| Facebook is banning posts and ads that mislead users about the 2020 Census. Facebook announced on Thursday that starting in 2020, it will take down content that is "misrepresenting when and how the census occurs, who can participate, and what happens to the personal information people submit to the government," the Washington Post reported. Facebook said the policy would apply to ads from politicians or candidates, "despite rules that otherwise allow office-seekers to lie in Facebook posts that they pay to promote," the Post wrote. - The announcement comes six months after Facebook initially said it would stop the spread of inaccurate information about the census on its platform. "Facebook and other tech giants, including Google and Twitter, have huddled with government officials to plan to prevent census disinformation. But concerns still have lingered, particularly among civil-rights advocates," the Post reported.
[Tony Romm / The Washington Post] Airbnb avoids more regulation in Europe. A European Court of Justice has ruled that Airbnb acted as an "information society service" rather than as a real estate agency. "The court ruled that Airbnb did not require an estate agent's licence to operate in France, as it was mainly providing a tool for presenting and finding accommodations for rent rather than acting as a broker," the Guardian reported. - It's a win for Airbnb. The ruling is a boost for the company ahead of its expected IPO in 2020. The Guardian pointed out that "Airbnb is fighting claims from city authorities around the world, including Paris, Amsterdam, and Barcelona, that its services are changing the face of neighborhoods and that it should come under heavier regulation." Meanwhile, Airbnb said the court's ruling would allow the company to "move forward and continue working with cities on clear rules."
[Daniel Boffey / The Guardian] Uber will pay $4.4 million to settle charges of sexual harassment and retaliation. The charges stem from a 2017 Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation that began following allegations that the company "had permitted a culture of sexual harassment and retaliation against individuals who complained about such harassment," The Verge reported. The investigation found "reasonable cause" to believe those allegations, and as part of the settlement, Uber will establish a fund to "compensate anyone who the EEOC determines experienced sexual harassment and/or related retaliation after January 1, 2014." - The context: Sexual harassment at Uber became a widely known issue after former Uber engineer Susan Fowler published a searing account of her time as an employee at the company, which teventually led to then-CEO Travis Kalanick's resignation.
[Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge] Carmakers are set to profit off Amazon's home-delivery van push. "Amazon has built up a fleet of 30,000 last-mile delivery trucks and vans since creating its own delivery network in 2018, and currently handles about half of its own deliveries," Bloomberg reported. Car manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz, Fiat Chrysler, and Ford, which provide the "ubiquitous gray vans with the blue swoosh," have been dealing with declining demand from individual consumers in 2019 by turning to commercial customers, including Amazon and its delivery contractors.
[Gabrielle Coppola / Bloomberg]
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