As the number of unemployment claims continues to rise, states are turning to big tech companies for help, and Rhode Island is working with Amazon Web Services on the issue.
"They stepped into the crisis and really helped us out in real-time," Director of the Rhode Island Labor Department, Scott Jensen told Cheddar.
In "normal" times, Jensen explained that the state's system worked just fine, but said this is not "normal times." Amazon's cloud-based solutions have helped the state handle the recent spike in traffic that the state has seen as unemployment numbers rise.
"Old infrastructure isn't going to handle it … and that's where Amazon stepped in for Rhode Island and helped us supply in a couple of really smart ways," he said.
Stocks were generally flat after the opening bell on Friday ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments in a speech at Spelman College later. Investors are growing optimistic that the central bank is done raising rates and may start cutting next year.
The network of nearly 4,800 fake accounts was attempting to build an audience when it was identified and eliminated by the tech company, which owns Facebook and Instagram.
Someone in China created thousands of fake social media accounts designed to appear to be from Americans and used them to spread polarizing political content in an apparent effort to divide the U.S. ahead of next year's elections, Meta said Thursday.