Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 2d

Thanks for sharing. Seems like Unilever’s pressure might affect things eventually. Hope they can keep their independence and mission alive.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 4d

sorry that was my mistake, it’s supposed to be more than 10,000 not 100,000. I will take it down

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 6d

In 1979, Ross Perot, founder of EDS, personally funded a private commando mission to rescue his employees detained in revolutionary Iran.

Later, he ran for U.S. president, dodging the establishment and financing the campaigns himself.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 6d

Since the 1980s, Ben & Jerry’s has donated 7.5% of its profits to climate justice, refugee aid, and racial equity, making them one of the earliest pioneers of corporate philanthropy.

Long before it was fashionable, they proved giving back could be part of business.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 6d

In the 1830s, Cornelius Vanderbilt told New York officials he would pull every ferry off the Hudson if they didn’t hand him a monopoly. Once he had it, he set prices as he pleased.

As he put it: "What do I care about the law? Hain’t I got the power?"

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 7d

Exactly

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 7d

Yeah, there are way more than we think, they just aren’t doing it for the spotlight.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 7d

Azim Premji, Wipro’s tech magnate, has given over $21 billion through his foundation.

As one of the largest living donors, he has helped rebuild schools, clinics, and communities across India and is still running projects that touch millions of lives.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 7d

One of America’s bloodiest labor battles, the Homestead Strike left 10 dead and 60+ wounded.

Workers were expecting negotiations. But Carnegie’s partner Frick sent hundreds of Pinkertons with rifles and a Gatling gun to retake the steelworks.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 8d

In 1915, Henry Ford chartered the “Peace Ship” to Europe with 100 delegates, hoping to personally end World War I.

He basically thought governments were useless and he could fix the war himself.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 8d

Meet Phineas Fisher, the hacktivist haunting oppressive systems.

They’ve exposed millions of hidden documents and helped shine a light on corruption, all while no one knows who they are.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 8d

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey donated $1 billion, 28% of his net worth, to fight COVID-19, fund education, and pilot UBI programs.

What’s even more surprising is that he put it in a public LLC so everybody could see exactly where the money went.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 9d

In 2019, Apple employees were found listening to randomly sampled Siri recordings without users’ knowledge.

Shockingly, Apple didn’t end the program; they simply made it optional for users.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 9d

In 2016, hackers stole data from 57 million Uber accounts. Rather than disclosing it, Uber paid them $100,000 to stay silent.

A year later, the scandal broke, and Uber’s cover-up blew up in its face.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 9d

In 2016, Wells Fargo employees opened 3.5 million unauthorized accounts to hit impossible sales targets. Investigations later exposed a brutal “culture of pressure” that forced staff to meet quotas at any cost.

A textbook example of toxic corporate culture.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 10d

Between 2010 and 2015, the Sinaloa Cartel smuggled cocaine into the U.S. not with mules, but with submarines and drones.

DEA reports described engineering so sophisticated it made the cartel look more like a military operation than a criminal gang.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 10d

In 1995, Oseola McCarty, who spent her life washing clothes, donated her entire $150,000 life savings to fund scholarships.

A big heart matters more than a big bank account.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 10d

Volkswagen didn’t just make cars during World War II, it ran factories using concentration camp prisoners as forced laborers. Today it’s a global brand, but back then its operations were a direct part of Nazi atrocities.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 11d

Most of our stuff is historical so there’s not really one clear source. Usually people don’t want links, but here they seem to. I was mixing it up, adding some and skipping others to see if anyone cared, but I think I’ll start adding them everywhere from now on. Thanks for asking though.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 11d

A woman in Virginia let ChatGPT pick her Powerball numbers and ended up with a $150,000 jackpot. Two days later, she donated it all to charity.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 11d

Microsoft has blocked Israel’s Ministry of Defense from using its services after reports showed Unit 8200 storing and analyzing millions of Palestinian phone calls on Azure.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 11d

Henry Ford ran a department that spied on workers’ every move, from drinking to gambling to home life.

Anyone who stepped out of line faced fines, warnings, or instant firing. Ford justified it as a way to increase efficiency and order on the job.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 12d

A real gem

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 12d

Nicknamed the James Bond of philanthropy, Chuck Feeney secretly gave away $8 billion while living in cheap apartments and flying economy.

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X2Y @xtwoy.bsky.social · 15d

Meta has launched an AI dating assistant on Facebook that finds your perfect match from a simple prompt. They’re promising a future without doom scrolling.
Would you hand over your love life to an AI?

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