EU to demand tougher pledges from tech giants over fake news May 19, 2021 Tech giants such as Facebook and Google will be forced to make firmer pledges to crack down on misinformation on their platforms on new rules being prepared by the EU. The European Commission is planning to hold social media firms more responsible for curbing the money they make through advertising placed next to false information. [...]
Queen’s speech: Anger over social media safety laws as online scams excluded May 11, 2021 Campaigners have hit out at the government’s decision not to include scams in new legislation aimed at stamping out online harms. Plans to hold tech firms liable for harmful material posted to their platforms moved forward today after the Online Safety Bill was confirmed in the Queen’s Speech. The draft laws will force companies such [...]
Screenshot: Is Trump’s Facebook ban too hot to handle? May 7, 2021 This week **Media Moment of the Week: Brits love bent coppers **Is Trump’s Facebook ban too hot to handle? **ITV’s Summer of Love (Island) Media Moment of the Week: Brits love bent coppers Ok, so you might not have been the biggest fan of the Line of Duty season finale on Sunday. In fact, you [...]
Facebook advertising chief issued warning over inflated audience figures April 27, 2021 A top Facebook executive warned colleagues the company must “prepare for the worst” over claims it inflated figures on how many people its adverts could reach, court filings have revealed. Carolyn Everson, vice president of the social media giant’s global business group, wrote in an email in 2017 that the company would be “justifiably” criticised [...]
City A.M. TV: Daily Market Snapshot (video) April 26, 2021 Since early April, US equity markets have been in a persistent uptrend. That’s been is aided and abetted by (i) notable US dollar weakness; (ii) lower bond yields (resulting in tech outperformance); and (iii) a strong Q1 earnings season, with most US companies surprising markets to the upside. In that respect, and while US equity indices [...]
MI5 joins Instagram in bid to bust ‘martini-drinking stereotypes’ April 22, 2021 MI5 is joining Instagram to improve transparency and counteract “martini-drinking stereotypes” about British spooks. The account — @mi5official — will host Q&As with serving intelligence officers, promote job opportunities and show never-seen-before archive material. It will also show historical exhibits from MI5’s museum, located in the basement of its headquarters on Millbank in Westminster, for [...]
Joining the Clubhouse: Facebook launches push into booming audio market April 19, 2021 Facebook has today announced a three-pronged push into the audio market after in year in which demand for platforms such as Clubhouse has boomed. The social media giant said it would build a new set of audio creation features in order to support people using the site to make their own content. The first of [...]
Priti Patel warns Facebook’s encryption plans could harm child safety April 19, 2021 Facebook’s plans to roll out end-to-end encryption across its messaging platforms could mark a setback for efforts to protect children from online abuse, the home secretary is set to warn. The social media giant has unveiled plans to extend encryption — which means only the sender and recipient can view messages —— to Messenger and [...]
Facebook splashes out $23m on Mark Zuckerberg’s security April 14, 2021 Facebook forked out more than $23m (£16.6m) on security for its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg last year. In a filing published this week the tech giant said it handed the boss $23.4m in compensation in 2020 to cover personal security at his homes and during personal travel. Of this, $13.4m represented a security allowance while [...]
UK must make tech firms pay for news, says competition watchdog April 13, 2021 The UK must introduce a new code to ensure news publishers are fairly compensated for the use of their stories on tech platforms, the competition watchdog has said. Daniel Gordon, senior director of markets at the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), said his organisation agreed with the principles behind a new Australian law requiring tech [...]