FTC orders Big Tech to address surge in ads promoting scams and fraudulent products

Christopher Hutton

March 16, 04:02 PM March 16, 04:02 PM

The Federal Trade Commission ordered some of the biggest social media and streaming companies to provide them with information on how scammers and fraudsters use their platforms to sell and trade deceptive goods.

The agency on Thursday issued orders to Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, Snap, Twitter, Pinterest, and Twitch to provide information about their standards related to ad screening and monitoring. The companies were also told to give information on ad revenue about categories, such as healthcare and fraud, more prone to fraudulent behavior.

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"Social media has been a gold mine for scammers who tout sham products and other scams that have cost consumers enormously in recent years," said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, in a statement. "This study will help the FTC ensure that social media and video streaming companies are doing everything they can to keep scammers and deceptive ads off their platforms."

Fraud reports have been on the decline. The Consumer Sentinel Network received 2.4 million fraud reports in 2022, a reduction compared to 2021's 2.9 million reports.

The FTC has been particularly interested in Big Tech companies in the last term. The agency has pressed Twitter to probe whether it is complying with a May 2022 consent order and attempted to block Meta's acquisition of a virtual reality developer — a suit that was shot down by a judge in February.

Winter in Silicon Valley: The tech companies hit hardest by mass layoffs

Christopher Hutton

November 25, 03:00 AM November 25, 03:00 AM

Tech companies are attempting to ride out an industry downturn through a growing wave of layoffs.

Some of the world's largest companies, from Meta to Amazon, have reported significant decreases in revenue over the last few quarters, leading to mass layoffs. No company has been left unaffected, leading some to describe it as a sign of a probable recession.

Here are the companies most affected by the wave of layoffs in the technology industry.

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Meta: The Facebook parent company saw its revenue decline for the second quarter in a row, a historic first for the company. This, accompanied by Meta warning investors about future losses as it invests in its vision of the metaverse, has led the company to cut 11,000 jobs a few weeks ago, the most extensive series of layoffs to date. The cuts primarily affected Meta's human relations department but did not affect Reality Labs, the department responsible for the company's costly metaverse efforts.

Amazon: The retail giant has begun taking several actions to cut costs and prepare for an anticipated recession. This includes firing over 10,000 employees from its corporate offices and implementing a hiring freeze. The layoffs arrive weeks before the Christmas season, one of the retail giant's busiest periods. The layoffs will not affect its plan for warehouse hiring, which includes employing more than 150,000 people over the holiday season.

Twitter: The social platform's mass wave of layoffs drew national attention after Elon Musk laid off an estimated 50%, or 3,700 employees, in an attempt to cut costs. This was worsened by over 1,000 staffers resigning from the company last week after Musk requested that employees agree to sign a memo stating they want to work at the "hardcore" version of Twitter.

Microsoft: The major software company cut an unknown number of jobs (reported to be less than 1,000) from its workforce in October across multiple divisions.

Snap: Snapchat's parent company Snap announced in late August that it had laid off 20% of its workforce, amounting to over 1,000 employees. The layoffs were part of an attempt to "restructure" the company and account for its financial challenges, according to Snap CEO Evan Spiegel.

Stripe: The payment processing company told employees that it was cutting 14%, or 1,000 jobs, to cut costs. "We were much too optimistic about the internet economy's near-term growth in 2022 and 2023 and underestimated both the likelihood and impact of a broader slowdown," wrote Stripe co-founders Patrick and John Collison in a Thursday letter.

Lyft: Executives from the ride-sharing company announced in an email that it was cutting 13% of its workforce, or 700 jobs, due to "a probable recession sometime in the next year," as well as rising ride-share insurance prices.

Opendoor: The real estate tech company announced in a blog post that it was laying off 550 employees, or 18% of the company. "We did not decide to downsize the team today lightly but did so to ensure we can accomplish our mission for years to come," said Opendoor CEO Eric Wu.

The future: While the layoffs appear concerning for the industry, analysts claim that it is not evidence of a future recession. The layoffs may act as a precursor to white-collar workers being hit harder than their blue-collar co-workers in the future, according to economists from the Milken Institute.

