TikTok fined $370 million over handling of children’s data in Europe

DUBLIN — TikTok has been fined 345 million euros ($370 million) for breaching privacy laws regarding the processing of children’s personal data in the European Union, its lead regulator in the bloc said on Friday.

The Chinese-owned short-video platform, which has grown rapidly among teenagers around the world in recent years, breached a number of EU privacy laws between July 31, 2020, and Dec. 31, 2020, Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) said in a statement.

It is the first time ByteDance-owned TikTok has been reprimanded by the DPC, the lead regulator in the European Union for many of the world’s top tech firms due to the location of their regional headquarters in Ireland.

A spokesperson for TikTok said it disagreed with the decision, particularly the size of the fine, and that most of the criticisms are no longer relevant as a result of measures it introduced before the DPC’s probe began in September 2021.

3 months to comply

The DPC said TikTok’s breaches included how in 2020 accounts for users under the age of 16 were set to “public” by default and that TikTok did not verify whether a user was actually a child user’s parent or guardian when linked through the “family pairing” feature.

TikTok added tougher parental controls to family pairing in November 2020 and changed the default setting for all registered users under the age of 16 to “private” in January 2021.

TikTok said on Friday it plans to further update its privacy materials to make the differences between public and private accounts clearer and that a private account will be preselected for new 16 to 17-year-old users when they register for the app from later this month.

The DPC gave TikTok three months to bring all its processing into compliance where infringements were found.

It has a second probe open into the transferring by TikTok of personal data to China and whether it complies with EU data law when moving personal data to countries outside the bloc. In March, the DPC said it was preparing a preliminary draft decision into that investigation.

Two-year inquiry

Under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), introduced in 2018, the lead regulator for any given company can impose fines of up to 4 percent of the company’s global revenue.

The DPC has hit other tech giants with big fines, including a combined 2.5 billion euros levied on Meta. It had 22 inquiries open into multinationals based in Ireland at the end of 2022.

The fine is the culmination of a two-year inquiry by the Irish watchdog, which plays a key role in policing the bloc’s strict GDPR.The regulator highlighted in its ruling Friday how children signing up had TikTok accounts set to public by default, meaning anyone could view or comment on their content.

It also criticized TikTok’s “family pairing” mode, which is designed to link parents’ accounts to those of their teenage offspring, but the DPC found the company did not verify parent or guardian status.

17M accounts deleted

TikTok is extremely popular among young people, with 150 million users in the United States and 134 million in the European Union.

In response to the fine, TikTok said it “respectfully disagrees” with the verdict and was “evaluating” how to proceed.

“The DPC’s criticisms are focused on features and settings that were in place three years ago, and that we made changes to well before the investigation even began, such as setting all under 16 accounts to private by default,” a TikTok spokesperson told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The platform insists that it closely monitors the age of its users and takes action when needed.

TikTok says it deleted almost 17 million accounts worldwide in the first three months of this year due to suspicions that they belonged to people under 13 years old.

Friday’s fine comes after the Europen Union last week unveiled a list of digital giants—including Apple, Facebook owner Meta and ByteDance—that will face tough new curbs on how they do business.

Agence France-Presse

Musk threatens lawsuit as Twitter rival Threads takes off

WASHINGTON — Twitter threatened to sue Meta just hours after the Instagram parent company launched Threads, an app it hopes will beat out the struggling site owned by Elon Musk.

In a letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, published by online news outlet Semafor on Thursday, Musk lawyer Alex Spiro accused the company of "unlawful misappropriation of Twitter's trade secrets and other intellectual property."

The letter accused Meta of hiring dozens of former Twitter employees who "had and continue to have access to Twitter's trade secrets and other highly confidential information."

Threads is the biggest challenger yet to Musk-owned Twitter, which has seen a series of potential competitors emerge but not yet replace one of the world's biggest social media platforms, despite its struggles.

Zuckerberg's latest move against Musk further heightened the rivalry between the two multibillionaires who have even agreed to meet for hand to hand combat in a cage match.

Threads went live on Apple and Android app stores in 100 countries at 2300 GMT on Wednesday (7 a.m. Thursday in Manila), and early feedback noted its close, but scaled back, resemblance to Twitter.

Within a few hours, more than 30 million people had downloaded Threads, Zuckerberg said Thursday.

"Feels like the beginning of something special, but we've got a lot of work ahead to build the app," Zuckerberg wrote on his official Threads account.

Accounts were already active for celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Oprah Winfrey and Hugh Jackman, as well as media outlets including The Washington Post and The Economist.

Zuckerberg wrote: "It'll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it."

"Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn't nailed it. Hopefully we will."

Twitter has said it has more than 200 million daily users.

Musk meanwhile retweeted an image that said the Threads logo resembled a tapeworm. "Metaphorically too," he added.

In another post referencing Twitter's potential legal action against Meta, Musk noted that "competition is fine, cheating is not."

