Tag: Facebook

Here’s why Meta’s shareholders are raising concerns on ‘political entanglement’ in India

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

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Meta shareholders will ask for accountability at the company’s annual general meeting regarding allegations of Facebook’s “political entanglement and content management bias in India”. The Big Tech company is facing increasing scrutiny in areas such as privacy, online abuse, human rights impact, and so on.

According to a filing on the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Meta shareholders have floated Proposal Seven, termed ‘Assessing Allegations of Biased Operations in Meta’s Largest Market’.

This proposal, along with a few others will come for voting in the upcoming Meta AGM which is scheduled for May 31. However, Meta’s board of directions has recommended a vote against this particular shareholder proposal.

What is the proposal?

Concerns regarding content moderation and transparency are addressed in this proposal, along with allegations regarding how hate speech is spread on Facebook, risks, and political bias.

“Facebook is apparently a critical catalyst of religious violence in India from disseminating anti-Muslim hate speech and failing to flag posts and speakers who pose risks in this regard,” the proposal said.

The proposal pointed out that in the months preceding the 2020 Delhi riots, incendiary comments against religion were made by “the head of a powerful North Indian temple” in a video on Facebook which has been viewed well over 40 million times.

A Wall Street Journal article is cited in the proposal to say that former Facebook official Ankhi Das resisted employees’ efforts to ban a BJP politician. “Das argued that punishing (the legislator) would hurt Facebook’s business in India,” the SEC filing said.

Also read: Meta India executive Manish Chopra resigns, fourth major exit in six months

Additionally, the resolution noted that Meta’s India public policy head, Shivnath Thukral, “assisted the BJP’s 2014 election campaign”. According to the proposal, Meta has “poor capacity” when it comes to content moderation in India’s 22 official languages.

What are the shareholders asking?

Meta is being urged by shareholders to conduct an impartial evaluation of allegations regarding political involvement and biases in content management within its operations in India. Specifically, they are concerned about how the platform has potentially contributed to the “fomentation of ethnic and religious conflicts and hatred.”

The shareholders have suggested that the assessment should focus on identifying any political biases present in the company’s activities and determining whether the content management algorithms and personnel in India have been effective in limiting the widespread dissemination of hate speech and disinformation.

What did Meta say?

“We are dedicated to building a team that reflects the diversity of the people, all around the globe, who use our products and services.”

“We already provide extensive disclosure on our human rights policies and practices and have published an independent human rights impact assessment regarding potential human rights risks in India that we believe addresses the proposal,” it added.

“Given our ongoing efforts to address this topic, the requested report is unnecessary and would not provide additional benefit to our shareholders,” Meta said.

Also read:  Meta Layoff: Top Indian executives laid off in the final phase of job cuts, employees say ‘sad it ended but anxiousness finally over’

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

Hopscotch gets $20 million; Amazon, Facebook’s co-founder & others invest

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

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Kid’s fashion brand Hopscotch parent company, Hit the Mark, raised $20 million in a funding round led by Amazon. This round will enable the company to expand its offerings and serve even more customers with the latest styles in kids’ fashion.

Apart from Amazon, other participants included Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook, as well as other existing investors, including Lionrock, IIFL Seed Venture Fund, RPG Ventures, and Techpro Ventures.

“Hopscotch is the go-to digital brand for parents who want their kids to look stylish – everyday and on every special occasion,” said Rahul Anand, Founder and CEO of Hopscotch. “This investment allows us to invest in marketing, broaden our selection, and enable more customers to express their unique sense of style.”

Also read: Biggies Burger eyes Series-A round in September, on track to clock Rs 100 crore in revenue this fiscal

“Hopscotch has strong brand recall in the kids’ category. With this investment, we are happy to work with Hopscotch as it continues to reach and delight more customers. Rahul, the founder, and his management team are passionate about building out the brand. We have been impressed to see what they have done till date”, said Preetham N, Director, Corporate Development at Amazon.

With financial support from Amazon and other investors, the company is now well-positioned to accelerate growth and increase its market share.

According to Crunchbase, the company has raised a total of $ 52.8 Million in funding, before the latest round. Their latest funding was raised in 2020. This fundraise comes at a time when other competitions are entering into fierce competition.

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Meta implements final phase of layoffs as part of strategic restructuring

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

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Meta Platforms Inc. has commenced the final phase of a three-part series of layoffs on Wednesday, as per sources. This action is in line with their previously announced strategy in March to cut down 10,000 job positions.

