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A federal judge said the Federal Trade Commission can proceed with its landmark antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. But, he also gave the company a small victory by tossing out a few claims made by states involved in the legal fight. The order, issued last week by Judge John H. Chun and unsealed on Monday, is a major defeat for Amazon, which has tried for months to get the case tossed out in court. A trial in the case is slated to be held in October 2026. "We are pleased with the court's decision and look forward to moving this case forward,"...
NEW YORK (AP) — The company behind Tupperware, the plastic kitchenware that revolutionized food storage after World War II and became inextricably linked to the parties where women seeking a measure of financial independence and fun in midcentury America sold the colorful products, has filed for bankruptcy. Tupperware Brands, the Orlando, Florida-based consumer goods company that produces the iconic line of containers, said it was seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after struggling to revitalize its core business and failing to secure a...
TikTok faced off with the U.S. government in federal court on Monday, arguing a law that could ban the platform in a few short months is unconstitutional while the Justice Department said it is needed to eliminate a national security risk posed by the popular social media company. In a more than two hour appearance before a panel of three judges at a federal appeals court in Washington, attorneys for the two sides - and content creators - were pressed on their best arguments for and against the law that forces the two companies to break ties...
NEW YORK (AP) — An owner of a consumer insights research firm couldn't pay her employees, make Friday's deadline to sign a contract for a new business or send key research to a key client. A psychiatrist, who runs a virtual mental health practice in Maryland, saw his business hobbled as some of his virtual assistants and therapists couldn't either make phone calls or log on to their computers. And a restaurant owner in New York City was worried about how he was going to pay his vendors and his workers. Businesses from airlines to hospitals h...
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon Prime Day is here, and experts are reminding consumers to be wary of scams. Deceptions such as phony emails from people impersonating online retailers like Amazon are nothing new. But phishing attempts increase amid the heavy spending seen during significant sales events, whether it's Black Friday or Prime Day, according to the Better Business Bureau. "This is a huge moment on the retail calendar," Josh Planos, vice president of communications and public relations at the Better Business Bureau, previously told The A...
NEW YORK (AP) — It's summertime, and the bargains seem easy at a time when many consumer prices are high. July sales events have become a seasonal revenue driver for the retail industry since Amazon launched its first Prime Day back in 2015. While consumers may be enticed by the advertised can't-miss savings on some products, personal finance experts say shoppers should be careful not to fall for potentially misleading marketing or give in to impulse buys. Amazon has drummed up expectations in recent weeks for its 10th Prime Day event, which w...
TikTok disclosed a letter Thursday that accused the Biden administration of engaging in "political demagoguery" during high-stakes negotiations between the government and the company as it sought to relieve concerns about its presence in the U.S. The letter — sent to David Newman, a top official in the Justice Department's national security division, before President Biden signed the potential TikTok ban into law — was submitted in federal court along with a legal brief supporting the company's lawsuit against measure. TikTok's Bei...
TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance are suing the U.S. over a law that would ban the popular video-sharing app unless it's sold to another company, arguing that it violates the First Amendment. The widely expected lawsuit filed on Tuesday may be setting up what could be a protracted legal fight over TikTok's future in the United States. The popular social video company alleged the law, which President Joe Biden signed as part of a larger $95 billion foreign aid package, is so "obviously unconstitutional" that the sponsors of The...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Legislation that could ban TikTok in the U.S. if its China-based owner doesn't sell its stake won a major boost late Wednesday when House Republican leaders included it in a package of bills that would send aid to Ukraine and Israel. The bill could be law as soon as next week if Congress moves quickly. The TikTok legislation, which passed the House in March and has widespread support in both chambers, was included in the House package as leaders have worked to win votes for the foreign aid bills and after negotiations with the...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers, meet your latest lobbyists: online influencers from TikTok. The platform is once again bringing influencers to Washington, this time to lobby members of Congress to reject a fast-moving bill that would force TikTok's Beijing-based parent company to sell or be banned in the United States. On Tuesday, some influencers began a two-day advocacy event in support of TikTok, which arranged their trip ahead of a House floor vote on the legislation on Wednesday. But unlike a similar lobbying event the company put together l...
Sexual predators. Addictive features. Suicide and eating disorders. Unrealistic beauty standards. Bullying. These are just some of the issues young people are dealing with on social media — and children's advocates and lawmakers say companies are not doing enough to protect them. On Wednesday, the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X and other social media companies went before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify at a time when lawmakers and parents are growing increasingly concerned about the effects of social media on young people's lives. The h...
A mother and her 14-year-old daughter are advocating for better protections for victims after AI-generated nude images of the teen and other female classmates were circulated at a high school in New Jersey. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, officials are investigating an incident involving a teenage boy who allegedly used artificial intelligence to create and distribute similar images of other students – also teen girls - that attend a high school in suburban Seattle, Washington. The disturbing cases have put a spotlight yet again o...
Amazon will soon make prescription drugs fall from the sky when the e-commerce giant becomes the latest company to test drone deliveries for medications. The company said Wednesday that customers in College Station, Texas, can now get prescriptions delivered by a drone within an hour of placing their order. The drone, programed to fly from a delivery center with a secure pharmacy, will travel to the customer's address, descend to a height of about four meters — or 13 feet — and drop a padded package. Amazon says customers will be able to cho...
