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Meta did not attribute the network of fake Facebook accounts to a particular entity in China. It’s the latest in a series of warnings from tech firms documenting how Chinese propaganda and influence operations have more aggressively targeted American audiences in the last year. It wasn’t clear, Meta said in a report on foreign online threats published Thursday, what the Chinese network of fake accounts was trying to accomplish. While Meta and other tech firms tout their work to protect elections, recent moves by the company also show trends in the other direction. And Meta this month said it would allow political ads on its platforms to question the outcome of the 2020 US presidential election.
Persons: Meta, Ron DeSantis, Nancy Pelosi, Iran —, haven’t, Nathaniel Gleicher, ” Ben Nimmo, , Liu Pengyu Organizations: CNN, Florida Gov, Meta, Republicans, US, of Liberty, Microsoft, Embassy Locations: China, Russia, Iran, Washington
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
TORONTO (AP) — Canada's government said Wednesday it reached a deal with Google for the company to contribute $100 million Canadian dollars annually to the country's news industry to comply with a new Canadian law requiring tech companies to pay publishers for their content. The agreement removes a threat by Google to block the ability to search for Canadian news on Google in Canada. Canada in late June passed the Online News Act to require tech giants to pay publishers for linking to or otherwise repurposing their content online. Kent Walker, president of global affairs at Google and Alphabet, thanked the minister in a statement and said Google would continue sending valuable traffic to Canadian publishers. In 2021, it briefly blocked news from its platform in Australia after the country passed legislation that would compel tech companies to pay publishers for using their news stories.
Persons: , Justin Trudeau, Meta, ” Pascale, Onge, , Kent Walker, Canada’s, Trudeau Organizations: TORONTO, Google, Facebook, Meta, Canadian Locations: Canada, St, Australia
CNN —Google has agreed to pay Canadian publishers for their news content, backing down from a high-stakes threat to block all news content produced in the country on its platforms after the tech giant and the Canadian government announced a deal Wednesday to avert the looming crisis. The agreement resolves tensions between Google and Canada over a controversial law known as C-18 requiring digital platforms to compensate news publishers for their work. The Google agreement marks a departure from the path taken by Instagram-parent Meta, which opted to pull news content from its platforms in Canada in response to C-18. The option for Google to negotiate with a single collective helps address one of the tech giant’s main objections to the law. But how the agreement with Google plays out could potentially shape the course of those policies.
Persons: , Pascale St, Onge didn’t, Bill C, Global Affairs Kent Walker, Andy Stone, Meta Organizations: CNN, Google, Canadian, Canadian Heritage, St, of, Global Affairs, Meta Locations: Canada, of Canada
The decision Monday by District Judge Timothy Kelly allows the FTC to move ahead with a proposal banning Meta from profiting off data it collects from users under the age of 18. The package of potential restrictions would represent some of the most significant impositions on Meta’s business since the 2020 privacy order that resolved a federal probe into the company’s Cambridge Analytica privacy fiasco. Meta had previously called the FTC proposal “a political stunt” that singles out Meta “while allowing Chinese companies like TikTok to operate without constraint on American soil.”The FTC declined to comment on the ruling. It’s unclear when the FTC may finalize its proposed rules, Gallant added, but it could occur in the spring of 2024. Meta could still attempt to challenge any eventual FTC rule changes in federal court.
Persons: Timothy Kelly, Meta, , Kelly, Paul Gallant, TD Cowen, Gallant Organizations: Washington CNN, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Meta, Court, District of Columbia, Appeals, DC Circuit Locations: Cambridge
Russia has added the spokesman of U.S. technology company Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, to a wanted list, according to an online database maintained by the country’s interior ministry. The interior ministry’s database doesn't give details of the case against Stone, stating only that he is wanted on criminal charges. In March this year, Russia's federal Investigative Committee opened a criminal investigation into Meta. It alleged that the company's actions following Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 amounted to inciting violence against Russians. In April 2022, Russia also formally barred Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg from entering the country.
Persons: Andy Stone, Stone, Meta didn't, Mediazona, ’ ”, couldn't, X, Mark Zuckerberg Organizations: Meta, Tass, federal, Russian, Facebook, Twitter Locations: Russia, Russian, Ukraine
The federal complaint calls for court orders prohibiting Meta from the practices the attorneys general allege violate the law. Civil penalties could add up to hundreds of millions of dollars, as Meta allegedly hosts millions of users who are teens and children. However, despite the company’s internal research confirming concerns with social comparison on its platforms, the lawsuit alleges Meta refused to change its algorithm. Eight additional attorneys general sued Meta last month in various state courts, making similar claims to the massive multistate federal lawsuit. Florida sued Meta in its own separate federal lawsuit, alleging the company misled users about potential health risks of its products.
