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In 2020, LinkedIn committed to doubling the number of Black and Latino leaders, managers, and senior individual contributors within five years. By FY2022, LinkedIn exceeded its Black senior employee target with 127% growth and achieved 74% growth for senior Latino employees. Black employee representation rose to 7.2% (up over 50% in a single year), Latino representation reached 7.4%, women in technical roles reached 27.8%, and the global workforce reached 47% women. LinkedIn also achieved no gaps in attrition rates for Black and Latino employees or women in leadership for the first time.

In October 2020, Palmer Luckey hosted a fundraiser for Donald Trump's re-election campaign at his home in Lido Isle, Newport Beach, California, with the president in attendance. Ticket prices ranged from $2,800 per person to $150,000 per couple. Luckey also donated $200,000 to Take Back the House 2020 PAC, $106,500 to the RNC, and $150,000 to the Trump Victory fund in the same cycle.

In September 2020, Brian Armstrong declared Coinbase a 'Mission Focused Company' and banned employee activism and political discussions. He offered severance to those who disagreed; 60 employees (5%) left. Black, Latinx, LGBTQ, and female employees had reported hostile conditions. Women were paid 8% less and Black employees 7% less than peers.

In September 2020, Greylock Partners partnered with Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) to address diversity and inclusion in tech. The partnership connected MLT's network of ~8,000 Black, Latinx, and Indigenous professionals with roles at Greylock portfolio companies, supported retention, and helped MLT professionals pursue careers in venture capital. Partner David Sze acknowledged VCs and startups had been 'really bad at getting this right.'

CEO Brian Armstrong wrote a blog post in September 2020 declaring Coinbase a 'Mission Focused Company,' discouraging employee discussion of political and social issues at work. He stated it 'would go against our principles of inclusion and belonging to be more of an activist company on issues outside of our core mission.' The company offered severance packages; 60 employees (5% of company) left. A November 2020 NYT article cited 23 current and former staff with complaints, including allegations Black employees were paid 7% less than white colleagues and women were paid 8% less than men.

In September 2020, Stripe settled with the Massachusetts Attorney General for $120,000 over allegations that its risk monitoring and fraud prevention practices were inadequate, enabling the fraudulent PlexCoin ICO. Between August and September 2017, PlexCorps held six Stripe accounts used to obtain millions of dollars. The AG alleged Stripe knew or should have known of the fraud in time to prevent harm to 22 Massachusetts investors. Stripe terminated the accounts in September 2017 and subsequently bolstered its protections.

In September 2020, Meta/Facebook announced Quest 2 would require mandatory Facebook account login with real name policy, eliminating ability to use VR anonymously. Automated verification system falsely banned legitimate users, leaving $300+ devices unusable as 'paperweights.' Policy forced users to link personal Facebook data to VR biometric data. Criticized by EFF and Mozilla Foundation. Meta reversed policy in August 2022 after two years of user backlash, allowing Meta accounts without Facebook connection.

In 2020, security researcher Volodymyr Diachenko discovered that Razer had left an Elasticsearch server misconfigured and publicly accessible, exposing the personal information of approximately 100,000 customers. Leaked data included full names, email addresses, phone numbers, customer IDs, order numbers, and billing/shipping addresses. Razer initially took weeks to respond before securing the server.

In September 2020, Netflix faced massive backlash over its promotional poster for the French film 'Cuties' (Mignonnes) which was widely considered to sexualize child actors. #CancelNetflix trended on Twitter and over 600,000 people signed a petition to cancel subscriptions. Netflix apologized for the 'inappropriate artwork.' Internal documents later revealed Netflix manipulated its search algorithm to suppress promotion and search queries related to the film, aiming to 'minimize press coverage' rather than address the concerns transparently.

In its Fund 16 raise, Greylock Partners made the deliberate decision to only add new limited partners (LPs) with a specific focus on diversity and inclusion, including Management Leadership for Tomorrow. This was part of a broader effort to diversify tech's wealth cycle by ensuring that underrepresented communities could participate as investors in venture capital, not just as employees. The firm also partnered with Dreamscape to connect Black executives with leadership opportunities at portfolio companies.

Naval Ravikant gave permission for Eric Jorgenson to curate his tweets, essays, and podcast interviews into 'The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness,' published in 2020. Ravikant does not earn any money from the book, which is available for free download in PDF and e-reader formats. The book has been widely shared as a resource on wealth creation and personal philosophy.

The SEC charged Super Micro Computer and its former CFO and VP Controller with widespread accounting violations spanning from 2015 to 2017, including prematurely recognizing revenue, underreporting expenses, and circumventing internal controls. Supermicro paid a $17.5M penalty. The company was delisted from NASDAQ in 2018 and only relisted in 2020 after restating financials.

Republican Whitman spoke at the 2020 Democratic National Convention supporting Joe Biden's presidential campaign. She donated $505,600 to the Biden Victory Fund in June 2020. Biden later nominated her as US Ambassador to Kenya in December 2021, confirmed by Senate in July 2022.

In August 2020, Mozilla laid off approximately 250 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce. The cuts eliminated the entire Servo engine team, the threat management team, and parts of the developer tools team. Mozilla cited the economic impact of COVID-19 and the need to restructure around commercial revenue.

Mozilla conducted major layoffs under Mitchell Baker's leadership: approximately 250 employees in August 2020 (25% of workforce), and 60+ employees in February 2024. The cuts affected key teams including the Servo engine team, MDN documentation team, and threat management. These layoffs occurred while Baker's compensation remained high.

