WEBVTT - Tech News: Facebook on the Ropes 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:15.000 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:18.079 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Radio and 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:20.840 I love all things tech. And it's time for the 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:26.640 tech news for Tuesday, September twenty one, twenty one. And 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:29.040 here's a follow up on a story that I talked 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:32.639 about last week. The Wall Street Journal has recently published 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.520 a few stories that put Facebook in a really negative light. 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:39.760 One of those stories was about an internal study that 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:43.800 looked at how divisive content on Facebook goes up in 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:47.000 the ranks in the Facebook algorithm because that kind of 0:00:47.040 --> 0:00:50.800 content encourages high engagement. So essentially, it's saying what most 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:52.840 of us already know, which is that if you stir 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:55.480 shinola up, folks will get head up about it and 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:59.240 join the fracas. That's my colloquial way of saying that, 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:03.040 you know, saying or posting awful things gets a rise 0:01:03.080 --> 0:01:05.960 out of people, and they in turn get emotional and 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:08.760 typically they then engage. And we know this is a 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.319 thing because it's been going on since long before there 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:14.520 ever was an Internet, and even back in the days 0:01:14.560 --> 0:01:16.679 when the Internet wasn't really much more than a bunch 0:01:16.680 --> 0:01:19.319 of message boards. We saw this in the form of 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:23.560 flame wars. Like everybody knows this. This is like the 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:26.840 basis of a lot of toxic behavior on the Internet 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:29.480 and in the world in general. So none of this 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:33.800 is new, But the study essentially confirmed that Facebook's algorithm 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:38.720 promotes content like that and then amplifies it, so something 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.760 that was already getting a lot of engagement could go 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:44.520 to the level where it goes viral, and when that 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:48.200 stuff is divisive, it can do a lot of harm. 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:50.520 Then there was the study that I talked about last 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:55.080 week in which Facebook researchers found that Instagram users can 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:59.520 experience a negative impact on their mental health. Particularly teenage 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:03.600 girls are are vulnerable to this, and the researchers found 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:07.080 that some users, including up to thirty two of teenage girls, 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:10.880 experience self esteem issues and worse, and that this links 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:15.400 back to their activities on Instagram. But those stories weren't 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:18.880 the end of it. There was more. The journal also 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:22.240 published a report that said as bad as Facebook is 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:27.000 dealing with these issues in English speaking countries, it's even 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:31.080 worse elsewhere, and that's because apparently Facebook just doesn't have 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:35.280 the staff on hand to deal with problems in places 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:40.680 that have other languages, and so issues like misinformation campaigns 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:44.160 can be even worse in those other places because there 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:47.040 aren't enough moderators who can curb the problem. They're not 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.480 enough people who understand the language to recognize when those 0:02:50.520 --> 0:02:55.720 things are happening. CNBC's Salvador Rodriguez points out that a 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:58.880 company that makes around thirty billion dollar in profit, and 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.320 that's not revenue, that's profit, you know, they might be 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:05.399 able to actually hire on some folks who understand other languages. 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:08.639 And I think that's a pretty salient point. Facebook has 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:11.280 responded in a blog post that essentially says the Wall 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:14.600 Street Journal got stuff wrong. However, the blog post does 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:18.200 not refute any of the points of the internal study 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:21.800 that the journal was citing. So I mean, I guess 0:03:21.840 --> 0:03:25.000 the wrong stuff would be any conclusions that the journalists 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:28.000 were drawing as a result of reading over the data. 0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:30.679 I'm not sure that that blog post is going to 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:34.560 convince anyone. I feel like there's a real momentum building 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:38.400 against Facebook, and my guess is that soon it's going 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:42.120 to be politically unfeasible to offer the company any sort 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:45.640 of protection. In related news, the m I T Technology 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:49.920 Review gained possession of another Facebook internal study. These things 0:03:49.960 --> 0:03:52.960 just keep on coming out. This one was actually done 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.880 way back in twenty nineteen. I say way back because 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.240 twenty nineteen was before we ever had a pandemic. Do 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.600 you remember those days? Anyway, that study was looking into 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.840 the proliferation of troll farms that were dedicated to spreading 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:09.000 misinformation and propaganda in the lead up to the presidential 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:13.040 election in the United States. A former Facebook employee handed 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.640 the report over to the m I T Technology Review. 