KimPerales, #META exploits children:
Meta revoked a job offer to a prominent cyber-intel. analyst -after he criticized IG for failing to protect children online.
Raffile had been offered a job as a human exploitation investigator. He'd participated in a webinar on safeguarding agst FIN sextortion schemes (featured: parents of 4 children who'd died after being scammed on IG), during which he criticized #IG for allowing children to fall prey to scammers & offered possible solutions.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/may/16/meta-rescinds-job-offer-human-trafficking-expert?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
tagesschau, German EU-Kommission leitet Verfahren gegen Facebook-Mutter Meta ein
Die EU-Kommission hat ein Verfahren gegen Meta eröffnet. Brüssel wirft Meta vor, hauseigene Dienste so zu konzipieren, dass sie bei Kindern und Jugendlichen Suchtverhalten auslösen könnten.
blabberlicious, Meta said in a statement: “This feature aims to strike the balance between protecting people from seeing nude images and educating them about the risks of sharing them, while not preventing or interrupting people’s important conversations.”
Translation:
Emperor fires tailor, after fitting session revelations.
KimPerales, 🚨"Looting The Internet:
Last wk, #Meta revealed (in a motion tried to dismiss: FTC anti-mon. lawsuit) that IG made $32.4B in 2021 ad rev. -shocking -consider #Google's YouTube made $28.8B -same period. App made ~30% of Meta's entire rev. in the early part of 2022. 96% of Meta's $40.1B Q4 2023 rev. came from ads +made >$100B since 2021 -likely to continue -only thing these platforms care about is rev.⬆️. In America, 83% of adults use YouTube, 68%: IG: 47%."
#AI #Antitrust https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-great-looting-of-the-internet/
tagesschau, German Verbraucherzentrale NRW verklagt Meta
Für ein Abo zahlen oder personalisierte Werbung sehen: Bei Facebook und Instagram haben Nutzer diese beiden Möglichkeiten. Die Verbraucherzentrale NRW hält das für rechtswidrig und darum klagt gegen Meta.
J12t,
J12t, Rachel provides two key reasons (my phrasing):
#Threads wants to be the best place where people have relevant, public, real-time conversations, and the #fediverse is the means by which people can find the audiences that are best for those conversations, because not all of them will be on Threads.
The fediverse is a compelling way for creators to own their audiences in a way they aren't able to own on other apps today.
J12t, Peter: one of the advantages of #ActivityPub is that you can limit exposure to other servers.
#AtProto is all public, and that's another reason why #ActivityPub is a better match for Meta.
darnell, I know #WhatsApp is popular amongst Americans 🇺🇸 who travel outside of the country, but I doubt #Meta will replace #iMessage in the #UnitedStates 🇺🇸 in the near future.
#Apple has already lost to #Facebook Messenger in #America 🇺🇸, so in a sense @zuck has already won.
👉🏾 WhatsApp Reveals Biggest iPhone Update For 2024—It's Impossible To Beat https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2024/05/04/whatsapps-surprise-new-update-iphone-15-pro-max-iphone-16-pro-max/
darnell, @yeri I am not sure if they were from a tech scene (they were all locals), but they had iPhones so we are able to message each other back & forth over iMessage.
The local expats I encountered definitely used WhatsApp, although all those with an iPhone definitely used iMessage with me when I was there.
It could simply be that they adapted to the communication device depending on the person (which is not unheard of).
I know people who use iMessage, Signal, WhatsApp, & Telegram.
kikobar,
tokyo_0, A lot of people have insisted #Meta isn't getting involved with the #Fediverse to embrace, extend and extinguish it...
... but even before fully implementing Fediverse interoperability in #Threads they're already talking openly about changing its protocols to add features like monetization. 🤔
Text in a screenshot reads as follows: McCue riffed on the idea that fediverse users could become creators where some of their content became available to subscribers only, similar to how Patreon works. For instance, fediverse advocate and co-editor of ActivityPub Evan Prodromou created a paid Mastodon account (@evanplus) that users could subscribe to for $5 per month to gain access. If he’s on board with paid content, surely others would follow. Cottle agreed that the model could work with the fediverse, too. He additionally suggested there are ways the fediverse could monetize beyond donations, which is what often powers various efforts today, like Mastodon. Cottle said someone might even make a fediverse experience that consumers would pay for, the way some fediverse client apps are paid today.
tokyo_0, And aware, no doubt, that quote posts are a divisive, hot-button issue, they're already building into #Threads not only quote post functionality but more refined controls for it than I know of anywhere in the #Fediverse — a feature bound to attract attention and make people consider choosing Threads in preference to other Fediverse software that doesn't offer the same functionality.
