WEBVTT - Remote Work and Investing in TikTok 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:05.600 From the heart of where innovation, money and power Collie 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:10.879 in Silicon Vallet and beyond. This is Bloomberg Technology with 0:00:10.960 --> 0:00:26.520 Emily Jay i'm em only changing in San Francisco, and 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:28.880 this is Bloomberg Technology coming up in the next hour. 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:32.880 Russia calling Facebook and Instagram extremist and asking the court 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:38.000 to ban them. How Meta is responding Plus up Work 0:00:38.080 --> 0:00:41.240 along with many other companies, halting their operations in Russia, 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:44.840 but now facing backlash for the Russian gig workers getting 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:50.080 caught in the crossfire. Ukraine's top diplomat, meantime, pushing back 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:53.640 on the suggestion of quote positive movement in talks with 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:56.920 Russia as they were described by Russian President Vladimir Putin. 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:02.360 Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuliba, speaking exclusively with our very 0:01:02.400 --> 0:01:07.800 own and Marie Hordern, there was zero progress in talks. 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:09.880 So it's hard for me to understand what kind of 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:13.080 progress President put In, his referring to the Russian army 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:16.880 is still in Ukraine. They stay continued destroying our killing 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:21.640 our children's civilians. And it speaks for one fact only 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:27.800 that even if we continued talking with Russia, that does 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:32.320 not have an impact on the behavior of Russian army 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:36.280 on the ground cool, but also saying ongoing talks aren't 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.280 impacting Russia's behavior on the ground, adding that a meeting 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:43.160 between Putin and Ukraine's president would be helpful. Blueber Josh 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:45.560 wind Grove joins US now from the White House. Josh 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:48.920 President Biden earlier saying the U S would defend every 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.240 inch of NATO territory, even if it meant world War three, 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:54.560 but not a single age of Ukraine. Where does this 0:01:54.640 --> 0:01:58.360 leave Ukraine? That's right. He was speaking to democrats Emily 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:01.640 at a gathering in philadelph And of course there's been calls, pressures, 0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.720 questions about whether the U S could do more, donate planes, 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:07.520 even set up a no fly zone, and he said, look, 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:09.600 we're going to defend every inch of native countries. Of 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:12.160 course Ukraine not one of those. But we're not And 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:14.200 even if that means world War three, as you said, 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.040 we're not going to go to defend every interview Kraine 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:21.160 because doing that, giving them offensive weapons, tanks, planes, that 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:23.840 sort of thing, in Joe Biden's view, would trigger this 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:26.440 sort of world War three scenario. So pretty start warning 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:28.679 and a bit of pushback from him on these sort 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:31.520 of long simmering calls we've seen for either planes to 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:34.040 be given directly or the setting up of that no 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:36.560 fly zone, and so where that leaves him. Of course, 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:40.600 he was speaking after announcing a new tronch of of measures. 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:43.959 The G seven and other countries are moving to revoke 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:47.720 the most Favored Nation trading status of Russia. That's a 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:50.200 big moves, sort of a broad brush move that would 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:54.000 allow them to really hike tariffs across the board on 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:56.560 stuff they're still importing. And he went a step farther 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:59.040 by just saying they're not gonna import some stuff at all, 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:03.120 including a Steve who the caviare diamonds, UH and other 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:05.680 goods like Russian made vodkas. A bit of a symbolic 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:09.040 strike there. So you continuing to sort of steadily ratchet 0:03:09.080 --> 0:03:11.720 up sanctions, and even just an hour ago, Emily, we 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:15.760 got new new UH specific sanctions on people individuals, including 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:20.359 the family of President Putin's spokesperson from the Treasury Department here, 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:22.120 So you can see, tick by tick they're trying to 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:24.680 increase the pressure, but it's still again using sort of 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.640 economic sanctions, not not ratching anything up on the military side. 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:31.760 So look what kind of pain, additional pain is this 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:34.720 going to inflict on Russia? And is this really going 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.960 to be what Ukraine needs when the war, the attacks 0:03:38.960 --> 0:03:43.040 of Embardment shows no sign of showing slowing down. Yeah, 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:44.920 I mean it's a great question. And I don't think 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:47.200 you're gonna find a lot of people predicting that the 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:49.200 end is near. You know, the end, the end of 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.560 this conflict is near. Of course, people hope for that. 