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:19.560 That employee reportedly had nothing to do with the the study, 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:22.359 but had access to it before they left Facebook, and 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:25.680 the study showed that troll farms were pushing content out 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:30.599 that was seen by around one hundred forty million Americans 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:34.760 every month, and that these troll farms had created networks 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:39.040 of Facebook pages, and that some fifteen thousand pages targeting 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:44.200 US audiences actually originated out of Kosovo and Macedonia. Now 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:47.520 keep in mind this is after Facebook had already been 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:50.960 through the wringer in the two thousand sixteen election, which 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:53.960 means you would expect Facebook to have some protections in 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:56.760 place to guard against the same sort of thing. Happening 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.600 again just a few years later, but according to the review, 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:04.159 the few measures that Facebook did activate mostly prevented quote 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.760 the worst of the worst end quote. Jeff Allen, author 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:10.240 of the report and who was at the time a 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:14.640 senior level data scientist with Facebook, said that quote, we 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:19.359 have empowered in authentic actors to accumulate huge followings for 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:24.040 largely unknown purposes end quote. So, in other words, Facebook 0:05:24.120 --> 0:05:27.839 has given the ability for people who are not who 0:05:27.839 --> 0:05:32.839 they claim to be to get enormous followings and then 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:36.159 potentially to do, you know whatever. It might be good, 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:39.200 or it might be bad, probably bad. So this ties 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:42.159 in with our earlier story showing that Facebook is very 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:45.599 much aware of how its systems enable bad actors to 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:49.920 reach huge audiences and spread misinformation. When that misinformation convinces 0:05:49.920 --> 0:05:53.400 people that, you know, the COVID vaccine is harmful, or 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:57.600 that misinformation says the virus itself is overblown, then it 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:01.080 not just you know, affects those users on Facebook. It 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:03.680 affects their behaviors and people can get sick and some 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:07.560 of them will die. Facebook, as you would imagine as 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:10.520 representatives that say say the company is taking measures to 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:14.000 keep the platforms safe and to eliminate these issues. But 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:17.200 like I said, I feel that Facebook is pretty much 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:21.080 on a collision course with the US government and likely 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:23.640 some other governments around the world, with the aim to 0:06:23.800 --> 0:06:26.240 break up the company or otherwise reduce its power to 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:30.919 facilitate harm. I mean, it is pretty damning evidence when 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:35.520 internal studies within Facebook are confirming some of the accusations 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:39.600 that people have had against the company, and meanwhile representatives 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:44.320 for the company have continuously denied or deflected those accusations. 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:48.559 Meanwhile their own studies from inside the house are saying 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:51.720 the same thing. Not a good look. A few weeks ago, 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.400 I talked about how El Salvador adopted bitcoin as their 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:59.960 the country's national currency. Previously, it had been mostly relying 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.359 on the US dollar. Well, recently, bitcoin has had a 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:06.240 bit of a dip. It dropped ten percent in value 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:09.280 very quickly, not long ago. It's not to say that 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:12.200 it's in a spiral or anything, but it didn't have 0:07:12.200 --> 0:07:16.720 a dip, and Salvador and President Naive Boo Keley responded 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:19.640 to that by directing the government to purchase even more bitcoin, 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:24.000 buying the dip. In other words, the country purchased another 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:26.360 hundred fifty bitcoin which was worth around six and a 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:28.880 half million dollars at the time, and that brings the 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:32.280 total number of bitcoin held by El Salvador to seven hundred. 