Meta spokesman Andy Stone said on Threads: "No one on the Threads engineering team is a former Twitter employee -- that's just not a thing."

'BE KIND' 

Threads was introduced as a spin-off of Instagram, giving it a built-in audience of more than two billion users and sparing the new platform the challenge of starting from scratch.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri told users that Threads was intended to build "an open and friendly platform for conversations."

"The best thing you can do if you want that too is be kind," he said.

Zuckerberg is taking advantage of Musk's chaotic ownership of Twitter to push out the new product, which Meta hopes will become the go-to platform for celebrities, companies and politicians.

Analyst Jasmine Engberg from Insider Intelligence said Threads only needs one out of four Instagram monthly users "to make it as big as Twitter."

"Twitter users are desperate for an alternative, and Musk has given Zuckerberg an opening," she added.

Under Musk, Twitter has seen content moderation reduced to a minimum with glitches and rash decisions scaring away celebrities and major advertisers.

He also fired more than half of Twitter's staff, some of whom presumably went to other tech companies, including Meta.

EU 'MANY MONTHS' AWAY 

Meta has its legion of critics too, especially in the major market of Europe, which could slow the growth of Threads.

The company has been criticized for its handling of personal data, the essential ingredient for targeted ads that help it rake in billions of dollars in profits.

Mosseri said he regretted that the launch was delayed in the European Union, but had Meta waited for regulatory clarity from Brussels, Threads would have been "many, many, many, months away."

According to a source close to the matter, Meta was wary of a new law called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that sets strict rules for the world's "gatekeeper" internet companies.

One rule restricts platforms from moving user data between products, as would potentially be the case between Threads and Instagram.

Globally, the Threads hashtag on Twitter has garnered three million tweets, with many users jokingly suggesting people will return to Musk's platform.

Others expressed privacy concerns.

"Meta loves to collect private information and I don't trust the way it treats private information," a Japanese user tweeted.

"I also have the impression that this is a company hated by EU, so I'm reluctant."

But some said they would permanently move to Threads.

One Threads user wrote: "Now I truly can say goodbye to Twitter forever."

Agence France-Presse 

Google outage reported by tens of thousands of users

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Tens of thousands of users reported being unable to access various Google services on Monday night, according to outage monitor Downdetector.

"User reports indicate Google Maps is having problems since 9:36 PM EDT (0136 GMT)," Downdetector tweeted.

More than 40,000 users, including in New York City and Denver, Colorado, reported disruptions when trying to use Google's services, particularly the maps and search engine.

After around two hours, reports of the outage began tapering, but a small number of users continued to report trouble accessing Google's cloud and calendar functions, according to Downdetector.

"We're aware of a software update issue that occurred late this afternoon Pacific Time and briefly affected availability of Google Search and Maps, and we apologize for the inconvenience," a Google spokesperson said. 

"We worked to quickly address the issue and our services are now back online."

On Twitter, some users posted screenshots of the 500 error message they received while trying to use Google, which said the server had "encountered an error and could not complete your request." 

Agence France-Presse

Internal bug promoted problematic content on Facebook

SAN FRANCISCO — Content identified as misleading or problematic were mistakenly prioritized in users' Facebook feeds recently, thanks to a software bug that took six months to fix, according to tech site The Verge.

Facebook disputed the report, which was published Thursday, saying that it "vastly overstated what this bug was because ultimately it had no meaningful, long-term impact on problematic content," according to Joe Osborne, a spokesman for parent company Meta.

But the bug was serious enough for a group of Facebook employees to draft an internal report referring to a "massive ranking failure" of content, The Verge reported. 

In October, the employees noticed that some content which had been marked as questionable by external media -- members of Facebook's third-party fact-checking program -- was nevertheless being favored by the algorithm to be widely distributed in users' News Feeds.

"Unable to find the root cause, the engineers watched the surge subside a few weeks later and then flare up repeatedly until the ranking issue was fixed on March 11," The Verge reported.

But according to Osborne, the bug affected "only a very small number of views" of content.

That's because "the overwhelming majority of posts in Feed are not eligible to be down-ranked in the first place," Osborne explained, adding that other mechanisms designed to limit views of "harmful" content remained in place, "including other demotions, fact-checking labels and violating content removals."

AFP currently works with Facebook's fact checking program in more than 80 countries and 24 languages. Under the program, which started in December 2016, Facebook pays to use fact checks from around 80 organizations, including media outlets and specialized fact checkers, on its platform, WhatsApp and on Instagram. 

Content rated "false" is downgraded in news feeds so fewer people will see it. If someone tries to share that post, they are presented with an article explaining why it is misleading. 

Those who still choose to share the post receive a notification with a link to the article. No posts are taken down. Fact checkers are free to choose how and what they wish to investigate.

