Skip to main content

Digital Trends Live: Facebook’s future, Huawei vs. the U.S., and more

On episode 81 of Digital Trends Live, hosts Greg Nibler and Drew Prindle convened to break down the biggest news stories from the world of tech.

The first story on the docket this time: Facebook has been embroiled in a number of scandals over the last few years, particularly in regard to the way the company has handled users’ data. CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently made a post on Facebook outlining his vision for a new era of Facebook, in which the platform will be more committed to protecting users’ privacy.

“I believe the future of communication will increasingly shift to private, encrypted services,” Zuckerberg wrote, “where people can be confident what they say to each other stays secure and their messages and content won’t stick around forever. This is the future I hope we will help bring about.”

Zuckerberg goes on to cite WhatsApp’s achievements in encryption as a guidepost for the new Facebook and emphasized that the new model will be built on several principles: Private interactions, encryption, impermanence, safety, interoperability, and secure data storage.

In other news, the technological tensions between the U.S. and China continue to simmer, as Chinese telecommunications company Huawei filed a lawsuit against the U.S. government over the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, which banned U.S. government agencies from using Huawei equipment or working with companies that do. Huawei alleges that because the act specifically singles out the company, it is unconstitutional. The U.S. government is suspicious that Huawei is too entangled with the Chinese government and would use its equipment to spy on federal agencies (there’s an excellent episode of Planet Money about the origins of this dispute).

Finally, Nibler spoke to Sue Khim, CEO of Brilliant.org, an online learning platform that teaches subjects through “interactive problem-solving.”

“Brilliant offers a website and apps, and we make math and science fun and inspiration through interactive learning experiences,” Khim explains. “One of the things that brought me to this idea was that in college everyone was watching YouTube to learn math and science, and when I looked at the numbers it was staggering: People watch 5 billion STEM videos a month on YouTube.”

Digital Trends Live airs Monday through Friday at 9 a.m. PT, with highlights available on demand after the stream ends. For more information, check out the DT Live homepage, and be sure to watch live for the chance to win occasional prizes.

Editors' Recommendations

Will Nicol
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Will Nicol is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends. He covers a variety of subjects, particularly emerging technologies, movies…
TikTok decision, Facebook Connect, new lunar lander | Digital Trends Live
digital trends live episode 461 yunl8v4tynaedbtjsuwdhg

On this Digital Trends Live, host Greg Nibler dives into the top tech news of the day, including a possible TikTok deal, a massive hacking attack against game developers, the Facebook Connect event, the competition for the next lunar lander, and more.

 

Read more
Apple’s new products, PS5 Event, and more | Digital Trends Live
digital trends live episode 460 home small

On this Digital Trends Live, host Greg Nibler dives into the top trending stories in tech, including Apple’s new products and updates, the PlayStation 5 event, the upcoming volocopter, Apple versus Spotify, and more.
Holland Roden
Next up is Holland Roden, actress and star of No Escape, who talks about her love for escape rooms, as well as the YouTube series outlining her pandemic project of building a van for both living and travel.
 

What's TBD this week? DT's Jess Surbaugh and Adrien Warner join the program to talk about the 72nd annual Emmy Awards, airing this Sunday.

Read more
Mandalorian season 2, Apple Event, and more | Digital Trends Live
digital trends live episode 459 mandolorian 2 74ccadd

On this Digital Trends Live, host Greg Nibler covers the top trending news in tech, including Apple’s new products, YouTube’s Shorts, CBS All Access becomes Paramount Plus, The Mandalorian season 2 trailer, and more.

 

Read more