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:35.680 It will be interesting to see how El Salvador progresses 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:38.960 while relying on a currency that has frequent and frequently 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:43.000 dramatic fluctuations in value. I'm not saying it's impossible, but 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:47.800 it's gonna be tricky. If bitcoin stabilizes and becomes more 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:54.640 of a reliant kind of thing or reliable kind of thing. Um, yeah, 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:56.760 I guess it could work, but right now, it's just 0:07:57.320 --> 0:08:01.800 it's so volatile that I am very curious to see 0:08:01.800 --> 0:08:04.840 how this works for El Salvador in the future. And 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:07.280 of course we talked to in the previous episodes about 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:10.680 how a lot of critics are worried that the fact 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:14.720 that bitcoin is is frequently associated with stuff like money 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:18.280 laundering and corruption, that this will play a large role 0:08:18.320 --> 0:08:20.480 in El Salvador as well, but we'll have to wait 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:24.280 and see. Let's talk about tech and climate change for 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:29.400 a second. So the Big Five that being Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:33.720 and Facebook have all stated that their respective companies have 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:36.600 plans to go carbon neutral and at least in some 0:08:36.679 --> 0:08:40.880 cases even carbon negative over the next several years, most 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:44.880 of which are aiming around for that goal. Microsoft even 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:48.280 says that the company intends to remove enough carbon from 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:52.200 the atmosphere to offset all the carbon the company has 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:55.920 ever generated. Ever, So, in other words, by I think 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:59.800 it's twenty fifty, Microsoft plans on having systems in place 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:04.320 that will effectively remove the equivalent amount of carbon that 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.760 the company has ever produced. That's pretty phenomenal if it 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:11.559 actually works out. Now, let's talk a little bit about actions, 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.240 because those speak louder than words, right. You can claim 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:16.920 to have this plan in place, but unless you do 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:19.920 stuff about it doesn't do you much good. And when 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.160 it comes to some of these companies, the promises being 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:26.800 made might not actually be achievable, at least not from 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:30.880 the companies themselves all by themselves. Let's take Apple for example. 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:35.080 So the Guardian reports that a semiconductor manufacturing company called 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.880 t s MC, this is part of Apple's supply chain, 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:43.920 has its goal to become carbon neutral by twenty Now, 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:47.319 Apple's goal was to get its entire supply chain to 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:52.079 carbon neutral by so there's a disconnect there of twenty years. 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:55.320 I mean, that's huge, right now, The company t s 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:59.840 MC in Taiwan uses nearly five of all electricity and 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:04.000 Iwan while manufacturing silicon chips. It also used around sixty 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:08.320 three million gallons of water in twenty nineteen for that purpose, 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:12.160 and it will likely consume more over the near future, 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:16.360 not less, at least, you know, when the ability to 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:20.600 manufacture at scale has really returned in full effect. And 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:23.160 this is yet another reminder that the world is way 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:27.400 more complicated than the way we typically see it in messaging. 0:10:27.840 --> 0:10:31.280 You know, you might think, oh, Apple, Apple makes iPhones, 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.240 that iPhone came from Apple, but we all know that's 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:37.719 oversimplifying things way too much because there are a lot 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:42.199 of different companies that that produce components within that iPhone 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:45.440 that are not Apple. Apple partners with those companies, they 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.040 are part of Apple's supply chains. So it is a 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:52.280 much more complex ecosystem than just a single company. And 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:55.360 we have to remember there's this ripple effect, right, The 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:59.480 manufacturing process has this ripple effect on different economies around 0:10:59.520 --> 0:11:02.520 the world as well as different environments. Now, I am 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:05.280 not blaming Apple for this, because I mean, for one thing, 0:11:05.320 --> 0:11:08.920 the company made its own uh owned and operated businesses 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:13.640 carbon neutral back in eighteen. That is amazing. Hats off 0:11:13.679 --> 0:11:15.880 to Apple for doing that. That's great. This is just 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:20.440 a reminder that when we hear these promises about attaining 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:24.200 carbon neutrality across all lines of businesses, we have to 0:11:24.240 --> 0:11:27.720 remember it's not always entirely up to the companies that 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:30.560 are making those promises, and we need to make sure 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:32.280 that all the pieces are in place in order to 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:36.360 take care of all the different components. We have more 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:38.720 to talk about with tech, even more with tech and 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:41.760 climate in just a moment, but first let's take a 0:11:41.840 --> 0:11:52.240 quick break. Okay, before the break, I was talking about 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:56.040 carbon neutrality and climate change in tech. This is kind 0:11:56.120 --> 0:11:59.640 of related to that in a way. I want to 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:03.400 