Twitter explodes as Musk's poll tops 12 million, favoring Trump's return

Ryan King

November 19, 01:31 PM November 19, 01:32 PM

Former President Donald Trump may be on his way out of the Twitter doghouse as favor for his return to the platform is leading the self-proclaimed Chief Twit's poll on whether he should be reinstated.

As of Saturday afternoon, over 12 million users chimed in, backing Trump's return by roughly 52.3% to 47.7% with seven hours left for voting. Twitter CEO Elon Musk tweeted the poll after stating a decision on Trump's suspension had not been made. The move proved divisive among many of its most prominent users.

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"Vox Populi, Vox Dei," the billionaire tycoon tweeted, using the Latin phrase meaning “the voice of the people is the voice of God."

"Fascinating to watch Twitter Trump poll," Musk later wrote.

Trump had been permanently booted off the platform during the fallout from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and had been similarly suspended from Facebook as well. Detractors were quick to highlight the potential pitfalls of uncaging Trump's Twitter account, while supporters were giddy or disgruntled with Musk being indecisive on the matter.

"Idk man, last time he was here this platform was used to incite an insurrection, multiple people died, the Vice President of the United States was nearly assassinated, and hundreds were injured but I guess that’s not enough for you to answer the question. Twitter poll it is," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tweeted.

"Elon Musk is holding a poll on whether to bring Trump back to twitter prior to cleaning up what he claimed was a widespread bot/automation problem on Twitter. Makes sense he would do this prior to fixing the problem he claimed existed," Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko tweeted.

Others felt that Trump's ban from the social media platform was "inconsistent" with how the website treats other political officials' accounts.

"I don’t like permanent bans at all. But specific to Donald Trump, his ban is inconsistent with the treatment of other political figures in the United States and around the world. There are authoritarian regimes with active Twitter accounts. Create a clear standard and follow it," former Rep. Justin Amash, a speaker of the House contender, tweeted.

Musk previously said earlier this year he would "reverse" the ban on Trump's account when billing himself as a "free speech absolutist."

“I would reverse the permanent ban,” Musk declared earlier this year, per CNBC. “I don’t own Twitter yet. So this is not like a thing that will definitely happen, because what if I don’t own Twitter?”

Musk has since appeared to waver after taking the reins of the social media behemoth. Last month, he unveiled plans to form a "content moderation council" and stressed that "no major content decisions or account reinstatement" will take place before it convenes.

Then, on Friday, the space and electric car guru posted the poll after freeing the Babylon Bee, Jordan Peterson, and Kathy Griffin from Twitter jail. He also told a user, "No," when asked about restoring conspiracy theorist Alex Jones's account.

Trump, once one of Twitter's most prolific users, has indicated he won't return to the platform, even if he was allowed to do so. Instead, he has turned to his own social media platform, Truth Social. He launched his 2024 campaign Tuesday.

Musk's $44 billion takeover has been turbulent for Twitter as he steers the company through mass layoffs and demands his workers to go "hardcore." Earlier this week, many users speculated the platform could soon fall by the wayside amid an exodus of engineers.

TikTok influencer Tanya Pardazi dies in skydiving incident at 21

Jenny Goldsberry

September 03, 12:06 PM September 03, 12:24 PM

A 21-calendar year-old skydiving scholar died through a solo dive in Canada.

Tanya Pardazi was an up-and-coming TikTok influencer when she jumped on the solo training course on Aug. 27, gaining 95,000 followers. She was a university student at Skydive Toronto Inc., a university that demands ground schooling prior to solo dives. Pardazi had been through the coaching, according to her last TikTok, in which she described attending skydiving class.

Pardazi allegedly opened her parachute at too low an altitude, in accordance to a assertion from the skydiving faculty. When the parachute didn't inflate, she fell to her loss of life. Pardazi was then transported to a close by clinic, where by she was pronounced dead.

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"Canopy incidents are the primary trigger of demise and harm," according to the Canadian Sport Parachuting Association.

