Arab Press

بالشعب و للشعب
Wednesday, Aug 05, 2026

Blackouts, China pressure and Facebook's libra unravels: What happened in Silicon Valley this week

Blackouts, China pressure and Facebook's libra unravels: What happened in Silicon Valley this week

Much of the Bay Area lost power, a big crypto project lost its mojo and big companies lost the meaning of free speech.

Facebook’s hot cypto project looked to be unraveling as quickly as it rose to popularity.

Questions about free speech were everywhere.

Even by Silicon Valley standards, this was a weird week.

A battered and beaten down WeWork opened swanky new offices, much of the Bay Area lost power and Facebook’s crypto project witnessed the sudden withdrawal of a bunch of marquee members before it even launched.

It was one of those weeks when the real-life technology industry felt more absurd than anything Mike Judge could cook up for his HBO satire “Silicon Valley,” which just so happens to begin airing its sixth and final season this month.

The power outage likely won’t make its way into the show, but it won’t be for a lack of dramatic effect. PG&E, which filed for bankruptcy in January after last year’s North Bay and Camp Fires, cut off power for hundreds of thousands of Bay Area residents, citing the fire risks associated with high winds and dry weather.

Though most tech companies weren’t directly affected, local schools shut down and cities enacted curfews as early at 7 p.m. Surrounded by companies working on alternative energy sources and touting their resourcefulness, the irony was rich, but it was no laughing matter, especially for residents who rely on electric medical devices.


‘Neutral’ platforms

Silicon Valley prides itself on free speech. Platform companies say they’re neutral, especially when confronted with bias from regulators. However, there was some blurring of the lines this week.

Apple removed an app from its App Store called HKmap.live, which protesters in Hong Kong had been using to track police amid ongoing pro-democracy protests. CEO Tim Cook justified the move by saying it threatened law enforcement and endangered the public.

Alphabet also removed a game from the Google Play store at the request of the Hong Kong police because it allowed players to assume the role of pro-democracy protesters. The company told the Wall Street Journal that the game violated its policies that prohibit profiting from “serious ongoing conflicts or tragedies through a game.” Bloomberg’s Mark Bergen noted that Google Play still holds dozens of games and books in its store that would suggest otherwise.

Former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao, who gained national prominence when she sued former employer Kleiner Perkins for sexual harassment, tweeted “Tech companies: We tolerate harassment and hate so we can enable political dissent, public squares, free speech. Also tech companies: Censor the Hong Kong protestors and kill all their communication channels.”

Microsoft also faced controversy as GitHub employees wrote an open letter to the company, objecting to its role in working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying that philanthropy can’t make up for the damage to individuals and families. A year earlier, as Slate pointed out, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella sent a note to staff stating, “I am appalled at the abhorrent policy of separating immigrant children from their families at the southern border of the U.S.”


Good deals gone bad

Crypto was once the hottest thing in techland, promising to displace the banking system with decentralized digital currencies.

While Facebook was an unlikely hero, its libra project quickly gained a following after the company announced plans in June to create a currency and a digital wallet. Now, libra faces an unraveling, with partners eBay, Visa, Mastercard and Stripe all jumping ship, following the departure of PayPal. Dan Primack of Axios tweeted, ″Leaving Libra is the new joining Libra.”

By the end of the day on Friday, David Marcus, who leads the project, was left defending it on Twitter, urging “against reading the fate of Libra into this update” and suggesting that we “stay tuned for more very soon.”

As if that’s not enough, Android co-founder and disgraced ex-Google executive Andy Rubin broke his silence Thursday announcing a new smartphone. That’s despite being paid $90 million by Google to reportedly avoid competitors. The launch and its subsequent mixed reactions showed it’s getting more difficult for the public to disassociate products from their creators, according to Wired’s Lauren Goode. Rubin was fired for sexual misconduct allegations. Rubin got axed from his own company Playground Global recently, according to a new Buzzfeed article, which states he received another payout –this time worth $9 million.

