Children are often abducted from their homes and later sold to cocoa farmers, potentially never to see their families and loved ones ever again. Most of the children are 12-16 years old, but reporters have found children as young as 5 years old, many of whom are forced to work up to 14 hours a day. And when children attempt to escape, they are beaten and tortured. It’s unacceptable. Children forced to work on cocoa farms often use machetes to cut cacao bean pods down from trees and then pack them into 100-pound sacks and when they’re full, they have to carry them. Aly Diabate, a former enslaved cocoa worker said, “Some of the bags were taller than me. It took two people to put the bag on my head. And when you didn’t hurry, you were beaten.” The chocolate industry has a revenue of over 254 BILLION dollars per year, yet, even though it is estimated to only cost the industry a little over 5 million dollars a year to trace cocoa beans to track where their cocoa is coming from, there has been little interest in the technology from any chocolate company. It’s shocking, but not surprising. Greedy corporations in the chocolate industry like Nestlé and Mars have enough money to pay workers a living wage AND ensure that they DO NOT use child slave labor. But instead, they are prioritizing their corporate profits. No more. Major chocolate companies have claimed to be concerned and to make efforts to end child slave labor, but they are a multi-billion dollar industry, but it’s been over two decades since they were exposed, and there is still child slavery in their supply chains. It’s wrong. Together, we can keep getting loud and pressuring chocolate industry companies like Nestle until they end child slave labor once and for all. Will you take action now and sign this urgent petition? Image credit: Duchesse layenah

The FCC’s current proposed rule is the best chance we’ve had to reinstate net neutrality since the Trump administration destroyed the regulations in 2017. But telecom lobbyists and their allies are hitting DC in an all-out effort to water down or block the recently proposed net neutrality rules. They’re even placing misleading, sensationalist op-eds in local papers across the country. While these lobbyists and their Republican allies want to characterize net neutrality as a “takeover” of the internet, the fact is that these protections act to keep broadband free and open for all, and out of the hands of Big Cable. Net neutrality remains hugely popular across the country. In October, Demand Progress joined with over 30 partner organizations to relaunch Battle for the Net, so people can tell the FCC and Congress why net neutrality is important to them. At the end of the comment period in January, over 100,000 activists had filed comments in support. That’s an incredible start, but now we need to pile on the pressure as the FCC prepares to finalize the rule! This is the best chance we’ve had at reversing the Trump administration’s disastrous policy and winning a free and open internet! Add your name: The FCC must save net neutrality now!

TikTok is one of the largest social media platforms right now, and taking direct, actionable steps to support artists and their labor, as well as to prevent artificial intelligence from stealing their work and likenesses, could be a model for how other platforms handle these issues moving forward. But it’s not just about being able to dance and do trends with some of our favorite music. Universal Music Group is pulling its music from TikTok after negotiations failed to extend the licensing agreement between the two companies, and those negotiations centered around prominent issues in today’s society: paying people for their labor, the effects of generative artificial intelligence more broadly, and benchmarks for online safety in a world that has become increasingly reliant on digital communications. TikTok needs to support artists and their labor.