"The jumper was a welcomed current addition to the skydiving group and will be skipped among the student's new mates and fellow jumpers at Skydive Toronto Inc," the statement from the university study. "The crew at Skydive Toronto Inc has been profoundly affected by this accident as they have refined their scholar teaching program for in excess of 50 several years."

It is unclear if Pardazi is the school's 1st described skydiving death. Skydive Toronto Inc. did not react to the Washington Examiner's request for remark. The university is in the midst of cooperating with the South Simcoe Law enforcement in its investigation into Pardazi's loss of life.

"Eternally element of our team and in our hearts," Pardazi's former cheerleading squad at the College of Toronto Scarborough posted on Instagram. "Tanya Pardazi was a person in a million."

The United States Parachute Affiliation recorded 10 lethal skydiving mishaps in 2021, which is the most affordable on report at a price of .28 fatalities per 100,000 jumps.

Vast majority of youngsters are on TikTok, and pretty much all are on YouTube

Christopher Hutton

August 10, 03:11 PM August 10, 03:11 PM

Teenagers in the United States appear to favor TikTok and YouTube in excess of all other social media platforms.

Teenage buyers said that they most popular the two popular online video platforms, in accordance to details released by the Pew Study Middle on Wednesday. The study company unveiled the preference for the two social networks as TikTok carries on to facial area tension from legislators and critics for its ties to the Chinese governing administration.

Just about all, 95%, of U.S. teenagers mentioned they have applied YouTube prior to, whilst 67% mentioned they utilized TikTok.

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The image-concentrated social networks Instagram and Snapchat have witnessed a surge of curiosity among the young people. Sixty-two % of teens say that they have utilized Instagram, whilst 59% mentioned they made use of Snapchat, according to Pew. That is a recognizable surge of interest since 2015, when only 52% of adolescents stated they applied Instagram, and 41% said they experienced applied Snapchat.

The more mature platforms have also lost curiosity amid adolescents. Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr have all observed their teenage end users fall substantially since 2015, reflecting that the platforms are having difficulties to catch the attention of younger users.

App use fees differed by gender and by race. Female young adults were being a lot more probable to use TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat than male teenagers, in accordance to Pew. Black youngsters ended up also a lot more probably to use TikTok than white or Hispanic youngsters.

While TikTok is common with teenage users, it has captivated the attention of legislators for different factors. TikTok's guardian organization ByteDance has acquired several letters from lawmakers about issues about Chinese personnel accessing U.S. users' info. ByteDance's management has verified that Chinese personnel have obtain to U.S. facts, albeit constrained by way of safety protocols. TikTok's CEO also claims the business has hardly ever shared information with the Chinese Communist Celebration. However, ByteDance has promoted Chinese information by way of other applications, which include its English language news aggregator.

As the selection of teenage customers grows, applications have had to adapt amid scrutiny in excess of kid privateness. Snap, Snapchat's guardian firm, announced Monday that it experienced implemented more controls for mother and father to supervise their kid's perform, which include the means to see who is messaging their little ones. Meta announced in March that it was introducing a "Family members Centre" for Instagram to supply resources for mom and dad to retain teens risk-free.

SEE IT: Big sea turtle rescued from below Florida boardwalk

Jenny Goldsberry

July 13, 11:23 AM July 13, 11:23 AM

Florida locals rescued a inexperienced sea turtle immediately after it grew to become trapped below the boardwalk of Melbourne Seaside very last week.

A image captured the freshly freed sea turtle with its three rescuers, Brevard County firefighters. The original photograph was appreciated more than 2,500 situations and shared around 4,700 situations on Fb. Environmentally friendly sea turtles can increase as much as 420 kilos, and this certain turtle appeared to be approaching that dimension from the photograph.

"Just another working day at the office environment!" firefighter Jason Bistarkey captioned the photograph. "This previous gal got stuck beneath the boardwalk and essential some aid."

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Green sea turtles are endangered globally, classified as a threatened species under the U.S. Federal Endangered Species Act in April 2016. Its inhabitants is believed between 85,000 and 90,000 nesting females. All species of sea turtles are regarded as endangered or threatened.

