Trolls and traffickers target Facebook group for Ukrainian refugees

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Admin

Technology firm should help spot Russian-based users, says founder of group matching up with UK hosts

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates

One of the largest Facebook groups matching Ukrainian refugees with UK host families has warned of the dangers of infiltration posed by Russian trolls and traffickers.

Room for Ukrainians in the UK is a Facebook group that was set up little over two weeks ago and already has 12,500 members. Most of those posting are Ukrainians in need of sponsors and British people who want to open their homes to the new arrivals.

‘Every move scrutinized’: Facebook’s rocky road to the metaverse

Posted on February 13, 2022 by Admin

The CEO has changed the world – but he faces regulatory, technological and branding troubles in his push to do it again

It would hardly be hyperbole to say that since its founding in 2004, Facebook has taken over the world – counting more than 50% of the global population as its user base. But after years of domination built on advertising revenue, the company has nearly overnight tried to knock down that empire and build anew.

In October 2021, more than 15 years and 2.8 billion users after the then student Mark Zuckerberg launched the social media platform from his college dorm, Facebook announced it had become “Meta” and was refocusing on the company’s virtual reality endeavors.

Peter Thiel, PayPal founder and Trump ally, to step down from Meta board

Posted on February 7, 2022 by Admin

Thiel, a major donor to the Republican party, was seen by critics as part of the reason why Facebook did not censor Trump

Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies, is stepping down from the board of Facebook’s parent company, Meta, after 17 years.

Thiel, Facebook’s longest-serving board member and a major donor to the Republican party, plans to focus on backing Donald Trump’s allies in the November midterm elections, according to the New York Times. He recently donated $10m each to the Senate campaigns of Blake Masters, who is running for a seat in Arizona, and JD Vance, who is running in Ohio. Masters is the chief operating officer of Thiel’s family office and Vance used to work at one of Thiel’s venture funds.

Facebook suffers $230bn wipeout in biggest one-day US stock plunge

Posted on February 3, 2022 by Admin

Shares in parent company Meta fall 26.4% on Thursday
Mark Zuckerberg’s personal wealth tumbles by $30bn-plus

A historic plunge in the stock price of Facebook’s parent company has erased more than $230bn in its market value, easily the biggest one-day loss in history for a US company.

The 26.4% wipeout in Meta comes amid concerns about its future after the company reported its first ever drop in daily user numbers in its Wednesday earnings report. Facebook rebranded to Meta last year as part of its strategic pivot to becoming a virtual-reality based company. The company’s advertising model has also been hit hard by privacy changes at Apple, which Facebook has said it expects will cost them billions.

Mark Zuckerberg says Meta is building the world’s fastest supercomputer

Posted on January 24, 2022 by Admin

Facebook founder’s planned metaverse, blending reality with digital experiences, will require enormous computing power

Mark Zuckerberg has announced his social media empire is building what he claims is the world’s fastest artificial intelligence supercomputer as part of plans to build a virtual metaverse.

The Facebook founder said in a blogpost that the metaverse, a concept that blends the physical and digital world via virtual and augmented reality, will require “enormous” computing power. The AI supercomputer, dubbed AI Research SuperCluster (RSC) by Zuckerberg’s Meta business, is already the fifth fastest in the world, the company said.

Nasdaq braces for nervy fortnight as investors fall out of love with tech

Posted on January 22, 2022 by Admin

Technology stocks have been tumbling in the new year; now all eyes are on the sector’s giants as they report results

Tech stocks have been nursing a new year hangover, pushing the Nasdaq into correction territory. Momentum is building against companies with exciting promises to reshape the world, as investors turn to “value” alternatives such as oil and banking.

The tech sector now faces a crunch fortnight as its biggest names report results, including Microsoft on Tuesday, Tesla on Wednesday and Apple on Thursday. They must prove they can thrive in a post-lockdown world where the cost-of-living squeeze is leaving people with less money for tech products and services.

‘Breeding grounds for radicalization’: Capitol attack panel signals loss of patience with big tech

Posted on January 14, 2022 by Admin

Subpoenas are an escalation in the committee’s efforts for answers as companies ignored information requests

The House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol has ordered several social media firms to hand over data relating to the attack, asignificant step toward transparency that could have broader privacy implications.

The committee on Thursday subpoenaed Twitter, Meta, Alphabet and Reddit for private messages exchanged on the platforms about the attack aas well as information regarding moderation policies that allowed communities to remain online even as they incited violence in early 2021.

Killed by a pill bought on Snapchat: the counterfeit drugs poisoning US teens

Posted on December 23, 2021 by Admin

Accidental deaths soar among young people amid a proliferation of fentanyl-filled pharmaceuticals

Fourteen-year-old Alondra Salinas had set out her new white sneakers and packed her backpack the night before the first day of in-person high school when police say she responded to an offer on Snapchat for blue pills, which turned out to be deadly fentanyl. Her mother couldn’t wake her the next morning.

Seventeen-year-old Zachary Didier was waiting to hear back on his college applications when a fake Percocet killed him. Sammy Berman Chapman, a 16-year-old straight-A student, died in his bedroom after taking what he thought was a single Xanax.

‘It’s a fraught moment’: Omicron puts brakes on US return-to-office plans

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Admin

Employers are pausing efforts to call remote workers back in amid a renewed push for strikes and unionization

Large US companies are now pulling back on plans to return to in-person work in light of the Omicron variant’s rapid spread across America.

Employers planning to call remote workers back into the office in the new year are now pausing those efforts, and they are wary of setting new return dates only to push them back once again in the face of continued uncertainty and risks from the pandemic.

Madonna criticises Instagram for taking down nipple photo

Posted on November 26, 2021 by Admin

Artist says it is ‘astounding’ that women can show any part of their body except nipples

From her infamous corset bodysuit with conical bra cups to her bondage-inspired outfits at the Met Gala and MTV video music awards, Madonna has never been shy of causing a stir with her looks. But now the international superstar has come up against an unlikely and powerful foe: Mark Zuckerberg’s social media empire.

On Thursday, the singer criticised Instagram for taking down photographs in which her nipple was exposed, telling her 17 million followers she was grateful she maintained her sanity “through four decades of censorship … sexism … ageism and misogyny”.

Do the Facebook papers spell doom for Meta – or is it too big to fail?

Posted on October 30, 2021 by Admin

The explosive documents from Frances Haugen have renewed calls for legislation, but actually passing it is another story

It’s been a rocky few weeks for the company formerly known as Facebook.

First came the Facebook papers, a series of blockbuster reports in the Wall Street Journal based on a cache of internal documents leaked by Frances Haugen, a former employee turned whistleblower.

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Category Archives: Meta

Facebook suffers $230bn wipeout in biggest one-day US stock plunge

Mark Zuckerberg says Meta is building the world’s fastest supercomputer

Nasdaq braces for nervy fortnight as investors fall out of love with tech

‘Breeding grounds for radicalization’: Capitol attack panel signals loss of patience with big tech

‘It’s a fraught moment’: Omicron puts brakes on US return-to-office plans

Madonna criticises Instagram for taking down nipple photo

Do the Facebook papers spell doom for Meta – or is it too big to fail?