In addition to the companies that have unleashed the technology the enables deepfakes, hosting and cloud computing providers like Amazon have continued to provide the infrastructure needed to run large websites specializing in non-consensual deepfake porn, even though the harm they;re doing has become clear. They, too, are part of the problem. Normally, when a company releases products that cause unexpected harm, they’re responsible for fixing it. Like when Toyota found it had cars on the road with faulty gas pedals that could result in crashes, or when Samsung got reports of Galaxy smartphones overheating and catching fire, they recalled their products. Tech companies releasing, distributing, and hosting content generated by cutting edge AI technology should not be an exception. Now that deepfakes have become a major media story, you have Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, saying “we have to act,” while not specifying or committing to real action—and with most other tech leaders remaining completely silent. There are good conversations in the AI safety community about what the best approaches are for reining in deepfakes, but until the tech companies at the root of the problem act, it will be meaningless. Some parts of solving the problem are harder than others, but there is plenty that can and should be done right now: - AI companies (like Microsoft) should stop releasing software that has been shown to create harmful, non-consensual deepfakes, until they can prove that it is safe. - Social media platforms (like Facebook and Twitter/X) should take much stronger steps to detect deepfakes; freeze accounts that appear to have distributed harmful, non-consensual deepfakes; and permanently ban those that have been determined to have done so. - Cloud providers (like Amazon) should drop large websites that are clearly and overtly in the business of creating and distributing non-consensual deepfakes. Congress is now working on The DEFIANCE Act of 2024, which would make it a crime to produce and distribute non-consensual deepfake images, audio, and video–an important part of what’s needed and which Sexual Violence Prevention Association has recently started a campaign to support. But Congress has yet to hold accountable the tech companies that are at the core of the problem, and that control the means of production and distribution of deepfakes. These companies have poured billions into the technology that makes deepfake creation and sharing possible. It’s time they prioritize addressing the harms they’ve created as a result, and invest in making such technology safe from causing harm. Until they can demonstrate that a baseline level of safety has been achieved, with no one in the future being subjected to what Taylor Swift and others currently are experiencing, these companies need to do all that’s in their power to stop the harm created by the spread of non-consensual deepfakes.

17 Problems: How Dollar Store Chains Hurt Communities https://ilsr.org/17-problems/

On January 21, 2010, SCOTUS in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission expanded the constitutional doctrine that corporations are persons, widening their constitutional right to buy elections and run our government. Since that ruling, 14 states that previously banned corporate contributions had their laws overturned by the courts. And subsequent rulings, following the precedent of Citizens United, paved the way for the creation of Super PACs and unlimited corporate spending in politics, flooding our elections with dark money. Enough! Our democracy should reflect the will of the people, not greedy corporate entities. We can reverse Citizens United, end “corporate personhood,” and take our democracy back by introducing a new amendment to the U.S. Constitution: the We the People Amendment. “We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United and other related cases and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.” The majority of Americans, when asked if they believe corporations should have the same rights as people, believe the Constitution should be amended to state that corporations do not have constitutional rights. Add your name to demand that Congress pass the We the People Amendment NOW!

Out of 30 NFL teams, 14 use real grass, 14 use artificial turf, and 2 use a hybrid field of grass and artificial materials. It would only cost the NFL 12 million dollars to replace the current turf fields to grass, compared to the nearly $12 billion dollars in revenue that the NFL made in 2023. And that’s not all: Over the last 8 years alone, the NFL has made over 74 BILLION dollars in revenue. Yet, many NFL team owners (30 out of 32 of whom are billionaires and have a combined net worth of over 260 BILLION DOLLARS) would rather prioritize their corporate profits over their players’ safety. For over a decade, NFL players themselves have been very vocal about how much of a toll turf takes on their bodies, and how they dread games where they know they will be playing on turf. The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA), the labor union that represents NFL players, has been advocating for grass fields despite the league’s PR attempts to defend the use of artificial turf. The NFL has a history of putting corporate profits above players: • In the 2000s, Dr. Bennet Omalu discovered a link between football and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) , a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head causing concussions. But instead of thinking of ways they could protect their players, the NFL went after Omalu and other scientists studying CTE. After nearly a decade of denial and suppressing scientific evidence, the NFL finally admitted the truth: There is a link between football and CTE. • Back in 2021, after shamefully using “race-norming” which prevented hundreds of Black football players with dementia from qualifying for awards in a $1 billion settlement of concussion clamps, the NFL agreed to end this practice. • The NFL has continued to come under fire for their lack of guaranteed contracts for players. The sham contracts offered by the NFL give so many outs for the corporation that players rarely see the full payouts from their deals. Meanwhile, every other major league in professional sports has guaranteed contracts. This is greed and exploitative, plain and simple, and it's costing players. And these are just a few examples. The NFL must do better and put player safety above corporate profits NOW. Add your name to the petition.

