Activision Blizzard, the company behind some of the biggest franchises in all of gaming, has been rocked by an explosive lawsuit. The gaming giant is being sued by the state of California, which accuses it of workplace discrimination against its female workforce.
The suit didn’t take long to make an impact. Many employees have spoken out in support of the claims, over 2,000 have signed an open letter calling for action by the company, and a walkout protest was staged last Wednesday. After initially rejecting many of the DFEH’s allegations, Activision Blizzard has said it’ll launch a full probe — and its games will be changed to reflect values of diversity and inclusion.
Activision Blizzard is one of the biggest gaming companies in the world. It owns Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Crash Bandicoot and many more hugely popular franchises and last year recorded $2.2 billion in profit. Here’s everything you need to know about this colossal lawsuit.
What is Activision Blizzard accused of?
The DFEH’s suit accuses Activision Blizzard of workplace discrimination. It alleges women are compensated unfairly — paid less for the same job, scrutinized more heavily than their male peers — and subject to considerable harassment. The agency called Activision Blizzard a “breeding ground for harassment and discrimination,” in which women are subject to regular sexual advances by (often high-ranking) men who largely go unpunished.
Illustrative of the claims DFEH is making against Activision is an office ritual referred to as “cube crawls,” in which men allegedly drink “copious” amounts of alcohol, crawl through the office cubicles and engage in “inappropriate behavior” including groping. The lawsuit describes incidents including allegations that a female employee died by suicide during a business trip as a result of a toxic relationship with a supervisor.
“Women and girls now make up almost half of gamers in America, but the gaming industry continues to cater to men,” the suit reads. “Activision-Blizzard’s double-digit percentage growth, 10-figure annual revenues and recent diversity marketing campaigns have unfortunately changed little.”
And then employees reacted?
After DFEH filed its suit, Activision Blizzard responded with a lengthy statement that said the department had filed a rushed, inaccurate report with “distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of [Activision Blizzard’s] past.” In an email sent to staff, published by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, vice president of corporate affairs Frances Townsend said the site presented “a distorted and untrue picture of our company, including factually incorrect, old, and out of context stories — some from more than a month ago.”
These statements evidently didn’t satisfy employees, neither current nor former. Over 2,000 of them signed an open letter to Activision Blizzard leadership in which they criticized the company’s response. (Activision Blizzard currently has around 10,000 employees.)
“To put it clearly and unequivocally, our values as employees are not accurately reflected in the words and actions of our leadership,” the open letter reads, according to Bloomberg. “To claim this is a ‘truly meritless and irresponsible lawsuit’ while seeing so many current and former employees speak out about their own experiences regarding harassment and abuse is simply unacceptable.”
The letter signed by employees made three demands. First, that the company issue statements that acknowledge the severity of the allegations. Second, that Townsend resign from her role as executive sponsor of the ABK Employee Women’s Network. Third, that Activision Blizzard’s executive leadership collaborate with employees to ensure a safe workspace to “speak out and come forward.”
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit in San Francisco in October 2016.
Mike Windle/Getty
How did Activision Blizzard respond?
After Activision Blizzard’s first statement, along with the one made by Townsend, was so thoroughly rejected by employees, the company appears to be taking the suit more seriously. Last Tuesday the company’s CEO, Bobby Kotick, issued a letter addressing the suit, and the concerns of employees.
“Our initial responses to the issues we face together, and to your concerns, were, quite frankly, tone deaf,” it reads. “We are taking swift action to be the compassionate, caring company you came to work for and to ensure a safe environment. There is no place anywhere at our Company for discrimination, harassment, or unequal treatment of any kind.”
Kotick announced that a law firm, WilmerHale, will be hired to evaluate the company’s “policies and procedures.”
Beyond the probe, Kotick outlined several changes that would be made effective immediately. The company would be investigating “each and every claim” of discrimination and harassment being made, and will host listening sessions to collaborate with employees on how to improve the workplace culture. Activision Blizzard will also be “evaluating managers and leaders” across the company and making personnel changes as appropriate. Finally, changes will be made to in-game content.
“We have heard the input from employee and player communities that some of our in-game content is inappropriate. We are removing that content,” Kotick wrote.
Employees at Wednesday’s walkout.
David McNew/Getty
What about the walkout?
Alongside the open letter signed by over 2,000 employees, workers at the company planned a strike last Wednesday morning. Seeking now to be more collaborative with aggrieved workers, Activision Blizzard sent an email to staff saying they would get paid time off for attending the protest.
