Tag: Facebook

Leaked emails reveal why Mark Zuckerberg bought Instagram

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram in 2012 is hailed as a watershed moment. At the time analysts called the $1 billion price tag for Instagram exorbitant. However, the photo and video-sharing app today commands a staggering valuation of $500 billion, proving Zuckerberg’s strategic foresight and risk-taking.

A series of leaked emails, that first came out in 2020, showing a discussion between Mark Zuckerberg and his team before the Instagram acquisition, is viral again on social media. CNBC-TV18 has not verified the emails. However, the alleged conversation does shed some light on aspects that should be considered while planning an acquisition.

“How much we should be willing to pay to acquire mobile app companies like Instagram…These companies have the properties where they have millions of users (up to about 20m at the moment for Instagram), fast growth, a small team (10-25 employees) and no revenue,” Zuckerberg wrote in the purportedly leaked email to David Ebersman, CFO of Facebook at the time. Ebersman oversaw the company’s initial public offering in May 2012, which at the time was the largest US Internet offering of all time.

Zuckerberg further wrote, “The businesses are nascent but the networks are established, the brands are already meaningful and if they grow to a large scale they could be very disruptive to us. These entrepreneurs don’t want to sell (largely inspired our success), but at a high enough price — like $500m or $1b — they’d have to consider it…we’re vulnerable in mobile…”

Focusing on the “value creation” such an M&A would bring to Facebook, Ebersman’s response made the point that integrating their products with Facebook to improve services was a “very compelling reason.” However, he also made it clear that it requires clarity of vision for implementation and considering cost-efficient factors such as internal product improvements.

Reacting to the trending leaked email, Professor Paul Nary, a corporate strategy professor at The Wharton School, took to the micro-blogging platform, X, to share his thoughts.

“This is at least a reasonably careful, thoughtful approach to doing a deal,” Nary wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Fascinating thread illustrating real world/real time thinking about corporate (not just business) strategy and a potential acquisition that turns out to be transformative for Facebook $META. Very cool.

Few comments from an academic perspective:
1) Mark repeats the old line… https://t.co/ofpjjrXckH

— Paul Nary (@ProfPaulNary) April 19, 2024

A question on everyone’s mind remains though: Did Mark buy Instagram to kill the competition?

Professor Nary opined, “Interesting thought process that considers something akin to “killer acquisitions” of competitors.. or maybe similar but not quite? Is co-opt and assimilate distinct from kill? I’ve been seeing many variations on the spectrum here.”

From an M&A point of view, Zuckerberg’s conviction was well-founded, and what was initially thought of as a hefty price tag has turned into one of the most celebrated deals in Big Tech. The Facebook founder recognised Instagram’s burgeoning user base and its potential to redefine (rather disrupt) the landscape of social media. The strategic decision underscores the importance of looking beyond short-term goals and eyeing long-term growth and innovation.

Since its acquisition by Facebook in 2012, Instagram’s user base has expanded from 30 million users to over 2 billion monthly active users worldwide (as of January 2024), higher than TikTok and WeChat, as per Statista. On the revenue side, Instagram generated almost 30% of Meta’s revenue in the first half of 2022, according to a Bloomberg report. In 2020 and 2019, Meta listed Instagram’s ad revenue as $22 and $17.9 billion, respectively, it added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Meta offers to almost halve Facebook, Instagram monthly subscription fee

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Meta Platforms has offered to almost halve its monthly subscription fee for Facebook and Instagram to 5.99 euros from 9.99 euros, a senior Meta executive said on Tuesday, a move that aims to address concerns from privacy and antitrust regulators.

The price cut follows mounting criticism from privacy activists and consumer groups about Meta‘s no-ads subscription service in Europe, which critics say requires users to pay a fee to ensure their privacy.

Meta launched the service in November to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which curbs its ability to personalise advertisements for users without their consent, hurting its major revenue source.

The company said the fee model seeks to balance the conflicting demands of EU privacy laws and the DMA.

“We have wanted to accelerate that process for some time because we need to get to a steady state … so we have offered to drop the price from 9.99 to 5.99 for a single account and 4 euros for any additional accounts,” Meta lawyer Tim Lamb told a European Commission hearing.