In March, Meta made headlines by being the first major player in the technology industry to unveil a second wave of significant job cuts. This decision came after the company had previously let go of over 11,000 employees during the autumn period.

As a result of these layoffs, Meta’s workforce was reduced to a level comparable to its size in mid-2021, which marked a significant contrast to its rapid expansion in personnel since 2020.

Also read: Disney layoffs: 2,500 positions to be impacted in third round of job cuts

On Wednesday, numerous employees affected by the recent layoffs at Meta took to professional networking platforms like LinkedIn to share the news of their job loss.

This particular round of layoffs was anticipated to have a significant impact on departments such as ad sales, marketing, and partnerships, leading to a substantial reduction in personnel within those teams.

In March, Meta’s Chief Executive, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that the majority of the company’s layoffs in the second round would occur in three separate phases spanning several months.

The process is expected to mostly conclude by May, although there might be additional smaller rounds of layoffs that continue afterward.

The recent cuts at Meta have predominantly affected non-engineering positions, further emphasising the significance of software developers within the organization.

Mark Zuckerberg, in March, made a commitment to significantly reorganise the company’s business teams and revert to a “more ideal balance” between engineers and other roles.

During a recent company town hall, executives revealed that the organisation made significant cuts to its technology teams. Surprisingly, non-engineering positions such as content design and user experience research were the hardest hit among these targeted reductions.

Also read: Gen Z gets keener on side hustles as layoffs continue — 46% hold second jobs

During a recent town hall, Mark Zuckerberg disclosed that around 4,000 individuals were let go from their positions in the April layoffs. This came after the recruiting teams had already experienced a smaller reduction in March.

The layoffs at Meta occurred as a result of dwindling revenue growth over several months, aggravated by the impact of high inflation and a decrease in digital advertising due to the waning e-commerce boom caused by the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Meta has been heavily investing billions of dollars into its Reality Labs division, focused on developing the metaverse, despite incurring a substantial loss of $13.7 billion in 2022. Additionally, the company has embarked on a project to enhance its infrastructure to better support artificial intelligence endeavors.

Also read: BT announces massive layoffs, telecom giant to cut 55,000 jobs by 2030 as it pushes into AI

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

Happy Birthday Mark Zuckerberg: A look at his journey from a Harvard dropout to a billionaire

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

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Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of tech giant Meta, has grown from a Harvard dropout into a billionaire philanthropist with several tech ventures over the years. The Facebook founder celebrates his 39th birthday on May 14. Zuckerberg is one of the leaders of the tech revolution and continues to inspire people across the globe.

On his birthday, here’s a look at Mark Zuckerberg’s memorable journey.

– Born on May 14, 1984, to a dentist father and a psychiatrist mother, Zuckerberg grew up in Dobbs Ferry located just outside New York.

– He started coding at the young age of 11, with a deep interest in AOL and Microsoft.

Also read: Meta’s Megamorphosis: How a stock that fell 65% in 2022 recovered 150% in 6 months

– Zuckerberg went to high school at the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy, where he captained his fencing team, before getting an opportunity to study at Harvard University.

– At Harvard, Zuckerberg launched Thefacebook.com, from his dorm room on February 4, 2004 with some of his mates.

– He dropped out of Harvard in May 2004 as he headed to Silicon Valley, where he received his first major funding of $500,000 from PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, followed by nearly $13 million the next year from Accel Partners.

– Facebook had 1 million users by the end of 2004 and it grew to 5.5 million users by 2005.

– After rejecting a $ 1 billion buyout from Yahoo, in 2007, Facebook officially launched its revolutionary Facebook Ads platform.

However, ever since its conception, the social media platform was plagued with controversy.

After an elaborate controversy involving the law in 2008, a $65 million settlement was reached with three Harvard classmates, twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra over allegations that Zuckerberg had stolen the idea of the social media platform from them.

Also read: French antitrust body tells Meta to change conditions for access to ad verification

Facebook, despite facing backlash and recurring privacy complaints, became one the largest social media networks in the world with a current active user base of 2.98 billion as per Statista.

In 2021, Zuckerberg announced an entire overhaul of his companies which were rebranded under the umbrella of ‘Meta’.

Meta was launched with the aim to bring together the different apps and technologies of the company under one new brand.

Further, the ‘Metaverse’ was launched with a focus to help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses in a virtual world. The Metaverse is essentially a digital space that melds virtual reality, augmented reality with the physical realm.

In 2023, Facebook in 2023 hit the gigantic milestone of garnering over 2 billion daily active users on the platform.