This is all absolutely classic embrace, extend and extinguish.
mima, @youronlyone I don't think they can force the rest of fedi to implement controls on quotes. I do think it's a bad idea to control who can quote post no matter if it's Mastodon or Threads doing it (or even Misskey). But it's just going to be circumvented/ignored easily, like how Masto's "opt-in search" has no effect on Misskey's note search per user.
What fedi really should focus on is controlling replies. And while I have reservations on federating that control, I do believe it's important to give users the power to control how their posts look like in their own instances without having admin privileges. Because it's a (micro)blog.
darnell, I did not realize how much influence #Meta has over the popularity of news organizations (at least online).
👉🏾 Right-Wing Media is QUICKLY IMPLODING because of THIS 📹 https://youtu.be/gEKrvQYdR7Y
Article Adam Mockler was reading from:
👉🏾 Right-Wing Media Are in Trouble 📰 https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/04/conservative-digital-media-traffic/678055/
I know previously @zuck & @mosseri alerted the public that political content on #Facebook, #Instagram & #Threads would be de-emphasized.
#Google might be de-emphasizing police too.
btaroli, Wait… so #Meta is trying to make #WhatsApp the new #WeChat of the US? What could possibly go wrong…?
https://mastodon.social/@verge/112367606416456930
kristoff, That is still somewhat related to what WhatsApp already does.
Wasn't the concensus that there is absolutely no market for a one-superapp-that-does-it-all app in the US (or Europe for that matter), as otherwise it would already have existed by now?
btaroli, @kristoff I keep hearing that but if it’s one thing techbros like it’s more. More data. More revenue. More banning of apps doing the same thing they are. More power.
Given the opportunity they totally want a super-app. They just want it, and all those users’ data and dollars, to be theirs.
onlytina, German #Meta #DSA #Moderation #EUParlament
Interessant, dass eine Institution da jetzt erst drauf kommt. Manche hier wissen das schon seit Jahren.
Weiss auch nicht, aber was neues ist das jetzt nicht. Meta war schon immer ein Höllenloch, wer sich da rumtreibt, lebt einfach hinterm Mond was Content Moderration, Meldemöglichkeiten und Sanktionierungen von Accounts/Postings angeht.
Als Francis Haugen vor dem EU Parlament aussagte, hätten die dort eigtl schon alles wissen können. Da brauchts nicht erst noch ne eigene Untersuchung. Meta ist das Befinden der Nutzer:innen völlig egal, denen gehts halt einfach nur um Profit. 🤷♀️
srijit, WhatsApp in India
There are interesting discussions in Bruce Schneier’s blog on security regarding Meta’s threat to pull WhatsApp out of India.
In another context, there was a discussion, in recent past, that some members of Indian government suggested taking the extreme measure of blocking Proton due to a hoax bomb threat that were sent through Proton Mail. Finally it did not happen.
I believe that that Meta will not pull out of India and the existing encryption standards of WhatsApp will not change for Indian users. With more than 500 million active users in India, the stakes are too high from either side.
#WhatsApp #Meta #MastodonIndians #MastIndia #India
cc: @mastodonindians
adnan, @srijit @mastodonindians I agree that WhatsApp is not going to pull out of India. But if the government of India knows that too, it could easily bend WhatsApp to its will. The argument works both ways.
xsecur, @adnan @srijit @mastodonindians This. Given Meta’s business practices and outlook, 500 mil ppl matter most to them. That’s a a huge market.
Doo, French
trusttrist, My VPN is completely killing #Meta’s tools.
Can’t open #Messenger, can’t open #Threads.
Error message.Well, that’s probably a good thing anyway 😅
trusttrist, Yeah, I definitely confirm it was the VPN. I decreased the level of protection and suddenly Messenger started.
@protonprivacy is very effective lol
protonprivacy, @trusttrist That's quite odd. Would you mind letting us know which Proton VPN server(s) you experienced this with so we can try to reproduce it on our end?
Have you tried manually changing connection protocols to see if this helps you connect: https://protonvpn.com/support/how-to-change-vpn-protocols/?
You can always contact us through the 'Report an issue' option in the Proton VPN app menu when you encounter such issues, so we can help you troubleshoot accordingly.
darnell, #Meta should just offer people in #Europe (& the rest of the planet) a simple option: either opt in to have your personal information sold to advertisers, or pay a fee to use #Facebook, #Instagram, #WhatsApp & #Threads.
