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☆ Snapchat is rolling out new safety tools aimed at protecting teens from sextortion
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-25 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The company on Tuesday announced a set of new safety features, including expanded warning pop-ups that appear when a teen receives a message from someone they don’t share mutual friends with or have in their contacts. And Snapchat will now prevent the delivery of friend requests for teens to or from an account that they don’t share mutual friends with that is also located in regions often associated with scammers. Meta in April also announced new features aimed at combating sextortion, including informing users when they’ve interacted with someone who engaged in financial sextortion. Now, when a user blocks another account, any new accounts created on the same device will also automatically be blocked. The updates build on Snapchat’s existing teen safety features, which include a “Family Center” where parents can supervise the behavior of 13- to 17-year-old users, and mechanisms for removing age-inappropriate content.

Persons: New York CNN —, aren’t, ” Snapchat, Jacqueline Beauchere, sextortion, they’ve Organizations: New, New York CNN, CNN, Meta, Prevention Locations: New York

☆ Snap Shares Plummet After Fourth-Quarter Results
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Yiwen Lu | More About Yiwen Lu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Revenue for the three months ended Dec. 31 was $1.36 billion, up from $1.3 billion a year ago but below Wall Street projections of $1.38 billion for Snapchat’s parent company. Net losses for the fourth quarter narrowed to $248 million, from $288 million a year earlier. “2023 was a pivotal year for Snap, as we focused relentlessly on adding value to our community while evolving our business for long-term growth,” Evan Spiegel, the company’s chief executive, said in a letter to investors. On Monday, Snap laid off more than 500 workers, or about 10 percent of its global work force, part of a bigger wave of targeted cuts by tech companies this year. “While this decision was painful, and we will miss our friends and colleagues, we believe these changes are necessary to achieve our long-term goals” and manage expenses, Mr. Spiegel said in the letter.

Persons: ” Evan Spiegel, Spiegel Organizations: Revenue

☆ Loss, pain, harm: Grieving parents set the tone at this week’s tech CEOs hearing. It could change things
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —Wednesday’s online youth safety hearing with some of the world’s leading social media CEOs was unlike the many that came before it in recent years. During the hearing, Zuckerberg and Spiegel, along with the CEOs of TikTok, Discord and X, also faced calls to meet with the families affected by their platforms. And Wednesday night, after the event, some parents said the apologies did not go far enough. X CEO Linda Yaccarino thanked the “parents, families, and young people” who attended the hearing in a post on the platform. “We just saw yesterday the extent of the damage that this has done, these platforms have done,” he said.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Evan Spiegel, Zuckerberg, Spiegel, Bridget Norring, “, Joe Benarroch, Linda Yaccarino, ”, ” Clint Smith, ” Snap’s Spiegel, Charlie, Connecticut Democrat Sen, Richard Blumenthal, ” Minnesota Democrat Sen, Amy Klobuchar, they’d, New York Democrat Sen, Chuck Schumer, …, Schumer, ” Sam Chapman, Missouri Republican Sen, Josh Hawley, Dick Durbin, Hawley, we’re, –, Brian Fung, Morgan Rimmer Organizations: New, New York CNN, CNN, ”, Meta, Connecticut Democrat, ” Minnesota Democrat, New York Democrat, Missouri Republican, Democratic Locations: New York, Snapchat, Connecticut, ” Minnesota

☆ Opinion: Mark Zuckerberg’s extraordinary apology should only be the beginning
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Opinion Kara Alaimo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —On Wednesday, the chief executives of Meta, TikTok, X, Snap and Discord testified before the Senate about what they’re doing to protect kids from harm online. In the leadup to the testimony, tech companies announced new initiatives to protect kids. The Stop CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) Act of 2023 would make it possible to hold tech companies civilly liable for hosting child sexual abuse material. This would be an important way of incentivizing tech companies to do more to protect kids from sextortion and other forms of online exploitation. Tech companies also have a lot more work to do.

