Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colorado) has introduced a new bill, the Digital Platform Commission Act, which proposes the establishment of a five-person commission to protect consumers in the Big Tech era. This, even as attorneys for groups representing Facebook and Twitter on Friday filed with the U.S. Supreme Court an emergency request to block Texas House Bill 20. The companies argue the law compels social platforms to disseminate propaganda and misinformation, including racist and pro-Nazi screeds. Calling HB 20 “an assault on the First Amendment,” the companies claim its implementation could undo billions in development. Continue reading Legislators Continue Their Scrutiny of Big Tech, Social Media

Facebook is ending its Nearby Friends feature and halting other location-tracking data collection. Location history, background location and Weather Alerts will be discontinued globally due to “low usage.” The change reflects consumers’ increased caution over personal data and movement tracking. The Meta Platforms unit says as of May 31 the features will stop collecting information, and by August 1 previously collected location history and background location data will be deleted. Users can log in to Facebook before August 1 to view or download their data. Continue reading Facebook Shutters Nearby Friends and Other Data Collection

In an effort to expand payment opportunities for creators of popular original video content, Meta Platforms is updating its Reels Play bonus program, adding Facebook Challenges and rolling out new insights for Reels Play creators. Successful Facebook Challenge videos will enable creators to earn “up to $4,000 in a given month,” according to Meta, which says it will “also explore the ability for eligible creators to earn a share of revenue on crossposted Reels via overlay ads” from videos that appear on both Facebook and Instagram. Continue reading Meta Adds Facebook Challenges and Expands Monetization

Meta Platforms’ stock price jumped 18 percent Wednesday on Q1 results that while not great were better than expected. Revenue was up 7 percent, to $27.9 billion, the most listless growth rate since Facebook’s May 2012 IPO. Reality Labs, the division driving the company’s metaverse ambitions, beat analysts’ expectations with revenue of $695 million, but the unit lost about $3 billion. Reality Labs is a large investment in a next-generation platform “comparable in value to the leading mobile platforms today,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said. Continue reading Lowered Expectations Drive Meta Stock Rise on Q1 Earnings

The European Parliament and EU member states reached agreement Saturday on the proposed Digital Services Act, which aims to hold Big Tech accountable for “illegal and harmful content” and “provide better protection for Internet users and their fundamental rights, as well as define a single set of rules in the internal market.” Calling the DSA “historic, both in terms of speed and of substance,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen added, “the greater the size, the greater the responsibilities of online platforms.” Companies like Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and others will be forced to hold the line against dangerous content and misinformation or face stiff fines. Continue reading EU Advances Digital Services Act to Hold Tech Accountable

Snap has grown daily users to 332 million, an 18 percent increase in Q1 according to an earnings report. The January through March period reflects a 38 percent year-over-year revenue increase, but also documents a net loss of $360 million. The deficit — attributed to digital advertising circumstances including Apple’s new privacy policies, the war in Ukraine and the effects of inflation — comes on the heels of Snap’s first-ever quarterly profit in Q4 2021. The Q1 results reflect “underlying momentum” against “a challenging operating environment,” said Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Continue reading Snap Adds Users, Boosts Revenue, Posts $360 Million Loss

Video game companies are trying to change gaming’s image and perceptions regarding who plays as part of a plan to convince Madison Avenue that games are a serious advertising vehicle. Some 700 ad execs attended the first annual IAB PlayFronts, April 5 in New York, to hear pitches by Meta, Twitch, Activision Blizzard, Unity, Riot and more. Meanwhile, companies including Comcast’s NBCUniversal and HTC are working on technology to put advertising into cloud-based and streaming video games. Elefund and DIP Capital are among those investing in insertion technology that puts brands directly into the gameplay. Continue reading Video Games Are Becoming a Hot New Advertising Platform

WhatsApp is adding tools so groups of users can come together en masse for private conversations. Called Communities, the feature will enable separate groups to unite under one conversational umbrella supervised by an administrator. Community members will be able to receive updates sent to the entire Community and easily organize smaller discussion groups on topics of specific interest. Rolling out in the coming weeks, Communities will contain powerful admin capabilities, including announcement messages sent to everyone as well as filtering controls that target subgroups. Communities will have the end-to-end encryption of all private WhatsApp conversations.  Continue reading WhatsApp to Introduce Admin-Controlled Community Chats

