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In July 2021, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard following a two-year investigation. The complaint alleged CEO Bobby Kotick oversaw a company that fostered a sexist frat boy culture where women were subjected to groping, unwanted advances, unequal pay, and retaliation for complaints. Women were reportedly paid less, given fewer stock options, and passed over for promotions.

In July 2021, a consortium of 17 media organizations led by Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International published the Pegasus Project, revealing a leaked list of 50,000+ phone numbers believed to have been identified as persons of interest by NSO Group clients since 2016. Targets included at least 189 journalists, 85 human rights activists, 65 business executives, and 600+ politicians and government officials across more than 50 countries. NSO clients were identified in 11 countries including Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Togo, and the UAE.

In 2021, Framework Computer launched the Framework Laptop, a fully modular and repairable laptop that earned a perfect 10/10 repairability score from iFixit. The laptop features user-replaceable components including ports, keyboard, battery, display, and mainboard, challenging the industry trend toward non-repairable devices.

In June 2021, PayPal announced a more than $100 million commitment to advance financial inclusion and economic empowerment for women and girls globally. This included depositing $100 million of corporate capital into investment funds and depository institutions led by women or focused on serving women, plus $7 million in partnerships to increase access to microloans for women entrepreneurs.

A 2021 study by Fight for the Future and GreatFire found Saudi Arabia has the most LGBTQ+-related applications unavailable in Apple's App Store globally, with 28 apps missing. The study documented 1,377 cases of LGBTQ+ app access restrictions across 152 App Stores worldwide. Apple complies with local content laws despite stated commitments to an 'open society.'

As FTC Chair (2021-2025), Lina Khan pursued landmark antitrust cases against Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft. She filed a monopoly lawsuit against Amazon alleging anticompetitive practices harming sellers and consumers, sued to block Microsoft's $69B Activision acquisition (ultimately lost), and pursued Meta's acquisition of Within (VR fitness). She also enacted a ban on noncompete clauses and strengthened merger guidelines.

ProPublica's 2021 'Secret IRS Files' investigation revealed that Jeff Bezos paid zero in federal income taxes in 2007 and 2011 despite his fortune growing by billions. In 2011, with wealth of $18 billion, Bezos reported a net loss and claimed a $4,000 child tax credit. His long-term strategy of taking minimal salary ($80,000/year) while borrowing against stock avoided income tax on appreciation. In 2024, when he sold $13.6 billion in Amazon stock, his effective annual tax rate was approximately 2.5%. Between 2006 and 2018, Bezos paid $1.4 billion in federal taxes while his wealth increased by $127 billion.

Since 2021, Adobe and the Adobe Foundation launched the Equity and Advancement Initiative (EAI) to address educational inequities and promote diversity in tech and creative industries. The Foundation partnered with 11 nonprofit organizations addressing social and racial justice issues, donating $30 million plus Adobe product donations. In 2024, the Foundation announced an additional $5 million in continued fourth-year funding. Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen joined CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, and the company became a founding member of Parity.org.

In 2021, QuaDream began working with Saudi Arabia following the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Riyadh reportedly lost its NSO Pegasus license after it was allegedly used in the lead-up to Khashoggi's 2018 murder. QuaDream filled the gap with its REIGN spyware capable of zero-click iPhone exploits.

The Linux Foundation established multiple diversity and inclusion initiatives including the Software Developer Diversity and Inclusion (SDDI) project to research and promote best practices for increasing diversity in software engineering, the LiFT Scholarship Program providing free training and certification to underrepresented individuals, and the Inclusive Naming Initiative launched at KubeCon to standardize inclusive language across the industry. Over 100,000 women took LF's free MOOCs. In March 2024, OpenSSF and LF Training announced scholarships for 250 women in Jordan for cybersecurity training in collaboration with the US White House.

Multiple former employees including hardware developer Jeri Ellsworth revealed a hidden management layer behind Valve's publicly touted flat hierarchy. Stack ranking peer reviews reinforce biases and discourage risk-taking. Employees compared the workplace to 'Lord of the Flies' in a People Make Games investigation. Firings are peer-driven with no formal process or transparency.

In 2021, Tim Cook joined Dan Reynolds and Ryan Smith in donating $4 million to build eight new Encircle homes across the United States, each serving approximately 10,000 LGBTQ+ youth annually. Encircle provides therapy, community support, and safe spaces for LGBTQ+ young people and their families.

Spotify has made ongoing accessibility investments including auto-generated podcast transcripts (launched 2021, expanded since), improved screen reader and VoiceOver support, text resizing options, and enhanced button readability on mobile. The company maintains an internal Accessibility Guild with the mission to create inclusive experiences for all users, and published a public Accessibility Center.

In May 2021, Gigabyte published promotional content for its Aero laptop series that mocked Chinese manufacturing, implying inferior quality compared to products made elsewhere. The backlash was severe in China, with products pulled from major retailers JD.com and Suning.com. Gigabyte's share price dropped significantly, losing approximately $550 million in market value. The company issued an apology calling the statement 'false' and inconsistent with its actual manufacturing practices.

Reports from People Make Games and GameSpot in 2021 revealed Valve leadership blocked internal diversity efforts and prevented the company from making a Black Lives Matter statement. Multiple former employees described severe lack of diversity, with one stating 'there was never more than one female programmer at the company' during their tenure.

Bill Gates met multiple times with Jeffrey Epstein between 2011 and 2014, after Epstein's 2008 sex offender conviction. Gates visited Epstein's Manhattan mansion and flew on Epstein's private jet. Gates initially minimized the relationship, claiming no 'business relationship or friendship.' In 2021, it emerged the meetings were more extensive. Gates has since repeatedly apologized, calling it 'foolish' and 'a huge mistake.' Melinda French Gates cited the Epstein association as contributing to their divorce, calling Epstein 'evil personified.'

