Axios

Facebook announced on Wednesday a ban on single-use plastic water bottles at its new global offices, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The state of play: This appears to be the largest ban from a private employer, impacting the company's roughly 40,000 employees. The Big Tech company will instead offer water-filling stations in its employee cafeterias in Burlingame, San Francisco, Fremont and Sunnyvale, California, and will install filling stations in its existing Menlo Park headquarters.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Thursday — his first time in Washington since he testified before Congress last year, sources tell Axios.

Why it matters: Zuckerberg is returning to engage with Washington at a time when pressure on Facebook is rising from regulators and legislators around the world. A Facebook official said: "Mark will be in Washington, D.C., to meet with policymakers and talk about future internet regulation. There are no public events planned."

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday announced nearly $60 million in federal grants to 8 automated driving projects in 7 states.

Why it matters: The projects will help communities gather significant safety data that will be shared with the agency to help shape future regulations on self-driving cars.

Facebook on Wednesday announced a significant expansion to the Portal family of video chat devices that debuted last year, offering new features, lower prices and increased versatility.

Why it matters: Competition in the space is heating up, with Google's Nest Hub Max just hitting the market and Amazon potentially introducing new smart displays at an event next week.

The medical records of more than 5 million Americans and even more people globally — including X-rays, MRIs and CT scans — are vulnerable targets to even the simplest cybersecurity threats, ProPublica and German broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk found.

Why it matters: Because of the sensitivity of some of these records, patients face potential devastation if their images are hacked.

More than 150 Facebook pages targeting American soldiers and veterans — with a total reach of more than 32 million people — dealt lies and propaganda for years, many while soliciting donations, according to a new investigation from a leading veterans' group.

What's happening: About a third of these pages and groups, mostly controlled from overseas, were taken down after they were reported to Facebook. Others remain up, gathering followers and sowing divisions — and illustrating the failure of social networks and law enforcement to curb online disinformation.

Facebook is putting flesh on its plan to create an independent content moderation review board with the release Tuesday of a final charter for the body.

Why it matters: As controversies over hate speech, misinformation and privacy multiply, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has poured energy and resources into the plan for a "Facebook Supreme Court." The company hopes the oversight board will help it better navigate its quasi-national role — and deliver more consistent decisions about what kinds of expression are acceptable on its platform.

The United States filed a lawsuit Tuesday against former CIA employee and NSA contractor Edward Snowden alleging his memoir violates non-disclosure disagreements.

• The lawsuit argues Snowden did not allow the agencies to review his book before publication, as had been required by a signed agreement. While the lawsuit will not attempt to stop publication of Snowden's book book, Permanent Record, it does seek to recover all proceeds earned by Snowden because of the violation.

The web's trade organization, the Internet Association, became the latest industry group to urge Congress to pass a national privacy law.

Why it matters: Industry organizations, individual companies and consumer groups all say they want privacy legislation. They probably vary in what they would like to see in such legislation, but there could well be room for something that all could get behind.

Apple said Tuesday it is awarding key supplier Corning with $250 million from the company's $5 billion Advanced Manufacturing Fund, designed to invest in U.S.-based companies that make parts for the company.

Why it matters: The move aims to help Corning with the massive R&D expense of coming up with ever stronger glass to go on the outside of the iPhone, Apple Watch and other products. The latest deal comes on top of $200 million Apple put into Corning in 2017.

As investigations into tech giants' possible anti-competitive behavior multiply, authorities are beginning to tussle over turf — adding a new potential for discord to the regulatory chess game.

Why it matters: These probes are legally complex and historically difficult to pull off. There's bipartisan support right now for checking Big Tech's power, but the companies have enormous resources and remain popular, and fighting among regulators can only hamper their work.

Bill Gates, in an interview about a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation report on global inequality that's out Tuesday, told Axios that gender inequality cuts across every single country on earth — a shortfall that unites the U.S. and the developing world.

What he's saying: "The developed world hasn't fully solved the problem, and yet we know it's important and we know we need to work on it," Gates said by phone. "The gender issues are much worse as you get down into these poor countries."

Bill Gates, who donated $2 million to the MIT Media Lab at the request of pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, told Axios on Monday: "I wish I hadn't met with him."

The big picture: The donation was made in 2014, after Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to two state charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution. MIT Media Lab director Joi Ito resigned Sept. 7 after the extent of his involvement with Epstein was revealed.