Hundreds of employees took up the offer, as they set up a picket line outside of Activision Blizzard’s Irvine, California headquarters. Employees held signs that read “every voice matters”, “fight bad guys in game, fight bad guys IRL” and “nerf male priviledge.” (When developers weaken characters in games like Overwatch it’s known as “nerfing” them.)
Over 350 employees took up the offer, reports The Washington Post. The walkout participants acknowledged Kotick’s letter, but had four additional demands, as seen in the tweet above. These include greater pay transparency and employee participation in hiring and promotion policies.
What has the industry reaction been?
On Aug. 30 Strauss Zelnick, the CEO of Take-Two Interactive, the studio behind Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, assured investors that his company wouldn’t tolerate a workplace environment like the one allegedly seen within Activision Blizzard.
“We will not tolerate harassment or discrimination or bad behavior of any kind. We never have,” he said. “Is there more we can do? I’m certain there is. Do we feel like we’re in a pretty good place? We’re grateful that we do feel that way right now.”
Zelnick is the latest industry figure to weigh in on the lawsuit.
“It’s our responsibility to ensure this type of behavior is not tolerated at Bungie at any level,” developer Bungie, owned by Activision Blizzard, tweeted, “and that we never excuse it or sweep it under the rug. While the accounts in this week’s news are difficult to read, we hope they will lead to justice, awareness, and accountability.”
Chris Metzen, a co-creator of Blizzard franchise Diablo who left the company in 2016, said: “We failed, and I’m sorry… to all of you at Blizzard — those of you I know and those of you whom I’ve never met — I offer you my very deepest apologies for the part I played in a culture that fostered harassment, inequality, and indifference.”
The federal government is ordering the dissolution of TikTok’s Canadian business after a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform, but stopped short of ordering people to stay off the app.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government’s “wind up” demand Wednesday, saying it is meant to address “risks” related to ByteDance Ltd.’s establishment of TikTok Technology Canada Inc.
“The decision was based on the information and evidence collected over the course of the review and on the advice of Canada’s security and intelligence community and other government partners,” he said in a statement.
The announcement added that the government is not blocking Canadians’ access to the TikTok application or their ability to create content.
However, it urged people to “adopt good cybersecurity practices and assess the possible risks of using social media platforms and applications, including how their information is likely to be protected, managed, used and shared by foreign actors, as well as to be aware of which country’s laws apply.”
Champagne’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment seeking details about what evidence led to the government’s dissolution demand, how long ByteDance has to comply and why the app is not being banned.
A TikTok spokesperson said in a statement that the shutdown of its Canadian offices will mean the loss of hundreds of well-paying local jobs.
“We will challenge this order in court,” the spokesperson said.
“The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.”
The federal Liberals ordered a national security review of TikTok in September 2023, but it was not public knowledge until The Canadian Press reported in March that it was investigating the company.
At the time, it said the review was based on the expansion of a business, which it said constituted the establishment of a new Canadian entity. It declined to provide any further details about what expansion it was reviewing.
A government database showed a notification of new business from TikTok in June 2023. It said Network Sense Ventures Ltd. in Toronto and Vancouver would engage in “marketing, advertising, and content/creator development activities in relation to the use of the TikTok app in Canada.”
Even before the review, ByteDance and TikTok were lightning rod for privacy and safety concerns because Chinese national security laws compel organizations in the country to assist with intelligence gathering.
Such concerns led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill in March designed to ban TikTok unless its China-based owner sells its stake in the business.
Champagne’s office has maintained Canada’s review was not related to the U.S. bill, which has yet to pass.
Canada’s review was carried out through the Investment Canada Act, which allows the government to investigate any foreign investment with potential to might harm national security.
While cabinet can make investors sell parts of the business or shares, Champagne has said the act doesn’t allow him to disclose details of the review.
Wednesday’s dissolution order was made in accordance with the act.
The federal government banned TikTok from its mobile devices in February 2023 following the launch of an investigation into the company by federal and provincial privacy commissioners.
— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
LONDON (AP) — Most people have accumulated a pile of data — selfies, emails, videos and more — on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
It’s wise to draft a will spelling out who inherits your physical assets after you’re gone, but don’t forget to take care of your digital estate too. Friends and family might treasure files and posts you’ve left behind, but they could get lost in digital purgatory after you pass away unless you take some simple steps.
