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Climate protestors clash with police outside Tesla’s German gigafactory

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Climate protestors in Germany broke through police barricades on Friday, amid clashes between activists and law enforcement. The protestors either made it onto (according to protestors) or near (according to local police) the grounds of a Tesla gigafactory in Grünheide, Germany, near Berlin. It’s part of a planned five-day demonstration ahead of a local government vote next week to determine whether Tesla’s plant can expand.

Wired flagged social media videos showing activists, many of whom have been camping out in treehouses in nearby forest encampments, running toward a Tesla building on the site. In addition, the German newspaper Welt said at least one person participating was injured. Police reportedly police used pepper spray and batons to try to thwart the crowd, and there were at least some arrests.

A spokesperson for one of the groups participating in the protests told Wired that they broke the police barriers and stormed the Tesla grounds. “Eight hundred people have entered the premises of the gigafactory,” Lucia Mende of Disrupt Tesla said. However, local police posted on X (Musk’s social media platform) that the activists only reached a field facing the site. “We have been able to prevent them from entering so far,” they posted.

GRUENHEIDE, GERMANY - MAY 10: Police confront environmental activists in a forest near the Tesla Gigafactory electric car factory on May 10, 2024 near Gruenheide, Germany. Activists have come from across Germany to demand a stop to plans by Tesla to expand the factory, which would involve cutting down at least 50 hectares of trees. Some locals also support the protest, citing stress to local groundwater reserves from the factory. (Photo by Axel Schmidt/Getty Images)GRUENHEIDE, GERMANY - MAY 10: Police confront environmental activists in a forest near the Tesla Gigafactory electric car factory on May 10, 2024 near Gruenheide, Germany. Activists have come from across Germany to demand a stop to plans by Tesla to expand the factory, which would involve cutting down at least 50 hectares of trees. Some locals also support the protest, citing stress to local groundwater reserves from the factory. (Photo by Axel Schmidt/Getty Images)

Axel Schmidt via Getty Images

At least at first glance, it’s easy to wonder why activists are pouring so much energy into fighting Tesla. After all, despite Musk’s increasingly unhinged right-wing conspiracy-mongering and Nazi-catering on X, other automakers pushing gas-guzzling cars seem like more appropriate targets (not to mention the fossil fuel companies spending big bucks on anti-climate-reform disinformation). However, several factors make the issues at the heart of the protests less simplistic.

A (nonbinding) vote in February showed Grünheide residents opposed the expansion by almost a two-to-one ratio. If for no other reason, the local government having a chance to brush aside the overwhelming will of the voters in the name of capitalism is enough to raise the eyebrows of anyone who balks at minority rule.

Wired notes the area is also one of the most water-scarce in Germany, and residents worry the gigafactory will drain the resource, leaving much less for the humans who live there. The plant could also pollute local water supplies.

Those fears appear to have merit: The plant is licensed to use 1.4 million cubic meters of water annually, and a separate Wired report from Tuesday noted that’s enough to supply for a large town. As for the contamination fears, Tesla was fined in 2019 by the EPA for several hazardous waste violations at a California factory. The company paid a grand total of $31,000 to settle. (Tesla had a market cap of almost $76 billion in 2019.)

But some of the groups protesting have concerns that go much farther than those more immediate issues affecting the locals, instead taking issue with the entire electric vehicle movement. “Companies like Tesla are there to save the car industry, they’re not there to save the climate,” Esther Kamm, spokesperson for Turn Off the Tap on Tesla told Wired.

Another activist, who only gave Wired the name Mara, described the factory as the result of “green capitalism.” She views the EV movement as little more than a theatrical performance in the name of profit. “This has been completely thought up by such companies to have more growth, even in times of an environmental crisis,” she said.

I wouldn’t exactly say flipping the bird to the EV movement is a “workable” solution to the very real and pressing climate crisis. Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, the world needs to move quickly to fend off climate change’s most ravaging effects, and the scientific consensus is that the planned shift to EVs will need to play a central role.

Tesla reportedly told its employees at the factory to work from home on Friday, shutting down the plants for the planned protests. As for Friday’s protests, Welt reports that the situation had calmed by afternoon — at least for now.



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Spotify and Apple Again Clash Over App Store Rules and Fees

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Spotify has not been able to get Apple to approve an EU app update that added information on subscription pricing and links to the Spotify website, and it turns out that’s because Spotify has not agreed to the terms of Apple’s Music Streaming Services Entitlement.

