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☆ Citi names one 'compelling emerging' theme to play real estate — and stocks and REITs to buy
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-21 | by ( Weizhen Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Real estate companies around the world are eyeing one area right now: data centers, according to Citi. Citi noted the push toward data centers is being driven by major themes such as artificial intelligence and nearshoring. More industrial companies are looking to convert warehouses into data centers, Citi noted. Stocks to benefit The bank named three "direct beneficiaries" of rising data center demand: U.S.- listed real estate investment trust Digital Realty Trust , data center firm Equinix and Australia-listed NextDC . Paul Hanna | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesReal estate companies around the world are eyeing one area right now: data centers, according to Citi.

Persons: Stocks, There's, Keppel DC REIT, Paul Hanna Organizations: Citi, Digital Realty Trust, Digital Realty, Equinix, Nvidia, Keppel DC, Industrial Trust, Inc, Talavera de la Reina, Bloomberg, Getty Locations: datacenters, Equinix, Australia, Singapore, India, Talavera de, Spain

☆ An intensifying Republican-led legal campaign alleging big advertisers colluded to defund conservative media is rankling the ad industry
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-29 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The Judiciary Committee's probe has sought documents related to discussions about advertising on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast. GARM and its members developed a "brand safety floor and suitability framework" for the industry to adopt. Jordan and the House Judiciary Committee issued wide-ranging subpoenas to both GARM and the WFA last year as part of the probe. The CEOs were also told to preserve all existing and future records related to their companies' work with GARM. Advertisement"GARM's members and board members are senior advertisers," a marketing executive close to GARM said.

Persons: —, Jim Jordan, GARM, Sherman, Jordan, Ørsted, Joe Rogan, Elon, Vivian Zink, Ørsted didn't, Rob Rakowitz, Unilever —, Breitbart, Joe Rogan's, Ben Shapiro, Michael Brochstein, Jim Jordan's, Lou Paskalis, Ad Fontes Media's Paskalis, Paskalis Organizations: Service, Global Alliance, Responsible Media, Business, Spotify, Syfy, NBCU, Getty, World Federation, YouTube, WFA, Diageo, GroupM, Procter, Gamble, Unilever, Steer Team, Fox News, Daily, Republican, Federalist, US Department of State, Ad Fontes Media Locations: Ohio, GARM, Jordan, Texas

☆ A new Netflix docuseries unravels what it calls a ‘cult’ for TikTok dancers
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-28 | by ( Jacqui Palumbo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

CNN —Over two years ago, a 40-minute-long public plea made on Instagram Live rippled across social media. Melanie and Miranda had performed together as the Wilking Sisters, but the family said Derrick had disappeared from their lives. Until then, it’s unlikely that Derrick’s millions of followers would have noticed anything amiss, based on her social media accounts. Melanie Wilking and Miranda Derrick (formerly Wilking) built up a following together on social media platforms including YouTube and TikTok as the Wilking Sisters. They have maintained through social media posts that Miranda's issues with her family are a personal dispute.

Persons: Melanie Wilking, Miranda —, Miranda Derrick —, Melanie, Miranda, Derrick, James Derrick, Ellen DeGeneres, Miranda Derrick, James " BDash, Robert Shinn —, Kevin “ Konkrete ” Davis, BDash, Aubrey Fisher, Kylie Douglas, Davis, Fisher, Douglas, Instagram, Shinn, —, Isaiah Shinn, ”, Hannah, “, Derek Doneen, we’d, Priscylla Lee, Priscylla, Leigh, Melanie Lee, Jessica Acevedo, — Priscylla, Lee, ” BDash, it’s, Robert, Hannah Shinn, James, Matt Winkelmeyer, ” Shinn “, ” Doneen, you’re, God ”, Amy Carlson, Max, God, LHW, Jane Schoenbrun, Caleb Organizations: CNN, YouTube, Netflix, 7M Films, 7M, Internet, Shekinah Church, The Recording, Warner Bros ., Blair, The New York Times Locations: Los Angeles, TikTok, Shekinah, Korean

☆ Check out the pitch deck productivity startup Read AI used to land $21 million to fuel its meeting-summary generator
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The startup, Read AI, closed a $21 million Series A funding round in April. Goodwater Capital led the round, with participation from existing investor Madrona Venture Group, which led the startup's $10 million seed round in 2021. David Shin, who co-founded Read AI alongside Robert Williams and Elliott Waldron, told Business Insider that the generative AI boom over the last year has supercharged what the startup can offer clients. Read AI offers multiple pricing plans, including a basic, free version for individual users as well as enterprise and enterprise plus accounts that cost $22.50 and $29.75 a month per user, respectively. Check out the 23-slide presentation Read AI used to raise $21 million in Series A funding.