The Wikimedia Foundation paid departing CEO Katherine Maher a severance package of $623,286 (about 1.5x her base compensation). Analysis showed total executive compensation from 2017-2022 placed WMF executives 'above the 95th percentile of US wage earners,' raising concerns about nonprofit governance.

On April 26, 2021, Apple launched App Tracking Transparency (ATT) in iOS 14.5, requiring all apps to explicitly ask users for permission before tracking them across other apps and websites. Up to 96% of US users opted out. Facebook estimated the change cost it ~$10 billion in 2022 revenue and launched a public campaign against Apple, claiming ATT would hurt small businesses. The feature fundamentally reshaped the digital advertising industry by giving users control over cross-app tracking.

In April 2021, Basecamp/37signals co-founders announced a ban on societal political discussions in company tools and dissolved the DEI advisory council. The changes followed the discovery of a list of 'funny customer names' maintained by employees. Approximately one-third of the company (20+ of 58 employees) accepted buyout packages and left, including the heads of design, marketing, and customer support.

In April-May 2021, Bill Gates personally opposed waiving TRIPS intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines, arguing that vaccine factory capacity, not patents, was the bottleneck. Gates lobbied US Trade Representative Katherine Tai against the waiver. Critics noted the Gates Foundation had earlier convinced Oxford University to partner exclusively with AstraZeneca rather than sharing its vaccine formula through an open license. The Foundation reversed course in May 2021, stating support for a narrow waiver during the pandemic.

China fined Alibaba $2.8 billion (18.2 billion yuan), representing 4% of 2019 sales, for antitrust violations. Investigation focused on forcing merchants to choose exclusively between platforms ('pick one of two'), stifling competition. Alibaba's market share exceeded 50% on Taobao and Tmall from 2015-2019. The antitrust review ended in August 2024 after more than three years.

Logitech announced in 2021 that it was discontinuing the Harmony line of universal remote controls, and later shut down the cloud services required for device setup and some features. Critics argued this was planned obsolescence, as the devices depended on cloud connectivity for configuration. While existing remotes continued working for basic functions, new setup and some smart home integrations became impossible.

Under Jeff Bezos's leadership as CEO (through July 2021) and executive chairman, Amazon deployed aggressive tactics to prevent warehouse workers from organizing, including captive audience meetings, anti-union consultants, and surveillance of European warehouse employees. The NLRB ordered a re-run of the 2021 Bessemer, Alabama union vote after finding Amazon improperly interfered. Senators Warren and Sanders wrote to Bezos about Amazon's 'potentially illegal anti-union behavior.' Amazon spent millions on union-busting efforts while workers reported mandatory overtime, intense surveillance, and break-neck production targets.

In April 2021, Signal integrated MobileCoin (MOB) cryptocurrency for payments within the app. Critics noted that Signal CEO Moxie Marlinspike was an early advisor to MobileCoin and was paid in MOB tokens, creating a potential conflict of interest. The MOB token price surged after the announcement. Privacy advocates questioned adding a privacy-coin to a messaging app.

DeepMind's AI technology is part of Google's Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with the Israeli government including its defense establishment. Internal Google documents show the company knew it couldn't control how Israel would use the technology. The contract forbids Google from denying service to any Israeli government entities, including its military.

In March 2021, major institutional investors including Aberdeen Standard, Aviva, Legal & General, M&G, and others managing over £800bn boycotted Deliveroo's IPO citing worker rights concerns. Aberdeen Standard called rider conditions a 'red flag'. The IWGB union reported riders earning as little as £2/hour while Shu stood to net up to £530 million. Shares crashed 30% on opening day - the worst London debut in two decades. Riders went on strike during the IPO.

In March 2021, Microsoft was awarded a 10-year contract worth up to $21.9 billion to supply the US Army with 120,000+ HoloLens-based IVAS (Integrated Visual Augmentation System) augmented reality headsets for combat use. Over 250 employees had signed a 2019 petition opposing the contract, saying they 'didn't want to become war profiteers.' CEO Nadella defended the contract. The program faced technical issues with soldiers reporting nausea and headaches, and Microsoft eventually transferred hardware development to Anduril in February 2025.

In 2021, Amazon conducted an aggressive anti-union campaign at its Bessemer, Alabama warehouse (BHM1) during RWDSU union elections. The NLRB found Amazon violated labor law through mandatory 'captive audience' meetings, improper polling of employees, threats about facility closure, and installing a mailbox that created the appearance of election irregularity. The first election was invalidated; a second vote in 2022 also rejected unionization amid continued objections.

In March 2021, the FSF quietly reinstated Richard Stallman to its board of directors, announced without prior notice to staff or the community at the LibrePlanet 2021 conference. Stallman had resigned in 2019 after making controversial comments defending Marvin Minsky in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. The reinstatement triggered massive backlash: an open letter with 3000+ signatures demanded removal of Stallman and the entire board. Over 41 organizations including Red Hat, Mozilla, GNOME Foundation, EFF, SUSE, and Software Freedom Conservancy condemned the decision. Red Hat suspended all FSF funding. Three senior staff (executive director, deputy director, CTO) and board member Kat Walsh resigned in protest. The FSF board doubled down in April 2021, defending the decision.

In March 2021, Stallman was reinstated to the FSF board of directors despite an open letter signed by thousands opposing his return. Major organizations including Red Hat, EFF, FSFE, and Software Freedom Conservancy withdrew support or condemned the decision, citing his history of problematic behavior.