Mark Zuckerberg is set to appear before U.S. Congress, a top political aide in Ontario will be sentenced for deleting emails, and the producer of Far Cry 5 is moving to Winnipeg.
The story about what happened with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica is bound to develop this week. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify at two congressional hearings. No doubt that Zuckerberg will face some tough questions about how a third-party got ahold of data of as many as 87 million users. That data was then used to target political advertising during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. It’s also likely Zuckerberg will have to explain how Facebook allowed Russian propaganda groups to buy political campaign ads during that same election. In recent media interviews, the Facebook founder has acknowledged that mistakes were made. He’s even said that he’s open to government regulation.
In Ontario, a former top political aide faces sentencing this week. David Livingston was the chief of staff to Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty in 2011. That’s when he deleted emails related to a controversial decision to close two gas plants ahead of a provincial election. A judge convicted Livingston on the charge of illegal use of a computer. On Wednesday, Livingston’s sentence will be delivered. The prosecution wants him jailed for six months, while the defense wants a conditional discharge. In February, a judge asked for submissions on whether house arrest would be appropriate.
Ubisoft game Far Cry 5 is breaking franchise records, selling 5 million copies in its first week. Now the game’s lead producer, Darryl Long, will be setting up shop in Winnipeg. It’s the third new studio opened up for the video game producer in just a few weeks’ time. The studio plans to employ 100 workers over the next five years. They’ll be working on the franchise’s biggest titles including Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, and Far Cry. The focus will be on building open worlds, according to Long.
That’s what’s trending this week. Hashtag Trending is produced by the ITWC Podcast Network.
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