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Think about how many emails you receive each day. Then how many of those include the phrase please find attached in the body. One X user has made a plea to retire the phrase, a relic leftover from a time when business communication relied on typewritten letters posted in envelopes, which actually included attached documents to be found. The post quickly went viral, gaining nearly 15 million views since it was posted earlier this week. While the user doesnt elaborate why exactly they personally take issue with the phrase, or what to say instead, the post had the desired effect, with many weighing in with their own takes on modern email etiquette. Some agreed that the phrase is stuffy and outdated. Please find attached adds zero information, sounds robotic, and does not respect the reader’s time, one wrote. Here’s the file does the job better than a sentence that adds zero information, another added. Its true, these days email attachments are instantly accessible, clearly marked, and dont require a physical search. While young workers have no qualms including memes, emojis, slang, and abbreviations in their emails, and despite nearly one in four employees now using AI to help write emails, please find attached has somehow slipped through the net. Others staunchly defended the use of the tried-and-tested phrase. But if I don’t type those magic words, how will Outlook know to warn me when I inevitably forget to actually attach the file? one wrote. Baby, no, another added. The people are stupid. Many of us are trapped in a terminal cycle of reaching out and circling back, with dozens of corporate buzzwords and phrases that some argue make smart people sound less intelligent. But if youre in the market for some more creative ways to signal theres a PDF attached that needs attention, the replies to the X post is a goldmine. Behold, the attachment, one X user suggested as an alternative. For a sinister edge, There are attachments in this email with us right now, another put forth, or Watch out for the attachment below. Feeling pumped about the PDF attached? Get a load of this MF attachment, is another option. Or alternatively, feeling deflated? Find attached, if you even care works here. And if youd rather the receiver doesnt open the attachment, you could simply put: Please don’t find attached, one wrote. It’ll only be more work for us both.
Category:
E-Commerce
China moved on Thursday to curb a fierce price war among automakers that has caused massive losses for the industry, after passenger car sales dropped nearly 20% in January from the year before, the fastest pace in almost two years. The State Administration for Market Regulation released guidelines for manufacturers, dealers, and parts suppliers aimed at preventing a race-to-the-bottom price war. They ban automakers from setting prices below the cost of production to squeeze out competitors or monopolize the market. Violators may face significant legal risks,” the regulator warned. The rules also target deceptive pricing strategies and price fixing between parts suppliers and auto manufacturers. Passenger car sales in China fell 19.5% in January from a year earlier, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. That was the biggest percentage drop since February 2024. The 1.4 million passenger cars sold in January compared with 2.2 million units sold in December, CAAM said. Weakening demand reflects a reluctance of cash-strapped buyers to splash out on big purchases. Sales also have suffered from a cut in tax exemptions for EV purchases, coupled with uncertainties over whether trade-in subsidies for EV purchases will continue after some regions phased them out, auto analysts said. The aggressive price war in Chinas auto sector has caused an estimated loss of 471 billion yuan ($68 billion) in output value across the whole industry in the past three years, Li Yanwei, a member of the China Automobile Dealers Association, wrote recently. Analysts expect domestic demand to dip this year. S&P has forecast sales of light vehicles, including passenger cars, in China will fall up to 3% in 2026. However, Chinese automakers are gaining ground in global markets. China’s exports of passenger cars jumped 49% year-on-year to 589,000 in January. We dont foresee a loss in momentum for the Chinese auto industry this year, said Claire Yuan, director of corporate ratings for China autos at S&P Global Ratings. Chinese automakers such as BYD the country’s largest and one that overtook Tesla as the worlds top electric vehicle maker are targeting markets in Europe and Latin America as they confront intense competition in both prices and lineups at home due to oversupply. Analysts at Citi expect Chinas car exports could jump 19% this year driven by exports of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids. BYD is targetings around 1.3 million of overseas car sales in 2026, up from the 1.05 million last year. Other major Chinese automakers have also set ambitious sales targets with a focus on exports. Last month, Canada agreed to cut its hefty 100% tariff on China-made EV imports in a move welcomed by Chinese carmakers. China also recently reached a deal with the European Union that could allow more of its EVs to enter the European market. Earlier this week, the European Commission accepted a request by the German auto group Volkswagen to exempt import tariffs for one of its China-built EV models under the CUPRA brand as long as those vehicles are sold at or above an agreed minimum import price in a first of such exemptions. Chinas commerce ministry said Thursday that it welcomed the move and that it hopes to see more such exemptions. Chan Ho-Him, AP business writer
