How video games are reshaping tech, culture, politics and the way we interact with each other.

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How companies like Amazon, Google and Facebook are shaping our world.

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How false information is seeping into our daily interactions.

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What to know about the next generation network that will revolutionize the way we live and work.

All about the treasure trove of data collected at every turn.

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Who's watching you and what they're seeing.

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The latest developments in the robot revolution.

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From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

National

Axios Gaming

Former PlayStation employee Emma Majo is again suing PlayStation in a potential class action gender discrimination lawsuit, this time in California, after a federal judge dismissed her first lawsuit last month.

Why it matters: Sony, like other video game companies before it, faces allegations it had a sexist workplace.

But Majo, who said in her November suit that she was fired after complaining about gender bias, has encountered more judicial skepticism in the early going than others.

Driving the news: The new, narrower complaint is no longer national. Instead of seeking damages for all women who worked for PlayStation in the U.S., it’s trying to get them for women below the vice president level who worked at PlayStation’s California locations, including San Francisco and San Diego.

The new lawsuit largely collects allegations made in Majo’s original November complaint and those of several other women who work or worked at PlayStation and described their experiences in declarations made public in March. 

Incidents involve women allegedly being passed up for promotions as men in the same department advance, unequal pay, retaliation, dismissive comments about women’s abilities and a Deloitte study that is said to have found that Sony had a “very low” percentage of women in management positions compared to peers.

The suit states: "Because of Sony’s systemic pattern and practice of gender discrimination, the plaintiff and members of the proposed class have suffered harm including lost compensation, back pay, employment benefits, and emotional distress." It specifically alleges violations of California's Equal Pay Act

Between the lines: In April, a federal judge echoed arguments made by Sony’s own lawyers that Majo’s initial complaint was light on facts. 

She dismissed it but said Majo could bring it back with more specific details.

Majo’s new claim appears to act on that guidance, adding the other women’s details, while downscaling the issue from a federal matter.

Sony reps did not reply to a request for comment, but PlayStation lawyers argued in February that Majo’s federal complaint failed to cite any policies or practices that proved there were widespread issues worthy of a class action.

At the time, they said Majo's "widespread claims of harassment are based solely on unactionable allegations of run-of-the-mill personnel activity."

It's impossible to judge at this stage of the revisions to Majo's filing can prevail over such arguments.

What’s next: It’s Sony’s turn to reply. 

Judge says gender discrimination suit against PlayStation is light on facts

Judge to approve Activision Blizzard $18 million settlement

Sign up for the new Axios Gaming newsletter here.

Sony Lawsuit

Gender discrimination lawsuit against PlayStation returns

The new lawsuit comes a month after a judge dismissed the first filing.

PlayStation logo and the silhouette of a woman holding a phone

Photo Illustration by Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Video games

Some top American game studios are taking stands on abortion, trans rights and the industry’s own responsibility regarding racism and extremism.

Why it matters: It’s a notable shift in a controversy-averse industry, and one that is shocking some players not used to the makers of the games they play taking a position on volatile political and social topics.

Details: Two studios went public this week, with a third reportedly taking a quieter route.

On Tuesday, Washington-based Destiny 2 maker Bungie Studios and its Black at Bungie worker group posted a reaction to the weekend’s racist mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. The studio had recently weighed in on the Supreme Court’s draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

Bungie acknowledged that people “far too often” are radicalized via online platforms and called for game-makers, themselves included, to do more to “examine their own platforms and invest in practices to combat bigotry in all its manifestations.”

On Wednesday, Texas-headquartered studio Certain Affinity posted a letter to employees from CEO Max Hoberman condemning “intrusions on the rights and dignity of transgender youth” and the “attack” on abortion rights from the potential ruling on Roe v. Wade.

This all followed a Monday report in the Washington Post that California-based Insomniac, makers of hit Spider-Man and Ratchet & Clank games, had quietly and successfully pressed its owners at Sony to match a $50,000 donation to a group that helps economically disadvantaged women get abortions.

What they’re saying: “The overall response has been incredibly positive,” Hoberman tells Axios, citing hundreds of supportive replies after he posted his letter publicly.

A half-dozen people told him that businesses should stay out of politics, he says.

“The fact of the matter is that some politicians aren't staying out of our business,” Hoberman says. “They are creating a hostile environment in states that we know and love and live in. This in turn is affecting the mental health and well-being of large swathes of our staff, and is outright hurting our business in tangible ways, such as employees leaving the states and difficulties recruiting to these states.”