Persons: Kara Alaimo, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, TikTok’s Shou Chew, Democratic Sen, Dick Durbin, Snap’s Evan Spiegel, X’s Linda Yaccarino, Discord’s Jason Citron, Kara Alaimo Durbin, “, —, ” South Carolina Republican Sen, Lindsey Graham, Chew, Yaccarino, Spiegel, Zuckerberg, it’s, Taylor Swift Organizations: Fairleigh Dickinson University, Women, Press, Facebook, CNN, Meta, Senate, Democratic, Illinois, ” Senators, ” South Carolina Republican, Tech, Media Locations: ”

NEW YORK (AP) — Student and legal advocacy groups are petitioning the U.S. Department of Agriculture to lift the interview requirement for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applicants to receive food aid. The groups argue the interview requirement is burdensome and prevents those who qualify for food aid from receiving it. Political Cartoons View All 253 ImagesEligible households next receive a notice indicating their certification period, or how long they'll receive SNAP benefits. But interviews are not mandated by the federal statute governing the SNAP program, the organizations petitioning the government note. A 2021 review of enrollment data in California found that 31% of SNAP applicants in Los Angeles County were denied SNAP due to missing their interview, compared to just 6% who were denied for failing to meet eligibility requirements.

Persons: Aviana Kimani, Kimani, it’s, ” Kimani, “, you’re, Allan Rodriguez, Ty Jones Cox, ”, Aaron Ament, Charles Schwab Organizations: U.S . Department of Agriculture, Nutrition Assistance, SNAP, Student Legal Defense Network, Center for Law, Social, California, Aid, Department of Agriculture, West Los Angeles College, Agriculture Department, Center for Budget, Student, Associated Press, Charles, Charles Schwab Foundation, Inc, AP Locations: California, Los Angeles County

☆ Snap Reports 5% Revenue Increase, Reversing Declines in Growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-24 | by ( Yiwen Lu | More About Yiwen Lu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, on Tuesday reported that its revenue rose 5 percent in the latest quarter after two straight quarters of declines, as the digital advertising market rebounded. But Snap cautioned that the ad market remains unpredictable and that it has “observed pauses in spending from a large number of primarily brand-oriented advertising campaigns immediately following the onset of the war in the Middle East.”Revenue for the third quarter was $1.19 billion, up from $1.13 billion a year ago and above Wall Street estimates of $1.11 billion. In the previous two quarters, Snap’s revenue had fallen between 4 percent and 7 percent. The company remained unprofitable, recording a net loss of $368 million for the third quarter, which was wider than a loss of $360 million a year ago.

Organizations: ” Revenue

☆ Snapchat isn’t just for teens anymore. Now it needs to make some real money
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

New York CNN —When Snapchat announced last month that it had reached 5 million paying subscribers for its Snapchat+ service, it seemed like a stunning achievement. At 5 million subscribers paying $3.99 per month, Snapchat+ is set to earn around $239 million in annual revenue. That subscriber number is just a fraction of its overall user base of Snapchat, which has quietly become one of the world’s fastest-growing social platforms. The sales declines come as Snapchat, like other platforms, works to update its advertising business to cope with changes to Apple’s app tracking policies. Snapchat has grown its user base by more than 10% year-over-year for the past 16 consecutive quarters.

Persons: Snapchat, Evan Spiegel, it’s, ” Jack Brody, ”, Angelo Zino, Jess Maddox, TikTok Snapchat, ” Brody, you’ve, TikTok, CFRA’s Zino, Scott Kessler, ” Snapchat, Kessler, Brody, Spiegel, “ It’s Organizations: New, New York CNN, Twitter, Facebook, CNN, “, CFRA Research, University of Alabama, YouTube, Intelligence, Meta, Apple Locations: New York, North America, United States, India, Europe, TikTok, Instagram

☆ The Ivy League donor backlash is a PR nightmare, and that’s the point
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Donors understand as well as anyone that pulling their funds won’t inflict significant financial damage on Ivy League institutions, which boast huge endowments, my colleague Nathaniel Meyersohn reports. But he said that financial threats from donors were not the right solution to influencing universities’ positions on these issues. At 5 million subscribers paying $3.99 a month, Snapchat+ is set to earn around $239 million in annual revenue. Still, analysts are intrigued by Snap’s user growth, especially for a company that’s been around for over a decade. “In my view, there’s significant value for a company that’s growing its installed base at this level,” said Angelo Zino, senior equity analyst at CFRA Research.

