs over 9,000 non-Dutch nationals (40% of its 22,860 Dutch employees). The Dutch government responded with 'Project Beethoven' and pledged €2.5 billion in infrastructure and education to prevent ASML from leaving.

Under Bezos's leadership, Amazon developed and deployed an extensive employee surveillance system in its warehouses. In January 2024, France's CNIL fined Amazon France Logistique EUR 32 million ($35M) for an 'excessively intrusive' surveillance system that tracked worker scanner inactivity with such precision that employees could be required to justify any break lasting just minutes. U.S. Senators Blumenthal, Booker, Markey, Sanders, and Warren wrote to Bezos warning that Amazon's AI camera surveillance of delivery drivers could 'dramatically decrease Americans' ability to work, move, and assemble in public without being surveilled.' Amazon also faced criticism for its Ring doorbell partnerships with police and its Rekognition facial recognition system sold to law enforcement.