Amazon is investigating 3 employees who spoke out against building more AI data centers, one UK government department is done with X, and Rivian faces a class action lawsuit over self-driving in its early vehicles

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Amazon is investigating three employees who spoke out against building more AI data centers.
One UK government department is done with X.
And Rivian faces a class action lawsuit over self-driving in its early vehicles. It's Friday, June 19th, and here's a quick look at some of the news happening in and around Tech this morning from Engadget.
Five members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, or the AECJ, previously testified at a Seattle City Council meeting about AI data centers. Now, three of them are apparently under investigation by the company. The AECJ has filed a civil rights complaint against the company on behalf of the three engineers, according to CNBC and Geekwire, accusing Amazon of violating a Seattle law that prohibits companies from discriminating against employees based on their political ideology, race, religion, and age. The engineers spoke at Seattle City Council hearings over whether to put a pause on AI data center build-outs. They reportedly urged the council to add renewable energy requirements and labor protections related to data centers to the city's regulations. In addition, they called for the government to put a stop to the industry's plans to build out as much compute capacity as they can, as fast as they can, before regulations can catch up. The Seattle City Council ultimately voted in favor of passing the year-long moratorium on AI data centers for a year. In their complaint, the engineers said Amazon called them in separately for a meeting with HR after the hearings and were told that they were being investigated over a concern about their testimonies. They were reportedly told the investigation could lead to disciplinary action and even to termination. Geekwire says Amazon denied it told the engineers that they were at risk of being terminated over speaking at the hearings. Company spokesperson Margaret Callahan told the publications in a statement that after reviewing the engineers' testimonies, it became clear that they may have been speaking in their capacity as Amazonians and not as private citizens. The company is looking into whether there truly was a violation since Amazon does not allow employees to speak as its representatives without following certain procedures. Amazon fired Emily Cunningham and Marin Costa, two of the AECJ's original organizers, back in 2020, over criticisms of the company's climate and labor practices. The former employees sued the company for illegal termination. Amazon settled with them in 2021 and was required to pay their back wages, as well as post a notice to all workers that it cannot fire them for organizing and exercising their rights.
Richard Hermer, the Attorney General for England and Wales and Advocate General for Northern Ireland, has reportedly told his department to stop posting official updates on acts. According to The Guardian and The Observer, Hermer made his department quit the social network due to concerns that X was being used to incite violence and racism. The last time his office posted on X was on June 12 Prior to that, it posted on the platform pretty frequently, sometimes even more than once a day, with updates about the work the government is doing to tackle various issues in the region. In a recent speech about the importance of Britain staying with the European Court of Human Rights after Brexit, he said, we simply cannot let a very small group of crypto-funded millionaires of this world to get away with using the debate about the ECHR or drawing closer to the EU to sow more division in this country. We cannot allow them to draw lines between our communities. Hermer made the decision to leave X after the Southampton and Belfast riots earlier this month, as he believes bad actors are using the website to intentionally sow discord and divide communities. The Observer says he communicated his decision to his staff last week following a surge in misinformation on the platform about the murder of Henry Nowak, who was fatally stabbed by a Sikh man and the separate stabbing of a Dublin man by a Sudanese national. Far-right activists were using the platform to spread disinformation and hate towards immigrants, with ex-owner Elon Musk further amplifying their voices. Some high-profile personalities were spreading doctored body cam footage from the Nowak case as well. In addition, Grok apparently wrongly identified two cops who were involved in that case. Their information was then widely shared online. While Hermer's office is possibly the first in the UK government to quit X, some female MPs individually left the website after it came out that Grok was allowing users to generate images of real women and children wearing revealing clothing. Hermer reportedly told his staff that the only reason his office should post on X was to correct misinformation on the platform.