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☆ Which Twitter alternatives have staying power — and which is the next Clubhouse?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

For the rest of the week, in addition to the day's top stories, I'll be highlighting some of the year's biggest investigations, features, and more from Insider's tech reporters. Today, we're taking a look back on everything from employee angst at Amazon to Thomas Kurian's three-year reign at Google Cloud. Which Twitter alternatives have staying power — and which is the next Clubhouse? See which Twitter alternatives could make it out alive. We gave readers an inside look at Kurian's Google Cloud.

☆ Facebook parent Meta agrees to pay $725 million to settle Cambridge Analytica suit
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | Arjun Kharpal Is A News Assistant For Cnbc In London. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Facebook parent Meta has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a class action lawsuit that claimed the social media giant gave third parties access to user data without their consent. The class action lawsuit was prompted in 2018 after Facebook disclosed that the information of 87 million users was improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, a consultancy firm linked to former President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. A scandal that prompted global outrageThe Cambridge Analytica scandal prompted global outrage and a flurry of regulators worldwide to scrutinize Facebook’s data practices. Cambridge Analytica, which shut down after the allegations in 2018, was controversial because the data it harvested from Facebook was used to inform political campaigns. Since the scandal, Facebook changed its name to Meta to reflect its growing ambitions to become a leader in the metaverse, a term used to refer to virtual worlds.

☆ Meta agrees to pay $725 million to settle lawsuit over Cambridge Analytica data leak
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Facebook parent company Meta has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a longstanding class action lawsuit accusing it of allowing Cambridge Analytica and other third parties to access private user information and misleading users about its privacy practices. The proposed settlement would end the legal battle that began four years ago, shortly after the company disclosed that the private information of as many as 87 million Facebook users was obtained by Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics firm that worked with the Trump campaign. The data leak sparked an intense international scandal for Facebook, drawing the scrutiny of regulators on both sides of the Atlantic. They estimated that between 250 and 280 million people may be eligible for payments as part of the class action settlement. But the improper sharing of Facebook data triggered a cascade of events that has culminated in investigations and lawsuits.

☆ I started the Elf on the Shelf with my mom and sister. We self-published a book and took on credit-card debt to turn our family tradition into a business.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Taayoo Murray | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Christa Pitts is the co-CEO of the Lumistella Company, the manufacturer for the Elf on the Shelf. Her family started the business in 2005 after being inspired by their own Christmas family tradition. Facebook / The Elf on the ShelfIn 2005, my mom and Chanda wrote "The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition." In 2020, the company rebranded to the Lumistella Company to better reflect our portfolio of products, entertainment, and experiences. We also started Scout Elf Productions, our own production company, and began developing content around our brands.

☆ Jim Cramer's top 10 things to watch in the market Friday: Inflation, natural gas plunge, Tesla
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Case in point: Natural gas prices plunge roughly 25% this week alone and even more for the month. Citi cuts price target on Paychex (PAYX) to $119 per share from $131. Wedbush cuts price target on Tesla (TSLA) to $175 per share from $250, though keeps its outperform (buy) rating. Loop Capital cut Paramount Global (PARA) to a sell from hold, slashing its price target to $14 per share from $30. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

Mastodon, an alternative microblogging platform, has seen several spikes in user sign-ups since the world’s second-wealthiest man purchased Twitter in late October. Hourly data from a Mastodon user counter shows that the surges typically happened shortly after some of Musk’s most headline-grabbing actions. Mastodon-powered sites averaged about 130 new sign-ups per hour from Oct. 1 to Oct. 26. That number jumped to 2,000 per hour after Elon Musk took control of Twitter on Oct. 28. Since Musk’s takeover of Twitter, journalists, news organizations, authors and politicians have created Mastodon accounts.

☆ Cybersecurity Firms Cut Staff as Fears About Economy, Funding Mount
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Belle Lin | James Rundle | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Cybersecurity companies have laid off hundreds of workers in recent months, as concerns mount that an economic downturn will delay funding rounds, and squeeze the amounts investors are willing to commit. But cybersecurity companies often run through cash at high rates, analysts say. Newsletter Sign-up WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Cybersecurity news, analysis and insights from WSJ's global team of reporters and editors. In August, email security firm Malwarebytes Inc. laid off around 125 people, or roughly 14% of its global workforce, a spokesperson confirmed. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS How would a layoff at one of your cybersecurity providers affect your security strategy?

☆ Mark Zuckerberg will split Meta, take the 'verse
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Lauren Silva Laughlin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Dec 21 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Meta Platforms (META.O) is the tale of two companies, tied together only by their potential to sell advertising and their owner Mark Zuckerberg. But cash flow from Meta’s operations alone – mostly the business without spending on the metaverse – would represent a yield of 15%. That’s three times the free cash flow yield of consumer giant Procter & Gamble (PG.N), and more than oil major Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), which had a banner 2022. Rather than make Meta shareholders collectively pay for Zuckerberg’s ambitions, he could fund them himself through dividends from the parent company. If Meta were smaller, or the metaverse were a separate company, it might not attract the same attention.

