(10/10/19 2:30pm)
by Christopher Hutton
In a week filled with content bans and pro-Hong Kong protests, the gaming giant Blizzard-Activision set themselves up in the cross hairs of China and its fans due to their response to the actions of a particular Chinese eSports star.
Blizzard, known for games like Overwatch and World of Warcraft, suspended Hearthstone player Chung Ng Wai AKA Blitzchung from playing in tournaments due to his expression of pro-Hong Kong support. Said ideas were expressed in an interview after a tournament when Chung told the interviewers that Liberate Hong Kong was the ‘revolution of our times.’ Chung was suspended for a year from playing in the Grandmasters, one of the highest levels of competitive play that is available to Hearthstone pros. Chung also had any winnings he had received due to said win rescinded, estimated to be over $10,000 in total.
The two broadcasters who interviewed Chung were also fired by Blizzard for unstated reasons.
These actions led to a massive uproar from fans, calling their efforts against the player unfair and corporately interested, as well as an activity that gives into the interests of China, who has been suppressing the ongoing riots and resistance efforts in Hong Kong for over 17 weeks now. Many fans are now planning to boycott the company over their pro-Chinese policies, with a select number even going as far as to remove all data and profiles from Blizzard products.
Several employees also staged a walkout, where they protested the decision by collecting around the orc statue in front of the company’s headquarters in Anaheim.
“The action Blizzard took against the player was pretty appalling, but not surprising,” a longtime Blizzard employee told The Daily Beast. “Blizzard makes a lot of money in China, but now the company is in this awkward position where we can’t abide by our values.”
“I’m disappointed,” another current Blizzard employee said. “We want people all over the world to play our games, but no action like this can be made with political neutrality.”
When the New York Times approached Blizzard for comment, they were told that “Mr. Chung had run afoul of a rule barring players from any act that ‘brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages’ the company’s image.” A spokesman told Engadget that they are considering their options about how to handle the matter, but has said nothing since.
Chung has not hosted any interviews since his suspension. However, in a Twitch stream on Tuesday, he told his followers that “Today, what I have lost in Hearthstone is four years of time... But if Hong Kong loses, it would be the matter of a lifetime.”
Activision-Blizzard has a significant presence in China and other Asian countries. China supplied 12% of the 7.5 billion dollars Activision-Blizzard made last year. In addition, Tencent, the Chinese internet giant, holds a 5% stake in the company.
Said actions come days after the NBA entered its own controversy after Daryl Morey, General Manager of the Houston Rockets, tweeted his own solidarity for the ongoing efforts in Hong Kong. Said tweet eventually lead to several Chinese companies cutting ties with his team. A day later, the Chinese partners of the NBA cut ties with the American League after the NBA commissioner stated that they would not censor their players or employees. Despite this, Morey deleted the tweet and offered an apology.
Sources: New York Times, CNN, Reddit, Daily Beast, NYT, Engadget, Activision, Fool, CNN, CNN
Image: Wikipedia
(10/04/19 4:40pm)
by Chris Hutton
For the average Ball State University student, income is essential. While the university does provide flexible job opportunities that work with your schedule, they rarely pay more than minimum wage and are capped at 20 hours per week. It’s hardly enough to make a living wage. Some students may seek out ways to make money without signing a contract or being restricted to the work schedule of another. Often, this leads to students seeking out side gigs to make extra cash. In our technologically-advanced world, companies like Uber, Postmates, and Lyft are providing that side gig, where they deliver food or people to their preferred destinations.
This is what economists now call ‘the Gig Economy,’ where individuals are treated more as contractors who perform select tasks, rather than employees who work some hours and get benefits. If you’ve ever heard or seen an ad from Postmates, Uber Eats, Instacart, or Grubhub, then you are seeing the gig economy in action. In fact, we’ve even seen it go solely online with Amazon Mechanical Turk, a service that will pay you low rates to perform menial tasks online.
