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Facebook owner Meta bans Russia state media over 'foreign interference'

Meta said it's banning Russia state media organisation from its social media platforms, alleging that the outlets used deceptive tactics to amplify Moscow's propaganda. The announcement drew a rebuke from the Kremlin on Tuesday. The company, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, said late Monday that it will roll out the ban over the next few days in an escalation of its efforts to counter Russia's covert influence operations. After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets: Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity," Meta said in a prepared statement. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov lashed out, saying that such selective actions against Russian media are unacceptable, and that Meta with these actions are discrediting themselves. We have an extremely negative attitude towards this. And this, of course, complicates the prospects for normalizing ou

Meta bans RT and other Russian media networks for using deceptive tactics

Enforcement of the ban would roll out over the coming days, it said. In addition to Facebook, Meta's apps include Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads

India well-poised to benefit from new jobs emerging with AI: Meta India V-P

India is well-poised to take advantage of new jobs that emerge from advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI), according to Meta India Vice President Sandhya Devanathan. In an interview to PTI, Devanathan weighed in on raging debate around AI and its impact on jobs, saying she is of the firm belief that AI would now lead to new opportunities for India. "I think that India is potentially well-poised to take advantage of new jobs that could come up with AI," she said. Devanathan said that the nature of jobs may change, however. "I think it offers opportunities for new kind of jobs to get created...jobs may change in terms of what they look like, but there will be new things that could end up coming up as a result of that (AI)...and it would lead to new opportunities for us as a country," she said. The views assume significance in the backdrop of persistent debate in tech circles and civil societies on whether AI will augment the labour market or displace workers. The Economic Survey i

India key priority market; reels, biz messaging supercharging growth: Meta

Social media giant Meta counts India among its key priority markets globally, as the rising popularity of its offerings - from Reels to business messaging - and increased engagement on AI tools is supercharging growth, according to Meta India Vice President Sandhya Devanathan. In an interview with PTI, Devanathan said India is the leading market for short-form video Reels' watch-time on Instagram. The Facebook and Instagram parent Meta is upbeat about the pace and extent to which Reels has caught on with creators and brands alike. "Reels is big for Meta globally, but Reels is certainly huge for Meta in India," Devanathan said. Having recognised the power of Reels in influencing buying decisions, brands are including it early in their campaign blueprint and customer outreach plans, Devanathan said. According to her, Reels is now in the consideration set for brands as they conceptualise their campaigns, marking a big shift in the way campaigns are being designed. "Not only are we se

Even Facebook couldn't compete with Google, says ex-ad chief Boland

Boland likened the technique to Google being able to select the 30 best apples from a crate before anyone else got the chance to buy

Cristiano Ronaldo creates history with 1 bn social media followers

Cristiano was already the most followed person on Instagram, with more than 639 million followers, and is now at the top of the overall charts

Meta to inform Brazilians how it uses their personal data to train AI

Meta's users in Brazil will receive the warnings starting on Tuesday by email and notifications on Facebook and Instagram, and will be able to reject the use of their data

'Watching him closely': Donald Trump warns Mark Zuckerberg of lifetime jail

Donald Trump writes a warning to Meta CEO in his unreleased book titled 'Save America'. The book is a collection of pictures, anecdotes and events from his presidential campaigns and term in office

Are tech executives responsible for what happens on their platforms?

In 2021, Twitter executives in India faced arrest over posts that the government wanted removed from the site

UP's social media policy: Life term for anti-national posts, cap on earning

Under the Uttar Pradesh government's new social media policy, posting anti-national content is a serious offence, with penalty ranging from three years to life imprisonment

Meta shuts CrowdTangle: Why it's bad for fight against misinformation

But earlier this week, the owner of CrowdTangle, Meta, shut the tool down. The tech giant has replaced it with its new Content Library, which it says will serve the same purpose

Meta ignores pleas, kills off misinformation tracking tool CrowdTangle

Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms has shut down CrowdTangle, a tool widely used by researchers, watchdog organisations and journalists to monitor social media posts, notably to track how misinformation spreads on the company's platforms. Wednesday's shutdown, which Meta announced earlier this year, has been protested by researchers and nonprofits. In May, dozens of groups, including the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Digital Forensic Research Lab at the Atlantic Council, Human Rights Watch and NYU's Center for Social Media & Politics, sent a letter to the company asking that it keep the tool running through at least January so it would be available through the US presidential elections. This decision jeopardizes essential pre- and post-election oversight mechanisms and undermines Meta's transparency efforts during this critical period, and at a time when social trust and digital democracy are alarmingly fragile, the letter said. CrowdTangle, has been an ...

Meta raises its largest high-grade debt sale of $10.5 billion: Report

The longest portion of the deal, a 40-year security, yields 1.3 percentage points above Treasuries after initial discussions of around 1.55 percentage points

Malaysian PM's posts on Haniyeh's assassination were removed in error: Meta

In a similar incident in May, Meta restored Facebook posts by Anwar over his meeting with Haniyeh, saying they were taken down in error

Meta offering Hollywood stars millions of dollars for AI voice projects

The company is talking with Judi Dench, Awkwafina and Keegan-Michael Key, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the project is confidential

Delhi woman loses Rs 24 lakh: Beware of fake investment ads on social media

In recent months, hundreds of individuals across India have fallen victim to stock market investment scams

Meta reports better-than-expected sales in Q2, shares jump by 10%

Meta has been using AI to improve the way its advertisers can find interested users, adding efficiency to its most lucrative business

India becomes the largest market for Meta AI usage, says senior executive

Company testing how businesses can use AI service to interact with customers

Instagram to allow users create their own chatbots through AI studio

The broader universe of Instagram users will be able to make a themed chatbot for their profile, for example a bot focused on mixed martial arts, dining or pets

TikTok's survival at stake in all-out fight against potential US ban

Outside Washington, the video-sharing platform is waging a parallel battle for public opinion