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The FSF's Defective by Design campaign continued its longstanding fight against Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) through annual International Day Against DRM events from 2020-2023, targeting streaming services (2020), Disney+ (2021), digital sharing restrictions (2022), and DRM in public libraries via OverDrive and Follett Destiny (2023). The FSF also successfully pushed for new DMCA anticircumvention exemptions in 2021, helping secure legal protections for users who need to bypass DRM for ethical and legitimate purposes. The campaign frames DRM as a threat to innovation, privacy, and user freedom.

Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle DOJ charges of violating the Bank Secrecy Act, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, and sanctions violations. CEO Changpeng Zhao resigned and pled guilty.

The UK Supreme Court ruled that Deliveroo riders are self-employed independent contractors who cannot be legally classified as 'workers' under UK trade union law. The ruling denied riders access to collective bargaining rights the IWGB union had sought since 2017. This despite research finding one-third of riders earned below minimum wage, with some working 80-hour weeks.

Following Elon Musk's October 2022 acquisition of Twitter (renamed X), advertising revenue plummeted approximately 54% year-over-year. By February 2023, more than half of X's top 1,000 advertisers had stopped spending on the platform. Projected 2023 ad revenue dropped to approximately $2.5 billion, down from $4.5 billion before the acquisition. The exodus was driven by Musk's content moderation rollbacks, reinstatement of banned accounts, and his own posting of antisemitic content endorsement in November 2023. X's overall value dropped approximately 80% from Musk's $44 billion purchase price.

Ilya Sutskever was one of the OpenAI board members who voted to remove Sam Altman as CEO in November 2023. The firing reportedly stemmed from concerns about Altman's candor with the board and the pace of AI development. Altman was reinstated five days later after employee revolt and investor pressure. Sutskever stepped down from the board but remained at OpenAI until May 2024.

On November 17, 2023, OpenAI's board fired Sam Altman, stating he was 'not consistently candid in his communications.' Former board member Helen Toner later revealed specific allegations: Altman didn't inform the board about ChatGPT's launch (they learned from Twitter), concealed his ownership of OpenAI's startup fund, provided inaccurate information about safety processes, and two executives reported 'psychological abuse' with documentation. After 95% of employees threatened to resign, Altman was reinstated on November 22 with a reconstituted board. A later WilmerHale investigation found 'a significant breakdown of trust' but did not publish its full findings.

When the OpenAI board fired Sam Altman on November 17, 2023, Mira Murati was named interim CEO. She held the role briefly before the board appointed Emmett Shear, then ultimately Sam Altman returned. Murati was reportedly one of the senior leaders who pushed for Altman's reinstatement and threatened to resign with 700+ employees.

Google launched its Dammam cloud region in November 2023 in partnership with Saudi Aramco despite opposition from 39 human rights organizations. Google refused to make its human rights assessment public. At the 2022 shareholder meeting, 57.6% of independent shareholders voted for transparency, but Alphabet's multi-class voting structure allowed leadership to defeat the proposal.

From 2023-2024, Musk used his X account (the most-followed on the platform) to systematically amplify conspiracy theories and far-right disinformation. He endorsed the antisemitic 'great replacement' conspiracy theory, boosted anti-immigrant conspiracy theories about Haitian immigrants, amplified accounts like @EndWokeness and @libsoftiktok (which inspired bomb threats at a children's hospital), and shared election fraud conspiracies. A 2023 Science Feedback analysis found 'super-spreader' disinformation accounts saw a 42% increase in engagement, with Musk personally interacting with their top posts.

At KubeCon 2023, Oracle announced $3 million per year for three years in Ampere Arm-based compute credits on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. Oracle is a founding member of the Linux Foundation, Eclipse Foundation, and Java Community Process, maintains 1,400+ GitHub repositories with 5,000+ contributors, and is the top contributor for total lines of code changed across the Linux 6.1 kernel.

On November 6, 2023, WeWork filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, reporting $19 billion in liabilities against $15 billion in assets. The bankruptcy affected over 500 locations worldwide, nearly 300 in the US and Canada. The company needed to terminate more than 100 leases and eliminate over $4 billion in debt. The filing represented the culmination of years of unsustainable spending, governance failures, and an over-leveraged real estate model that left employees, landlords, and investors bearing massive losses.

