Incidents and actions from tracked entities.
In January 2021, China's propaganda arm ordered news outlets to strictly echo official line on Alibaba's antitrust probe, prohibiting original reporting and extended analysis. The restrictions also applied to coverage of Jack Ma. State directive required media to limit reporting on regulatory actions against the company.
On January 7, 2021, programmer Wang Taixu posted a photo of a colleague being taken to hospital by ambulance at Pinduoduo's Shanghai headquarters. The post went viral on Maimai social platform. Pinduoduo fired Wang the next day. He continued speaking out about 300-380 hour monthly requirements, with his vlog receiving 94,000 comments mostly supporting him and criticizing the company's retaliation.
On January 7, 2021, Wang Taixu witnessed a colleague taken away by ambulance at Pinduoduo's Shanghai headquarters and anonymously posted a photo on Maimai social platform. Pinduoduo fired him the next day. Wang continued speaking out via 15-minute Bilibili vlog exposing that Shanghai headquarters employees work over 300 hours/month and grocery unit workers over 380 hours/month. His video received 94,000 comments with top-voted expressing support and criticizing overwork culture.
On the All-In Podcast immediately after January 6, 2021, Sacks said Trump had 'disqualified himself from being a candidate at a national level again.' He described Jan 6 as a 'disaster' and when asked if Trump was responsible, said 'One hundred percent yes.' This position represented a clear break from Trump, whom Sacks would later fully endorse in 2024 after political evolution from moderate (donated to Hillary Clinton 2016, Gavin Newsom 2018) to MAGA supporter.
In January 2021, WhatsApp announced mandatory data sharing with Meta including metadata, phone numbers, IP addresses, contacts, and app usage data - removing previous opt-out option. Users had until February 8 to accept or face account deletion. Led to 4,200% spike in Signal downloads, Competition Commission of India investigation, and Rs. 213.14 crore (~$26M) fine for violating Competition Act. Policy discriminated against Indian users compared to EU users under GDPR protections. Delayed to May 2021 after backlash.
As YC's Managing Director, Seibel led efforts to significantly increase diversity among YC-funded startups. Under his leadership from 2014-2024, YC funded over 500 female founders, 200+ Black founders, and approximately 300 Latine founders. He stated 'You change the stats by funding people.'
In 2021, Hinrikus co-founded kood/Jõhvi, a free coding school in northeastern Estonia with no teachers, no classes, but 100% peer-to-peer coding education. The school raised €2.3 million from private and government funds. By 2025, 1,100 students had enrolled across six cohorts, with over 300 graduates and nearly two-thirds now working in tech. The school has expanded internationally to Ukraine, Kenya, and Finland. Hinrikus serves as chairman of the kood/Jõhvi council.
NHS Digital chief Juliet Bauer praised Kry in a newspaper article before publicly announcing she had accepted a job at the company. MP Meg Hillier raised concerns about transparency and potential conflicts of interest regarding the timing of the praise and subsequent employment announcement.
SpaceX's Starshield program provides classified military satellite capabilities to the NRO, Space Force, and Space Development Agency. The program includes target tracking, optical and radio reconnaissance, and early missile warning capabilities. SpaceX secured a $1.8 billion classified NRO contract in 2021 and a $5.9 billion Space Force contract in 2025. As of 2025, at least 183 Starshield satellites have been launched, with plans to deploy 100+ more by 2029.
A data breach exposed personally identifiable information including usernames, phone numbers, and email addresses, with 11 billion data points exposed affecting millions of users. In January 2021, Wall Street Journal reported Chinese regulators tried to make Ant share troves of Alipay data used by over a billion people, including spending habits, borrowing behaviors, and payment histories. Jack Ma had resisted authorities' attempts to access the data.
Logitech launched its carbon transparency initiative, becoming the first major consumer electronics company to include carbon impact labels on all product packaging. The program, announced in 2020 and rolled out through 2021, uses lifecycle analysis to calculate and disclose the carbon footprint of each product, similar to nutrition labels on food. The company committed to carbon neutrality across its operations.
Daniela Amodei departed OpenAI in December 2020 along with her brother Dario and five other researchers to found Anthropic in January 2021. The departure was driven by philosophical differences about prioritizing safety over rapid commercialization. Anthropic was structured as a Delaware public benefit corporation with a Long-Term Benefit Trust governance structure designed to prioritize safety.
Razer launched #GoGreenWithRazer 10-year roadmap in 2021 with net-zero 2030 targets validated by Science Based Targets initiative (1.5°C pathway). Achieved 100% renewable energy for corporate offices three years ahead of schedule. Manufacturing uses up to 85% recycled materials. Products like DeathAdder V2 X earned UL 2809 ECOLOGO certification. Partnership with Conservation International protects ~4,000 acres of forest.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has given more than $500 million in grants to protect over 400 million hectares of historic forest cover in the Andes-Amazon region including Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and Suriname. Additionally, the foundation gave $395 million to Conservation International, the largest gift ever to a private conservation organization.
The US Commerce Department added DJI to its Entity List in December 2020, restricting American companies from selling technology to DJI, citing the company's role in enabling surveillance and human rights abuses in China.
In December 2020, DJI was added to the US Commerce Department Entity List due to its role in enabling surveillance of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. The US Army had already banned DJI drones in 2017. In 2021 the Treasury added investment restrictions, and in 2022 the DoD added DJI to its PLA-linked company list. A January 2024 CISA/FBI bulletin cited data collection risks and China's National Intelligence Law requiring company cooperation with state intelligence. DJI controls approximately 80% of the US commercial drone market. In December 2025 the FCC banned new DJI models from obtaining authorization.