Here’s how you can prepare your digital life for your survivors:
Apple
The iPhone maker lets you nominate a “ legacy contact ” who can access your Apple account’s data after you die. The company says it’s a secure way to give trusted people access to photos, files and messages. To set it up you’ll need an Apple device with a fairly recent operating system — iPhones and iPads need iOS or iPadOS 15.2 and MacBooks needs macOS Monterey 12.1.
For iPhones, go to settings, tap Sign-in & Security and then Legacy Contact. You can name one or more people, and they don’t need an Apple ID or device.
You’ll have to share an access key with your contact. It can be a digital version sent electronically, or you can print a copy or save it as a screenshot or PDF.
Take note that there are some types of files you won’t be able to pass on — including digital rights-protected music, movies and passwords stored in Apple’s password manager. Legacy contacts can only access a deceased user’s account for three years before Apple deletes the account.
Google
Google takes a different approach with its Inactive Account Manager, which allows you to share your data with someone if it notices that you’ve stopped using your account.
When setting it up, you need to decide how long Google should wait — from three to 18 months — before considering your account inactive. Once that time is up, Google can notify up to 10 people.
You can write a message informing them you’ve stopped using the account, and, optionally, include a link to download your data. You can choose what types of data they can access — including emails, photos, calendar entries and YouTube videos.
There’s also an option to automatically delete your account after three months of inactivity, so your contacts will have to download any data before that deadline.
Facebook and Instagram
Some social media platforms can preserve accounts for people who have died so that friends and family can honor their memories.
When users of Facebook or Instagram die, parent company Meta says it can memorialize the account if it gets a “valid request” from a friend or family member. Requests can be submitted through an online form.
The social media company strongly recommends Facebook users add a legacy contact to look after their memorial accounts. Legacy contacts can do things like respond to new friend requests and update pinned posts, but they can’t read private messages or remove or alter previous posts. You can only choose one person, who also has to have a Facebook account.
You can also ask Facebook or Instagram to delete a deceased user’s account if you’re a close family member or an executor. You’ll need to send in documents like a death certificate.
TikTok
The video-sharing platform says that if a user has died, people can submit a request to memorialize the account through the settings menu. Go to the Report a Problem section, then Account and profile, then Manage account, where you can report a deceased user.
Once an account has been memorialized, it will be labeled “Remembering.” No one will be able to log into the account, which prevents anyone from editing the profile or using the account to post new content or send messages.
X
It’s not possible to nominate a legacy contact on Elon Musk’s social media site. But family members or an authorized person can submit a request to deactivate a deceased user’s account.
Passwords
Besides the major online services, you’ll probably have dozens if not hundreds of other digital accounts that your survivors might need to access. You could just write all your login credentials down in a notebook and put it somewhere safe. But making a physical copy presents its own vulnerabilities. What if you lose track of it? What if someone finds it?
Instead, consider a password manager that has an emergency access feature. Password managers are digital vaults that you can use to store all your credentials. Some, like Keeper,Bitwarden and NordPass, allow users to nominate one or more trusted contacts who can access their keys in case of an emergency such as a death.
But there are a few catches: Those contacts also need to use the same password manager and you might have to pay for the service.
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Is there a tech challenge you need help figuring out? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your questions.
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s competition watchdog said Thursday it’s opening a formal investigation into Google’s partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.
The Competition and Markets Authority said it has “sufficient information” to launch an initial probe after it sought input earlier this year on whether the deal would stifle competition.
The CMA has until Dec. 19 to decide whether to approve the deal or escalate its investigation.
“Google is committed to building the most open and innovative AI ecosystem in the world,” the company said. “Anthropic is free to use multiple cloud providers and does, and we don’t demand exclusive tech rights.”
San Francisco-based Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, who previously worked at ChatGPT maker OpenAI. The company has focused on increasing the safety and reliability of AI models. Google reportedly agreed last year to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic, which has a popular chatbot named Claude.
Anthropic said it’s cooperating with the regulator and will provide “the complete picture about Google’s investment and our commercial collaboration.”
“We are an independent company and none of our strategic partnerships or investor relationships diminish the independence of our corporate governance or our freedom to partner with others,” it said in a statement.
The U.K. regulator has been scrutinizing a raft of AI deals as investment money floods into the industry to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom. Last month it cleared Anthropic’s $4 billion deal with Amazon and it has also signed off on Microsoft’s deals with two other AI startups, Inflection and Mistral.
