Page 4 - Metaverse

AI's capacity to damage democracy, elections may be hard to detect

Meta's WhatsApp makes it possible to scale communication thanks to its 'Channels' feature, which can broadcast to thousands

Lawsuit asks if Facebook users can control their feeds using external tools

Do social media users have the right to control what they see or don't see on their feeds? A lawsuit filed against Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. is arguing that a federal law often used to shield internet companies from liability also allows people to use external tools to take control of their feed even if that means shutting it off entirely. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Meta Platforms on behalf of an Amherst professor who wants to release a tool that enables users to unfollow all the content fed to them by Facebook's algorithm. The tool, called Unfollow Everything 2.0, is a browser extension that would let Facebook users unfollow friends, groups and pages and empty their newsfeed the stream of posts, photos and videos that can keep them scrolling endlessly. The idea is that without this constant, addicting stream of content, people might use it less. If the past is any indication, Meta will not be keen on t

Meta's situation is worse than a government department: Delhi High Court

TV Today had moved the High Court after Harper's Bazaar India's Instagram page (@bazaarindia) was blocked on a third party's complaint of copyright violation

Meta's Facebook, Instagram in EU crosshairs for election disinformation

The Digital Services Act which kicked in last year requires Big Tech to do more to counter illegal and harmful content on their platforms or risk fines of as much 6% of their global annual turnover

Threads crosses 150 mn monthly active users, says Mark Zuckerberg

Meta CEO has said Threads is on way to become the next billion-user social network in company's portfolio of apps

Meta to open Quest's Horizon OS to Microsoft, others in mixed-reality space

Third-party hardware makers can now use Meta's Horizon OS, which powers its Quest headsets, to develop their own mixed reality devices

OpenAI hires its first India employee, appoints government relations head

Misra previously headed public affairs at Stockholm-traded contact verification firm Truecaller, which counts India as a top market

Telegram platform to hit 1 billion active users within a year, says founder

One of Telegram's main rivals, Meta Platforms' WhatsApp, has more than 2 billion monthly active users

Meta wants to bring VR headset into classrooms for students as young as 13

Meta's foray into education is the latest prong of the company's massive, expensive pivot to virtual and augmented reality

Meta overhauls rules on deepfakes, other altered media ahead of US polls

Meta previously announced a scheme to detect images made using other companies' generative AI tools using invisible markers built into the files, but did not give a start date at the time

Zuckerberg's wealth exceeds Elon Musk's for the first time since 2020

Musk's wealth has shrunk by $48.4 billion this year, while Zuckerberg has added $58.9 billion to his fortune as Meta Platforms Inc. climbs to fresh highs, including a new record on Friday

Meta pushes back on US FTC's attempt to amend 2020 privacy settlement

The agency has accused Meta of misleading parents about protections for children

US Senator asks social media firms about preparations for polls in India

An influential American Senator on Friday asked the US social media companies as to what preparations they have made for elections in India, where social media platforms, including Meta-owned WhatsApp, have a long track record of amplifying misleading and false content. The letter, written by Senator Michael Bennet, a member of the Senate Intelligence and Rules Committees, which has oversight over US elections, comes on the eve of the announcement of elections in India by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The letter by Bennet to the leaders of Alphabet, Meta, TikTok, and X is addressed to seeking information from these companies about their preparations for elections in various countries, including India. The dangers your platforms pose to elections are not new users deployed deepfakes and digitally altered content in previous contests but now, artificial intelligence (AI) models are poised to exacerbate risks to both the democratic process and political stability. The ...

Meta sees big opportunity in gaming industry: MD Sandhya Devanathan

According to a study by GWI, an audience research company 90 per cent of gamers who discover new games on social media, do so through Meta with Reels playing a leading role in discovery

Forced to change: Tech giants bow to global onslaught of regulations

Apple, Google, Meta operated unfettered for years. But new laws have compelled them to make major shifts to their businesses

TMS Ep636: Private capex, Softbank AI, Novelis IPO, Mumbai Metaverse

Can private capex offset govt spend curbs in FY25? Can AI help Softbank turn around in India? What does Novelis IPO mean for Hindalco investors? What is Mumbai Megapolis Metaverse? Answers here

MCA, Meta to curb AI-generated misinformation with WhatsApp helpline

The Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA) and Meta have announced that a dedicated fact-checking helpline on WhatsApp - aimed at combating deepfakes and deceptive AI-generated content - will be available for the public in March 2024. The pledge to crack down on deepfakes comes at a time when the world's largest democracy is preparing for general elections. The Lok Sabha elections are due in April-May this year. "The Misinformation Combat Alliance (MCA) and Meta are working on launching a dedicated fact-checking helpline on WhatsApp in an effort to combat media generated using artificial intelligence (AI) which may deceive people on matters of public importance, commonly known as deepfakes, and help people connect with verified and credible information," according to a release. The helpline will be available for the public to use in March 2024, it added. MCA is a cross-industry alliance bringing companies, organisations, institutions, industry associations and entities together to ..

Highlights of the day: Ladakh shuts down as thousands march for statehood

Updates: Catch all the latest updates from around the world

Zuckerberg's wealth surges by $28 bn as Meta rallies, surpasses Bill Gates'

It's a big comeback for Zuckerberg's wealth, which fell below $35 billion in late 2022 as tech stocks collapsed in the face of inflation and interest rate hikes, only to come soaring back in 2023

Meta soars after first-ever dividend plan, 'Year of Efficiency' pays off

The company flagged strong ad sales and a rebound in user growth during its fourth-quarter results on Thursday, while also forecasting current-quarter revenue above analysts' estimates