Good morning.

Well that was quick. In rapid succession this week, Microsoft followed Amazon which followed IBM in putting the brakes on selling facial recognition software to law enforcement, because of concerns about racial profiling. Anyone who thought post-George-Floyd CEO statements were just talk now have a bit of action to point to.

But Microsoft’s Brad Smith raised the obvious problem with this approach. In China, which has made winning the A.I. race a national priority, concerns about privacy and profiling are faint. Said Smith:

“I think it’s important to see what IBM has done. I think it is important to recognize what Amazon has done. It is obviously similar to what we are doing. But if all of the responsible companies in the country cede this market to those who are not prepared to take a stance, we won’t necessarily serve the national interests or the lives of the black and African-American people of this nation well.”

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna Had this to say about the tech trend he started:

“This is a time when people are expecting companies to take clear and definitive actions. Technology must be used in ways that are fair and responsible. These actions, together with precision regulation, can help ensure innovations are used in ways that make technology part of the solution to society’s most serious challenges.”

Separately, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo spoke with Fortune’s Most Powerful Women community yesterday, and offered one unexpected casualty of COVID 19 – the snow day. “I announced yesterday the end of the snow day in Rhode Island. Our kids have missed many days because of snow. No more.” When it snows in Rhode Island, the schools will go virtual.

And one bit of Friday feedback: Dow CEO Jim Fitterling wrote in after yesterday’s health post to say that telemedicine–and virtual education, as well–won’t succeed until we do a better job getting broadband to all parts of the U.S.:

“Getting the entire US connected via Wi-Fi is an imperative in any infrastructure stimulus. It will facilitate better health care delivery to underserved areas, increase education opportunities, allow the US to jump ahead digitally and increase our competitiveness. Every state should accelerate digital for delivery and lowering costs. This would be a major silver lining, and change the shape of recovery and future growth.”

News below.

Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com

Many companies are speaking out against racial injustices right now. But how do they fare in their own workplaces? Black employees in the corporate world, we want to hear from you: Please submit your anonymous thoughts and anecdotes here.

TOP NEWS

Dow slump

Yesterday's 6.9% drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average—caused by concern over a new wave of COVID-19 infections—was followed by a comparatively mild day on Asian markets, with the Nikkei 225 and the Hang Seng each down around 0.7%. Early trading in Europe was flattish to positive and U.S. futures point to 2% pop for the Dow at opening. Wall Street Journal

U.K. GDP

British GDP saw a record slump of 20.4% in April, as the coronavirus lockdown took hold. Perhaps needless to say, the country is on course for recession. Accommodation and food services were particularly hard hit, falling 40.1%. U.K. finance chief Rishi Sunak: "We've set out our plan to gradually and safely reopen the economy. Next week, more shops on the high street will be able to open again as we start to get our lives a little bit more back to normal." Sky

Quarantine pushback

British Airways, Ryanair and Easyjet have banded together to sue the British government over its requirement that arrivals self-isolate for two weeks. The airlines said the quarantine rules, which entered into force Monday, "will have a devastating effect on British tourism and the wider economy and destroy thousands of jobs." Bloomberg

Chinese disinformation

Twitter has removed over 170,000 China-linked accounts that have been spreading disinformation about Hong Kong, Taiwan and China's response to the coronavirus outbreak. Security analysts say Beijing's online disinformation tactics are starting to resemble those of Moscow. Twitter said the accounts "were largely caught early and failed to achieve considerable traction on the service, typically holding low follower accounts and low engagement." China's response? It said Twitter should remove accounts that smear China. CNBC

AROUND THE WATER COOLER

Airline cuts

Yesterday's Lufthansa job cuts announcement, where the German group said it would shed 22,000 roles, takes the total number of job cuts announced by major airlines up to around 70,000—and that's not even taking into account the vast number of job losses that are being experienced at suppliers and their suppliers, such as Boeing, Airbus and Rolls-Royce. And on that note, Airbus has warned that its cuts are more likely to hit U.K. employees than those in France or Germany, if the British government does not maintain support schemes that are comparable to those in place on the continent. Fortune

Walmart cases

Walmart, facing criticism, has said it will stop locking up black beauty and hair care products in glass cases as an anti-shoplifting measure (as with razor blades and so on, the items need to be unlocked by a staffer.) Walmart: "We serve millions of customers every day from diverse backgrounds. We have made the decision to discontinue placing multicultural hair care and beauty products in locked cases." Fortune

SoftBank buyback

SoftBank spent around $570 million buying back its shares in May, as part of an effort to support its share price. Since announcing its buyback program in March, the Japanese conglomerate has now spent $2.9 billion on the scheme—making credit rating agencies rather nervous. Reuters

Brexit U-turn

The British government has reportedly relented to pressure from businesses and abandoned plans to introduce rigorous border checks on imports after this year, when the Brexit transition period ends. The shift to a more lax border-check regime is down to the coronavirus pandemic—businesses are having a hard enough time as it is. BBC

This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.