The Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v. Wade has led Democrats to push for action on proposals to protect Americans seeking abortions from being targeted with their personal data.

In other news, a California-based crypto firm announced on Thursday night that hackers stole $100 million worth of cryptocurrency.

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar, Chris Mills Rodrigo and Ines Kagubare. Subscribe here.

Abortion ruling spurs push for data privacy

Supporters of proposals to protect data that could provide information about people seeking abortions are pushing for swift action after the Supreme Court’s Friday decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

• Democrats are weighing responses to the 6-3 court decision that will trigger abortion bans in 13 states, and likely lead to severe restrictions in others.
  
• Supporters of key data privacy proposals said it is urgent to ensure Americans’ location, search and call data isn’t used to target people seeking abortions.

“We need to make sure that we in Congress are doing everything we can to protect people’s most sensitive and personal data, their reproductive and sexual health data, so that it can’t be used against them, especially in the states that are going to be criminalizing abortion,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), the lead House sponsor of a bill aimed at protecting reproductive health data. 

Without additional protections, users’ location, search and calling data can be easily accessed and shared with law enforcement in ways that could be used to target people seeking abortions, especially in states that ban or severely restrict the procedure.

Read more here. 

Hackers make off with $100 million in crypto

Harmony, a California-based crypto firm, announced on Thursday night that hackers have stolen $100 million worth of cryptocurrency from one of its blockchain bridges. 

• The company said on Twitter that it has partnered up with law enforcement and forensic specialists to try to identify the hackers and retrieve the stolen funds.
  
• “Harmony is working around the clock as we continue our investigation alongside the FBI and multiple cyber security firms,” the company tweeted. 

In a blog post, the company said its team has attempted to reach out to the hacker with an embedded message sent to the culprit’s crypto wallet address. 

The theft is the latest crypto hack to occur in the last two months.

Read more here. 

NEW BILL TO RESTRICT DATA PURCHASE OF US CITIZENS

A bipartisan group of senators on Thursday unveiled legislation aimed at restricting the ability of foreign adversaries to purchase data about American citizens. 

• The Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Surveillance Act would direct the Commerce secretary to identify kinds of personal data that could harm national security if exported. 
  
• The agency would then determine which countries are "low risk" and which are "high risk."

Low-risk countries would be allowed to import data without restrictions, while high-risk ones would see exports of data be presumptively denied.

All other countries would require license for bulk exports of data identified as potentially harmful.

Read more here

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Affordable Connectivity Program needs permanent funding 

Notable links from around the web: 

Video game industry on the end of Roe: I’m ‘not proud to be an American’ (The Washington Post / Teddy Amenabar) 

Ads Are Officially Coming to Netflix. Here's What That Means for You (TIME / Megan McCluskey)  

Wall Street Banks Quietly Test Cyber Defenses at Treasury’s Direction (Bloomberg / Christopher Condon and Craig Torres) 

📍 Clickable: Where abortion stands in states after Roe

One more thing: Netflix layoffs

Netflix has laid off 300 employees in a second round of layoffs after letting go 150 workers last month as the company tries to cut costs amid a downturn in revenue growth.

A Netflix spokesperson confirmed the layoffs to The Hill on Thursday, saying the company is continuing to “significantly” invest in its business but needed to make the move to ensure costs are growing in line with the slower revenue growth. 

“We are so grateful for everything they have done for Netflix and are working hard to support them through this difficult transition,” the spokesperson said of the laid-off employees in a statement.  

Read more here.

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you next week.

VIEW THE FULL EDITION HERE

Supporters of proposals offering protections around data that could provide information about people seeking abortions are pushing for swift action after the Supreme Court’s Friday decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

As Democrats weigh responses to the 6-3 court decision that will trigger abortion bans in 13 states, and likely lead to severe restrictions in others, supporters of key data privacy proposals said it is urgent to ensure Americans’ location, search and call data isn’t used to target people seeking abortion care. 

“We need to make sure that we in Congress are doing everything we can to protect people's most sensitive and personal data, their reproductive and sexual health data, so that it can't be used against them, especially in the states that are going to be criminalizing abortion,” said Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), the lead House sponsor of a bill aimed at protecting reproductive health data. 

Without additional protections, users’ location, search and calling data can be easily accessed and shared with law enforcement in ways that could be used to target people seeking abortions, especially in states that ban or severely restrict abortion access.

Such information could also be accessed and published by right-wing hackers, said Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) senior staff technologist Bill Budington. 

Democrats introduced a couple of proposals aimed at giving users more data protections in recent weeks, following the leak of a draft majority opinion in May that indicated the court was prepared to strike down Roe v. Wade. 

Additionally, last month more than 40 Democrats sent a letter to Google urging the tech giant to stop collecting and storing location data over concerns that it could be used to target people seeking abortions. 

“Unfortunately, we haven’t seen a shift in the data retention policies or data policies by Big Tech in response to the Dobbs draft,” Budington said, referring to the leaked draft opinion for the Dobbs. v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case that was decided Friday.

“So companies were just, I suppose, waiting for themselves to be legally compelled to hand over this information,” he said. 

“But I think that putting meaningful limits on the ability for these companies to just deliver your data to third parties is certainly a welcome development,” Budington added. 

Earlier this week Jacobs and Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) introduced a bill, known as the My Body, My Data Act, that would ban companies from retaining data about users’ reproductive health without consent. The proposal has 43 cosponsors in the House and 10 in the Senate, including Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.).

“We can't rely on the goodwill of individual companies who right now say they'll do the right thing when there are no protections to make sure that they do for the most sensitive and personal reproductive health data and we need to do everything we can in order to protect it and that's our job as a government,” Jacobs said. 

Wyden also pushed for Congress to take action on data privacy in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling. 

Wyden said Congress must pass legislation protecting search, text and location tracking data so it isn’t “weaponized against” people.

“Technology companies must take immediate steps to limit the collection and retention of customer data so that they don’t become tools of persecution,” Wyden said in a statement. 

Wyden joined Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) in introducing a bill earlier this month that would ban data brokers from selling American’s location and health data. 

Rep. Cathy Castor (D-Fla.) also urged Congress to take action on data privacy as part of the response to the court’s decision. 

“We're going to be working on legislation to protect people's privacy. We already are doing that on a broader scale, but now this really raises the stakes for that,” Castor said. “I mean how outrageous is this that women and doctors in America in 2022 will be targeted for simply taking care of themselves and making these very personal, private decisions about their health care and their future.”

There’s been growing momentum in Congress to take action on data privacy. Members of a House panel, including Castor, voted unanimously on Thursday to advance a bipartisan comprehensive data privacy bill to the full House Energy and Commerce Committee.

But given the deep partisan divides on abortion issues, bills related to protecting reproductive health data likely face a tougher battle ahead. 

