Google's money churning ad engine sputters in rough economy

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Google parent Alphabet reported quarterly earnings that fell short of market expectations as belts tightened in the digital ad market that drives its revenue.

Alphabet said it made a profit of $14 billion in the third quarter on ad revenue that grew just 6 percent to $69 billion when compared with the same period of last year.

Aside from one period at the start of the Covid pandemic, that would mark the weakest revenue growth at Alphabet for any quarter since 2014.

"When Google stumbles, it's a bad omen for digital advertising at large," said Insider Intelligence analyst Evelyn Mitchell.

"This disappointing quarter for Google signifies hard times ahead if market conditions continue to deteriorate."

Alphabet shares slipped 6.8 percent to $97.35 in after-market trades that followed the release of the earnings report.

Google's foundation in advertising on its heavily used search engine does give it an advantage, however, over other ad-reliant tech firms such as Meta, Snap and Twitter, the analyst added.

"Over time, we've had periods of extraordinary growth and then there are periods I viewed as a moment where you take the time to optimize the company to make sure we are set up for the next decade of growth ahead," Alphabet and Google chief Sundar Pichai said on an earnings call.

"I view this as one of those moments."

Alphabet chief financial officer Ruth Porat said the financial results in the quarter showed "healthy fundamental growth in Search and momentum in Cloud" computing revenue, but suffered from foreign exchange rates given the strong US dollar.

"We're working to realign resources to fuel our highest growth priorities," Porat said.

Big tech firms are grappling with multiple challenges, from inflation to the war in Ukraine, putting pressure on earnings.

Alphabet recruited throughout the pandemic, but announced a slowdown in hiring as ad revenue growth cooled this year.

"Within this slower headcount growth next year we will continue hiring for critical roles, particularly focused on top engineering and technical talent," Porat said.

Many other tech companies have decided to lay off staff, including Netflix and Twitter, or slow the pace of hiring, such as Microsoft and Snap. 

YouTube squeeze? 

Worsening the financial situation for Alphabet is the fact that Google tends not to aggressively promote advertising on its platform with tactics such as trying to convince businesses that online marketing is a smart move during tough economic times, said independent tech analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group.

"They don't like the idea of making their money off advertising, so they don't treat the market very well," Enderle contended.

"Now, you are seeing the adverse impact of not taking your revenue source seriously."

The earnings report also showed that ad revenue at YouTube was slightly lower than it was in the same quarter a year earlier, despite a hot trend of people watching video on-demand on the internet.

"Overall, I feel YouTube remains in a really good position to continue to benefit from the streaming boom," chief business officer Philipp Schindler said during an earnings call.

However, Alphabet noticed a "pullback in spending" by advertisers at YouTube in the quarter, Schindler told analysts.

"They have a ton of competition in video, and TikTok is probably hitting YouTube pretty hard," Enderle said.

Netflix last week reported that it gained subscribers in the recent quarter, calming investor fears that the streaming giant was losing paying customers.

The company said it ended the third quarter with slightly more than 223 million subscribers worldwide, up some 2.4 million, after seeing subscriber ranks ebb during the first half of the year.

The turn-around in subscriber growth comes as Netflix is poised to debut a subscription option subsidized by ads in November across a dozen countries.

Rival streaming platform Disney+ is to launch ad-subsidized subscriptions in December.

Agence France-Presse

Facebook use plunges among US teens: survey

US teens have left Facebook in droves over the past seven years, preferring to spend time at video-sharing venues YouTube and TikTok, according to a Pew Research Center survey data out Wednesday. 

TikTok has "emerged as a top social media platform for US teens" while Google-run YouTube "stands out as the most common platform used by teens," the report's authors wrote.

Pew's data comes as Facebook-owner Meta is in a battle with TikTok for social media primacy, trying to keep the maximum number of users as part of its multi-billion dollar ad-driven business.

The report said some 95 percent of the teens surveyed said they use YouTube, compared with 67 percent saying they are TikTok users.

Just 32 percent of teens surveyed said they log on to Facebook -- a big drop from the 71 percent who reported being users during a similar survey some seven years ago.

Once the place to be online, Facebook has become seen as a venue for older folks with young drawn to social networks where people express themselves with pictures and video snippets.

About 62 percent of the teens said they use Instagram, owned by Facebook-parent Meta, while 59 percent said they used Snapchat, researchers stated.

"A quarter of teens who use Snapchat or TikTok say they use these apps almost constantly, and a fifth of teen YouTube users say the same," the report said.

In a bit of good news for Meta's business, its photo and video sharing service Instagram was more popular with US teens than it was in the 2014-2015 survey.

