After weeks of speculation about a leaked draft opinion that indicated that abortion would no longer be guaranteed as a federal right but instead left up to the states to decide, the United States Supreme Court has officially overturned Roe v. Wade. The move will allow more than half of states to ban abortion, with an immediate and enduring impact on tens of millions of Americans. The court decided there is no constitutional right to abortion in a case called Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization. In reaching that decision, the conservative-majority
YouTube has officially opened grant applications for the #YouTubeBlack Voices Fund Class of 2023. The $100 million funds will amplify and nurture Black voices in the creator community. The grant program, which the video platform first launched in 2020, was primarily designed to help support and nurture Black creators and artists, from musicians and lawyers to gamers and fitness instructors. The scheme has welcomed over 300 grantees from the United States, Kenya, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, South Africa, and Nigeria in just over two years. The program has not
TikTok user Natasha (@tashathecaptain) worked as a tech lead at a drink distribution company. She helped create new systems to help support drivers who may have experienced technical issues traveling across the country. After three years, she decided to resign after feeling overworked, underpaid, and a lack of recognition for some of the new initiatives she had implemented and created to help build the company. After attending her first-ever tech conference in Colorado, Natasha was taken aback by the lack of diversity. After realizing she was the only Black woman
Meta Chicago is reportedly set to launch software engineering courses to bring more Black people into tech. The underrepresentation of African Americans in tech has been an issue since the 1970s when the Bay Area became Silicon Valley. And while one can say it’s gotten better, there is still a way to go. In 2018, according to Silicon Valley Bank, only 1% of venture capital dollars went to Black start-up founders, and Black employees made up only 2.8% of Google’s technical roles and 4.8% of their entire workforce. More recently, Twitter reported
Calaxy, a Black-owned web3 social marketplace, has raised $26 million in strategic funding co-led by Animoca Brands and HBAR Foundation with support from Polygon. This raise follows a $7.5 million seed round in 2021 with investors like Animoca Brands, Red Beard Ventures, ArkStream Capital, NGC Ventures, and Genesis Block Ventures. The seed round also had support from NFL player Ezekiel Elliott, “The Bachelor” Matt James, and former PayPal head of Blockchain Strategy Jonathan Padilla, among others. Calaxy aims to build a new infrastructure that allows content creators, ranging from small influencers to big-time celebrities, to
If you search ‘migrants’ on Tiktok, you get a host of videos from desperate individuals trying to secretly enter lorries and being caught out to news about the thousands of young men that have lost their lives trying to make the journey. But some TikTok videos and Instagram accounts that aggregated these videos of sea journeys show before and after footage alongside images of the same migrants walking along well-groomed European streets and posing in front of monuments like the Eiffel Tower. These videos may give the impression to some
Isaac Harvey was recently named Britain’s most influential disabled person on the Power 100 list, and there’s no doubt that he has – and continues – to inspire a generation. Harvey has no arms, a weak pelvis, and scoliosis (curvature of his spine) due to a condition called hypoplasia. He was fostered at two weeks old and later adopted by the same family at the age of five. Though he sometimes experienced discrimination, he never saw himself as different as he has “always just been doing me, and everyone’s different
A young Nigerian has launched a new social media app known as ‘ShapClick,’ a social media platform that aims to take over Facebook, Twitter, and others. The Nigerian app developer, Mohammed Aliyu, boasted that ShapClick would surpass other social media apps because of the installation of more authentication to protect end-to-end encryption of private chat between users and guarantee safety. A spokesman for Aliyu, Mr. Hyacinth Chiweuba, told Vanguard that ShapClick as an indigenous messaging application would enable users to chat and make audio and video calls, including an unrestricted
In times of crisis, it’s especially crucial that governments share accurate, up-to-date information with their citizens and journalists – as social media can play an important role in disseminating urgent information. But we’ve seen time and time again that some leaders have taken liberties to silence their people. Nigeria and Zimbabwe are just examples of countries with governments that have done so in recent years. Back in 2019, Zimbabwe blocked access to social media for seven days as deadly protests swept the country which killed at least 12 people. The government
Klarna was trending on Twitter after the public discovered airlines now allow customers to buy flights on a payment plan and it’s fair to say Black Twitter loved the news. How exactly does it work? Book your stay and pay with Klarna at checkout. The website says “by spreading the cost you can think about upgrading or even staying a bit longer.” Here are some of the community’s reactions after finding out: But it’s important for us to note a few things about Klarna. With ‘buy now pay later’ schemes
