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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMonsanto Considered "Legal Action" Against Neil Young, New Report Shows
https://pitchfork.com/news/monsanto-considered-legal-action-against-neil-young-new-report-shows/Agribusiness corporation Monsanto is the subject of a new report in The Guardian, based on court documents that were made public as part of the companys ongoing legal battles related to their Roundup weed killer. According to the documents reviewed by The Guardian, Monsanto operated an intelligence fusion center to monitor and gather data on journalists and other individuals critical of the company. One of those individuals was Neil Young, whose 2015 album The Monsanto Years lambasted the corporation.
The documents include an internal memo from July 2015 with graphs and metrics of Youngs social media impact, as well as gathered data on articles surrounding the album release. That memo also contains a section about the lyrics found on The Monsanto Years, with a list of potential topics that the singer might touch upon. We are developing a plan to proactively produce content and response preparedness for the following six topics that seem most likely to be Neils next targets, the memo reads, before listing off topics such as citizen rights, farm worker health, and undue political influence.
At one point in the memo, its stated that Monsantos fusion center is also monitoring discussions about the 30th Farm Aid concert. We have reached out to the legal team and are keeping them informed on Neils activities in case any legal action is appropriate, it reads. They believe our response to date has been appropriately measured and tailored; we are sitting tight to see where this goes.
The Monsanto Years was released June 29, 2015. Before the release of the album, Billboard asked Monsanto for comment on the song Monsanto Years. At the time, a representative for the company stated: Many of us at Monsanto have been and are fans of Neil Young. Unfortunately, for some of us, his current album may fail to reflect our strong beliefs in what we do every day to help make agriculture more sustainable. We recognize there is a lot of misinformation about who we are and what we doand unfortunately several of those myths seem to be captured in these lyrics.
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Monsanto Considered "Legal Action" Against Neil Young, New Report Shows (Original Post)
jpak
Aug 2019
OP
hlthe2b
(102,238 posts)1. F..K Monsanto. Neil Young is a better person than any of their corporate big wigs could ever be
no matter their Trump-like claims.
Monsanto has done incredible harm worldwide. The scales are not balanced. And then there is that pesky 1st amendment.
You can bet their lawyers received an earful--even from family/friends--and realized what a PR nightmare this would be, even if they did prevail and Neil Young's fans would work like hell to make sure they didn't-- however possible.
rockfordfile
(8,702 posts)2. This shows how bad that company is
Ferrets are Cool
(21,106 posts)3. I loathe this fucking company. nt