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Reid Hoffman urges Silicon Valley to speak out against Trump |
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman argued Silicon Valley "can't bend the knee" to President Trump after a second American was killed by federal agents amid an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. |
© David Paul Morris, Bloomberg via Getty Images |
Hoffman, a major Democratic donor, said in an op-ed in the San Francisco Standard on Thursday that too many tech leaders have "divested themselves of the responsibility to speak out against the administration's excesses." "January's tragic events in Minneapolis should end that posture," he wrote. "We leaders in tech and business have power — economic, social, platform power — and sitting on that power right now is not good business. It's also not neutrality. It's a choice." Tensions have been running high in Minneapolis since 37-year-old Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal immigration agents Saturday. His death came amid protests over the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer just weeks earlier. "I've been encouraged in recent days that more Silicon Valley leaders have spoken out to condemn the Minneapolis killings and the policy choices that led to them," Hoffman said. "It's a good start to something America needs much more of right now." Several major tech leaders have voiced concerns in the wake of Pretti's shooting. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman criticized ICE for "going too far" in a message to employees obtained by The New York Times. In a post on X, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei underscored the "importance of preserving democratic values and rights at home" amid the "horror" in Minnesota. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a note to employees obtained by Bloomberg that he was "heartbroken" over the events in Minneapolis and suggested it was "a time for deescalation." "We in Silicon Valley can't bend the knee to Trump," Hoffman added in Thursday's op-ed. "We can't shrink away and just hope the crisis will fade. We know now that hope without action is not a strategy — it's an invitation for Trump to trample whatever he can see, including our own business and security interests." Check out the full report at TheHill.com. |
Welcome to The Hill's Technology newsletter, I'm Julia Shapero — tracking the latest moves from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. |
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How policy will be impacting the tech sector now and in the future: |
Former Google engineer convicted of selling AI trade secrets |
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A former Google engineer was convicted Thursday of stealing AI-related trade secrets from the tech giant for Chinese companies, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of California. Linwei Ding, also known as Leon Ding, was found guilty of seven counts of economic espionage and seven counts of thefts of trade secrets, after stealing more than 2,000 pages of confidential information from Google. … |
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What is the Arctic Frost provision at the center of Graham's funding hold? |
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A controversial new law that could enrich some Republican senators — and a bipartisan effort to repeal the provision — is at the center of a hold by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that is delaying a vote on a funding package. Under the law, senators — but not House members — have the ability to sue for $500,000 if their records were subpoenaed or obtained without prior notification. The measure is a direct response to Sen. Chuck … |
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News we've flagged from the intersection of tech and other topics: |
- OpenAI plans fourth-quarter IPO in race to beat Anthropic to market (Wall Street Journal)
- Tesla's Model S, soon to be history, changed the auto industry (New York Times)
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White House to meet with crypto, banking industries |
The White House is planning to hold a meeting with members of the cryptocurrency and banking industries next week, amid a battle over a stablecoin rewards provision in a crypto market bill. Coinbase, Blockchain Association and The Digital Chamber have been invited, The Hill has confirmed. "The White House has been a strong and consistent champion of bipartisan digital asset market structure legislation, and we're grateful for its leadership in keeping this effort moving forward," Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger said in a statement. "We're proud to participate in next week's meeting, and we thank David Sacks, Patrick Witt, and the White House for bringing stakeholders from both sides to the table to work toward a compromise on stablecoin rewards," she added. The stablecoin rewards provision has become a key issue for market structure legislation in the Senate, as the crypto and banking industries have launched opposing lobbying efforts. The issue stems from the GENIUS Act, a stablecoin measure passed by Congress last year. It included a provision barring stablecoin issuers from offering interest to stablecoin holders. The banking industry has argued this left open a loophole for third parties to offer rewards to stablecoin holders, while the crypto industry contends these rewards are necessary for stablecoins to effectively compete. |
Crypto Corner is a daily feature focused on digital currency and its outlook in Washington. |
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You're all caught up. See you next week! |
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