Persons: Meta, “ Meta’s, ” Meta, Antigone Davis, “ We’ve, , Instagram, Adam Mosseri, “ Meta, Letitia James, ” James, Frances Haugen, Brian Fung Organizations: CNN, Meta, COPPA, Facebook, , “ Social Locations: New York, Florida
New York CNN —At least a dozen major brands have halted ad spending on X, formerly Twitter, since its latest advertiser exodus began last week over concerns about antisemitism and hate speech on Elon Musk’s social media platform. The ongoing exit of advertisers marks a deepening crisis for X, which was already struggling to woo brands back to the platform following Musk’s takeover last year. IBM’s decision also came after Musk had publicly endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory in a post on X earlier in the week. X also said it had made the pro-Nazi accounts identified by Media Matters ineligible for monetization, meaning ads can no longer be run on their pages. (Media Matters has vowed to fight the lawsuit from X and says it stands by its reporting.)
Persons: Axios, they’d, Musk, Apple, Linda Yaccarino, Richard Spencer, , CNN’s Oliver Darcy, Liam Reilly, Brian Fung Organizations: New, New York CNN, Elon, Fox Sports, Ubisoft, TechCrunch, Paris, CNN, White, IBM, Media, Disney, Paramount, Comcast, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros, Media Matters, University of Michigan, D.C, National Football League Locations: New York, Washington
Opinion | The Unsettling Lesson of the OpenAI Mess
  + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Ezra Klein | ) www.nytimes.com   time to read: +3 min
In my reporting, the best explanation I’ve heard for the board’s decision, as poorly communicated as it was, is that it fired Altman for the precise reason it said it fired Altman. “It would be wise to view any investment in OpenAI Global LLC in the spirit of a donation,” it warned. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, didn’t have the power to stop OpenAI’s board from firing Altman, but he did have the power to render the action hollow. He announced a new advanced innovations division, to be led by Altman (and the OpenAI president Greg Brockman, who resigned in solidarity with Altman) and staffed by any OpenAI employees who’d like to join. By Wednesday, Altman was back as chief executive of OpenAI and all but one of the board members had resigned.
Persons: I’ve, Altman, , OpenAI, Helen Toner, ” OpenAI, Satya Nadella, didn’t, Greg Brockman, weirdly, Ilya Sutskever, who’d, , Meta’s Organizations: Microsoft, Google, OpenAI
Earlier this year, I visited a washable rug’s website and decided it wasn’t for me. Then its relentless pursuit of me began—especially on Instagram. So when an option popped up to get rid of all ads on the social network, I jumped at the chance to try it. I paid a fee, about $14 in the app, eager to see a feed unencumbered by lurking rugs and other junk ads.
New York CNN —For over a year, the red-hot housing market has been at the mercy of the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes, which have driven mortgage rates to sky-high levels. Mortgage rates have hovered above 7% since August, according to Freddie Mac data. Both those factors have helped create a scorching-hot housing market and a boom in homebuilder stocks, as Americans turned to building as a buying alternative. Moderating bond yields could change the narrative for the housing market. Tight supply and elevated mortgage rates this year made home purchases the least affordable they’ve been since 1984.
Persons: Bell, Freddie Mac, Toll, DR Horton, Lennar, Price, Steve Sosnick, , John Petrofsky, Chris Isidore, Danielle Wiener, Bronner, haven’t, Clare Duffy, Donie, Meta Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New, New York CNN, Homeowners, DR, Federal, Treasury, Interactive, National Association of Home Builders, FBB Capital Partners, Starbucks, United Auto Workers, SAG, Writers Guild of America, Starbucks Workers United, Facebook, Street, Washington Post Locations: New York, Wells Fargo, Buffalo , New York, United States, Brazil, Israel, Italy
TikTok, accused of elevating pro-Palestinian content, blamed “unsound analysis” of hashtag data. Some Instagram and Facebook users circulated a petition accusing the platforms’ parent company, Meta, of censoring pro-Palestinian posts, which Meta attributed to a technical bug. Antisemitic content swarmed onto X, the platform formerly known as Twitter and run by the billionaire Elon Musk. The major tech companies have long offered some degree of access, but researchers said that now seems to be shrinking. TikTok has been accused of amplifying pro-Palestinian videos through its powerful algorithmic feed and of failing to address antisemitic content.