“That is by far the lowest end of the range that any reasonable person should be paying for services of this quality. And I think that is a serious offer. The regulatory uncertainty at the moment is out there and it needs to settle down quickly.”

Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems said the issue is not about the fee.

“We know from all research that even a fee of just 1.99 euros or less leads to a shift in consent from 3-10% that genuinely want advertisments to 99.9% that still click yes. The GDPR requires that consent must be ‘freely’ given,” he said, referring to the EU privacy legislation.

“In reality it is not about the amount of money – it is about the ‘pay or okay’ approach as a whole. The entire purpose of ‘pay or okay’ is to get users to click on okay, even if this is not their free and genuine choice. We do not think the mere change of the amount makes this approach legal.”

The day-long hearing aims to give Meta’s users and third parties the opportunity to seek clarity on how it complies with the DMA.

Meta made the reduced offer to regulators earlier this year and is now in talks with data protection authorities, specifically the Irish watchdog.

Users who consent to be tracked receive a free service funded by advertising revenues.

Companies risk fines of as much as 10% of their annual global turnover for DMA breaches.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Meta mobilises against AI threats ahead of Indian General Elections

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Meta’s Facebook, Instagram face widespread outage

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Meta Platforms’ social media giants, Facebook and Instagram, experienced a major outage affecting thousands of users on Tuesday, March 5, as reported by the outage tracking website Downdetector.com.

The incident led to a surge of frustration among the user base, with over 300,000 reports of outages flooding in for Facebook, and an additional 47,000 reports for Instagram.

Andy Stone, Communications Director at Meta, said on X, previously known as Twitter, that the company led by Mark Zuckerberg is actively addressing the mentioned issue.

We’re aware people are having trouble accessing our services. We are working on this now.

— Andy Stone (@andymstone) March 5, 2024

Twitter CEO Elon Musk seized the opportunity to make a sly comment on the outage via his social media platform. He remarked, “If you’re reading this post, it’s because our servers are working.”

If you’re reading this post, it’s because our servers are working

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 5, 2024

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Facebook, Instagram to charge Apple service fee for posts ‘boosted’ via iOS apps

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Meta Platforms said on Thursday that businesses purchasing a ”boost” for their posts on the iOS versions of its social media apps Facebook and Instagram would need to pay an extra 30% service charge to app store operator Apple.

Advertisers will be able to boost their content on Instagram and Facebook via a browser without paying the Apple service charges, the social media giant said.

Apple had announced the updated App Store guidelines in 2022. Meta said it will start implementing the changes this month in the United States and that other markets will be subject to this fee later in the year.

A Meta spokesperson declined to comment on whether there would be any material impact from the change.

Also read: Apple’s iMessage, Microsoft’s Bing exempted from EU tech rules

”We are required to either comply with Apple’s guidelines, or remove boosted posts from our apps,” Meta said in a statement.

”We do not want to remove the ability to boost posts, as this would hurt small businesses by making the feature less discoverable and potentially deprive them of a valuable way to promote their business.”

As part of the change, advertisers boosting posts on iOS will be billed by Apple, not Meta, and will be required to pay in advance rather than after the ads run.

Boosted posts is a product offered by Meta to businesses looking to promote their content on apps like Facebook or Instagram, without requiring a campaign through Ads Manager, Meta’s advertising tool that lets brands buy and create ads.

Also read: Spotify terms Apple’s plan to comply with European Union regulations a “farce”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Meta tightens messaging rules for teens on Instagram and Facebook

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Meta announced on Thursday, January 25, that it is taking additional steps to help protect teens on Instagram and Facebook through stricter private message settings.

Previously, Meta only restricted adults over the age of 19 from messaging teens who don’t follow them to one text-only message on Instagram. Now, the tech giant revealed that teens will have the direct message (DM) feature turned off by default for individuals they don’t follow or aren’t connected to, including other teens.

“Under this new default setting, teens can only be messaged or added to group chats by people they already follow or are connected to, helping teens and their parents feel even more confident that they won’t hear from people they don’t know in their DMs,” Meta added.

Teens who have a supervised account will need their parents’ permission to turn the setting off.

The new settings will apply to all users under the age of 16 (or 18 in some regions). Users who fall under this category will see a notification at the top of their Feed letting them know that the setting has been changed.

The same settings will also apply to teenagers using Messenger wherein they will only be able to receive messages from Facebook friends, or people on their phone contacts.

