Weekly Update: June 6, 2020 - Chat, Personal Safety, Black Lives Matter

This has been an eventful week in the US, with protests against police brutality and racial injustice in all 50 states. With that as a backdrop, there have been few product updates. Most tech companies have made  statements of support, and some, including Google, have pledged to make platform changes and donate money or resources in support of the Black community. And yes, Black lives matter.

• YouTube has updated the information provided to Partners for monetization self-certification, providing detailed examples of what types of content can and cannot show ads.
• Google Chat - the successor to chat in classic Hangouts - is expanding to more G Suite customers. By switching to “Chat Preferred”, Chat replaces Hangouts in Gmail, and the Hangouts app and extension stop working. Hangouts can still be used at hangouts.google.com. Chat and Hangouts are interoperable for 1:1 discussions, and the classic Hangouts bot provides Hangouts notifications inside Chat. Chat isn’t available for personal Google accounts yet. Classic Hangouts will remain available until everyone has moved to Chat.
• Google+ is becoming Google Currents beginning July 6. Currents has been in beta since May 2019, shortly after the shutdown of consumer Google+. Currents is designed to be a business communication and collaboration tool. This is finally the end of Google+.
• There are new personal safety features on Pixel phones, including a Safety Check that schedules a check-in at a specific time (useful if you are walking alone at night, for example), and the option to be notified of natural disasters and public emergencies.
• Android wants to improve your sleep. The Android Digital Wellbeing app has a new Bedtime mode to help ease you into sleep, and you can set a bedtime reminder in YouTube. The Android Clock has a new Sunrise Alarm that helps gently ease you awake.
• Facebook has introduced a new “Manage Activity” page that lets you archive posts (rather than deleting them) and manage your content in bulk.
• WhatsApp video calls can now have up to 8 participants, up from the previous maximum of 4.
• Zoom got some negative attention when CEO Eric Yuan told investors that free accounts will not be getting end-to-end encryption, because they “want to work together with the FBI, with local law enforcement, in case some people use Zoom for a bad purpose.” They later clarified that this is to “balance the privacy of its users with the safety of vulnerable groups, including children and potential victims of hate crimes.” Paid users have a verified identity, which Zoom believes will limit harm to those vulnerable groups.
• If end-to-end encryption is important to you, Signal is a popular communication option, and they just introduced a tool that lets you blur faces. Other communication platforms with end-to-end encryption include Google Duo, Apple’s Facetime, and Facebook’s WhatsApp.
• In the face of nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice, tech companies have responded with various levels of support and pledges to review their policies. Time will tell if concrete changes are actually implemented.
• Google says they are standing with the Black community. They will be providing $12 million in funding to organizations working to address racial inequities, and will be working on their products to improve access and opportunity.
• YouTube has pledged $1 million “in support of efforts to address social injustice.” No word if they are considering changes or clarifications to content policies.
• Twitter has a hashtag-full post in support of #BlackLivesMatter with tips for #Allyship.
• Reddit is updating their content policy to explicitly address hate, and taking steps to “amplify conversations people need to see.” Plus cofounder Alexis Ohanian resigned from the board of directors and urged Reddit to replace him with a Black candidate.
• Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel shared an extensive memo that condemns racism and advocates for creating more opportunity. He also makes clear “we simply cannot promote accounts in America that are linked to people who incite racial violence, whether they do so on or off our platform”, and to that end will not promote President Trump’s account on the Snapchat Discover page.
• Facebook, on the other hand, has come under criticism from its own employees because of its lack of response to President Trump’s “incindiary” posts. On Friday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed those concerns, promising to review their policies around threats of state use of force and voter suppression. Facebook is also considering alternatives to their current “leave-it-up or take-it-down” options and pledges greater transparency in the decision making process. Beyond that, Facebook is donating $10 million to “groups working on racial justice”.
• Flickr is providing Flickr Pro subscriptions to photographers actively photographing the Black Lives Matter movement and sharing on Flickr. They also provide resources for safely photographing protests.
• Apple is “donating to organizations including the Equal Justice Initiative”, and CEO Tim Cook says they are committed to bringing technology to underserved school systems and “fighting the forces of environmental injustice.”
• This weekend: YouTube’s star-studded “Dear Class of 2020” graduation event has been moved from June 6 to June 7. Commencement speakers include President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, Beyonce Knowles-Carter, BTS, Lady Gaga, Secretary Robert Gates, Sundar Pichai, Secretary Condoleezza Rice and Malala Yousafzai. Musical performances by BTS, Lizzo, the New York Philharmonic, Katy Perry, and more. Set a reminder to watch.

That’s all the updates for this week. Subscribe to get the Weekly Update in your email inbox or favorite feed reader every week. Miss last week’s update? Get it here.

Image: Sunset. Photo by me, all rights reserved.