Meanwhile, less than a quarter of the teens surveyed said they ever use Twitter, the report said.

The study also confirmed what casual observers may have suspected, 95 percent of US teens say they have smartphones, while nearly as many of them have desktop or laptop computers.

And the share of teens who say they are online almost constantly has nearly doubled to 46 percent when compared to survey results from seven years ago, researchers noted.

The report was based on a survey of 1,316 US teens, ranging in age from 13 years old to 17 years old, conducted from mid-April to early May of this year, according to Pew.

Agence France-Presse

YouTube Shorts touts 1.5 billion users, taking on TikTok

YouTube on Wednesday said that more than 1.5 billion people monthly tune into its Shorts video service, which competes with global sensation TikTok.

Alphabet-owned YouTube and Facebook-parent Meta both added short-form video sharing formats to their services after TikTok -- which late last year said it topped a billion users -- became the rage.

YouTube Shorts went live less than two years ago, adding videos of no longer than 60 seconds to the mix of offerings on the platform.

"Shorts has really taken off and are now being watched by over 1.5 billion logged-in users every month," said YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan.

"We know the product will continue to be an integral part of the YouTube experience moving forward."

YouTube last year launched a $100 million fund to "reward creators" whose video clips attract audiences to the online stage.

YouTube has also put the Silicon Valley tech titan's advertising skills to work helping creators generate income from content on the platform, which brought in billions of dollars in revenue in 2021.

Creators are taking advantage of podcasting, shorts, and live streaming on YouTube in a "multi-platform approach," said vice president of the Americas Tara Walpert Levy.

"This approach is yielding real results; channels uploading both short and long-form content are seeing better overall watch time and subscriber growth than those uploading only one format," Levy said.

She billed YouTube as a one-stop-shop for people to "flex their creative muscles."

TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, early this year began letting users upload slightly longer videos, raising the maximum length to 10 minutes from 3 minutes.

YouTube, Meta, and TikTok compete to be the platform of preference from popular online personalities with revenue-making features such as subscriptions or shares in ad revenue.

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-

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

Netflix joins virtual YouTuber boom in Japan

TOKYO - Netflix has joined Japan's booming virtual Youtuber - or VTuber - scene with the launch of an animated character to promote its growing anime streaming offering.

N-ko, a "sheep-human lifeform", is Netflix's attempt to tap into the appeal of VTubers - characters animated by motion capture that have built a loyal audience on YouTube in Japan by singing, dancing and interacting with fans.

The character is performed by a company employee and will introduce anime shows available on the streaming service, according to a video uploaded on YouTube on Tuesday.

Netflix and other streaming services hungry for content are turning to anime to secure local subscribers and exploit the global market for such shows that is seen by many in the industry as undercommercialized.

Japanese anime and Korean drama "play really well around the region as well as in-country and occasionally could be very, very global in their interest and desire", Netflix Co-CEO Theodore Sarandos said on an earnings call last week.

Anime is among industries boosted by spending during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a movie from horror fantasy series "Demon Slayer" breaking domestic records and reporting a strong opening weekend in the United States last week.

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Giles Elgood)

-reuters-

Video saved the K-pop stars: Brave Girls reborn via YouTube

GWACHEON -- The Brave Girls were losing courage just weeks ago, on the verge of breaking up and abandoning their dreams of K-pop stardom after years of going nowhere. 

Then a pseudonymous YouTuber called Viditor uploaded a compilation of them performing on South Korean army bases -- and saved their careers.

"Rollin' rollin' rollin' rollin'/I am waiting for you/Babe just only you," they chant, as wildly enthusiastic uniformed conscripts dance and wave glow-sticks.

It went viral and struck millions of chords across the country. 

Less than a month later the song reached number one in South Korea and topped the Billboard K-pop 100 in the US, four years after it was originally released -- with their popularity reinforced by their story of struggle against the odds.

The fan-led ascent is a reversal of the usual K-pop model, where bands are usually assembled, trained intensively and launched by record companies, whose marketing and promotion is crucial to their success.

"At the start of this year I thought it was time for us to call an end to it," lead singer Kim Min-young told AFP.

"Reaction to our songs had always been cold... It seemed like no one wanted to see us on stage," she said tearfully.

The Brave Girls started out as a five-piece a decade ago, but fell largely on deaf ears. They were relaunched as a septet in 2016, but the reshuffle did nothing to boost their popularity.

Their five singles and two mini-albums were misses rather than hits, and departures over the next few years whittled them down to four members.