Persons: David Shin, Robert Williams, Elliott Waldron, Read Organizations: Goodwater Capital, Madrona Venture Group, Business, Microsoft, Google, Read, Bloomberg Locations: Seattle

☆ Congress may be going after the wrong social network
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-16 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Chew, meanwhile, clapped back, “American social companies don’t have a good track record with data privacy and user security. But if lawmakers were serious about protecting the digital data of millions of American social media users, targeting TikTok alone is a limited way to achieve this goal. Separately, US intelligence authorities have said that Russian operatives were able to exploit US-based social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter as part of an election meddling campaign in the lead-up to the 2016 US presidential vote. Sherman said he thinks some lawmakers are raising important national security concerns regarding TikTok. Ultimately, Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, called the bill a “missed opportunity” for Congress to take real action regarding their concerns about US user data.

☆ Don Lemon says Elon Musk canceled his deal with X after ‘tense’ interview
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Don Lemon’s partnership with Elon Musk went down in flames Wednesday, hours after the former CNN anchor conducted an interview with the erratic billionaire for the debut episode of his new independent web-based show. But a spokesperson for Lemon told CNN that the media personality expects Musk to honor the financial terms of the agreement. “Don has a deal with X and expects to be paid for it,” the spokesperson said. “If we have to go to court we will.”Musk has claimed to believe in free speech absolutism, but he has repeatedly taken steps to limit the speech of critics. And I own this one as well.”This story has been updated with a statement posted by X.

Persons: Don Lemon’s, Elon Musk, “ Elon, ” Lemon, Musk, Don Lemon, ”, Lemon, X, “ Don, ” Musk, “, Nikki Haley Organizations: New, New York CNN, Elon, CNN, X, watchdogs, GOP Locations: New York

☆ Novo Nordisk market cap surpasses Tesla on new obesity pill trial data
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-08 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Liselotte Sabroe | AFP | Getty ImagesWegovy obesity drug maker Novo Nordisk surpassed Tesla in market value, after fresh early trial data showed positive results for its new experimental weight loss pill. Novo Nordisk is now the 12th most valuable company in the world, with a market cap of $604 billion — ahead of Tesla's $569 billion, according to FactSet data. 8The uptick of Thursday extends a months-long rally for Novo Nordisk, as excitement grows around weight loss drugs and their potential wider applications. The early amycretin data marks a fresh milestone for Novo Nordisk, potentially offering a more effective and less intrusive alternative to its already widely successful injection-based Wegovy and Ozempic drugs. Wegovy showed weight loss of 6% in a 12-week trial, while Ozempic is a diabetes treatment.

Persons: Liselotte Sabroe, Eli Lilly, amycretin, Martin Holst Lange, Lange Organizations: AFP, Getty, Novo Nordisk, Tesla, Microsoft Corp MSFT, Apple Inc, AAPL, NVIDIA Corp NVDA Technology, Saudi Aramco, SA Energy, Inc, AMZN Consumer, GOOGL, Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B, Company LLY Healthcare, Broadcom Inc, AVGO Technology, Taiwan Semiconductor TSM, Novo Nordisk NVO, Finance, JPMorgan Chase JPM, Reuters Locations: Bagsvaerd, Copenhagen, Denmark, Danish, London, Saudi, Mar, Europe

☆ Top AI photo generators produce misleading election-related images, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CCDH researchers tested AI image generators Midjourney, Stability AI’s DreamStudio, OpenAI’s ChatGPT Plus and Microsoft Image Creator. They found that each tool could be prompted to create misleading images related to either US presidential candidates or voting security. The researchers also used common “jailbreaking” techniques to try to get around any potential restrictions on creating misleading images. Overall, researchers say they found that the AI image generators created election disinformation in 41% of their test runs. Overall, the platforms were more likely to produce misleading images related to voting and ballots than of candidates.

