10 things in tech you need to know today, October 18

Facebook believes spammers
were behind its biggest hack in history.
Getty

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

1. 
   Facebook has “tentatively” concluded that spammers, not foreign
   agents, are to blame for the biggest hack in its
   history. Anonymous sources told the Wall Street
   Journal that the company does not believe a nation-state was
   involved.
2. 
   An Amazon staffer says over 450 employees wrote to Jeff Bezos
   demanding Amazon stop selling facial-recognition software to
   police. An anonymous Amazon employee demanded in
   an op-ed article on Medium that the company stop selling its
   facial-recognition software, Rekognition, to police forces.
3. 
   Twitter released more than 10 million tweets linked to
   state-sponsored troll accounts. Twitter has
   released a huge swath of data linked to foreign influence and
   misinformation campaigns ahead of the US midterm elections in
   three weeks.
4. 
   Four powerful institutional Facebook investors co-filed a
   shareholder proposal to split Mark Zuckerberg’s dual role as
   CEO and chairman. New York City Comptroller Scott
   Stringer, Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs, Rhode
   Island State Treasurer Seth Magaziner, and Pennsylvania State
   Treasurer Joe Torsella are joining forces to pile the pressure
   on Zuckerberg.
5. 
   Saudi Arabia is walking away from a deal with Virgin Hyperloop,
   the Financial Times reports. The move comes after
   Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson said he would suspend
   working with the Kingdom in the wake of Jamal Khashoggi’s
   disappearance.
6. 
   Tesla’s vice president of manufacturing, has left the company,
   according to a source familiar with the matter.
   Gilbert Passin joins a long list of high-level employees
   from all parts of the automaker who have made their exit.
7. 
   The maker of “Fortnite” is suing two YouTubers for trolling
   with cheats and sharing hacks. The lawsuit, filed
   in a North Carolina district court, claims that cheat software
   damages the experience of “Fortnite” players, and harms the
   game’s community as a result.
8. 
   Apple
   stores are now selling a $2,000 “self-flying” drone you can
   control from an Apple Watch. The startup behind
   the quadcopter was founded by former MIT students, and it’s
   backed by some of technology’s elite investors.
9. 
   Uber may spin off its self-driving car unit as it races to go
   public. Uber is considering selling off stakes in
   its Advanced Technologies self-driving unit as it races towards
   a 2019 IPO, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
10. 
    Tesla says Elon Musk plans to buy $20 million worth of stock as
    soon as possible. The plans were announced the day
    after a judge approved Tesla and Musk’s settlement with the
    US’s top stock regulator.

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