During an internal all-hands meeting led by X CEO Linda Yaccarino on Wednesday, concerned employees tuned in to hear if she would address the pressing issue on their minds: performance reviews.

Sources inside the company confirm that a promotions process was recently delayed without explanation and that X’s sales team doesn’t expect to meet its revenue targets for the quarter. Given how the company formerly called Twitter has continued to struggle under Elon Musk’s ownership, employees have been bracing for more layoffs.

One of Musk’s key lieutenants, The Boring Company CEO Steve Davis, has been reviewing finances at X’s headquarters in San Francisco over the past several weeks, according to multiple employees who requested anonymity to speak without the company’s permission. As one of them described Davis: “He’s the grim reaper who only shows up for bad things.”

A source at X told The Verge that there have been a handful of people laid off in recent days. Many noticed the sudden departure of Yaccarino’s right-hand man, Joe Benarroch. So, when a rare all-hands meeting with her landed on employee calendars last week, X’s roughly 1,500 remaining staffers anxiously waited to find out more.

The meeting began with a montage of viral tweets, including one by infamous GameStop trader Keith Gill, followed by Yaccarino joining from an X conference room named “eXtraordinary.” She tried to drum up excitement about live events on the platform, such as the Super Bowl and March Madness, and urged employees to discuss Musk’s x.AI chatbot Grok with advertisers. She also emphasized that X’s focus on video has “definitely driving advertising” without elaborating.

As the meeting continued, X’s head of HR, Walter Gilbert, told staff that X is planning to implement a broader and more robust promotion process that will include “doing lighter-weight check-ins throughout the year.” One source who watched the meeting quipped that a bulk of the submitted employee questions were “definitely about HR, promotions, raises/equity” and not addressed.

Musk was noticeably absent despite him being in San Francisco along with Yaccarino. Instead, several other directors joined: Monique Pintarelli, head of advertising for the Americas, Nick Pickles, who leads policy, Kylie McRoberts, the company’s latest head of trust and safety, and Haofei Wang, director of engineering.

While Yaccarino was light on specific data about the performance of the advertising business, Pintarelli told staff that X now has over “50% of our revenue attributed to performance objectives,” which she described “as a pretty big shift from where the business was over the last few years.”

While this all-hands may not have given X employees many answers, Yaccarino did emphasize that the company will be conducting them once a quarter, adding that the team will “also be hearing quite soon from both Elon and I.”

Alex Heath contributed reporting.

ChromeOS will “soon be developed on large portions of the Android stack” so that it can roll out AI features at a faster pace, Google announced on Wednesday. The company says it will be embracing things like the Android Linux kernel and Android frameworks “as part of the foundation of ChromeOS.”

The changes won’t just mean more AI features, according to Google. The company also noted that they will help “simplify engineering efforts” and “help different devices like phones and accessories work better together with Chromebooks,” as detailed in a blog post.

Google surely wants to have Chromebook users trying as many AI-powered features as possible, so these changes will probably accelerate that. But the company cautions that while the changes to the tech stack are “starting now,” they “won’t be ready for consumers for quite some time.”

While privacy is priceless for most individuals, it sells for pretty cheap on the dark web. 

According to Whizcase, years of curating your social media page for your close network could be up for sale for as cheap as $14 for your Facebook log-in in 2023.

And that’s just the beginning. Every access point from Reddit to LinkedIn can be purchased for a price, $6 and $45, respectively.

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How does your info end up on the dark web?

Creating unique and complex passwords for all your online accounts is not just a kitschy tactic to get you to spring for a password manager. Passwords that are simple can be cracked or guessed by diligent hackers, and if you repeat that password across multiple accounts, then all those accounts are also in jeopardy. 

Infuriatingly enough, you can make the concerted effort to create a complex and unique password for all your accounts and even use a password manager, but you will still have your information leaked if the company you are logging onto gets infiltrated. Unfortunately, being notified of having your information compromised in a data breach is more common than not. 

In addition to having your information unwittingly floating around the dark web to the highest bidder, if your device gets hacked and malware or viruses are installed on it, then your log-ins and passwords can be stolen and sold, too.

MORE: WAS YOUR PRIVATE DATA BEING SOLD ON THIS DARK WEB MARKETPLACE?

Data on the dark web (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI)?

What should I do if my information ends up on the dark web?

When you get the inevitable notification or letter stating that your information has been compromised, there are action steps you can take to minimize damage and maximize the prevention of future problems.

1. Log out of all devices

Instagram is an example of a social media account that lets you see where and what devices your account is currently open on. They also provide you with the option of logging out of all devices so that your account is not accessible by third parties or on devices that aren’t yours. This is especially helpful if your account is open on a device that might be yours but might also have malware or a virus.

How to view your account’s recent log-in activity on Instagram 

You can view a list of devices that have recently logged into your Instagram account at any time. If you don’t recognize a recent log-in, you can log out of that location or device and let us know that the log-in wasn’t you. Here’s how to do it. 

• Click the profile icon on the bottom right of the screen
• Click the three horizontal lines in the upper right
• Tap Accounts Center
• Scroll down and tap Password and security
• Tap Where you’re logged in to view your recent log-in activity for accounts in this Accounts Center
• To log out of devices you’re currently logged into, tap on one of your accounts, then scroll down and tap Select devices to log out.
• Select the devices you’d like to log out, then tap Log out.

2. Change your password

If you manage your passwords or have them saved to autofill on browsers like Safari and Chrome, you will get updated if your password has been compromised, weak, or reused. Because having complex, unique passwords for each online account is critical to keeping your information online safe, password managers can help with generating those as well as managing them for you. Get more details about my best expert-reviewed password managers of 2024 here.

3. Turn on two-factor authentication

This step can be annoying when you just want to quickly check an update or post a quick video, but it can be your saving grace when someone has figured out your log-in and is trying to guess your password. If your two-factor authentication is on, you have the opportunity to get alerted of any log-ins or password reset requests. It gives you the opportunity to secure your account. 

4. Install strong antivirus software

While you can’t control what companies do with your information, you can control what information gets out from your personal devices by installing good antivirus software. It can “catch” malware or virus before it gets unleashed on your device and siphon your password and other private information. Get my picks for the best 2024 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices.

5. Remove yourself from the internet

While no service promises to remove all your data from the internet, having a removal service is great if you want to constantly monitor and automate the process of removing your information from hundreds of sites continuously over a longer period of time. Check out my top picks for removal services here.

6. Get identity theft protection

Many identity theft protection services provide dark web monitoring services. They continually monitor the dark web to see if any crucial pieces of personal information like your email addresses or social security number end up compromised or up for sale on the dark web. Getting those alerts immediately gives you the opportunity to act faster and take the other steps listed above. They can also assist you in freezing your bank and credit card accounts to prevent further unauthorized use by criminals. See my tips and best picks on how to protect yourself from identity theft.

Data on the dark web (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)

Kurt’s key takeaways

In the digital age, where our personal data can be as fleeting as a password, it’s a stark reminder that what we hold dear isn’t always locked down tight. It’s unsettling to think that years of personal posts and connections could be reduced to a mere transaction on the dark web. But knowledge is power, and being informed is the first step in strengthening our digital defenses. So, let’s keep those passwords complex, our log-ins secure and our vigilance high.

What role do you think tech companies should play in protecting your data, and how does this shape your expectations of online services? Let us know by writing us at Cyberguy.com/Contact.

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