“I think that it's important that Congress is having a broader conversation about all data,” Jacobs said. “As a millennial who's lived my life online I think it's time that Congress has had that very important conversation. But I think it's also very clear that right now, there are particular protections we need for this specific kind of data that we must put in place immediately.” 

As Congress mulls action, Budington said people seeking abortion care can take action on an individual scale to protect themselves from having their data accessed as they look to terminate pregnancies.

He said people can turn off location services on their phone, or leave their phone at home if possible, when going to an abortion provider. They could also consider turning off cellular data. 

Individuals and abortion providers can also use encrypted communication apps, such as Signal, and browsers with stricter privacy settings, such as Brave, Firefox and DuckDuckGo on mobile, for more protection.

He also said people can turn off advertising identifiers on their phone. EFF has provided a guide showing users how to do so through settings on iOS and Android devices.

A bipartisan group of senators on Thursday unveiled legislation aimed at restricting the ability of foreign adversaries to purchase data about American citizens.

The Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Surveillance Act would direct the Commerce Secretary to identify kinds of personal data that could harm national security if exported.

The agency would then determine which countries are low risk and which are high risk.

Low-risk countries would be allowed to import data without restrictions, while high-risk ones would see exports of data be presumptively denied. All other countries would require license for bulk exports of data identified as potentially harmful.

“Right now it’s perfectly legal for a company in China to buy huge databases of sensitive information from data brokers about the movements or health records of millions of Americans, and then share that information with the Chinese government,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), one of four lawmakers behind the bill said in a statement. “That’s a huge problem for our country’s security.”

The legislation is modeled after a draft bill that Wyden released last year.

The text of the legislation does not identify any specific country that would have data flows blocked, but it’s safe to assume China would be on the list. 

The legislation includes set of factors to consider when identifying high-risk countries including whether their governments have conducted hostile intelligence operations against the U.S. and domestic policies on compelling individuals to turn over personal data.

Wyden was joined by Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) in introducing the bill.

Netflix has laid off 300 employees in a second round of layoffs after letting go 150 last month as the company tries to cut costs amid a downturn in revenue growth. 

A Netflix spokesperson confirmed the layoffs to The Hill on Thursday, saying the company is continuing to “significantly” invest in its business but needed to make the move to ensure costs are growing in line with the slower revenue growth. 

“We are so grateful for everything they have done for Netflix and are working hard to support them through this difficult transition,” the spokesperson said of the laid off employees in a statement. 

In April, Netflix reported its first loss in subscribers since October 2011, causing its stock to drop by 23 percent. The company lost 200,000 subscribers during the first quarter of 2022. 

Netflix canceled multiple planned shows in the aftermath of the loss. The streaming platform sent a letter to shareholders when the loss was announced, saying that the company expected the decrease in subscribers to continue. In the letter, it predicted a loss of 2 million paid global subscribers during the second quarter of the year.

A House subpanel on consumer protection approved a comprehensive data privacy bill, advancing the legislation to the full committee. The bill would create national standards for how companies are able to collect and manage user data. 

Meanwhile, tech executives told lawmakers on Wednesday that the government needed to share more cyber threat intelligence with the private sector to mitigate cybersecurity risks.

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar, Chris Mills Rodrigo and Ines Kagubare. Subscribe here.

Data privacy bill advances

The House Energy and Commerce Committee's Consumer Protection subpanel voted unanimously on Thursday to advance a comprehensive data privacy bill to the full committee.   

The bill would create national standards for how companies are able to collect and manage user data. It would also allow individuals to bring cases against companies, but only four years after the law is in place and after giving notice to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and their state attorney general.  

Some members expressed some concerns over the bill, despite voting to advance it to the full committee.  

• Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) introduced several amendments, related to preemption, private right of action and right to cure, but withdrew them and said he would be willing to work on the concerns as the legislation goes forward. 
  
• Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) said she wants to see the bill have better protection for children, including covering ed-tech vendors.  

But the bill faces a larger obstacle in the Senate.  

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has not backed the bill which she’s said is “riddled with enforcement loopholes.” Largely, her concerns are based around barriers in place before individuals could bring cases against companies based on privacy violations.  

Tech leaders ask for more intel sharing

Tech leaders testifying on Wednesday before a House subcommittee on cyber told lawmakers that more coordination is needed between the public and the private sector to identify security threats, including cyber, that stem from emerging technologies like quantum computing and artificial intelligence.  

Ron Green, executive vice president and chief security officer at Mastercard, said that partnership should incentivize the government to share threat intelligence to the private sector so that both sectors are able to mitigate cybersecurity risks posed by U.S. adversaries both at home and abroad. 

“Cybercrime is not constrained by borders or sectors,” Green told lawmakers. 

“Our digital world is too interconnected, and threats are too fast changing for any one organization to counter them alone,” he added. 

Read more here. 

ALEXA TO EMULATE VOICES OF LOVED ONES

Amazon will allow Alexa devices to speak through voices of users’ deceased loved ones.  

Alexa head scientist Rohit Prasad showed a video displaying the feature while delivering a keynote address during the company’s annual MARS conference in Las Vegas, San Francisco-based KRON 4 reported Thursday. 

During the presentation, Prasad showed Alexa ostensibly sounding like a boy’s deceased grandmother reading him a book. 

“Alexa, can grandma finish reading me ‘The Wizard of Oz’?” the child asks before Alexa goes into the book. 

Prasad said one thing that surprises him about Alexa is “the companionship relationship we have with it.” 

Read more here.

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: US weapons technology can help Ukraine while reassuring Russia 

Notable links from around the web: 

As Midterms Loom, Elections Are No Longer Top Priority for Meta C.E.O. (The New York Times / Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang) 

Meta Pulls Support for Tool Used to Keep Misinformation in Check (Bloomberg / Davey Alba) 

Shadowy forms of modern warfare are on full display in Ukraine (Insider / Stavros Atlamazoglou) 

TV writer Peter Kosminsky: ‘You see the effects of cyber warfare everywhere’ (The Financial Times / Gabriel Tate) 

Lighter click: Yummy patient 

One more thing: Using data to protect Puerto Rico

The Puerto Rican coastline has been receding for many decades due to rising sea levels. And as water levels rise, causing severe erosion, many coastal dwelling Puerto Ricans are left watching their homes fall into the sea. 

But a small software company in Puerto Rico called Terra Firma, founded in 2019 by island native Alejandro Mieses, is using satellite data to dynamically forecast precise erosion pain points that might help Puerto Rican city planners better protect their island in their battle against climate change. 

“The problem right now with environmental assessment is that the data is scattered across multiple federal data sets,” Mieses said. “There’s not a database that’s meant to unify them. So Terra Firma’s first mission is to actually unify that data in a way that is useable.” 

Read more here. 