Agence France-Presse 

YouTube, Google Play suspend payment-based services in Russia

Alphabet Inc's YouTube and Google Play store are suspending all payment-based services in Russia, including subscriptions, as Western sanctions start to pose banking challenges in the country.

Google will also pause ads for advertisers based in Russia across its properties and networks globally, the company said. This is in addition to the company's recent suspension of ads in Russia.

Google and YouTube had earlier stopped selling online advertising in Russia following similar pauses by Twitter Inc and Snap Inc after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. 

"As a follow-up, we're now extending this pause to all our monetization features, including YouTube Premium, Channel Memberships, Super Chat and Merchandise, for viewers in Russia," YouTube said in a statement on Thursday.

YouTube channels in Russia will still be able to generate revenue from viewers outside of Russia, which include Super Chat and merchandise sales. Free apps on Google Play also remain available in Russia, according to a company support website.

-reuters-

Big Tech rolls on as investors shrug off regulatory pressure

WASHINGTON - Pressure is rising on Big Tech firms, signaling tougher regulation in Washington and elsewhere that could lead to the breakup of the largest platforms. But you'd hardly know by looking at their share prices.

Shares in Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Google parent Alphabet have hovered near record highs in recent weeks, lifted by pandemic-fueled surges in sales and profits that have helped the big firms extend their dominance of key economic sectors.

The Biden administration has given signs of more aggressive regulation with appointments of Big Tech critics at the Federal Trade Commission. 

But that has failed to dent the momentum of the largest tech firms, despite tough talk and antitrust litigation in the United States and Europe, with US lawmakers eyeing moves to make antitrust enforcement easier.

Big Tech critics in the United States and the EU want Apple and Google to loosen the grip of their online app marketplaces; more competition in a digital advertising market dominated by Google and Facebook; and better access to Amazon's e-commerce platform by third-party sellers.

One lawsuit tossed out by a judge but in the process of being refiled could force Facebook to spin off its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms, and some activists and lawmakers are pressing for breakups of the four tech giants.

All four have hit market valuations above $1 trillion, with Apple over $2 trillion. Alphabet shares are up some 80 percent from a year ago, with Facebook up nearly 40 percent and Apple almost 30 percent. Amazon shares are roughly on par with last year's level after breaking records in July.

Microsoft, with a $2 trillion valuation, has largely escaped antitrust scrutiny, even as it has benefitted from the cloud computing trend.

The surging growth has stoked complaints that the strongest firms are extending their dominance and squeezing out rivals. 

Yet analysts say any aggressive actions, in the legal or legislative arena, could take years to play out and face challenges. 

Fast-moving environment 

"Breakup is going to be nearly impossible," said analyst Daniel Newman at Futurum Research, citing the need for controversial legislative changes to antitrust laws.

Newman said a more likely outcome would be multibillion-dollar fines that the companies could easily absorb as they adjust their business models to adapt to problematic issues in a fast-moving environment.

"These companies have more resources and know-how than the regulators," he said.

Dan Ives at Wedbush Securities said any antitrust action would likely require legislative change -- unlikely with a divided Congress.

"Until investors start to see some consensus on where the regulatory and law changes go from an antitrust perspective, it's a contained risk, and they see a green light to buy tech," he said.

Other factors supporting Big Tech include a massive shift to cloud computing and online activities that allow the strongest players to benefit, and a crackdown in China on its large technology firms.

"The China regulatory crackdown has been so massive in scale and scope, it has driven investors from Chinese tech to US tech," Ives said. 

"Even though there is regulatory risk in the US, it pales in comparison to the crackdown we're seeing from Beijing."

Analysts say the big tech firms are also well-positioned to deal with tougher regulations.

Tracy Li of the investment firm Capital Group, in a recent blog post that the tech giants face major risks in regulation around privacy, content moderation and antitrust.

"Concerns related to privacy or content may actually strengthen, rather than weaken, the moats of the largest platforms," Li said. 

"These companies often boast well-established protocols and have more resources to tackle privacy and legal matters."

Facebook 'gold mine' 

Other analysts point to the swift movement by tech firms to adapt their business models in contrast to the slow efforts to regulate. 

Facebook, for example, is adapting to changing conditions by moving into the "Metaverse" of virtual and augmented reality experiences, noted Ali Mogharabi at Morningstar.

Mogharabi said Facebook's vast data collected from its 2.5 billion users gives it the ability to withstand a regulatory onslaught.

"Antitrust enforcement and further regulations pose a threat to Facebook's intangible assets, data," the analyst said in a July 29 note.

"However, increased restrictions on data access and usage would apply to all firms, not just Facebook."

Independent analyst Eric Seufert said in a tweet that "regulatory changes will have a significant impact on Facebook's business, but the sheer scale of Facebook and the growth trajectory of digital advertising ameliorate that. Facebook's gold mine is far from depleted."

Newman said the large tech firms have expanded during the pandemic by delivering innovative services, extending a trend that has seen the strong get stronger.