After a year of experimentation, Facebook appears to be cooling on podcasting. Last April, the company launched podcasts for U.S. users in addition to Live Audio Rooms and the Soundbites short story feature. Now, Facebook seems to have shifted its priorities to online shopping and the metaverse, according to reports. The news has come as a disappointment to some in the podcasting industry, who valued the exposure and potential advertising revenue that came along with Facebook integration. During its brief focus, Facebook’s podcasting efforts were lauded by some content providers. Continue reading Some Disappointed by Facebook’s Waning Podcast Interest

Meta Platforms’ future plans are coming into focus through leaks and the company’s admission that it plans to take a fee of up to 47.5 percent on digital asset sales transacted through the Meta Quest Store in the “Horizon Worlds” game. By 2024, the company reportedly plans to deliver its first generation high-end wireless AR glasses, developed as Project Nazare, along with a cheaper pair codenamed Hypernova. Meta aims to bundle both models with a wrist-worn controller that “hypothetically” issues instructions direct from the wearer’s mind, leveraging technology the company acquired with the 2019 purchase of CTRL-labs. Continue reading Meta Pushes Forward with Its Plans for High-End AR Glasses

TikTok has officially gone live with Effect House, the augmented reality tool that allows users to create AR filters and share them with the community. The ByteDance company has been testing the feature since last summer. Since then, at least 450 creators have used Effect House to create more than 1.5 billion videos that generated over 600 billion global views, according to TikTok. “Whether you’re teleporting into new worlds with Green Screen or freeze-framing with Time Warp Scan,” Effect House empowers expression “through a wide array of engaging and immersive formats.” Continue reading TikTok Launches Effect House for User-Generated AR Filters

Antitrust legislation pending in the U.S. and European Union is at odds with consumer privacy initiatives in those territories, Apple CEO Tim Cook told attendees of the IAPP Global Privacy Summit 2022 in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. Speaking out against proposed “gatekeeper” rules, Cook warned that “when companies decide to leave the App Store because they want to exploit user data, it could put significant pressure on people to engage with alternate app stores — app stores where their privacy and security may not be protected.” Continue reading Proposed Antitrust Laws a Privacy Disaster Warns Tim Cook

Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan says it’s time for the FTC and Congress to deliver on consumer privacy protection, legislating to ensure that consumers don’t have to surrender personal data in order to enjoy online tools that are essential to everyday life. Speaking Monday at the IAPP Global Privacy Summit 2022 in Washington, D.C., Khan emphasized creating “substantive limits rather than just procedural protections” when it comes to personal data. Meanwhile, Big Tech did its own lobbying on behalf of consumer privacy. Continue reading FTC Chair Khan Calls for Privacy Rules and Data Limitations

Google is advancing to the next stage of trials for its Privacy Sandbox — a  proposal centered on advertising relevance and measurement. The new Sandbox ad targeting tech stack is under consideration as a replacement for the tracking-based cookie approach that has been the norm in Chrome. Described as a revenue-friendly user privacy enhancement, the new stack is being discussed as potentially going into effect in the second half of 2023. Starting last week, developers could begin global testing of the Topics, FLEDGE, and Attribution Reporting APIs in the Canary version of Chrome. Continue reading Google Testing New Data Protections with Privacy Sandbox

Apple is exploring various financial technologies for future products that would reduce the company’s reliance on third-party products over time, reports say. Payment processing, lender risk assessment, consumer credit reports, dispute mediation and fraud analysis are among the areas Apple is looking into, according to those who claim knowledge of the situation. The move would build Apple’s profile in a category that currently includes Apple Wallet, branded credit cards, peer-to-peer payments and a merchant app involving iPhones. As previously reported, Apple is also working a subscription hardware model and further enhancements to Apple Pay. Continue reading Apple Explores Greater Role in Consumer Financial Services