New York Attorney General secured $290 million from Uber (part of $328 million combined with Lyft) to settle allegations the company unlawfully withheld wages from over 100,000 drivers and failed to provide mandatory paid sick leave in New York state. Largest wage-theft settlement won by NY Attorney General. From 2014 to 2017, Uber deducted sales taxes and Black Car Fund fees from drivers' payments when those taxes and fees should have been paid by passengers. Settlement grants drivers one hour of sick pay for every 30 hours worked, up to 56 hours per year, starting February 29, 2024. Settlement does not change gig worker status in New York State - drivers remain classified as independent contractors.

A November 2023 academic study published by Bristol University Press found MercadoLibre's combination of algorithmic management with discretionary human management 'limited workers' autonomy, increased control to virtually any time spent by workers, and imposed stressful working conditions with negative implications for health and safety.' The study noted the company's hiring strategy relies 'extensively on labour broking.'

Beginning late 2023, dozens of former American TCS employees filed EEOC complaints alleging systematic discrimination based on race, age, and national origin. Complainants - largely non-South Asian professionals over 40 - say TCS targeted them for layoffs while sparing Indian colleagues including H-1B visa workers. Key evidence: TCS global HR head Milind Lakkad told Indian news agency TCS wanted to reduce American employee percentage from 70% to 50% to 'offer opportunities to staff in India.' April 2024: US Representative Seth Moulton (D-MA) urged EEOC formal investigation, noting complainants were his constituents and suggested 'broader pattern of discrimination' and 'potential misuse of U.S. work visa programs.' October 2025: Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and Ranking Member Dick Durbin questioned TCS about hiring 5,505 new H-1B workers in FY2025 while 'hundreds of thousands of American tech employees have been laid off.' Multiple class action lawsuits: Heldt (2015-2018, defense verdict), Katz (2022-2023, partially dismissed), Devorin (2024, pending). Investigation ongoing as of January 2026.

Lyft paid $38 million as part of $328 million settlement (combined with Uber) in what Attorney General Letitia James called 'the single largest wage theft case in the history of New York State.' Lyft improperly took sales tax out of driver payments when cost should have been billed directly to passengers. Drivers who used Lyft Driver app between October 11, 2015 and July 31, 2017 eligible for payment. Settlement also provides paid sick leave: 1 hour per 30 worked, up to 56 hours per year at minimum $26 per hour (adjusted annually for inflation).

In November 2023, U.S. lawmakers asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Neuralink and Elon Musk deceived investors by omitting details about animal deaths during brain implant trials. An investigation by Wired, including veterinary records, contradicted Musk's public claim that monkeys who died were already terminally ill and did not die as a result of Neuralink implants. In December 2024, the New York Times reported that the SEC had reopened its investigation into the alleged abuses.

A November 2023 Reuters investigation uncovered over 600 previously unreported worker injuries at SpaceX facilities, including broken bones, amputations, crushed limbs, electrocutions, and at least one death. SpaceX failed to report annual injury totals to OSHA as required since 2016. OSHA has issued 11 citations since 2021, including a $115,850 fine after a 2025 crane collapse at Starbase. Former employees described a culture prioritizing aggressive timelines over safety, with workers welding 12-hour days in extreme heat and Musk reportedly discouraging safety vests.

Masayoshi Son overrode his lieutenants' objections and invested billions from both SoftBank Group and Vision Fund in WeWork, lifting its valuation to $47 billion by early 2019 despite fundamental business weaknesses. After WeWork's failed IPO attempt in 2019, SoftBank provided a $9.5 billion rescue package. WeWork filed for bankruptcy in November 2023, costing SoftBank an estimated $11.5 billion in equity losses plus $2.2 billion in outstanding debt. Son told shareholders 'I fell in love with WeWork' and admitted in August 2022 he was 'embarrassed' and 'ashamed' about Vision Fund management.