These companies often advertise that you can make thousands of dollars a month with the right amount of work and a bit of luck. A recent ad from Instacart claims that you can make 2,000+ dollars if you only do 400 "batches” of orders. That sounds reasonable, right? Not exactly. These companies are often misleading in their sales pitches, not offering anywhere near the income that you hope they will.
Low rates
In the early 2010's, students and social media users might've discovered an Instagram ad from Uber, claiming that you can make $20+ an hour, plus thousands of additional dollars in their bonus packages with the right code. In fact, Uber’s PR company claimed early on that their drivers were making anywhere between 80 to 90 thousand dollars in total. Sounds too good to be true, yes? That’s because it is. A cursory scan of job review boards shows that most drivers are prone to make between 32 and 33 thousand dollars total. That is, on average, $15 an hour, assuming the user is working a consistent 40 hours of driving. Lyft, Uber’s primary competitor, only offers a two-dollar difference, bringing their average up to $17 an hour.
Fifteen dollars an hour is not a terrible amount. It’s more than double the national minimum wage. However, this income estimate does not account for the costs of the service. These costs include gas, car payments, specialized ridesharing insurance, vehicle maintenance, and toll fees; all aspects that the ridesharing companies will not cover for you. The more you use your vehicle, the more you will need to spend on these elements.
Ridester, a popular ridesharing review website, recommends that you expect to pay 20% of your income to the job costs of driving. So, with that in mind, the average driver would make 12 dollars an hour, assuming there are not any unforeseen costs, such as vehicle failure or medical emergencies.
Market saturation
This all assumes that you can, in fact, make enough to reach that average rate. More often than not, the market for such interests is already quite saturated. The average student would have a better time finding hours in a larger city like Honolulu or Houston than in a smaller town like Muncie.
When I applied to Instacart as a potential delivery driver, I was flooded with notifications and messages that offer the impression that there was plenty of work out there for a new driver like myself. Unfortunately, as I signed up, I found that the ‘shifts’ (which is how Instacart organizes its drivers) in the county had already been taken for the next few weeks and months, making any attempt even to begin to develop income via the business difficult. The closest location that had any need of Instacart delivery drivers was Rushville, a town that was over an hour away.
The company’s recruitment ads may imply that there are open positions near your location, but any attempts at applying for shifts/rides become even harder as others perform the positions for you. New Uber drivers who begin work in locations like Muncie or Lafayette would have a similar struggle. The market has expanded significantly since 2010, estimating 69% more vehicles driving for Uber. But as the company develops, it also makes it harder to find hours. In smaller towns like Muncie, a driver may find it harder to parse out to justify the costs as mentioned above. It may not be as easy as they would like, perhaps even pushing them toward odd hours in hopes of earning a few dollars on the hour that may not be beneficial for healthy college life.
Unethical payment practices
What makes all of this even more concerning is the questions of ethics and income. While these companies are worth billions and continue to grow, they appear to consistently lose income. Uber, the largest out of them all, has reportedly lost 5 billion dollars in the last quarter.
One notable case recently was with the company DoorDash. Like many delivery food service companies, these apps let you tip the driver after their service. However, if you do so via the app, the company has it designed where the base pay is decreased so that you always get the same flat rate no matter what you are tipped. Instacart also had a recent controversy earlier this year, where their employees made similar complaints about them.
Uber remains a deeply unethical and untrustworthy company _precisely because_ they lopped off the head without dismantling the structure it built.
— Sarah Mei (@sarahmei) September 18, 2019
In other words, these companies are flailing to make enough money to survive, and as such, they are using small tricks and program errors to minimize their cost and maximize their profit, behaviors that put both the customer and contractor in a bad place.
These sorts of practices seem minute, but they reveal that these companies are playing to certain loopholes in order to save costs and make additional income. This particular practice is illegal since, in your normal tip-based income employment, an employer taking your tips is against the law.