This individual inexperienced sea turtle probably found itself trapped after laying eggs on the seaside since it is its nesting year. A usual woman will nest as soon as each two years, about 3 to 5 times. Only one child out of every single 1,000 eggs is expected to endure for the reason that infant sea turtles hatch in the sand right before crossing the beach front to get to the ocean.

The beach's temperature influences the sexual intercourse of each and every infant, with males tending to be born in temperatures at about 82 degrees Fahrenheit, and ladies have to have 88 levels and over. Melbourne Beach front expects substantial temperatures concerning 86 and 88 levels this upcoming 7 days.

Facebook engineer slams business for restricting dialogue of Roe v. Wade ruling

Christopher Hutton

June 27, 10:53 AM June 27, 10:53 AM

One Meta employee spoke out versus the tech firm's restriction on discussing the Supreme Court's abortion ruling.

Ambroos Vaes, an engineer at Facebook's guardian enterprise, posted about his disappointment with the company's Friday final decision not to allow for an open discussion of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Wellness Corporation ruling, an inside selection made as persons all over the country examine the much-achieving implications of the conclusion.

"On our inside Place of work platform, moderators swiftly clear away posts or comments mentioning abortion," wrote Vaes in a Saturday LinkedIn put up. "The 'respectful' communications policy that was place in place explicitly disallows it."

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Vaes stated that conversations have been constrained to find groups of up to 20 staff members in which they are required to "stick to a established playbook." Vaes also famous that content posted by Fb executives about the ruling was rejected. "Sheryl Sandberg posted on her Facebook account about what took place these days, and even hyperlinks to her article are removed, out of anxiety of offending the handful of workforce who may possibly in fact agree with the insanity that is heading on," the engineer included.

Vaes mentioned he intends to adhere with the business. "The motive I keep at Meta is no longer because I feel our items have some fantastic in them," Vaes stated. "It can be so I can talk up loudly, internally and externally, to hopefully trigger at the very least some alter for the far better. I hope other individuals will be part of me in carrying out so."

Meta management declared on Friday that workforce ended up not authorized to focus on the abortion ruling, noting that the company had policies that placed "sturdy guardrails all around social, political and sensitive communications."

They also pointed to a May well 12 memo that, in accordance to a copy obtained by the New York Moments, said that "discussing abortion overtly at operate has a heightened hazard of building a hostile operate setting" and that the enterprise had taken "the placement that we would not let open dialogue."

The abortion ruling has motivated a sizeable rise in protests and political unrest, like professional-abortion protesters disrupting the Arizona Senate when it was in session.

Unfriended: Meta drops FB ticker in exchange for META

Christopher Hutton

June 09, 11:11 AM June 09, 11:11 AM

Meta has taken a important move towards unfriending its id as Facebook, shedding its "FB" stock trade ticker in favor of "META."

The social media platform's stock is tradeable under the ticker META on Wall Avenue as of Thursday morning. The organization improved the ticker from FB to META as component of its initiatives to rebrand as Meta in hopes of continuing its pursuit of constructing the "Metaverse."

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The enterprise determined to delay relabeling its ticker as META until Thursday owing to an additional firm possessing the ticker. Exchange-traded fund Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF at first had META as its ticker, prompting Meta to delay its acquisition of the META ticker right up until the 1st quarter of 2022. Roundhill declared in January that it was altering its ticker to METV.

Fb changed its company title to Meta in October 2021. Even though the decision was to begin with mocked, it has established the tone for the company's endeavors in "going over and above 2D screens toward immersive activities like augmented and virtual reality to enable create the following evolution in social technological know-how."

The transition has been rocky because of to the unexpected change in technological focus, slowing user expansion, and growing scrutiny inspired by whistleblowers like Frances Haugen. Meta has viewed its inventory fall additional than 40% in the past calendar year, according to the Motley Fool.

The organization has also experienced noteworthy management variations in the preceding 12 months, like COO Sheryl Sandberg and tech investor Peter Thiel stepping down from their roles at the enterprise.