Persons: CNN Business ’, Nathaniel Meyersohn, Lee Gardner, ” Gardner, “, Indiana University’s, Lawrence Summers, ” Summers, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, Clare Duffy, it’s, we’ve, Clare, that’s, ”, Angelo Zino, you’ll Organizations: CNN Business, CNN, Harvard, Ivy League, Higher Education, “ Ivy League, Indiana, Indiana University’s Lilly Family School, Philanthropy, “, US, Netflix, Twitter, Facebook, CFRA Research Locations: Israel, United States, China

☆ Elon Musk’s X is a black hole of value
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-03 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Oct 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - X is still worth something, but not for the people running it. loadingDespite Musk’s big pronouncements about pushing into subscriptions, X has historically relied on advertising, which contributed over 90% of revenue when it was a public company. Put it all together, and X isn’t just worth less than Musk paid for it, but likely less than its debt. Put that on the same enterprise-value-to-sales multiple as Snap, which is down to a mere 3 times, and X is worth around $8 billion. Like a financial black hole, X threatens to consume most of whatever value it once had.

Persons: Boss Linda Yaccarino, Morgan Stanley, Musk’s, Musk, ByteDance, X, Linda Yaccarino, Elon Musk, Jonathan Guilford, Sharon Lam Organizations: Reuters, Financial Times, Elon Musk’s, Comcast, Linda, Thomson

☆ Apps Like Dipsea and Quinn are Redefining Pleasure for Women
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Sarah Diamond | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +10 min

AudioStories AreRedefiningPleasure forWomen Apps like Dipsea and Quinn have become popular destinations, particularly for some women who find them safe spaces to explore their sexuality. On average, subscribers for Dipsea are women between 18 and 34, the company said, while Quinn’s are women ages 18 to 24. I s w a l l o w e d a s m a l l m o a n . ” “ H m , c o m e h e r e t h e n . ” “ G e t i t o u t o f o u r s y s t e m s .

Persons: Quinn, Liz, Sevyn, Dipsea, Bloom, ”, Caroline Spiegel, Evan, “, ” Ms, Spiegel, Hannah Albertshauser, Michael, Albertshauser, you’re, Mal Harrison, Dominnique Karetsos, Karetsos, Dame, Gina Gutierrez, Faye Keegan, ” ‘ It’s, Liv Trexler, it’s, Trexler, “ It’s, ” Angela Sarakan, ” Olivia Taylor, that’s, ’, Ms, Taylor, Aisha Jordan, Jordan, Nicole Prause, Prause, Lone Wolf, Shannon Lin Organizations: Facebook, Center for Erotic Intelligence, Healthy, Group, Getty Images Locations: California, Germany, Brooklyn

☆ Snap’s boss destroys $43 bln in a snap
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, July 26 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Snap’s (SNAP.N) value is disappearing almost as quickly as its messages. Snap is still struggling to pry money from advertisers, a worrisome trend for a relatively young company. When the then 26-year-old co-founder brought Snap public, the company, whose deal was 10 times oversubscribed, had promises of being the next Facebook. Snap’s shares should be worth some $37, or $60 billion overall. Snap’s shares fell 19% in morning trade on July 26.

Persons: Evan Spiegel, Mark Zuckerberg’s, Spiegel, that’s, Snap’s, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Sharon Lam Organizations: YORK, Reuters, Revenue, Spiegel, Thomson Locations: California

☆ Snap’s Sales Fall for the Second Time in a Row
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Yiwen Lu | More About Yiwen Lu | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Over the past year, the company has performed layoffs, reordered the priority of some of its business initiatives and reorganized some of its executives to deal with the challenges. Yet even as slower ad spending has buffeted large tech companies such as Google and Meta over the past year, Snap’s issues have been particularly difficult. As a smaller social media company with a narrower audience, it is not always the first stop for advertisers. And it faces intense competition from rivals like TikTok, which has gained users more rapidly and is now bigger than Snap. To diversify where it makes money, Snap rolled out a subscription service called Snapchat+ last year, and it has gained more than four million users.

