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In 2012, Andrew Ng co-founded Coursera with Daphne Koller, creating the world's largest MOOC platform. His Machine Learning course has reached over 4.8 million learners alone, and the platform now serves over 100 million learners globally, removing geographic and economic barriers to higher education.

Gordon and Betty Moore signed the Giving Pledge in 2012, committing to give away at least half their wealth. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation has donated more than $5.1 billion to charitable causes since its founding in 2000. In their pledge letter, they noted: 'In 2001 we devoted half of our wealth to create a foundation that would take risks in order to innovate and achieve meaningful results.'

The Open Data Institute has championed open government data since 2012, helping create data.gov.uk and similar initiatives worldwide. In October 2024, ODI took stewardship of the Solid Project from Berners-Lee to continue work on decentralized data architectures that give individuals control over their information.

Hashimoto co-founded HashiCorp in 2012 and created widely-used infrastructure tools including Terraform, Vagrant, Vault, Consul, and Nomad, all initially released as open source under the Mozilla Public License. These tools became foundational to modern DevOps and cloud infrastructure.

In 2011, Resig left a career in for-profit tech to join Khan Academy as Chief Software Architect, dedicating his technical skills to building free educational tools. Khan Academy provides free education to millions worldwide, and Resig has remained there for over a decade.

In 2011, Peter Thiel was granted New Zealand citizenship despite spending only 12 days in the country over the prior five years, far short of the required 1,350 days. Internal Affairs approved his application under a 'public interest' provision citing his investments and a $1M earthquake donation. Thiel stated he would continue residing in the US. The controversy, revealed publicly in 2017, raised questions about preferential treatment for billionaires. Former Minister Peter Dunne said there were 'no reasonable grounds' for granting the citizenship.

EFF created two widely-used privacy tools: HTTPS Everywhere (with the Tor Project), which automatically upgrades web connections to HTTPS, and Privacy Badger, which blocks invisible trackers. HTTPS Everywhere was installed by millions and helped push the web toward universal encryption. In 2022, EFF retired HTTPS Everywhere as major browsers had adopted HTTPS-by-default.

In 2011, Vinod and Neeru Khosla signed the Giving Pledge, committing to donate more than half their wealth to charity. Through their Amar Foundation (founded 1987), they have funded CK-12 Foundation (co-founded by Neeru in 2006), which provides free open-source textbooks and educational resources. By 2020, CK-12 had over 130 million students and teachers using its resources. The Amar Foundation donated at least $9 million to CK-12 in 2015, plus $2.7 million to IIT Delhi scholarships and $500,000 to Wikimedia Foundation.

In December 2010, PayPal permanently suspended WikiLeaks' donation account, citing violations of its acceptable use policy. PayPal VP Osama Bedier acknowledged a US State Department letter influenced the decision. The financial blockade by PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, and others destroyed 95% of WikiLeaks' revenue. Critics called it 'digital McCarthyism' and extrajudicial financial censorship.

On October 18, 2010, Gordon Moore donated $1 million to the 'No on Prop 23' campaign. Proposition 23 would have suspended California's Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) until unemployment dropped to 5.5% or below. The measure was defeated by 23%, protecting the state's greenhouse gas emission controls. This demonstrated Moore's strong support for climate legislation despite opposition from oil companies.

Dell and Michael Dell paid $100 million in 2010 to settle SEC charges that the company manipulated its accounting to meet Wall Street targets, including undisclosed payments from Intel totaling $4.3 billion over several years.

In 2010, Peter Thiel established the Thiel Fellowship through the Thiel Foundation, offering $100,000 over two years (later raised to $200,000) to 20 people under age 23 to leave college and pursue entrepreneurial ventures. The program has produced notable alumni including Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum), Dylan Field (Figma), and Lucy Guo (Scale AI), generating over $750 billion in value. While praised for supporting unconventional talent, it was also criticized by some educators.

In 2010, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett launched the Giving Pledge, a campaign encouraging the world's wealthiest individuals to commit more than half their wealth to philanthropic causes. As of 2025, over 250 signatories from 30 countries have joined. However, critics note the pledge is non-binding, and an IPS report found that few of the original 2010 pledgers have actually given away half their wealth, with Gates' own net worth more than doubling from $53B to over $115B since signing.

In 2010, fourteen workers at Foxconn factories in Shenzhen, China — Apple's primary manufacturing partner — died by suicide, with others making attempts. Investigations revealed harsh working conditions including excessive overtime, military-style management, cramped dormitories, and low pay. The crisis drew global attention to labor conditions in Apple's supply chain. Apple ordered an investigation and joined the Fair Labor Association, while Foxconn installed suicide prevention nets and raised wages. The incident became emblematic of the human cost of consumer electronics manufacturing.

Between January and November 2010, 18 Foxconn workers attempted suicide at the company's Shenzhen factory complex, with 14 deaths. Workers cited extreme work pressure, mandatory overtime, verbal abuse by supervisors, and social isolation in cramped dormitories. Foxconn's response included installing physical nets to catch jumpers and requiring workers to sign 'no suicide' pledges. The crisis drew international attention to electronics supply chain labor conditions.

Baidu routinely censors politically sensitive search results including content about Tiananmen Square, Tibet independence, Falun Gong, and other topics deemed sensitive by Chinese authorities.

