Top 10 Tech Scandals

In 2015, some of the biggest names in tech, including Apple, Google, Intel, and Adobe, dished out a hefty $415 million to settle an anti-poaching lawsuit. Around 64,000 employees of the tech giants accused them of conspiring to limit their careers and salaries by agreeing to not hire each other’s employees - locking them out of better-paying jobs. The companies admitted that they had agreements not to hire each other’s staff in some cases. They disputed the accusation that it had been done to keep wages down, but opted to settle the suit out of court for a very considerable sum.

In 2018, Google signed a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense that had the tech giant’s employees up in arms. The contract was for Project Maven, which aimed to develop AI technology for drone use. Several thousand employees signed a petition in protest, and over a dozen resigned. The petition letter highlighted that the employees believed Project Maven was damaging Google’s reputation and violating its ethical responsibilities. The backlash ultimately forced Google to rethink its involvement in the project, and the company announced that it would not renew its contract with the Pentagon.

If you’re an avid tech user, you’ve probably used a device manufactured by Foxconn. The Taiwanese electronics company manufactures gadgets for tech giants like Apple, Nintendo, and HP. However, Foxconn’s reputation took a major hit in 2010 when at least 14 workers took their own lives, exposing inhumane management practices and harsh working conditions. Steve Jobs defended the company as “pretty nice”; evidently not a sentiment that its employees shared as they stood for 12 hour shifts six days a week. In response to the tragedy, Foxconn installed safety nets to catch employees, had them sign pledges not to take their own lives, and increased wages.

In 2016, the Samsung Note 7 took the world by storm, before going up in flames. A month after Samsung released the device, disaster struck. The phone’s batteries were defective, causing the phone to overheat and catch fire. Samsung recalled the phone and switched battery suppliers; however, the replacement phones also started catching fire. Memes were born, and Samsung’s reputation went up in smoke, but the company persevered through the controversy. In October, they recalled the device and ceased production. The mistake was projected to cost them US$17 billion in revenue.

Talk about being caught red-handed. In the mid-2010s, German automaker Volkswagen was caught cheating on diesel-emissions tests by installing software that detected when the cars were being tested, and altered engine performance to meet EPA standards. However, outside of test mode, the engines spewed out pollutants up to 40 times the allowed limit. The scandal forced Volkswagen to recall millions of vehicles, and ultimately cost them $33.3 billion. Their attempt to put profits ahead of environmental concerns massively backfired, and tarnished their name for years to come.

The Cambridge Analytica Scandal of 2018 jolted the tech industry, revealing how a British consulting firm collected personal data from millions of Facebook users without their consent for political advertising. The fallout was major. Facebook was fined $5 billion and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress. The scandal sparked public outcry and raised awareness about the importance of privacy in tech. The outrage continued with the 2020 ad boycott in protest of Facebook’s failure to prevent hate speech and a 2021 whistleblower who claimed Facebook knowingly puts profits before user safety. The Cambridge Analytica scandal was a wake-up call that revealed how user data is sold and exploited, and the need for greater oversight.

Chinese journalist Shi Tao was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2005, after communicating government restrictions on reporting to a human rights group the previous year. This was already controversial, but it also emerged that Yahoo! had played a role in his arrest and prosecution. The company provided Shi’s email account information to the Chinese government, which was then used in his arrest. Search engines like Google and Yahoo often omit political or religious information from users in China, to comply with government regulation. This case drew fresh attention to the issue of complicity and collaboration between tech giants and the state.

Think your boss is spying on you? Well, sometimes, it does happen! In 2006, HP chairwoman Patricia Dunn hired security experts to investigate an information leak. These experts recruited private investigators, who used a shady tactic known as pretexting. Specifically, they impersonated board members and journalists to obtain confidential phone records. Once the scheme was exposed, Dunn claimed not to have known what methods were being used. An investigation led to criminal charges, although almost all the charges were eventually dismissed. The scandal contributed to a new law in California against pretexting.

Elizabeth Holmes was once touted as the next Steve Jobs. She dropped out of Stanford at 19 to start Theranos, a healthcare company that claimed to revolutionize blood testing. However, the technology was not as revolutionary as she claimed. In 2015, an article in the Wall Street Journal exposed the fraudulent claims made by Holmes and her company, leading to her indictment on charges of fraud and an 11-year prison sentence. The scandal shocked the tech world and inspired Hulu’s hit drama miniseries “The Dropout.”

In 2013, whistleblower Edward Snowden made international headlines by leaking classified information about global surveillance programs, including those of the NSA. This wasn’t the first time the NSA was accused of overreaching. In 2006, it was revealed that AT&T allowed the NSA to wiretap internet traffic. The information Snowden leaked revealed that the NSA was sucking up emails, text messages, and even video chats, with the help of tech giants, or by hacking into them! These included domestic as well as foreign communications. Snowden fled the US to avoid prosecution and remains in Russia - praised as a hero by some, and condemned as a traitor by others.