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ScienceBiologyBias Against Female Lab Animals Is Messing Up Scientific Research
Gender discrimination in science doesn’t just affect women scientists. It also skews the results of animal research, as a new paper out this week describes. Animals used in experiments are still overwhelmingly male, thanks to outdated stereotypes that hormones like estrogen can distort an experiment’s findings. The argument comes courtesy of Rebecca Shansky, an associate … Continued
By Ed Cara -
Tech NewsAirbnb Hosts in China Are Discriminating Against Muslim Minorities
In China, powerful systems are already being used to target entire minority populations, illustrating how a nation’s discriminatory leanings are exacerbated by the use of technology. Now, a new report indicates how this unsettling reality is also true for something as seemingly innocuous as booking a place to stay on vacation. As Wired first reported, there … Continued
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Tech NewsLeaked Microsoft Email Chain Reportedly Describes Hellish Workplace for Women
An internal Microsoft email chain, first reported by Quartz, reportedly details a litany of egregious acts of sexual harassment and discrimination experienced by women at the company. The chain received hundreds of responses since it began on March 20, according to Wired, prompting employees to protest the toxic work culture at a Q&A with CEO … Continued
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Tech NewsA Disturbing Complaint Against Google Tests Its Promise to Allow Employees to Sue
A former recruiter for Google is suing its parent company, Alphabet, for alleged disability discrimination, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and a failure to provide reasonable accommodations. Among a slew of upsetting allegations, the complaint says that instead of sending her medical devices and other personal items following her termination, someone at Google mailed her … Continued
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Tech NewsSocial Media
HUD Charges Facebook With Enabling Housing Discrimination
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Thursday charged Facebook with discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. HUD says it believes the company was “encouraging, enabling, and causing housing discrimination through the company’s advertising platform.” Facebook allegedly allowed advertisements on its platform to exclude certain people from targeting based on categories like race, … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsSocial Media
After Its Utter Failure to Stop Discriminatory Ads, Facebook Praises ‘Historic’ End to the Mess It Created
Why did it take a lawsuit, multiple investigations, and three years of promises for Facebook to change its ways? After an 18-month court battle and years of fierce criticism, Facebook says it will stop allowing housing, jobs, and credit advertisers to show ads to only users of specific races, genders, or age groups, the company … Continued
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Tech News
Snap Reportedly Settled With Multiple Female Employees Who Said Layoffs Targeted Women
Two cost-cutting rounds of layoffs affected hundreds of Snap employees last year beginning in March. While the company, which owns Snapchat, maintains that the majority of these employees were men, a greater number of employees across some teams who worked directly with the company’s top brass and were laid off were women, the Wall Street … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsSocial Media
Former Manager Says Facebook Discriminates Against, Excludes Black Users and Staff
A former Facebook strategic partner manager for global influencers, Mark S. Luckie, sent a 2,500 word memo to all of the company’s employees before his departure in November saying the company has “a black people problem,” the Guardian reported. In the memo, which Luckie also published in a public Facebook note on Tuesday, he wrote … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech News
After Google’s Historic Walkout, One of Tech’s Big Problems Is Still Being Ignored
Last month, thousands of staffers walked out of Google offices around the world calling for a more inclusive company culture built around “equity, dignity, and respect.” Among the walkout organizers’ five demands was for the company to end forced arbitration for both harassment and discrimination claims. The company only eliminated the former. “The tepid policy … Continued
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Tech News
Stripe Freezes Gab’s Account for NSFW Content, Shining a Light on a Problematic Policy
Social network Gab, a haven for toxic alt-right personalities banned from more mainstream platforms, has had its Stripe account frozen due to adult content on the platform. But even if you cheer Gab’s problems, Stripe is no hero. Stripe, according to Gab, told the social network that it must modify its terms of service “to … Continued
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Tech NewsSocial Media
Facebook Is Scrapping Thousands of ‘Targeting Options’ That Could Be Used for Ad Discrimination
Facebook has a controversial history when it comes to abetting discriminatory ad practices on its platform. But following a litany of investigations, a lot of bad press, and most recently, an official complaint from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Facebook is trying to clean up its mess. On Tuesday, the social network … Continued
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Tech NewsSocial Media
HUD Makes It Official, Files Complaint Alleging Facebook Ad Tools Allow Housing Discrimination
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has filed an official discrimination complaint against Facebook, saying the site’s dizzying array of advertising tools makes it simple for advertisers to illegally exclude wide swathes of the population from seeing housing ads, Politico wrote on Friday. In a press release, HUD wrote that Facebook’s “targeted advertising” model … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech News
A Top Medical University in Japan Has Been Lowering Women’s Test Scores For Years: Reports
A leading medical university in Japan wanted more male students—so it’s reportedly been lowering the entrance exam scores of female applicants for years. The school, Tokyo Medical University, has been “systematically” reducing all female applicants’ scores by 10 to 20 percent since around 2010, according to the Asahi Shimbun. “Many female students who graduate end … Continued
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Tech NewsAfter Resignation of HR Chief, Yet Another Uber Exec Faces Allegations of Discriminatory Behavior
Earlier this week, ridesharing giant Uber’s Chief People Officer Liane Hornsey resigned under allegations that she systematically shot down internal complaints about racial discrimination within the company—indicating at least some prior concerns about a toxic company culture of wild abandon during the tenure of former CEO Travis Kalanick have continued under his successor, Dara Khosrowshahi. … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech News
Study: Future Teachers Are Already Biased Against Black Children
That black school children are treated more harshly than white children by teachers is no secret, as plenty of studies and painful anecdotes have repeatedly shown. But some recent research published in the journal Contemporary Educational Psychology suggests an even more discouraging reality: The incoming generation of teachers shows bias against black kids, too. Researchers … Continued
By Ed Cara -
Tech News
Damning New Report Lays Out Science’s Sexual Harassment Problem
A landmark report by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) out Tuesday details the wide extent of sexual harassment, bullying, and ostracization of women within the scientific world. It also offers a series of proactive, far-reaching recommendations to combat its further spread. Though especially poignant in the era of the #Metoo movement, … Continued
By Ed Cara -
Tech NewsSocial Media
Facebook Brings in Fake News Huckster to Conduct Conservative Bias Probe
Facebook’s consistent lack of transparency has helped fuel the pernicious notion that the company deliberately censors conservative views, and the problem has reached a boiling point. Now, the company is reportedly launching an internal probe of potential conservative bias and it will be led by a man who’s spread fake news that just won’t die. … Continued
By Rhett Jones -
Tech NewsFacebook is Under Investigation for Alleged Housing Discrimination (Again)
Citing new information that justifies further review, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson has ordered an investigation into whether Facebook violated fair-housing laws reopened after a five-month freeze, an agency official told Gizmodo. Carson first revealed that the investigation, which was terminated last November, according to The New York Times, had been reopened in … Continued
By Dell Cameron -
Tech News
Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against Google Might Proceed as Class Action
A lawsuit brought by a former Google employee who says that the company’s “bro culture” led to daily sexual harassment is being expanded as a class action after Google tried to push the case into sealed, secret arbitration. Loretta Lee, a software engineer, was fired from her role at Google in February 2016 after eight … Continued
By Kate Conger -
Tech News
Google Says It Spent $270,000 to Close Wage Gaps
Counter to preliminary findings in an ongoing Department of Labor investigation and claims made in a class action lawsuit brought by former employees, Google says it has no gender- or race-based wage gaps among its workers. Google has run a wage gap analysis every year since 2012 and started publishing the results in 2016. The … Continued
By Kate Conger