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Athena Coalition

@athenaforall.bsky.social
1.1K followers 546 following 583 posts

We are 50+ grassroots orgs who represent 1M+ members across the US, building democratic power to end Amazon's abuse of our communities / #WeAreAthena

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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Does he actually think anyone will believe this? Amazon's entire business model relies on concentrating wealth and power in the hands of a few people. There is no reason to think their version of AI will change that unless *we* make them. www.forbes.com/sites/siladi...
forbes.com
Billionaire Jeff Bezos Says AI Could Enable 3-Day Workweeks For Americans
In an interview with Fox News, the Amazon founder said he disagreed with the assessment that AI will lead to large-scale job losses.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
It's very telling that there's no way for customers to opt out of this profile feature. Whether it's worker surveillance, Ring, or cloud-computing contracts with ICE, Amazon has proven that it doesn't respect people's privacy. www.fastcompany.com/91619118/ama...
fastcompany.com
'Has flat buttocks,' 'cusses when scared': Amazon keeps shockingly specific customer profiles. Here's how to find yours
Amazon's new 'About you' page lists many assumptions about shoppers—like their favorite brands, their hobbies, and the shape of their bodies.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
A recent Senate investigation found that almost half of Amazon warehouse workers were hurt during a single Prime Day event. Robotics and automation are shaping up to make this work even more dangerous. We can't let this become the industry standard.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
...and don't forget the part where they penalize sellers for offering lower prices on other sites! So even if you don't shop on Amazon, you're paying higher prices because of them. It's a big part of the upcoming FTC case against the company.
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PowerSwitch Action ⚡️ @powerswitchaction.org · 06/10/2026
What does Amazon Prime Day have to do with Election Day?
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
When we say Amazon is a threat to democracy, this is what we mean! Amazon Web Services is the cloud-computing backbone that enables ICE and DHS to track and surveil civilians. www.wired.com/story/ice-ha...
wired.com
ICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database
DHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a database run on Palantir software, newly unsealed court filings say.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Funny how Amazon claims to care about children's health when the Israeli military uses AWS to track and target Palestinian children. aws.amazon.com/blogs/public...
aws.amazon.com
11 organizations, one mission: AWS announces the 2026 Children’s Health Innovation Award recipients | Amazon Web Services
Today, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announces the recipients of the 2026 AWS Imagine Grant Children's Health Innovation Award (CHIA). Whether a child is battling a rare cancer, managing a chronic conditi...
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
This is an encouraging sign that the data center backlash is working. But it's not like Amazon grew a conscience overnight. It's more likely that 1) they know local NDA bans are coming anyway and 2) they want to be seen as the "good guys" to who can regulate themselves
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AI Now Institute @ainowinstitute.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Matthew Rodriguez, Co-Founder of @projectamanecer.bsky.social & Data Center Organizing Director at @athenaforall.bsky.social, will join The People’s AI Assembly to talk about resistance to data center developments happening across the US. Get tickets or sign up for the livestream: bit.ly/ai-assembly
Burgundy background with a headshot of Matthew Rodriguez. White and orange text reads: “The People’s AI Assembly. Oct 19. Webster Hall. Matthew Rodriguez. Co-Founder, Amanecer People’s Project & Data Center Organizing Director, Athena Coalition. Co-hosted by AI Now and More Perfect Union.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Another day, another multimillion-dollar settlement where Amazon "admits no wrongdoing." This time it's for excluding DC neighborhoods from expedited delivery but charging residents for the service anyway. www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/a...
nbcwashington.com
Amazon to pay residents of 2 DC ZIP codes $7.25M over ‘delivery exclusions'
About 69,000 customers in Wards 7 and 8 had slower delivery times, the attorney general said. Amazon said claims about deceptive practices are false.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
"When asked if customers will be able to opt-out of this, Amazon’s Viraj Chatterjee told Bloomberg, 'We haven’t thought about that.'" ...this really sums up Big Tech's current attitude towards privacy, doesn't it? www.theverge.com/tech/1002766...
theverge.com
Amazon’s delivery driver smart glasses will reportedly take photos ‘almost constantly’
Your Amazon delivery could come with an unwanted photo op.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Shouldn't it be obvious to everyone that the tech oligarchs putting humanity at risk can't be trusted to regulate themselves? If they could, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Amazon promises communities that its data centers will translate into jobs and prosperity for locals. Once the projects are approved, the company fights tooth and nail against delivering on those promises.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
THIS is what the data center fight looks like! People from all over the US met up in Indianapolis to work on protecting our climate, jobs, and communities from Big Tech’s greedy AI race. Big thanks to Citizens Action Indiana for hosting!