They were reduced to performing on army bases, the South Korean equivalent of a daytime appearance on a side stage at a music festival.

"Our members all felt an emotional burden," said Kim, 30. "I wasn't brave enough to give up on my career or start something new. And I thought if I left the team it would be the end of Brave Girls. So I wanted to keep the team together till the end."

But their tour of duty proved to be the making of them.

'We will definitely win wars'

South Korea requires all able-bodied men to serve in uniform to defend it against the nuclear-armed North, a period when they are often dispatched to remote places and deprived of the joys of modern life. 

As a common experience it is a unifier and a leveler, and Viditor's compilation -- complete with witty captions such as "Play this song during battles and we will definitely win wars" -- resonated with those who had seen them in the military.

The clip garnered around 15 million views in little more than a month.

"Viditor, you have rediscovered the Brave Girls," wrote one poster. "You are nothing short of the commander of South Korea's 600,000 soldiers."

The uploader -- who said she wanted to remain anonymous to maintain her privacy -- said she had been astonished by the reaction.

She has put together hundreds of compilations of other bands' tracks but never before had similar impact.

"I thought I could make an entertaining video with soldiers' hilarious reactions and funny comments," she said by email. "But I never saw this coming. I am still in disbelief over what has happened." 

'Something miraculous happened to us'

The K-pop phenomenon -- epitomized by the global success of BTS -- earns billions of dollars a year for the world's 12th-largest economy.

Scores of groups largely made up of teenagers are launched every year hoping to follow in their footsteps, but most acts quickly disappear, leaving barely a trace on the score of musical history.

Exposure on major television stations has long been a must-have for aspiring K-pop idols. But cultural commentator Jung Ho-jai said the raunchy moves in the original "Rollin'" video were too risque for the networks.

They were left with little choice but to take any booking going, however remote and badly paid, with Jung describing them as "relegated to what was essentially the third tier of the English football league."

But once Viditor posted her video, he said, "somehow YouTube algorithms saw potential in the clip and began displaying it to a wider audience. 

"It has proved how important YouTube has become as a media platform." 

K-pop firms are increasingly turning to social media sites like YouTube, TikTok and Facebook to develop their bands' fanbases.

"Well over 50 new groups tap into the market every year but less than half appear on major TV stations," Kim Jin-hyung, chief executive of Wuzo Entertainment, told AFP. 

"In order for idols to survive, we have to target online platforms that meet the demands of fans." 

But for the Brave Girls, it was an amateur poster who made the difference.

Member Lee Yu-na said: "Something very miraculous and inexplicable has happened to us."

Agence France-Presse

YouTube says rule-breaking videos get scant views

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - YouTube on Tuesday said rule-breaking videos get looked at very little before being removed by the Google-owned platform.

YouTube added "Violative View Rate" to its quarterly transparency report to indicate what percentage of views come from content that violates its policies, and said the figure was a small fraction of a percent in the final three months of last year.

"It's a very low number," YouTube director of trust and safety Jennifer O'Connor said while briefing journalists.

"Of course we want it to be lower, and that's what my team works day in and day out to try to do."

The rate derived by sampling YouTube content indicated that violating content accounted for 16 to 18 of every 10,000 views on the platform, where the biggest category for rule breaking is typically spam, O'Connor said.

YouTube did not provide a breakdown of which rules were being violated by videos involved in the calculation.

Automated systems at YouTube detect 94 percent of violating content flagged, removing 75 percent of it before a video gets 10 views, according to the streaming platform.

Internal teams at YouTube have used the VVR as a metric for their efforts since 2017, and it has fallen some 70 percent as the company has invested in technology and workers to catch unwanted videos, O'Connor said.

More than 20,000 people at Google are devoted to keeping the platform safe, she added.

Google and YouTube are among internet services that have been hammered with criticism that they have not done enough to stop the spread of misinformation and other abuses that can cause real-world harm.

Since it started releasing community guideline enforcement reports in 2018, YouTube has removed more than 83 million videos and 7 billion comments, according to the service.

The VVR is calculated by sending samplings of videos on YouTube to reviewers to determine whether they violate policies in a system O'Connor touted as statistically reliable.

"By sampling, we gain a more comprehensive view of the violative content we might not be catching with our systems," YouTube said in a blog post.

"We believe the VVR is the best way for us to understand how harmful content impacts viewers, and to identify where we need to make improvements."

Agence France-Presse

YouTube brings TikTok-style Shorts to United States

YouTube on Thursday started rolling out an early version of its Shorts quick-clip feature in the United States, ramping up its challenge to TikTok.