Persons: David Holz, Donald Trump, CCDH, Trump, Joe Biden, Midjourney, Biden, ” DreamStudio, ”, ’ Organizations: New, New York CNN, CNN, Microsoft, BBC, Trump, ” Locations: New York, United States, American

☆ Google employee charged with stealing AI trade secrets
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Hannah Rabinowitz | Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A Google employee was charged Tuesday with stealing artificial intelligence trade secrets from the tech giant while secretly working with two Chinese-based companies in the AI industry. Linwei Ding, who also goes by Leon Ding, is charged with four counts of theft of trade secrets. As part of his responsibilities at Google, prosecutors say, Ding helped to develop the software deployed in Google’s supercomputing data centers. Ding was a junior employee, Google spokesperson José Castañeda told CNN, and the company monitors file transfers to cloud storage platforms including Google Drive and Dropbox. “We have strict safeguards to prevent the theft of our confidential commercial information and trade secrets,” Castañeda said.

Persons: Linwei Ding, Leon Ding, “, General Merrick Garland, ” Ding, Ding, ”, José Castañeda, ” Castañeda Organizations: CNN, Google, supercomputing, Justice Department, FBI Locations: America, California, China, United States

☆ In Shopify's app store, 'people are fighting it out on the margins' as the market becomes oversaturated and merchants cut costs
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Its S-1 filing mentions the word "Shopify" 198 times, and it said that about 77.6% of its annual recurring revenue came from Shopify merchants. About a third of the deals FE International facilitates are for businesses within the Shopify ecosystem, Smale said. Smale said that lately, he has worked with a "wider variety of acquirers" quietly looking to scoop up Shopify apps. He said that Shopify apps make good acquisition targets because they tend to be profitable and not venture-backed. "I always say Shopify SaaS applications are so great to build because they're kind of like building a SaaS on training wheels," Gazdecki said.

Persons: Shopify, Rachael Jones, Brent Murri, They've, Murri, Andrew Bialecki, Klaviyo, Dennis Hegstad, there's, Hegstad, Andy Cloyd, it's, We're, Thomas Smale, Smale, Andrew Gazdecki, Acquire.com, Gazdecki, Tobi Lütke, Lucas Jackson, wouldn't Organizations: Shopify's, Business, Boston Globe, FE International, Reuters Locations: Shopify, Klaviyo

☆ Alphabet's Gemini AI misstep is the latest reason Cramer is getting fed up with the stock
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Jim thinks Google has lost focus as it struggles to shake off the narrative that it's lagging in the AI race. With all these things lining up against Google, Jim has been becoming increasingly wary of the stock. Even though Alphabet stock keeps getting dinged for AI misses, Bernstein analysts "don't subscribe to the generative AI risk to Google Search" for now. At the Club, we believe Google's AI chatbot Gemini could be competitive in attracting users, but the advertising opportunity may not be the same. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

Persons: Jim Cramer, Sundar Pichai, Pichai, Jim, Google, Bard, Gemini —, —, Axel Springer, they're, Bernstein, playbook, Meta, haven't, Jim Cramer's Organizations: Google, Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla, The Club, Politico, U.S, Club, NFL, YouTube, National Football League, Management, Sunday, Meta, Walmart, CNBC, Future Publishing, Getty Locations: U.S

☆ Expedia is cutting 1,500 jobs as travel demand slows
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-27 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

New York CNN —Expedia, the online travel agency, is eliminating about 1,500 employees as part of an “organizational and technological transformation.”The cuts, which amount to nearly 9% of its 17,100-strong global workforce, come amid slowing travel demand following a post-pandemic boom and a broader shakeup at the company, including a new CEO. Expedia (EXPE) said in a regulatory filing that the cuts will result in an $80 million to $100 million charge to its bottom line because of severance and compensation benefits costs. Over time, Expedia has acquired several online traveling booking platforms including Hotels.com, Vrbo, Orbitz, Hotwire.com and Travelocity. An Expedia spokesperson said that the changes “will result in the elimination of some roles” that “allows the company to invest in core strategic areas for growth.”Expedia had previously announced that CEO Peter Kern was departing his role. Ariane Gorin, who is president of Expedia for Business unit, will take over the position in May when Kern’s contract ends.