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

VIEW FULL VERSION HERE

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Amazon announced a new feature Wednesday that will allow Alexa to speak in the voices of deceased relatives, friends and other loved ones.

Speaking at the day two keynote during the company's annual MARS conference in Las Vegas, Alexa head scientist Rohit Prasad showed a video of Alexa, ostensibly sounding like a boy's deceased grandmother reading him a book.

"Alexa, can grandma finish reading me 'The Wizard of Oz'?" the child asks before Alexa goes into the book.

Prasad said one thing that surprises him about Alexa is "the companionship relationship we have with it."

"In this companionship rule, human attributes like empathy and affect are key to building trust," Prasad said.

"These attributes have become even more important in these times of the ongoing pandemic, when so many of us have lost someone we love. While AI can't eliminate that pain of loss, it can definitely make those memories last."

Prasad said the voice will enable "lasting personal relationships."

Prasad said his team "had to learn how to produce a high-quality voice with less than a minute of recording versus an hour of recording in the studio."

Tech companies, from startups to industry giants, are conducting layoffs and hiring freezes ahead of a predicted recession.  

We’ll also look at the future of the cryptocurrency industry after recent plummets, as well as warnings about cyberattacks from Russia against Ukraine and allies.  

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar, Chris Mills Rodrigo and Ines Kagubare. Subscribe here.

Recession fears affect tech workers

Hiring freezes and layoffs are hitting the tech sector as Silicon Valley prepares for a predicted recession.   

• The hiring impacts are hitting companies of all sizes across tech, from industry giants to more nascent startups, signaling that the industry’s growth is slowing amid rising interest rates and surging inflation.   
  
• Near-zero interest rates, a booming stock market and massive consumer demand allowed tech firms to aggressively expand their workforce at the start of the pandemic. But the recent economic downturn is forcing many companies to reverse course and cut costs to shore up their reserves.   

“It’s the perfect storm for tech companies,” said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush. “Because valuations are sky high, hiring was unprecedented and in the course of six months it’s been a 180.”  

Since May, tech startups have laid off nearly 27,000 workers, according to layoffs.fyi, which tracks publicly announced job cuts. That’s roughly double the total number of layoffs recorded in all of 2021. 

Read more here.

Crypto's uncertain future

The market value of most cryptocurrencies has plummeted over the last few months, leaving investors reeling.  

• The steep fall amid a wider market dip poses risks for the future of crypto assets and raises questions about their insulation from the rest of the economy. 
  
• The global market capitalization of cryptocurrencies recently dipped below $1 trillion, down from above $3 trillion in November of last year.  

That decline has come from all parts of the crypto world, from steady falls in the value of popular coins to the complete implosion of major projects. 

Read more here.

RUSSIA TARGETED UKRAINE ALLIES WITH CYBER ATTACKS

Russia has levied dozens of cyber espionage campaigns in 42 countries since it invaded Ukraine in February, according to a new Microsoft report. 

The report says those efforts have targeted entities across six continents and primarily focused on NATO allies and groups supporting Ukraine. 

“The Russian invasion relies in part on a cyber strategy that includes at least three distinct and sometimes coordinated efforts – destructive cyberattacks within Ukraine, network penetration and espionage outside Ukraine and cyber influence operations targeting people around the world,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in the report. 

The tech giant previously detailed Russian cyber operations against Ukraine itself during the invasion in April. 

Sixty-three percent of the observed Russian activity in the 42 countries beyond Ukraine targeted NATO members, according to the new report.

The United States has been Russia’s top target, but the company also noted a large amount of activity in Poland — which borders Ukraine and has provided significant military and humanitarian assistance to the country — as well as the Baltic states. 

Read more here.

A CYBER WARNING FOR THE FINANCIAL SECTOR

Retired Gen. Keith Alexander, the former National Security Agency chief and head of U.S. Cyber Command, warned Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to unleash cyberattacks against the U.S. financial sector as retaliation for the West’s involvement in its war with Ukraine. 

• Alexander said Putin has stated that the U.S. was intending to launch cyberattacks against Russian banks following sanctions that crippled the country’s economy. The general said that type of statement, which could not be independently confirmed, could give Putin the power to go after U.S. financial institutions, including in cyberspace. 
  
• “I think he was actually putting it out there because [Russian] banks are having problems more so because of sanctions than anybody attacking them,” Alexander said.  
  
• “[The statement] will also give him the authority to unleash his guys against our financial institutions,” he added.  

Read more here.

Data privacy bill on deck

A House panel will debate a bill that would set national standards for how companies obtain and manage data on Thursday. 

The bipartisan bill, known as the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, was formally introduced in the House on Tuesday by Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), committee ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.).  

The Energy and Commerce consumer protection subcommittee will hold a markup on the data privacy bill, along with seven others. 

Not so fast: Although the bill has bipartisan support in the House, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has pushed back on the legislation slamming it as “riddled with loopholes.” Without her support, it faces slim chances of pushing forward in the Senate.  

Read more here.

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Biden budget prioritizes space sector  

Notable links from around the web: 

The Avatars Wear Prada (The New York Times / Vanessa Friedman) 

Pornhub’s Top Executives to Step Down (Vice / Samantha Cole) 

How Russia’s vaunted cyber capabilities were frustrated in Ukraine (The Washington Post / David Ignatius) 

Lighter click: Risky business

One more thing: A social media search

Police in northern Florida are turning to social media to search for teenagers and young adults who broke into an $8 million home and threw a party.  

The Walton County Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page that it received a noise complaint early Saturday morning in WaterColor, a community near Seaside.

When officers arrived, most attendees of the party had already left, but photos and videos have since surfaced on Snapchat, Instagram and other social media sites of the party and those who attended. 

The sheriff’s office included some of the pictures and videos in its post, showing some attendees smoking, drinking and boxing each other as others present watched and recorded on their phones. 

Read more here.

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

VIEW THE FULL VERSION HERE

Police in northern Florida are turning to social media to search for teenagers and young adults who broke into an $8 million home and threw a party. 

The Walton County Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page that it received a noise complaint early Saturday morning in WaterColor, a community near Seaside. When officers arrived, most attendees of the party had already left, but photos and videos have since surfaced on Snapchat, Instagram and other social media sites of the party and those who attended. 

The sheriff’s office included some of the pictures and videos in its post, showing some attendees smoking, drinking and boxing each other as others present watched and recorded on their phones. 

Sheriff’s office spokeswoman Corey Dobridnia told Panama City, Fla. ABC affiliate WJHG that about 200 people were present at the house when police arrived. The owners of the house party were out of town, WHJG reported. 

“An open house party is illegal, it’s already against the law, but breaking into a house to have an open house party is burglary,” Dobridnia said. “There is a chance that some of the kids didn’t know that the house wasn’t being rented, etc. but the amount of destruction and the amount of items stolen out of the house would lead me to believe that even if you did think you had permission to be there, you knew you were doing things that is against the law.” 

