Technology

What you’ve probably heard: three months after he signed an exclusive two-year contract with Twitch for a “life-changing” amount of money, Twitch has nonetheless “permanently banned” Guy Beahm, aka Dr Disrespect, for something he did in violation of the company’s rules. What you might be thinking: it’s too much of a coincidence for his channel’s abrupt disappearance to happen a single day after Twitch announced it would start permanently banning streamers for sexual harassment and assault. The truth: we do not currently know whether Twitch has even banned Beahm, much less the facts around why Disrespect disappeared on Friday, because the company has repeatedly refused to confirm even a ban to The Verge — and declined to deny a new statement from Beahm this evening that claims Twitch won’t ...

Multiple employees at Ubisoft, including two executives, have been placed on administrative leave as the company conducts a corporate investigation following allegations of professional misconduct, Bloomberg reports. The two executives placed on leave are Tommy François and Maxime Béland, two employees that serve as vice presidents in a division overseeing worldwide development of the company’s games, Bloomberg reports. Both men face numerous allegations that surfaced after multiple accusers came forward on Twitter. Many allegations have been made against several employees at Ubisoft In the last week, the video game industry has faced a #MeToo reckoning with an outpouring of stories on social media. Many in the Twitch and YouTube creator spaces, as well as employees of large game developer...

Disney has delayed Mulan for the second time this year, moving the film from July 24th to August 21st. The move follows Warner Bros.’ decision to delay Christopher Nolan’s Tenet for a second time from July 31st to August 12th. Disney doesn’t want to be the first studio to release a major film in the middle of a pandemic when the company is unsure of about how many people will show up. The delay is added confirmation that Disney and Warner Bros. are engaged in a game of release chicken. Neither studio wants to go first, testing out their potential billion-dollar movies in a market where the films could lose money if audiences don’t turn up or restrictions mean that audiences can’t watch said movies. Disney CEO Bob Chapek previously cited Tenet (referring to it as a “competitor’s film”) as t...

There’s a TV series based on the 2019 indie game Disco Elysium possibly coming, Variety reports. Disco Elysium launched in October 2019 exclusively on PC, set in the same universe as the 2013 novel Sacred and Terrible Air. In the game, you play as an experienced detective tasked with solving a murder mystery in a city still recovering from a decades-old war. Following its release, Disco Elysium received a positive reception from fans and critics; The Verge even recommends it as a game you should play if you recently bought or built a gaming PC. Many praised the game for its watercolor art style, narrative depth, and writing, all elements that set up the basis for an appealing TV series. The game’s developer ZA/UM is teaming up with dj2 Entertainment to work on the show The game also picked...

Twitter says it’s working on improving how it labels tweets with problematic 5G or coronavirus content, after users reported their tweets were being mislabeled with a COVID-19 fact-check. “In the last few weeks, you may have seen Tweets with labels linking to additional info about COVID-19,” Twitter Support tweeted. “Not all of those Tweets had potentially misleading content associating COVID-19 and 5G.” In the last few weeks, you may have seen Tweets with labels linking to additional info about COVID-19. Not all of those Tweets had potentially misleading content associating COVID-19 and 5G. We apologize for any confusion and we’re working to improve our labeling process. (1/4) — Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) June 26, 2020 Twitter began fact-checking tweets that linked 5G and the...

The Coca-Cola Company is pausing all digital advertising on social media platforms globally for at least 30 days starting July 1st, the soda giant announced on Friday evening. The move is part of a broader boycott of Facebook and Instagram organized by the Anti-Defamation League, the NAACP, and other organizations called the “Stop Hate For Profit” campaign. Coca-Cola is going one step further than some of those companies and banning all ads globally on social media platforms, not just Facebook and Instagram. That would suggest the boycott will hit Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms as well. “We will let them know we expect greater accountability, action and transparency from them.” “Starting on July 1, The Coca-Cola Company will pause paid advertising on all social media platforms globa...

An inside joke about a TikTok meme among a group of friends on Twitter grew into a minor social media mystery before morphing into a fundraiser for anti-racism causes. Yes, that might be the most 2020 sentence I’ve written to date. On Thursday, the eye-mouth-eye emoji meme started appearing in people’s Twitter handles and almost immediately, the buzz started about what it all meant, Gizmodo reported. On TikTok, the meme is usually used to express cringe or embarrassment. Soon an itiseyemoutheye Twitter handle appeared, then its website was featured on Product Hunt (even though there’s no actual product), prompting discussion on Reddit, and receiving some media coverage before the group revealed themselves in a post late Friday. “A group of us changed our Twitter names to include “[the emoj...

If you buy something from a Verge link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement. This story is part of a group of stories called Only the best deals on Verge-approved gadgets get the Verge Deals stamp of approval, so if you’re looking for a deal on your next gadget or gift from major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target, and more, this is the place to be. GameStop is hosting several deals on video games and gaming accessories like controllers and headsets that last until the end of the day. The discounts apply both in stores around the US that have reopened, as well as online. While the Steam summer sale is a great opportunity to save on PC games, GameStop’s one-day sale is for console gamers, whether you play PS4, Xbox One, or Nintendo Switch. And if yo...

I’ve been making my way through Studio Ghibli films now that they’re up on HBO Max, and last week I got around to watching Kiki’s Delivery Service for the first time. It’s a remarkably charming film, and it shows Ghibli coming a long way in figuring out what, uh, plot is after the extremely bare bones My Neighbor Totoro came out just a year earlier. Kiki’s Delivery Service adds just enough stakes to Ghibli’s beautiful worlds to make you care about what’s happening, but not so much to actually get you stressed out. The film is serene to watch — almost every character is remarkably nice and generous, the landscapes are gorgeous, and the talking cat doesn’t hurt either. Check out 11 trailers from this week below. [embedded content] Foundation Here’s our first look at Apple TV Plus’ adaptation...

As the coronavirus spread across the US this spring, authorities warned people not to purchase N95 respirator masks, lest they contribute to a shortage of the masks for medical personnel. The N95 respirators are considered the most effective masks to filter out droplets in the air that may transmit the virus. Sites like Amazon suspended sales of N95 masks to the general public and cracked down on sellers who tried to sell counterfeit versions. But a ProPublica investigation uncovered an operation in Texas that was repackaging masks marked as “prohibited” for medical use into unlabeled bags. A man who answered an ad for a TaskRabbit gig told ProPublica what he witnessed: …five or six other “Taskers” earning about $20 an hour were ripping Chinese masks out of plastic bags and stuffing ...

Google Meet is working on several new features that will match its competitors, including allowing users to add images or a blur effect to backgrounds on video calls, 9to5 Google reported. As they can on rival videoconferencing platforms Zoom and Microsoft Teams, users will be able to either choose their own image or pick from several default options. Google confirmed to The Verge that in addition to background blur and background replacement images, real-time captioning, low-light mode, hand-raising, and a tile view of up to 49 meeting participants will be rolled out to the consumer version of Meet. The company didn’t provide details about when the changes would be available, but 9to5 Google reported Meet was already previewing some of the upcoming features for its education and enterpris...