Persons: New York CNN — Expedia, “, Expedia, wasn’t, ”, ” Expedia, Peter Kern, Ariane Gorin, Max Organizations: New, New York CNN, CNN Locations: New York

LONDON (AP) — The European Union said Monday it is investigating whether TikTok has broken the bloc's strict new digital rules for cleaning up social media and keeping internet users safe. The European Commission, the EU's executive branch, said it has “opened formal proceedings to assess" whether TikTok has breached the Digital Services Act, which took effect last year. The commission is focusing on whether TikTok is doing enough to curb “systemic risks” stemming from its design, including "algorithmic systems" that might stimulate “behavioral addictions." The EU has deemed nearly two dozen of the biggest online and social media platforms including TikTok, as ones that deserve the highest level of scrutiny under the DSA and hefty fines if they fail to comply. The bloc is already investigating Elon Musk’s X, previously known as Twitter, for breaches including failure to curb the spread of illegal content.

Persons: TikTok, ” Thierry Breton, We’ll, Elon Musk’s Organizations: Union, European Commission, Digital Services, DSA, EU

☆ Creator+ is looking to sell parts of its business as it winds down after raising $12 million to make movies starring influencers
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Dan Whateley | Amanda Perelli | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The company began winding down operations at the end of last year, a source familiar with the matter told BI. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Creator+'s business launched in 2021 and aimed to produce six feature films that year that would begin airing in 2022, cofounder Jonathan Shambroom previously told BI. "The company reviewed acquisition offers for various aspects of its business — completed films, films in development, technology, brand IP, etc. Investors and industry professionals told BI that creators are better served as a vehicle to launch a separate business in areas like e-commerce rather than as a product or customer on their own.

Persons: Benjamin Grubbs, Jonathan Shambroom, TikTokers Griffin Johnson, Noah Beck, YouTubers, Jason Kilar's, Shambroom, Grubbs, Jane, —, It's, Rex Woodbury, they're Organizations: Business, Hulu, Netflix, . Entertainment, Amp Studios, BI, VC Locations: TikTokers, influencers

☆ Facebook is still thriving 20 years later. Here’s how
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( Eva Rothenberg | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Twenty years after its launch, social media giant Facebook continues to show unprecedented staying power after burying early competitors like MySpace and Friendster and establishing a distinct foothold in the burgeoning social media landscape. Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesStrong social connection was the linchpin of Facebook, differentiating it from other primordial social media sites. MySpace’s monthly active users had trickled down to an estimated 35 million in mid-2011, according to a Comscore report at the time. In contrast, by September of that year, Facebook was seeing almost 800 million monthly active users. In April 2012, the company acquired photo-centric social media platform Instagram for about $1 billion.

Persons: Harvard University undergrad, Mark Zuckerberg, “, ”, Pablo Boczkowski, alums, ” Zuckerberg, Daniel Acker, Justin Timberlake, Friendster’s, Friendster, Boczkowski, Meta’s, ” Boczkowski, WhatsApp, Meta Organizations: New, New York CNN, Harvard University, Facebook, Communication Studies, Northwestern University, Harvard, New York Times, Bloomberg, Getty, MySpace, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Google, Meta, Inc, “, TikTok, Twitter Locations: New York, Zurich, India, Brazil, Argentina, Italy

☆ Big Tech's AI spending plans mean big business for 3 portfolio stocks, including Nvidia
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | In Kevinstankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Some of Amazon's spending is likely to go toward its custom AI chips, known as Trainium and Inferentia. But the Seattle-based tech giant also buys Nvidia chips. On Thursday's post-earnings call, CEO Andy Jassy said AWS offers the "most expansive collection of compute instances with Nvidia chips." Alphabet's spending on AI chips has typically been split between its custom chips designed in partnership with Broadcom, known as Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), and Nvidia's offerings. Including networking products that stitch together parts of the data center, about 15% of Broadcom's semiconductor revenue was tied to generative AI spending in fiscal 2023.

