Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Recode Daily: Facebook’s latest privacy bungle affects 14 million users

Plus, after employee protests, Google pledges not to use AI to cause “overall harm”; Amazon buys expensive rights to some U.K. soccer games; the world’s first 3-D printed carbon bike.

Jaap Arriens / NurPhoto via Getty Images

Facebook screwed up on privacy again – the company says millions of users who thought they were sharing privately with their friends may have shared with everyone because of a software bug. The ”audience selector” bug was active for 10 days in May; up to 14 million users were affected; Facebook said it will begin to alert people who may have been impacted by this latest privacy glitch. [Kurt Wagner / Recode]

[Want to get the Recode Daily in your inbox? Subscribe here.]

Google pledged not to use its powerful artificial intelligence for weapons, illegal surveillance and technologies that cause “overall harm.” But CEO Sundar Pichai said the company will keep working with the military in other areas, giving its cloud business the chance to pursue future lucrative government deals. After protests from more than 4,000 Google employees compelled the company to retreat from the Pentagon contract, Pichai released a set of seven principles for future AI applications. [Mark Bergen / Bloomberg]

BuzzFeed is laying off about 20 people — and hiring 45 more — in another reorganization on its business side. The company, which currently employs 1,450 people, laid off 100 staffers last fall. Like other publishers, BuzzFeed has been reorienting its business away from a dependency on Facebook and toward other sources of revenue, including a growing commerce business and programmatic display ads. [Peter Kafka / Recode]

Amazon bought the exclusive rights to big-time soccer games in the U.K., proving that it’s serious about the TV sports business. But the traditional TV guys are even more serious, for now. Amazon’s three-year license to show 20 games a year from the U.K.’s Premier League is an important step in its sports strategy, but that’s only 10 percent of the league’s games that are available to media companies like BT and Sky. [Peter Kafka / Recode]


Recode Presents ...

Tune in Sunday at 6 pm ET/ 3 pm PT to watch MSNBC and Recode’s latest “Revolution” TV special. The third episode is a one-hour special called “Revolution: Tech Titans Shaping the Future,” featuring five of the biggest onstage interviews from our 2018 Code Conference with Recode Editor at Large and MSNBC contributor Kara Swisher. You’ll hear from Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and CTO Mike Schroepfer; Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi; Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel; Spotify co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek; and Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky. Join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #RevolutionCode.


Top stories from Recode

Why was there no new hardware at Apple’s WWDC 2018? On the latest episode of Too Embarrassed to Ask, Recode’s Kara Swisher and Dan Frommer talk about why the company has stopped regularly unveiling new hardware at its annual developers conference.

This is cool

This is the world’s first 3-D printed carbon bike.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

See More:

More in Technology

Politics
The Supreme Court will decide when the police can use your phone to track youThe Supreme Court will decide when the police can use your phone to track you
Politics

Chatrie v. United States asks what limits the Constitution places on the surveillance state in an age of cellphones.

By Ian Millhiser
Future Perfect
The simple question that could change your careerThe simple question that could change your career
Future Perfect

Making a difference in the world doesn’t require changing your job.

By Bryan Walsh
Technology
The case for AI realismThe case for AI realism
Technology

AI isn’t going to be the end of the world — no matter what this documentary sometimes argues.

By Shayna Korol
Politics
OpenAI’s oddly socialist, wildly hypocritical new economic agendaOpenAI’s oddly socialist, wildly hypocritical new economic agenda
Politics

The AI company released a set of highly progressive policy ideas. There’s just one small problem.

By Eric Levitz
Future Perfect
Human bodies aren’t ready to travel to Mars. Space medicine can help.Human bodies aren’t ready to travel to Mars. Space medicine can help.
Future Perfect

Protecting astronauts in space — and maybe even Mars — will help transform health on Earth.

By Shayna Korol
Podcasts
The importance of space toilets, explainedThe importance of space toilets, explained
Podcast
Podcasts

Houston, we have a plumbing problem.

By Peter Balonon-Rosen and Sean Rameswaram