On December 10, 2020, French national team footballer Antoine Griezmann announced to his 30+ million Instagram followers the immediate termination of his four-year Huawei brand ambassadorship (which began 2017). He stated: 'Following strong suspicions that the Huawei company has contributed to the development of a 'Uighur alert' thanks to facial recognition software, I am announcing the immediate termination of my partnership.' Contract was being negotiated for two-year extension.
Starting December 9, 2020 when states certified the election, YouTube prohibited content alleging election fraud. Removed multiple videos from Trump's channel and suspended it in January 2021 for violating these policies.
In December 2020, Google fired Timnit Gebru, co-lead of its Ethical AI team, after she refused to retract her name from a paper ('On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots') that detailed risks of large language models. Over 2,600 Google employees and 4,000 external AI researchers signed a protest letter. Google subsequently fired Margaret Mitchell, the other Ethical AI co-lead, in February 2021. The incident demonstrated corporate pressure to suppress inconvenient AI safety research.
In December 2020, Google terminated Timnit Gebru, the technical co-lead of its Ethical AI team, over a disagreement about a research paper scrutinizing bias in large language models. Google maintained Gebru resigned; Gebru says she was fired. Over 2,278 Google employees and 3,114 industry allies signed a petition protesting her departure. Pichai apologized for the process in an internal memo but did not reverse the outcome. Congressional representatives demanded answers from Google about the firing.
In December 2020, Google fired AI ethics researcher Timnit Gebru after she co-authored 'On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots,' a paper highlighting risks of large language models including environmental costs, encoded biases, and the inability to understand language. Google demanded she retract the paper or remove her name; she refused. Her firing sparked widespread outrage in the AI research community, with thousands of Google employees and researchers signing open letters of protest.
CEO Niklas Östberg told Business Insider December 2020: 'I'm not a fan of collective wages' and advocated for 'individual salary negotiations.' Company actively tried to prevent works councils from forming in Germany. In Münster 2018, Delivery Hero tried to prevent works council election at Foodora, forcing union NGG to take legal action. Members of Bundestag were 'outraged' and attacked Östberg over anti-union stance. Despite resistance, SE Works Council eventually established April 2018 after 'months of tough negotiations.' Company refused to pay collectively agreed wages and gave drivers little co-determination rights.
In December 2020, Sequoia Capital published a formal commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, including NAACP donation matching and internal programs like Team Member Resource Groups focused on intersectionality. This followed the 2016 hiring of Jess Lee as the firm's first female investing partner in the US in its 44-year history. In 2020, the firm also hired Luciana Lixandru as its first partner based in Europe. However, World Benchmarking Alliance assessments noted limited public disclosure on gender equality targets, women in leadership proportions, and gender pay gaps.
In November 2020, it was revealed that Apple lobbyists worked to weaken the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, proposing to extend compliance deadlines and limit public disclosure requirements. Apple spent $90,000 on lobbying related to the bill. This contradicted Cook's July 2020 congressional testimony where he called forced labor 'abhorrent' and pledged zero tolerance for supply chain abuses.
Jack Ma publicly criticized Chinese regulators at the Bund Financial Summit on October 24, 2020, stating banks have a 'pawnshop mentality' and calling regulators an 'old people's club.' Days later, Ant Group's $37 billion IPO—what would have been the world's largest—was suspended on November 3, 2020. Xi Jinping personally ordered the suspension after the criticism reached him. Ma, Eric Jing, and Simon Hu were summoned by regulators on November 2.
In November 2020, Uber alongside Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and Postmates spent a combined $200+ million to pass California Proposition 22, making it the most expensive ballot measure in California history. Prop 22 created a carve-out from AB5 allowing gig companies to classify drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, denying them full minimum wage guarantees, overtime pay, sick leave, unemployment insurance, and workers' compensation. Uber was the largest single contributor at approximately $57 million.
DoorDash contributed $52.1 million to the Yes on Proposition 22 campaign in 2020, making it the second-largest corporate funder after Uber. The ballot measure, which passed with 59% of the vote, granted app-based delivery and transportation companies an exemption from Assembly Bill 5 by classifying their drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. The total industry spending on Prop 22 reached $205 million, the most ever spent on a California ballot initiative. The campaign included in-app messaging, billboards, digital and print ads, and pro-Prop 22 delivery bags sent to restaurants.
On November 3, 2020, China's President Xi Jinping personally ordered regulators to suspend Ant Group's initial public offering, which was scheduled for November 5. The $37B deal would have been the world's largest-ever IPO, valuing Ant at $314 billion. The suspension came days after Jack Ma's October 24 speech criticizing financial regulators. Regulators summoned Ma and Ant executives, citing concerns about microlending practices. The decision was widely viewed as political retaliation.
In November 2020, Uber along with Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart spent over $200 million - the most expensive ballot measure campaign in US history - to pass California Proposition 22. The measure exempted app-based rideshare and delivery companies from AB 5, which would have required them to classify workers as employees with benefits. Prop 22 passed but provides fewer protections than employee status. Workers continued striking through 2021 over low pay, with some DoorDash orders paying as low as $2 base before tips.
Jack Ma made no public appearances from November 2020 to January 2021 following regulatory criticism. His net worth fell from $61.2 billion peak in 2020 to approximately $30 billion by 2023. Financial Times reported Ma lived in Tokyo for nearly six months after Beijing's crackdown. He became University of Tokyo visiting professor (May 2023-October 2024) focusing on sustainable agriculture, maintaining low profile.