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.560 Markets seemed to react to President Putin's comments, as you 0:03:54.680 --> 0:03:57.320 heard from Ukraine's foreign minister, they didn't think there was 0:03:57.360 --> 0:04:01.360 any progress at all. But Biden has been bragging about 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:03.640 the impact so far. He's saying the ruble is something 0:04:03.720 --> 0:04:07.040 like two rubles for one U s dollar. He predicted 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:10.320 that if and when the Russian stock market ever does reopen, 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:12.600 of course has been close for some time now, that 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:16.200 it would simply crash collapse, is what President Biden predicted today. 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:19.120 So they think they're having impact, they think they're making progress, 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:22.839 But you know, there I think they would say that 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:24.800 they don't have a ton of great options. And perhaps 0:04:24.800 --> 0:04:26.960 you can hear over the microphone. I'm here at the 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:29.040 White House, of course, and there is a protest going 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:32.400 on out here, uh, signifying the pressure Joe Biden is on, 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:34.160 calling on him to do more to help the people 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:38.360 of Ukraine. Meantime, the polls are showing that most Americans 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:42.200 do support the ban on Russian oil. But here in California, Josh, 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.480 I'm seeing five six, even seven dollars at the pump. 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:49.400 President Biden's trying to get US oil producers to make more, 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:52.279 but they are wary, of course, given the history here. 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.480 Is he going to be able to do that? Yeah, 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:56.640 they're not a lot of sign a bit. A lot 0:04:56.640 --> 0:04:59.200 of those producers have been scraping by for many years 0:04:59.880 --> 0:05:01.719 or or worse. You know, they're saying they're finally in 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:04.800 a really profitable environment, and they make decisions several months 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:07.240 out and they say they don't know what the profitability 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:10.080 is gonna look like five six, seven, twelve months down 0:05:10.200 --> 0:05:13.360 the road. And our colleagues including Jennifer de Louie and 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:15.960 Jordan Fabian have a great piece on the terminal today. 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.880 But Biden sort of icy history with the oil sector. 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:21.880 It's not a BFF situation to say the least. And 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:23.839 now he's crawling over to them for help, to try 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:25.920 to give them to lower prices and he's not getting 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:27.320 a lot of it. So no, we're not looking like 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:29.760 we're going to see a lot of relief soon. Part 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:32.520 of that it's because US production remains pretty high. It's 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:36.440 just a global production is struggling to meet the mark 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.440 here with of course Russian oil being removed in part 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:42.240 or potentially you know, in full in some countries from 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.360 the from the supply chain. All right, Josh Wingrow for 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:48.120 Bloomberg at the White House. Josh, thank you for all 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:52.840 of those updates. Meantime, according to inter Facts, Russian prosecutors 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:55.920 have asked a court to ban metas Facebook and Instagram 0:05:56.000 --> 0:05:59.039 as extremist. This is the latest move and a growing 0:05:59.080 --> 0:06:03.200 crackdown on social networks as a digital iron curtain falls 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.680 across the country. Are Kurt Wagner, who covers Meta for US, 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.360 joining us now with more. So let's back up a 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:12.960 little here, because Meta was in some hot water yesterday 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:17.560 for relaxing a policy on violence on the platform, just 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:23.600 for Ukraine. Talk to us about that and how that unfolded. Yeah, 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:28.680 so Facebook or Meta has rules around you know, threatening violence, right, 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:32.120 wishing violence upon another person, But they said that they're 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:35.400 going to relax those rules specifically for Ukraine, so that 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:40.480 Ukrainians can you know, post freely about defending their country. Right, 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.159 and if they say something about, hey, we want to 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.680 you know, kill these Russian soldiers who are coming into 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.120 our city, that would be the kind of thing that 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:53.479 you know against Facebook's existing policies might get taken down, 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:55.320 and so they want to be able to kind of 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.479 leave that stuff up kind of in a self defense 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:01.040 type of thing. Um. But of course you can imagine 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:03.560 this kind of got very murky very quickly, right, and 0:07:03.600 --> 0:07:05.360 a lot of people were wondering, well, where do you 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:07.960 drug line? Nick Clegg from Facebook came out and said, 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:10.280 it's just in Ukraine. It's just a temporary thing, and 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.800 it does not apply to threats against Russian citizens. It's 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:17.280 only something that Ukrainians could say against, you know, for example, 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:20.520 the Russian army and so um. That is one of 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:23.520 the things that sparked Russian regulators to then say we 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:27.120 want Facebook and Instagram to be blocked in the country. 