Instacart agrees to $5 million employment discrimination settlements

EU sanctions plan targets human traffickers

The Wall Street Journal reported on Oct. 21 that Instacart agreed to pay $5 million in settlements with the U.S. Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over alleged discrimination against U.S. workers. The report did not describe the alleged conduct, identify which U.S. workers were affected or provide terms beyond the $5 million total.

The agreement was the report’s only completed enforcement action; its other items involved proposed or preliminary steps. Those items covered an EU sanctions plan, a competition review, Anthropic’s corporate disclosures, planned agricultural assistance and personnel changes at Meta and Vail Resorts.

The European Commission said it planned to use a proposed sanctions regime to target human traffickers by freezing their assets and imposing travel bans as part of a new anti-trafficking strategy. “In 2023 and 2024, more than 20,000 victims were registered in the EU, a 16.1% increase, though many cases remain unseen,” the Commission said in a statement.

The owners of British media conglomerate Virgin Media O2 said they would challenge the U.K.’s competition watchdog over its preliminary finding that a potential £2 billion ($2.67 billion) broadband-services merger would hamper competition in the country.

The report said Anthropic was generating rapid revenue growth as it prepared for a mega-IPO. Its new disclosures listed a narrow customer base and uncertain access to needed computing power among the risks facing the company.

Anthropic also identified uncertainty over how it would prevent its AI models from causing harm and protect itself from resulting liabilities. Sophisticated cyberattacks and possible blackmail by uncontrolled models were among the other risks listed.

The Trump administration planned another $8 billion in direct payments to U.S. farmers through a U.S. Agriculture Department program, the report said. The payments were intended for farmers facing losses from market disruptions and high fuel costs.

The report attributed part of the pressure to higher fuel prices from Trump’s war in Iran, while also citing higher fertilizer costs and a recent drop in selling prices for corn as factors expected to weigh on profits. Diesel prices had surged to more than $6 a gallon on average, raising costs for farmers operating combines and tractors.

A separate item said former Disney CEO Bob Chapek was receiving monthly compensation as a nominee for the board of Vail Resorts from Oasis Management, an activist investor targeting Vail. The report did not state the amount.

Meta Platforms’ Republican policy chief Joel Kaplan announced his departure, saying, “I’ll be at the company for a few months to help with the transition, and then look forward to catching my breath.” The report said Meta President Dina Powell McCormick, who served in the first Trump administration, has risen in stature at the tech firm.