TECH CRUNCH - Meta has been compelled by the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) to introduce an account center that allows users of its social networking services to decide whether their data is combined across platforms or not. However, the FCO has expressed dissatisfaction with the account center, emphasizing that users' decision is not entirely free. The account center rollout will begin globally, driven by the German authority's influence.
113 posts categorized "Meta"
Meta's Privacy Concession in Germany: User Choice Over Cross-Site Tracking
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Meta Announces New AI Models That Understand 4K Languages, Produce Speech in ~1K
ARAB NEWS - Meta has developed new AI models capable of recognizing ~4K spoken languages and generating speech in ~1.1K languages. The project, known as Massively Multilingual Speech (MMS), aims to preserve languages worldwide and foster global connectivity. Meta has open-sourced MMS through GitHub to support further research in the field.
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Meta Agrees to Sell Giphy for $53M on Regulator's Order
WALL STREET JOURNAL - Shutterstock announced a deal to acquire Giphy from Meta Platforms for $53M in net cash, putting an end to a long legal battle that resulted in the sale of the animated images company. The deal is expected to close in June, and Shutterstock plans to fund it using cash on hand and its revolving credit facility. Meta will enter into an API agreement to maintain access to Giphy's content.
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Meta Slapped With Record $1.3B EU Fine Over Data Privacy
CNN - Meta has been fined $1.3B by EU regulators for violating privacy laws by transferring user data to US servers. The fine is the largest ever under GDPR. Meta plans to appeal.
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Meta Bracing for Another Round of Layoffs: 6K Employees at Risk
NEWSROOM POST - Meta is preparing for another round of layoffs, set to begin next week. The company had announced its retrenchment plans earlier, and ~6K employees across various platforms are expected to be affected. Nick Clegg, Meta's President of global affairs, acknowledged the anxiety and uncertainty surrounding the situation and expressed his inability to provide comfort or solace.
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Meta Paid Verification Arrives for UK Users
SILICON - Meta Platform has launched Meta Verified, a paid verification service for Facebook and Instagram users in the UK. Priced at £9.99 per month for each service, subscribers can obtain a blue tick by providing a government ID and enabling two-factor verification. Meta claims it provides access to customer support and exclusive features.
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Meta Spins out Customer Service Startup Kustomer Amid 'Year of Efficiency'
CNBC - Meta has spun out its acquisition, Kustomer, as an independent company. Kustomer received an additional $60M investment from its original investors and now has a valuation of $250M. Meta's acquisition aimed to enhance customer interactions for advertisers, but the company has faced difficulties in the advertising market and is undergoing layoffs.
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Meta Platforms Planning to Launch Text-Based Decentralized Twitter Rival
DIGITAL INFORMATION WORLD - Meta Platforms is reportedly working on launching a decentralized text-based social network app, codenamed "P92," that would rival Twitter and be integrated with Instagram. The app is currently in the works to reach leading influencers and celebs before its release to the public. The app will have a character limit of 500 for each of the 100 posts on the platform.
by Dr Hura Anwar
See full article at Digital Information World
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Meta Purges ~43K Posts, Photos, and Videos for Privacy Violation in March in India
MASHABLE - Meta removed ~38.4M pieces of content from Facebook and 4.61M pieces from Instagram in March, both of which were of Indian origin. These removals were made across various policies, as reported in the monthly compliance report with the IT Guidelines. The company received ~7.1K and ~9.2K complaints through the Indian grievance procedure for Facebook and Instagram, respectively, and assisted users in resolving their concerns in many instances.
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Meta Beats Revenue Expectations Remains Committed to Metaverse
TECH CRUNCH - Meta beat revenue expectations and reported an increase in YoY revenue for the first time in 3 quarters. However, this positive development comes amidst harsh restructuring that resulted in the elimination of ~10K jobs this year. Despite losses in its metaverse investments, Zuckerberg stated that AI works in tandem with the metaverse and is a technology that Meta will continue to focus on. Reality Labs, Meta's department for VR and AR, lost ~$4B this quarter, while Meta's vision for AR glasses involves an AI-centric OS.
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Meta Opens up Its Social VR Space Horizon Worlds to Teens
TECH CRUNCH - Meta has announced that it will open up its social VR platform, Horizon Worlds, to teen users in the US and Canada, after previously restricting access to users 18 years and older. The company will introduce a set of age-appropriate safety defaults and protections and will allow parents to set up Worlds parental supervision to manage their teen's experience. Meta has invested in new safety features, such as back-end protections and parental supervision tools, to ensure that teens have an age-appropriate experience.
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Meta Begins Cutting Technical Jobs in Latest Round of Layoffs
MARKETWATCH - Meta is cutting 21K jobs as part of its "Year of Efficiency" initiative amid a downturn in digital advertising. The latest round of layoffs, which involves technical positions, is happening a week before the company announces fiscal Q1 results on Apr 26. The number of jobs being eliminated in this round is estimated to be ~4K people. Another round of layoffs is scheduled for May. META's shares were flat during early afternoon trading on Wed, despite an 80% increase this year.
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Meta Released a New AI Model That Can Recognize and Mask Objects in Images and Videos
HYPEBEAST - Meta has developed a new AI model called the Segment Anything Model (SAM) which can identify specific objects in images and videos, even those it hasn't encountered before. It has also created the largest dataset of image annotations to date, called the Segment Anything 1-Billion mask dataset (SA-1B), using SAM's functions. SAM can develop masks for any object in any image or video and is versatile enough to include a broad set of image "domains."
by Dylan Kelly
See full article at Hypebeast
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Meta Wants to Use Generative AI to Create Ads
TECH CRUNCH - Meta plans to use generative AI to create ads for different companies by the end of the year, according to CTO Andrew Bosworth. The company has created a generative AI team and is exploring the use of large language models like OpenAI's GPT-4 and Google's PaLM to aid 3D model creation. Bosworth also suggested that LLMs could enable users to create worlds simply by describing them, making content creation more accessible.
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Meta Changes Legal Basis for Microtargeting in Europe After GDPR Fine
TECH CRUNCH - Meta has confirmed it will change the legal basis it claims for microtargeting users in Europe, following a $410M fine for breaching the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Although it will still not ask for up-front consent, the company will have to offer users in the European Union an opt-out. From Apr 5, Meta will claim a "legitimate interests" (LI) basis for processing EU people's information to target them with advertising.
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