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Expensify's CEO emailed 10M customers urging them to vote for Biden
- PeekPoke 6y agoAppalling interference in the election by yet another Tech giant. Why isn't this regulated?
- Grustaf 6y agoI don't agree with his alarmism and think it was stupid to send it, but why would it be regulated? I think this is very different from Facebook or Twitter skew feeds in favour of some political cause. First of all they are essentially public utilities, they shouldn't regulate speech as long as it's legal. Secondly they do it without people's knowledge. David Barret's embarrassing email is completely honest and open.
- ahpearce 6y agoSeems like a lot of people screaming about this sort of thing are the same people that support Citizens United. I don't see how they're much different. Free speech is free speech, whether or not you have access to an email list of 10m.
- rektide 6y ago> First of all they are essentially public utilities, they shouldn't regulate speech as long as it's legal. Hard no. There is no legal nor moral basis for this. Absolutely not.
- dbbk 6y agoIs this sarcasm or a genuine question? Endorsements aren't interference.
- DerpyBaby123 6y agoTech giant? Ive never seen a reference to FAANGE
- HappySweeney 6y ago"Interference" in this context is generally reserved for foreign actors. Isn't this CEO American? If so, how is this not a simple exercise of free political speech? That being asked, while I agree with the message, I don't believe sending it was a good idea. It likely won't move the needle at all (most everyone has made up their mind), and potentially alienates Trump-supporting customers.
- biolurker1 6y agoTotal annihilation is possible for the first time ever if Trump remains. Seriously. That's why scientific American, NY times and many others for the first time in history took sides.
- polka_haunts_us 6y agoYou have a point, but you should really look for examples more interesting than a paper that has endorsed every D running for President since the 60s.
- mixedCase 6y agoAre you threatening a terrorist attack if Trump wins or is there something clear and obvious that makes you say that 4 more years of Trump is a credible likely cause of total annihilation?
- biolurker1 6y agoTrump has made enemies worldwide & ridiculed allies, is delusional as he has lied provenly 20.000 times, is personally responsible for promising the virus will go away when it has killed 200k and will kill more than half a million and is the perfect man to not give a damn about things going on in the mediterranean and other parts of the world that could start a thermonuclear war. If one starts ever, there is a great probability it starts during his second term. He has polarized America and endorsed terrorist & underground groups such as Qanon & white supremacists and can bring total chaos in usa which frankly I don't live in. If after all that you still don't get it I understand, it's how evolution made some humans. My comment will be downvoted but it's directed to you and I hope you read it and reflect.I wonder what made you think I am threatening something that's really interesting btw. You can't deduct this from my comment unless you are totally pro trump.Sorry I have forgotten climate change that will doom us and he opted out from the global effort.
- UncleMeat 6y agoIs it interference? Where are the free speech absolutists to defend this case?
- Mountain_Skies 6y agoI don't see how this is interference but certainly could be considered an in-kind donation, which does carry with it certain regulatory obligations.
- avik1002 6y agoSo would it be fine if zuckerberg sent out mass message to vote for biden on facebook, instagram, or whatsapp right in your inbox? Blatant misuse of company data.
- nodex-alex 6y agoso? Why does it matter who emailed who, everyone is entitled to their opinion and entitield to share that opinion. All the snowflakes going on about inteference ... this is not inteference, this is a company doing what it thinks is best for an election, not a country, not a government, a COMPANY.
- Sodman 6y agoThis is the same guy who said "We don't hire .NET developers"[0], so he clearly has no problem going on incendiary rants that make people angry. While I personally agree with this particular message, it's entirely inappropriate to send it over this channel. Especially considering most end-users, such as myself, aren't paying customers, but are employees of paying customers. I doubt this is going to trigger enough uproar in any tech company to have them switch their expense reporting software, but it does set a dangerous precedent. Are representatives from Jira and Asana going to start e-mailing me asking me to vote a certain way in my state elections? If we don't push back against this, it will become the norm, and we'll have to deal with a cacophony of e-mails with voting directions from businesses every cycle. If you thought GDPR e-mails are bad, this will be much worse. [0] https://blog.expensify.com/2011/03/25/ceo-friday-why-we-dont-hire-net-programmers/ https://blog.expensify.com/2011/03/25/ceo-friday-why-we-dont...
- mchusma 6y agoThey sent this to employees ofa company? I would immediately fire this vendor if this is correct, regardless of my political views. It exposes way too much liability to have a vendor you hire lobbying your employees without your knowledge or consent.
- TigeriusKirk 6y agoWildly inappropriate and an absolute dealbreaker. Expensify has been entrusted with employee contact information for the purpose of providing their contracted service. It's not available to them to send out any message they please. I can't even imagine considering doing this myself.
- Mountain_Skies 6y agoTech companies might not be upset by the message but I can't imagine that all of their clients are Silicon Valley tech companies.
- nunez 6y agoBallsiest move from a CEO I've seen so far. I'm curious as to what this will do to their PnL.
- BitwiseFool 6y agoNot so much... it would be truly ballsy if the CEO endorsed Trump.