Persons: TikTok, Elon Musk, Linda Yaccarino, “ We’re, , Megan A, Brown, , Sacha Baron Cohen, Debra Messing, Musk, Osama bin Laden, America ”, Isabelle Frances, Wright, Moustafa Ayad, Ms, Frances, Jamie Favazza, Meta, Sukrit Venkatagiri, standwithIsrael Organizations: Facebook, Tech, Meta, Twitter, University of Michigan, IBM, Institute for Strategic, Swarthmore College Locations: Israel, United States, U.S, Beijing
The policy means that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, will be able to directly profit from political ads that boost false claims about the legitimacy of the 2020 election. The 2020 election was not rigged or stolen. Dozens of lawsuits attempting to challenge the 2020 presidential election results were dismissed at the state and federal levels in states across the country following a push to overturn the outcome that began in November 2020. But more recently, social platforms have shifted in how they handle election advertisements and misinformation related to the 2020 election. It also said it would prohibit political advertisers from using the company’s new, artificial intelligence tools that help brands generate text, backgrounds and other marketing content.
Persons: Meta, Donald Trump, X, Michael Aciman, , Brian Fung Organizations: New, New York CNN, Facebook, Street, Washington Post, Meta, YouTube, Twitter Locations: New York, United States, Brazil, Israel, Italy, YouTube’s
New York CNN —Amazon will now run shopping ads for select products on popular photo messaging app Snapchat, an Amazon spokesperson confirmed to CNN. Unlike prompts to get a user to open their phone’s web browser, Amazon’s shopping ads will allow them to shop and check out without having to exit the Snapchat app. “For the first time, customers will be able to shop Amazon’s Snapchat ads and check out with Amazon without leaving the social media app,” the Amazon spokesperson said in an email to CNN. “Customers in the U.S. will see real-time pricing, Prime eligibility, delivery estimates, and product details on select Amazon product ads in Snapchat as part of the new experience. The Amazon partnership could put Snapchat one step closer to competing with the robust in-app shopping experiences of rivals like Instagram.
Persons: Organizations: New, New York CNN, Amazon, CNN, , Instagram, Meta’s Facebook Locations: New York, U.S, Snapchat
Washington CNN —A group of US senators is demanding that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg hand over troves of emails and documents that could show how the company handled the knowledge that its platforms could harm the mental health of teens. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter. Meta spokesman Andy Stone said that the company is in touch with the members who signed the letter. The letter further accuses Meta of showing an “apparent willful disregard” for young people’s well-being, of “misrepresentations to Congress” and of “profiting from threats” to user safety. The letter requests a response by Nov. 30 and calls for Meta to provide its correspondence related to Bejar’s warnings to executives, as well as senior leaders’ own correspondence with Zuckerberg about proposed investments in user well-being.
Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, , Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal, Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn, Dick Durbin, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham ; Massachusetts Democrat Elizabeth Warren, Missouri Republican Josh Hawley, Meta, Arturo Bejar, Andrea Joy Campbell, didn’t, Andy Stone, people’s, Organizations: Washington CNN, Facebook, Connecticut Democrat, Tennessee Republican, South Carolina Republican, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham ; Massachusetts Democrat, Missouri Republican, Meta Locations: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Tennessee, Illinois, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham ; Massachusetts, Missouri
The TikTok app logo is seen in this illustration taken August 22, 2022. News organizations are competing with TikTok and other social media platforms for consumers' attention and advertisers' budgets, with many seeking ways to engage TikTok’s large and coveted Gen Z audience. Meta (META.O)-owned Facebook is the most popular social media platform for news, with 30% of Americans saying they regularly access news there, followed by YouTube with 26%, Instagram with 16% and TikTok with 14%, Pew found. Regular news consumers on Nextdoor, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are more likely to be women, Pew found, while regular news consumers on Reddit, X, LinkedIn and Alphabet (GOOGL.O)-owned YouTube are more likely to be men. Under owner Elon Musk, regular news consumers on X, the platform formerly named Twitter, are roughly split politically, with 46% Republican or Republican-leaning, and 49% Democrat or Democratic-leaning, according to Pew.