Consequences of not reforming Proposition 22 based on the petition could include: 1. Continued Exploitation of Drivers: Without reform, drivers may remain classified as independent contractors, susceptible to inadequate compensation and denied traditional employee benefits. 2. Economic Inequity: The flawed compensation structure of Proposition 22 may persist, leading to drivers working excessively long hours for insufficient pay, exacerbating economic disparities within the gig economy. 3. High Competition and Diminished Earnings: The absence of measures to regulate the number of drivers on platforms may result in increased competition, diminishing earnings for experienced drivers and exploiting those with less experience. 4. Failure to Address Compensation Discrepancies: The proposed fair compensation structure may not be implemented, leaving drivers with reimbursement rates below IRS standards and hourly rates based on local minimum wage, contributing to financial hardships. 5. Overcrowding in Certain Areas: Without limits on the number of drivers, certain locations may face overcrowding, negatively impacting drivers' ability to earn a reasonable income. 6. Unequal Distribution of Rides: The lack of a priority system for full-time drivers may lead to an uneven distribution of rides, disadvantaging drivers and passengers in specific locations. 7. Inadequate Health Insurance Coverage: The health insurance coverage issues may persist, leaving drivers without proper benefits or alternative compensation for their active time. 8. Continued Lack of Autonomy: Drivers may continue to lack autonomy as independent contractors, with no reforms addressing the need for a balanced system that benefits both drivers and companies. In summary, not reforming Proposition 22 based on the outlined petition could perpetuate the existing problems in the gig economy, leaving drivers vulnerable to exploitation, economic hardships, and an imbalanced system.

The privatization sets a precedent for the resort to pursue further privatizations in the future if gone unchecked!

Big Tech corporations hype up advances in AI as ways they might improve their products or services, but the ugly truth is that they are using AI to pad their profit margins and exploit workers. Given how fast the field of AI is developing, we need to speak out NOW to protect workers’ rights.

Netflix’s newest price increase follows its unpopular and restrictive policy change regarding password sharing, requiring customers to pay an extra $7.99 to share their password with someone outside of their household. Netflix needs to know that consumers have the power—and we're not going to allow them get rich while they slash services and raise costs. The reality is, when one streaming giant like Netflix raises its prices, the others often follow. Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV+, Discovery+, and AMC+ are also raising prices on some of their monthly subscriptions. It’s unacceptable. Over the years, many people have ended their traditional cable TV contracts and migrated to streaming services, but the price hikes on these services are quickly becoming unsustainable. Netflix must stop the price hikes, NOW. Netflix is implementing a price hike despite anticipating 5 BILLION dollars in free cash flow, partly due to writers and actors going on strike because Netflix and other streaming giants were refusing to offer them a fair contract. So essentially, writers and actors with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) went months without work or pay while Netflix got richer. It’s corporate greed on the backs of writers, actors, production staff, and Netflix subscribers, plain and simple. It must end. The massive wealth inequality that we see between the ultrawealthy and everyday working people is reflected in the entertainment industry too. Streaming companies like Netflix make BILLIONS of dollars in corporate profits each year and pay top executives hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars combined, while exploiting writers, actors, production staff, and streaming subscribers. This is one of the many reasons why we have to come together to stop these price hikes. Add your name to the petition, and then send it to three friends to spread the word!

A majority of the people in the United States are concerned about climate change as a “major threat” to our country. The U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported that about 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions are from burning fossil fuels—yet Big Oil continues to prioritize profits over our planet's future. ExxonMobil spreads disinformation and denies climate change to cover up Big Oil’s complicity. A former Exxon chief executive even said, “I’m not convinced that the earth is warming at all.” Allowing Big Oil to get even bigger is a threat to our climate, democracy, and future. Our government has a responsibility to rein in mergers and acquisitions like this to prevent monopolies and prioritize people. We must prevent this dangerous takeover and protect our interests. Let Big Oil know that we are watching. Launch an investigation ASAP!