The office said just because videos were posted on Snapchat, where posts disappear after a certain amount of time, does not mean they were stay private as word can spread and people can tag others on Instagram, which does not disappear. It added that the office can subpoena Snapchat for videos. 

“Apart from the damage caused and the items stolen, it's a complete violation of someone's home that you can't put a price on,” the office wrote. “The feeling when you know someone went into your closet, tried on your clothes, and used your bathroom doesn't have a dollar amount attached to it. Especially in a place where you're supposed to feel safe.” 

Officials are encouraging anyone who was present or knows who was there to come forward to police.

A House panel will debate a bill that would set national standards for how companies obtain and manage data on Thursday.

The bipartisan bill, known as the American Data Privacy and Protection Act, was formally introduced in the House Wednesday by Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), committee Ranking Member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.). 

The Energy and Commerce Consumer Protection subcommittee will hold a markup on the data privacy bill, along with seven others. 

The comprehensive data privacy bill would also require companies to provide individuals with clear ways to opt out of targeted advertising. It would put in place additional requirements for kids’ data, including banning companies from using targeted advertising for all minors and from transferring covered data for users 13 to 17 to third parties without user consent. 

Pallone and McMorris Rodgers, along with Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), unveiled a draft of the legislation earlier this month. 

But it lacks support from Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), meaning it's less likely to move forward in the Senate.

Cantwell’s main sticking point with the proposal is over the degree to which individuals can pursue legal challenges against companies over data privacy breaches under the law. 

The bill would not allow individuals to bring cases over data breaches until four years after the law is in place. It would also require individuals to first notify the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and their state attorney general of their intent to bring action, and give the agencies 60 days to make a determination. 

“For American consumers to have meaningful privacy protection, we need a strong federal law that is not riddled with enforcement loopholes,” Cantwell said in a statement earlier this month, after Pallone, McMorris Rodgers and Wicker released their draft. 

Cantwell drafted a separate privacy bill. Her version would allow individuals to sue companies in federal court over privacy violations, without some of the additional steps laid out in the other proposal, according to a copy of the draft obtained by The Hill.  

Hiring freezes and layoffs are hitting the tech sector as Silicon Valley prepares for a predicted recession.  

The hiring impacts are hitting companies of all sizes across tech, from industry giants to more nascent startups, signaling that the industry’s growth is slowing amid rising interest rates and surging inflation.  

Near-zero interest rates, a booming stock market and massive consumer demand allowed tech firms to aggressively expand their workforce at the start of the pandemic. But the recent economic downturn is forcing many companies to reverse course and cut costs to shore up their reserves.  

“It’s the perfect storm for tech companies,” said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush. “Because valuations are sky high, hiring was unprecedented and in the course of six months it’s been a 180.” 

Since May, tech startups have laid off nearly 27,000 workers, according to layoffs.fyi, which tracks publicly announced job cuts. That’s roughly double the total number of layoffs recorded in all of 2021. 

Tech companies, especially smaller ones, are “pulling back on what was probably overaggressive hiring,” said Steven Weber, a professor at the Graduate School of Information at UC Berkeley.  

“Even six months or a year ago the view was, in many of the smaller firms of course, ‘Profits aren’t important, we just gotta grow. We grow into profits.’ During recessions, and during valuation shifts like we’ve seen in the markets in the last couple of months, unprofitable growth companies are getting killed. Their stock prices are collapsing,” Weber said.  

The Federal Reserve is fighting the nation’s highest inflation in four decades by raising interest rates, a move that will curb consumer demand and likely bring down prices.  

But economists say that rate hikes, which make it more difficult and expensive for companies to access capital, boost the likelihood that the U.S. goes into a recession next year. 

The economic downturn is driving investors away from risky assets, including tech startup stocks that rarely deliver profits. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite is down roughly 30 percent over the past year, while the big five tech stocks slid 36 percent over the same period. 

Uber last month told employees it would lay off 3,700 people, and Spotify said this month it is slowing hiring by 25 percent.  

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Tuesday the electric car company would cut 10 percent of its workforce in the next three months. Musk, who is actively pursuing a bid to buy Twitter, last week reportedly warned employees at the social media company of potential layoffs.  

“It depends. The company does need to get healthy. Right now the costs exceed the revenue,” Musk said, according to a CNBC report.  

Last week, real estate tech companies Redfin and Compass each said they would lay off around 450 workers due to a slowdown in home buying demand sparked by interest rate hikes. That comes after insurance tech startup Policygenius laid off 25 percent of its workforce earlier this month. Online-only car retailer Carvana fired 12 percent of its workforce in May. 

The largest companies aren’t immune to the challenges either. Tech giants boomed during the pandemic as the global population shifted their personal and professional lives online. But as restrictions eased, that growth faltered. Now, they’re preparing for a potential recession with hiring changes.  

Amazon executives told analysts on an April earnings call its warehouses are overstaffed.  

“Today, as we’re no longer chasing physical or staffing capacity, our teams are squarely focused on improving productivity and cost efficiencies throughout our fulfillment network,” CEO Andy Jassy said.  

In an internal memo reported by Insider, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, acknowledged that as “more people are spending time offline” and returning to “pre-pandemic patterns,” growth has “eased off.” 

“While we’re still going through our reprioritization, we know this will have an effect on hiring for the rest of the year,” Meta CFO David Wehner said in the memo sent to employees in May.  

Meta spokesperson Andrea Beasley said the company regularly re-evaluates hiring based on business needs and is slowing growth based on guidance for the recent earning period.

Google Cloud terminated dozens of support roles in March, Insider first reported. They were given 60 days to find new positions within the company. Those who didn’t were reportedly eligible for severance.  

An employee on the team who was not cut during the reorganizing told The Hill that since the initial “vague” announcement, they still lack a clear picture of what triggered the decision and leadership’s vision for the future of the remaining team.  

“The best reassurance that I’ve been able to get is that this was planned in such a way that they would only have to do it once,” the employee said.  

“It’s pretty stressful. I mean, obviously, this job is how I pay my mortgage and where I get insurance. It’s a job that I like doing. I like working with my customers. I liked working with the folks who got laid off, they were good people,” the employee added.  

A Google spokesperson told Insider in a statement in March that the reorganization “will ensure we have the right people, partners, and systems in place to meet our customers’ needs now and into the future.”  

The Hill has reached out to Google for comment.  

Ives said that hiring freezes and layoffs are tech companies’ ways of “proactively getting ahead of” a potential recession.  

“This is much more [about] companies preserving their margins, giving themselves flexibility, in what looks like a Category 5 hurricane potentially on the horizon. Strategically, we’ve seen a discernible change in hiring plans, even over the last month across Silicon Valley,” he said.  

