The Download: Russia may resort to even more desperate tactics in Ukraine, Biden has warned

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

1 Experts are baffled by the deadly airplane crash in China yesterday
The plane was flying normally then it suddenly nosedived, killing all 132 people on board. (Bloomberg $)
  + It’s yet more bad news for Boeing. (Quartz $)
  + China’s recent air safety record is strong. (NYT $) 

2 Russians are racing to download Wikipedia before it gets banned
Those who are trying to get their news from sources that aren’t Kremlin-approved, at least. (Slate $)
  + Why WhatsApp has survived the crackdown. (Wired $) 
  + A Russian court upheld the ban on Facebook and Instagram. (NPR)
  + Airbnb cracked down on listings in Ukraine, thwarting outsiders’ efforts to help fund stays for people fleeing their homes. (Wired $) 

3 New SEC rules would require companies to disclose their emissions 
The devil will be in the detail here, as climate accounting is no stranger to chicanery. (TechCrunch)
  + How a new global carbon market could exaggerate climate progress. (TR)
  + We already have what we need to rapidly ditch fossil fuels. (New Yorker $) 

4 Facebook failed to detect hate speech against Rohyinga Muslims
Yet again, after it was found to have played a determining role in the genocide against them in Myanmar in 2016. (AP) 
  + How Facebook and Google fund global misinformation. (TR)

5 Cryptocurrency trading is mostly just gambling 
Trouble is, the house (almost) always wins. (The Guardian)
  + You still need to understand crypto. (NYT $)
  + Someone’s launching a restaurant based on the Bored Ape NFT collection. (Nation’s Restaurant News)
  + Bitcoin miners are trying to rebrand themselves as environmentally-friendly. (NYT $)
  + More details emerged on India’s plan to tax crypto trades. (TechCrunch) 

6 Big Tech fought Europe. Europe won. 
It lobbied hard against stringent new antitrust and data rules, but they’re all but guaranteed to go ahead. (FT $)
  + Toronto’s tech sector is booming. (NYT $) 

7 NASA has confirmed 5,000 exoplanets beyond our solar system
And we might be on the cusp of finding many more, as the James Webb Space Telescope gets started. (Space)

8 Are we nearing peak metaverse already?
While virtual worlds have been around for decades, it took Mark Zuckerbeg to drag the metaverse into the mainstream—even if we don’t fully understand what it is (CNET)
  + Is the metaverse even technically feasible? (IEEE Spectrum) 

9 Video game preservationists are fighting to save older titles
When game makers shut down digital storefronts, preservationists rush to keep games accessible (Verge)
  + Video games are a welcome distraction, but also a source of guilt for Ukrainians. (Wired $)
  + Saudi Arabia is eyeing up esports and gaming as a way to bolster its reputation. (The Guardian) 

10 What does our desire to see people publicly shamed say about us? 
Online shaming appears to be not only relentless, but unavoidable. (New Yorker $)