Silicon Valley Tech News Roundup – April 10th

Elon Musk spent $2.64 billion on Twitter shares – 4/10

Based on the SEC filing published on Tuesday, Elon Musk bought $2.64 billion worth of Twitter shares since the beginning of the year. It equals 9.2% ownership in the company or 73,115,038 shares. The shares were worth $3.73 billion at the close of trading on Tuesday.

The same day Parag Agrawal, the Twitter CEO, announced the company would appoint Musk to the Board of directors. In a tweet, Agrawal said: “Through conversations with Elon in recent weeks, it became clear to us that he would bring great value to our Board. He’s both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service which is exactly what we need on Twitter, and in the boardroom, to make us stronger in the long-term.”

On Saturday, Musk proposed several changes to the Twitter Blue subscription service available to users in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. The proposed changes include a lower subscription price (currently $2.99 a month) and banning ads. Musk would also like to see options to pay in local currency or dogecoin (cryptocurrency), and an authentication checkmark for subscribers.

Twitter did not respond to the request for comments.

The union claims Amazon illegally interfered in the union election in Alabama warehouse – 4/7

This Thursday, the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) filed 21 objections to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The RWDSU claims Amazon illegally interfered with the union election at the warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. The union objection states Amazon “created an atmosphere of confusion, coercion and/or fear of reprisals and thus interfered with the employees’ freedom of choice” to join or reject the union.

The NLRB tallied the votes, and the union supporters are trailing behind the anti-union side by 118 votes. However, there are 416 challenged ballots. The RWDSU filed the complaint a week after the NLRB finished the count. The NLRB will schedule a hearing.

The workers had the first union election in 2021 via mail ballot, and the NLRB concluded Amazon illegally interfered with the election. Following the second election, RWDSU filed 21 objections and claimed Amazon fired one employee outspoken about the support for the union and suspended another one. They also claim the company threatened to close the warehouse if the workers were unionized.

Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the RWDSU, stated: “Amazon’s behavior must not go unchallenged, and workers in Bessemer, Alabama must have their rights protected under the law.” Meanwhile, Kelly Nantel, Amazon spokesperson, said: ” We’ve said from the beginning that we want our employees’ voices to be heard, and we hope the NLRB counts every valid vote.”

Google blocks Duma’s YouTube channel – 4/9

This Saturday, Google blocked the Duma TV YouTube channel for violating its terms of service. In a story published by Reuters, the Google spokesperson confirmed the company “terminated” the Duma TV channel, which aired the parliament session. Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia.

In a statement, the Google spokesperson said: “If we find that an account violates our Terms of Service, we take appropriate action… Our teams are closely monitoring the situation for any updates and changes.” Furthermore, the company declared it is committed to complying with sanctions imposed on Russia.

Roskomnadzor, the Russian telecom regulator, criticized the decision and ordered Google to restore the channel immediately. The agency stated: “The American IT company adheres to a pronounced anti-Russian position in the information war unleashed by the West against our country.” Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said YouTube “signed its own warrant”.

Since the beginning of the Ukraine invasion, Russia blocked access to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Microsoft seizes Russian domains targeting Ukrainian, US, and EU organizations – 4/9

In a blog post published on Thursday, Microsoft announced it seized domains that belong to a Russian hacking group known as Strontium, Fancy Bear, or APT28. The group has ties with the Russian military intelligence agency. Microsoft claims the hackers used the domains to target Ukrainian media outlets, American and EU government institutions, and foreign policy think tanks.

Tom Burt, corporate vice president of customer security and trust for Microsoft, wrote in the blog post: “We believe Strontium was attempting to establish long-term access to the systems of its targets, provide tactical support for the physical invasion and exfiltrate sensitive information… We have notified Ukraine’s government about the activity we detected and the action we’ve taken.”

The company obtained a court order and took control of each of the seven domains. It then redirected them to a sinkhole, a server that gathers and analyzes malicious content. Before the latest seizure, Microsoft took down over 100 Fancy Bear-owned domains.

The hacking group previously launched cyberattacks on the Democratic National Committee in 2016. The authorities also linked the group with interference in the US election in 2020.