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In January 2022, Citizen Lab and Access Now revealed that 22 employees of El Faro, a prominent Salvadoran independent news outlet, had their phones infiltrated with Pegasus between July 2020 and November 2021. The investigation found that journalists from 13 other Salvadoran news organizations were also targeted. El Faro is known for its investigative reporting on government corruption and gang negotiations in El Salvador.

On January 3, 2022, Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty of four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, sentenced to 11 years and 3 months in prison. Co-defendant Ramesh Balwani was convicted of 12 counts of fraud and sentenced to nearly 13 years. Evidence showed Theranos systematically concealed that its Edison devices produced inaccurate results, used traditional blood testing machines while claiming proprietary technology, and ignored internal warnings about test reliability.

In January 2022, Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty on four counts of investor fraud and conspiracy for misrepresenting Theranos's blood testing technology. She falsely claimed projected revenues of $100M+ when actual revenue was near zero, and misrepresented the Walgreens partnership would expand to 900 stores. In November 2022 she was sentenced to 11 years and 3 months. Holmes and co-defendant Ramesh Balwani were ordered to pay $452 million in restitution. The 9th Circuit upheld the conviction on appeal.

Elizabeth Holmes was convicted in January 2022 on four counts of investor fraud and conspiracy for misleading investors about Theranos's blood-testing technology capabilities. The company claimed its Edison device could run hundreds of tests from a finger prick of blood, but internal data showed the technology was unreliable. Holmes raised over $700M from investors based on these claims. She was sentenced to over 11 years in federal prison.

Mike Cannon-Brookes and wife Annie pledged $1 billion to climate nonprofits and investments. In 2022, co-founded Boundless Earth climate action fund. Grok Ventures secured control of Sun Cable, one of world's biggest solar projects to export clean energy from Australia to Singapore.

Tech Transparency Project documented that Google hired 197 former US government officials since 2005, including from the FTC, FCC, and State Department. During the Obama administration alone, there were 23 revolving door moves between Google and the State Department. Google or its main law firms hired several people from the FTC, an agency that conducted investigations into Google's privacy and antitrust conduct. Two-thirds of FTC commissioners over the past two decades had revolving door conflicts with Big Tech.

Reid Hoffman was revealed to be the primary backer of E. Jean Carroll's rape and defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump, funding the suit to the tune of millions through the nonprofit American Future Republic. The grant was made before Carroll filed suit. In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, awarding Carroll $5 million.

GitLab encoded its commitment to open source stewardship in a formal policy, conducting development in the open with public issue trackers, publishing its full company handbook publicly, and maintaining a public Direction document clarifying project priorities. This level of corporate transparency is rare even among open source companies, with policies, compensation frameworks, and decision-making processes publicly accessible.

Waymo sued the California DMV in January 2022 to prevent public release of data on driverless crashes, claiming it constituted a trade secret. Topics Waymo wanted hidden included emergency handling procedures and operational constraints. In February 2022, Waymo was successful in preventing the release, despite claiming they would be transparent about safety.

In 2022, Crisis Text Line was found to be sharing anonymized data from mental health crisis conversations with Loris.AI, a for-profit spinoff that sold customer service software. Data included word frequency, distress types, and user interactions. Users in mental health crisis couldn't meaningfully consent; some had to agree to data sharing to speak with counselors. Crisis Text Line ended the partnership after FCC Commissioner intervention and public backlash.

TSMC launched Southern Taiwan Science Park Reclaimed Water Plant in 2022, converting treated wastewater to industrial supply with 36,000 tonnes daily capacity by 2026 (60% of local demand by 2030). In 2024, introduced Ammonia Nitrogen Wastewater Diversion system at Fab 20 Phase 1, achieving 40% reduction in discharged wastewater conductivity and 30% cut in chemical reagent use. Arizona facility will recycle 90%+ water by 2028, up from 65% current rate.

The Cisco Foundation committed US$100 million over 10 years for climate solutions that draw down carbon from the atmosphere and/or regenerate depleted ecosystems. This was part of Cisco's broader environmental sustainability strategy 'Plan for Possible,' launched in fiscal 2023 alongside the appointment of its first-ever Chief Sustainability Officer.

Corsair's closed-source iCUE software has been widely criticized for anti-consumer practices. Users report that uninstalling iCUE completely disables manual keyboard control, effectively bricking hardware without the software. The company has also been criticized for releasing new iCUE versions that drop support for older hardware, pushing users toward hardware upgrades. The software consumes 400+ MB of RAM.

Clearview AI sold its facial recognition technology to over 3,100 US agencies including the FBI (contract signed December 2021), ICE ($2.3M contract for immigration enforcement), NYPD (11,000+ searches), and hundreds of local police departments. The company specifically marketed its use for immigration enforcement under ICE's ImmigrationOS system. CEO Hoan Ton-That actively pursued federal expansion, telling Reuters in 2022 the company would 'redouble its efforts' to convert trial users to permanent customers.

On December 10, 2021, a tornado tore through an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, killing 6 employees. Questions arose about whether Amazon had adequate severe weather protocols and whether workers were directed to shelter in the safest areas. The incident raised broader concerns about Amazon's warehouse safety procedures and whether the company prioritized operations over worker safety during severe weather events.