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:32.480 So again Russia calling on authorities in Russia to stop 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:37.480 the quote unquote extremist activities of Meta take measures to 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:41.640 bring the perpetrators, as they call it, to justice. They're 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:44.480 pitting two nations against each other. That's what they're accusing 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:47.320 Meta of here, and Nick Clegg saying, the fact is, 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:51.000 if we applied our standard content policies without any adjustments, 0:07:51.040 --> 0:07:55.120 we would now be removing content from ordinary Ukrainians expressing 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:58.360 their resistance and fury at the invading military forces, which 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:02.160 would rightly be viewed as unacceptable. Kurt, what do you 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:08.880 make of Meta's changing the rules here temporarily? They say 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:13.080 it is quite unprecedented, isn't it? I mean, this whole 0:08:13.120 --> 0:08:16.280 situation is pretty unprecedented, right, And and the fact that 0:08:16.320 --> 0:08:19.000 they're kind of willing to review these in real time, 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:23.520 to review these, uh for a temporary amount of time, 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.840 I think it's actually probably a good thing, right. It's 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:30.080 it's showing that the company is being responsive to the 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:33.800 actual happenings on the ground. Now. Is it a perfect situation, 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:36.679 Absolutely not. But I think it would be worse if 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:38.880 they were just simply sitting back and not being willing 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.439 to acknowledge that this is not just a regular week, right, 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:45.080 This is a war happening in Europe and they're trying 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:48.480 to adapt on the fly. So I view this actually 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:52.200 is as progress for Meta now sitting aside. Whether you 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.040 think they should be changing the policy or not. I 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.160 just think the fact that they're trying to be adaptive 0:08:56.360 --> 0:09:01.040 is probably a good thing for future issues as well. Now, 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:03.840 where does the Facebook stand in Russia now? Is it available? 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:07.880 Is it not available? Yeah, Facebook, the core social network 0:09:07.920 --> 0:09:10.640 has been blocked in Russia for about a week now, 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:13.600 and what we've heard from Russian regulators today was that 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:17.839 they're planning to block Instagram starting Monday as well, So 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:21.760 that would be obviously two of the three services. What's 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:24.680 App is also available in Russia as far as I know, 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.920 will continue to be um. But we have seen now 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:30.559 Facebook also take a stricter stance. They've said they're not 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:35.360 going to accept add money from Russian advertisers or Russian businesses. Right, 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:40.040 so this is becoming a very um dramatic split between 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:42.840 Russia and Meta and it makes me wonder is this 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.440 something that that they're going to be able to come 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:48.000 back together at some point after this war is over, 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:50.400 or is this kind of thing where, you know, maybe 0:09:50.440 --> 0:09:53.120 this is the the end of Russia and Facebook and 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:55.600 Instagram operating in Russia. I don't know, but I think 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:58.480 it's not out of the question. Interesting well, of course 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.520 Facebook has been banned in China's two thousand and eight uh. 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.440 Interesting implications here for what happens after the war, hopefully 0:10:05.520 --> 0:10:08.920 there is and after, and how how Facebook will continue 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.040 to reevaluate its own rules. Kurt Wagner for US, thank 0:10:12.080 --> 0:10:16.640 you for that update. Coming up as more companies leave Russia, 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:18.720 We're gonna talk to the CEO of Upward, Hayden Brown, 0:10:18.800 --> 0:10:22.360 about their decision to cut off gig workers in Russia 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:28.520 and Belarus and how they're helping freelancers trapped still in Ukraine. 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:55.320 This is Bloomberg. With the war in Ukraine raging, many 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:57.480 tech companies have been taking a stand by shutting down 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:00.800 their operations in Russia in a bid today instance, themselves 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:03.640 from the invader and send a message to Vladimir Putin. 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:07.160 One such company's up Work, which decided to suspend their 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.320 business operations in Russa and Belarus. I want to bring 0:11:10.320 --> 0:11:12.400 in CEO Haiden Brown for a deep dive on this 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:15.320 and Hayden, this was a rather controversial move because it 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:19.360 means cutting off gig workers in these countries who may 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:22.120 have nothing to do with this war, may not support 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:26.360 this war. Why did you decide to do this. Yeah, 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:29.280 first and foremost, our hearts go out to everyone in 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:33.200 Ukraine and everyone in Russian Belarus who's impacted by this conflict. 