☆ Elon Musk is growing a social network. Just not the one he expected.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Nigel Chiwaya | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

It has been reported that more than 200.000 new users flocked the social media app after the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk. One of the biggest beneficiaries of billionaire Elon Musk's chaotic ownership of Twitter is a small social network most people hadn't heard of two months ago. Mastodon, an alternative microblogging platform, has seen several spikes in user sign-ups since the world's second-wealthiest man purchased Twitter in late October. Mastodon-powered sites averaged about 130 new sign-ups per hour from Oct. 1 to Oct. 26. That number jumped to 2,000 per hour after Elon Musk took control of Twitter on Oct. 28.

☆ Is the worst over for bitcoin and the rest of crypto?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

This is not the first crypto winter, as long-term fans of bitcoin can attest. “It is very clear that we as an industry need to build better products,” said Hany Rashwan, CEO of 21.co, a crypto investment firm. That’s about triple where prices were during the depths of the crypto bear market in the early pandemic days of 2020. Others point out that the underlying blockchain technology behind bitcoin and crypto remains solid. Pride and Reynolds added that it’s erroneous to think that bitcoin can hold up well during stock market volatility.

☆ Elon Musk promotes release of internal Twitter documents rehashing platform’s block of Hunter Biden story
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

The controversy involving Twitter and Hunter Biden dates to October 2020, weeks before the presidential election between Joe Biden and then-President Donald Trump. Taibbi wrote that he has seen no evidence that there was government involvement in Twitter’s move to block the New York Post story. Shortly after the New York Post published the article, Twitter pointed to concerns about hacked materials as the reason for blocking the story. Zuckerberg cited warnings from the FBI about election-related threats, though none about Hunter Biden in particular. Hunter Biden has said that federal prosecutors in Delaware are investigating his taxes.

☆ Big Tech workers who've been laid off finally get a vacation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

For some laid-off tech workers, that thought isn't confined to just daydreams — some employees told us that since they've been laid off, they've taken the opportunity to finally go on vacation. In Big Tech, getting laid off can mean taking a fancy vacation. While the typical US worker receives little to no severance pay when they get laid off, firms like Facebook, Snap, and Twitter have been relatively generous. Some laid-off tech workers have racked up few years of sky-high pay, frequent bonuses, generous stock awards, and now, decent severance — so some are thinking, "why not travel?" See where other "freed" tech workers are headed.

☆ In Big Tech, getting laid off can mean taking a fancy vacation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Typically in the US, workers receive little to no severance pay as it is not required under federal labor law. When companies do offer it, frequently severance pay is just one to two weeks of pay for every year a person has worked. One laid off worker there was on his way to Japan for vacation when he got the news he was laid off. Other workers tech who have been laid off feel similarly. Another former Twitter worker said colleagues are organizing "all kinds of trips" among those looking to travel.

☆ Sweetgreen is among the 12 chains Taco Bell owner, Yum Brands, could buy as the company's CFO tells investors it's hunting for an acquisition
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Nancy Luna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

A Yum Brands exec said the company was "scanning categories" that don't compete with its brands. Analyst Mark Kalinowski identified 12 chains Yum Brands could target, including Sweetgreen. Habit was Yum Brands' latest acquisition — it purchased the fast-casual chain in March 2020 in a deal valued at $375 million. Zoe's Kitchen could be a buy target for Yum Brands, a veteran analyst wrote in a research note last week. "It has a market cap bigger than I would have expected, so it'd be an expensive purchase for Yum Brands."

☆ Irish regulator fines Facebook 265 million euros over privacy breach
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Facebook Chief Executive Officer and founder, Mark Zuckerberg, leaving the Merrion Hotel in Dublin after meeting with Irish politicians to discuss regulation of social media, transparrency in political advertising and the safety of young people and vulnerable adults. Ireland's data privacy regulator imposed a 265 million euro ($277 million) fine on social media giant Facebook on Monday, bringing the total it has fined parent group Meta to almost 1 billioneuros. Monday's fine is the fourth Ireland's Data Privacy Commissioner (DPC) has levied against one of Meta's companies. It is Meta's lead privacy regulator within the European Union, and has 13 more inquiries into the social media group outstanding. In September the watchdog hit its Instagram subsidiary with a record fine of 405 million euros, which Meta plans to appeal.

☆ NBCUniversal layoffs are coming in January, with cuts expected mainly in broadcast and cable TV groups
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Layoffs will come in ad sales and marketing in the linear TV business but aren't expected to affect theme parks. NBCUniversal is the latest major media corporation to plan layoffs, according to two company insiders and a third person closely familiar with plans. The axe will fall mainly in ad sales, marketing, and back-end functions at the traditional broadcast and cable business units, but will come division by division, two people said. The company is looking for $1 billion in cuts across the TV networks, according to a Bloomberg report. Paramount Global also conducted layoffs last week, mainly in ad sales in New York and Los Angeles.

