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☆ The real reason Republicans are forcing Mark Zuckerberg to turn over thousands of pages of Facebook documents
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Jordan, who sits atop the powerful House Judiciary Committee, has embarked on a fishing expedition at Facebook, demanding Zuckerberg turn over reams of internal documents that pertain to Meta’s content moderation decisions. In effect, Jordan is coercing Zuckerberg into turning over documents that will then be used to mendaciously smear the Meta chief’s company. Meta, for its part, had previously said it had already turned over thousands of pages of documents and was cooperating with the committee. Most news organizations gave Jordan’s “Facebook Files” entry little attention on Thursday. In this case, the awesome powers of the federal government are being weaponized to threaten Zuckerberg into handing the information over.

Persons: Jim Jordan, Mark Zuckerberg, Jordan, Zuckerberg, coercing Zuckerberg, Meta, ” Jordan, Joe Biden, ”, Hunter Biden, — Jordan, X’d, Biden, Jordan’s, Donald Trump, Federal Government — Organizations: CNN, Ohio Republican, Meta, Judiciary, Facebook, Elon, GOP, White House, White, Twitter, OF, Fox News, Federal Government Locations: Silicon, Jordan

☆ Meta’s Threads Isn’t Labeling Propaganda Accounts From Russia, China State Media
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Newley Purnell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones Locations: russia

☆ Meta’s Reality Labs has now lost more than $21 billion since the beginning of last year
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Analysts polled by StreetAccount were projecting Reality Labs to record $421 million in sales and $3.5 billion in operating losses. Meta reported second-quarter earnings on Wednesday and said that its Reality Labs unit, which develops virtual reality and augmented reality technologies needed to power the metaverse, logged a $3.7 billion operating loss. Last year, Meta's Reality Labs unit lost a total of $13.7 billion while bringing in $2.16 billion in revenue, which is driven in part by the company's sales of Quest-branded VR headsets. Reality Labs lost $3.99 billion during the first quarter. Meta said in its earnings report that it expects operating losses in its Reality Labs unit "to increase meaningfully year-over-year due to our ongoing product development efforts in augmented reality/virtual reality and investments to further scale our ecosystem."

Persons: Meta, Zuckerberg Organizations: Meta, StreetAccount, Reality Labs, Labs, Quest Pro, VR, Apple, Qualcomm

☆ 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

☆ Exclusive-EU antitrust regulators rejected Meta offer to curb use of ad data, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Reuters Staff | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FILE PHOTO: EU flag and Meta logo are seen in this illustration taken, May 22, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoBRUSSELS (Reuters) - Meta Platforms offered to curb the use of competitors’ advertising data for its Facebook Marketplace online classified service in an attempt to settle an EU antitrust investigation but it was not accepted by regulators, people familiar with the matter said. Its offer also included limiting the use of advertising data to develop products that compete with advertisers, the people said. The world’s most popular social network sought to settle the EU investigation opened in June last year, other people familiar with the matter told Reuters last December. Details of Meta’s proposed concessions had not been previously reported on.

Persons: Dado Ruvic Organizations: REUTERS, Facebook, U.S ., Reuters Locations: BRUSSELS, U.S

☆ Exclusive-EU regulators rebuff Meta's offer to curb use of ad data, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FILE PHOTO: EU flag and Meta logo are seen in this illustration taken, May 22, 2023. Its offer also included limiting the use of advertising data to develop products that compete with advertisers, the people said. The UK enforcer in a preliminary view has said Meta’s offer addresses its concerns. Companies risk fines of as much as 10% of their global turnover for EU antitrust violations. The other was allegedly its unfair trading conditions imposed on rival online classified ads services which advertise on Facebook or Instagram.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Meta Organizations: REUTERS, Facebook, EU, Reuters, European Commission, Meta Locations: BRUSSELS, EU

☆ Twitter’s rebrand is the next stage in Elon Musk’s vision for the company. But does anyone want it?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

When Musk bought Twitter late last year, he laid out a vision for an “everything” app called X, where users could communicate, shop, consume entertainment and more. Musk — who bought Twitter with a company called X Corp. — tweeted on Sunday that X.com now redirects to Twitter. Musk even told followers that tweets should instead be called “x’s.”On Sunday, CEO Linda Yaccarino seemed to confirm Musk’s vision for the company. Elon Musk has officially rebranded Twitter as "X," as he seeks to turn the platform into an "everything" app. And until Musk rolls out significant changes to the platform, observers of the company say ditching Twitter’s well-known brand is a risky move.

