New Twitter Chairman; Amazon Summer Sale; Google Sued over ‘Non-Incognito’ Mode; Instacart Expands COVID-19 Sick Pay

Twitter has appointed CFO Patrick Pichette as their new Chairman of the Board. According to CNBC, Pichette has been on the board since 2017, and previously was CFO at Google from 2008 until 2015. He replaces another former Google exec, Omid Kordestani, as chairman at Twitter. He will remain on the board. In a statement, Pichette was quoted as saying “Given the strength and depth of Twitter’s management team and Board, we believe that now is the right time to evolve our governance structure in-line with best practices.”

Amazon might push back Prime Day this year, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have to go without other sales in the meantime. Engadget.com says they have seen a document outlining plans for a “summer sale,” tentatively named “Biggest Sale in the Sky,” that would be used to “jump-start” sales for sellers hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fashion-oriented campaign would allegedly start June 22nd and last for seven to 10 days, with discounts of “at least” 30 percent for merchandise in the sale.

Google was sued on Tuesday in a proposed class action accusing the internet search company of illegally invading the privacy of millions of users by pervasively tracking their internet use through browsers set in a “private” mode. According to venturebeat.com, the lawsuit seeks at least $5 billion, accusing the Alphabet unit of surreptitiously collecting information about what people view online and where they browse, despite their using what Google calls Incognito mode. Google says in a statement it will defend itself vigorously against the claims.

Instacart will expand its COVID-19 sick pay to include more gig workers as part of an agreement with the attorney general for Washington, DC. Theverge.com reports that the company is also launching a telemedicine pilot in the DC area to remotely diagnose shoppers who believe they may have contracted the disease, and provide childcare assistance pay to eligible workers while schools are closed. In March, Instacart announced that employees who were quarantined or tested positive for COVID-19 would receive 14 days of sick pay, but getting that pay has proven difficult for shoppers.