☆ Snap employees must work in the office at least four days a week next year, ending its 'remote first' policy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Many tech companies allow remote work, with some reverting to part time in-office work. Starting next year, in-office work will be required at Snap, employees were told. Snap employees will be spending most of their working hours in an office by next year. Starting in February, Snap employees will be required to work in an office at least four days per week, a person familiar with the plans said. Facebook is continuing to allow employees to work remotely and plans to close some offices as part of new cost-cutting efforts.

☆ CIOs Can Play Key Role in Guiding Companies Through Slowdown
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Steven Rosenbush | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

The market for cloud computing, business software, artificial intelligence and other so-called enterprise technologies has been a relative bright spot. “During times of economic uncertainty, companies look for ways where technology can drive growth and create more economic value faster,” said Juan Perez, chief information officer at Salesforce Inc. When budgets are under scrutiny, companies tend to focus on short-term solutions that can drive efficiency and productivity, Salesforce’s Mr. Perez said. Companies should take this opportunity to reconsider the pace of hiring and employ freelance workers where it makes sense. Additionally, CIOs say they are looking at the opportunity to hire valuable workers who lost their jobs at other companies or renew technology contracts on more favorable terms.

☆ I'm convinced Facebook Marketplace is Meta's best feature after I furnished my new apartment with used furniture
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

You can set filters only to show local items within a certain radius – I've set mine to offer items for sale within 9 miles of my Los Angeles apartment. It's not only used for furniture; you can also search for clothing and electronics. I usually pay sellers in person using cash, Venmo, or Zelle, so I can check the item's quality before paying. You don't use Facebook itself to exchange payment; Facebook acts more as a classified ads service in this case. Facebook Marketplace

☆ Twitter is removing less hate speech and taking longer to review it, fresh data on social media disinformation shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The EU has published its latest data on social media platforms reviewing hate speech. It sent over 3,600 notifications of hate speech to six companies, which also included Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram. Facebook received the most at 1,558, while Twitter was the only other company to see more than 1,000 hate speech reports. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and the French gaming site Jeuxvideo also reviewed less hate speech reports within 24 hours this year. YouTube was the only platform to improve its removal rate of hate speech this year, going from 58.8% to 90.4%.

☆ I've been on more than 15 cruises. Here are my best tips for planning a cost-effective and seamless trip to sea.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Jamie Killin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

One of the biggest things I would recommend for people who haven't cruised before is finding a travel agent or advisor who specializes in cruisesEven with me being in the industry for as long as I have, having a travel agent is helpful. I decided to use a travel agent because I didn't want all the guests calling me, but this travel agent was with a bigger agency and the experience was awful. Travel agents don't cost money — they make their commissions from the ships and travel insurance agencies or tour companies. Travel insurance is also great because it covers anything from medical issues to trip interruption or even theftI'd never had travel insurance until my travel agent educated me on it, but it's been helpful already. I had my phone stolen in Paris last year and my travel insurance covered it.

☆ Gen Zers increasingly fear that homeownership is a hopeless dream
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Kelsey Neubauer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Gen Z's outlook on homeownership has darkened since 2019 , according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. , according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. The weight of student debt was among the top complaints fielded by Freddie Mac. Younger Americans are also looking particularly overextended with their credit card debt, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Still, the majority of Gen Z can't seem to get its finances up to snuff, as some numbers bear out.

☆ 5 Club stocks that did worse than the Nasdaq since year-ago record but are well-liked by analysts
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

It turns out the tech-heavy index peaked on Nov. 22, 2021, one session after its last closing record. Using the one-year anniversary of the Nasdaq's record , we wanted to see where Wall Street stands on the 13 Nasdaq-listed stocks in the Club portfolio. From here, though, 72.7% of the 44 analysts who cover the stock consider the stock a buy or buy equivalent. Facebook-parent Meta Platforms was the worst-performing Club stock in the Nasdaq since its 2021 peak. Conversely, the vast majority of analysts — 90.4% to be exact — have a buy or buy-equivalent rating on Microsoft shares.

☆ NBCUniversal layoffs are coming in January
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Layoffs will come in ad sales and marketing in the linear television business but won't affect theme parks. NBCUniversal is the latest major media corporation to plan layoffs, according to two company insiders and a third person closely familiar with plans. The axe will fall mainly in ad sales, marketing, and back-end functions at the traditional broadcast and cable business units, but will come division by division, two people said. Paramount Global also conducted layoffs last week, mainly in ad sales in New York and Los Angeles. NBCUniversal was the first major media firm to conduct a corporate restructure of its business back in 2020.

☆ HP laying off 4,000-6,000 employees globally over the next three years
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Computer maker HP Inc. said Tuesday that it plans to cut 4,000 to 6,000 employees over the next three years. HP said revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended on Oct. 31, declined 0.8% year over year to $14.80 billion. Revenue in the Personal Systems segment, which includes PCs, fell 13% to $10.3 billion, as units dropped 21%. In the previous quarter, Personal Systems revenue declined 3%, and Printing revenue moved down 6%. From a profitability standpoint, HP reported that the operating margin for the Personal Systems segment contracted to 4.5% from 6.9% in the prior quarter.

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