On December 7, 2021, a major AWS outage in the US-EAST-1 region caused widespread disruptions lasting approximately 5 hours. Affected services included Amazon's own Ring doorbells, Alexa voice assistant, and third-party services like Disney+, Robinhood, and McDonald's mobile ordering. The outage highlighted systemic risks of cloud infrastructure concentration, as thousands of businesses depend on a single AWS region.

After being fired from Google, Timnit Gebru founded the Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR) in December 2021, an independent research institute focused on AI accountability, bias, and community-centered AI research. DAIR operates outside Big Tech funding structures to maintain independence in AI ethics research.

Inrupt has deployed the Solid Protocol at national scale, giving individuals control over their personal data. The government of Flanders (Belgium) deployed Solid pods for 6 million citizens. Other partnerships include NHS (UK healthcare data pilot in Greater Manchester), BBC (media), NatWest Bank (financial services), and governments of Sweden, Argentina, Basque Country (Spain), Singapore, Japan, and Helsinki.

Between 2021 and 2022, multiple children died after attempting TikTok's 'blackout challenge,' which involved choking oneself until passing out. In one prominent case, a 10-year-old girl died after TikTok's algorithm recommended the challenge video to her. In August 2024, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that TikTok's algorithmic recommendation of the blackout challenge was not protected by Section 230, holding that the platform's recommendation algorithm constitutes its own expressive activity, not merely hosting user content.

In November 2021, Apple notified Human Rights Watch researcher Lama Fakih that state-sponsored attackers were targeting her iPhone. The HRW information security team and Amnesty International's Security Lab confirmed her devices had been infected with Pegasus spyware. This demonstrated that NSO's government clients used the spyware against staff of major international human rights organizations, not just individual activists and journalists.

On November 23, 2021, Apple announced a lawsuit against NSO Group and its parent company OSY Technologies for surveilling and targeting iPhone users with Pegasus spyware. Apple sought a permanent injunction banning NSO from using any Apple software, services, or devices, and pledged $10 million plus any damages to organizations pursuing cybersurveillance research. In September 2024, Apple dropped the lawsuit citing concerns that critical spyware files might never be disclosed and that Apple's own disclosures could aid NSO.

Musk signed the Giving Pledge in 2012, committing to give the majority of his wealth to charity. In 2021, while publicly taunting the UN World Food Programme over a $6B hunger solution challenge, Musk donated $5.7B in Tesla shares - not to hunger relief but to his own Musk Foundation. The foundation subsequently moved $61M to donor-advised funds at Fidelity Charitable in 2022-2023, where recipients do not need to be publicly disclosed. As of 2021, Musk had donated only about 0.05% of his net worth to charity, according to Vox analysis.

A November 2021 Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that CEO Bobby Kotick had been aware of numerous sexual misconduct allegations at Activision Blizzard for years but failed to report many incidents to the board of directors. He reportedly intervened to prevent the firing of Treyarch co-head Dan Bunting after a 2019 internal investigation recommended termination for sexual harassment. Kotick also allegedly knew about a 2020 email from 30 female esports employees reporting unwanted touching and demeaning comments. Over 1,850 employees signed a petition demanding his resignation.

In November 2021, the U.S. Department of Commerce added NSO Group to its Entity List, an export control regime aimed at preventing proliferation of dangerous weapons. The action cited NSO's role in enabling foreign governments to conduct transnational repression, targeting journalists, activists, and dissidents with Pegasus spyware.

In November 2021, the U.S. Department of Commerce added Candiru alongside NSO Group to the Entity List, accusing the company of developing and supplying spyware to foreign governments that maliciously targeted government officials, journalists, businesspeople, activists, academics, and embassy workers.

John Collison is a founding donor of Arc Institute, a $650+ million initiative co-founded by his brother Patrick Collison in 2021 to reform scientific research funding. The institute provides scientists with 8-year renewable research terms without requiring external grant applications.

In 2021, Patrick Collison co-founded Arc Institute with $650+ million from founding donors to reform scientific research funding. The institute provides scientists with 8-year renewable research terms without requiring external grant applications, allowing focus on fundamental research in neurodegeneration, cancer, and immune dysfunction. Other donors include Vitalik Buterin, John Collison, Ron Conway, Dustin Moskovitz, and Cari Tuna.

In November 2021, OpenAI contracted Sama to hire Kenyan data labelers to remove toxic content from ChatGPT training data. Despite OpenAI paying Sama $12.50/hour per worker, laborers received only $1.32-$2.00/hour. Workers were exposed to graphic content including child sexual abuse, bestiality, murder, and torture. Of 144 assessed workers, 81% were diagnosed with severe PTSD. Wellness counseling was limited due to productivity demands. Sama canceled the contract in March 2022, eight months early, then retrenched 200 employees. In July 2023, four workers petitioned Kenya's National Assembly for investigation.

In 2021, Signal received a federal grand jury subpoena from the Central District of California. Signal's court filing showed it could only provide two pieces of information: account creation timestamp and last connection date. No message content, contacts, groups, or profile information was available, validating their privacy-first architecture.

In October 2021, Microsoft became the first major U.S. tech manufacturer to commit to right-to-repair following shareholder resolution pressure from As You Sow. The company agreed to complete a third-party study on repair impacts, expand availability of parts and repair documentation beyond authorized service providers for Surface devices and Xbox consoles, and provide new mechanisms to increase consumer access to repair by the end of 2022. Microsoft subsequently shifted to neutral and supportive positions on state right-to-repair legislation in Washington (2022-2023).