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Today we are watching…
1. Facebook (#fb)
The contentious Menlo Park social media giant has just paid $1,000 to every content moderator its employed who now has a diagnosed mental health condition, presumably to cover therapy sessions. Cast your mind back to Zuckerberg’s Capitol Hill appearances in 2018, when he promised to change Facebook’s privacy settings and clear out abusive content. The soldiers who did the actual work there have incurred terrible trauma and won a lawsuit against Facebook for damages. Shares tumbled on the news, even though a total payout of $52 million won’t put a big dent in earnings. The real damage is publicity related, as some users think twice about using Facebook’s apps.
2. Amazon (#amzn)
There’s a growing crowd starting to question official coronavirus case numbers, and Amazon is now joining that troop. It’s concerned with justifying the restart of many of its fulfillment centers, and playing down the seriousness of going to work under pandemic conditions. The company won’t release a case tally, and investors know it’s all about the money. They’d like to resume business, too. There’s limited downside for Amazon because there are so few substitutes to the Amazon site for angry members of the public to start using. It’s the application of staff that poses the biggest risk.