"These platforms have created better experiences for consumers, but it is extremely difficult for new entrants," he said.

For investors, Newman added, "that means no one is creating revenue and profit growth faster." 

Agence France-Presse

  

New child safety features for Google, YouTube

Google on Tuesday unveiled a series of online safety measures for children, including a private setting for videos uploaded by teens and safeguard for ads shown to users under 18.

The new features, which come amid heightened concerns about online child exploitation and safety at a time of growing internet usage during the global pandemic, affect Google's YouTube video platform as well its online services such as search and Google Assistant.

"As kids and teens spend more time online, parents, educators, child safety and privacy experts, and policy makers are rightly concerned about how to keep them safe," said Google product and user experience director Mindy Brooks.

"We engage with these groups regularly, and share these concerns."

Google's "safe search" -- which excludes sensitive or mature content -- will be the default setting for users under 18, which up to now had been the case only for under-13 users. 

On the massively popular YouTube platform, content from 13- to 17-year-olds will be private by default, the tech giant said.

"With private uploads, content can only be seen by the user and whomever they choose," said a blog post by James Beser, head of product management for YouTube Kids and Family.

"We want to help younger users make informed decisions about their online footprint and digital privacy... If the user would like to make their content public, they can change the default upload visibility setting and we'll provide reminders indicating who can see their video."

Google will also make it easier for families to request removal of a child's photos from image search requests.

"Of course, removing an image from search doesn't remove it from the web, but we believe this change will help give young people more control of their images online," Brooks said.

In another safety move, Google will turn off location history for all users under 18 globally, without an option to turn it back on. This is already in place for those under 13. 

Google will also make changes in how it shows ads to minors, blocking any "age-sensitive" categories and banning targeting based on the age, gender or interests of people under 18.

Agence France-Presse

Microsoft taking Xbox games directly to TVs

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Microsoft on Thursday said it is working on software to let people play Xbox video games on internet-linked televisions without need of consoles.

The news came as Microsoft and other video game industry heavyweights prepare to show off coming titles at an annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) being held virtually beginning Saturday due to the pandemic.

"As a company, Microsoft is all-in on gaming," chief executive Satya Nadella said in introducing the plan.

"Three billion consumers look to gaming for entertainment, community, creation, as well as a real sense of achievement, and our ambition is to empower each of them, wherever they play."

Microsoft has been playing on the strength of its Xbox unit as it vies with Luna and Stadia cloud gaming services run, respectively, by Amazon and Google.

The Xbox team is working with TV makers to embed software that will let video games typically enjoyed on its consoles be played directly from the cloud, requiring only hand-held controllers, according to Microsoft.

The US-based technology giant also announced it is building devices that will plug into any television screen or computer monitor to stream Xbox game play without any consoles.

In the coming weeks, cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions will be possible through internet browsers Chrome, Edge and Safari, according to Microsoft.

"There’s still a place for consoles and PCs and frankly, there always will be, but through the cloud, we will be able to deliver a robust gaming experience to anyone connected to the internet," said Xbox unit head Phil Spencer.

"And with the cloud, gaming players can participate fully in the same Xbox experience as people on local hardware.

Xbox Game Pass had some 18 million subscribers worldwide at the end of last year, according to figures released by Nadella.

Video game play has surged during the pandemic, as people turned more than ever to the internet for entertainment.

Overall consumer spending on video gaming in the United States totaled just shy of $15 billion in the first quarter of this year, up 30 percent from the same period in 2020, according to industry tracker NPD Group.

Microsoft will stream an Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase on Sunday, featuring games from its studios around the world.

Agence France-Presse

Myanmar junta cuts internet, protesters say they will not surrender

Opponents of military rule in Myanmar marched and laid bouquets of flowers on Friday while trying to find alternative ways to organize their campaign of dissent after the authorities cut off most users from the internet.

Protests have taken place almost daily since the military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in a crackdown by security forces that has drawn international condemnation.

On Friday, security forces opened fire at a rally near Myanmar's second city Mandalay, wounding four people, two critically, according to three domestic media organizations.

In the town of Tamu on the Indian border, a policemen who supported the democracy movement was killed in a clash with security forces, the Monywa Gazette reported.

The authorities, who had already shut down mobile data in a bid to stifle the opposition to the ruling junta, ordered internet providers from Friday to cut wireless broadband, depriving most customers of access.

In response, pro-democracy groups shared radio frequencies, offline apps that work without a data connection, and tips for using SMS messages as an alternative to data services to communicate.

"In the following days, there are street protests. Do as many guerrilla strikes as you can. Please join," Khin Sadar, a protest leader, said on Facebook in anticipation of the internet blackout, referring to quick protests in unexpected places that break up when the security forces appear.

"Let's listen to the radio again. Let's make phone calls to each other too."

The military did not announce or explain its order to providers to cut wireless broadband. Internet was available only on fixed lines, rare in Myanmar where most homes and businesses connect through wireless networks.

