Metaverse

Meta unveils Muse Spark, first AI model from superintelligence team

Superintelligence refers to AI machines that could outthink humans. Muse Spark is the first in a new series of models, known internally as Avocado, from that team

IRGC threatens to strike Google, Apple, Meta offices over alleged espionage

IRGC warned that the companies' regional offices in the region will be 'annihilated'

Meta, YouTube, others not fully complying with child account ban: Australia

Australia's online safety watchdog said Tuesday it was considering court against Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube alleging they are not doing enough to keep Australian children younger than 16 off their platforms. Experts say the Australian courts could decide what steps the platforms can reasonably be expected to take under the laws that took effect on Dec. 10 banning young children from holding accounts. eSAfety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant on Tuesday released her first compliance report since those laws took effect demanding 10 platforms remove all Australian account-holders younger than 16. While 5 million Australian accounts had been deactivated, a substantial number of Australian children continued to retain accounts, create new accounts and pass platforms' age assurance systems, the report said. Inman Grant said in a statement her office had "significant concerns about the compliance" of half of those 10 platforms. Her office was gathering evidence against

Meta, Google risk Big Tobacco-like fallout after addiction trial verdict

Unless the verdict is overturned on appeal, the companies may need to change how their products work, a move that could jeopardise the valuable advertising businesses

Adani in talks with Meta, Google for partnerships in data centre business

Walmart Inc.'s Flipkart is also engaged in talks with the tycoon and the Adani Group is exploring sites across Indian states for the centres

US jury finds Google, Meta liable in social media addiction trial

Snap and TikTok were also defendants in the trial. Both settled with the plaintiff before it began. Terms of the agreements were not disclosed

Meta is laying off hundreds of employees across multiple teams: Report

Meta had nearly 79,000 employees as of December 31, according to its annual filing

Meta moves Delhi HC against ₹10 lakh fine over walkie-talkie sale

Meta Platforms Inc on Wednesday assailed in the Delhi High Court a Central Consumer Protection Authority order imposing a Rs 10 lakh penalty on it for alleged unauthorised sale and listing of walkie-talkies on the Facebook Marketplace. The senior counsel for Meta submitted that, unlike Amazon and Flipkart, Facebook was not an e-market but merely a "notice board", and therefore, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has no jurisdiction over it. Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav listed Meta's petition for hearing on March 25, asking it to explain how the order can be termed "without jurisdiction". The judge also asked the petitioner why the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission cannot consider the issue. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Meta, argued that Facebook neither provides a mechanism for sale and purchase nor does it charge any commission from the users, as it is not an e-commerce platform. "We are not providing virtual Khan Market. This is a

Meta to acquire Moltbook, the viral social media network for AI agents

Meta said on Wednesday it is acquiring Moltbook, a social network built exclusively for artificial intelligence agents to make posts and interact with each other. A takeover of the AI experiment by the parent company of Facebook and Instagram comes weeks after Moltbook attracted viral attention as an unusual Reddit-like hub for AI systems trading gossip. Meta's move reflects the tech industry's ongoing fascination with the promise of AI agents that go beyond a chatbot's capabilities in being able to act and perform tasks on a person's behalf. Meta said in a statement that Moltbook introduced novel ideas in a "rapidly developing space" and will open "new ways for AI agents to work for people and businesses". Meta said it was hiring Moltbook co-founders Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr. The deal's financial terms were not disclosed. In a similar move, OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, last month hired the creator of AI agent OpenClaw, formerly called Moltbot and the technology upon which Moltbook

Contractors used to review smart glasses data and content, says Meta

Meta has confirmed that contractors review data shared with Meta AI by Ray-Ban Meta glasses users, saying privacy filters are applied after reports claimed reviewers saw sensitive details

Meta CEO Zuckerberg says in deposition that he resisted censoring platforms

Jurors in a bellwether trial about the impacts of social media on teenagers and children on Wednesday watched a deposition of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg that explores what the architects of Facebook and Instagram knew from internal research about the negative experiences by young users and how the company responded since its early years. Prosecutors are alleging that Meta violated state consumer protection laws in failing to disclose what it knew about the dangers of addiction to social media as well as child sexual exploitation on the company's platforms, while attorneys for Meta say the company discloses risks, makes efforts to weed out harmful content and experiences, and acknowledges that some bad material still gets through its safety net. In pretrial depositions recorded last year, prosecutors confronted Zuckerberg with internal company communications and emails from platform users spanning back to the infancy of Facebook in 2008 that discuss "problematic" and addictive use of ..

Trump summons Amazon, Google, Meta executives to sign power-cost pledge

Representatives of firms including Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc, Microsoft Corp and Google parent Alphabet Inc. are expected to attend a March 4 event

Reliance Enterprise Intelligence ceases to be wholly owned arm of RIL

Reliance Enterprise Intelligence is no longer a wholly owned step-down subsidiary of RIL after issuing shares to a Meta unit, which now holds 30% of its equity

Proposed DPDP timelines a challenge: Meta's Chief of Global Policy

Martin, who was in India to attend the AI Impact Summit, also said the AI talent base in India was unparalleled

SC to hear Meta-WhatsApp privacy policy case against CCI order on Monday

The Supreme Court is slated to hear on Monday pleas of Meta and WhatsApp against a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order imposing a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore over their privacy policy. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi is likely to hear the matter. On February 3, the bench had made strong observations against Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp, saying they could not "play with the right to privacy of citizens in the name of data sharing" and alleged that they were creating a monopoly in the market and committing theft of private information of customers. Decrying WhatsApp's privacy policy, the bench referred to "silent customers" who were unorganised, digitally dependent and unaware of the implications of data-sharing policies, and asserted, "We will not allow the rights of any citizen of this country to be damaged." WhatsApp is owned by Meta Platforms Inc. The top court was hearing the appeals of the t

Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand in landmark social media addiction trial

In 2024, the US Surgeon General called for adding warning labels to social media explaining the platforms were associated with mental health harms for ado- lescents

Meta warns India's three-hour takedown rule may trigger wrongful removals

Meta's Rob Sherman says India's new rule requiring takedowns within three hours may lead to inadvertent removal of genuine content as companies struggle to verify requests

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

SC defers Meta-WhatsApp privacy policy case hearing to February 23

The Supreme Court on Monday deferred to February 23 pleas of Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp against a Competition Commission of India (CCI) order imposing a penalty of Rs 213.14 crore over privacy policy. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and N V Anjaria was told that senior advocate Kapil Sibal was unwell and hence the hearing should be adjourned. The bench said it would take up the pleas for passing an interim order on February 23. It permitted a litigant represented by senior advocate Arvind Datar to be made a party to the case. On February 3, the bench made strong observations against Meta Platforms Inc and WhatsApp, saying they could not "play with the right to privacy of citizens in the name of data sharing" and alleged that they were creating a monopoly in the market and committing theft of private information of customers. Decrying WhatsApp's privacy policy, the bench referred to "silent customers" who were unorganised

Opt out of India, you are creating monopoly, SC tells Meta, WhatsApp

Supreme Court warns Meta and WhatsApp that they cannot operate in India without complying with Indian law, flags risks to users' data and market competition