Apple vs Spotify feature2
A recent antitrust ruling from the European Commission fined Apple nearly $2 billion and mandated that Apple “remove anti-steering provisions” for music apps in the European Economic Area (EEA). As a result, Apple updated its App Store rules with a Music Streaming Services Entitlement that allows music apps in the EEA to inform users of other ways to purchase digital music content or services and to add website links for purchasing digital music subscriptions.

That might sound like a win for apps like Spotify, but Apple requires developers who use the entitlement to pay a 27 percent fee (reduced for subscriptions older than one year and for small businesses) on all website purchases referred by Apple. So if Spotify puts a link in its app and a user clicks it and subscribes, Spotify would owe Apple a 27 percent commission (three percent less than the App Store purchase fee).

Spotify does not currently pay Apple any money, and it does not want to. Directly after the European Commission’s ruling, Spotify on March 5 submitted an EU app update that had information on subscription pricing and links to its websites for customers to make purchases. This was prior to when Apple had announced its entitlement plan.

Apple ignored Spotify’s app update, and Spotify complained on March 14 that Apple had not “acknowledged or responded” to its ‌App Store‌ submission. Spotify at the time called on the European Commission to force Apple to approve its app update.

Apple kept ignoring Spotify’s submission, until today, when Spotify submitted a new version of its app. Spotify said on X (formerly Twitter) that the update has no links and includes just the “bare minimum” on pricing and a mention that subscriptions can be purchased from Spotify, which it claims is acceptable under the European Commission’s ruling.

Spotify left out a small detail, though. It turns out that Spotify did not request a Music Streaming Services Entitlement and did not agree to Apple’s new terms for the entitlement. The ‌App Store‌ Review Team sent Spotify a letter (via AppleInsider) that says the entitlement is required even though there is no link because Spotify’s submission has a call to action to purchase a Spotify subscription on its website.

We are reaching out to let you know about new information regarding your app, Spotify – Music and Podcasts, version 8.9.33.

As you may be aware, Apple created a new Music Streaming Services Entitlement (EEA) for iOS and iPadOS music streaming apps offered in EEA storefronts. The entitlement allows music streaming apps to use buttons, external links, or other calls to action to direct customers to a purchase mechanism on a website owned or controlled by the developer. You must accept its terms before adding any of these capabilities to your app. Please find more information about the entitlement here.

We note that your current submission includes a call to action to purchase a Spotify subscription on your website. As such, you must accept the terms of the Music Streaming Services Entitlement (EEA) and include the entitlement profile in your app for submission. To be clear, this entitlement is required even if your app does not include an external link (nor does it require that you offer an external link). We will, however, approve version 8.9.33 after you accept the terms of the Music Streaming Services Entitlement (EEA) and resubmit it for review.

If you have any questions about this information, please reply to this message to let us know.

Apple says that if Spotify agrees to the terms of the Music Streaming Services Entitlement, it will approve the latest Spotify app update. Without a link to the Spotify website, Spotify would presumably not have to pay Apple a commission because there would be no way for Apple to track clicks from its app to Spotify, but there may be some other part of the entitlement that Spotify is reluctant to agree to.

Apple does not plan to let Spotify include a link to the Spotify website without paying the required 27 percent fee, but adding subscription pricing information without a link does seem to be permitted per the language of Apple’s letter to Spotify.

Spotify has confirmed that it does not plan to opt in to Apple’s EU ‌App Store‌ business terms, which are separate from the Music Streaming Services Entitlement and are part of the changes that Apple implemented as required by the Digital Markets Act.

Because Spotify does not want to agree to the EU ‌App Store‌ business terms, it is limited on the features that it can add to its app in the EU. To offer the Spotify app directly from its website in the EU, Spotify would need to agree to the terms and would have to pay a 0.50 euro Core Technology Fee for users that download the app.

Spotify does not let customers sign up for a Spotify subscription in the app as of right now, so it does not have to pay anything. Web-based distribution and linking out to the Spotify website both have associated fees, and Spotify is aiming for a solution where it does not have to pay anything. Spotify’s full statement on its update, from Chief Public Affairs Officer Dustee Jenkins:

Despite Apple’s attempts to punish developers with new fees, we remain committed to giving consumers real choice in our app at no increased cost. That’s why we have submitted a new update to Apple. It features basic pricing and website information – the bare minimum outlined under the European Commission’s ruling in its music streaming case.

By charging developers for communicating with consumers through links in-app, Apple continues to break European law. It’s past time for the Commission to enforce its decision so that consumers can see real, positive benefits.

Though Spotify has a clear path to get its app update approved, the company claims that Apple is breaking European law by charging the 27 percent fee for links and it calls on the European Commission to “enforce its decision.”



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