Hasta La Gadget!

The show also featured appearances from Issa Rae, Tiffany Haddish, LL Cool J, and even some royalty.

The 53rd ceremony kicked off after a week of virtual award shows leading up to the big event.

Following Western sanctions on Russia’s financial institutions in response to the invasion of Ukraine, customers of several of the country’s largest banks can no longer use their debit and credit cards in conjunction with Apple Pay and Google Pay. Among the affected organizations include VTB Group, Sovcombank, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, and Otkritie FC Bank, according to a press release from the Central Bank of Russia spotted by Business Insider.

Customers with those banks can still use their cards to make contactless payments, provided they support the feature. However, they won’t work overseas, and they can’t be used to make online purchases from retailers registered in countries that have imposed sanctions on Russia.

As The Verge notes, Apple Pay and Google Pay aren’t as popular in Russia as homegrown options like YooMoney. According to data from 2020, only 29 percent of Russians reported using Google Pay at the time, while 20 percent said they had used Apple Pay. As such, those restrictions aren’t likely to impact Russian consumers too much given they have access to alternatives. However, the possibility of excluding Russian banks from the SWIFT interbanking system could lead to things like currency volatility that would further hurt the country’s economy.

YouTube has temporarily barred Russia Today (RT) and a handful of other Russian channels from earning ad revenue. Citing “extraordinary circumstances” and the recent sanctions against the country, the company told Reuters it was putting a pause on the ability of several channels to monetize their content on the platform.

Additionally, YouTube said videos from those content creators would appear less frequently in user recommendations, and that RT and a handful of other channels would no longer be accessible in Ukraine following a request from the country’s government. YouTube did not provide Reuters with a full list of the restricted channels. We’ve reached out to the company for comment and more information.

It’s hard to say how much of an effect the restrictions will have on those channels. In 2019, internet research firm Omelas estimated the Kremlin generated $27 million in ad revenue between 2017 and 2018. Over the span of a 12 year period, Russia has earned as much as $73 million in YouTube ad revenue from RT and other state-affiliated channels. 

The move follows similar ones from Facebook and Twitter. On Friday, Nathaniel Gleicher, Meta’s head of security policy, said the company was prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or using any other monetization features in response to the invasion of Ukraine. That same day, Twitter said it was suspending all advertising in Ukraine and Russia to better highlight authoritative information and combat misinformation.

A new bill that guarantees benefits for ride-hail drivers while still classifying them as gig workers has passed the Washington State House. It’s backed by Uber and Lyft, as well as the local Teamsters union, and represents a compromise between all parties involved. Under the legislation, drivers are guaranteed benefits that include paid sick leave, a minimum pay rate and a resource center for drivers who want to appeal their deactivation — all while still being classified as gig workers. 

Meanwhile, the companies can’t set their workers’ schedules under the legislation, and cities won’t have the power to regulate ride-hailing firms. According to LaborNotes, the bill is getting mixed reception from drivers, with some arguing that the benefits may not be enough.

Uber, Lyft and other gig companies have long fought attempts to force them to classify their workers as employees, even spending hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure that’s the case. In California, the companies spent over $200 million to campaign for Proposition 22, a ballot that overturns a local law that made drivers full employees. The companies prevailed, and the proposition passed with a decently wide margin. 

Peter Kuel, president of the Teamsters-affiliated Drivers Union, told Bloomberg:

“Thousands of Uber and Lyft drivers — predominantly immigrants and people of color — will benefit from this long overdue expansion of pay raises, benefits and protections statewide.”

LaborNotes says, though, that Drivers Union supported the bill mainly because the companies threatened to pursue a ballot initiative if they don’t get a compromise in Washington. Don Creery, a Drivers Union board member, told the publication:

“They’re also holding the gun at our heads with the possibility of an initiative. They spent $200 million on California. It comes down to the reality that we don’t have the money to buy TV ads. They do. They will misinform the public with a barrage of TV ads, so we will lose an initiative. We could lose everything.”

The legislation is now heading to the State Senate, which will hold a public hearing for it today, February 26th.