It works for #YouTube (I pay them to avoid ads), as well as other news organizations. It’s really that simple.
👉🏾 Meta could face further squeeze on surveillance ads model in EU | TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/25/meta-ads-data-retention-ag-opinion/
darnell, @madargon Using their services is a choice. If you do not like or trust them, do not use their platforms (it is that simple really).
Years ago I had issues with #Facebook’s ad policies (I think they code named it beacon) so I stopped using their services & eventually deleted my account.
I did the same for #LinkedIn as well. If #YouTube ever gets to the place where I do not find value in the platform, I will leave.
These services are option, not critical for my life.
madargon, @darnell Yes, I absolutely don't trust them and don't use. I cut from my life few of them and never touched the rest. And I block connections to their services if I find them. Never thought they are critical.
But there are people who don't use it voluntarily but because of external factors (employers, stubborn families, various service providers refusing to use other communication channels) forcing them. And they don't deserve to be "punished".
noybeu, ⚖ We have published our first statement on the AG Opinion in C-446/21 on #Meta / #GDPR - Meta must limit the use of personal data for advertisment:
👇
https://noyb.eu/en/ag-cjeu-facebook-must-minimize-personal-data-ads-eu
marcel, #Meta losses from its namesake #Metaverse operations over the past few years accumulate to the debt of a small nation state.
Their vision is to not only mentally and socially lock us in to their platforms, but extend that to some kind of physical wall, a real walled garden.
(Given that, Metas definition of "open" is probably the opposite of mine…)
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/24/metas-reality-labs-posts-3point85-billion-loss-in-first-quarter.html
mina, It definitely doesn't make me sad to see Zuck's company bleeding money.
I wonder if the #SecondLife community has adopted #VR mods to a reasonable extent.
My guess is, no.
br00t4c, Zuckerberg says it will take Meta years to make money from generative AI
https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/24/24139591/meta-q1-2024-earnings-ai-mark-zuckerberg
samba, WTF
"""
How will Meta prevent private information being used by governments to kill WhatsApp users and their families?
"""
GhostOnTheHalfShell, Zucker-man does not have a good track record. See Facebook’s role in. Rohingya genocide
KimPerales, Egregious #Meta abuses:
"Meta switched this year to using AI/no human in the loop reports for child abuse material to save $ -meaning the govt. can no longer legally use them w/o a warrant. Side benefit for Meta - fewer child abuse cases link back to them, at the cost of children’s safety."
-F Haugen"Org that busts child sex trafficking rings. "Asked CEO who's most to blame -w/o hesitation, he said Meta. We try to work with them, but they're not helping."
-S Juvetson
https://marici.org/
swetland, Not sure if other people do this, but I use notifications of favorites/boosts as a discovery mechanism for accounts to possibly follow.
I mean it's a potential sign they have similar interests, so might as well visit the profile and see if they post interesting stuff you want to see more of.
I'll often favorite a few posts along the way too, which I hope doesn't seem too weird to people!
#Fedi #Meta #MetaFedi #FediMeta #Favorites #Discovery #RandomTags
gptchatly, Outside North America you can try the new Meta's Llama-3 70B model without the need for registration nor login:
https://gptchatly.com/meta-llama-3-70b.html
strypey, "Since end-to-end encrypting communications on the platform as a measure to protect user privacy, Meta no longer has access to the content of messages so cannot monitor what is spreading. But the company now says it has technology to spot accounts engaging in abnormal behaviour, with 8m accounts banned a month – 75% of which are banned before those accounts are reported by users."
#JoshTaylor, #MostafaRachwani, 2024
strypey, (edited ) Speaking of media platforms that...
> still continue to disseminate terrible pieces of information, untruths, rumours
"[Politicians making blatantly untrue claims] is where media's role should be, to [say] 'no, that's just a lie', and just squash it. But they don't. They just repeat it. They amplify it."
https://www.1of200.nz/podcast/1200-s2e68-fast-track-next-generation
strypey, We could be forgiven for thinking the message is that disseminating untruths is only bad when ordinary people are voicing them...
fresent, #Meta, the parent #company of #Facebook, has been advised by the European #Data Protection Board against enforcing a "Consent or pay" system on its users for data protection. The EDPB, chaired by Anu Talus, emphasized the importance of providing users with genuine choices regarding their data privacy when implementing such models. "Online platforms should give users a real choice when employing 'consent or pay' models. The models we have today usually require https://pike.link/fPKup...
br00t4c, Meta's Not Telling Where It Got Its AI Training Data
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/04/19/1236256/metas-not-telling-where-it-got-its-ai-training-data