Over the 20 years, Zuckerberg has been at the helm of acquiring companies like Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus VR and several more.

With a net worth of $87.5 billion (as per Bloomberg), Zuckerberg along with his wife Priscilla Chan, has committed to give away 99 percent of his wealth.

Also read: Layoffs across Meta, Amazon, Disney, others have a common script

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

Meta sales grow for the first time in a year – Shares jump 12% in after-hours trading

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

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Facebook-parent Meta Platforms reported an unexpected increase in sales for the March quarter and also issued guidance that was better-than-expectations, leading to shares popping 12 percent in after-market trading.

The company reported revenue of $28.65 billion, 3 percent higher than last year, and also higher than consensus expectations of $27.65 million. Meta reported topline of $27.95 billion in the year-ago quarter.

This is Meta’s first increase in topline after three consecutive quarters of decline.

Among other parameters, Earnings per Share (EPS) also beat expectations of $2.03, coming in at $2.20. EPS took a 44 cents hit due to restructuring charges. Meta has cut over 21,000 jobs in a bid to reduce costs amidst a slowdown in advertising demand. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has dubbed 2023 the “year of efficiency.”

The company is “becoming more efficient so we can build better products faster and put ourselves in a stronger position to deliver our long term vision,” the CEO said.

Net profit for the period, however, declined by 24 percent to $5.71 billion.

Also Read: Layoffs across Meta, Amazon, Disney, others have a common script

While Meta’s Daily Active Users (DAUs) beat expectations, Monthly Active Users (MAUs) were in-line. Altogether, more than 3 billion people used at least one of its products daily — a new milestone. Meta, on average, earned $9.62 per user, higher than estimates of $9.3.

For the current quarter, Meta expects sales between $29.5 billion – $32 billion, while analysts expected the figure to be $29.5 billion. Expenses in 2023 are likely to be in the range of $86 billion – $90 billion, including restructuring costs between $3 billion – $5 billion.

However, Meta’s metaverse or the “Reality Labs” business continues to burn cash with little to no sales. Reality Labs had sales halving from last quarter to $339 million but reported an operating loss of $3.99 billion. The figure was also lower than what analysts expected. Meta’s capex for the year is said to be between $30 billion – $33 billion as it accounts for its increased artificial intelligence investments and its ad-supported products like the newsfeed and Reels.

The company also plans on resuming hiring once the layoffs are completed next month. Additions are likely in Reality Labs, ad infrastructure and, generative AI.

Meta shares jumped 11.6 percent in after-hours trading. On considering Wednesday’s regular closing, Meta’s shares have jumped nearly 2.5 times from their 52-week low of $88.09. The stock has also recouped all of 2022’s losses, which was the company’s worst year on record.

(With Inputs From Agencies.)

Also Read: Meta betting big on AI to combat fake news and bullying, says global head of safety

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

Meta layoffs begin — employees in technical roles, product-facing teams face job cuts

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

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Tech giant Meta has begun letting go of employees, especially in technical roles as part of its second round of layoffs, a company spokesperson confirmed to CNBC. The number of employees affected has yet to be made public.

Employees in India earlier told CNBC-TV18 there were indications that job cuts could begin on april 19 but that they had not received any official communication until Tuesday evening.

While the company has yet to release an official statement, a person in the know has told CNBC-TV18 that employees in India shall also be affected by the second round of layoffs, which the company had announced in March. The person added people in tech roles will among those be laid off and that since senior executives have not been coming to office, an official statement is unlikely to be released.

Meta has yet to respond to CNBC-TV18’s queries about the detailed impact of these layoffs.

One of the sacked employees has told CNBC that the latest layoffs also hit product-facing teams and that Meta plans to cut business-facing roles, such as finance, legal and human resources, beginning next month. This person also suggested that tech teams who weren’t impacted by Wednesday’s cuts may be affected by next month’s layoffs.

In a LinkedIn post, a user, Teresa Jimenez, Business Program Manager at Facebook, said, “I woke up this morning to the unfortunate news that I was one of the many laid off from Meta today. While I am certainly disappointed, I’m also feeling extremely #grateful for the opportunity to have worked alongside some of the most talented individuals for almost 3 years! (sic)”

Earlier in March, CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced that Meta would cut 10,000 more job in the coming months after it laid off 11,000 employees, or 13 percent of the company workforce, in November 2022. The firm also closed about 5,000 additional open roles in its second major round of job cuts in the past six months.

The Facebook parent company has been calling 2023 the “year of efficiency” in an effort to improve its financial performance and achieve longer-term goals. As part of those efforts, Meta is flattening the organisation, canceling lower priority projects and slowing hiring, Zuckerberg said in a statement last month.