Certain Affinity has about 175 employees in Texas. It says it will pay for "reasonable" relocation expenses for employees who want to move out of state due to abortion regulations. But the studio is not joining other companies that now promise financial assistance to workers who need to travel to get an abortion. Hoberman says doing so could run afoul of local law.

Yes, but: Most game companies are still keeping quiet these days.

In 2020 even the biggest ones like Nintendo and PlayStation expressed support for Black Lives Matter.

But taking a stand against racism is less controversial than taking one about abortion.

The Post says Insomniac and Sony won’t make their pledges public. That follows a Bloomberg report from last week that cited PlayStation boss Jim Ryan urging his workers to “respect differences of opinion” on abortion. 

The bottom line: A common thread through all of this is the will of the workers, which in these studios seems to largely be liberal.

Many employees expect companies they work for to express their values and to put policies and money behind them.

Video game studios are speaking out on abortion

Texas studio will cover some costs for workers who want to move out of state due to abortion regulations.

Illustration of Halo hero Master Chief standing in front of a field

Halo Infinite, one of several games worked on by Certain Affinity. Image: Microsoft

Elon Musk met with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday to discuss connectivity and other technology projects ahead of Brazil's election.

Why it matters: Musk traveled to Brazil as part of his satellite internet service Starlink's expansion in the region. The visit comes as Musk is increasingly engaged with global politicians, especially conservative leaders. 

The big picture: The high-profile billionaire has made headlines recently for his bid to takeover Twitter and announcement that he will vote for Republicans.

Brazil has been swept up in a growing misinformation crisis as the Oct. 2 election looms.

Lawmakers and the courts have both expressed alarm that Bolsonaro is sowing distrust in the election.

Brazilian Senate committee voted last year to approve a report recommending Bolsonaro be charged with a raft of criminal indictments, including crimes against humanity over his response to the pandemic.

What they're saying: Bolsonaro tweeted Friday that the two spoke about "connectivity, investments, innovation and the use of technology to reinforce the protection of the Amazon forest and the realization of Brazil's economic potential."

Prior to the meeting, Musk had tweeted, "Super excited to be in Brazil for launch of Starlink for 19,000 unconnected schools in rural areas & environmental monitoring of Amazon."

 Deforestation in the Amazon reached its highest annual rate in over a decade under Bolsonaro, according to AP.

Elon Musk meets Bolsonaro ahead of Brazilian election

The visit comes as Musk is increasingly engaged with global politicians, especially conservative leaders.

Photo of Jair Bolsonaro on the left and Elon Musk

President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro (left) and billionaire Elon Musk. Photos: Andressa Anholete and Dimitrios Kambouris for The Met Museum/Vogue via Getty Images

Elon Musk

Latin America and Latinos

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

If you’re sick of making a mess every time you eat or make burritos, a group of Johns Hopkins University undergraduate students has come up with a fix: edible tape.

Driving the news: The Maryland students created a design for "Tastee Tape" and presented it as part of the engineering school's Design Day. According to the university, the team of students created the “edible adhesive comprising a food-grade fibrous scaffold and an organic adhesive” to keep the ingredients inside the wrap during cooking and consumption.

What they’re saying: Student Erin Walsh told NBC Washington that burritos and wraps are one of her favorite foods and she came up for the idea for the tape in a product design course.

“I’m a student-athlete, so I’m not looking to make a skimpy burrito,” Walsh said. “I’m really trying to fill it with substance, and so I would tend to get frustrated when I would be trying to wrap it and the contents would be getting everywhere.”

"Tastee Tape allows you to put full faith in your tortilla, and enjoy your meal, mess-free," Tyler Guarino, another student on the project, said in a university article. 

The tape is clear but dyed blue for photos, and it's strong enough to hold even the biggest burrito together. 

What's next: The students say they are applying for a patent and declined to disclose their formula. Other students on the team include Marie Eric and Rachel Nie.

"What I can say is that all its ingredients are safe to consume, are food grade, and are common food and dietary additives," Guarino said.

Students create an edible tape to hold that messy burrito together

Johns Hopkins University undergraduate students came up with "burrito tape" they've dubbed Tastee Tape.

Tastee Tape is a clear, edible tape that keeps wraps closed when eating but to better illustrate its use, the tape on the right had blue dye. Photo: Will Kirk/Johns Hopkins University 

Fast food

Axios Crypto

DISH Network, the wireless company, has already been through one major technological transition, and it's betting that cryptocurrency is part of its next one.