The popularity of YouTube Shorts soared during testing in India, and it has been racking up more than 6.5 billion views a day by people tuning in overall, according to product lead Todd Sherman of the Google-owned video service.

"We're introducing our YouTube Shorts Beta to the United States starting today, as we continue to build the experience alongside our global community," Sherman said.

"We plan to introduce more features as we continue to build Shorts alongside creators and artists."

YouTube is also working on ways for people to make money from audiences at Shorts, according to Sherman.

The new service is the latest to challenge the fast-growing Chinese-owned TikTok, which has faced scrutiny over its ties to the Beijing government.

Netflix early this month added a "Fast Laughs" feature to its iPhone app, serving up comic clips in rapid fire, in a move taking on the popular video app TikTok.

Facebook-owned Instagram responded to TikTok's popularity with their own short video format called Reels last August. 

And in November, Snapchat launched Spotlight, a public feed of content produced by users.

Agence France-Presse 

YouTube back up after worldwide outage

YouTube, owned by Alphabet Inc's Google GOOGL.O, said late on Wednesday it had fixed a glitch that led to a worldwide outage of the video-streaming service.

DownDetector.com, a website which monitors outages, showed nearly 286,000 incidents of people reporting issues with the service.

The issue started at around 6:53 p.m. ET (23:53 GMT), according to Downdetector.com, with users complaining about trouble in watching videos on the platform.

"We're so sorry for the interruption. This is fixed across all devices & YouTube services," YouTube said in a tweet bit.ly/36r4sjz, without explaining what had caused the outage.

Google did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on the outage.

Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath and Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Anil D’Silva

-reuters-

YouTube tests TikTok rival in India

SAN FRANCISCO - YouTube on Monday began testing a TikTok rival in India, saying it would refine its short video format and roll it out in more countries in coming months.

YouTube Shorts made its debut as TikTok pursues a partnership with Oracle that it hopes will spare it from being shut-down in the US by President Donald Trump.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday confirmed a bid from Oracle concerning TikTok's American operations after the video-sharing app's parent ByteDance rejected a proposal from Microsoft.

But it remained unclear whether the venture would pass muster with Washington regulators.

"Shorts is a new short-form video experience for creators and artists who want to shoot short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones," YouTube vice president of product management Chris Jaffe said in a blog.

"Over the next few days in India, we're launching an early beta of Shorts with a handful of new creation tools to test this out."

YouTube Shorts videos are limited to 15 seconds, according to the Google-owned platform used by some 2 billion people worldwide.

Jaffe noted that Shorts will be modified based on user feedback before being made more broadly available.

TikTok's brand of brief, quirky videos made on users' cellphones has grown hugely popular.

But Trump's claims that TikTok could be used by China to track US federal employees, build dossiers for blackmail and conduct corporate espionage has sparked a diplomatic storm between Washington and Beijing.

TikTok has rejected the charges and sued over the crackdown, contending that the US order was a misuse of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act because the platform is not "an unusual and extraordinary threat."

Trump effectively ordered the sale of the Chinese company's US operations by September 20, after which the app would shut down.

Agence France-Presse

What happens to a YouTube channel when its creator dies

MANILA — They used to be channels their fans flock once the notification bell rings. Now they appear to stand as memorials, a way to remember both Emman Nimedez and Lloyd Cadena by.

The two local YouTube stars died within weeks of each other, leaving many of their millions of loyal subscribers clinging to the years of content that they had passionately put up. “This is no longer a channel,” a comment read in the final video Nimedez had uploaded. “This is a museum of a great person.”

But this begs a curious question: Will this “museum” ever close? Will the videos be deleted some time in the future, given the channel’s inactivity? What does happen to a YouTube channel when its creator passes away?

According to Google, there are two options regarding a deceased user’s account.

One is that Google will abide by the creator’s plans for it, provided they had mapped one up using their “inactive account manager” feature. This is the “best way for you to let us know who should have access to your information, and whether you want your account to be deleted,” Google said.

The other is to have a family or a trusted representative “make a request for a deceased person's account.”

Google wrote about this option: “We recognize that many people pass away without leaving clear instructions about how to manage their online accounts.

“We can work with immediate family members and representatives to close the account of a deceased person where appropriate. In certain circumstances we may provide content from a deceased user's account.

“In all of these cases, our primary responsibility is to keep people's information secure, safe, and private.

“We cannot provide passwords or other login details. Any decision to satisfy a request about a deceased user will be made only after a careful review.”

Three requests can be made: Close the account of a deceased user, submit a request for funds from a deceased user's account, and obtain data from a deceased user's account.