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

Meta layoffs may begin today at WhatsApp and Instagram — employees’ anxiety peaks in India

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

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Meta employees are likely to witness “layoffs Wednesday” on April 19, at least two staffers of the social media giant in India have indicated. Reports by international publications including The Washington Post and Vox, too, suggest the second round of job cuts is expected to begin today.

Multiple interactions on social media platforms like Twitter and Blind, an app that provides an anonymous forum and community for verified employees to discuss issues, also hint at layoffs starting today.

“The layoff announcement was made last month, and since the beginning of April there have been a lot of rumours circulating that April 19 is going to mark the start of the second round,” an employee told CNBC-TV18 on condition of anonymity.

Another employee, who did not want to be named, cited that the above-said staffers at lower levels shall face the axe this week while those in leadership positions like business heads will be affected next week. This source also indicated that layoffs at the Facebook and Instagram parent company will will close by early next week.

Meta employees in India are anxious but await confirmation

CNBC-TV18 spoke to several other Meta employees in India who said the buzz about layoffs has been there since the start of April but there has been no official communication as of April 18 (11 pm IST).

However, in an internal memo obtained by The Washington Post, Meta’s head of human resources, Lori Goler, wrote Tuesday evening that the company will begin notifying employees on its technical teams whose jobs are being cut.

An employee in India said, “Meta is known for giving layoff notices early in the morning. So, it can be that we might get it early in the morning, or if they follow the PST then it might happen around the afternoon.”

CNBC-TV18 is awaiting a response from Meta for confirmation and the detailed impact of the latest layoffs round.

A verified Twitter user by the name of Randall Bennett, who claims to be an engineer at Meta, tweeted that the “word on the street is it’ll be Wednesday, but only zucc knows.” He, however, seems to have deleted the tweet later.

Another user by the name Mengdi Chen (unverified) posted on April 14, “If nothing unexpected happens, Meta will release the second round of layoff list of the Tech department next week. Compared with the previous layoff, I would feel more disappointed if I were laid off this time and couldn’t complete the projects at hand.”

Also Read | Meta Layoffs: Employee asks has Mark Zuckerberg taken a pay cut

‘Meta’s year of efficiency’

Meta is also poised to announce newly reorganised teams and management hierarchies as the social media giant seeks to become leaner and more efficient.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, earlier in March, declared 2023 the “year of efficiency” for the firm. His remarks came following two rounds of job cuts in the past six months. Last month, the firm announced it would implement another 10,000 job cuts after it laid off 11,000 employees, or 13 percent of the company workforce, last November.

Interactions on Blind suggest that travel restrictions were put in place for this week and that previously layoffs were done on Wednesdays, which is why users believe cuts will begin today.

According to The Washington Post, Goler has said divisions that will be affected include teams working on Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram and the virtual-reality division Reality Labs among others. She advised some employees to not go into the office if it wasn’t critical for their role, according to the memo. Layoff decisions were made by senior leaders as part of the wider restructuring effort, she added.

Also Read: Worried after the massive Meta, Amazon, Twitter layoffs? Here’s how to gauge if job cuts are impending

Morale crisis at Meta

Apart from the layoff anxiety, employees at Meta are also facing what is being called the “morale crisis.” Multiple reports suggest that several of Meta’s senior executives have relocated and are now running significant portions of the Silicon Valley corporation from their new residences in cities like Tel Aviv, Israel, and London.

Meanwhile, other employees are being “urged” to come back to the office. While not “strictly” necessary, the unspoken implications have been that if one is not in the office they could be part of the next layoff, reports say.

According to nine current and former employees as well as texts reviewed by The New York Times, the layoffs and absentee leadership, together with worries that Zuckerberg is placing a poor bet on the future, have severely damaged staff morale at Meta.

Also Read: After layoffs what? Techies face pay cuts, demotions in muted job market

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

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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 rolls out long-sought tools to separate ads from harmful content

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

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Meta Platforms Inc said on Thursday it is now rolling out a long-promised system for advertisers to determine where their ads are shown, responding to their demands to distance their marketing from controversial posts on Facebook and Instagram.

The system offers advertisers three risk levels they can select for their ad placements, with the most conservative option excluding placements above or below posts with sensitive content like weapons depictions, sexual innuendo and political debates.

Meta also will provide a report via advertising measurement firm Zefr showing Facebook advertisers the precise content that appeared near their ads and how it was categorised.