Still, some in the industry believe that tech will weather a potential economic downturn as it did during previous recessions.  

Tim Herbert, CompTIA’s chief research officer, said that for every tech company announcing layoffs, there’s another firm ramping up hiring or continuing at their current pace, suggesting that the slowdown is more company specific than industry wide.  

“Companies that had a business model that wasn’t designed necessarily to generate cash flow profitability, but they were really pursuing market share, those seem to be the companies that are going to run into far more problems on the hiring side,” he said.  

A recent CompTIA analysis of labor data found that the tech industry added 22,800 net new workers in May, even as firms announced layoffs. Herbert noted that the market for developers, data scientists and other tech jobs remains strong, as companies are choosing to keep those tech workers on staff even as they let other employees go.

The market value of most cryptocurrencies has plummeted over the last few months, leaving investors reeling. 

The steep fall amid a wider market dip poses risks for the future of crypto assets and raises questions about their insulation from the rest of the economy. 

The global market capitalization of cryptocurrencies recently dipped below $1 trillion, down from above $3 trillion in November of last year. 

That decline has come from all parts of the crypto world, from steady falls in the value of popular coins to the complete implosion of major projects. 

After peaking at nearly $70,000 per coin late last year, Bitcoin, which remains the most traded currency on the market, is now trading for a little more than $20,000. Other top coins like Ethereum and Solana have experienced similar falls. 

The collapse of the Terra network, with its two cryptocurrencies designed to maintain one at $1 a coin, has also played a role in wiping out value in the space. Other projects, like the play-to-earn game Axie Infinity, have also floundered. 

Some crypto assets have recovered value over the last week, but still remain far away from their 2021 peaks. 

The fall of cryptocurrencies through much of 2022 has coincided with plummeting stock values as rising interest rates, inflation and recession fears rattle financial markets across the world. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite have all fallen more than 20 percent from their most recent record highs amid a darkening economic outlook and investment experts fear deeper losses could be ahead. 

While cryptocurrencies were envisioned as an alternative to traditional financial assets such as stocks and bonds, digital token values have moved in the same direction as stock prices at an increasing rate.  

Bruno Macchialli, CEO of Delchain, attributed the connection to the growing numbers of financial institutions and traditional investors who entered the crypto market over recent years. 

“We've seen main players — financial players, U.S. companies getting into the crypto world. So I think it's not illogical that we start to see a behavior that is maybe equal to what's happening in the traditional market,” he said. 

Cryptocurrencies are likely to face deeper pressure from rising interest rates as the Federal Reserve continues to boost borrowing costs and fight inflation. The values of stocks and other riskier financial assets tend to fall as borrowing costs rise, business earnings decline and consumers put less money in markets and more in savings. 

While most cryptocurrencies are not tied to the financial performance of a company, they could still face threats as higher rates and rising recession fears prompt fewer people to buy and play the market. 

As the market has grown, so to has the impact that crypto fluctuations can have on average consumers. 

And with firms now allowing investors to put coins into their retirement accounts, exposure is only more likely to increase. 

“The average person should take from [the fall in crypto value] that one needs to be extremely careful and cautious,” said Oleg Elkhunovich, a partner at trial firm Susman Godfrey who has been involved in several commercial crypto litigation cases. “As they say — only invest what you can afford to lose in this asset class.” 

The lack of meaningful regulations for crypto platforms can amplify the risk of volatile price swings. 

The particularly steep fall of the crypto market in June, for example, coincided with the world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, and a leading lending firm, Celsius Network, blocking everyday users from withdrawing assets. 

Congress has struggled to pass federal standards on cryptocurrency. The most recent bipartisan bill by Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) faces an uphill battle amid criticism for moving authority of the assets away from securities regulators. 

The increased investment in crypto may ultimately lead to more oversight independent of regulatory action by creating more opportunities for litigation, according to Elkhunovich. 

“The reality is, from a civil litigation side, you need damages,” he explained. “Clearly there are damages out there now.” 

Supporters of cryptocurrency say that while the downswing has been damaging, it also provides an opportunity for the industry to correct some of its issues and emerge stronger. 

Macchialli said the crypto bear market will also continue to weed out crypto tokens and offerings that aren’t built to last in times of economic turmoil. Those collapses, he said, are a natural part of the industry’s evolution. 

“The ones that are remaining are the ones that are having a real utility model based on on something that they are proposing and that investors are seeing something positive based on strategy or willingness,” he said. 

Twitter’s board of directors told shareholders to give the OK on Elon Musk’s offer to buy the company for $44 billion.  

Meanwhile, Democrats in the House and Senate introduced a bill that would bar tech companies from retaining data about users’ reproductive health.

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar, Chris Mills Rodrigo and Ines Kagubare. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Twitter tells shareholders to approve Musk deal

Twitter’s board of directors on Tuesday unanimously recommended shareholders approve Elon Musk’s bid to buy the social media company. 

The board recommended stockholders approve Musk’s $44 billion offer, stating they determined it to be fair and in the best interests of Twitter and its stockholders, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

Once the merger is complete, stockholders will be entitled to $54.20 per share, the board said.  

Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday, Musk said there were still some “unresolved matters” about the deal, amplifying concerns he’s raised about the number of bots on the platform. He’s cast doubt on Twitter’s assessment that bots make up fewer than 5 percent of users. 

Read more here.

New bill aims to protect reproductive data

Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) and Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Ron Wyden
(D-Ore.) introduced legislation Tuesday that would bar companies from retaining data about users’ reproductive health without consent.  

The bill would also give people the power to demand companies disclose and delete the data, as well as the power to sue companies for violations of the law. 

The legislation was put forward in response to a draft Supreme Court opinion leaked in May that showed the court was prepared to overturn Roe v. Wade, a decision that would trigger abortion bans or severe restrictions in a number of U.S. states. 

“This is some of the most sensitive and personal data that exists. It deserves the highest level of privacy protection that the government can provide and that’s what our bill does,” Jacobs told The Hill. 

Read more about the bill.

PRIORITIZE TECH ACCOUNTABILITY

Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) led several House Democrats in a letter urging President Biden to use the upcoming Group of Seven (G-7) leaders’ summit to prioritize international collaboration on social media accountability to address online disinformation, extremism, hate and harassment.  

In the letter sent to Biden Tuesday, the Democrats said the U.S. should “ensure it has a seat at the table” as other countries continue to roll out new requirements for tech platforms. 

“If the United States does not join these social media transparency efforts on an international level, it risks the formation and enforcement of new rules, standards, and best practices without American input,” they wrote. 

Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) also signed the letter. 

Although Congress is discussing a “range of policy proposals” on social media accountability, the lawmakers said that “given the international nature” of most platforms it is beneficial to structure requirements in a “modular way” with consistent standards and frameworks that allows countries to have some additional requirements or approaches to enforcement. 

Read more about the letter.