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
We're glad to see more regulators holding Amazon accountable for crushing competition and raising prices across the internet. But a one-time fine won't fix the problem for good -- that's why we need to break the company up! www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
reuters.com
Apple, Amazon face revived UK consumer lawsuit over product sales
Britain's Competition Appeal Tribunal allowed part of a revived ‌consumer lawsuit against Apple and Amazon to proceed on Monday over claims they restricted competition.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Our friends at @goodjobsfirst.org do great research on this -- on average, AI data centers collect $1 - $2 million in tax breaks for every permanent job they create 😱 www.cnbc.com/2026/09/28/w...
cnbc.com
Meta, Google, Amazon, Microsoft draw Sen. Warren questions about AI tax subsidies
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is asking the leaders of Meta, Google, Amazon and Microsoft about AI and data center subsidies authorized by GOP legislation.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Amazon hates to get a taste of its own medicine. It's been using AI to scrape product listings from indie retailers as part of its "Buy for Me" program. But it wants to block Meta's AI from accessing Amazon products. mashable.com/tech/amazon-...
mashable.com
Amazon blocks Meta's Muse AI agent from shopping
The online retail giant has accused Meta's AI of being a security risk.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
So let's recap: - @amzn4climate.bsky.social reports show Amazon's emissions have *increased* despite its climate pledge - The company doesn't know how to reach net-zero emissions - Execs apparently think we're stupid enough to believe they care about the climate www.axios.com/2026/09/23/n...
axios.com
Amazon defends climate pledge amid massive gas buildout
Amazon says it's still committed to its climate goals despite moving ahead with what would be one of the country's biggest natural gas plants.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Yes, it really is that serious. @ronmknox.bsky.social breaks down how corporate monopolies stand in the way of people's right to freedom and self-determination. democracyjournal.org/magazine/82/...
democracyjournal.org
How Monopoly Fascism Rose Again
A generation of Americans learned from Nazi Germany that monopolies fuel fascism. It's time we relearned that lesson.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
On one hand, we're happy to see people get their money back after Amazon signed them up for Prime without their consent. But for Amazon, these settlements are just the cost of doing business. That's why we need to break the company up! www.usatoday.com/story/money/...
usatoday.com
Amazon could owe you cash as $2.5B settlement expands
The Federal Trade Commission announced that Amazon will expand payments to eligible customers as part of last year's $2.5 billion settlement.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
4. Innovation means investment in public research and universities. It means enforcing antitrust laws to stop tech conglomerates from squashing healthy competition. And it means prioritizing tech that benefits everyone, not just oligarchs.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
3. Instead of coming up with new ideas, tech monopolies have spent the last decade making their products as expensive and addictive as possible. Why would their version of AI be any different?
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
2. If lawmakers are serious about competing with China, they should invest in policies that spur real ingenuity instead of propping up a handful of greedy, bloated tech corporations hell-bent on crushing smaller rivals.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
1. Read anything about AI and data centers, and you’ll see Big Tech pushing the idea that rampant, unregulated development is the only way to compete with China. Here’s the problem: monopolies are *terrible* for innovation. www.openmarketsinstitute.org/learn/innova...
openmarketsinstitute.org
Innovation & Monopoly — Open Markets Institute
The Open Markets Institute uses journalism to promote greater awareness of the political and economic dangers of monopolization.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Sure, but AWS does business with *actual* supervillains like ICE, the IDF, and the Saudi royal family. Putting out a bland statement about "strong safeguards" doesn't mean the company can actually be trusted to regulate itself or serve the common good.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Amazon has a LONG track record of putting profits over safety. That's why its warehouse workers have double the injury rate compared to the industry average. Why should we expect its approach to AI safety to be any different?
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
These wages are for full-time core employees, which leaves out a HUGE chunk of the workforce: part-time workers and sub-contractors. And in many places, $20/hr falls short of the cost of living and is less than what unionized workers usually make. www.aboutamazon.com/news/workpla...
aboutamazon.com
Amazon raises minimum starting pay for full-time core operations employees to $20/hour, with average pay reaching nearly $24/hour, and launches grocery discount and access to new lifetime banking bene...
Amazon invests more than $1.5 billion in higher pay for U.S. core operations employees, alongside new benefits designed to help our teammates’ money go further.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
...and how many more cases of asthma and other health issues will come from people breathing these diesel fumes, spill or no spill? A recent study estimated that by 2030, data center pollution could cause 600,000 cases of asthma PER YEAR.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Now THIS is a trend we love to see! If a worker drives an Amazon-branded van, wears an Amazon-branded vest, and follows a route determined by Amazon, they should be treated as an employee. Calling them sub-contractors just makes it easier for Amazon to exploit them. teamster.org/2026/09/amaz...
teamster.org
Amazon Teamsters Rally in Support of Chicago Delivery Protection Act
(CHICAGO) – Today, Amazon Teamsters and their allies rallied outside of Chicago City Hall to demand the Chicago City Council schedule a vote on the Delivery P
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
There's just no easy way to cool a data center. Even the "eco-friendly" methods often involve submerging servers in pools of Pfas -- chemicals linked to cancer, birth defects, and liver disease.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"The AI revolution means nothing but loss for the average person if its benefits are concentrated among the already-wealthy." This is why we can't just stop at regulating data centers -- we need to overhaul the entire tech industry! www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Labor unions must unite against AI datacenters | Tyler Turner
Workers should start with a moratorium against building until our livelihoods and communities are protected
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
NYC is considering legislation (the Delivery Protection Act) to close this loophole and force Amazon to hire delivery drivers directly. We hope other places follow suit!