Driving the news: DISH recently invested in and partnered with two crypto-enabled grassroots wireless networks, fueling its long-term aim of becoming a competitor in 5G wireless services. "We don't have a venture capital arm," Chris Ergen, DISH's head of wireless innovation, tells Axios in an interview. "If you see us investing, it's more strategically central to what we're doing."

Details: Last month DISH invested in Pollen, which only launched in January, and previously announced a partnership with Helium, a very similar network that's already reached thousands of cities.

Both Helium and Pollen incentivize people to set up wireless nodes that provide last-mile access to the internet using cryptocurrency.

How it works: Networks like Helium pay people in cryptocurrency for hosting nodes that can receive wireless messages and send them to the internet. The nodes also check in with each other to verify each other's locations (which can be a crucial piece of data for internet-of-things devices).

Helium started primarily helping devices send low-data messages back to the internet (tracking things like lost pets or rented bicycles).

Helium announced support for 5G services last year. Pollen launched with 5G support. Both make use of the Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS). 

For DISH, such partnerships are about extending their range. Ergen compared it to roaming from the early days of cellular.  

What's next: Ergen believes these kinds of networks are going to give developers a whole new design space to build on. "The smart network is akin to the transition you had when you went from the flip phone to the smart phone, but at the network level," he said.

Context: Dish is best known, today, for providing subscription TV services via satellite — which is still the bulk of its revenue, but even further back it was in the hardware business, related to those giant dishes people used to have in their backyards.

Ergen remembers discovering Bitcoin when it was trading around $100 and feeling like he could see the next big shift coming. He wasn't working for the company yet, but he's the son of founders. 

"As somebody born in 1987, I'm probably one of the last generation that was recording radio songs onto mix tapes, and then Napster came along," he said.

"It's internet money," Ergen said. "Bitcoin seemed like something akin to those early days of filesharing and the internet."

The next transition is to provide data services wirelessly. "DISH has been investing in spectrum for about 13 years. We've invested a little north of $30 billion," Ergen explained. 

Leasing public spectrum is a key asset any company needs to compete in wireless.

Ergen believes the company also has an advantage in their offering is all virtualized, running over the cloud. 

State of play: DISH just lit up its first city, Las Vegas. 

Bottomline: "We are moving to a place where data is the core business, how long it takes to get there — how long the pay TV business has in its current form — remains to be seen," Ergen said. "Providing internet and providing data connectivity to people and things is the next 50 years of this company."

DISH's crypto investments aim to expand its 5G reach

The wireless company has already been through one major technological transition, and it's betting crypto is part of its next one.

Photo illustration of Chris Ergen of Dish Network  

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Courtesy Dish Network

Dish Network

MiamiCoin, the first city-themed cryptocurrency, has lost nearly all its value over the past several months amid a broader crypto market collapse, Quartz reports. 

Why it matters: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez hoped that the cryptocurrency, launched last summer, would help him raise revenue and reduce income inequality — and the eyes of other mayors were on the experiment.

But the currency's value has fallen more than 90% from its September high of $0.06, per Coinbase. 

"Its rapid descent has burned investors on the way down, muting the dreams of Miami’s city leaders, and possibly raising red flags for regulators now investigating cryptocurrency transactions," according to Quartz.

Where it stands: Crypto boosters like Suarez view digital currencies as a way to augment traditional city revenue streams, like property taxes.

30% of MiamiCoin miners' proceeds go to city coffers.

Miami did receive a $5.25 million disbursement from CityCoins — the company behind MiamiCoin — in February. 

But the coin's subsequent collapse calls into question the long-term viability of such hopes. 

Other crypto-curious cities like New York may back off their coin-related plans in light of MiamiCoin's struggles.

A screenshot of a tweet from the Mayor of Miami.

The big picture: The U.S. Federal Reserve's recent interest rate hike, rising inflation and general economic gloom have combined to trigger sell-offs in all sorts of riskier assets, including cryptocurrencies.

Even the two most popular coins, bitcoin and ether, are down significantly compared with late last year — and if they're falling, relatively tiny and unproven coins like MiamiCoin don't stand a chance. 

Other headline-grabbing crypto catastrophes, like the spectacular crash of the algorithmic stablecoin Terra, have only increased skepticism of the sector. 

Miami has been trying to position itself as the geographic center of the crypto world, aiming to usurp San Francisco and New York's tech and financial primacy.

Last month, Miami hosted Bitcoin 2022 (a major confab for all things crypto and crypto-adjacent); the city's arts scene has been taken over by Bored Apes and other NFT-style work; and crypto venture deals there rose from $6 million in 2020 to $745 million in 2021, per Bloomberg. 

But, but, but: The crypto market has crashed time and time again only to come roaring back weeks or months later. 