Nimedez passed away last August 16, after a battle with acute myeloid leukemia, while Cadena died this Friday. It remains unclear how the latter died, but its suddenness prompted an outpouring of tributes and calls to support his mother, given how Cadena has yet to pay for their new house.

The house was what Cadena really wanted to give his mother, who was an overseas Filipino worker, as a retirement gift. Prior, they had lived in the slums.

news.abs-cbn.com

YouTube collaborates with ABS-CBN in launching Super Stream

MANILA – YouTube has collaborated with ABS-CBN and other media partners to give netizens free access to video content across a variety of genres for a limited time.

Through Super Stream, YouTube users can watch over 300 hours of binge-worthy content including local blockbuster movies, hit shows, romance flicks, historic sports matches, inspiring documentaries and more, the video platform said in a statement.

Super Stream will run from Aug. 30 to Sept. 26.

“Every day, Filipinos go to YouTube to learn, share their passions, or be entertained. As people limit going out to remain well, we want to make staying safe at home better by introducing Super Stream so everyone can access movies, TV shows and more--for free until September 26,” said Gabby Roxas, Marketing Head of Google Philippines.

“Whether it is a box office hit, classic TV show, sports event, or documentary, there is Super Stream content for entertainment needs on top of the YouTube videos from favorite creators,” he added.

For its first week from Aug. 30 to Sept. 5, the following movies from ABS-CBN will be available on YouTube’s Super Stream channel:

    Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros
    The Gift
    Everybody Loves Baby Wendy
    Allergy in Love
    Barbara Reimagined
    Agawan Base
    Mamu and a Mother, Too
    Baka Bukas
    Tisay
    Happyland
    The Reunion
    SPARK
    Apple of My Eye

Meanwhile, daily full episodes of “Pangako Sa’Yo,” “Lovers in Paris,” “All of Me” and “Dolce Amore” will also be available for streaming.

The following digital series cutups and 25-minuter supercut movies will be on the Super Stream channel:

    A Second Chance
    The Unmarried Wife
    All Times Seph Was The Reliable Friend
    All Times Junjun Was The Wise Friend
    Listen To Love: The Four Bad Boys and Me (EP 1, 2 and 3)

Under the variety show genre, netizens can watch “Love Out Loud with Kaorhys” and the first and second episodes of “Hello Stranger Finale FanCon.”

Lastly, the 17th episode of Toni Gonzaga’s “I Feel U” and “We Rise Together’s” 62nd,63rd and 64th episodes will also be available on Super Stream.

Aside from ABS-CBN, YouTube has also collaborated with GMA and TBA Studios for this new project.

news.abs-cbn.com

Ivana Alawi poses topless to celebrate 8 million subscribers on YouTube

MANILA -- She's not one to shy away from baring on social media. 

And true to this bold, confident personality of hers, Ivana Alawi posed topless for fans to celebrate reaching a YouTube milestone. 

The actress and vlogger set pulses racing this Friday by sharing a picture, from celebrity photographer BJ Pascual, after her YouTube channel broke the 8-million subscribers mark. 

Alawi rose to fame mainly thanks to her YouTube channel. 

She delved into acting with the drama series "Sino Ang May Sala?" and was slated to star in her first teleserye as a lead in "Ligaya," prior to the lockdown caused by the spread of COVID-19. 

Alawi also tried her hand in music, releasing her first music video last month for her single, "Sana All." 



In February, Alawi signed an exclusive contract with ABS-CBN

news.abs-cbn.com

YouTube asks people to film themselves for ‘Life In A Day 2020’ documentary

MANILA -- It's been a decade since they worked on the documentary, "Life In A Day," which stitched together footage from people all over the world to create a portrait of a single day of their lives. 

Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald and producer Ridley Scott, best known for his classic films "Alien," "Blade Runner," and" Gladiator," are again partnering with YouTube for a sequel --and they are asking for people's help. 

"Life In A Day 2020" is calling on people worldwide to film their lives on July 25, and submit them at this website. 

As with the original, the clips will be reviewed and those picked will be woven into a full-length movie, which is slated to premiere at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival and on YouTube in 2021. 

Its director, Madconald, in a release, said: "I am thrilled, ten years later, that we are making 'LIFE IN A DAY 2020.'"

"In that time, how have we changed? How has our relationship to filming ourselves changed? And at this extraordinary turning point in history what are we hoping for in our future?" he added. 

You can check out the video of him calling for submissions below: 



The original "Life In A Day" also premiered at Sundance in 2011. It easily became one of YouTube's biggest participatory projects, with over 80,000 users submitting their entries. 