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Whether it’s planes or vans, Amazon uses sub-contractors for deliveries so it can evade responsibility when things go wrong. Using sub-contractors also helps Amazon avoid unionization, which is proven to make workplaces safer. apnews.com/article/miam...
apnews.com
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Even if rogue AI doesn't cause mass casualties in the next decade, the emissions tied to AI data centers *definitely* will. That's one more reason we need to regulate Big Tech ASAP.
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Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I think we'd see a lot more urgency about regulating AI in Silicon Valley if the AI agents suddenly developed a sense of restorative justice, and instead of them threatening humanity with total extinction, they just wanted to redistribute wealth and reverse power hierarchies.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
These are EXACTLY the questions more lawmakers need to be asking! "What will it take to change the structure of AI production itself—the networks of private capital, [...]cloud infrastructure, model developers, and workers—for the public’s benefit?" dissentmagazine.org/article/ai-d...
dissentmagazine.org
After the Data Centers - Dissent Magazine
Data center opponents have assembled a potent political force. But without a more expansive vision, there is a risk that this techlash could be co-opted and fizzle out.
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Missouri Workers Center @moworkers.org · 10/09/2026
POV: you ask any questions about Data Centers.... #Moworkers #NOMODDC #AllInForMissouri #DataCenters
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Nobody has worked harder than Piedmont Enviro Council in VA to build broad coalition and engage electeds on real solutions to irresponsible data center expansion. They are now calling for a moratorium on data center expansion bc electeds and tech corporations refused to do the right thing for YEARS
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Steph from @stopthedata.bsky.social and Erika from @maketheroadnv.bsky.social just met for the first time, but they represent two voices from a growing chorus of people across the country who are standing up against Big Tech's AI agenda.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Big Tech LOVES to cite Loudoun County VA as an example of the prosperity data centers can bring. The reality on the ground isn't so pretty. Folks from Piedmont Environmental Council explain the effect that rampant development has on the local quality of life. www.theverge.com/cs/features/...
theverge.com
Your future is in Virginia
If you want to know what the data center occupation looks like, there’s one place where it already arrived — 20 years ago.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
If that sounds familiar, it should – these are the same conditions that Amazon warehouse workers have been organizing to change. That’s why we need to revamp the tech industry – so these conditions don’t become the norm.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Remember when Amazon bought Whole Foods in 2017? The @georgetownprivacy.bsky.social interviewed Whole Foods workers about how the workplace has changed: union-busting, surveillance, and grueling performance quotas: www.law.georgetown.edu/privacy-tech...
law.georgetown.edu
Whole Worker Surveillance: Scroll Through
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Ultimately, we need a pause on AI data center development because the tech industry’s entire business model is predatory – and its AI agenda is bad for humanity. CBAs aren’t going to fix that.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
We talk to communities opposing data centers all the time. They don’t want CBAs – they want these projects shut down. They’re not interested in sacrificing their electricity, water, and air quality to benefit an industry they don’t trust.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Our friends @goodjobsfirst.org pioneered CBAs 25 years ago, and even they agree that these agreements aren’t well suited for hyperscale data centers. It will take a true overhaul of the tech sector to make these projects a win-win for locals. www.techpolicy.press/community-be...
techpolicy.press
‘Community Benefits’ from a Hyperscale Data Center are a Mighty Tall Order
Greg LeRoy directs Good Jobs First, a national nonprofit watchdog group on economic development issues.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
That means that some places get far more protections than others – and it allows small groups of stakeholders to make deals without getting input from the rest of the rest of the community.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
CBAs are negotiated at the individual project level, so they’re much weaker than industry-wide regulations, which is what we need for the AI tech sector. They also allow corporations to whitewash bad deals with a few minor concessions.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Tech corporations want to squash AI data center opposition by suggesting community benefits agreements will solve the problem. Let’s break down why CBAs aren’t the solution 🧵 www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
politico.com
‘An imperfect solution’ gains traction in data center fight
Governors are turning to community benefit agreements as they scramble to address data center blowback without alienating tech giants.
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Athena Coalition @athenaforall.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Abusing workers. Breaking up unions. Building massive data centers. Helping Palantir spy on us. Letting ICE and CBP use Amazon Web Services. The list goes on. It's clear to us that Amazon is a cog in the machine of fascism. Help us send them a message today: go.powerswitchaction.org/a/tell-amazo...
go.powerswitchaction.org
Tell Amazon Investors: Hands Off Our Democracy
Join us in sending a clear message: Our democracy is not for sale.
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
AI billionaire-funded Super PACs will spend millions in the home stretch of the midterms to crush the anti-data center revolt in battleground states. And that's just a drop in the bucket compared to how much these oligarchs would rake in from the AI takeover.
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