talk out the Bezos Earth Fund that's obviously named after 0:12:03.480 --> 0:12:06.960 Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. That fund has pledged 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:10.920 one billion dollars toward efforts to conserve and protect vulnerable 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:13.840 areas around the world. And this is part of a 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:17.959 ten billion dollar commitment that Jeff Bezos has made toward 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:22.600 preserving natural habitats and fighting climate change globally. And the 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:26.480 initial focus is on a region in the Pacific Ocean, 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:29.960 a tropical region of the Pacific uh the tropical Andes 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:35.679 Mountains and the Congo Basin. Now you might wonder how 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:39.319 does this actually work, because obviously you can't just dump 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:43.280 airplane loads of cash on an area to make it better. 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.680 The Pacific Ocean does not care if you make it 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:49.599 rain dollar bills over it. No, So this fund is 0:12:49.640 --> 0:12:54.600 actually doling out large amounts of money toward established organizations 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:58.200 that focus on this kind of work on preservation and 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:02.000 fighting climate change. So really it's almost like a grant 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:06.640 foundation that's granting this money to other organizations. This in 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:10.360 itself is still a challenge, both because even if you're 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:13.240 just donating to charity yourself, you always want to try 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:16.280 and select organizations that have the potential to do the 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.439 most good with your donation and to make the best 0:13:19.559 --> 0:13:23.280 use of the money you you offer. And also, once 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:26.600 you hit a certain scale of donation, you might actually 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:30.600 be giving an organization more money than that organization can manage. 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:33.760 It can literally be too much of a good thing. Yeah, 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:37.840 if you are really focusing on smaller, more local organizations 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:41.800 that can do you know, direct good in a region, 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:44.439 then you might have to spend a lot more time 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:47.200 managing that whole situation. Because again, you don't want to 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:50.040 overwhelm the organization by giving it more than it can handle. 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:53.880 But at least this is some good news that's related 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:57.120 to Amazon, which is nice because the rest of my 0:13:57.160 --> 0:14:01.000 Amazon news is not quite so positive. Of those pieces 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:07.319 is about um sponsored results in Amazon item listings. So 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:10.200 when you go on to Amazon and you're searching for something, 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.240 let's say it's a ball peen hammer, then you're gonna 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:17.439 get results on that, and that's going to include results 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:21.120 from companies that have paid to be in your view, 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:24.080 like on that first page. So Amazon has been doing 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:26.080 this for a while. It's not like it's brand new, 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.320 but over time the company has increased the number of 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:33.200 sponsored item slots on those initial lists. Like in the 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:35.880 past it might be you know, two to three items, 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:40.840 and now it can be five or six on some searches. Uh. 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.320 And like search engines in general, you know, we typically 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:46.440 see people stick to the first page or first couple 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:49.640 of pages of results when they're searching for stuff. Now, 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:52.320 I have to admit I'm kind of an outlier because 0:14:52.360 --> 0:14:54.960 I will frequently page through multiple pages in an effort 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:57.480 to find, you know, the best fit for whatever item 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:00.400 I'm looking for. I've always got this fear that on 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.200 the next page was the perfect fit, and I went 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:06.560 with something you know, I settled for something less. So 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.720 with these sponsored results, there's no algorithm around how popular 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:13.360 the item is, or how well reviewed it is or 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:16.400 anything like that. It shows up there because the company 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:20.920 paid for that spot. And Amazon has also increased the 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:24.440 price for ads, which, yeah, I don't even know how 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:26.640 much revenue Amazon must be pulling in when you factor 0:15:26.720 --> 0:15:29.320 both of those things together. They're showing more ads, and 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:33.400 they're charging more per AD, and they've got millions of 0:15:33.400 --> 0:15:38.040 people using the site, and I mean, that's going hog wild, 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:42.520 especially during pandemic. Now, the amount charged is not a 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:45.040 big amount on a per click basis. If you look 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:49.200 at it as how much does Amazon charge for an 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:52.760 AD for a single click, it's a dollar twenty seven. 