Facebook to rely on ‘Community Notes,’ replacing fact checkers, Zuckerberg says
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(NEW YORK) — Facebook plans to replace its fact checkers with “Community Notes,” a move that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said would allow the social network to return “to our roots around free expression.”
“We’re replacing fact checkers with Community Notes, simplifying our policies and focusing on reducing mistakes,” Zuckerberg said on Tuesday. “Looking forward to this next chapter.”
The changes, which will also be in place for Instagram and Threads, will lift restrictions “on some topics that are part of mainstream discourse” and will focus the company’s “enforcement on illegal and high-severity violations,” Joel Kaplan, chief global affairs officer, said in a blog post.
As the company’s fact-checking capabilities have grown, they have expanded “to the point where we are making too many mistakes,” which in turn has frustrated many of the social networks’ users, Kaplan said.
“Too much harmless content gets censored, too many people find themselves wrongly locked up in ‘Facebook jail,’ and we are often too slow to respond when they do,” he said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Michael Kreisel and Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — As the Teamsters’ cross-country Christmastime strike against Amazon entered its second day on Friday, the union said that “momentum continues to mount” as workers seek “fair treatment” from the online retailer.
“The Amazon Teamsters movement grows bigger and stronger every day and will not be stopped,” the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said in a statement posted on social media late Thursday.
Workers affiliated with the Teamsters began striking at Amazon facilities across the country early Thursday. The union said thousands of workers were walking off their jobs at facilities in New York City, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois, but did not provide specific numbers.
Teamsters President Sean M. O’Brien is expected to join a picket line in California’s City of Industry on Friday, the union said.
Amazon said the strike was not expected to impact operations and claimed the strikes were being attended by outside organizers. Kelly Nantel, director of Global Corporate Issues and Media Relations at Amazon, said the company had not seen an impact on deliveries.
“Thankfully, the vast majority of our employees and the drivers who deliver on our behalf came to work today to do what they do every day,” Nantel said on Thursday. “They’re doing a great job of working for their customers and their communities and as a result of their hard work.”
The strike, which the Teamsters referred to as the largest strike in history, arrived during the busiest shopping season of the year, less than a week before Christmas.
In addition, the Teamsters said local unions were also picketing “hundreds” of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide.
Overall, nearly 9,000 Amazon workers, across 20 bargaining units, have affiliated with the powerful Teamsters union, according to the union. The striking workers represent less than 1% of the company’s 1.5 million employees worldwide, including 800,000 in the United States.
The National Labor Relations Board officially certified the union representing workers, but Amazon has appealed that ruling. The union said Amazon ignored a Sunday deadline for contract negotiations to begin.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” O’Brien said in a statement Thursday announcing the strike. “We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”
In a statement to ABC News, an Amazon spokesperson said the Teamsters illegally coerced workers to join the union. The company in a statement described the people walking the picket lines as “almost entirely outsiders—not Amazon employees or partners.”
“The truth is that [the Teamsters] were unable to get enough support from our employees and partners and have brought in outsiders to come and harass and intimidate our team, which is inappropriate and dangerous,” Amazon said. “We appreciate all our team’s great work to serve their customers and communities, and are continuing to focus on getting customers their holiday orders.”
Amazon’s market cap is $2.35 trillion. Shares of the retailer ticked up $2.77 on Thursday, climbing about 1.26%. The stock was down about 2 in premarket trading on Friday.
ABC News’ Taylor Dunn and Soo Youn contributed to this report.
(SEATTLE) — Boeing machinists overwhelmingly rejected a contract proposal this week, opting to extend a weekslong strike and send negotiators back to the bargaining table.
Sixty-four percent of workers voted against the new contract, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the union representing 33,000 Boeing workers in Washington, Oregon and California.
The outcome follows the resounding defeat of a previous proposal last month, which drew rebuke from more than 90% of union members.
The consecutive “no” votes set the stage for a standoff between Boeing and its workers that will strain the finances of both sides over the coming days and weeks, experts told ABC News. That financial pressure will push the dispute toward resolution but workers appear unlikely to budge without major concessions, they added.
“The union has sent a very clear message to Boeing that it will take significantly more to get a settlement,” Harley Shaiken, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, who focuses on labor history, told ABC News.
The proposed contract would have delivered a 35% raise over the four-year duration of the contract, upping the 25% cumulative raise provided in a previous offer overwhelmingly rejected by workers in a vote last month. Workers had initially sought a 40% cumulative pay increase.
The proposal also called for hiking Boeing’s contribution to a 401(k) plan, but it declined to fulfill workers’ call for a reinstatement of the company’s defined pension. The contract would have included a $7,000 ratification bonus for each worker, as well as a performance bonus that Boeing had sought to jettison.