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:36.240 This was such a tough decision for us because it 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:38.720 really cuts the heart of our business and our heritage 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.240 in the region, which goes back to the founding days 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:44.280 of our business. But for us, the decision was informed 0:11:44.320 --> 0:11:48.720 by both the geopolitical reality um as well as operational 0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:52.000 realities on the ground. You know, as we've seen the 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:55.960 sanctions unfolding and payments partners of ours that we depend 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.800 on to pay talent in the region pulling out of 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:04.439 those markets. It has become operationally extremely challenging for us 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:06.680 to continue to deliver on our mission and our brand 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.800 promise to customers in the region. And so with those 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:13.280 realities unfolding, it was clear to us what the right 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:16.559 call was here, even though it has been incredibly painful 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:19.839 for us, because our goal is to serve these customers 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:23.240 in every way possible, and so this was a tough one, 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:25.640 but we knew what the right decision was. Do you 0:12:25.679 --> 0:12:28.439 sympathize with the people in Russia and Belarus who may 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.679 not want anything to do with this war, but who 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:34.640 have a lot whose lives have been upended and livelihoods 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:39.719 have been cut off as a result. Absolutely, Emily, I mean, 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:43.120 I think they and we find ourselves in a position 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:46.000 that none of us could have imagined even weeks ago. 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:49.800 And I think Putin has set off this chain reaction 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:53.480 of events that all of us are grappling with UH 0:12:53.480 --> 0:12:56.160 and it breaks our hearts. So what we've been focused 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:58.920 on is, you know, number one, working around the clock 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:03.559 to ensure our team members in the region are looked after, 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:07.720 to ensure our customers know that things like their profiles, 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:10.360 all of the work they've put into building their reputations 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:13.240 online are safe and secure and will be there when 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:16.000 and if we can resume operations in the region, and 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.000 or if they end up relocating themselves and able to 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:20.960 work in one of the other hundred eighty countries around 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:23.360 the world where we are operational, that they can come 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:26.079 online and continue working and not be impacted by this. 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:29.200 So absolutely we have been thinking of no one else 0:13:29.280 --> 0:13:31.280 but our customers and how we can serve them through this. 0:13:31.760 --> 0:13:34.040 But we are impacted by this crisis as are they, 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:36.640 and had to make this very difficult choice. What about 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:41.440 your workers in Ukraine. I know you're working to support them. 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:43.839 How are you handling that? What the biggest challenges you're 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:49.240 facing there. Yeah, So we launched a feature recently which 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:51.520 anyone in the world can use to send money to 0:13:51.600 --> 0:13:55.600 workers in Ukraine UM just as fee free, basically sending 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.640 UM buying a project from them and waiving the requirement 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:00.719 that they actually deliver on the project. It's kind of 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:04.000 like the Airbnb booking a home feature, So we launched that. 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:06.720 We've been messaging to our talent in the region that 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:11.640 their reputation scores and their profiles are safe and looked after, 0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:14.840 so they won't be negatively impacted by disruptions that they 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:17.800 may be experiencing in their abilities to work. Uh, and 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:19.400 we're working on a number of other things that are 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:22.680 specifically targeting their safety well being, you know, check ins 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:25.640 that they can be doing with their clients outside of 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:29.080 the region, as well as ourselves donating a million dollars 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:33.000 this week to Direct Relief International for humanitarian support. So 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:34.640 we've been doing a number of things to make sure 0:14:34.640 --> 0:14:37.280 that they feel supported and safe as much as we 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:40.160 can in terms of their ability to continue working online 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:42.400 when and if they can continue to do. So you've 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:45.960 got a really interesting view on how global work patterns 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.280 are shifting in real time. And I know every hour 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:53.360 of this war is different. What are you seeing, what 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:58.920 trends are you seeing, what's changing. It's a very dynamic situation. 