Category:
E-Commerce
Adam Mosseri, the head of Meta’s Instagram, testified Wednesday during a landmark social media trial in Los Angeles that he disagrees with the idea that people can be clinically addicted to social media platforms.The question of addiction is a key pillar of the case, where plaintiffs seek to hold social media companies responsible for harms to children who use their platforms. Meta Platforms and Google’s YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled.At the core of the Los Angeles case is a 20-year-old identified only by the initials “KGM,” whose lawsuit could determine how thousands of similar lawsuits against social media companies would play out. She and two other plaintiffs have been selected for bellwether trials essentially test cases for both sides to see how their arguments play out before a jury.Mosseri, who’s headed Instagram since 2018 said it’s important to differentiate between clinical addiction and what he called problematic use. The plaintiff’s lawyer, however, presented quotes directly from Mosseri in a podcast interview a few years ago where he used the term addiction in relation to social media use, but he clarified that he was probably using the term “too casually,” as people tend to do.Mosseri said he was not claiming to be a medical expert when questioned about his qualifications to comment on the legitimacy of social media addiction, but said someone “very close” to him has experienced serious clinical addiction, which is why he said he was “being careful with my words.”He said he and his colleagues use the term “problematic use” to refer to “someone spending more time on Instagram than they feel good about, and that definitely happens.”It’s “not good for the company, over the long run, to make decisions that profit for us but are poor for people’s well-being,” Mosseri said.Mosseri and the plaintiff’s lawyer, Mark Lanier, engaged in a lengthy back-and-forth about cosmetic filters on Instagram that changed people’s appearance in a way that seemed to promote plastic surgery.“We are trying to be as safe as possible but also censor as little as possible,” Mosseri said.In the courtroom, bereaved parents of children who have had social media struggles seemed visibly upset during a discussion around body dysmorphia and cosmetic filters. Meta shut down all third-party augmented reality filters in January 2025. The judge made an announcement to members of the public on Wednesday after the displays of emotion, reminding them not to make any indication of agreement or disagreement with testimony, saying that it would be “improper to indicate some position.”During cross examination, Mosseri and Meta lawyer Phyllis Jones tried to reframe the idea that Lanier was suggesting in his questioning that the company is looking to profit off of teens specifically.Mosseri said Instagram makes “less money from teens than from any other demographic on the app,” noting that teens don’t tend to click on ads and many don’t have disposable income that they spend on products from ads they receive. During his opportunity to question Mosseri for a second time, Lanier was quick to point to research that shows people who join social media platforms at a young age are more likely to stay on the platforms longer, which he said makes teen users prime for meaningful long-term profit.“Often people try to frame things as you either prioritize safety or you prioritize revenue,” Mosseri said. “It’s really hard to imagine any instance where prioritizing safety isn’t good for revenue.”Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to take the stand next week.In recent years, Instagram has added a slew of features and tools it says have made the platform safer for young people. But this does not always work. A report last year, for instance, found that teen accounts researchers created were recommended age-inappropriate sexual content, including “graphic sexual descriptions, the use of cartoons to describe demeaning sexual acts, and brief displays of nudity.”In addition, Instagram also recommended a “range of self-harm, self-injury, and body image content” on teen accounts that the report says “would be reasonably likely to result in adverse impacts for young people, including teenagers experiencing poor mental health, or self-harm and suicidal ideation and behaviors.” Meta called the report “misleading, dangerously speculative” and said it misrepresents its efforts on teen safety.Meta is also facing a separate trial in New Mexico that began this week. By Kaitlyn Huamani and Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writers
Category:
E-Commerce
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