A spokesman for the junta did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.

Despite the internet shutdown, users were still able to upload pictures of marches, "flower strikes" and a funeral of a slain protester.

An image shared widely on social media showed a bird's eye view of hundreds of flickering candles on a dark road, spelling out the words "we will never surrender."

Across the country, demonstrators left bouquets, many with messages of defiance, at places associated with activists killed by the security forces.

People held up roses while making three-finger salutes, a symbol of resistance. One arrangement of dandelions and red roses on a lakeside walkway read: "Myanmar is bleeding."

More than 540 people have been killed in the uprising, many of them when troops fired on crowds, according to the Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) advocacy group, which is tracking casualties and detentions.

In the commercial hub Yangon, a Myanmar employee of South Korea's Shinhan Bank died on Friday after being shot in the head while traveling in a minibus two days earlier, the bank said. It was discussing the situation with the government.

The military has said those killed instigated the violence. It says it staged the coup because an election in November -- won by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy -- was rigged and the election commission failed to heed its complaints. The commission and many international bodies have dismissed that assertion.

Suu Kyi, a longtime democracy campaigner who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, is being held in detention.

She and four allies have been charged with violating a colonial-era official secrets act, her chief lawyer said on Thursday, the most serious charge filed against her. Violations are punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

The security forces have also arrested numerous suspected opponents of the coup. The Myanmar Now news portal said five women who spoke to a visiting CNN news crew on the streets of Yangon this week had been taken away by security men.

CHINA TALKS

Western countries have condemned the coup and some have imposed limited sanctions. But neither China nor India, which compete for influence, have denounced Suu Kyi's overthrow.

Myanmar's neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have traditionally been reluctant to criticize their fellow member under a principle of non-interference. But there is growing dismay with a country that has for decades raised international concerns over its domestic repression.

Several Southeast Asian foreign ministers met separately this week with a senior official in China, which is a major investor in Myanmar and one of the few countries able to influence the generals, to seek its backing for a bid to find a path out of the crisis.

"China... supports the convening of a special meeting of ASEAN leaders to mediate as soon as possible," the Chinese government's top diplomat, Wang Yi, said after talks with Malaysian foreign minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

Adding to the chaos in the former British colony, hostilities between the armed forces and ethnic minority insurgents have broken out in at least two regions.

-reuters-

Facebook removes 'inauthentic' networks spanning 8 nations

SINGAPORE - Facebook on Friday said it has dismantled seven separate networks of fake accounts and pages on its platform that were active in Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, Myanmar, Georgia, and Ukraine due to "coordinated inauthentic behavior".

The social media platform announced it had taken down the new networks as part of its monthly report into "coordinated inauthentic behavior", which also noted Facebook had removed nearly 8,000 pages involved in deceptive campaigns around the world in October.

Many of the networks taken down by Facebook were involved in deceptive political influence campaigns using fake accounts, targeting audiences both domestically and abroad.

One network of Facebook accounts and pages was operated from Egypt, Turkey, and Morocco by individuals connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian Islamist movement that operates networks of groups across the Middle East. 

The pages targeted countries across the region and included some terrorism-related content, Facebook said.

Facebook found 2 "inauthentic" networks in Georgia spreading political content, one of which the platform traced to individuals associated with 2 political parties.

In Ukraine and Myanmar, the social media giant found that public relations firms were running similar deceptive campaigns on behalf of political parties.

The company has been cracking down on such accounts globally after coming under fire for not developing tools quickly enough to combat extremist content and propaganda operations. 

In September, Facebook took down 57 accounts in the Philippines that have been allegedly manipulating campaigns on the platform. Most of the accounts were linked to the Philippine military and Philippine police.

-reuters-

Facebook employee who protested inaction on Trump posts says he was fired

SAN FRANCISCO - A Facebook Inc employee who criticized Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's decision not to take action against inflammatory posts by US President Donald Trump this month said on Friday that the social media company had fired him.

Brandon Dail, whose social media profiles describe him as a user interface engineer in Seattle, wrote on Twitter that he was dismissed for publicly challenging a colleague's silence on the controversy, which prompted a rare staff protest at Facebook on June 1.

Dozens of employees, including Dail and six other engineers on his team, abandoned their desks and tweeted objections to Zuckerberg's handling of Trump's posts.

Dail said the tweet that prompted his firing, which he sent the day after that walkout, scolded a fellow engineer for declining to add a statement of support to developer documents he was publishing.

"Intentionally not making a statement is already political," Dail wrote in the tweet.

Trump's posts included the racially charged phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" in reference to protests against racism and police brutality held after the May 25 killing of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis.

Twitter affixed a warning label to the same post, saying it glorified violence. Facebook opted to leave the post untouched.

Zuckerberg stood by his decision at a tense all-hands meeting with employees that week. During the meeting, Dail tweeted that it was "crystal clear today that leadership refuses to stand with us."