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:02.400 We're certainly seeing and hearing a lot of customers and 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:05.720 businesses that we work with who have teams in the region, 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:09.800 either on upwork or just their own employees on the ground, 0:15:10.320 --> 0:15:14.600 are making very swift decisions to move and relocate that 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:17.240 talent if the talent is willing to relocate UH. And 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:19.280 in many cases, the things that we're doing are trying 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:22.800 to help them with payrolling and onboarding that talent onto 0:15:22.840 --> 0:15:24.720 our platform to help them be able to pay those 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:28.120 people with continuity. UH. In many cases they're looking to 0:15:28.840 --> 0:15:32.040 spin up alternative talent in parallel to you know, they're 0:15:32.040 --> 0:15:34.320 continuing to pay their people in the region because everyone 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:38.440 is trying to support but also have business continuity with 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:41.640 UM talent in other regions that can kind of keep 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:43.720 working even as there's uncertainty in terms of how this 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:45.960 is going to unfold. So those are some of the 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:48.520 efforts that we're helping UM. You know, our customers with 0:15:48.680 --> 0:15:50.520 on the ground as they're trying to navigate through this 0:15:50.640 --> 0:15:54.200 very tough time. All Right, Hayden Brown, CEO of up Work, 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:57.320 will be continuing to monitor how you're handling the situation 0:15:57.440 --> 0:15:59.840 out there. Thank you for giving us some context on 0:15:59.880 --> 0:16:10.800 your decision. Bloomberg has learned that public health experts at 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:14.040 the World Health Organization have begun discussing how and when 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:17.040 to call an end to the pandemic. Bloomber's Drew Armstrong 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:20.840 joining us now for more on this story. Is this 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:24.400 actually happening, Drew? And is the pandemic really near an end? 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:29.600 You know, it's one of these things where for the 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:31.720 pandemic to be at an end that's really going to 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:35.800 be determined by human behavior and the virus. But one 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:38.240 of the things that happened very early on, and I 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:45.000 remember it well, January and the WHO declared COVID nineteen 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:48.360 um to be a public health emergency of International concern. 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:51.160 And you know, that was a real symbolic moment because 0:16:51.200 --> 0:16:54.320 it's set off all of these actions, precautions. You know, 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:56.280 they race to kind of fight the virus on an 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.920 international level that has since then really become the North 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:03.600 I mean, we have a global vaccine distribution program um 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:06.000 countries have really figured out how they want to approach 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:09.120 public health restrictions and something that's been an emergency now 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:11.879 for two plus years has really kind of been the 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:14.440 way of being. And so now they're starting to talk about, Okay, 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:16.320 what are the steps and what are the progress that 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:19.280 we need to see to resend an emergency declaration to 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:21.800 say They're not there yet. They're still figuring out what 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:24.680 that off ramp looks like, but it is a meaningful 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:27.480 sign that they're beginning to have this conversation. Well. And 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:30.400 while cases have fallen in many places, we're seeing right 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:34.560 now deaths spiking in Hong Kong. China just reported more 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:38.040 than a thousand new daily cases for the first time 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:41.000 in two years. Are we at a point where this 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:44.480 is starting to get worse again? You know? I think 0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:46.679 one of the truisms of this pandemic has been that, 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:49.320 you know this, it did not start everywhere all at 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:50.800 once in the same way, and it's not going to 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.439 end all at once, everywhere in the same way. We 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:55.840 do see places like China and Hong Kong which have 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:59.960 used different vaccines which may have different levels of efficacy. 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.879 Hong Kong in particular, they've had issues vaccinating some of 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:07.359 their most elderly vulnerable populations. And so just because the 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:10.000 pandemic feels like it's over, you know, here in some 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:13.360 part of the United States, doesn't mean it's over everywhere else. Uh, 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:17.639 this thing will stutter along for quite a while. I 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:20.280 would expect we will not be done with this. We 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:22.639 won't be done with COVID. Code won't go away. They 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:24.960 will just receed a little bit more into the background 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:29.119 sometimes and come back to the foreground at other times. Quickly, 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:35.040 What would this emergency declaration actually mean in practice? You know, 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:38.440 more than anything, these emergency declarations are kind of symbolic 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:40.959 measures saying, hey, we need to do something about this, 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.840 and trying to step up international coordination. I think it 0:18:43.840 --> 0:18:46.760 would be an acknowledgement that a lot of the structures 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:50.120 are in place. Things are working in some cases as 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:52.200 they should be. In that the w h O, you know, 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:54.439 it does have other things that it needs to focus on. 