Activity

On February 15, 2024, Robbins announced Cisco would lay off approximately 4,250 employees (5% of workforce) despite posting record quarterly revenue of $13.6 billion. Robbins cited 'greater degree of caution and scrutiny' in deals and 'high level of uncertainty' in macro environment. Cisco expected to incur $800 million in severance costs. Critics noted the disconnect between record revenue and workforce reduction.

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.

In February 2024, a class action alleged Match Group apps use 'dopamine-manipulating' features prioritizing engagement over successful relationships. Research found dating app users had 2.51x higher psychological distress and 1.91x higher depression. The lawsuit cited algorithms that stagger matches using intermittent variable reinforcement (slot machine mechanics), ELO desirability scores giving top 10-20% of users ~50% of matches, and shadow banning without notification.

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.'

On January 30, 2024 - days after the New Hampshire fake-Biden robocall - ElevenLabs released an open AI Speech Classifier tool allowing journalists, election officials, fact-checkers and consumers to determine whether an audio clip was likely generated by ElevenLabs voices. The detector was made available without API gating or rate limits. Independent evaluation in 2024 found accuracy of approximately 95% on ElevenLabs-generated audio but limited applicability to audio from competing voice-clone systems.

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.

Ericsson's second round of greenhouse gas reduction targets was approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) as aligned with the 1.5°C Paris Agreement pathway, publicly announced January 25, 2024. The near-term target commits Ericsson to cutting absolute Scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions 50% by FY2030 versus a FY2020 baseline (with Scope 1+2 cut 90%). The long-term target commits to a 90% absolute Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions cut by FY2040, neutralizing the remaining 10% via approved carbon removals to reach net-zero across the value chain by end of FY2040. This follows Ericsson's first round of SBTi-approved targets (2016-2022 period), which the company met and surpassed (e.g., a 35%-target for business travel and downstream transportation emissions was exceeded with a 60% actual reduction).

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.

On January 21-22, 2024, voters in the New Hampshire Democratic primary received robocalls using an AI-cloned voice of President Joe Biden telling them not to vote in the primary. Investigators at Pindrop and others traced the synthetic audio to ElevenLabs' voice-cloning system. ElevenLabs banned the account responsible and the FCC subsequently ruled AI-generated robocalls illegal under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The political consultant who commissioned the calls was indicted and fined $6M by the FCC.

In January 2024, 300 Grab delivery riders protested in Malaysia after base fare was cut from RM5 to RM4, with wages dropping from RM7 to around RM3.50. In August 2024, thousands of motorcycle taxi workers struck in Jakarta with Gojek workers. In September 2025, two Grab drivers in Indonesia were killed during nationwide protests, with CEO Anthony Tan visiting the families and providing 2 years of health coverage.

Relatives of over 60 young people who died from fentanyl overdoses sued Snap Inc., alleging Snapchat's disappearing messages feature facilitated illegal drug trade targeting minors. Victims included Cooper Root (16, Texas), Donevan Hester (16, Washington), and Nicholas Cruz Burris (15, Kansas). In January 2024, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff allowed the lawsuit to proceed, overruling Snap's objections to 12 claims including negligence, defective product, and wrongful death. Internal Snap emails cited in court noted the company received approximately 10,000 sextortion reports per month, described as 'only a fraction of the total abuse.'

Peter Thiel, co-founder of Founders Fund, has maintained a consistent 35+ year opposition to diversity and multiculturalism, from founding The Stanford Review in 1987 to explicitly criticizing DEI programs in 2024. In a January 2024 speech at Notre Dame, Thiel addressed DEI and culture wars. His 2009 Cato Institute essay 'The Education of a Libertarian' laid out positions that critics say prefigured the current anti-DEI movement. As of 2025, Founders Fund has minimal female leadership among its partners. The fund's talent pipeline draws heavily from homogeneous networks rooted in Thiel's Stanford Review circle, which critics describe as reinforcing a 'white, male, conservative' ecosystem.

Elon Musk has repeatedly attacked DEI programs on X/Twitter, calling them 'discrimination' and 'just another word for racism.' He endorsed ending corporate DEI initiatives and has promoted anti-DEI content, amplifying the movement against diversity programs in tech and corporate America.