Page 8 - Metaverse

Meta ignores pleas, kills off misinformation tracking tool CrowdTangle

Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms has shut down CrowdTangle, a tool widely used by researchers, watchdog organisations and journalists to monitor social media posts, notably to track how misinformation spreads on the company's platforms. Wednesday's shutdown, which Meta announced earlier this year, has been protested by researchers and nonprofits. In May, dozens of groups, including the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Atlantic Council, Human Rights Watch and NYU's Center for Social Media & Politics, sent a letter to the company asking that it keep the tool running through at least January so it would be available through the US presidential elections. This decision jeopardizes essential pre- and post-election oversight mechanisms and undermines Meta's transparency efforts during this critical period, and at a time when social trust and digital democracy are alarmingly fragile, the letter said. CrowdTangle, has been an ...

Meta raises its largest high-grade debt sale of $10.5 billion: Report

The longest portion of the deal, a 40-year security, yields 1.3 percentage points above Treasuries after initial discussions of around 1.55 percentage points

Meta offering Hollywood stars millions of dollars for AI voice projects

The company is talking with Judi Dench, Awkwafina and Keegan-Michael Key, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the project is confidential

Turkey blocks access to Instagram over 'censorship', mentions no duration

Turkish communications official Fahrettin Altun, has slammed the Meta-owned platform for 'blocking condolence posts on the killing of Ismail Haniyeh'

Meta reports better-than-expected sales in Q2, shares jump by 10%

Meta has been using AI to improve the way its advertisers can find interested users, adding efficiency to its most lucrative business

Meta to let users to create custom AI characters through AI Studio

The new tool is built with Meta's Llama 3.1, the biggest version of its mostly free artificial intelligence models

WhatsApp not planning to shut services in India: I&B Minister Vaishnaw

WhatsApp and its parent company Meta has not informed the government of any plans to shut down its services in India, I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Rajya Sabha on Friday. "Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has shared that WhatsApp or Meta has not informed the government about any such plans," Vaishnaw told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. Congress member Vivek Tankha had asked whether WhatsApp was planning to shut its services in India due to the government's directives to share user details. Earlier this year, WhatsApp had told the Delhi High Court that it will stop functioning in India if it was compelled by the government to break encryption of messages. WhatsApp and its parent company Meta had challenged the newly amended IT Rules contending that they violate the right to privacy and were unconstitutional. Responding to Tankha's question on curbs on social media platforms, Vaishnaw said the central government issues directions under Section

Meta to be hit with first EU antitrust fine for linking Marketplace, FB

Meta could face a fine of as much as $13.4 billion - or 10% of its 2023 global revenue - although EU sanctions are usually much lower than that cap

After praising Zuckerberg; Elon Musk says ready to fight him anytime

Just when the hype around the Elon Musk-Mark Zuckerberg duel seemed to be fading, the Tesla chief has rekindled speculations with latest 'ready to fight' remark

Zuckerberg's Meta aims to rival OpenAI, Google with new Llama AI model

Meta uses its Llama models to power its AI chatbot, called Meta AI, which operates inside its apps, including Instagram and WhatsApp, and also as a separate web product

Nigeria slaps $220 mn fine on Meta over violation of data protection laws

Nigeria's government on Friday announced a fine of USD 220 million on Meta, saying its investigations found multiple and repeated violations of the country's data protection and consumer rights laws on Facebook and WhatsApp. A statement from Nigeria's Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, or FCCPC, listed five ways that Meta violated data laws in the West African country, including by sharing the data of Nigerians without authorization, denying consumers the right to self-determine the use of their data, discriminatory practices as well as abuse of market dominance. "Being satisfied with the significant evidence on the record, and that Meta Parties have been provided every opportunity to articulate any position ... the Commission has now entered a Final Order, and issued a penalty against Meta Parties," FCCPC chief executive Adamu Abdullahi said in a statement. A spokesperson for Meta didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Nigeria, which is Africa's

Meta in talks to buy 5% stake in Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica: Report

EssilorLuxottica's Paris-listed shares jumped 6 per cent after the report, while Meta stock was up 2.3 per cent just after the opening bell

India among most active nations for Meta's Threads; active users hit 175 mn

India is one of the most active countries for Threads, which has notched over 175 million monthly active users globally, according to social media giant Meta. The update assumes significance as it marks the completion of nearly one year since Meta officially launched rival to Twitter (now X). "With a 175 million actives, we're seeing Threads become a place where people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas. India is one of the most active countries for Threads globally," Meta said in a release. In India, some of the most popular tags and topics on Threads are centred around film, TV and OTT content, celebrity-related conversations and sports. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Threads has over 175 million monthly active users as the social media giant asserted that Threads was launched with the belief that "everyone has something valuable to say". "It's been a year now, and we're seeing it become a place where people feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ide

Brazil data regulator bans Meta from mining data to train its AI models

Brazil's national data protection authority determined on Tuesday that Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, cannot use data originating in the country to train its artificial intelligence. Meta's updated privacy policy enables the company to feed people's public posts into its AI systems. That practice will not be permitted in Brazil, however. The decision stems from the imminent risk of serious and irreparable or difficult-to-repair damage to the fundamental rights of the affected data subjects, the agency said in the nation's official gazette. Brazil is one of Meta's biggest markets. Facebook alone has around 102 million active users in the country, the agency said in a statement. The nation has a population of 203 million, according to the country's 2022 census. A spokesperson for Meta said in a statement the company is disappointed and insists its method complies with privacy laws and regulations in Brazil. This is a step backwards for innovation, competition in

Apple rejected idea of iPhone AI partnership with Meta months ago

The two companies aren't in discussions about using Meta's Llama chatbot in an AI partnership

Samsung chief Lee discusses cooperation with Meta, Amazon & Qualcomm CEOs

Meta's Mark Zuckerberg invited Jay Y Lee to his home on Tuesday and their discussions spanned AI as well as virtual and augmented reality, Samsung said in a statement

Meta to train AI model on European data as it faces privacy concerns

Meta wants to use data from users in privacy-conscious Europe to train its artificial intelligence models, the social media giant said Monday as it faces concerns about data protection while battling to keep up with rivals like OpenAI and Google. The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, said that in order to better reflect the languages, geography and cultural references" of its users in Europe, it needs to use public data from those users to teach its Llama AI large language model. Meta's AI training efforts are hampered by stringent European Union data privacy laws, which give people control over how their personal information is used. Vienna-based group NOYB, led by activist Max Schrems, complained last week to 11 national privacy watchdogs about Meta's AI training plans and urged them to stop the company before it starts training Llama's next generation. AI language models are trained on vast pools of data that help them predict the most plausible next word in a

Meta hit with 11 EU complaints over use of personal data to train AI models

Meta has cited a legitimate interest for using users' data to train and develop its generative AI models and other AI tools, which can be shared with third parties

Meta withheld information during Instagram, WhatsApp acquisitions: US FTC

Meta said that it met all of its legal obligations during the Instagram and WhatsApp merger reviews. The FTC has failed to provide evidence to support its claims, a spokesperson said

Ex-Meta engineer sues company, says was fired over handling of Gaza content

Palestinian-American engineer who had been on Meta's machine learning team since 2021, sued the social media giant in a California state court for discrimination and wrongful termination