Persons: Eaton, Brian Olsavsky, FactSet, Amazon's capex, Andy Jassy, Meta's capex, Susan Li, Li, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Meta, it's, —, Amy Hood, It's, chatbot ChatGPT, AMD's, Ruth Porat, Porat, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim, Florian Gaertner Organizations: Big Tech, Nvidia, Broadcom, Eaton, Microsoft, Meta, Google, Web Services, Facebook, Devices, OpenAI, supercomputing, TPUs, CNBC, YouTube, Photothek, Getty Locations: Eaton, Seattle

That's up from $4.65 billion, or $1.76 per share, a year earlier. Revenue grew 25% to $40.11 billion from $32.17 billion. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of $4.82 per share on revenue $39.1 billion, according to FactSet Research. For the current quarter, Meta is forecasting revenue of of $34.5 billion to $37 billion, above Wall Street's expectations. Analysts are projecting revenue of $33.9 billion for the first quarter.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, ” Meta, Zuckerberg Organizations: Inc, Menlo, Revenue, Research, ” Locations: , California

☆ Sextortion is fastest-growing crime targeting minors in North America – and social media companies can do more to stop it, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-27 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

NCRI, a nonprofit, found cybercriminals used the social apps Instagram, Snapchat and Wizz to find and connect with their marks. And social media platforms should include a distinct category to report sextortion — as Snapchat did in early 2023. Parents and educators should "combat the belief that photos sent on Snapchat disappear, which can create a false sense of security," the NCRI study recommends. The NCRI study also strongly criticized Wizz, concluding: "Sextortion on Wizz is pervasive and dangerous. Apple's App Store and Google Play can also help, the NCRI study suggested, by carefully monitoring complaints about sextortion associated with social media apps, and enforcing their existing policies.

Persons: cybercriminals, Wizz, Paul Raffile, Alex Goldenberg, TikTok, Scribd, sextortion, Snapchat, Goldenberg, screenshotted, General Raúl Torrez, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, — Kevin Collier, Ben Goggin Organizations: Yahoo, Network, Research, FBI, Yahoo Boys, NBC News, CNBC, NBC, Secret Service, Facebook, YouTube, Meta, gov, National Center for Locations: North America, Australia, West Africa, Michigan, Wizz, New Mexico, U.S

☆ Meta passes $1 trillion in market cap
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Alex Koller | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., center, departs from federal court in San Jose, Calif., on Dec. 20, 2022. Meta 's market cap surpassed $1 trillion during intraday trading Wednesday, hitting the trillion-dollar mark for the first time since June 2021. Shares of Meta were up 2% Wednesday. Microsoft also met a market cap milestone on Wednesday, surpassing $3 trillion in value nearly two weeks after overtaking Apple as the world's most valuable public company. Apple has since reclaimed its spot at the top.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Organizations: Meta, Inc, Calif, Microsoft, Apple Locations: San Jose

☆ Meta was our second-best stock performer last year. Here's what we see in store for 2024
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-05 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Meta Platforms ' savvy use of artificial intelligence and untapped potential in business messaging are reasons why we see more upside ahead for the stock in 2024. The stock nearly tripled last year and was the second-best performing Club stock behind Nvidia . Here's a timeline of Meta's stock performance around earnings in 2023. Outside of AI, Meta continues to grow its successful business messaging across its services. Given that TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance is facing backlash from U.S. officials, a potential TikTok ban in the U.S. would be a major catalyst for Meta stock.

Persons: Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Jim Cramer, We're, ByteDance, Jim Cramer's, Jim, Benoit Tessier Organizations: Nvidia, Meta, Facebook, UBS, Hamas, Reality Labs, Meta's, Apple, CNBC, Inc, Viva Technology, Porte de Locations: U.S, Porte, Paris

☆ I've made $27K renting my clothes to strangers. Here's how I started this side hustle that takes 1 hour a day.
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-08 | by ( Pooja Shah | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

I was shocked at how many dresses she had for the wedding and asked her how she did it. She told me she rented them on a platform called By Rotation , a website where you can rent out clothes and accessories. Over the past 18 months, I have made over £21,392, or nearly $27,000, by renting on By Rotation and Hurr. AdvertisementI reinvest some of my rental earnings to buy more inventoryI reinvest some of my rental income by buying a couple of dresses a month, building my inventory. Make your wardrobe work for you, but don't rent out items with sentimental attachments on the rare chance they get damaged.