Finally, after a failed IPO attempt, WeWork has been in cutback mode. However, this week it opened the doors of swanky new offices in Palo Alto, one of the nation’s priciest cities for real estate, according to The Silicon Valley Business Journal. The new location will include 744 desks and 12 private offices.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Arab Press
0:00
0:00
Close
AI Is Remaking the US Economy, From GDP Growth to iPhone Prices
FIFA’s Retreat Leaves a Larger Question Over Who Guards the Game
Finland Deploys Commercial-Scale Thermal Batteries Using Crushed Rock to Store Renewable Grid Energy
Valued at $109 Million: F-35B Fighter Jet Crashes in Southern California
US Says It Has Carried Out Heavy Strikes on Iran After Attempted Attacks on Its Forces
Over 24 Hours in the Air: Qantas Airbus Completes Record-Breaking Test Flight
Arrest Warrant Issued in Lebanon for Tycoon Spotted Meeting Netanyahu in Washington
Trump says Israel ‘would not survive’ without US
Nvidia Reportedly Takes Vast Texas Data-Centre Lease to Underwrite AI Expansion
FIFA’s Private-Investment Plan for World Cup Rights Draws European Revolt
Following OpenAI's Cyberattack: 'Most Companies Still Do Not Understand What Is Coming'
OpenAI Sued After ChatGPT Allegedly Discouraged Emergency Care Before Near-Fatal Embolism
Miliband Sets Climate and International Law at Centre of UK Diplomacy
Pentagon Discloses Nearly 100 US Troop Injuries During Renewed Iran Fighting
Trump Readies New Tariffs as Temporary Global Levy Nears Expiry
High Prices Push Coffee Drinkers Toward Whole Beans and Home Brewing
Trump Draws Boos and Podium Scrutiny at Spain’s World Cup Triumph
Spain Defeats Argentina in Extra Time to Win Second World Cup
Turkey Explores S-400 Transfer to UAE in Bid to Rejoin F-35 Program
US Retaliates Against Iran After Two American Troops Killed in Jordan
Proposed U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Pact Could Permit Limited Uranium Enrichment Under International Safeguards
Why Kentucky Fried Chicken Became KFC—and Why the False Explanations Persist
Iran Claims It Destroyed Bahrain’s Main Artificial Intelligence Center in Missile and Drone Strike
Ukrainian Drones Strike Wildberries Warehouses Deep Inside Russia
Reported CIA Mission Helped Clear the UAE’s Path to Advanced US AI Chips
Artificial Intelligence Capital Fuels Markets While Governments and Regulators Face Mounting Strategic Tests
China’s Moonshot’s Kimi K3 Narrows the Gap With Anthropic Through Scale, Openness and Lower Cost
The Ledger Will Not Trust on Faith
Passenger Bound for Germany Refused to Sit Beside a Woman on a Plane — Then Slapped a Flight Attendant
Ukraine’s Leadership Rift Spills Into the Streets as Protesters Target Army Chief
The Ten World Cup Finals That Defined Football History
Smartphones Are Getting More Expensive, Sales Are Collapsing, and Even Apple Admits: "Prices Will Rise"
Leadership Change and Strategic Rivalry Redraw the Political Map
The AI Race Enters Its Infrastructure Era
Britain Nationalises British Steel to Protect Scunthorpe Production and Strategic Supply
Thomas Tuchel Faces Fierce Backlash After Tactical Retreat Costs England World Cup Final Berth
A Quiet Bastille Day: France Grapples with World Cup Heartbreak and Leftover Fireworks
Spain in Ecstasy: "We Feel Unbeatable, We Taught the Whole World a Lesson"
Harvard Astrophysicist to Lead U.S. Scientific Advisory on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
Emergency Sirens Activated Across Bahrain as Interior Ministry Issues Shelter Directives
World Cup Visitors Turn American Big-Box Stores Into Souvenir Stops
Netflix Weighs Always-On Channels, Bundles and Short-Form Video
The AI Invoice Shock: Layoffs Didn't Save Managers Money — They Cost Them More
Concern: Sexually Transmitted Bacterium Among Men Develops Antibiotic Resistance
Passenger Partially Pulled Out of Ryanair Jet After Cabin Window Fails Mid-Flight
Severe Heatwave Drives Dangerous Ground-Level Ozone Pollution Across Two Thirds of European Union
The Physical and Electronic Barriers Disrupting Domestic Wireless Networks
France and Morocco Open World Cup Quarter-Finals as Collina Defends Refereeing
Tech Pulse: The Future of AI and Screen Culture
Global News Briefing: Escalating Geopolitical Tensions and Corporate Shakeups
×