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:56.320 That's not very much, But that's one click. That's per click, right. 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.880 You multiply that times potentially tens of thousands of click 0:16:00.480 --> 0:16:04.320 and you apply that pricing across all items, across all categories, 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:07.280 and you really start seeing the cash pile up, which 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:10.400 I guess then you could throw at the Pacific Ocean. Amazon, 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:13.200 by the way, says that it doesn't dedicate slots to 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.360 sponsored items, So in other words, it doesn't have like 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:19.680 a minimum or a set amount. It's not like every 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.560 time you search for something, you're gonna get six sponsored 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:27.040 results and then everything else. In fact, it's possible, according 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.480 to Amazon, that you could do a search and get 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:32.160 no sponsored items at all, depending on whatever it was 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:35.280 you were searching for. Now, I've recently had to purchase 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:38.520 a bunch of stuff, so anecdotally, I can say that 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:41.880 I have noticed way more sponsored items than I remember 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:44.400 seeing in the past. However, I also have to say 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:47.280 that could just be confirmation bias on my part. It 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:50.000 might not actually reflect reality. It may just be that 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:53.520 I'm noticing it more. Anyway, it's good to pay attention 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:56.160 to this kind of thing when you're a comparison shopping now. 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:59.480 Just because something is sponsored doesn't mean it's the best fit, 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:02.000 but it all. It doesn't mean it's not the best fit. 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:05.359 It might be the best option for you, but it 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:08.439 is good to remember that it's a sponsored item and 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:11.880 that the reason it's showing up in your view has 0:17:11.920 --> 0:17:15.480 nothing to do with its price, its quality, or reviews 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:19.760 or anything like that. Uh, it may fit those criteria 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.800 that you need, but it doesn't necessarily do that, so 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:26.560 you need to keep that in mind when you're comparison shopping. 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:30.760 OSHA a k a. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:33.760 is a regulatory agency in the United States that is 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:37.399 charged with assuring safe and healthy working conditions in the 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:43.239 US by establishing and enforcing standards. And when there is 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:47.760 an incident that that results in an injury, like a 0:17:47.800 --> 0:17:51.680 serious injury, something you know, beyond just slapping a band 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:55.240 aid on someone, then companies are supposed to report that 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:59.160 to OSHA. They are legally bound to do so well. 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:02.800 The Tech Journal is m site. The information took data 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:06.760 from OSHA and looked at Amazon delivery stations. Now, delivery 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:11.960 stations are hubs that exist between warehouses and customers. Amazon 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:16.280 essentially established delivery stations largely in an effort to eliminate 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:20.040 the need to rely on other delivery services like ups 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:24.639 and instead use its own owned and operated delivery vehicles 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:27.960 in order to get packages to end customers. So the 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:30.760 way Amazon typically works with shipping is that it has 0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:36.400 these massive warehouses that hold products. These then get shipped 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:39.840 to the delivery stations, and then workers at the delivery 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:43.280 stations sort and load the boxes onto delivery vehicles, which 0:18:43.320 --> 0:18:46.280 then go out to you know, deliver the stuff to customers. 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:49.840 And according to the information, the rate of injuries at 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:54.000 Amazon delivery stations is more than twice that of the 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:58.359 industry average. People are getting hurt twice as often at 0:18:58.400 --> 0:19:03.120 Amazon delivery stations as people who work at comparable facilities. 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:06.720 It's also a higher injury rate than what is seen 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:11.320 at other Amazon facilities, including warehouses and sorting facilities. The 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:15.439 delivery stations are the most dangerous. The information also points 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:19.359 out that companies only report to OSHA if those injuries 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:21.520 are severe enough. Like I was saying before, it has 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:23.760 to be something more than what would require a first 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:28.560 aid response. So we're not just talking about people stubbing 0:19:28.560 --> 0:19:31.440 a toe or something. We're talking about some serious injuries, 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:36.840 everything from moderate to potentially critical injuries. And you know, 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:39.160 who knows how many bumps and scrapes people are getting 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:42.920 along the way. The study also found that Amazon had 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:47.080 overstated the number of