Metaverse

Alphabet, Amazon outpace Meta in AI race during earnings bonanza

On that front, Google was able to point to solid growth at its cloud computing unit, which recorded sales of $20 billion last quarter

Behind the AI boom, a boring business is soaring with better ads

The emerging AI systems are helping companies automate their marketing. Small and large companies alike can now create ads, target audiences, bid for space and measure results

Australia to charge big tech firms 2% levy unless they strike news deals

A proposed News Bargaining Incentive would tax the three big tech companies 2.25% on their local revenues unless they struck agreements

Meta, Microsoft have joined tech layoff tsunami, but is AI really to blame?

The workers most at risk are not necessarily those whose tasks can be replicated by AI. They are those who wait for pressure to arrive from outside rather than getting ahead of it now

EU plans antitrust action, may force Meta to restore rival AI on WhatsApp

Under EU rules, competition regulators can order companies to temporarily stop suspect business practices, but these demands can be challenged in the bloc's courts in Luxembourg

Meta poised to surpass Google in digital ad revenue for first time: Report

The Instagram-owner's global net ad revenues are expected to reach $243.46 billion in 2026, ahead of Google's projected $239.54 billion, the market research firm said

Former OpenAI stargate leaders to join Meta platforms amid AI infra race

Peter Hoeschele, who played a critical role in OpenAI's Stargate initiative, is one of the new hires

Meta says content norms for teenagers further tightened on Instagram

Instagram rolls out stricter age-based content controls in India, limiting teen exposure and boosting parental oversight amid growing calls for social media regulation

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