NEW YORK (AP) — UPS has reached a tentative contract agreement with its 340,000-person strong union, potentially averting a strike that threatened to disrupt logistics nationwide for businesses and households alike. The agreement was announced Tuesday, the first day that UPS and the Teamsters had returned to the table after contentions negotiations broke down earlier this month, to talk over remaining sticking points in the largest private-sector contract in North America. Negotiators had already reached tentative agreements on a host of i...
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon was sued Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission for allegedly engaging in a yearslong effort to enroll consumers without consent into Amazon Prime and making it difficult for them to cancel their subscriptions. In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, the agency accused Amazon of using deceptive designs, known as "dark patterns," to deceive consumers into enrolling in Prime, which provides subscribers with perks such as faster shipping for an fee of $139 annually, or $...
NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft is infusing artificial intelligence tools into its Office software, including Word, Excel and Outlook emails. The company said Thursday the new feature, named Copilot, is a processing engine that will allow users to do things like summarize long emails, draft stories in Word and animate slides in PowerPoint. Microsoft spokesperson Jessica Dash said the new Office features are currently only available for 20 enterprise customers. It will roll it out for more enterprise customers over the coming months. Microsoft is m...
The United States is ratcheting up national security concerns about TikTok, mandating that all federal employees delete the Chinese-owned social media app from government-issued mobile phones. Other Western governments are pursuing similar bans, citing espionage fears. So how serious is the threat? And should TikTok users who don't work for the government be worried about the app, too? The answers depend somewhat on whom you ask, and how concerned you are in general about technology companies gathering and sharing personal data. Here's what to...
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tech companies of all sizes are showing off their latest products at CES, formerly known as the Consumer Electronics show. The show is getting back to normal after going completely virtual in 2021 and seeing a significant drop in 2022 attendance because of the pandemic. Exhibitors range from big names including Sony and LG to tiny startups. You might see the next big thing or something that will never make it past the prototype stage. On Tuesday night, the show kicked off with media previews from just some of the 3,000 companie...
NEW YORK (AP) — Days after flocking to stores on Black Friday, consumers are turning online for Cyber Monday to score more discounts on gifts and other items that have ballooned in price because of high inflation. Cyber Monday is expected to remain the year's biggest online shopping day and rake in up to $11.6 billion in sales, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks transactions at over 85 of the top 100 U.S. online stores. That forecast represents a jump from the $10.7 billion consumers spent last year. Adobe's numbers are not adjusted f...
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon has begun mass layoffs in its corporate ranks, becoming the latest tech company to trim its workforce amid rising fears about the wider economic environment. On Tuesday, the company notified regional authorities in California that it would lay off about 260 workers at various facilities that employ data scientists, software engineers and other corporate workers. Those job cuts would be effective beginning on Jan. 17. Amazon would not specify how many more layoffs may be in the works beyond the ones confirmed through C...
NEW YORK (AP) — Shortly after Elon Musk took control of Twitter, some conservative personalities wasted no time to jump on the platform and recirculate long-debunked conspiracy theories in a tongue-in-cheek attempt to "test" whether Twitter's policies on misinformation were still being enforced. Twitter has made no announcements of any immediate policy changes and in a tweet posted on Friday afternoon, Musk said Twitter will be forming a "content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints," and "no major content decisions or account r...
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon on Friday announced it has agreed to acquire the vacuum cleaner maker iRobot for approximately $1.7 billion, scooping up another company to add to its collection of smart home appliances amid broader concerns from anti-monopoly and privacy advocates about Amazon's market power and ability to gain deeper insights into consumers' lives. iRobot sells its products worldwide and is most famous for the circular-shaped Roomba vacuum, which would join voice assistant Alexa, the Astro robot and Ring security cameras and others in...
NEW YORK (AP) — A leaked draft of a Supreme Court opinion that would abolish a nationwide right to abortion has thrust major companies into what's arguably the most divisive issue in American politics. But while some are signaling support for abortion rights, many want to stay out of it — at least for now. Experts say it's tough to navigate these waters. Companies are facing increasing pressure from social media and their own employees to speak out. And while some of them have weighed in on issues like LGBTQ rights, voting rights and gun con...
A judge has ruled Amazon must reinstate a former warehouse employee who was fired in the early days of the pandemic, saying the company "unlawfully" terminated the worker who led a protest calling for Amazon to do more to protect employees against COVID-19. The dispute involving Gerald Bryson, who worked at an Amazon warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island, has stretched on since June 2020, when Bryson filed an unfair labor practice complaint with The National Labor Relations Board, claiming Amazon retaliated against him. Later...
NEW YORK (AP) — When a scrappy group of former and current warehouse workers on Staten Island, New York went head-to-head with Amazon in a union election, many compared it to a David and Goliath battle. David won. And the stunning upset on Friday brought sudden exposure to the organizers and worker advocates who realized victory for the nascent Amazon Labor Union when so many other more established labor groups had failed before them, including most recently in Bessemer, Alabama. Initial results in that election show the Retail, Wholesale a...
