10 things in tech you need to know today

Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Thursday.

1. Facebook is fighting a fine it got for the catastrophic Cambridge Analytica data breach. Facebook claims the £500,000 ($640,000) penalty is unjustified because there’s no evidence that UK users’ data was used inappropriately.
2. Some Tesla Gigafactory workers will have to work through Thanksgiving as the company pushes to make 7,000 Model 3s per week and keep the company profitable. An internal email viewed by Business Insider said Tesla was looking for “volunteers” to help with Model 3 production.
3. The chairman of Alphabet admitted that Google will have to break its core values if it wants to launch a search engine in China. Google is working on plans to return to the Chinese market with a censored search engine after an eight-year hiatus.
4. Amazon sent an email to some users telling them a “technical error” had exposed an undisclosed number of customer email addresses. An Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch the issue has been fixed.
5. An Amazon warehouse worker is waging war on working conditions in a new anonymous newspaper column. The worker is a “fulfilment associate” and said that while management pays lip service to staff welfare, workers are treated like “disposable parts.”
6. Facebook looks like it’s preparing for war with Donald Trump after hiring a top Department of Justice antitrust lawyer. The firm has hired Kate Patchen, the chief of the Department of Justice’s antitrust division in San Francisco, after Trump said he was looking at antitrust proceedings against tech giants.
7. The PR firm hired by Facebook to smear its critics also set up a website pushing for Tim Cook as a presidential candidate. The New York times delved deeper into the tactics employed by Definers PR.
8. Foxconn is slashing costs ahead of a “difficult” year, and it’s the latest warning sign for Apple. Foxconn is Apple’s top manufacturing partner, and the news comes as many different Apple suppliers have been slashing forecasts.
9. A Googler vividly described the “disastrous” leadership meeting that sparked a giant protest over sexual misconduct. YouTube exec Claire Stapleton said management’s “dismissive” approach to questions about a New York Times exposé on sexual misconduct at Google was a turning point.
10. Amazon is reportedly plotting to take on Apple with its own mobile payments within stores. Amazon has been quietly working to get brick-and-mortar retailers to adopt its mobile-payment system for in-store purchases, The Wall Street Journal reported.

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