Persons: Evan Spiegel, Jasmine Enberg, ” Organizations: Google, Insider Intelligence

☆ Snap’s Push to Tempt Creators Seems to Be Working
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-09 | by ( Lindsey Choo | Meghan Bobrowsky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones

☆ Pinterest, Snap tumble 18% as outlooks disappoint investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Noel Randewich | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationApril 28 (Reuters) - Pinterest Inc (PINS.N) and Snap Inc's (SNAP.N) stocks tumbled about 18% each on Friday after the two social media companies' quarterly reports spooked investors worried about weak digital ad spending. It warned results in the next quarter could fall below Wall Street's targets. At least 12 analysts cut their price targets for Snap, while Pinterest saw at least seven price target cuts on its stock. Shares of Meta Platforms have surged 13% since Wednesday, when the owner of Facebook and Instagram forecast quarterly revenue well above analyst expectations. Also on Wednesday Google-owner Alphabet's quarterly results showed ad sales held up better than expected.

☆ Snap’s Sales Fall for First Time as a Public Company
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Erin Griffith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The NewsSnap, the parent company of Snapchat, reported on Thursday that its revenue had fallen for the first time since it went public as the app maker struggled to adjust to a difficult economic environment. The company said demand for its ads was “disrupted” by upgrades it made to the platform it sells ads on. Snap also recorded a net loss of $329 million, which was narrower than the $360 million it lost a year ago. Despite the company’s business struggles, the number of Snapchat daily users grew to 383 million, a 15 percent increase over last year. In a statement, Evan Spiegel, Snap’s chief executive, highlighted Snapchat’s increase in users.

☆ Snapchat’s new AI chatbot is already raising alarms among teens and parents
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The feature is powered by the viral AI chatbot tool ChatGPT – and like ChatGPT, it can offer recommendations, answer questions and converse with users. The net effect is that conversing with Snapchat’s chatbot may feel less transactional than visiting ChatGPT’s website. Snapchat's new AI chatbot. “I snapped a picture … and it said ‘nice shoes’ and asked who the people [were] in the photo,” a Snapchat user wrote on Facebook. One user wrote on Facebook that she’s been asking My AI for homework help.

April 25 (Reuters) - Nearly one million Americans could find it harder to access federal food aid under a Republican proposal to expand the program’s work requirements, according to the Biden administration, which has promised to veto the plan if it passes Congress. The expanded work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were included in a plan released last week by Republican House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy to cut federal spending and raise the debt ceiling. Existing SNAP work requirements apply only to such adults up to age 50. The expansion could affect nearly 1 million people, said a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson. About 42.4 million people are receiving SNAP benefits this year, the agency said.

☆ Where TikTok users may go if the app gets banned
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —On the eve of a high-profile TikTok hearing this week, the company shared that it now has more than 150 million US monthly active users. “This uncertainty could push some TikTok content creators to focus more on, and possibly begin, pushing their audiences to other social network platforms,” Mogharabi said. Snap’s stock rose in the days leading up to TikTok’s appearance before Congress amid renewed talks among federal officials of a TikTok ban. Alex Brandon/APIf that happens, Lian Jye Su, an analyst with ABI Search, believes users will follow their favorite TikTok influencers and content creators wherever they go. For now, talk of a TikTok ban may still be premature.

☆ Nord Stream Explosions: What to Know About the Investigations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

E4Snap’s Stock Has Fallen Almost 80% This Year: What Went Wrong Snap shifted from overdrive to reverse this year as it prepares for its lowest period of sales growth since going public. WSJ’s Meghan Bobrowsky explains how Snap’s dependence on digital ads led to its restructuring efforts. Illustration: Jacob Reynolds

☆ How Russia Lost Dozens of Tanks in a Costly Battle in Eastern Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ The History of Spy Balloons, Explained by an Aeronautics Expert
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ The Science Behind the Massive Turkey-Syria Earthquakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Reality Check: What We Learned From Biden’s State of the Union Address
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ With Debt Ceiling in Sight, Treasury Resorts to ‘Extraordinary Measures’
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

New York CNN —Thursday afternoon will round out what has so far been a sobering earnings season for the Big Tech giants. Alphabet’s revenue will likely remain flat from last year and Amazon’s sales are expected to grow just shy of 6% year-over-year. All three companies’ profits are expected to fall from the year-ago quarter, with Amazon set to suffer the steepest drop with a decline of 40.6%. Then came the press conference, which led to a steep divergence between what the Fed thinks and what the Wall Street thinks. A cautionary tale: In mid-November, Ticketmaster’s site overloaded when fans tried to purchase pre-sale tickets for Taylor Swift’s upcoming tour.

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