Dail again voiced objections this week after both Facebook and Twitter declined to take action against a Trump post that contained an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory about Martin Gugino, a 75-year-old protester who was critically injured by police in Buffalo, New York.

"Trump's attack on Martin Gugino is despicable and a clear violation Facebook's anti-harassment rules. It's again extremely disappointing that we (and Twitter) haven't removed it," he said.

Facebook and Dail did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

-reuters-

Instagram wants its influencers to make more money

Instagram is beginning to roll out updates that will allow creators to make money directly on the platform, a change that could drastically alter the influencer moneymaking landscape.

The company announced several new features Wednesday, including ads on IGTV videos, digital badges that fans can purchase through Instagram Live, merchandise sales through Instagram Shopping and an expansion of Brand Collabs Manager, which facilitates sponsored campaigns between companies and creators.

These updates are in addition to the expanded Instagram Live shopping features announced last week.

Influencers are an asset to social platforms. They drive engagement, but platforms that hope to retain top creators must help them do one thing well: make money. Influencing is a career, after all, and if creators aren’t getting paid, they will eventually stop showing up for work.

Until now, Instagram has taken a relatively hands-off role in monetization. Influencers are free to negotiate their own brand deals, provided they don’t violate the platform’s terms of service.

But Instagram doesn’t pay creators directly or give them a percentage of sales achieved through the platform’s shopping feature, for instance. Influencers generally receive checks from brands that team up with them, rather than from Instagram, which hosts their content.

According to a February report in Digiday, some influencers have been skeptical about Instagram’s IGTV feature, which they think bears too many similarities to YouTube and TikTok, without the benefits of those platforms.

On YouTube, creators can run ads on videos and receive monthly payments from the platform. And on TikTok, livestreaming creators can earn thousands of dollars in digital gifts. Instagram influencers have consequently pursued audiences on other platforms where their revenue streams may be more stable.

With its new monetization features, Instagram hopes to convince creators that its platform can support their work both functionally and financially. Ads from brands including Sephora, Ikea, Puma and other test partners will begin appearing in IGTV videos next week, with 55 percent of the ad revenue going to the creator (a cut that’s comparable to YouTube).

“Creators already put an incredible amount of effort into their content, and it’s crucial that they can make money from that content in order to fuel their work in the future,” said Justin Osofsky, the chief operating officer of Instagram. 

With the introduction of badges, creators will be able to make money through Instagram Live, which has seen more engagement since widespread stay-at-home orders were put in place (the company reported a 70 percent increase in views from February to March).

The badges will appear as little hearts next to a user’s comments on a livestream and will cost 99 cents to $4.99. For now, creators will receive 100 percent of the money made from badges, although Instagram could roll out a revenue-sharing agreement after the test phase is over, likely in 2021.

“There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to monetization, so we’re focused on building a suite of tools that can support the different needs and ambitions of creators in the long term,” Osofsky wrote in an email.

Over the last 2 years, influencers have sought more direct forms of monetization, primarily through merchandise sales; the expansion of Instagram’s shopping features is aimed at addressing that revenue stream. And while brand deals will also be easier to find with the expansion of Instagram’s Brand Collab Manager, those agreements will likely become more complex. 

c.2020 The New York Times Company

PLDT says hacked Twitter account 'recovered, ready to serve'

MANILA -- PLDT Inc said Thursday it recovered its verified customer service account on Twitter shortly after it was hacked with a post from a group that identified itself as Anonymous.

"Our @PLDT_Cares Twitter account has been recovered and is now ready to serve," PLDT Inc said in a statement.

PLDT assured the public that the "security issue" was limited to the said Twitter account and that its network and services were unaffected.

Despite restrictions imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19, PLDT continuously invested in its fiber and LTE network rollout to meet demand, it said. 

The unauthorized post, which was removed, read: "As the pandemic arises, Filipinos need fast internet to communicate with their loved ones. Do your job."

"The corrupt fear us, the honest support us, the heroic join us. We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget . Expect us," it said.

news.abs-cbn.com

Asian Americans lead in Internet-based TV use, study shows

Asian Americans, more than any other group, are using digital devices and streaming services for their television viewing, according to a report made public Monday.

The Nielsen company study said that Asian Americans are becoming key consumers and influencers in entertainment and gaming.

And Asian Americans are proving to be more tech savvy as their purchasing power widens, the report found. They are leaving behind live TV for Internet-based viewing at nearly double the rate of the total U.S. population.

The survey titled “Engaging Asian American Consumers at the Dawn of a New Decade” looked at people who identified as being Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone or in combination with another race.


It found that about 82% of Asian Americans subscribe to at least one streaming service, compared to 72% of the total population.

According to Nielsen, Asian Americans believe streaming platforms are where they will see more representation of people like themselves on TV.