BIDEN SIGNS CYBER LAWS

President Biden on Tuesday signed two bipartisan bills into law aimed at enhancing federal, state and local governments’ cybersecurity measures. 

The bills’ passage follows an increased pace of cyber incidents in recent years against government entities, including the SolarWinds hack, which involved Russian agents compromising nine federal agencies and at least 100 private sector groups. 

Biden had signed another cybersecurity bill last month that improves the federal government’s collection of data related to cybercrime. 

Read more here.

TESLA EX-EMPLOYEES SUE OVER LAYOFFS

Two former Tesla employees filed a class-action lawsuit this week against Tesla, accusing the electric automaker company of violating federal law after they say executives recently approved “mass layoffs” without giving proper notice. 

The 10-page complaint, filed by John Lynch and Daxton Hartsfield in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Texas on Sunday, alleges Tesla violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act of 1988, which requires 60 days written notice before a mass layoff. 

“Instead, Tesla has simply notified the employees that their terminations would be effective immediately,” the complaint reads. “Tesla has also failed to provide a statement of the basis for reducing the notification period to zero days advance notice. 

Read more here.

DOJ, Meta settle discriminatory advertising case

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday said that it has reached a settlement agreement with Meta, the owner of Facebook, over allegations of discriminatory advertising on its social media platforms.  

In a statement, the DOJ said that Meta has until Dec. 31 to stop using an advertising tool for housing ads known as “Special Ad Audience” (previously called “Lookalike

Audience”) that relies on an algorithm the department has called discriminatory. 

Meta, formerly known as Facebook Inc., also has been ordered to develop a new system to address racial and other disparities caused by the use of the previous algorithm system, according to the settlement agreement. 

Read more here.

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Congress can do better than the Howey test for crypto regulation 

Notable links from around the web: 

State by state, some patients are losing telehealth access to doctors (NBC News / David Ingram) 

Researcher Hacks Into Backend for Network of Smart Jacuzzis (Motherboard / Matthew Gault) 

Twitter Accounts Hyped Company Seeking Covid Vaccine Trials (Bloomberg / Jeff Stone) 

Drivers’ Lawsuit Claims Uber and Lyft Violate Antitrust Laws (The New York Times / Kellen Browning and Noam Scheiber) 

Lighter click: Nate Silver’s final boss

One more thing: Airing NASA feuds

When Lori Garver was tapped by President-elect Obama to become NASA’s No. 2 official in 2009, she saw it as a chance to usher in a new era of space exploration for the U.S. and transform the agency into a more efficient bureaucracy. 

Garver, who grew up enamored with space and politics after witnessing Neil Armstrong’s historic moon landing as a child, came prepared to effect massive change. 

Instead, Garver writes in her new book “Escaping Gravity: My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age,” she encountered stiff pushback from lawmakers who wanted to keep existing space programs that benefited companies who contract with NASA. The resistance held the space agency and the future of space exploration back, according to Garver. 

Read more here.

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

READ FULL VERSION HERE

Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) and Sens. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore) introduced legislation Tuesday that would bar companies from retaining data about users’ reproductive health without consent. 

The bill would also give people the power to demand companies disclose and delete the data, as well as the power to sue companies for violations of the law. 

The legislation was drafted in response to a Supreme Court draft leaked in May that showed the Court was prepared to overturn Roe v. Wade, a decision that would trigger abortion bans or severe restrictions in a number of U.S. states. 

“This is some of the most sensitive and personal data that exists. It deserves the highest level of privacy protection that the government can provide and that’s what our bill does,” Jacobs told The Hill. 

The Democrats’ My Body, My Data Act would protect personal data collected by entities not currently covered by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), including data collected by apps, cell phones and search engines. 

Privacy and groups and abortion advocates have warned in the months since the bombshell Supreme Court leak that data from period-tracking apps and other information could be used to target people seeking abortions, and possibly lead to criminal action in states where the procedures would become illegal without federal protections. 

“Right now, there is no real protection in place for this type of data,” Jacobs said. 

The bill would bar regulated entities from collecting, retaining, using or disclosing personal reproductive or sexual health information without the “express consent” of the individual. 

It would direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce the law and develop rules to implement the statute. 

Jacobs said leadership is “tracing this closely.” She also noted that on the Senate side, the bill is co-sponsored by Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). 

The bill being introduced not only as Democrats prepare for a seemingly imminent overturn of Roe v. Wade, but also as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have reignited debates over privacy legislation. 

A draft of a comprehensive data privacy bill was released earlier this month. The draft has bipartisan support in the House, and backing from Senate Commerce Committee Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) in the upper chamber.

The comprehensive bill, though, lacks key support from Cantwell. 

Two former Tesla employees filed a class-action lawsuit this week against Tesla, accusing the electric automaker company of violating federal law after they say executives recently approved "mass layoffs" without giving proper notice.

The 10-page complaint, filed by John Lynch and Daxton Hartsfield in the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Texas on Sunday, alleges Tesla violated the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act of 1988, which requires 60 days written notice before a mass layoff.

"Instead, Tesla has simply notified the employees that their terminations would be effective immediately," the complaint reads. "Tesla has also failed to provide a statement of the basis for reducing the notification period to zero days advance notice."

The Hill has reached out to Tesla for comment.

In a June 2 email reviewed by Reuters, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he had a "super bad feeling" about the economy and needed to cut 10 percent of the company's workforce and pause hiring. Tesla has about 100,000 employees worldwide.

Musk then appeared to contradict that number in a tweet following the Reuters report.

"Total headcount will increase, but salaried should be fairly flat," he wrote in a tweet on June 4, responding to a post about Tesla's workforce.

On Tuesday, CNBC obtained another email in which Musk clarified he was cutting 3.5 percent of the entire workforce, with 10 percent of the company's salaried employees being laid off and the number of hourly employees increasing. He said that overall percentage was "not super material," and added that in a year, "our head count will be higher in both salaried and obviously in hourly."

Musk also dismissed the lawsuit as "of minor consequence."

“Anything that relates to Tesla gets big headlines, whether it is a bicycle accident or something much more serious," he wrote, according to CNBC.

Both Lynch and Hartsfield had worked at a gigafactory plant in Sparks, Nev., and were terminated on June 10 and June 15, respectively. The lawsuit says more than 500 employees were fired at the gigafactory this month and thousands have been laid off across the U.S.

The former employees said in the complaint that they were suing for wrongful termination on behalf of all employees included in the layoff, who suffered a "devastating economic impact."

The former Tesla workers are seeking compensation equal to the WARN Act, which stipulates that employers compensate former employees with back pay and benefits if they are found to be in violation.

Tesla could also face up to a $500 civil fine for each day of violation.

Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) led several House Democrats in a letter urging President Biden to use the upcoming Group of Seven (G-7) leaders’ summit to prioritize international collaboration on social media accountability to address online disinformation, extremism, hate and harassment. 

