Facebook whistleblower on Big Tech breakups, Section 230 and the fight against bot networks

A former Facebook data scientist who became a whistleblower on her way out of the company last September is calling for more transparency and oversight of social media giants while arguing in favor of keeping the controversial Section 230 clause in place.

"It’s certainly true that social media is a natural monopoly because people look for social media networks that all their friends are on," Sophie Zhang told FOX Business Friday. "And that means that once there’s an established company, it’s really hard to introduce a competitor." READ MORE

Why Employee Performance Management Fails (and Possible Solutions)

An employee performance management process is one of the oldest, natural and most universal forms of creating a conducive environment in an organization. It’s a continuous process to build a competitive atmosphere where people develop a sense of purpose and thrive. Studies, however, show that a critically high percentage of companies and workers claim to be dissatisfied with their existing performance management system. Without a doubt, rethinking performance management needs to be at the top of executive teams’ agenda today. To help companies overcome existing inefficiencies, we’ve listed a few reasons why employee performance management fails and what we can do to help people perform their job to the best of their ability. READ MORE

I mandated vaccines for my business. Here's how it has paid off

This past spring, I established a rule requiring all 150 of my employees to be fully vaccinated against Covid, regardless of where they are working. Although our employees have been allowed to continue working from home, all of them need to be able to attend a meeting at the office if they're called in. That meant mandating vaccines for everyone, unless they had a medical exemption from a doctor.

I also made the same rule for anyone else who wishes to visit our facilities. This includes representatives of businesses that might want to buy parts from us and wish to see our work in action. It also includes investors and contractors. READ MORE

Why Managers Fear a Remote-Work Future

In 2019, Steven Spielberg called for a ban on Oscar eligibility for streaming films, claiming that “movie theaters need to be around forever” and that audiences had to be given “the motion picture theatrical experience” for a movie to be a movie. Spielberg’s fury was about not only the threat that streaming posed to the in-person viewing experience but the ways in which the streaming giant Netflix reported theatrical grosses and budgets, despite these not being the ways in which one evaluates whether a movie is good or not. Netflix held firm, saying that it stood for “everyone, everywhere [enjoying] releases at the same time,” and for “giving filmmakers more ways to share art.” Ultimately, Spielberg balked, and last month his company even signed a deal with Netflix, likely because he now sees the writing on the wall: Modern audiences enjoy watching movies at home. READ MORE

Energy expert warns of ‘serious oil crisis’ within next five years

Maglan Capital President David Tawil argued on "Mornings with Maria" on Thursday that "with respect to oil supply, the rush for the exit doors is getting really serious" amid "strong demand" with the reopening of economies, which could soon lead to "a serious oil crisis in this world." 

The energy expert has been bullish on oil for the past couple of months, and told "Mornings with Maria" in June that he expects oil prices to hit $100 per barrel before the end of 2021. On Thursday, he told host Maria Bartiromo that he believes his projection still holds true, adding that it will happen sooner rather than later.  READ MORE

Intel CEO says chip shortage could last until 2023

One of the leading voices in the semiconductor industry sees the chip-supply problems stretching as far as 2023.

It could take one or two years to get back to a reasonable supply-and-demand balance in the semiconductor industry, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal after the company posted second-quarter earnings on Thursday. "We have a long way to go yet," he said. "It just takes a long time to build [manufacturing] capacity." READ MORE

Identifying the root of employee underperformance

For most professionals, performance management evokes thoughts of feedback, weekly check-in’s, annual reviews and key performance indicators that measure productivity, efficiency and ability. While these activities and outcomes are important, they do not provide a clear story about what causes an employee to underperform or what intervention is best for improving the employee’s performance. READ MORE

SEC Rule 10b5-1: Trading Plans, Recent Lessons and Likely Reforms to Come

Last month, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released its 2021 regulatory agenda that included the affirmative defense provisions of Rule 10b5-1 among the areas in which the agency may take additional rulemaking action.1 This release followed an announcement by SEC Chairman Gary Gensler (“Gensler”) on June 7, 2021, that he had directed SEC staff to consider both tougher restrictions on securities trading by corporate insiders pursuant to Rule 10b5-1 trading plans and increased transparency for such trading. Gensler expressed his concern that abuse of Rule 10b5-1 plans has led to a gap in insider trading laws and undermines investor confidence in the markets. READ MORE

Parler Parler CEO: Big Tech's COVID censorship – it's so much worse than we thought

Over the past year, examples of Big Tech censorship have multiplied, particularly around the topic of COVID-19. Questioning the wisdom of forcing children to wear masks, or even sharing news articles that challenged social distancing rules were enough to engage the social media giants’ censors. Facebook, Twitter, and others flagged posts, blocked certain content, and even banned some users for daring to question the established positions. READ MORE

What it's really like to negotiate with ransomware attackers

The most critical moment in a ransomware negotiation usually comes long before the victim and the hackers discuss a price.

By the time the two sides start talking, the hackers have already gained significant control of a company's network, most likely securing access to sensitive account data, business contracts, and other key details of an organization. The more they steal, the greater the leverage they have. READ MORE

No Total Ban on Non-Competes Expected, Despite Biden Executive Order

A presidential executive order issued late Friday raised expectations among lawyers and recruiters that the federal government will soon make it harder for employers to enforce employment agreements’ non-compete provisions.

But that doesn’t mean the government will necessarily ban the tactics entirely, or drill down specifically on ones commonly used by firms in the advisory industry, including non-solicitation clauses. READ MORE

Authors of new book depict 'Facebook's dilemma and its ugly truth'

With scrutiny of Big Tech intensifying every single week, an ambitious new book is measuring Facebook's missteps and miseries. As the title indicates, it's not pretty.

"An Ugly Truth" is the name of the book, co-authored by Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang, both of whom report for the NYT. The book comes out on Tuesday. As I perused an early copy, I was struck by the vastness of the story. Facebook is, as Kang and Frenkel write, an "unstoppable profit-making machine," affecting all of Earth, from the US to Myanmar. The authors have produced a valuable record of what went wrong, when, where, why, specifically in the last five years. READ MORE

Bill Gates was 'total a**hole' at Sun Valley...

Bill Gates opened up about his messy divorce at the exclusive Allen & Co. “summer camp for billionaires” last week in an “emotional” session that one attendee said had the Microsoft founder on the verge of tears.

During an “off the record” Q&A session that followed Gate’s talk on climate change, CNBC host Becky Quick asked the billionaire about his divorce from Melinda, his wife of 27 years, and the future of the Gates Foundation.  READ MORE