Rappi faced multiple worker strikes: August 2020 saw ~1,000 workers strike in Bogota over blocked accounts, low pay, and impossible point targets; December 2019 saw workers burn their orange merchandise outside headquarters demanding better conditions and occupational health coverage; July 2024 saw 100 workers protest at headquarters. Colombian Senator Robledo said conditions 'offend human dignity.'

New York Times reported Talkspace examined anonymized conversations between therapists and clients to extract marketing data. Ex-employees claimed data scientists analyzed client transcripts and marketing team used frequently used phrases from therapy sessions to improve targeting. In 2022, Senators Wyden, Warren, and Booker questioned Talkspace's data privacy practices and sharing of sensitive health information with Google and Facebook.

In July 2020, Apple committed to becoming carbon neutral across its entire supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, requiring 75% emissions reduction vs 2015 baseline. By 2025, Apple achieved a 60% reduction while revenue grew 65%. Over 320 suppliers (95% of manufacturing spend) committed to 100% renewable energy for Apple production. Apple reached 99% recycled rare earth elements in magnets and 99% recycled cobalt in batteries. Corporate operations have run on 100% renewable energy since 2014.

MSI CEO Charles Chiang, 56, died on July 7, 2020 after falling from the seventh floor of the company's headquarters building in Zhonghe District, New Taipei City. Police investigated the death. Chiang had been CEO since 2019 after serving as general manager.

On July 7, 2020, ByteDance announced it would withdraw TikTok from the Hong Kong market following the National Security Law's passage. A TikTok spokesperson stated users in Hong Kong would no longer be able to download or use the app. The withdrawal avoided putting ByteDance in the position of either refusing Chinese government data requests (risking mainland operations) or complying with requests that could identify protesters. This was notable given ByteDance's Chinese ownership and mainland China operations.

On July 6, 2020, Twitter announced it had 'suspended processing any requests from Hong Kong authorities' following the National Security Law's passage. Twitter's decision was part of a coordinated stand by major tech platforms refusing to comply with data requests that could be used to identify and prosecute pro-democracy activists. Twitter had historically been a key platform for Hong Kong protest organizing and had previously resisted Chinese government censorship demands.

On July 6, 2020, Google announced it would pause compliance with Hong Kong government data requests following China's implementation of the National Security Law on June 30, 2020. A Google spokesperson stated the company would 'continue to review the details of the new law' and its implications for user privacy and free expression. This pause prevented potential use of user data for political surveillance of activists, journalists, and protesters under the NSL's broad national security provisions.

On July 6, 2020, Facebook (now Meta) announced it would pause review of Hong Kong government data requests, including WhatsApp and Instagram, following the National Security Law's implementation. A spokesperson said Facebook would 'pause the review of government requests for user data from Hong Kong pending further assessment of the National Security Law.' The pause protected user data from potential political surveillance during a period when the NSL was being used to arrest pro-democracy activists and journalists.

Following the June 2020 implementation of Hong Kong's National Security Law, Zoom announced it would suspend responding to Hong Kong government requests for user data or content removal pending a human rights review. This decision came after Zoom faced criticism for shutting down accounts of US-based activists commemorating Tiananmen Square at China's request. The Hong Kong data pause was part of Zoom's effort to establish clearer human rights standards for government requests.

Between 2020 and 2022, Apple removed at least 53 VPN applications from the Hong Kong App Store, following China's implementation of the National Security Law in Hong Kong in June 2020. VPN apps allow users to circumvent government censorship and surveillance. Apple cited compliance with local law, but the removals prevent Hong Kong residents from accessing uncensored internet and protecting their privacy from state surveillance. Apps remained available in other regions.

Following the National Security Law's implementation in June 2020, Microsoft paused processing Hong Kong government data requests and stopped releasing Hong Kong-specific data in its Law Enforcement Requests Report. Microsoft stated it would 'not comply with requests related to the new security law until we are confident we can do so in a manner that doesn't risk contravening our human rights commitments.' This positioned Microsoft alongside other major tech firms resisting potential NSL abuse.

After the Hong Kong National Security Law was enacted in June 2020, Telegram announced it would not process Hong Kong government data requests. Telegram stated: 'Telegram has never shared any data with the Hong Kong authorities in the past and does not intend to process any data requests related to its Hong Kong users until an international consensus is reached in relation to the ongoing political changes in the city.' Telegram had been widely used by Hong Kong protesters for encrypted organizing.

After China imposed the National Security Law on Hong Kong in June 2020, major tech companies including Google, Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, Telegram, and Zoom announced they would pause processing Hong Kong government data requests pending human rights review. Apple did not join this pause and continued fulfilling requests. Between July 2020 and June 2021, Apple processed 91% of Hong Kong government data requests (4 out of 5 device requests, 5 out of 5 account requests), raising concerns about potential use for political surveillance of activists and journalists.

In June 2020, Reddit banned r/The_Donald, a pro-Trump subreddit with nearly 800,000 subscribers, along with approximately 2,000 other communities. The ban cited repeated policy violations including hosting and promoting hate speech and harassment campaigns.

In June 2020, Nadella announced $150 million in diversity and inclusion investment with the goal of doubling Black and African-American managers and senior leaders by 2025. The commitment included $100M for minority-owned banks, $50M for Black-owned small businesses, and $50M for justice reform initiatives.