The report cited Netflix, whose programming includes Ken Jeong and Ali Wong’s comedy specials and the “Ugly Delicious” food show hosted by chef David Chang.

On gaming, the report found that Asian Americans are 14% more likely to own gaming consoles than other U.S, residents.

The U.S. Asian American population is the fastest-growing group of all major ethnic and racial groups among eligible U.S. voters, according to a Pew Research Center analysis. They make up more than 11 million, or nearly 5%, of the electorate.

Asian American spending surpassed $1 trillion in 2019, according to Nielsen. That figure is projected to reach $1.3 trillion in 2022.

AP

Trump administration divided over new 5G network

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration is divided over the deployment of a new 5G cellular network, with the Pentagon, NASA and others at odds with other government agencies.

The 5-member Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted in late April to approve the deployment of a 5G cellular network by Ligado Networks.

Opponents of the plan argue that it would use spectrum that could potentially disrupt frequencies used for commercial and military Global Positioning System (GPS) signals. 

The FCC decision has received the backing of Attorney General Bill Barr and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

But Pentagon chief Mark Esper, NASA, the Commerce Department, Department of Homeland Security and major airlines have voiced their opposition.

On Wednesday, top Pentagon officials pleaded their case before a Senate committee.

"There are too many unknowns, and the risks are too great to allow the proposed Ligado system to proceed in light of the operational impact to GPS," said Dana Deasy, the top advisor to the defense secretary for information technology.

Senator Jim Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, also voiced his opposition to the project by Ligado, a Virginia company formerly known as LightSquared.

"I do not think it is a good idea to place at risk the GPS signals that enable our national and economic security for the benefit of one company and its investors," Inhofe said.

"After extensive testing and analysis, experts at almost every federal agency tell us that Ligado's plan will interfere with GPS systems," he said. "Interfering with GPS will hurt the entire American economy."

Inhofe said he had raised the question with President Donald Trump and that the FCC decision had been made "without cluing the president in on any of this."

Deasy said the Pentagon would lodge an appeal in a bid to have the FCC reverse its decision.

Agence France-Presse

Google 'task force' fights bad COVID-19 ads

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google said Thursday its task force devoted to fighting "bad" ads hawking bogus coronavirus cures, illegitimate unemployment benefits and overpriced medical supplies had blocked tens of millions of messages.

Google has blocked and removed coronavirus-related marketing pitches in recent months for policy violations including price-gouging and misleading claims, according to ads privacy and safety vice president Scott Spencer.A

"We have a dedicated COVID-19 task force working around the clock building new detection technology and improving our existing enforcement systems to stop bad actors," Spencer said in a blog post.

"These concerted efforts are working."


With health worries pervasive around the world, guarding against efforts to take advantage of people through pandemic-themed online ads is a priority, according to Spencer.

Google said it has been watching closely for advertising abuses taking advantage of the crisis since the COVID-19 outbreak started.

Deceptive ads have often been the work of "sophisticated actors attempting to evade our enforcement systems with advanced tactics," Spencer said.

He gave the example of a sharp spike in ads offering coveted supplies such as face masks at inflated prices designed to entice online orders that are never filled.

Alphabet-owned Google has a clear interest in protecting the integrity of the online advertising platform that is its money-making engine.

Google last year blocked and removed 2.7 billion "bad ads" and suspended nearly a million advertising accounts for policy violations, according to Spencer.

The California-based internet firm assembled a team last year to track signs of phishing or trickery regarding clicking on links, cutting the numbers of such "bad ads" by 50 percent as a result, Spencer said.

Google blocked more than 35 million phishing ads and 19 million "trick-to-click" ads last year, according to the company.

gc/rl

Agence France-Presse

Netflix adds 15.8 million customers during quarantine

Netflix Inc on Tuesday reported a surge in new sign-ups as audiences stayed in their homes to help fight the novel coronavirus and binged on series such as "Tiger King," but the company predicted a weaker second half of the year if quarantine orders are lifted.

The world's largest streaming service gained 15.8 million paying customers in the first three months of the year, bringing its global total to 182.9 million at the end of March. That nearly doubled the average Wall Street expectation of nearly 8 million, according to FactSet.

The company warned, however, that it expected fewer new customers from July to December compared with a year earlier. Many people who would have joined then are likely to have already signed up, executives said.

"We expect viewing to decline and membership growth to decelerate as home confinement ends," Netflix said in a letter to shareholders.

Shares of Netflix rose 1.2% to $439 in after-hours trading.

The company is among the few businesses to benefit from government orders imposed in March to keep people in isolation amid the coronavirus threat. While the S&P 500 Index has fallen 19% from its Feb. 19 record high, Netflix has gained 11% during the same period.

Netflix also issued a bullish forecast that it would add 7.5 million new customers for the current quarter, which ends in June, though the company said it was "mostly guesswork" given uncertainty over when stay-at-home orders might be lifted. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected 3.8 million.