In the letter sent to Biden Tuesday, the Democrats said the U.S. should “ensure it has a seat at the table” as other countries continue to roll out new requirements for tech platforms.

“If the United States does not join these social media transparency efforts on an international level, it risks the formation and enforcement of new rules, standards, and best practices without American input,” they wrote.

Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) also signed the letter. 

Although Congress is discussing a “range of policy proposals” on social media accountability, the lawmakers said that “given the international nature” of most platforms it is beneficial to structure requirements in a “modular way” with consistent standards and frameworks that allows countries to have some additional requirements or approaches to enforcement. 

The Democrats underscored the importance of the issue by highlighting reports about Chinese government-linked accounts spreading propaganda about Ukraine, as well as the ongoing investigation into the attack at the Capitol last year on Jan. 6 that in part stemmed from online disinformation about the 2020 presidential election. 

“The dangers of an unhealthy information environment are well established and cannot be overstated,” they wrote. 

The G-7 summit kicks off on Sunday. It will take place at Schloss Elmau in southern Germany. 

Other members of the group include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Tuesday approved drone delivery company Zipline to operate as a small air carrier in the U.S.

Zipline, which has contributed to thousands of medical supply drops globally, announced in a press release that it had received the certification, noting that it "is now authorized to complete the longest range on-demand commercial drone deliveries" in the country.

The drone company is the first to receive air carrier certification under the FAA's BEYOND program, which Zipline says is "an initiative designed to safely integrate beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations into U.S. airspace."

Operations will cover the largest area and greatest distance of any uncrewed commercial aircraft delivery system in the country, the company said.

“Zipline’s sustainable instant delivery system is transforming healthcare and retail,” said Zipline co-founder and CEO Keller Rinaudo in a statement. “Today, on average, Zipline makes a delivery every four minutes—ensuring people get access to the products they need, the moment they need them.

"With our part 135 certification, and in close collaboration with our partners and the FAA, we are one step closer to making safe, clean and quiet instant delivery a reality for communities across the U.S.” 

Zipline is already making deliveries with Walmart in the U.S., as well as with Toyota Tsusho Corporation in Japan.

The drone company is also notable for its medical deliveries in Rwanda and Ghana, where it serves over 2,000 healthcare facilities. It has delivered life-saving medical necessities, such as blood reserves, COVID-19 vaccines and equipment.

Zipline joined other companies that conduct drone deliveries that have been approved to operate as air carriers in the country by the FAA, including Amazon's Prime Air and USPS's Flight Forward.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Tuesday said that it has reached a settlement agreement with Meta, the owners of Facebook, over allegations of discriminatory advertising on their social media platforms. 

In a statement, the DOJ said that Meta has until Dec 31 to stop using an advertising tool for housing ads known as “Special Ad Audience” (previously called “Lookalike Audience”), which relies on an algorithm, which the department has called discriminatory. 

Meta, formerly known as Facebook Inc., is also ordered to develop a new system to address racial and other disparities caused by the use of the previous algorithm system, according to the settlement agreement. 

The company will also provide a review of the agreement and any noteworthy information necessary to verify compliance with those standards, adding that the court has the authority to resolve the disputes over the information the company disclosed in the settlement agreement. 

The settlement comes as the Department of Housing (HUD) filed a lawsuit against Meta in 2018, alleging that the platform’s housing advertising system discriminates against users’ race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, and nationality. 

The lawsuit also alleged that Meta used algorithms to determine which users received housing ads, which led to other users being excluded from receiving housing ads. This action violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA), the lawsuit said. 

“As technology rapidly evolves, companies like Meta have a responsibility to ensure their algorithmic tools are not used in a discriminatory manner,” the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division  Assistant Attorney General  Kristen Clarke said in a statement.

“This settlement is historic, marking the first time that Meta has agreed to terminate one of its algorithmic targeting tools and modify its delivery algorithms for housing ads in response to a civil rights lawsuit. The Justice Department is committed to holding Meta and other technology companies accountable when they abuse algorithms in ways that unlawfully harm marginalized communities.”  

In its own statement, Meta said it plans to introduce new methods to combat the issue, adding that its new housing ad will focus on key demographics such as age, gender, and race, and ethnicity. 

“We know that our progress — both in ads fairness and broader civil rights initiatives — will be determined not just by our commitment to this work, but by concrete changes we make in our products,” Meta said in a statement. “We look forward to not only building solutions, but participating in and supporting the critical, industry-wide conversations that lie ahead.”

When Lori Garver was tapped by President-elect Barack Obama to become NASA's No. 2 official in 2009, she saw it as a chance to usher in a new era of space exploration for the U.S. and transform the agency into a more efficient bureaucracy.

Garver, who grew up enamored with space and politics after witnessing Neil Armstrong's historic moon landing as a child, came prepared to effect massive change.

Instead, Garver writes in her new book "Escaping Gravity: My Quest to Transform NASA and Launch a New Space Age," she encountered stiff pushback from lawmakers who wanted to keep existing space programs that benefited companies who contract with NASA. The resistance held the space agency and the future of space exploration back, according to Garver.

The agency fought bitterly over what programs to pursue or cancel and what missions to fund. Garver writes that she pressed NASA to work with the private sector to embrace what she saw as a new era of space exploration — a vision she says was eventually accepted but only after relentless infighting.

The result was a years-long setback for the space agency, according to Garver, who details in her new book a system of government waste and inefficiency during her years at NASA.

She also writes of a persistent toxic male culture still prevalent at NASA and in the space community at large, writing that she and other women were subjected to misogynistic, sexist remarks and insults. In the book, she describes NASA culture as "reminiscent of the forts boys built and filled with cigarettes and girlie magazines."

When she served at NASA in a more minor role in the '90s, Garver recalls a NASA policy administrator calling her into his office on her birthday and suggesting he give her a "birthday spanking."

"Being objectified was a part of being a woman working in aerospace when I was in my twenties and thirties, and I learned which men to avoid in the community," Garver writes. "Many of us encountered unwanted sexual advances and harassing behavior without showing offense."

Garver notes that in its 64-year history, NASA has never appointed a female head. And during her time as deputy administrator from 2009 to 2013, 28 of the 32 astronauts who flew on Shuttle missions were men.

When Garver attempted to broaden diversity and inclusion at NASA, she was told it wasn't a problem, she writes in her new book.

In an interview, Garver said NASA is improving, but the problem is still widespread in the space community.

"It's something that we're seeing now, a lot of concerns about aerospace companies, both traditional and new," she told The Hill. "This is still a predominantly bro culture."

NASA declined to comment on this article when reached for comment.

Growing up in Michigan in a traditionally Republican family informed Garver's worldview and sparked her interest in politics, which intersected with her interest in space.