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:59.200 Drew Armstrong for Bloomberg News. Thanks Drew for that update. 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:03.720 Coming TikTok and the War in Ukraine, Ukrainian users taking 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:06.040 to the platform to tell tales of their lives and 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:11.439 homes being destroyed, but also propaganda thriving what to do 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:36.679 about it? That's next. This is Bloomberg, all right. I 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:39.560 want to move on now to TikTok, the social media 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:44.679 app known for silly videos, dance moves and tutorials. It's now, 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:47.719 of course, also being used to create war means on 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:52.480 the ground, updates and testimonials from within Ukraine, but also 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.840 Russian propaganda and fake testimonials, all in a bid to 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:59.960 influence global perspectives on the invasion, leaving the social platforms 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.119 struggling with how to cope with its new role in geopolitics. 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:04.600 I want to talk about all of this and more 0:20:04.600 --> 0:20:08.320 with Megan Lloyst, investor at Laro Hippo and founder of 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:10.840 gen Z vcs Beck and great to have you with us. 0:20:10.840 --> 0:20:13.399 What do you make of how TikTok is being used 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:16.800 here for better and for worse? For sure? And I 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:19.320 think when you think about TikTok, this is how billions 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:21.399 of people all over the world are receiving news for 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:24.840 the first time about the war, especially gen Z on 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:26.880 the On the positive side, right, it can be used 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.639 for good. Even just yesterday, the White House brought thirty 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:33.199 top Tiktoker's together to just arm them with the right 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:35.680 information about what is happening, how the US is thinking 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:37.800 about politics and what they should be talking about on 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:40.840 their platforms. And on the flip side, you know, there's 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:43.520 obviously misinformation being spread on the platform, and I think 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.639 TikTok is doing the best they can to to to 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:49.080 mitigate that in many ways, such as you know, I 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:52.240 think users in Russia, for example, today, they can't live stream, 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:55.440 they can't post on TikTok, so there's no one right 0:20:55.480 --> 0:20:57.720 way to do it. But I do think making sure 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:01.240 that you're arming TikTok creators with the right information is 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:04.080 a is a great start. So look, the concern is 0:21:04.119 --> 0:21:07.679 that TikTok serves a younger generation, and is you know, 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:09.840 a younger generation of users around the world going to 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:12.359 have the wrong idea of what's really going on in 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:15.840 this war. I think it's it's hopeful, actually, I think 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:18.600 to see it from the perspective of younger users, like 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:21.439 there are gen z citizens on the ground speaking to 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:23.800 what's happening in the war. So even if you're reading 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:26.439 news for the first time on an articles and such, 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:29.040 you can actually see the experiences from young people that 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:31.560 are documenting it in their own way. It can be 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:34.280 gen z dark humor, it can be actually the perspective 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:37.639 of soldiers. That is something that's hard to fully discount 0:21:37.960 --> 0:21:40.000 when you're seeing it through the perspective of people who 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:42.240 your own age, and so I think from from that perspective, 0:21:42.280 --> 0:21:44.960 it's it's actually kind of helpful to see kind of 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:47.000 and and feel it in real time from for people 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:49.080 who are experiencing it on the ground that you know, 0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:51.360 they they look like you. Maybe just a week ago 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:53.480 they were in school and now they're hiding in bomb 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:56.200 shelters and cooking, you know, cooking meals for the first time. 0:21:56.600 --> 0:21:58.880 It's it's a it makes it feel much more real, 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:00.199 I think to see it from the van to the 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:03.600 point of your peers, those testimonials from Ukraine on TikTok 0:22:03.680 --> 0:22:07.040 have been incredibly powerful. You know, what are you telling 0:22:07.040 --> 0:22:10.119 your portfolio companies right now about the environment? All of 0:22:10.160 --> 0:22:14.520 this global economic uncertainty, no one knowing how this or 0:22:14.560 --> 0:22:17.840 if this war will end. And I think, you know, 0:22:17.880 --> 0:22:20.920 early stage companies are largely uh, you know, they're protected 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:22.919 from this in many ways. Giving lair Hippo or an 0:22:22.920 --> 0:22:24.840