Persons: Dado Ruvic, Pew, Elon Musk, Helen Coster, Jan Harvey Organizations: REUTERS, Pew Research Center, Meta, Facebook, YouTube, Republican, Democratic, Pew, Thomson Locations: U.S
Meta plans to use lenses in the headset that are cheaper than those in its most recent model, the Quest 3, pictured above. Photo: Godofredo A. Vásquez/Associated PressSINGAPORE— Meta Platforms has struck a preliminary deal to sell a new, lower-priced version of its virtual-reality headset in China, regaining a foothold among consumers in the country 14 years after Facebook was shut out. The agreement with Tencent Holdings will make the world’s largest videogame company the exclusive seller of Meta’s headsets in China, people familiar with the matter said, offering the U.S. technology giant a major new market as it looks to boost tepid global demand for its niche gear. Tencent will start selling the headset beginning late 2024, with the two companies reaching a deal after about a year of negotiations.
Organizations: Associated Press, Facebook, Tencent Holdings Locations: Associated Press SINGAPORE, China
Meta plans to use lenses in the headset that are cheaper than those in its most recent model, the Quest 3, pictured above. Photo: Godofredo A. Vásquez/Associated PressSINGAPORE— Meta Platforms has struck a preliminary deal to sell a new, lower-priced version of its virtual-reality headset in China, regaining a foothold among consumers in the country 14 years after Facebook was shut out. The agreement with Tencent Holdings will make the world’s largest videogame company the exclusive seller of Meta’s headsets in China, people familiar with the matter said, offering the U.S. technology giant a major new market as it looks to boost tepid global demand for its niche gear. Tencent will start selling the headset beginning late 2024, with the two companies reaching a deal after about a year of negotiations.
Organizations: Associated Press, Facebook, Tencent Holdings Locations: Associated Press SINGAPORE, China
Meta’s China quest thaws thin layer of dense cube
  + stars: | 2023-11-10 | by ( Anita Ramaswamy | ) www.reuters.com   time to read: +4 min
In August, the United States banned domestic companies from making some new investments in Chinese tech, including computer chips and artificial intelligence systems. Chinese-based ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, counts the United States as its largest market. Selling virtual reality hardware primarily used for gaming is also an easier way of entering China. CONTEXT NEWSMeta Platforms struck a preliminary deal to sell virtual reality headsets in China through an exclusive partnership with Tencent, the Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 9. China banned Meta’s Facebook platform from the country in 2009 and subsequently banned its WhatsApp and Instagram services as well.
Persons: Carlos Barria, Susan Li, Joe Biden, China’s Xi, Biden, Meta’s, Meta, ByteDance’s, Apple’s, Lauren Silva Laughlin, Sharon Lam Organizations: Meta, REUTERS, Reuters, HK, Wall Street, Facebook, United, Huawei, Companies, Republican, Tencent, Google, New York Times, Thomson Locations: Menlo Park , California, U.S, China, Beijing, Washington, United States, San Francisco, Texas, Florida, Montana
The filing suggests that many of the executives who publicly dismissed the seriousness of Instagram’s potential harm to young users had long warned about them. Photo: Niharika Kulkarni/Zuma PressMeta Platforms Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly dismissed warnings from senior company officials that its flagship social-media platforms were harming young users, according to unsealed allegations in a lawsuit filed by Massachusetts. According to the suit, as early as 2019, Meta’s head of responsible innovation was telling Zuckerberg that mounting evidence showed the net effect of their platforms on user well-being was negative. Around that time, multiple executives, including Instagram head Adam Mosseri , were pushing for the company to ban filters that mimic plastic surgery due to concerns they were harming the mental health of women and teens.
Persons: Niharika Kulkarni, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Adam Mosseri Locations: Massachusetts
Fellow civil rights organization the Human Rights Campaign in June declared a “state of emergency” for members of the LGBTQ+ community. “We have seen this rhetoric transcend politics and appear on social media platforms,” a representative for the Trevor Project told CNN. “The content we share on social media is intended to uplift and affirm LGBTQ young people, shedding light on stories to deepen the public understanding of their experiences. The company has also been attempting to convince many advertisers to resume or increase their spending on the platform despite concerns that ads could show up alongside hateful content or misinformation. CNN has reached out to X about the Trevor Project deleting its account.
