Dozens of French environmental activists protested at an Amazon warehouse on Thursday, ahead of other "Block Friday" protests planned in France, AP reports.
The big picture: Free and fast shipping — driven by Amazon — pushes e-commerce companies to add more trucks and jets to gain a competitive edge, and delivery boxes are exacerbating the global plastics crisis, Axios' Erica Pandey reports.
Since London decided to revoke Uber's operating license, the city's transportation regulator found that 14,000 rides in late 2018 and early 2019 were completed by unverified drivers who had "rented" a real driver's account, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Why it matters: Uber says shared driver accounts are a global problem, including in the U.S. An Uber spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal the company has adjusted its policies in London to combat the issue, but it still not a "silver bullet."
More than half a million people have been invited to a Friendsgiving party this year, and searches for Friendsgiving ideas have tripled since 2015, according to Evite and Google Trends data.
Why it matters: The traditional Thanksgiving celebration is changing. That reflects broader transformations across America: booming cities and social media, a growing foreign-born population, delayed marriage and family building, and young adults relying on "urban tribes" of friends instead of kin.
Twitter said Wednesday it was putting on hold a plan to delete inactive accounts amid concerns that accounts from deceased users would be swept up in the purge.
Why it matters: While it's great to see Twitter clearing out the accounts of living people who aren't using them, Twitter also represents an important record of those no longer here.
Apple will now show Crimea as part of Russian territory in its maps and weather apps when they are used inside of Russia, the BBC reports.
Why it matters: The international community widely condemned Russia when it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, resulting in its suspension from the G8 and sanctions from the U.S., European Union and others. The United Nations has adopted a resolution that recognizes Ukraine's ownership of Crimea and Russia as the region's occupying power.
For retailers, Thanksgiving kicks off the holiday buying season with Black Friday and Cyber Monday in quick succession — but Amazon has some difficult business to deal with before it can start celebrating.
What's new: This week, fresh reports cast further doubts on the company's handling of working conditions at its warehouses and surveillance questions related to its Ring doorbell-cameras.
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a letter Tuesday that it intends to individually inspect and approve every 737 MAX before Boeing can deliver them to airlines, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Why it matters: Despite public pressure from Boeing to get the 737 MAX back in the air as soon as January, the agency's decision removes the aircraft maker's authority to perform its own pre-delivery safety checks and sign-offs — and could draw out the aircraft's ungrounding process.
Twitter is warning its inactive users — those who haven't logged on in over six months — that their accounts will be deleted unless they sign in by Dec. 11, The Verge first reported Tuesday.
Why it matters, via Axios' Ina Fried: By deleting accounts, Twitter could hurt its overall metrics as well as the follower counts of individual users. Dormant user names could also become available to people who want to make more frequent use of the service.
Facebook said Tuesday in a blog post that its virtual reality unit is buying Beat Games, the company behind Beat Saber, one of the most popular games for its Oculus devices.
Why it matters: The move comes as a sign that Facebook continues to believe in — and put money into — VR even as the industry has slowed more than some had hoped.