Additionally, Meta said that it also plans to launch a new feature, which will protect teens from “seeing unwanted and potentially inappropriate images in their messages” from people they already know and are connected to. It will also discourage them from sending these types of images themselves, most likely through a pop-up alert.

The company will share more on this feature later this year.

Meta is also bringing updates to the parental supervision programme launched in 2022. Now, parents will be prompted to approve or deny requests when a teen changes their default safety and privacy settings to a less strict state, instead of just being notified.

“As with all our parental supervision tools, this new feature is intended to help facilitate offline conversations between parents and their teens, as they navigate their online lives together and decide what’s best for them and their family,” the tech giant said.

The updates come in response to the allegations from the United States and the European Commission that the company is not doing enough to protect children on its platforms.

Last week, unredacted documents from New Mexico’s lawsuit against Meta highlighted the company’s “historical reluctance” to keep children safe on its platforms.

According to the documents, Meta was aware of issues such as adult strangers being able to contact children on Instagram, the sexualisation of minors on that platform, and the dangers of its “people you may know” feature that recommends connections between adults and children.

Meta said it uses sophisticated technology, hires child safety experts, reports content to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and shares information and tools with other companies and law enforcement, including state attorneys general, to help root out predators.

The California-based company has been updating its safeguards and tools for younger users as lawmakers pressure it on child safety.

(With inputs from The Associated Press)

Also Read: Wall Street Journal claims Instagram is connecting a network of paedophile accounts

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Meta will give Instagram, Facebook users more choices to comply with European Union

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Instagram and Facebook users in Europe will be offered more choices on how they consume Meta Platforms’ services to comply with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), the social media company said on Monday.

The world’s largest social network is the latest to make changes to conform to the DMA after Google outlined efforts to comply with the new EU technology rules, which could hurt revenues for some companies.

Over the next few weeks, users will receive notifications informing them that they can choose if they would like to share their information between its services, Meta said in a blog post.

Under the DMA, which all Big Tech firms including Meta must comply with by March 7, companies are obligated to treat their own services and products like they do rivals’.

Facebook Messenger users will be able to choose if they want their Facebook account linked to their Messenger account, or have separate accounts for both services, the company said.

Meta added that Instagram and Facebook users who have connected both accounts can choose to manage them separately and no longer share information across the two accounts.

Users can also choose whether to share information between their Facebook accounts and the platform’s Gaming and Marketplace services.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

US federal judge rules against Meta in privacy fight with FTC

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Meta Platforms, which owns WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, lost the latest round of a court battle over privacy on Monday after a federal judge ruled a U.S. regulator can seek to reduce the amount of money the social media company makes from users under 18.

Judge Timothy Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied a motion filed by Meta for the court to take over the dispute with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

In May, the FTC accused Meta of misleading parents about how much control they had over who their children had contact with in the Messenger Kids app, among other issues.

The FTC proposed changing a settlement reached in 2019 which required Facebook to pay $5 billion. The FTC said it would tighten that to bar Facebook from making money off data collected on users under age 18, including in its virtual reality business. It would also face expanded limitations on using facial recognition technology.

Also Read | OpenAI offers up to ₹83 crore to lure top talents from Google and Meta: Report

Meta gets more than 98% of its income relying on digital ads targeted using personal data. Meta is battling short video app TikTok for young users’ attention.

A study done in early 2023 by the Pew Research Center found that 62% of teens aged 13-17 reported using Instagram while 17% reported using WhatsApp.

The FTC has argued it was up to the agency to decide whether its settlements should be changed and that the district court had no jurisdiction. A commission decision can be appealed to the relevant appeals court.

Meta said in a statement that the FTC’s allegations about children and privacy were “without merit.”

Also Read: Meta, Google and other tech companies team up to fight online child abuse

“We are considering our legal options in light of the Court’s ruling and will continue to vigorously fight the FTC’s unlawful attempt unilaterally to rewrite our agreement,” a spokesman for the company said.

The FTC declined comment.

The FTC has twice before settled with Facebook over privacy violations.

The first was in 2012. Facebook agreed in 2019 to pay a record $5 billion fine to resolve allegations it had violated the 2012 consent order by misleading users about how much control they had over their personal data. That order was finalized in 2020.

