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☆ Influencers debate leaving Twitter, but where would they go?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

PHILADELPHIA — Pariss Chandler built a community for Black tech workers on Twitter that eventually became the foundation for her own recruitment company. I have lost hope in that,” said Chandler, 31, founder of Black Tech Pipeline, a jobs board and recruitment website. She now has more than 60,000 followers and her own company connecting Black tech workers with companies large and small. “This is the exact reason that Musk bought Twitter and didn’t just build his own social network,” Donovan said. “I’m personally going to stay on Twitter until there is really not a reason to stay anymore.

But none of that explains why political campaigns have been turning away from Facebook. Political ads have always been a small part of Facebook's overall business. The pandemic accelerated that trend since so many consumers turned to streaming platforms while stuck at home, and content for cord-cutters proliferated. Ad tracking firm AdImpact projected that of the $9.7 billion spent on political ads this cycle, $1.4 billion would go to connected TVs. Apple's crackdown has indeed diminished Facebook's position in political advertising.

☆ Facebook likely has your contact info — even if you never signed up for its services. Here's how to remove it.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Speaking of Instagram: We reported that its parent company, Meta, likely has your contact information, even if you never shared it yourself — and even if you never signed up to use any of its services, including Instagram, Facebook, or Messenger. Facebook probably has your phone number, even if you never shared it. Facebook quietly rolled out the service, which lets people check whether the firm holds their contact information (such as their phone number or email address), and delete and block it. How to wipe your phone number from Facebook. In a separate leaked memo, engineers were told to work with "maniacal" urgency and bring their ideas to Musk directly.

☆ Stocks: Dow on track for best month in more than 45 years
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN Business —The Dow fell slightly midday Monday but is still up 14% this month, putting it on track for its best monthly gain since January 1976. Still, it’s fitting that on Halloween, candy maker Hershey (HSY) is trading at an all-time high, Shares are up nearly 25% this year. That’s nearly half of the Dow stocks. Oil stocks and health care companies are leading the market, with Chevron (CVX), Merck (MRK) and Amgen (AMGN) topping the Dow leaders list. This list of well known, brand-name stocks trading at record highs is further proof of that point.

☆ Elon Musk owning Twitter should give everyone pause
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Seth Fiegerman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Elon Musk, the mercurial billionaire, had agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion the month before only to begin raising doubts about the deal soon after. Now, Musk joins the list of rich, white men who single-handedly control social platforms that collectively reach and shape the lives of billions of people around the world. And Musk, who will reportedly have “absolute control over Twitter” according to a shareholders’ agreement, promises to be uniquely disruptive. To those in the first camp, Musk serving as the sole decider at Twitter may be cause for celebration. Elon Musk is a conglomerate, and each arm of his empire potentially gives him more leverage, real or imagined, in advocating for the others.

☆ Big Tech falters on dreary earnings and forecasts for Q4— Meta has worst week ever, Amazon tumbles 13%
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Other than Apple , it was a brutal earnings week for Big Tech. Alphabet , Amazon , Meta and Microsoft combined lost over $350 billion in market cap after offering concerning commentary for the third quarter and the remainder of the year. Between slowing revenue growth — or declines in Meta's case — and efforts to control costs, the tech giants have found themselves in an unfamiliar position after unbridled growth in the past decade. In Amazon's ad business, revenue growth accelerated to 30% from 21%, topping analysts' estimates. Analyst Aaron Kessler at Raymond James lowered his price target on Amazon stock to $130 from $164 after the results.

☆ Anxious Twitter users find few alternatives to platform after Musk deal closes
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

But with few obvious alternatives, Twitter users may be left with nowhere else to go. Other platforms, like Mastodon, have promised a more decentralized social media experience. “Excited to see what you accomplish here,” retired basketball star Shaquille O’Neill tweeted at Musk on Wednesday ahead of the deal closing. Musk has said he would restore Trump’s Twitter account, though Trump has previously said he would remain on Truth Social. By unbanning users and unwinding content moderation efforts, Musk could make Twitter less palatable for its most vulnerable users, typically women, members of the LGBTQ community, and people of color, according to safety experts.

☆ Meta fined $24.7M for campaign finance disclosure violations
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

SEATTLE — A Washington state judge on Wednesday fined Facebook parent company Meta nearly $25 million for repeatedly and intentionally violating campaign finance disclosure law, in what is believed to be the largest campaign finance penalty in U.S. history. Where’s the corporate responsibility?”In 2018, following Ferguson’s first lawsuit, Facebook agreed to pay $238,000 and committed to transparency in campaign finance and political advertising. It subsequently said it would stop selling political ads in the state rather than comply with the requirements. “Meta was aware that its announced ‘ban’ would not, and did not, stop all such advertising from continuing to be displayed on its platform,” North wrote last month in finding that Meta violation’s were intentional. North fined Meta $30,000 for each of its 822 violations — about $24.7 million.