Persons: New York CNN — Elon Musk’s, Musk, — Musk, “, —, It’s, ” Mike Proulx, Forrester, Proulx, ”, Linda Yaccarino, ” Yaccarino, Elon Musk, Jonathan Brady, Walter Isaacson, texted Isaacson, ” “, ” Musk, he’s, WeChat, Deloitte, Instagram, Joshua White Organizations: New, New York CNN, Twitter, PayPal, Musk —, X Corp, SpaceX, Facebook, Vanderbilt University Locations: New York, China, Arizona, Michigan

☆ Meta’s Threads gets a highly requested ‘following feed’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Meta on Tuesday launched a highly anticipated “following feed” option in its Threads app as part of its latest batch of updates that could help the new social platform further chip away at Twitter’s position in the market. The option to see a reverse chronological feed of posts from only accounts a user follows had been one of the most requested features since Threads launched earlier this month. Meta has been steadily rolling out updates to Threads as it tries to keep users engaged in the new app. Threads had a hugely successful launch, topping 100 million sign-ups in its first week, but engagement has declined somewhat since then. Meta’s ongoing work on Threads comes as the chaos at Twitter continues.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, “, Meta, they’ve, Elon Musk, ” Organizations: New, New York CNN, Meta, Twitter, ” Locations: New York

☆ Big Business Gets Bigger
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( German Lopez | More About German Lopez | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Courts push backThe Biden administration released guidelines this week that seek to toughen antitrust law, which restricts anticompetitive practices. Under Khan, the F.T.C. has also pushed courts to effectively lower the burden of proof required to show that a merger is anticompetitive. “But it often seems that courts will not let plaintiffs win an antitrust case based on circumstantial evidence.”The F.T.C. The last major shift in antitrust law, in the 1970s, came after decades of work by conservatives to push the law and courts in their direction.

Persons: Biden, Khan, ”, Douglas Melamed, ’ Organizations: Stanford Law School, Microsoft, Activision Locations: Europe

☆ Threads now has ‘tens of millions’ of daily users. But its honeymoon phase may be over
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

After surpassing 100 million user sign-ups in less than a week, user engagement on Threads has slowed. Threads daily active users fell from 49 million on July 7, two days after its launch, to 23.6 million users last Friday, according to a report published this week by web traffic analysis firm Similarweb. “I’m very optimistic about how the Threads community is coming together,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on the platform Monday. “We’re clearly way out over our skis on this,” Mosseri said in a Threads post the week of the app’s launch. Threads could be a way for Meta to eke additional engagement time out of its massive existing user base.

Persons: It’s, “, Mark Zuckerberg, who’s, Adam Mosseri, ” Mosseri, Mosseri, ” Meta, Elon Musk, ”, Ali Mogharabi, Musk, Scott Kessler, ” Kessler Organizations: New, New York CNN, Meta, Twitter, ”, ” Morningstar Locations: New York

☆ TikTok ‘stress test’ shows it’s not ‘fully ready’ for looming EU social media rules, commissioner says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

Washington CNN —TikTok has “more work” to do to meet tough new European standards that are coming for social media and content moderation, according to a top EU official who performed a “stress test” of the company this week. “TikTok is dedicating significant resources to compliance,” Breton said, pointing to changes TikTok has made to its recommendation algorithms and its transparency procedures as evidence the company appears to be taking its obligations seriously. TikTok didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the test results. TikTok isn’t the only large tech platform to submit to an EU stress test. Last month, European officials evaluated Twitter’s platform for DSA compliance and also announced plans to stress test Facebook-parent Meta’s services.