Of this planned sequel, Tabitha Jackson, director of Sundance, said: "Given the extraordinary current moment, I think it's the perfect time to premiere this for a new edition of a work that so powerfully demonstrates the power of cinematic storytelling to reveal and celebrate our shared humanity."

news.abs-cbn.com

Vlogger Nas Daily stars in Spotify's first Asia-led original podcast

MANILA -- Spotify has launched its first Asia-led original podcast and it stars Nuseir Yassin, more popularly known for his Nas Daily vlogs.

Titled "Nas Talks," the weekly podcast will feature the Israeli vlogger tackling "a variety of personal, timely, and controversial topics," according to a statement released by Spotify on Wednesday. 

In the first few weeks of the show, Yassin will be joined by Filipino-American vlogger Wil Dasovich and Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari. 

"Going into podcasting makes perfect sense for the Nas Daily journey. It's hard to deep-dive into topics in less than three minutes and I'm looking forward to longer discussions with other points of view," said Yassin, who was tapped by the Department of Tourism in 2019 to show the country's beach rehabilitation efforts.

"Nas Talks" premiered this Wednesday, July 8. 

With his new podcast, Yassin now joins the likes of Joe Rogan, Warner Bros., DC, PodcastOne, and The Ringer as content creators for Spotify Originals.

news.abs-cbn.com

With fact-checks, Twitter takes on a new kind of task

In addition to disputing misleading claims made by US President Donald Trump about mail-in ballots this week, Twitter has added fact-checking labels to thousands of other tweets since introducing the alerts earlier this month, mostly on posts about the coronavirus.

The company does not expect to need additional staff for the undertaking, Twitter spokeswoman Liz Kelley said on Saturday. Nor is it partnering with independent fact-checking organizations, as Facebook and Google have, to outsource the debunking of viral posts flagged by users.

Social media platforms have been under fierce scrutiny over how they police rapidly spreading false information and other types of abusive content since Russia exploited the networks to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election.

Fact-checking groups said they welcomed Twitter's new approach, which adds a "get the facts" tag linking to more information, but said they hoped the company would more clearly lay out its methodology and reasoning.

On Friday, Chief Executive Jack Dorsey acknowledged the criticism, saying he agreed fact-checking "should be open source and thus verifiable by everyone." In a separate tweet, Dorsey said more transparency from the company was "critical."

The company's move to label Trump's claims about mail-in ballots separates it from larger competitors such as Facebook, which declares its neutrality by leaving fact-check decisions to third-party partners and exempts politicians' posts from review.

"To a degree, fact-checking is subjective. It's subjective in what you pick to check, and it's subjective in how you rate something," said Aaron Sharockman, executive director of US fact-checking site PolitiFact, who said Twitter's process was opaque.

Twitter telegraphed in May that its new policy of adding fact-checking labels to disputed or misleading coronavirus information would be expanded to other topics. It said this week - after tagging Trump's tweets - that it was now labeling misleading content related to election integrity.

Twitter's Kelley said the team is continuing to expand the effort to include other topics, prioritizing claims that could cause people immediate harm.

A Twitter spokesman said the company's Trust and Safety division is tasked with the "leg-work" on such labels, but declined to give the team's size. This week, Twitter defended one of these employees after he was blasted as politically biased by Trump and his supporters over 2017 tweets.

Twitter also drew Trump's ire for putting a warning over his tweet about protests in Minnesota over the police killing of a black man for "glorifying violence," an enactment of a 2019 policy that was long-awaited by the site's critics.

In the tweet, Trump warned the mostly African-American protesters that "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," a phrase used during the civil rights era to justify police violence against demonstrators.

Facebook did not take action on the same post.

The Twitter spokesman said decisions on the labels are made by a team of executives, including Sean Edgett, Twitter's general counsel, and Del Harvey, the vice president of Trust and Safety. Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey is informed before actions are taken.

The company's curation team aggregates tweets on the disputed claims and writes a summary for a landing page. The team, which includes former journalists, normally pulls together content in categories including Trending, News, Entertainment, Sports and Fun.

Twitter, whose executives at one time referred to it as "the free speech wing of the free speech party," has been tightening content policies for several years after recognizing that abuses had grown rampant.

Dorsey met privately with academics and senior journalists shortly after the 2016 US. election, which former New York Times editor Bill Keller, who attended one meeting, called an "ahead-of-the-pack effort" to cope with fake news and abuse.

Critics say the company was slow to act after that, but it has accelerated its efforts in the last year.