But union leaders said the concessions offered in the proposal were not enough to meet the demands of rank-and-file union members.
“This contract struggle began over ten years ago when the company overreached and created a wound that may never heal for many members,” said Jon Holden, president of IAM District 751 in Seattle, in a statement after the vote. “I don’t have to tell you all how challenging it has been for our membership through the pandemic, the crashes, massive inflation, and the need to address the losses stemming from the 2014 contract.”
Boeing did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Experts who spoke to ABC News forecasted a willingness on the part of Boeing to reenter talks and even revisit key parts of the offer.
Hours before workers cast ballots on Wednesday, Boeing released an earnings report showing the company had lost a staggering $6.1 billion over the most recent quarter, even though most of that period took place before the strike began.
The strike is expected to deepen that financial hole. A 50-day work stoppage would cost Boeing $5.5 billion, investment bank TD Cowen said in a report reviewed by ABC News at the outset of the dispute. So far, the strike has lasted 41 days.
“This rejection adds further uncertainty, costs, and recovery delays,” Bank of America Global Research said in a note to clients on Thursday. “We anticipate further concessions of wages will be required for a deal to pass.”
Financial stress will mount for workers as well, experts said.
Union members have received $250 per week from a strike fund, beginning in the third week of the work stoppage. That compensation marks a major pay cut for many of the employees.
“When strikes go longer than five or six weeks, the financial pressures really start to work on the union rank and file,” Robert Forrant, a professor of U.S. history and labor studies at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, told ABC News.
While union members remain widely opposed to the latest contract offer, it drew greater support than the first one. That incremental progress may prompt Boeing to continue the strategy of upping worker pay while standing firm in its refusal to reinstate a defined pension, Ryan Stygar, a labor lawyer at San Diego, California-based Centurion Trial Attorneys, told ABC News.
Workers lost a traditional pension plan in a contract ratified by the union in 2014. The union’s demand for reinstatement of the pension may appeal more to longtime employees who feel they’ve lost retirement benefits than younger ones who’ve joined the company since its shift to a 401(k), Stygar said.
“Boeing’s strategy will be to try to exploit that generational divide,” Stygar said, noting that increased pay and a larger ratification bonus may entice younger workers to support a future proposal even if it omits pension reinstatement.
“As the strike goes on and Boeing’s losses accumulate, I think we will see more aggressive negotiation,” Stygar added, saying the standoff could stretch on for another two to four weeks.
“But I don’t have a crystal ball,” Stygar said.
ABC News’ Jack Moore and Ayesha Ali contributed to this report.
(SEATTLE) — Tens of thousands of striking Boeing machinists are casting ballots on Monday over whether to approve a contract offer that could end their work stoppage after seven weeks.
The new offer delivers higher pay increases and a bolstered ratification bonus that would deliver each worker $12,000 if the union approves the deal, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the union representing 33,000 Boeing workers in Washington, Oregon and California.
The ongoing standoff has strained the finances of both sides. Union members have received $250 per week from a strike fund, beginning in the third week of the work stoppage. That compensation marks a major pay cut for many of the employees.
Boeing and its shareholders have lost about $5.5 billion since the strike began in September, according to an estimate last month from the Anderson Economic Group. Shares of Boeing have plummeted 40% this year but have ticked up slightly over the past month.
Union members resoundingly defeated two previous proposals from Boeing, but the latest offer marks the best deal the workforce is likely to receive, the union said in a public letter to membership on Saturday.
“This is truly the time to lock in these gains and work to build more in future negotiations,” IAM President Jon Holden and the union’s negotiating committee told members. “Allow yourself to capture this win and be proud of your sacrifice.”
The proposed contract would deliver a 38% raise over the four-year duration of the contract, upping the 35% cumulative raise provided in a previous offer overwhelmingly rejected by workers in a vote two weeks ago. Workers had initially sought a 40% cumulative pay increase.
The proposal also calls for hiking Boeing’s contribution to a 401(k) plan, but it declines to fulfill workers’ call for a reinstatement of the company’s defined pension. Workers lost a traditional pension plan in a contract ratified by the union in 2014.
Nearly two thirds of union members rejected the most recent contract offer in a vote last month. The outcome followed the overwhelming defeat of a previous proposal in September, which drew rebuke from more than 90% of union members.
“It’s time we all come back together and focus on rebuilding the business and delivering the world’s best airplanes,” Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg wrote in a memo to employees on Friday. “There are a lot of people depending on us.”
It will take a majority vote of union members to approve the contract offer. If workers ratify the deal, they can return to work as early as Wednesday, the union said.
“The decision to end this strike is right where it needs to be — in the membership’s hands,” Holden and the negotiating committee said in their public letter.