Persons: Washington CNN — TikTok, Thierry Breton, Breton, Shou Chew, “, ” Breton, TikTok, didn’t Organizations: Washington CNN, EU, Digital Services, European Commission, DSA Locations: Dublin

☆ Meta’s Threads app rolls out first big batch of updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ Threads, Twitter, and The Future of Social Media - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Sriram Krishnan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

As interest rates started to rise, social media companies discovered they weren’t immune to macroeconomic forces. While many were blown away by their possibilities, they forced social media websites to re-evaluate how their data is used externally. assistant for the names of San Francisco’s best restaurants, it could well use that Reddit discussion to generate its answer. Whether or not you agree with Mr. Musk’s moves after he bought Twitter, they have sparked a chain reaction. While it’s early days to see how this plays out, it is clear the social media landscape has shifted quickly and profoundly.

Persons: C.E.O.s, you’re, hoover, Reddit, Elon Musk’s, Musk’s, Reddit’s C.E.O, Instagram Organizations: Google, San, Twitter, Facebook Locations: Francisco, Reddit, San Francisco, Silicon Valley

☆ Elon Musk says Twitter's ad revenue drops 50% and cash flow is negative
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Elon Musk disclosed on Twitter Saturday that, due to a 50% drop in advertising revenue and a “heavy debt load,” the platform still has a negative cash flow. Ad revenue has been a contentious issue and an uphill battle for the site, after hordes of advertisers fled after Musk took over. The New York Times reported that Twitter’s US advertising revenue from the five weeks from April 1 to the first week of May was down 59% year-over-year, citing an internal presentation. “It’s definitely been extremely difficult,” Musk said in Twitter Spaces livestream event Musk hosted with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr last month. On Thursday, Twitter announced content creators would be able to get a slice of the site’s ad revenue, seemingly to encourage more creators to join the site.

Persons: New York CNN — Elon Musk, Musk, Linda Yaccarino, “ It’s, ” Musk, Robert F, Kennedy, Jr, it’s, Andrew Tate, “ Organizations: New, New York CNN, Twitter, BBC, The New York Times, CNN Locations: New York, Romania

☆ Opinion: Mark Zuckerberg’s family photo raises this crucial question
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Opinion Priya C. Kumar | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Sandwiched between a Jiu-Jitsu video and the Threads announcement, Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram profile recently featured a casual Independence Day snapshot of him and his family. This prompted social media comments accusing Zuckerberg of hypocrisy, given the constant outcry over his company Meta’s privacy practices. Mark Zuckerberg posted this picture with his family on Instagram on July 4, 2023. A decade ago, a research team and I interviewed more than 100 parents about their social media use. That’s the real privacy problem of social media, and it affects children and adults alike.

Persons: Priya C, Kumar, Mark Zuckerberg’s, Zuckerberg, Kumar Hayley Wildeson, There’s, Mark Zuckerberg, Ulla Autenrieth, they’ve Organizations: Pennsylvania State University, CNN, Twitter, Facebook Locations: emojis, childrearing, Instagram, Swiss

☆ MrBeast: Behind the success of YouTube’s most popular creator
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Faith Karimi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

“People would tell me, ‘All you do is talk about YouTube videos. Seven years later, Donaldson, better known online as MrBeast, has 167 million YouTube subscribers – more than any other individual creator on the platform. Donaldson navigates a maze in a screenshot from MrBeast's video, "I Got Hunted By the FBI." “That’s an interesting model, because you’re giving video viewers access to something they would never get to see in real life,” Fischer says. He often uses income from his previous videos to outdo himself in his next videos,” Miller says.

