Black Lives Matter in partnership with J. Walter Thompson New York has created BackingBlackBusiness.com, a web tool allowing people to easily discover Black owned small businesses throughout the U.S. Currently in Beta with over 300 Black-owned businesses, the site aims to reframe the importance and the role of Black-owned small businesses for the Black community. It also hopes to draw attention to the large and often underestimated racial disparities in business ownership and performance. The Google map based tool gives people the opportunity to use their dollars to support local Black-owned businesses in order to have a national impact. The site aspires to become the biggest and most easily accessible Black businesses database in the country. The goal is to have a good representation of Black-owned businesses in all states on the site by the end of 2017. The site allows Black owners to add themselves to the map, making data collection easier. It will be supported by a social and influencer campaign. Brent Choi, chief creative officer, J. Walter Thompson New York, said: “Our hope is to reduce the racial disparity that exists in economic well-being through the promotion of Black business ownership”….
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More