After a week of senseless killings and resulting protests about race and gun violence, Silicon Valley’s tech companies are slowly chiming in in their own unique ways.
Uber suspended its service for a moment of silence to ‘reflect on gun violence’
Tech companies are responding to a week of senseless killings.
Uber
Apple CEO Tim Cook voiced his opinion on Thursday, and today, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki called on the site’s celebrity content creators to speak up to their followers.
Uber, too, made a small gesture as the clock struck midnight on Friday. The ride-hailing company paused its service for one minute, prompting users across the country to “reflect on gun violence” in the interim. For the rest of Saturday, UberX car icons will appear as peace signs roaming around the city. Users who opened the app Saturday were also greeted with a message about gun violence.
Our hearts go out to the victims of this week’s terrible gun violence. As a show of solidarity to all affected, you’ll see a peace sign in our app. As we move around our cities this weekend, let’s take a moment to think about what we can do to help.
All of these moments stem from the killing of two black men by police officers in two separate incidents this week. That was followed by a Thursday night incident in which five police officers were killed during a shootout at a protest in Dallas. The shootout and video of both murders were caught on video and spread around the world via social media.
Uber
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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