Persons: Jimmy Donaldson, ”, podcasters Colin, Samir, “, You’re, ’ ”, Donaldson, Mark Zuckerberg, Colin, ’, Donaldson breathlessly, Sara Fischer, “ It’s, CNN’s Jon Sarlin, ” Fischer, Pete Davidson, Tom Brady, relatable, Miller, MrBeast, ” Donaldson, Monica Schipper, Vince Miller, ” Miller, – Donaldson, Kristen Ruby, Gen Zers, Ruby, Burger, Dave Kotinsky, MrBeast Burger, –, mobbing, “ I’m Organizations: CNN, East Carolina University, YouTube, FBI, NFL, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Microsoft Theater, University of Kent, Ruby Media, Getty, Google, Records, Harvard Business School, Harvard Locations: North Carolina, Los Angeles, Greenville , North Carolina, New Jersey, Greenville, Chile

☆ A Breakup That Was the Best Thing to Happen to Them
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Sadiba Hasan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“There was just this huge portion of my life where the way that I loved was the source of my self-hatred,” Mr. Archuleta said. Something Blue Mr. Archuleta’s godmother’s son died six weeks before the wedding. “My nina was in my ring and my cousin was on my wrist,” Mr. Archuleta said. (Mr. Archuleta’s mother, Deborah Archuleta, who has come to accept and support her son’s identity, was also present, as was Mr. Jones’s mother, Helen Amburn-Jones.) “It was reminiscent of a ceremony you might see during Easter to symbolize our history,” Mr. Archuleta said.

Persons: Miranda Odom, ” Mr, Archuleta, Archuleta’s, “, Mr, Jones, Archuleta’s godmother’s, nina, Jones’s, Tony Jones, Deborah Archuleta, Helen Amburn Organizations: Universalist Church of America Locations: Albuquerque, Denver, Arizona

☆ Meta’s Threads Now Has to Keep Its Millions of Users Engaged
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Meghan Bobrowsky | Lindsey Choo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/metas-threads-now-has-to-keep-its-millions-of-users-engaged-343e345b

Persons: Dow Jones

The New York Times Audio app includes podcasts, narrated articles from the newsroom and other publishers, as well as exclusive new shows — including this one — which we’re making available to readers for a limited time. Download the audio app here. In just one week, more than 100 million people have signed up for Meta’s new Threads app. On “Matter of Opinion,” the hosts ask why so many people are joining, given how much we love to hate on social media, and whether “social” media is even social anymore. (A full transcript of the episode will be available midday on the Times website.)

Organizations: New York Times, Times

☆ F.T.C. Chair Faces Criticism in Congressional Hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-13 | by ( Cecilia Kang | More About Cecilia Kang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

During the highly partisan hearing, Republicans accused Ms. Khan, 34, who has carried out an aggressive agenda of lawsuits and investigations against tech companies, of “harassing” businesses. The lawmakers, who repeatedly cut off Ms. Khan midsentence, also ridiculed her for the F.T.C.’s recent losses in antitrust cases and for wasting government resources. “You are now 0 for 4 in merger trials,” Representative Kevin Kiley, Republican of California, said at the House Judiciary Committee hearing. “Why are you losing so much?”The blistering session capped a bruising week that has brought greater scrutiny to the F.T.C. after another judge decided in May against its attempt to block Meta’s acquisition of a virtual reality app maker, Within.

Persons: Lina Khan, Ms, Khan, Khan midsentence, Kevin Kiley, Khan’s Organizations: Federal Trade Commission, Activision Locations: California

Musk and Meta enter the A.I. ringThe rivalry between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk won’t be confined to social media posts or a cage fight. Meta is further along than Mr. Musk in developing a commercial A.I. The social media giant is set to release an open-source version of its A.I. Well before Meta took a turn into the metaverse, the firm’s programmers developed LLaMA, an A.I.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Meta, Yann LeCun Organizations: Meta, Microsoft, Google, Financial Times, OpenAI Locations: buzziest

When we — Brian X. Chen and Mike Isaac, both longtime tech journalists — got an assignment from our editor last week to review Threads, the new social network from Meta, it was like a blast from the past. Both of us have written about social networks for over a dozen years. The arrival of Threads, which was spun out of Instagram and is aimed as a prime place for public, real-time conversations, shakes up that scene. We wondered how we would take to it since one of us — Brian — is a casual Twitter user, and the other — Mike — is a longtime Twitter addict, which might affect our experience with Meta’s new app. Here’s what we found about Threads’ pros and cons and whether it might become a part of your life.

