Apple has asked shareholders to vote against a proposal to scrap its diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, as tech rivals scale back similar schemes before Donald Trump’s return to the White House.The National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative thinktank, wants the iPhone maker to end its DEI efforts because they expose companies to “litigation, reputational and financial risks”. The proposal will be voted on at Apple’s annual general meeting on 25 February.In a notice to shareholders, ...

Mark Zuckerberg craves one metric more than any other: engagement, the statistic that tracks how long social media users spend scrolling, clicking, commenting, and viewing ads. More engagement, more profit. The Meta CEO will do almost anything to keep users online for an extra two minutes – even, it seems, surrender his websites to a flood of fake news.On Tuesday, Zuckerberg announced that his company plans to fire its US factcheckers and weaken its ability to moderate disinformation on Facebook, Instagram, ...

Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to end factchecking on Facebook and Instagram in the US already has factchecking journalists bracing for cuts at their at organizations, given the size of Meta’s funding.The social media giant has provided more than $100m for outside organizations certified by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) to conduct factchecks on its social networks since 2016, which would result in posts receiving accuracy ratings and having their reach reduced if false. Major outlets like USA T ...

The decision by the social media giant Meta to end factchecking in the United States is “bad for democracy”, Brazil’s newly appointed communication minister, Sidonio Palmeira, said on Wednesday.Meta’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, stunned many with his announcement on Tuesday that he was pulling the plug on factchecking at Facebook and Instagram in the US, citing concerns about political bias.Palmeira said Meta’s decision was “bad for democracy because [without factchecking] you don’t control the spread ...

Lawsuit Allegations - PayPal is being sued by Nisha Desai, an Asian American businesswoman, for racial bias in restricting part of a $535 million investment program to Black and Hispanic applicants, costing her millions of dollars [1] - Desai claims PayPal told multiple other Asian American businesswomen they were ineligible for funding due to their Asian descent [3] - The lawsuit accuses PayPal of violating multiple civil rights laws, including section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 [4] PayPal's Investment Program - PayPal announced a $535 million investment program in June 2020 to support Black and minority-owned businesses and address economic inequality [2] - The company invested $100 million in 19 venture capital firms led by Black and Hispanic people [2] Legal Context - The lawsuit follows a federal appeals court ruling in March that the advocacy group Do No Harm lacked standing to pursue a similar case against Pfizer [5] - Desai is represented by Consovoy McCarthy, a law firm that often advocates for conservative causes and previously represented Do No Harm [5]

Meta is deleting Facebook and Instagram profiles of AI characters the company created over a year ago after users rediscovered some of the profiles and engaged them in conversations, screenshots of which went viral.The company had first introduced these AI-powered profiles in September 2023 but killed off most of them by summer 2024. However, a few characters remained and garnered new interest after the Meta executive Connor Hayes told the Financial Times late last week that the company had plans to roll ou ...

Apple has agreed to pay $95m in cash to settle a proposed class-action lawsuit claiming that its voice-activated assistant Siri violated users’ privacy, listening to them without their consent.iPhone owners complained that Apple routinely recorded their private conversations after they activated Siri unintentionally, and disclosed these conversations to third parties such as advertisers. A preliminary settlement was filed on Tuesday night in the Oakland, California, federal court, and requires approval by U ...

Nick Clegg has made almost $19m (£15.3m) from the sale of shares in Meta since he joined the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp six years ago.The former British deputy prime minister announced on Thursday he was leaving his role as president of global affairs and communications.Clegg, who was knighted in 2018 for political and public service, has sold $18.4m worth of shares in Meta since he joined the company.His total pay at Meta has not been disclosed but he still holds almost 39,000 of the company ...

Thousands of Amazon workers are gearing up to strike from Thursday, days before Christmas, over the tech giant’s refusal to begin negotiations over a contract.Union locals across the US are preparing members for pickets and actions outside of Amazon facilities around the US.Amazon company was given a deadline of 15 December to agree to open talks with workers at the company’s JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, which became the first Amazon warehouse in the US to win a union election in 2022.“Our Sisters and B ...

General Motors told shareholders on Wednesday that it would write down the value of its China business by more than $5bn.The company’s board of directors determined that the non-cash charges were necessary “in light of the finalization of a new business forecast and certain restructuring actions” with the joint venture, according to a company filing.CEO Mary Barra has been transforming GM’s operations in China as the former profit engine slipped to a loss in the last year. Barra told investors in October th ...