☆ Sure, Twitter and Facebook have deepened polarization — just not in the way you think
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

The conventional wisdom blames social media for the widening divide because the timing lines up. Maybe the problem isn't that social media has driven us all into like-minded bubbles. Maybe it's that social media has obliterated the bubbles we've all lived in for centuries. On top of that, Törnberg adds, there's the way people react to all the new ideas that social media exposes them to. And as one leading social media and polarization researcher told me, the model is not empirical, which makes it hard to test.

☆ Amazon set to report third-quarter earnings after the bell
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Annie Palmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon and then CEO of web services at Amazon.com Inc., speaks during the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Summit in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Wednesday, April 19, 2017. Amazon reports third-quarter earnings after the bell on Thursday. Those challenges have coincided with a slowdown in Amazon's core retail business, as consumers returned to shopping in stores. The forecast could signal how much demand Amazon expects to see during the holiday shopping period. Amazon shares have slid 31% so far this year, while the S&P 500 index has dropped nearly 20% over the same period.

☆ Why is Mark Zuckerberg so obsessed with building the metaverse? It has a lot to do with Apple.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

It proved a huge blow to ad-dependant social platforms, Facebook top among them, which said it lost $10 billion because of the change. Zuckerberg insisted that "fortifying" Facebook's business against the likes of Apple is not the only reason he's investing heavily in building the metaverse. Zuckerberg sees four platforms in Facebook's futureRight now, the metaverse stack as Zuckerberg envisions it is based on "four major platforms" being developed. The first is Horizon Worlds, with user avatars making it more akin to a "social metaverse platform," he said. Zuckerberg seems keen to give Apple a taste of its own medicineBeyond trying to give his company a path away from being hit by the decisions of Apple, Zuckerberg also seems keen to give Apple a taste of its own medicine.

Interpol's member countries have raised concerns about how to prepare for possible metaverse crime, Madan Oberoi, Interpol's executive director for technology and innovation, told Reuters. "Some of the crimes may be new to this medium, some of the existing crimes will be enabled by the medium and taken to a new level," he said. Phishing and scams could operate differently when augmented reality and virtual reality are involved, Oberoi said. Virtual reality could also facilitate crime in the physical world, Oberoi said. Users may also create virtual worlds with "extremist rules," the report said.

☆ Facebook’s rules ban promoting weapons. Some gun sellers are running ads anyway.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Gun retailers are running ads promoting firearms for sale on Facebook and Instagram, a tech industry watchdog said Wednesday in a report that shows apparent holes in how the apps enforce their own rules against ads that promote the use or sale of weapons. The company declined to comment on specific ads until it had seen the full report, which the Tech Transparency Project provided to NBC News ahead of releasing it. Tech Transparency ProjectMeta relies largely on automated systems to review ads, and it has some human reviewers. Tech Transparency ProjectGun ads have tripped up Facebook and Instagram for years, according to outside investigations. Facebook lets buyers and sellers violate its rules 10 times before they’re kicked off, The Washington Post reported in June.

☆ Metaverse-obsessed Mark Zuckerberg refuses to cut costs. It's no wonder the stock tanked
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Club holding Meta Platforms (META) reported mixed third-quarter results and weak forward guidance after the closing bell Wednesday. While beating expectations, revenue for Q3 dropped 4% to $27.71 billion. As for profitability, Family of Apps operating income came in at $9.34 billion, short versus expectations of $9.65 billion. Facebook Global Average Revenue per User (ARPU): $9.41 versus expectations of $9.83. Capital expenditures (capex) guidance was tightened to a range of $32 billion to $33 billion versus $30 billion to $34 billion previously forecast and above the $30.41 billion consensus.

☆ For widows on Facebook, updating relationship status is complicated
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

But on Facebook (FB), these changes come with additional complications due to the limited number of relationship status options available and the impact that changes to this status can have on whether a marriage is represented on the deceased’s Facebook (FB) memorial pages. “The relationship status is such a source of deep pain when a widow chooses to proceed with a new relationship,” she wrote in the letter. A separate Change.org petition started in September 2021 received nearly 20,000 signatures asking Facebook to retain the “widowed from” status permanently and allow users to create a new relationship status if they want. Facebook also allows users to change their relationship status to “widowed” and specify a partner’s name if a partner’s account has been memorialized. Sandberg lists Bernthal as her spouse on Facebook; Goldberg’s account is a memorial page, where it lists six former places of employment.

☆ Here's what to look for when the Club's 5 tech holdings report this week
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

The world's biggest tech companies will be put under the microscope this week when they report earnings for the quarter ended Sept. 30. Club holdings Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META), Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) have all been bogged down by inflation, weaker consumer demand and a slowing global economy. Here's what to expect when all 5 tech holdings report. At the same time, Goldman analysts predicted Microsoft's enterprise cloud computing business, Azure, would remain competitive, with 38% year-over-year growth. Apple (AAPL) Apple is set to report fiscal fourth-quarter results on Thursday.