The agency also asked a federal court in 2020 to order Facebook to sell Instagram, which it bought for $1 billion in 2012, and WhatsApp, which it bought for $19 billion in 2014. The case has not yet gone to trial.

Also Read: Meta bars political advertisers from using generative AI ads tools

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Meta shares new tools and insights for creators of Reels on Facebook

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Meta, on Thursday, unveiled new ways for creators to test their Reels and understand their performance on Facebook, among other features.

The company said in an announcement that it is rolling out a new A/B testing tool, which will help creators test different captions and thumbnails on their phones to see which one performs better.

A/B testing, also known as split testing, is a common practice in marketing and publishing where two or more versions of the same piece of content are compared against each other to see which performs better.

“While creating a Reel on mobile, you can test up to four different captions or thumbnails. Results of the test will appear in your professional dashboard and we’ll automatically display the winning variant on your profile or page unless you change it,” the company added.

According to screen grabs shared by Meta, the different thumbnails or captions will be shared with different sets of audiences for 30 minutes and the winner will automatically be picked after the time frame ends.

Along with that, Meta introduced another feature that will allow creators to create Reels from their existing video posts and livestreams. You can access it by going to Create a Reel and selecting Your Content. All the video posts and livestreams will be available in the dashboard.

Managing content from the professional dashboard has also been made easier for creators. They can now check how all of their posts are performing and take actions such as hiding posts from their profile or deleting them.

Creators can now also dig into insights from up to 90 days back, a jump from the previous 28-day timeline.

Also Read: Meta unveils premium ad-free plans for Facebook and Instagram in Europe

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Meta unveils premium ad-free plans for Facebook and Instagram in Europe

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

In response to evolving European regulations, Meta, the parent company of social media giants Facebook and Instagram, has announced the introduction of a new subscription option for users in the European Union (EU), European Economic Area (EEA), and Switzerland.

This move, set to take effect in November, offers users in these regions the choice to continue using these platforms for free with advertisements or to subscribe and enjoy an ad-free experience. During the subscription period, user information will not be utilised for ad targeting.

The subscription pricing structure will vary based on the platform and region. Subscribers can expect to pay €9.99 per month for web-based access or €12.99 per month when using iOS and Android devices. Regardless of the method of purchase, the subscription will apply to all linked Facebook and Instagram accounts within a user’s Accounts Center.

It’s worth noting that the pricing for iOS and Android takes into account the fees imposed by Apple and Google as per their respective purchasing policies.

For an initial period until March 1, 2024, the subscription will cover all linked accounts within a user’s Accounts Center. However, starting from March 1, 2024, an additional fee of €6 per month on the web and €8 per month on iOS and Android will be charged for each additional account listed in a user’s Account Center.

Meta’s decision to introduce this subscription model is driven by a commitment to comply with evolving European regulations while upholding the principles of an ad-supported internet. An ad-supported model allows users, regardless of their economic status, to access personalised products and services while enabling small businesses to connect with potential customers and drive economic growth within Europe.

Despite the introduction of the subscription option, Meta will continue to advocate for an ad-supported internet.

In August, Meta had announced its intention to transition users in the EU, EEA, and Switzerland to the GDPR legal basis of “Consent” for processing data collected on their platforms for advertising purposes.

This change was made in response to various regulatory requirements, including the interpretation of GDPR by the Irish Data Protection Commission and the anticipated Digital Markets Act (DMA).

The subscription option aligns with the requirements of European regulators and provides users with a choice while allowing Meta to continue serving its users in these regions.

Notably, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has recognised that a subscription model, such as the one announced by Meta, constitutes a valid form of consent for an ad-funded service.

Users who opt to continue using Facebook and Instagram for free will experience no change in their current ad-supported experience. Meta will provide users with tools and settings to control their ad preferences, enabling them to influence the ads they see and the data used for ad targeting.

For advertisers, the ability to run personalised advertising campaigns in Europe will remain intact, targeting users who continue to opt for a free, ad-supported online service. Meta pledges to invest in new tools that preserve value for both users and businesses while offering enhanced control over the ad experience on its platforms.

It’s important to note that the subscription option for an ad-free experience will be available for users aged 18 and above, and Meta is actively exploring options to provide teenagers with a responsible ad experience in line with the evolving regulatory landscape.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow