10 things in tech you need to know today

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1. Exclusive: Australian publishers saw a 20% drop in traffic after Facebook’s news ban. Media executives around the globe told Insider they were watching the developments in Australia closely as broader tensions between tech platforms, publishers and regulators near a boiling point in the US and beyond.
2. NASA’s Mars rover landed safely on Thursday. Perseverance, an SUV-sized robot, plunged through the Martian atmosphere at supersonic speeds on Thursday, tucked inside a protective capsule. 
3. Facebook’s news ban ensnared public agencies. Emergency services, health departments, government officials, charities, and even Facebook’s own Facebook page were blocked.
4. Critics warned of a rise of misinformation after Facebook’s news ban. Experts said the removal of reliable Australian news sources could exacerbate false information around the pandemic.
5. Australia’s PM slammed Facebook. Scott Morrison said the firm’s actions would “only confirm the concerns … about the behaviour of Big Tech companies who think they are bigger than governments and that the rules should not apply to them.”
6. Facebook knew about an inflated ad metric for years. Unsealed court documents revealed executives knew for years its “potential reach” advertising metric was inflated and overruled an employee warning to adjust it to avoid a revenue hit.
7. Congress grilled execs over the GameStop fiasco. The hearing featured a variety of chief executives, from Reddit CEO Steve Huffman to Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, but the main target of questioning was Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev.
8. Google kicked out Trump’s campaign app. The Official Trump 2020 app was taken down from the Google Play Store Wednesday because it didn’t work.
9. GameStop trader ‘Roaring Kitty’ referenced the lawyer-cat meme. Keith Gill told the House’s Committee on Financial Services on Thursday: “I am not a cat. I am not an institutional investor. Nor am I a hedge fund.”
10. Premium: Google is reshuffling its AI team. The new order, which is set to be announced to employees today, will see many workers focused on responsible AI now report into Marian Croak, a vice president of engineering within Google’s Research group.