For the just-ended quarter, Netflix's earnings per share fell short of analyst expectations. The company posted diluted earnings per share of $1.57, below the $1.65 consensus, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Total revenue rose to $5.77 billion from $4.52 billion. Analysts on average had expected $5.76 billion.

Appreciation of the US dollar, due partially to the coronavirus crisis, dragged on international revenue, the company said.

In the quarter, Netflix true-crime documentary "Tiger King" about a colorful zookeeper became a cultural sensation. It also released reality show "Love is Blind" and a new season of Spanish-language thriller "Money Heist."

As streaming video has grown in the United States, the market has become more competitive with the debut of Walt Disney Co's Disney+ and upcoming rivals. That has pushed Netflix to look for growth overseas.

The company's biggest expansion from January through March came from Europe, where it added 4.4 million new customers.

The most popular Netflix plan in the United States costs $13, nearly double the $7-per-month cost for Disney+.

-reuters-

Fil-Am students fall victim to 'Zoombombing'

SAN DIEGO, California - A group of Filipino-American students became the target of Zoombombers while they were holding a virtual meeting using Zoom technology amid the pandemic.

The San Diego State University’s Andres Bonifacio Samahan Club was holding a candidate meeting to elect its officers when a group of Zoombombers crashed the meeting and unleashed profanities and racial slurs.

“We sit silent not only to prevent any reaction but out some mix of shock, anger, confusion, and maybe most of all fear, fear that we were being violated and degraded in our homes and I hope no one else experiences that," said Julian Natividad.

In an Instagram message to fellow students, Natividad said many of the students were traumatized by the experience.

Last month, The Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council began tracking hate crimes and incidents against Asian Americans in California, and in the first week since its launch, some 1,100 cases have been reported.

With this virtual attack, AB Samahan said it will take a stand.

"We will press on, AB Samahan will not be let down because we will not be put down. We will no longer be the silent majority," it said.

With the “Zoombombing” phenomenon on the rise, Zoom has encouraged users to take extra security steps when meeting. In the meantime, SDSU has also issued a statement standing in solidarity with the AB Samahan Club.

Read more on Balitang America:

news.abs-cbn.com

Facebook to face renewed privacy lawsuit over user tracking

A federal appeals court on Thursday revived nationwide litigation accusing Facebook Inc of violating users' privacy rights by tracking their internet activity even after they logged out of the social media website.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Facebook users could pursue several claims under federal and California privacy and wiretapping laws.

A spokeswoman for Facebook said the proposed class action was without merit, and the Menlo Park, California-based company will continue defending itself.

Facebook users had accused the company of quietly storing cookies on their browsers that tracked when they visited outside websites containing "like" buttons, and then selling personal profiles based on their browsing histories to advertisers.

US District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California had dismissed the lawsuit in 2017, including claims under the federal Wiretap Act, and said the users lacked legal standing to pursue economic damages claims.

But in Thursday’s decision, Chief Judge Sidney Thomas wrote for a 3-judge panel that users had a reasonable expectation of privacy, and had sufficiently alleged a "clear invasion" of their right to privacy.


The panel also said California law recognized a right to recoup unjustly earned profits, regardless of whether a defendant's conduct directly caused economic harm.

"Facebook's user profiles would allegedly reveal an individual's likes, dislikes, interests, and habits over a significant amount of time, without affording users meaningful opportunity to control or prevent the unauthorized exploration of their private lives," Thomas wrote.

Citing Facebook’s data use policy, he also said the plaintiffs "plausibly alleged that Facebook set an expectation that logged-out user data would not be collected, but then collected it anyway."

-Reuters-

Netflix to reduce streaming quality in Europe to avoid internet overload

BRUSSELS -- Netflix will reduce the quality of its streaming in Europe to ease pressure on the internet, the firm said, as demand soars across the continent where millions are confined to their homes over coronavirus fears.

The streaming giant will "begin reducing bit rates across all our streams in Europe for 30 days," a spokesperson said in a statement.

"We estimate that this will reduce Netflix traffic on European networks by around 25 percent while also ensuring a good quality service for our members," the statement added.

With wide-ranging lockdowns and quarantines, schools, shops and borders closed and gatherings banned, people across Europe are increasingly turning to the internet to stave off boredom.

But the huge file sizes of high definition offerings from web giants like Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, HBO and Amazon are slowing the web, Thierry Breton, the EU commissioner for the internal market and digital economy warned.

"Teleworking and streaming help a lot but infrastructures might be in strain," he said in a tweet Thursday, calling for online platforms to switch to streaming in standard definition instead of HD.

Gamers breathed a sigh of relief on Wednesday after the end of an hours-long network outage that affected Nintendo's online games and prompted despair from users.

"Only a few days into the coronavirus self-isolation and Nintendo servers are already down... oh dear god," tweeted one.

source: news.abs-cbn.com