In 2023, Palantir was awarded a seven-year £330M contract with NHS England to build a Federated Data Platform, centralizing patient data from up to 240 NHS trusts and integrated care systems. Critics raised concerns about a surveillance-focused company managing sensitive health data, including mental health records, cancer screening, and STI vaccination data. The Department of Health data showed over 300 different purposes for processing information had been created. A former NHS AI lab director who had pledged to close the COVID datastore later left to join Palantir, raising revolving-door concerns.

Google DeepMind became an early partner of the UK AI Security Institute (AISI) since its inception in November 2023, committing to provide pre-release access to its most capable frontier models for independent safety evaluation. This makes DeepMind one of the first AI labs to submit to external government safety testing, supporting the development of national AI safety infrastructure.

Paul Graham expressed sustained opposition to AI regulation efforts, warning Biden's October 2023 Executive Order means 'government regulating private individuals' computing at an exponential rate.' He mocked UK AI regulation efforts and advocated for the UK to become a regulatory haven from EU AI Act restrictions.

In October 2023, Sundar Pichai testified in the largest tech antitrust trial since the Microsoft case. The DOJ proved Google paid Apple over $10 billion annually (and $26.3 billion total in 2021) to be the default search engine on devices. The court found Google had illegally monopolized the online search market. In April 2025, Pichai testified against DOJ remedies proposals, arguing that forced data sharing would be a 'de facto divestiture' of the search engine.

In October 2023, mechanics who are members of the Swedish trade union IF Metall began striking against Tesla, making it the longest strike in Sweden since 1938. The strike was triggered by Tesla's refusal to sign a collective bargaining agreement, standard practice in Sweden's labor market. Multiple other Swedish unions joined in solidarity actions, blocking Tesla deliveries and services. Tesla is the only major automaker operating in Sweden without a collective agreement.

Internal documents obtained by Corporate Europe Observatory October 2023 showed Bolt's EU lobbyist Aurélien Pozzana drafted letter as if written by Estonian government asking Spanish EU Presidency to stick to weaker worker protections. Email to Estonian Deputy General showed meetings with Minister of Economy and Minister of Finance 'went well' and shared draft letter hoping 'Estonian Government could sign and encourage other allied Member States.' Letter written as if drafted by Estonian government, not by Bolt. Reporting caused public outcry in Estonia. Bolt has almost 50 employees working on regulations in lobbying capacity.

Manhattan jury found Google guilty of gender discrimination and retaliation against Ulku Rowe, a Google Cloud executive who alleged she was hired at a lower level and pay than less experienced male colleagues, and was denied promotions and demoted in retaliation.

Bipartisan coalition of attorneys general filed federal lawsuit alleging Meta knowingly designed Instagram and Facebook features to addict children, and violated COPPA by collecting data from users under 13 without parental consent.

On October 24, 2023, forty-one states and D.C. sued Meta Platforms alleging the company knowingly designed and deployed harmful features on Instagram and Facebook that purposefully addict children and teens. The lawsuit alleged Meta violated COPPA by collecting personal data of users under 13 without parental consent, and that the company marketed its platforms to children despite knowing the harm. The suit cited internal research showing Meta was aware of the negative mental health effects on young users.

On October 24, 2023, the California DMV suspended Cruise's permit to test and operate autonomous vehicles without a safety driver. The suspension cited both the pedestrian dragging incident and Cruise's withholding of video evidence and information about the crash from regulators.

Nokia announced it would slash up to 14,000 jobs from its 86,000 workforce, reducing headcount to 72,000-77,000 by 2026. The cuts aim to save €1.2 billion cumulatively, with €400 million in 2024 alone. CEO Pekka Lundmark said: 'The most difficult business decisions to make are the ones that impact our people.' By October 2024, workforce stood at 78,500.

In October 2023, Frontier announced layoffs affecting 50-200 of ~800 employees. A GLHF investigation revealed the layoff process was 'three months of hell': the Bradford Factor subtracted up to -200 points from performance scores for absences including hospital stays for pneumonia or PTSD treatment. Employees had to provide therapist letters to justify sick days. A senior community manager called it 'humiliating, dehumanizing, and cruel.' Those who criticized management or used sad face/clown emojis in Slack were labeled 'hostile' and allegedly targeted. Only minimum legal severance was provided.