Instacart Hacks Are Leading to Racist Conspiracy Theories

Instacart workers’ accounts are being hacked, and they’re baselessly blaming undocumented immigrants

The economic crisis has made more people than ever reliant on gig economy jobs, and the technology they run on, to make ends meet. Instacart was already in hot water earlier this year when reports found customer information was being sold on the “dark web” But now, Motherboard reports that Instacart “shoppers” (the company’s term for gig workers) are also finding their accounts hacked, their personal information changed, and sometimes jobs accepted without their permission — all which keeps them from earning money and drives down their ratings.

On Facebook groups, many of these hacked workers are blaming undocumented immigrants and minorities for these hacks, seemingly with little proof. “Many of these posts claim immigrants have paid for automated third-party bots that hack shoppers accounts, allowing them to shop on Instacart without social security numbers,” writes Motherboard. Then again, demand for grocery delivery has skyrocketed during the pandemic, so it’s no surprise established Instacart shoppers would be seeing some new faces picking up orders at Costco.

And in other news...

• Travis Scott’s McDonald’s collaboration includes a chicken nugget body pillow, and has been a wild success already. [GQ]
• Amazon is banning the sale of foreign seeds, after a bunch of people got packets of mystery seeds in the mail. [Modern Farmer]
• McDonald’s is testing reusable cups in the U.K. [RB]
• A future of nothing but chains? Papa John’s is opening 49 new restaurants, as sales rise during the pandemic. [CNBC]
• Costco’s Chicken Bake went away for a while, but it’s back again, albeit with a slightly different recipe. [Delish]
• Sweetgreen is launching Collections, a “curated” selection of online-only dishes. Collections includes the “Eat Like a Chef” menu, which recreates famous chefs’s Sweetgreen orders. [YouTube]

• All AM Intel Coverage [E]