Naval Ravikant co-founded AngelList in 2010 to connect startups with angel investors, addressing barriers that limited early-stage fundraising to Silicon Valley elites. The platform introduced syndicates (2013) and rolling funds (2020), enabling broader participation in venture investing. Over $3.5 billion has been invested via AngelList into 7,000+ startups, with 200+ reaching unicorn status. AngelList also spun off Republic in 2016 to enable non-accredited investor participation in startup equity crowdfunding.

After purchasing an 89-acre beachfront property in Half Moon Bay for $32.5 million in 2008, Khosla locked gates and hired security to block public access to Martins Beach, which had been open to the public for over 100 years. He fought the Surfrider Foundation through California courts and petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court twice (2018, 2023), losing both times. He reportedly preferred spending $10 million on litigation rather than $200 on a coastal development permit. Mississippi described his stance as prioritizing property rights over established public access.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) named Vinod Khosla a Champion of the Earth in 2010 for his vision and investment in clean energy technologies. The award recognized his approach of investing in high-risk 'black swan' technologies that could transform the energy sector, and his 'Chindia price' concept — the idea that clean energy solutions must be economically competitive without subsidies to achieve global adoption in China, India, and developing nations.

In 2010, Holz co-founded Leap Motion with Michael Buckwald, developing computer vision-based gesture recognition for human-computer interaction. Leap Motion Controller used infrared cameras to capture 3D hand movements, enabling precise contactless control without physical touch. Technology 'eliminates the need for fine motor control,' making it 'a great option for users with mobility impairments or other disabilities.' Created 'new levels of accessibility for students with special needs.' Supported projects like Diplopia (lazy eye treatment using VR), MotionSavvy (American Sign Language interpretation tablet), and Arabic Sign Language recognition achieving 89-96% accuracy. Controller shipped July 2013; company raised $45M from Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund. Sold to Ultrahaptics 2019 for $30M.

In November 2009, YouTube introduced automatic captions using speech recognition technology, initially for English-language content. The feature was led by Ken Harrenstien, a deaf Google engineer. While auto-captions had significant accuracy limitations (60-70% accuracy initially, improving over time), the feature represented a major step toward making the platform's massive video library accessible to deaf and hard-of-hearing users. YouTube subsequently expanded auto-captions to dozens of languages.

From 2009 to 2024, the World Wide Web Foundation advocated for treating internet access as a basic right and public good. During its operation, global internet connectivity increased from approximately 20% to over 70% of the world's population. The foundation launched the #ForTheWeb campaign (2018) and supported policies for affordable access, particularly in developing countries.

In September 2009, Khosla Ventures announced it had raised $1.1 billion in a 'green fund' for renewable energy and clean technology development. The fund was the largest clean technology fund launched since 2007 and one of the largest ever. $800 million was allocated for established technologies and $275 million for early-stage companies. By 2013, Khosla Ventures had invested in more than 70 cleantech companies.

In 2010, former housekeeper Nicky Diaz Santillan alleged Whitman knowingly employed her as an undocumented worker for 9 years, failed to pay full wages, denied maternity leave, and fired her in 2009 when she requested help obtaining citizenship. Santillan alleges Whitman said 'You don't know me, and I don't know you.' Evidence included a 2003 Social Security letter with note in husband's handwriting. Whitman settled wage claims for $5,500 without admitting wrongdoing.

Starting in 2007, Fei-Fei Li led the creation of ImageNet, a visual database of over 14 million labeled images that catalyzed the deep learning revolution. The ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge (ILSVRC) spurred breakthroughs including AlexNet in 2012. ImageNet became foundational to modern AI. However, the dataset later faced criticism for biased and offensive labels in person categories and privacy violations from using photos without consent. Li's team responded by removing 1,593 offensive person categories (54% of person categories) from the dataset.

Dahl created Node.js in 2009, revolutionizing server-side JavaScript. In 2018, he created Deno as a successor addressing Node's security shortcomings, featuring a secure-by-default permissions model where scripts cannot access files, network, or environment without explicit permission. Both projects are open source under MIT license.

The European Commission originally fined Intel EUR 1.06 billion in 2009 for abusing its dominant position in the x86 CPU market. Intel used hidden rebates and paid manufacturers (HP, Acer, Lenovo) to delay or stop production of AMD-powered products between 2002-2006. After lengthy legal challenges, the EU General Court upheld the ruling in December 2025 with a reduced fine of EUR 376 million (approximately $278M). The case remains one of the largest antitrust actions in the semiconductor industry.

In his April 2009 Cato Unbound essay "The Education of a Libertarian," Peter Thiel wrote that he "no longer believed that freedom and democracy are compatible." He also stated that the extension of voting rights to women made capitalist democracy an "oxymoron," arguing that welfare beneficiaries and women generally favor redistributive policies. The essay advocated for escape from politics through cyberspace, outer space, and seasteading.

In 2008, Brendan Eich donated $1,000 to support California Proposition 8, which sought to ban same-sex marriage. He also donated $2,100 to Prop 8 supporter Tom McClintock between 2008-2010. The donation became public in 2012 when it was uncovered in public donor records.

In 2008, Sacks founded Yammer, one of the first SaaS startups to apply consumer growth tactics to enterprise software. Yammer's viral approach made it one of the fastest-growing SaaS startups in history, reaching 8 million enterprise users in just four years. As Founder/CEO, Sacks grew the company to $60 million in revenue and 500 employees. Microsoft acquired Yammer in July 2012 for $1.2 billion as a core part of its cloud and social strategy, recognizing the platform's transformation of enterprise collaboration.