employees working at these delivery stations 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:50.840 on more than one occasions. Now that matters because it 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:55.320 means Amazon's information to OSHA indicates that these delivery stations 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:59.800 had more employees. Thus were more fully staffed, and that 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.760 would usually mean that you would see fewer injuries, right, 0:20:03.840 --> 0:20:08.200 because you're you're dividing the work well amongst the people 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:10.560 that you have. But if in fact fewer people are 0:20:10.600 --> 0:20:14.240 working there, then that means you have fewer people doing 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:17.480 more work. And that work includes moving heavy stuff like 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:20.520 heavy packages, as well as working around delivery vehicles that 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:22.800 are coming and going all the time. So it's no 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.080 wonder there have been lots of injuries. No real report 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:29.040 from Amazon yet about this, apart from the company saying 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:35.280 that it works hard to improve safety conditions and its facilities. Okay, well, 0:20:35.359 --> 0:20:38.240 I've got a few more stories to cover, but before 0:20:38.240 --> 0:20:47.679 I get to those, let's take another quick break. Okay, 0:20:47.720 --> 0:20:50.160 we're gonna talk a little bit more about workers rights 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:53.520 and tech organizations in the form of instat cart. So, 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:56.080 the company is rumored to be preparing an initial public 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:59.040 offering or i p O. That's when a private company 0:20:59.080 --> 0:21:03.080 becomes a publicly traded company on a stock exchange. This 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:06.800 process is lengthy, it is not a sure thing. They 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:09.320 just take a look at we work for an example 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:13.960 of that. But some instacart workers are spearheading a campaign 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:17.159 to convince users to boycott the app. They're using the 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:21.360 hashtag delete insta Cart to promote their cause, so they 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:24.040 want to put pressure on the company. If insta Cart 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:27.080 is planning ongoing public then public opinion is going to 0:21:27.119 --> 0:21:31.239 impact the share price and thus the company valuation and 0:21:31.320 --> 0:21:34.399 the I p O. So this is important stuff. And 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:36.800 the workers have a list of demands that they want 0:21:37.080 --> 0:21:41.000 to have met from the company. One of those includes 0:21:41.080 --> 0:21:46.760 Instacart reinstating a previous commission pay model where people got 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:50.720 a dedicated amount of money per order. Um. They want 0:21:50.800 --> 0:21:54.040 a ten percent default tip built into the transaction. Right now, 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:57.080 the default tip is at five. They wanted to be 0:21:57.200 --> 0:21:59.280 up to ten percent because they say a lot of 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:03.680 users never bother to go outside of the default. Uh. 0:22:03.760 --> 0:22:07.359 I always I always go to twenty percent at least 0:22:07.680 --> 0:22:12.600 and sometimes over than that, because I mean, these folks 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:15.040 are working hard and they're they're doing a real service 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:18.280 for me. But that's me anyway. They also want a 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:21.480 system that does not penalize workers for stuff that is 0:22:21.520 --> 0:22:25.200 outside their control. So for example, uh, there's a cold 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:28.320 brew coffee that I absolutely love and it is almost 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:30.960 never in stock in any of the stores. I always 0:22:30.960 --> 0:22:33.880 put it into the order just in case, but more 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:36.359 often than not, I get a message saying they were out. 0:22:36.840 --> 0:22:41.359 Well right now, instacart allows me to review my you know, 0:22:41.520 --> 0:22:44.960 results of my delivery and I can say, oh, the 0:22:45.000 --> 0:22:49.000 delivery person didn't find all the items, uh, and that 0:22:49.080 --> 0:22:52.960 can reflect badly on that person. It penalizes the insta 0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:56.160 cart gig worker and it's not really their fault, right, 0:22:56.200 --> 0:22:58.639 I mean, if the company's off stock, they couldn't do 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:01.879 anything about that, so it's not fair. They want that changed. 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:05.280 They also want occupational death benefits, and they want the 0:23:05.320 --> 0:23:08.719 system that assigns orders to workers to be more transparent. 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:11.240 They say that it's gotten less so over the years. 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:14.320 The workers are asking users to delete the app to 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:17.440 send a message to insta Cart because if the installed 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:19.919 base for the app drops dramatically, they hope that that 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:23.440 will end up pressuring the company to granting these demands 0:23:23.520 --> 0:23:26.159 because it will not look good on its way toward 0:23:26.240 --> 0:23:30.080 an initial public offering. Workers say instat carts changes have 0:23:30.160 --> 0:23:33.159 resulted in lower pay for workers who are working just 0:23:33.240 --> 0:23:36.080 as hard, if not harder, than they were before, but 0:23:36.119 --> 0:23:39.639 they're making less. The workers acknowledge that asking users to 0:23:39.720 --> 0:23:42.639 delete a delivery app during a pandemic is potentially a 0:23:42.640 --> 0:23:46.520 pretty big request for what it's worth, I just deleted 0:23:46.560 --> 0:23:49.840 it from my phone, even though I have depended upon 0:23:49.880 --> 0:23:53.520 it quite heavily in the past, because I happened to 0:23:53.600 --> 0:23:57.400 believe in the cause of the workers. All right, moving on, 0:23:57.880 --> 0:24:01.280 have you been to Thailand in the last ten years? 0:24:01.720 --> 0:24:04.520 The reason I ask is that if you have, your 0:24:04.600 --> 0:24:08.679