In March, it debuted its "manipulated media" label on a video of Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to take on Trump in the Nov. 3 election, posted by the White House social media director.

Twitter's content review operation is small relative to its peers, with about 1,500 people. Facebook has about 35,000 people working on "safety and security," including 15,000 moderators, most of them contractors, although it also dwarfs Twitter in size: 2.4 billion daily users compared to Twitter's 166 million.

Facebook, which this week distanced itself from Twitter's actions, is also setting up an independent oversight board to rule on a small number of contentious content decisions.

From January to June last year, Twitter said the company took actions on 1,254,226 accounts for violating its content rules. Twitter does work with independent organizations on content issues, but fact-checking groups, some of them paid by Facebook, told Reuters they wanted more dialogue with Twitter about its new steps.

Baybars Örsek, the executive director of the International Fact-Checking Network at the Poynter Institute, said the organization had reached out to Twitter recommending more transparency features in its fact-checking, such as the use of time-stamps.

Vinny Green, vice president of operations at fact-checking organization Snopes, said he has pressed Twitter to establish partnerships since 2017, but had received tepid responses.

Facebook since 2016 has run a fact-checking program with dozens of external partners, including a Reuters unit.

YouTube, the video service of Alphabet Inc's, in April started showing US viewers information from fact-checkers such as FactCheck.org and PolitiFact, although it declined to share a full list of partners. 

-reuters-

Virgin Labfest 2020 to be shown on YouTube, Facebook, iWant

MANILA -- Virgin Labfest, the Cultural Center of the Philippines' (CCP) annual theater event for "unpublished, unstaged, untested and untried" plays, will go online this year as the novel coronavirus pandemic continues.

In a statement, CCP said the 16th edition will feature 10 new works, three revisited plays, and six staged readings. 

Billed as "VLF 2020 KAPIT: Lab in the Time of Covid (A Virtual Labfest Lockdown Edition)," it will run from June 10 to 28 on CCP's Facebook and YouTube pages.

From June 14 to 28, the shows will be streamed on ABS-CBN's iWant.

Check out the lineup, as described by CCP, below:

NEW WORKS

1. "Doggy" (live on June 10, 3 p.m. and June 26, 2 p.m.) is about a man's fiancee's sexual peculiarity that becomes his source of repressed anger. 

2. "Pilot Episode" (live on June 13, 5 p.m. and June 24, 8 p.m.) shows a young gay man who just quit his job through a text message, and how his parents attempt to de-escalate his extreme manic-depressive episode.

3. "Dapithapon" (live on June 14, 3 p.m. and June 27, 5 p.m.) follows the story of three boys in senior high school who have to confront their greatest fears in a single day: flunking out of school, impossible parental expectations, and an unhealthy infatuation with a teacher. 

4. "Papaano Turuan ang Babae Humawak ng Baril" (live on June 13, 3 p.m. and June 24, 2 p.m.) shows what happens when a man reunites with his pregnant wife upon returning home from an encounter against the NPA.

5. "BlackPink" (live on June 11, 5 p.m. and June 28, 8 p.m.) tells of a father's discovery that his youngest son who is a staunch fan of Blackpink was prohibited by his school principal to dance "Kill This Love" in their Family Day talent contest, and the only way for him to join the competition is if he finds other male students to dance with him. 

6. "Multiverse" (live on June 14, 8 p.m. and June 26, 8 p.m.) reunites two estranged brothers -- a writer and a recovering alcoholic. The two reconnect through their mutual love of comic books. 

7. "Titser Kit" (live on June 11, 3 p.m. and June 27, 2 p.m.) tells of a young student who gets into trouble in his new school and hides inside a dilapidated storage room, afraid of what punishment the principal might sanction him with. He feels safe until Titser Kit finds him there.

8. "Mayang Bubot sa Tag-araw" (live on June 12, 5 p.m. and June 23, 2 p.m.) is a painful tale of two Ayta children whose friendship is tested as they choose different paths. 

9. "Gin Bilog" (live on June 12, 3 p.m. and June 25, 2 p.m.) focuses on old issues that are rehashed in a drinking session of family and friends.

10. "Boyboy and Friends Channel" (live on June 12, 8 p.m. and June 23, 8 p.m.) was written by Anthony Kim Vergara and is directed by Joshua Tayco. It tells the tale of friends who lost their jobs as production crew members after the timely untimely shutdown of their TV network and find successful making a new career as YouTubers. Now, Boy-boy with his buddies make a decision that forever changes their friendship.

REVISITED PLAYS

1. "Fangirl" by Herlyn Alegre, directed by Charles Yee (June 14, 5 p.m. and June 25, 8 p.m.)