Persons: —, Jessica Templeton, Jess, It's, Templeton, Jess Templeton, I'm, I've Organizations: Service, Business Locations: Buckinghamshire, England, London

☆ A ‘thirsty’ generative AI boom poses a growing problem for Big Tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-06 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Shaolei Ren, a researcher at the University of California, Riverside, published a study in April investigating the resources needed to run buzzy generative AI models, such as OpenAI's ChatGPT. Hundreds of millions of monthly users all submitting questions on the popular chatbot quickly illustrates just how "thirsty" AI models can be. The study's authors warned that if the growing water footprint of AI models is not sufficiently addressed, the issue could become a major roadblock to the socially responsible and sustainable use of AI in the future. For Google, meanwhile, total water consumption at its data centers and offices came in at 5.6 billion gallons in 2022, a 21% increase on the year before. watch nowIt's notable, however, that their latest water consumption figures were disclosed before the launch of their own respective ChatGPT competitors.

Persons: Shaolei Ren, Ren, Eitan Abramovich, OpenAI, Somya Joshi, Microsoft's Bing, Bard, Joshi, Paul Hanna Organizations: UNITED, EMIRATES, Tech, Microsoft, Google, University of California, Uruguay's Central Union, CNT, Afp, Getty, CNBC, Big Tech, Meta, SEI, U.S ., Stockholm Environment Institute, United, Inc, Talavera de la Reina, Bloomberg Locations: Dubai, Riverside, Montevideo, U.S, Stockholm, United Arab Emirates, Talavera de, Spain

The network of nearly 4,800 fake accounts was attempting to build an audience when it was identified and eliminated by the tech company, which owns Facebook and Instagram. The accounts sported fake photos, names and locations as a way to appear like everyday American Facebook users weighing in on political issues. Meta often points to its efforts to shut down fake social media networks as evidence of its commitment to protecting election integrity and democracy. But critics say the platform's focus on fake accounts distracts from its failure to address its responsibility for the misinformation already on its site that has contributed to polarization and distrust. But 2024 poses new challenges, according to experts who study the link between social media and disinformation.

Persons: Meta, Ben Nimmo, Donald Trump, Trump, Democrat Joe Biden, Biden, Zamaan Qureshi, ”, Jennifer Stromer, Elon Musk, Kyle Morse, Nimmo, Meta's Organizations: WASHINGTON, Inc, Meta, Democrat, Real Facebook, Syracuse University, Twitter, Republicans, Tech, Ukraine Locations: China, U.S, India, Mexico, Ukraine, Pakistan, Taiwan, Menlo Park , California, Tibet, Iran, Russia

In a lawsuit filed late Wednesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., Meta Platforms Inc. said it is challenging “the structurally unconstitutional authority exercised by the FTC” in reopening the privacy agreement. “Meta respectfully requests that this Court declare that certain fundamental aspects of the Commission’s structure violate the U.S. Constitution, and that these violations render unlawful the FTC Proceeding against Meta,” the company says in its complaint. The dispute stems from a 2020 consent agreement Meta made with the FTC that also had the social media giant pay a record $5 billion fine over privacy violations. In May of this year, the FTC said Meta has failed to fully comply with the 2020 settlement and proposed sweeping changes to the agreement that includes barring Meta from making money from data it collects on minors. Political Cartoons View All 1274 ImagesThe FTC had no comment on the lawsuit.

Persons: “ Meta, Meta, Sen, Edward Markey, “, ” Markey Organizations: Facebook, Federal Trade Commission, Washington , D.C, Inc, FTC, Constitution, Meta, U.S, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Big Tech, Massachusetts Democrat Locations: Calif, Washington ,, U.S, U.S ., Massachusetts

They alleged the app contains “salacious and inappropriate content” despite the company claiming it is safe for children 13 years and under. In the second complaint, the state argued that the app deceives consumers into believing their sensitive and personal information is secure. Judge Jennifer L. DeGroote of the Allen County Superior Court in Fort Wayne made the ruling. A federal judge later rejected TikTok’s request to move the lawsuit to federal court but also described the attorney general's lawsuit as largely “ political posturing ” in a ruling. Indiana is among several states and the federal government that have ordered the TikTok app deleted from government-issued devices.

Persons: TikTok, Jennifer L, Todd Rokita, DeGroote, general's, Craig Bobay, Meta Organizations: INDIANAPOLIS, Superior Court, TikTok, Big Tech, Associated Press, Republican, Meta, ByteDance, Indiana, Facebook, Inc Locations: An Indiana, Allen, Fort Wayne, Arkansas, Utah, Indiana, California, Singapore, Montana, U.S

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