Persons: Trevor, , Elon Musk, , ” Musk, , Musk, we’ve, Jack Dorsey, Linda Yaccarino Organizations: New, New York CNN, LinkedIn, Facebook, Center, Anti, Defamation League, ADL, Human, Trevor Project, CNN, Twitter Locations: New York, United States
When Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion nearly a decade ago, Mark Zuckerberg made a promise: The Facebook chief said he wouldn’t meddle often with the messaging app so as not to mess with a good thing. Mr. Zuckerberg stuck to that philosophy as WhatsApp amassed more than two billion users globally — until 2019, when he began tapping the app’s growth and business potential. Now WhatsApp has become increasingly crucial to Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram and other apps. Ads on WhatsApp and its sister messaging service, Messenger, are also growing so rapidly that they may reach $10 billion in revenue this year, the company recently said. “If you’re envisioning what will be the private social platform of the future, starting from scratch, I think it would basically look like WhatsApp,” Mr. Zuckerberg, 39, said in a recent interview.
Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, wouldn’t meddle, Zuckerberg, WhatsApp, Mr Organizations: Facebook, Meta
Washington CNN —Meta, parent company of Instagram and Facebook, will require political advertisers around the world to disclose any use of artificial intelligence in their ads, starting next year, the company said Wednesday, as part of a broader move to limit so-called “deepfakes” and other digitally altered misleading content. The rule is set to take effect next year, the company added, ahead of the 2024 US election and other future elections worldwide. The announcement comes a day after Meta said it would restrict political advertisers from using the company’s own AI advertising tools that can generate backgrounds, suggest marketing text or supply music to accompany videos. The platform has long received blowback for allowing politicians to lie in their campaign ads, and for exempting politicians’ speech from third-party fact-checking. But the decisions to force Meta’s political advertisers to disclose their use of AI, and to restrict Meta’s own AI tools from being used in political ads, suggests there may be limits to how far Zuckerberg is willing to let politicians roam with new technology.
Persons: Meta, , Brad Smith, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, ” Meta, Organizations: Washington CNN, Facebook, Microsoft, Meta
The disclosures highlight Zuckerberg’s sway over decisions at Meta that can affect billions of users. And they also shed light on tensions that have occasionally arisen between Zuckerberg and other Meta officials who have pushed to enhance user well-being. In response to the newly unsealed communications, Meta spokesman Andy Stone said such image filters are commonly used in the industry. “These unreacted documents prove that Mark Zuckerberg is not interested in protecting anyone’s privacy or safety. “Clegg’s comments follow a pattern and practice at Meta where employees repeatedly flagged under-investment in well-being tools, despite having the research,” Qureshi said.
Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, , Zuckerberg, Adam Mosseri, Global Affairs Nick Clegg, Karina Newton, Fidji Simo, Margaret Gould Stewart, Simo, Mosseri, Stewart, Newton, Andrew Bosworth, Andy Stone, ” Stone, , Stone, Meta, Clegg, Frances, Instagram, Haugen, ” Zuckerberg, Susan Li, Li, David Ginsberg, Ginsburg, Li “, Arturo Bejar, Bejar, Instagram’s, ” Bejar, I’ve, , Sacha Haworth, Zamaan Qureshi, ” Qureshi Organizations: CNN —, Facebook, Global Affairs, Massachusetts, Meta, CNN, ” Tech, Technology, Tech Locations: Massachusetts, United States, Mosseri
But there was one topic Mr. Gilani was always wary of raising: The treatment of Palestinians. Instead it was attributed to “Muslim, Palestinian and Arab Google employees joined by anti-Zionist Jewish colleagues.” The New York Times discussed the matter with seven Google employees and reviewed messages posted in employee channels for this article. Google said the acrimony described to The Times by both Muslim and Jewish employees was limited to a small group of its many thousands of workers. “The overwhelming majority of those employees are not engaged in internal discussions or debate.”Google isn’t unique in facing this turmoil. Even compared with its Silicon Valley peers, Google has become a hub for employee activism, a legacy of the company’s open and informal founding culture.
Persons: Sarmad Gilani, Gilani, , Mr, Israel, , ” Courtenay Mencini, Donald J, Rachel Westrick, Westrick, Israel’s, Sundar Pichai, Thomas Kurian, Kurian, he’s Organizations: Google, Hamas, New York Times, Times, Hollywood, Democratic Party, Microsoft, Pentagon, Asian, Meta, Washington Post Locations: Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, Palestinian, , United States, Meta, Palestine
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