☆ Facebook and Google face skeptics on Wall Street this week amid digital ads collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Wall Street is bracing for disaster in online advertising. Facebook parent Meta shares are down more than 60% this year, and the company is expected to report a second straight drop in revenue. UBS said it would "reduce estimates and price targets across the online advertising group" due to both the economic environment and a strong U.S. dollar. In Snap's report on Thursday, the company said results are being hit by a combination of platform changes, economic challenges and competition. For a second straight quarter, Snap said it wouldn't be providing guidance for the coming period because of difficulty in predicting the economic trajectory.

☆ Facebook Says It Is Prepared to Block News Content in Canada
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Paul Vieira | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

OTTAWA— Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc. has warned Canada it is prepared to block the sharing of Canadian news content—like it did in Australia last year—unless the Liberal government amends legislation that would compel big digital companies to compensate domestic media outlets. The legislation is under review by a parliamentary committee, and lawmakers voted this week to stop hearing further testimony from witnesses. Facebook said it wasn’t given an opportunity to testify, so late Friday it issued a statement outlining the company’s concerns with Canada’s proposed rules—and a warning.

☆ Snapchat leaves San Francisco, giving up its office lease in the city as part of a major reorganization
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Snapchat no longer has an office presence in San Francisco. Snap's San Francisco lease wasn't due to end until November 2024, according to another person familiar with the situation. The move is another blow to San Francisco, formerly a mecca for tech workers and glitzy modern offices. The company opened the 33,000 square foot San Francisco office in 2017, shortly after it went public that year. The company is headquartered in Los Angeles, where it has more than 400,000 square feet of office space in Santa Monica.

Under the law, which took effect this week, companies must share with authorities users' information if they post content constituting crimes, including misleading information. Social media companies are required to appoint Turkish representatives. The law has mainly been criticised for imposing jailtime on social media users and journalists spreading "disinformation", but it also builds on legislation imposed on social media companies in 2020, with much tougher measures. "I think (the law) is like a wish list - they put whatever they can think of in there," Akdeniz said. "There is an attempt to regulate social media platforms that could be a model law for authoritarian regimes."

☆ Facebook and TikTok are approving ads with ‘blatant’ misinformation about voting in midterms, researchers say
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

In an experiment, the researchers submitted 20 ads with inaccurate claims to Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. TikTok approved 90% of ads that contained blatantly false or misleading information, the researchers found. The researchers withdrew the ads after going through the approval process, if they were approved, so the ads containing misinformation were not shown to users. Last month, TikTok took additional steps to safeguard the veracity of political content ahead of the midterms. Google also took steps in September to protect against election misinformation, elevating trustworthy information and displaying it more prominently across services including search and YouTube.

☆ Snap plunges more than 25% on third-quarter revenue miss
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Snap shares plummeted more than 25% in extended trading on Thursday after the social media company reported weaker-than-expected revenue for the third quarter. In August, Snap announced that it would lay off 20% of the company's roughly 6,000 employees as part of a major restructuring plan. Snap added that revenue growth is likely to keep decelerating in the fourth quarter, as that period "has historically been relatively more dependent on brand-oriented advertising revenue," which declined in the latest period. Snap also ended the production of its Snap Originals premium shows. Snap debuted the subscription service in June as a way for users to access exclusive and pre-release features for $3.99 a month.

You can try to contact Facebook via email, but responses can be slow and aren't assured, either. How to contact Facebook customer supportIf you want to contact Facebook, you'll first need to log into your account. How to ask the Facebook Help Community a questionFind the Facebook Help Center from the question mark dropdown menu. Facebook; Business InsiderIf you want to contact Facebook, you'll first need to log into your account. How to contact Facebook via other social media platformsAnother way to attempt to connect with Facebook is to reach out to them through or mention them on another social media platform.

☆ Why the 'Amazonification' of startups isn't always a good thing
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Jordan Parker Erb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Plus, we've got news on actual robots, who are threatening to pit humans against machines. That's not always a good thing. Companies love to hire Amazon alumni who inject their firms with Jeff Bezos' metrics-focused style. Amazon-trained leaders (sometimes known as "Jeff Bots") have founded more than 650 startups, and swaths have joined the industry's top C-suites, contributing to the "Amazonification" of said firms. Now, humans need to determine how to synchronize our labor with the souls of new machines — before things get out of hand.

☆ Death threats, insomnia, and near-minimum wage: A Meta customer service contractor reveals what it's like to be on the frontline of Facebook customer complaints
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A Meta customer service agent working for third-party firm Teleperformance revealed the job has become so stressful, she suffers from insomnia. Because sometimes she's powerless to help Meta users, it's tough to earn productivity bonuses, she said. She can investigate, troubleshoot, and as a last resort escalate the matter to the internal Meta team. Despite not being empowered to help, Meta customer support agents are also instructed not to use words such as "sorry" or "unfortunately," Charlotte said. *This article uses a pseudonym that was chosen by Insider, which is aware of the Meta customer service contractor's real identity.

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