After graduating from Colorado College in 1983, she worked on the presidential campaign for John Glenn, the first American astronaut who orbited Earth and who later became a U.S. senator.

Although Glenn failed to clinch the Democratic primary nomination for president in 1984, Garver's experience on the campaign led her to the National Space Society and then to a policy adviser position for NASA from 1996 to 2001.

When she became NASA's deputy administrator in July 2009, she was ready to deliver change to the space agency, which she believed had become littered with expensive contracts and lined with government waste.

Witnessing the catastrophic failures of she Space Shuttles Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003, Garver was determined to set things on the right path.

She wanted to open up a new era for NASA that incentivized private companies exploring space. Garver was an early admirer of SpaceX and Blue Origin, who made historic private flights into space last year and are now working closely to ferry U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

But Garver describes her time at NASA in the Obama administration as constantly pushing "boulders" up a hill, citing frequent resistance from Congress and NASA officials who were initially against the idea to incentivize space exploration from the private sector.

”My quest to make space more accessible and sustainable wasn’t meant to start a war. I wasn’t trying to steal the future. I was on a rescue mission," she writes in the book. "It isn’t just Earth’s gravity that we must overcome, it is the gravity of our situation.”

Garver also details how she fought against NASA's head — her boss, Charles Bolden — as well as former U.S. Senators like Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) over the cancellation of a space program called Constellation.

Nelson, who is now the head of NASA in the Biden administration, declined to comment on this story.

Constellation was announced in 2004 under the Bush administration with the intention to send astronauts back to the Moon by 2020. It had a larger goal to establish a foothold on the moon so NASA could send manned missions to Mars and elsewhere in space. Under the Constellation program, NASA contracted with large private companies like Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Alliant Techsystems.

Obama reluctantly extended the program in 2009. By the following year, the waste was evident to the president, Garver writes. Taxpayers paid up more than $9 billion by the time Obama realized the Ares rocket and the Orion spacecraft were behind schedule, as were the scheduled flights to the moon by the early 2020s. The program was ultimately canceled in 2010.

Garver writes that she took the brunt of the attacks from companies, the public and elected officials who were irate that Constellation was canceled. She was criticized for much of the changes she wanted to make at NASA.

At one point, the late Sen. Hatch wagged a finger in her face and said, “I know you are the problem here," she recounted in her new book. People demeaned her with names like "ugly whore" and told her to "get laid" or said she was "going through menopause," which she argued in her book was a result of her being a women in the aerospace community.

Garver told The Hill she also received hate mail and even "dog shit" and said she managed to keep her head up after watching the film "Moneyball," a movie starring Brad Pitt, who works against the traditional league system to try and win a championship as the general manager of the Oakland A's baseball team. She found solace in the theme that when you try to disrupt a system, you meet pushback and criticism.

According to Garver's book, when NASA ended Constellation, contracting companies attempted to be compensated for the cancellation of contracts. A "shitstorm" ignited when they were informed that wouldn't be the case, but contracts were eventually renegotiated for billions of dollars.

In her book, Garver makes the case that existing NASA programs such as Space Launch System (SLS) are more costly and less successful than private sector efforts. She argues that while more funding goes into SLS than Commercial Crew, a program working with the space private sector, they are less efficient.

"The perpetual cozy system that shaped the behavior largely remains in place," she writes.

Some of her critics, including Bolden, argue that Garver is too cozy herself with billionaires like SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and that NASA's own internal development and research should come before private companies.

Garver told The Hill she has heard that criticism before. But she said her goal has always been to increase maximum efficiency and propel humanity toward the stars, whether that was at NASA, SpaceX or another company.

Before she resigned in 2013, Garver spearheaded the creation of the Commercial Crew program, which continues to employ commercial contractors to ferry astronauts to the ISS, replacing the Space Shuttle Program that ended in 2011. The Bush administration announced the end of the roughly 39-year Shuttle program after the Columbia tragedy in 2003.

Until SpaceX began flying NASA astronauts in 2020 to the ISS as part of the Commercial Crew program, the U.S. had relied on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to get there.

Garver told The Hill she sees her legacy in Commercial Crew and in the accomplishments of SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, which have all launched successful and historic private flights in recent years.

"Because I was willing to sort of stand up to the traditionalists, mainly at NASA, they eventually got on board," she said. "I'm thrilled people want to support it now, but lots of people at the time didn't even want it to exist as a program."

Twitter’s board of directors on Tuesday unanimously recommended shareholders approve Elon Musks’ bid to buy the social media company.

The board recommended stockholders approve Musk’s $44 billion offer, stating they determined it to be fair and in the best interests of Twitter and its stockholders, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

Once the merger is complete, stockholders will be entitled to $54.20 per share, the board said. 

Speaking at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday, Musk said there were still some “unresolved matters” about the deal, amplifying concerns he’s raised about the number of bots on the platform. He’s cast doubt on Twitter’s assessment that bots make up fewer than 5 percent of users. 

Earlier this month Musk escalated his calls for Twitter to provide him with information about bot accounts in an SEC filing accusing the company of “actively resisting and thwarting his information rights” under the merger agreement by failing to provide him the information. 

Twitter reportedly agreed after the filing to provide raw data information about tweets posted to the site daily.

At Tuesday’s event, Musk said he was “still awaiting resolution on that matter.”

Elon Musk said in an interview on Tuesday that he is “undecided” about a possible 2024 reelection bid by former President Trump - comments that come after the Tesla executive said that he was leaning toward Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).

“I think I’m undecided at this point about that election,” Musk said in an interview at Qatar Economic Forum with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait when asked if he would support Trump in the next presidential election, according to the news outlet.

Musk previously revealed that he supported Democratic candidates in the past, saying in late May that he contributed to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and voted for her in addition to voting for President Biden in 2020.

“However, given unprovoked attacks by leading Democrats against me & a very cold shoulder to Tesla & SpaceX, I intend to vote Republican in November,” he tweeted at the time.

Earlier this month, he said he voted for Republican candidate Mayra Flores in a special election for a Texas House seat.

He said it was the first time he had voted for the Republican Party’s candidate and predicted a “massive red wave in 2022.”

Asked at the time if he would vote Republican in the 2024 presidential election, he replied to a Twitter user “tbd.” He also replied “DeSantis” when asked who he was leaning toward.

Neither Trump nor DeSantis have announced that they are running in 2024, though Trump has teased the possibility and the Florida governor is widely considered a potential contender. 

Though Musk, who has offered to buy Twitter, said he is undecided about a Trump 2024 bid, he has previously been sympathetic to the former president for being kicked off the social media platform in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol rioting, calling it a “morally bad decision, to be clear, and foolish in the extreme.”

“I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump. I think that was a mistake,” he said in May during the Financial Times’s “Future of the Car” event. “It alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.”