Metaverse

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

India crucial to how we see future of AI on Meta platforms: Arun Srinivas

Arun Srinivas reveals 92% of businesses on Meta are SMBs, details AI-driven features for creators, and a strategic rethink for WhatsApp Pay

Best of BS Opinion: Gautam Gambhir and India's selectors must go

Today's columnists write about long-term oil forecasts and wartime 'jugaad' to India's cricket woes, the AI investment frenzy and a new documentary probing US secrecy on non-human intelligence

WhatsApp, Meta can redact confidential info from judgment, says NCLAT

WhatsApp, through its lawyer, had sought redaction of confidential material on pages 194 to 196 of the judgment

Meta buried 'causal' evidence of social media harm, allege US court filings

In a 2020 research project code-named Project Mercury, Meta scientists worked with survey firm Nielsen to gauge the effect of deactivating Facebook and Instagram, according to Meta documents

Meta alerts young Australians to download data before social media ban

Technology giant Meta on Thursday began sending thousands of young Australians a two-week warning to download their digital histories and delete their accounts from Facebook, Instagram and Threads before a world-first social media ban on accounts of children younger than 16 takes effect. The Australian government announced two weeks ago that the three Meta platforms plus Snapchat, TikTok, X and YouTube must take reasonable steps to exclude Australian account holders younger than 16, beginning Dec. 10. California-based Meta on Thursday became the first of the targeted tech companies to outline how it will comply with the law. Meta contacted thousands of young account holders via SMS and email to warn that suspected children will start to be denied access to the platforms from Dec. 4. We will start notifying impacted teens today to give them the opportunity to save their contacts and memories, Meta said in a statement. Meta said young users could also use the notice period to update

Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun to leave, start new AI research firm

Artificial intelligence pioneer Yann LeCun said Wednesday he will be leaving his job as Meta's chief AI scientist at the end of the year. LeCun said he will be forming a startup company to pursue research on advanced forms of AI that can understand the physical world, have persistent memory, can reason, and can plan complex action sequences. He said Meta will partner with the new startup and that some of the research will overlap with Meta's commercial interests and some of it will not. LeCun joined Facebook in 2013 and co-founded Meta's AI research division, formerly known as Facebook AI Research. LeCun stepped down as the group's director in 2018 but has remained Meta's chief AI scientist. He's also a part-time professor at New York University, where has taught since 2003. LeCun spent his early career at the image processing department at AT&T Bell Labs in New Jersey, where he worked on developing AI systems that could read text found in digitised images. He was a winner in 201

CCI moves NCLAT seeking clarity on WhatsApp, Meta's data-sharing order

CCI has asked NCLAT to clarify whether the privacy safeguards outlined in its ruling apply to Meta's advertising-related data sharing, as the tribunal reviews challenges from Meta and WhatsApp

Digital media drives 97% of ad violations in April-Sept: ASCI report

ASCI's half-yearly report for FY26 shows most ad violations came from digital platforms-led by Meta, websites, and Google-with betting and personal care ads topping the list

NCLAT quashes CCI's WhatsApp-Meta data ban, upholds ₹213 crore penalty

The tribunal said CCI's five-year ban on WhatsApp data sharing with Meta was unwarranted but upheld the Rs 213 crore penalty, ruling no abuse of dominance in the messaging market

WhatsApp adds payments, calling and AI tools for businesses in India

Meta unveiled new WhatsApp Business features in India including in-app payments, calling and AI tools, while expanding partnerships with state governments for citizen services

Street Signs: Nifty hot streak meets Fed test; cash turnover hits 6-mth low

Nifty's winning run faces Fed test, cash turnover slides as big caps dominate, and Sebi widens crackdown on finfluencer ads with Meta and Google compliance

Meta tells NCLAT WhatsApp user data is its private property in CCI case

Meta argued before NCLAT that WhatsApp user data is its private property, challenging a CCI order that imposed a Rs 213.14 crore fine over WhatsApp's 2021 privacy policy

Whatever happened to the metaverse dream that was meant to change tech?

Once billed as the next internet, the metaverse is now a patchwork of gaming, AR, and enterprise tools, which is far from the trillion-dollar vision tech giants once promised

Meta strikes $10 bn Google Cloud deal to boost AI expansion drive

The accord marks the first major cloud computing deal between Meta and Google, which ranks third in the market behind Amazon.com Inc.'s AWS and Microsoft Corp.'s Azure

Meta splits AI group into four parts in pursuit of superintelligence

The group, known as Meta Superintelligence Labs, or MSL, will now have four parts

More customers now rely on social media platforms for financial decisions

At least 53 per cent of users on Facebook and 57 per cent on Instagram say that such media formats influence financial decision making

Google officials depose before ED in online betting linked PMLA case

Representatives of Google on Monday deposed before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as part of a money laundering probe linked to the promotion of "illegal" online betting and gambling platforms, official sources said. Executives from Meta did not depose, they said. The ED had called the officials of the two tech giants, first on July 21 and later extended their deposition to July 28 as they sought more time to appear. The agency may also record the statement of a designated "compliance officer" of Google under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) apart from obtaining some documents from the company on Monday, the sources said. A Google spokesperson had last week told PTI in a statement that the company was "committed to keeping our platforms safe and secure, prohibiting the promotion of illegal gambling ads." "We are extending our full support and cooperation to investigating agencies to hold bad actors responsible and keep users safe," the spokesperson had said. There

Meta hires two key Apple AI researchers after poaching their boss

The moves are part of a scramble for AI talent across the tech industry. Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has been especially aggressive in its recruiting

Meta apologises for faulty Kannada translations after CM's complaint

The social media firm's apology for incorrect Kannada translations on Facebook and Instagram came after Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah raised his concerns over mistranslations changing facts