Current Events in October 2023

A group of 43 state attorneys general has filed a lawsuit against Meta, parent company of Facebook, accusing the social media giant of knowingly addicting young people to its platforms.

What’s notable about the complaint is that it includes both Republicans and Democrats, suggesting concerns about the issue isn’t partisan. 

“Meta has gone unchecked for too long, and our children are suffering the consequences of these unlawful practices,” said Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, a Republican. “Today, I took action to stop Meta from targeting minors with addictive features to keep them online for hours, collecting their data and other unlawful actions that harm teens’ mental health.”

“Our bipartisan investigation has arrived at a solemn conclusion: Meta has been harming our children and teens, cultivating addiction to boost corporate profits,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat. “With today’s lawsuit, we are drawing the line. We must protect our children and we will not back down from this fight. I am grateful for the collaboration of my fellow state attorneys general in standing up for our children and holding Meta accountable."

The complaint

The complaint alleges that Meta knew of the harmful effects of its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, on young people. Instead of taking meaningful steps to mitigate these harms, the state officials contend that Meta misled the public about the harms associated with the use of its platform, concealing the extent of the psychological and health harms suffered by young users addicted to use of its platforms. 

The complaint further alleges that Meta knew that young users, including those under 13, were active on the platforms, and knowingly collected data from these users without parental consent. 

In addition, the complaint charges Meta with:

• Creating a business model focused on maximizing young users’ time on its platforms

• Employing harmful and psychologically manipulative platform features while misleading the public about the safety of those features.

• Publishing reports purporting to show misleadingly low rates of user harm

• In spite of the overwhelming evidence linking its platforms to young user harms, refusing to address those harms while continuing to conceal and downplay its platforms’ adverse effects. 

Meta's response

Meta issued a statement denying the charges raised in the lawsuit. “We share the attorneys general’s commitment to providing teens with safe, positive experiences online, and have already introduced more than 30 tools to support teens and their families,” the company said.

“We’re disappointed that instead of working productively with companies across the industry to create clear, age-appropriate standards for the many apps teens use, the attorneys general have chosen this path.”

Chrysler is recalling 4,660 model year 2023-2024 Dodge Hornets and Alfa Romeo Tonale Plug-In Hybrids.

The pedestrian alert siren may be missing or disconnected and fail to alert pedestrians when the vehicle is in reverse.

Failure to alert pedestrians when backing up increases their risk of injury.

What to do

Dealers will inspect the rear pedestrian siren connection and -- if necessary -- secure and/or replace the connector or siren free of charge.

Notification letters are expected to be mailed to owners December 6, 2023.

Owners may contact Chrysler customer service at (800) 853-1403. Chrysler's number for this recall is B5A.

Yarnell Operations of Searcy, Ark., is recalling containers of its Guilt Free No Sugar Added Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream.

The product may contain egg, an allergen not declared on the label.

No illnesses have been reported to date.

The recalled product, which comes in a 48 oz/1.5 quart round container with the following best by dates and lot numbers:

• Best by 11/15/2024 - Lot 3135,
• Best by 11/16/2024 - Lot 3136 and
• Best by 02/04/2025 - Lot 3216,

was sold at Walmart, Kroger, Harps, Edwards Food Giants, Hays, Mad Butchers, Cash Savers, Hometowns, Superlo, Shoppers Value, Town & Country Supermarket and G&W Food stores in Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.

What to do

Customers with an allergy or severe sensitivity to egg who purchased the recalled product should not consume it, but return it to the store where purchased for a full refund.

Consumers with questions may contact Yarnell customer service at (855) 215-5039. Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.(EST).

Fisher Price of East Aurora, N.Y., is recalling about 21,400 Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Troublesome Truck & Crates and Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Troublesome Truck & Paint sold in the U.S. and Canada.

The small plastic piece containing a high-powered magnet that connects one train to another can detach or become loose, posing choking and magnet ingestion hazards.

The firm has received one report of the plastic connector becoming loose and detaching from the product. No injuries have been reported.

This recall involves Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Troublesome Truck & Crates and Troublesome Truck & Paint.

The push along wooden trains are designed to look like the characters from Thomas & Friends called the Troublesome Trucks.

