Companies people love to hate: World’s most despised corporations

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Issues of privacy, user manipulation, and tax avoidance have turned public sentiment against big tech firms, once the darlings in the otherwise hated corporate world. But how quickly things change, as RT Business finds out.

Facebook

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One of the big five tech companies, Facebook has been buried by numerous scandals, from hacking to misappropriating user data and spreading hate speech. The company has agreed to pay a record-breaking $5 billion fine over privacy violations after allowing as many as 87 million users’ data to fall into the possession of political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. Facebook, along with other technology companies, has also been accused of unlawfully stifling competition in its rise to power.

Facebook agrees to pay record $5bn fine over privacy violations, critics call it a ‘parking ticket’

Bayer/Monsanto

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Dubbed ‘a marriage made in hell,’ the mega-merger between German drug company Bayer and US GMO seeds and pesticides maker Monsanto created one of the most powerful agribusinesses in the world. Following the multibillion-dollar takeover, Bayer is now the target of some 18,400 lawsuits over Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer and its active ingredient glyphosate. The herbicide has allegedly caused grave illnesses such as cancer.

US judge cuts Monsanto cancer victims’ award from $2 billion to $86 million

Google

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Another former Silicon Valley darling from the ‘Gang of Four’ (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple), Google has also been engulfed in massive scandals. These include accusations of tax avoidance, misuse and manipulation of search results, unauthorized use people’s intellectual property, and the compilation of data which could violate user privacy.

Big Tech ‘monopolies’ targeted in sweeping new antitrust probe by US Justice Department

The tech giant has also been accused of trying to cover up a sexual misconduct scandal in the company. As the global hunt for tax avoiding firms intensifies, Google and other Big Tech companies are being targeted by countries including Spain and France, seeking to force the digital companies to pay more taxes in the markets where they operate.

Johnson & Johnson

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In the healthcare industry there are few brands better known than the US drug company Johnson & Johnson. The maker of consumer staples ranging from Band-Aid bandages to baby shampoo has faced a number of controversies in its 133-year history. J&J knew about asbestos in its baby products since the 1970s and worked to conceal it from federal regulators and the public, investigations show.

Hidden ‘for decades’: Johnson & Johnson may have known about ‘carcinogens’ in baby powder since 1971

The pharmaceutical giant is facing thousands of lawsuits alleging that its baby powder product caused cancer, but it has always denied the allegations and insisted that the product is safe. After the latest revelations, the firm is now contesting claims that it has contributed to the opioid epidemic in the US.

JP Morgan

Despite the relatively low standards of the banking industry and the unpopularity of banks in general, JP Morgan has managed to outdo the competition to become the most despised. The largest financial institution in the US, with operations worldwide, the Wall Street bank is facing an onslaught of endless investigations and scandals.

READ MORE: JP Morgan, Barclays, RBS among big banks facing UK class action over Forex rigging

It is among the major global banks being sued by investors for rigging the global forex exchange (Forex) market. Its chief executive Jamie Dimon was awarded with $31 million in total compensation for his work in 2018. The pay exceeded his record compensation of $30 million in 2007 before the financial crisis.

JP Morgan cargo ship released, minus the $1.3 billion worth of cocaine found onboard

But the climax to all of this was last month’s unprecedented drugs bust after US federal authorities seized a cargo ship at the Port of Philadelphia belonging to a fund run by JP Morgan. After confiscating nearly 20 tons of cocaine on board worth $1.3 billion, authorities later released the vessel.

Other notable mentions:

Amazon

Nestle

Big Tobacco

Big Oil

Big Pharma

‘ANYONE EVER SEEN COCAINE?’: UNEARTHED VIDEO SHOWS BERNIE LECTURING YOUNG CHILDREN ABOUT DRUGS

‘Anyone Ever Seen Cocaine?’: Unearthed Video Shows Bernie Lecturing Young Children About Drugs

‘I’m only 5 years old,’ says child

Henry Rodgers | Daily Caller News Foundation – MAY 4, 2019

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a 2020 presidential candidate, once asked a group of children if they had ever seen cocaine and if they smoked cigarettes when he was the mayor of Burlington, while talking to kids as a part of his old television show.

In an episode of Sanders’s show “Bernie Speaks with the Community,” which was created in the 1980s, he is sitting on top of a wooden picnic table with a microphone speaking with a group of children about a variety of issues, with a focus on drugs. Politico obtained footage of the show and released it Friday.

“Do any of the older kids you know have some problems with drugs?” Sanders asked the children. “Who wants to talk to me about that? What about drugs? Is that a problem?”

“I like coke!” one little boy said.

“Tell me about that,” Sanders asked.

“I like Coca-Cola!” the boy corrects himself.

“Oh, Coca-Cola. Alright, but who knows about cocaine?” Sanders continued.

“Anyone ever seen cocaine? Do any of the kids know people who use drugs like that?” Sanders asked. “You don’t have to tell me who, but I bet you do.”

A couple children at the table said they might have seen cocaine, and he cut them off.

“Hold it!” he said, later adding the drug “screws up your mind,” before changing the subject to cigarettes, asking the children, “Who here smokes?”

“Come on, raise your hand.”

“I don’t smoke because I’m a little kid,” a child sitting in someone’s lap responded. “I’m only 5 years old.”

Sanders is a front-runner in the 2020 presidential fight, with a crowded field of Democrats who hope to take on President Donald Trump. However, Sanders’s former press secretary decided to join former Vice President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign for president, deciding to not work for her former boss.

Trump accused the Democratic National Committee of conspiring to oust Sanders from the 2020 Democratic primary in an April tweet.

Eight-Times Deported Illegal Alien Caught With $850,000 of Meth and Cocaine in His Car

by Cristina Laila January 16, 2019

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They’re not sending their best.

Utah County police arrested 44-year-old Jose Olegario Lopez over the weekend and found 19 pounds of illegal drugs in his car.

Police officers tried to pull over Lopez on January 12th over a traffic violation but when Lopez refused to pull over, a team of officers pursued him and eventually stopped him.

Officers and a K9 searched Lopez’s car and discovered bags of cocaine and meth, valued at approximately $856,000.

According to police, Jose Olegario Lopez is from Sinaloa, Mexico, and has been deported from the United States eight different times.

Lopez also has ties to large drug trafficking operations outside of Utah, reported KUTV.

Drug trafficking is one of the many reasons President Trump is working to secure the southern border.

For the first time ever opioids killed more than car crashes in the United States last year and the Democrats still don’t support border security.

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