Persons: Brian X, Chen, Mike Isaac, —, Brian —, Mike — Organizations: Meta, Facebook, Twitter Locations: Meta

☆ Tax prep companies shared private taxpayer data with Google and Meta for years, congressional probe finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Some of the tax-prep companies still do not know whether the data they shared continues to be held by the tech platforms, the report said. The Warren aide told CNN it was unclear whether Meta knew it was inappropriately using taxpayer data at the time. The investigation found that all three tax-prep companies had discontinued their use of Meta’s pixel after The Markup’s report last November. “The scope of ‘taxpayer information’ is broad by design,” Rosenthal said, adding that tax-prep companies can be sued for “knowingly” or “recklessly” leaking that information. Depending on the strength of the allegations, the tax-prep companies could quickly be forced into a binding settlement, said a former FTC official who requested anonymity in order to speak more freely.

Persons: “, ”, David Vladeck, Vladeck, Democratic Sen, Elizabeth Warren, Meta, Warren, ‘, Sens, Ron Wyden, Richard Blumenthal, Tammy Duckworth, Sheldon Whitehouse, Sen, Bernie Sanders, Katie Porter, TIGTA didn’t, Block, TaxSlayer didn’t, TaxAct, TaxSlayer, TurboTax, Steven Rosenthal, ” Rosenthal Organizations: CNN, Meta, Google, Georgetown University, Federal Trade Commission, Democratic, FTC, Internal Revenue Service, Justice Department, Tax Administration, Intuit, IRS, Urban, Brookings Tax Locations: United States, Google’s

☆ Elon Musk announces a new AI company
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Elon Musk on Wednesday announced the formation of a new company focused on artificial intelligence, after months of teasing plans to build a rival to ChatGPT. In an interview with then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson in April, Musk said teased plans for his new AI venture. The announcement of Musk’s latest venture comes at a precarious moment for Musk. The turbulence at Twitter comes after months of Musk alienating some users and advertisers by slashing staff, pushing through controversial policy changes and making a number of incendiary remarks. In addition to Twitter, Musk runs several other companies, including Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink and The Boring Company.

Persons: CNN — Elon Musk, Musk, “, Tesla, OpenAI, ” Musk, Tucker Carlson, “ We’re, ” Organizations: CNN, Wednesday, Fox News, Twitter, Meta, SpaceX, The Boring Company Locations: ChatGPT

☆ Microsoft can close its Activision merger, federal judge rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —A federal judge will not block Microsoft (MSFT) from closing its $69 billion deal to acquire video game giant Activision Blizzard, a defeat for US regulators who had asked for a temporary injunction while legal challenges to the merger unfold. Microsoft could potentially finalize the deal with Activision in a matter of days, ahead of a July 18 contractual deadline, or the parties could mutually seek to extend that timeframe. During a five-day hearing last month in federal court, Microsoft executives including CEO Satya Nadella testified that properties such as “Call of Duty” would not be restricted from competitors following the deal’s close. UK officials also previously moved to block the Activision merger in April, citing some of the same concerns the FTC raised in its case and triggering an appeal from Microsoft. “Microsoft and Activision have agreed with the CMA that a stay of the litigation in the UK would be in the public interest and the parties have made a joint submission … to this effect.”

Persons: ”, “, Jacqueline Scott Corley, Corley, Satya Nadella, Tuesday’s, Microsoft’s, “ We’re, Brad Smith, we’ve, Bobby Kotick, Meta’s, ” Douglas Farrar, we’ll, ” Smith Organizations: CNN, Microsoft, Activision, US, Court, Northern, Northern District of, Sony PlayStation, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Regulators, Nvidia, Nintendo, “, PlayStation, Appeals, Ninth Circuit, Markets, CMA Locations: Northern District, Northern District of California, ”, San Francisco

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