This is likely due to the contractorial state of employment under these companies. Your average Uber driver is considered (in legal terms) to be a contractor, which means that they do not have the same rights to benefits or an average wage. This makes the practice, in essence, a bending of the rules for the sake of minimizing costs and not giving the employees what they deserve; a reliable wage and proper treatment. Some states are combatting this to the best of their ability, but Uber has claimed that past rulings in court may allow them to evade this law.
Your future?
Companies like Uber and Instacart are, in many ways, reflective of our future as potential employees. While their total employee base is only a little part of our society, Futurists and economists suspect that we will see contractor positions become a more significant part of our community. This makes it essential for consumers and contractors to demand a fair wage; making it clear that they cannot be misused by this company and must treat them properly.
BSU students should consider these factors as they order their next ride, call their next food delivery or even consider joining the bevy of students who want to make money by ridesharing. If you wish to continue to use these services, then be sure to do simple things to help the individual out. Make sure you tip. And if you do tip, tip them in cash. Advocate for fair treatment of the employees. And above all, make sure that you are polite and reasonable when it comes to interacting with these drivers. After all, they’re equal to you.
Sources: Twitter, NACo, Amazon, Craigslist, Slate, Indeed, Glassdoor, Ridester, Brookings, Tech Crunch, The New York Times, Department of Labor, Vox, Medium, Upwork
Images: The Guardian,
Featured Image: Tt Shinkan and Kellyn Harrison
(09/23/19 2:45pm)
by Christopher Hutton
Instagram users with a penchant for weight loss or cosmetic surgery may find it challenging to get access to the material surrounding this due to a recent ban.
The image-sharing social media platform recently announced an update to its advertising and posting policy that would limit the ability for users to see ads or sponsored posts if they are less than 18 years old. The policy is one of several changes that the company recently made in hopes of making Instagram "a positive place for everyone," according to a representative from Instagram.
The policy will affect users primarily by limiting how and what one will see in their feed. For example, if a Kardashian posts a sponsored ad about a weight loss product, then the ad would not appear on the feed of a follower who is younger than eighteen. This policy will be particularly important when a post includes an incentive to buy, or a listed price.
This program change is a massive shift for Instagram, considering how it has, in recent years, become an enormous platform for influencer culture since many companies and infamous individuals began to receive excess payments for when they promoted the content on said platform.
This practice has been a significant point of contention for several celebrities. Most notably, Jameela Jamil (The Good Place, former BBC presenter) voiced her concern with such practice earlier this year in a series of posts critiquing individuals like the Kardashians and their promotion of weight loss products. Jamil eventually went on to create a petition advocating for social media companies to put a clamp on the development of such products, due to the potential harm these products may have on younger women who may suffer from anorexia or other food-based issues.
When asked about this policy change, Jamil told Elle UK that:
"It sets the tone that this is not ok in our society. There are so many lies being told and we've accepted that as a cultural norm. For huge corporations - who are the main access points for these companies to sell their products to young people over the internet - to say they don't condone this sends out a huge ripple across the earth. It says that if giant corporations are willing to take a stand against this then it must be really serious"
Why is this change happening? It isn't clear in America. But in the United Kingdom, there was increased pressure by the National Health Service to encourage social media platforms to cut back on the promotion of weight loss products. These policy recommendations have gone back as far as February 2019 after a significant shift in Instagram policy put a broad ban. Now the NHS is pushing for all other platforms to place similar restrictions on weight loss product advertising. NHS chief executive Simon Stephens stated in a press release that:
"Every business should put a premium on its customers' well-being, and it's welcome that social media giants are beginning to listen to NHS calls to rein in harmful or misleading content that could harm users' health…..Cracking down on ads for 'get slim quick' pills, misleading health advice and content that can inflame concerns about body image is what responsible companies routinely now all do."
So far, no other social media company has placed restrictions on content regarding weight loss or cosmetic surgery, although this change comes days after Facebook and Instagram made it significantly harder to search for posts that include self-harm.
Sources: Verge, BBC, Change.org, Elle UK, Medscape, National Health Executive, Guardian
Image: Pexels