Also read: Meta Verified waitlist open for subscription in India — Check pricing and more

Marketers have long advocated for greater control over where their ads appear online, complaining that big social media companies do too little to prevent ads from showing alongside hate speech, fake news and other offensive content.

The issue came to a head in July 2020, when thousands of brands joined a boycott of Facebook amid anti-racism protests in the United States.

Under a deal brokered several months later, the company, now called Meta, agreed to develop tools to “better manage advertising adjacency,” among other concessions.

Samantha Stetson, Meta’s vice president for Client Council and Industry Trade Relations, said she expected Meta to introduce more granular controls over time so advertisers could specify their preferences around different social issues.

Stetson also said early tests showed no significant change in performance or price for ads placed using more restrictive settings, adding that those involved in the tests were “pleasantly surprised.”

However, she cautioned that the pricing dynamic could change, given the auction-based nature of Meta’s ads system and the reduction in inventory associated with any restrictions.

The controls will be available initially in English- and Spanish-speaking markets, with plans to expand them to other regions – and to the company’s Reels, Stories and video ad formats – later this year.

Also read: Meta planning to lower bonus payouts for some employees: WSJ

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

Meta Verified waitlist open for subscription in India — Check pricing and more

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

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Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced the opening of its waitlist for Meta Verified in India. Meta Verified is the company’s subscription plan for two of its most popular social media apps, Instagram and Facebook. The plan was first introduced in February 2022.

Subscribers to Meta Verified are entitled to a verified badge, which helps increase authenticity and security across the platform. The service also protects users’ accounts from impersonation attempts and offers access to real customer support.

Furthermore, paying the monthly fees will increase a user’s visibility, expanding their reach and resulting in their content appearing more frequently in people’s feeds, search results, and comments.

The cost of subscribing to Meta Verified in India is Rs 1,099 per month if users subscribe through the web. However, subscribing via the Android and iOS apps will cost Rs 1,450 per month.

To subscribe to Meta Verified, users must join the waitlist and meet certain requirements. They must have prior experience using Facebook or Instagram, be at least 18 years of age, and provide a government-issued ID displaying their name and photo that matches the name and photo on their Facebook or Instagram account.

New users who sign up for Meta Verified will receive exclusive stickers and 100 free stars each month, the digital currency used on Meta.

Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, had said earlier that Meta Verified was about increasing authenticity and security across the company’s services. With the launch of the subscription plan, Meta is aiming to provide users with more control over their accounts and protect them from impersonation attempts.

Also read: Meta planning to lower bonus payouts for some employees: WSJ

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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

Cybercriminals exploit ChatGPT’s popularity to spread malware through Facebook accounts

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

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Cybercriminals are exploiting the popularity of ChatGPT to spread malware through hijacked Facebook accounts, cyber intelligence firm CloudSEK said on Monday.

CloudSEK in its investigation discovered that previously compromised data, phishing techniques, and stealer logs are being used to infiltrate existing Facebook accounts and pages.

Once they are compromised, they are used to distribute malware via various channels such as Trello boards, Google Drive, and individual websites embedded in Facebook ads. The ads contain a password to lend credibility to the scam and are designed to appear legitimate, containing all the necessary details to convince unsuspecting users.

CloudSEK’s investigation has uncovered 13 compromised Facebook pages and accounts, which have over 500,000 followers. The oldest instance of such a hijacking dates back to February 13 and pertains to a page with over 23,000 followers. Researchers observed that the actors also targeted newly created accounts, some of which were as young as 0 days old.

Also Read: Fake ChatGPT and Bing AI tokens doing the rounds – all you need to know

The report also highlights the repeated use of a specific video to attract and engage the audience across the majority of the compromised accounts. This pattern suggests that this campaign is most likely the activity of a distinct group of threat actors or an individual threat actor.

“The malicious malware is not only capable of stealing sensitive information such as PII, system information, and credit card details from the user’s device, but also has replication capabilities to spread across systems through removable media. With the ability to escalate privileges and persistently remain on the system, it poses a significant threat,” said Bablu Kumar, Cyber Intelligence Analyst, CloudSEK.

The report provides details of the threat actors and the Trello cards used by them to disseminate malware. CloudSEK’s findings highlight the need for individuals and organisations to remain vigilant and take proactive measures to protect their systems and networks.

The cybersecurity firm urges users to be aware of such malicious activities on the platform and to be cautious while clicking on links or downloading content from unknown sources.

Also Read: Fake ChatGPT apps flood Google, Apple stores; how they are deceiving users

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