The Troublesome Truck & Crates is a black and gray train car with cargo of brown crates. The Troublesome Truck & Paint is a gray and black train car with cargo of gray paint cans and a yellow paint splatter on the side. Both train cars have faces on the front of them.

The trains come with magnetic connectors to attach to other vehicles. The train cars measure approximately 3.6 inches long by 2.1 inches high. Model numbers HBJ89 (Troublesome Truck & Crates) and HBJ90 (Troublesome Truck & Paint) can be found on the bottom of the train cars.

The toys, manufactured in Indonesia, were sold online at Amazon.com and other websites and at Barnes & Noble and specialty stores nationwide from February 2022, through August 2023, for about $17.

What to do

Consumers should immediately stop using the toys and go to www.service.mattel.com and click on “Recalls & Safety Alerts” for instructions on how to receive a pre-paid return label via email from Fisher-Price. Upon receipt of the returned product, consumers will be sent a full refund.

Consumers may contact Fisher Price toll-free at (855) 853-6224 between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. (ET) Monday through Friday, or online at www.service.mattel.com/us/recall.aspx for more information.

Coffee, tea, or… crow? After making a heavy-handed, headline-worthy move in restructuring its Skymiles program, Delta Air Lines is responding to an outcry from its elite customers and backpedaling on some of those changes. 

The changes were aimed at Delta's overcrowded Sky Club lounges and reducing how many SkyMiles members were given Medallion loyalty status. Previously, members received more miles per dollar spent, upgrades, fee waivers, travel vouchers, and other smile-inducing perks.

"I have read hundreds of your emails, and what's been most clear to me is how much you love Delta and the disappointment many of you felt by the significance of the changes," Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in an email. "I appreciate your opinions and understand your disappointment. Your voice matters, and we are listening."

Delta couldn’t afford to blow this, nor can others

The SkyMiles program is important to Delta and Bastian’s quickness to respond was probably tied to the company bean counters reminding him that American Express payments to Delta for its co-branded cards was $5.5 billion for 2022. Those payments are estimated to zoom past $6 billion for 2023. Much of that thanks has to go to 1.2 million Amex co-branded card holders the airline added in 2022. 

No doubt, other airlines will take notice and do whatever it takes to keep from making rewards seem impossible to earn. 

“Ancillary revenue [like that from loyalty programs] can’t replace ticket revenue, but it certainly has proven a reliable economic partner in good times and bad,” IdeaWorks said in its latest 2023 CarTrawler Yearbook of Ancillary Revenue Report.

“But for any product to perform at its very best, it must always deliver value for the customer.  That’s a truth sometimes neglected in the pursuit of profits.” 

The softer approach

Going forward, Delta’s softer stance will look like this: 

Medallion Status Requirements

The number of Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) required to achieve 2025 Medallion Status has been reduced to the following:

• Diamond Medallion Status: $28,000 MQDs (down from $35,000)
• Platinum Medallion Status: $15,000 MQDs (down from $18,000)
• Gold Medallion Status: $10,000 MQDs (down from $12,000)
• Silver Medallion Status: $5,000 MQDs (down from $6,000)

Greater Flexibility for Delta Sky Club Access

As far as changing things for Sky Club access, there's a bit of scorekeeping, though it boils down to basically this:

If you’re holding a Delta SkyMiles Reserve American Express Card, you get 15 visits per year (note: if you go to three Sky Clubs in a day on a long haul, it only counts as one). 

If you’re holding an American Express Platinum card, you get 10 visits a year. 

Once you use all those free visits, you can then buy additional visits for $50 each. 

Shop those miles!

When Delta zigged the wrong way with its rewards program, its competitors zagged to try and snatch some of the disgruntled Delta customers away.

Gary Leff at TheViewFromTheTop said that requests For United Airlines status matches rose “dramatically” with Delta gutting SkyMiles. So did American and JetBlue.

Leff notes that if you were someone who wanted to make that move, however, you would have to proactively reach out to the airline and make the request because Delta's competitors aren't going after SkyMiles members publicly.

Loyalty rewards programs continue to be cash cows for companies, but sadly aren't the goldmine they use to be for the consumer. ConsumerAffairs has made it a point to stay on top of airline-branded credit card programs. For a review of who offers what, just click here.