Mark Zuckerberg Hearing

Instagram took a 'don't ask, don't tell' approach on kids: Ex-Meta engineer

A former engineering director at Meta who has testified before Congress about child safety on Instagram told jurors Wednesday at a landmark trial that the company took a "don't ask, don't tell" approach on kids under 13 on its platforms. During his second day of testimony, Arturo Bejar said Meta consistently prioritized profits over safety in designing its products, focusing on how often and for how long people used them, even if it was detrimental to their mental well-being. "If you step away from the product, they are not going to make any money," he said. The trial that began Tuesday in federal court in Oakland, California, pits Meta against the states of California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey and is expected to last about six weeks. The four states were among 29 that sued the tech giant in 2023 over child safety and privacy - the other 25 will go to trial later. The company also faces lawsuits in state courts, including one underway in Tennessee. The lawsuit accuses Meta

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg set to testify in watershed social media trial

Mark Zuckerberg will testify in an unprecedented social media trial that questions whether Meta's platforms deliberately addict and harm children. Meta's CEO is expected to answer tough questions on Wednesday from attorneys representing a now 20-year-old woman identified by the initials KGM, who claims her early use of social media addicted her to the technology and exacerbated depression and suicidal thoughts. Meta Platforms and Google's YouTube are the two remaining defendants in the case, which TikTok and Snap have settled. Zuckerberg has testified in other trials and answered questions from Congress about youth safety on Meta's platforms, and he apologised to families at that hearing whose lives had been upended by tragedies they believed were because of social media. This trial, though, marks the first time Zuckerberg will answer similar questions in front of a jury and, again, bereaved parents are expected to be in the limited courtroom seats available to the public. The cas

Meta to cut 30% of Metaverse budget as layoffs loom in 2026: Report

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has heavily bet on the augmented-reality unit, with the company changing its name to Meta from Facebook in 2021. The unit has burned more than $60 billion since 2020

New Mexico judge approves Zuckerberg's removal from child safety lawsuit

A New Mexico judge on Thursday granted Mark Zuckerberg's request to be dropped from a lawsuit that alleges his company has failed to protect young users on its social media platforms from sexual exploitation. The case is one of many filed by states, school districts and parents against Meta and its platforms over concerns about child exploitation. Beyond courtrooms around the U.S., the issue has been a topic of congressional hearings as lawmakers and parents are growing increasingly concerned about the effects of social media on young people's lives. In New Mexico, Attorney General Ral Torrez sued Meta and Zuckerberg late last year following an undercover online investigation. While granting Zuckerberg's request, Judge Bryan Biedscheid dismissed Meta's motion seeking to dismiss the state's claims, marking what Torrez described as a crucial step for the case to proceed against the social media giant. For decades, Meta Platforms have prevented nearly every legal challenge against the

US Senator asks social media firms about preparations for polls in India

An influential American Senator on Friday asked the US social media companies as to what preparations they have made for elections in India, where social media platforms, including Meta-owned WhatsApp, have a long track record of amplifying misleading and false content. The letter, written by Senator Michael Bennet, a member of the Senate Intelligence and Rules Committees, which has oversight over US elections, comes on the eve of the announcement of elections in India by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The letter by Bennet to the leaders of Alphabet, Meta, TikTok, and X is addressed to seeking information from these companies about their preparations for elections in various countries, including India. The dangers your platforms pose to elections are not new users deployed deepfakes and digitally altered content in previous contests but now, artificial intelligence (AI) models are poised to exacerbate risks to both the democratic process and political stability. The ...

Instagram, Threads to start limiting recommendation of political content

Instagram users will no longer be bombarded with unwanted political content on their feed

Meta's Indian employees go all out on Twitter after lay-off email

The number of layoffs in India could not be confirmed

Meta's Facebook agrees to settle Cambridge Analytica Suit over user data

Facebook had argued it disclosed its practices in user agreements. It had also said that anyone sharing their information on a social network shouldn't count on holding onto their privacy

Facebook's China argument revealed in Mark Zuckerberg's hearing notes

Zuckerberg was speaking during the first of two days of testimony to Congress, after a data leak sparked the worst crisis in the company's history