Communications platform Slack quickly remedied a loophole in their new Slack Connect DM feature that allowed for potential harassment to be sent through chat requests.
The company rolled out a feature Wednesday that allows users to send direct messages to people outside of their own organization with just a request. However, Connect requests can include "arbitrary text," Stewart Butterfield, Slack CEO, told Cheddar and that opens the door for harassment.
The oversight went viral after a Twitter user pointed out how easy it was to send not one but multiple harassing messages through requests.
"This was a little bit of an unforced error on our part, and unfortunately because the feature was about direct messaging, there was a lot of totally understandable confusion, conflating the process for inviting," Butterfield said, explaining that the oversight had been permanently removed.
The feature's intended goal is to allow for easier communication between professionals who work closely but for different organizations. Butterfield said the company began developing the idea during the coronavirus pandemic as the increase of users called for solutions toward simpler communication.
"We ended this year with 74,000 paid customers using Slack Connect. That's up 130 percent from last year, but the density of the network has increased tremendously as well. That's grown 245 percent," he noted.
This comes as the company waits for the U.S. Department of Justice to greenlight the sale of Slack to Salesforce. Butterfield said he's confident the deal will be approved, particularly because the company has no overlapping products and is a partner to every software maker globally.
With at least half of its paid users coming from outside the United States, Salesforce will help the company reach more customers through its expansive network, Butterfield said. When it comes to elevating the business, he said the company looks to be a leader in revolutionizing the workplace of the future.
"It's not just we get to sell more software, we get to transform the way that people work," he said.
If the deal with Salesforce happens to be denied by the DOJ, which Butterfield doesn't believe will happen, he said the company is already trending in the right direction and continued growth is essentially imminent.
"Look, this last year was obviously huge for us. We crossed a billion-dollar runway, we had more than a billion dollars in billings, we had 43 percent revenue growth, and four straight quarters of free cash flow profitability," he said. "We also saw enormous acceleration in the number of paid customers. We added 46,000 this year compared to 22,000 last year and those customers are the basis for the future growth."
For Butterfield, the pandemic was a eureka moment as he recognized the workforce had to become a "digital-first" industry and shake the concept of what the traditional corporation looks like as the world emerges into life after COVID.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
Tesla, the car company run by Elon Musk, reported Wednesday that it sold more vehicles in the past three months after boycotts hit hard earlier this year, but profits still fell sharply. Third-quarter earnings fell to $1.4 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier. Excluding charges, per share profit of 50 cents came in below analysts' estimate. Tesla shares fell 3.5% in after-hours trading. Musk said the company's robotaxi service, which is available in Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, will roll out to as many as 10 other metro areas by the end of the year.
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