Still, rising interest rates are likely to cool crypto-mania. And even if major coins like bitcoin or ether recover from the current dip, there's no guarantee a rising tide would lift all boats.

What they're saying: "Obviously the price is down significantly," Suarez told Fox News in February as MiamiCoin's value began plummeting. He remains committed to cryptocurrency — "I've never obsessed over the price, neither bitcoin nor MiamiCoin."

The crypto-pocalypse comes for MiamiCoin

Miami's experimental cryptocurrency is now nearly worthless

Illustration of a palm tree over a yellow sun-like quarter 

Cryptocurrencies

Axios Login

Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson imagines that rather than have offices in each city where his firm employs a cluster of workers, he could just open a coffee shop where employees could work and gather.

Why it matters: Nearly everyone agrees that the future of work is hybrid, but everyone is still trying to figure out what that actually looks like.

Like many companies, Lawson has seen the proportion of remote workers skyrocket during the pandemic, going from 15% of workers to nearly 50%. In many cities, though, Twilio now has enough people for some sort of office — if it's the sort of place workers actually want to go.

"Nobody is excited to go back to the office five days a week," Lawson said at a dinner with reporters last week. "They do, however, want a sense of connection and belonging."

Hence the coffee shop idea, where workers could come in and work when they are looking for community, a change of scenery or a double latte. Lawson says he wants to run an experiment to see if it would work. "My CFO tells me not to tell anyone," he said to a room full of reporters.

For its San Francisco headquarters, Lawson said Twilio has also turned two floors of its office in San Francisco to more resemble an offsite meeting space, with breakout rooms. People whose job used to be office manager are more like event managers now, he said.

PagerDuty CEO Jennifer Tejada has taken a similar approach, upping her snack budget for those employees who choose to be in the office. "It's like an offsite," she said. "We took out a bunch of tables and desks."

Yes, but: A hybrid work environment also means fostering connections that don't require in-person presence.

Lawson notes that there is a long history of strong online communities, going back to the early days of the web, and even before that on services like Compuserve and AOL. The trick is figuring out what online community looks like when it's run by an employer.

Tejada says she wants to avoid creating a culture where those in the office get preferential treatment. For example, while she likes to come into the office and chat with employees, she doesn't announce her visits.

The future of the office could look like a Starbucks

One tech CEO wants remote offices to resemble employee-only coffee shops.

Future of work

Column / Signal Boost

Scoop: Schumer seeks tech antitrust bill vote by early summer

The window for legislation to limit monopolistic practices by Big Tech is closing.

Illustration of a gavel in the shape of a cursor

Axios Pro Rata

Twitter on Thursday introduced a new policy aimed at making sure the social network doesn't amplify or recommend disinformation during an international armed conflict and crisis.

Why it matters: False material proliferated on Twitter and other social networks in the early days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

Twitter says it will work to vet fact-specific information in times of crisis, via "multiple credible, publicly available sources."

Inaccurate tweets won't be removed, but instead will be put behind a warning label. They also will be unable to be liked, retweeted or shared.

What's excluded, per Twitter: "Strong commentary, efforts to debunk or fact check, and personal anecdotes or first person accounts."

Be smart: This content moderation effort, like many others at Twitter, could be totally or partially undone if Elon Musk buys the company.

Look ahead: Twitter says that while this initial policy is aimed at international armed conflict, it could later be expanded to include other forms of crisis.

Twitter unveils "crisis misinformation policy" to slow down viral tweets

The initial policy is aimed at international armed conflicts, but could later be expanded.

Twitter

Axios Media Trends

Campbell Brown, the veteran news anchor who has served as Meta's vice president of news partnerships since 2017, is being promoted to oversee a new global media partnerships team at the company, Meta sources tell Axios. 

Why it matters: The new role will allow Brown to focus on broader media partnerships in addition to news. New regulations around the globe are forcing tech firms like Meta and Google to pay to host news content. 

Details: In her new role, Brown will oversee a team that manages partnerships with sports leagues, film studios, broadcasters, streamers, digital media companies and news publishers across all of Meta's products. 

The  team will focus on new partnerships that support short-form video, NFTs, and the metaverse.

Examples of the types of media partnerships that Meta has brokered that would now fall under Brown's remit include a partnership with the Tribeca Film Festival to screen short films, sports streaming rights and live broadcasts of red carpet events.

What's next: A formal announcement of the promotion is expected this week.

Scoop: Campbell Brown to oversee new media partnerships team at Meta

In the new role, the executive's responsibilities will extend beyond the realm of news.

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