2. "Anak Ka Ng" by U Z Eliserio, directed by Maynard Manansala (June 10, 8 p.m. and June 23, 5 p.m.)

3. "Wanted: Male Boarders" by Rick Patriarca, directed by George De Jesus III (June 10, 5 p.m. and June 27, 8 p.m.)

STAGED READINGS

1. "Jenny Li" by Buch Dacanay, directed by Nour Hooshmand (June 20, 5 p.m.)

2. "Dominador Gonzales - National Artist" by Dingdong Novenario, directed by Bunny Cadag (June 19, 5 p.m.)

3. "LadyMasters" by Rouchelle Dinglasan, directed by Joy Cerro (June 25, 5 p.m.)

4. "Matira ang Matibay" by Bernice Dacara, directed by Alon Segara (June 26, 5 p.m.)

5. "Bagahe" by Nicko de Guzman, directed by Joel Saracho (June 18, 5 p.m.)

6. "Mongoloida's Casa de Pun" by Claro delos Reyes, directed by Guelan Luarca (June 24, 5 p.m.)

Meanwhile, other Virgin Labfest events include an online edition of the playwright's fair, web discussions, and a writing fellowship program.

More details can be found on the website and social media accounts of CCP. 

news.abs-cbn.com

Facebook, YouTube remove 'Plandemic' video with 'unsubstantiated' coronavirus claims

Facebook Inc and YouTube, the video service of Alphabet Inc's Google, said on Thursday that they were removing a video that made medically unsubstantiated claims relating to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The 26-minute video dubbed "Plandemic" went viral this week across social media platforms. It features Judy Mikovits, an activist among people who contend that many common vaccines are dangerous.

Mikovits says in the video that wearing masks activates the coronavirus within people, without providing evidence, and criticizes orders to stay away from beaches.

"Suggesting that wearing a mask can make you sick could lead to imminent harm, so we're removing the video," Facebook said.

Mikovits could not be reached for comment, while producers of the video did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In the video, Mikovits also describes the coronavirus as a conspiracy among people trying to profit from vaccines and raises concerns about vaccines. She says anyone who has ever received a flu vaccine had a coronavirus injected into them, without providing substantiation.

COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, emerged in late 2019 and there is no known vaccine and or cure for it. Vaccines are available for seasonal flu, which is caused by a separate virus.

YouTube said it was working to keep the video off its service in accordance with its rules against "content that includes medically unsubstantiated diagnostic advice" about the coronavirus and the related respiratory illness COVID-19.

But late on Thursday, slightly edited copies of the original video remained available on YouTube.

Twitter Inc said it had blocked users from using the hashtags #PlagueOfCorruption and #Plandemicmovie, but said that content in a shorter clip posted on its service did not violate its policy against COVID-19 misinformation.

The companies have been under pressure from the World Health Organization and other health authorities around the world to police harmful content and misinformation about the pandemic.


While the companies have dedicated workers to address the challenge, misinformation continues to flow, including from groups growing frustrated with business closures and stay-at-home orders and taking to social media to argue against them.

-reuters-

Justin Bieber, Hailey Baldwin open their lives for candid new series on Facebook Watch

LOS ANGELES - Justin Bieber and his wife Hailey Baldwin are opening up in an intimate series for Facebook Watch in which they discuss their marriage, their problems and their lives together. "The Biebers on Watch" launched on Monday with the first of 12 episodes shot by the couple in and around their Toronto home where they are currently under lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The first episode sees the couple taking a boat out onto a lake near where Bieber grew up and talking frankly about the challenges and rewards of being married.

"There's a lot of things I need to work on. Forgiveness things, jealousy things, insecurities that I didn't even realize I had until I chose to spend my life with you. Realized there were blind spots in my life that I didn't realize I had," Bieber told Baldwin.

The series is being shot on GoPro cameras, Facebook Watch said.

Bieber, 26, and Baldwin, 23, met in their early teens, attended the same church and started dating again seriously about two years ago. The Canadian singer and the model married privately in 2018 and held a second wedding for friends and family in September 2019.

The series follows a 10-part documentary on YouTube earlier this year where Bieber emerged from a long period out of the public eye to chronicle the making of his first album in four years, "Changes."

Bieber shot to worldwide fame as a 13 year-old, got hooked on drugs, hit the headlines for a string of arrests and bad behavior, and abruptly pulled out of his "Purpose" world tour in 2017 citing the need for rest.

He has since spoken frankly of his struggles with drugs, depression and fame. (Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by David Gregorio)

-reuters-