Tag Archives: Mark Zuckerberg

Instagram For Kids On Hold After Critical Reports

CNBC reports: Facebook, which faced sharp criticism from lawmakers and users for its plan to develop an Instagram for kids, announced Monday it’s pausing work on the project. “While we believe building ‘Instagram Kids’ is the right thing to do, Instagram, and its parent company Facebook, will re-evaluate the project at a later date. In the interim Instagram will continue …

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BOOK: Mark Zuckerberg Made Secret Deal With Trump

The Daily Beast reports: During a meeting in Washington, D.C. in 2019, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg agreed to not fact-check political posts if the Trump administration would steer clear of any “heavy-handed regulations,” venture capitalist Peter Thiel told an associate, according to a new book. The associate alleged that at the meeting—which was also attended by Thiel, former President Trump, …

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Facebook Working On Forming Elections Commission

The New York Times reports: Facebook has approached academics and policy experts about forming a commission to advise it on global election-related matters, said five people with knowledge of the discussions, a move that would allow the social network to shift some of its political decision-making to an advisory body. The proposed commission could decide on matters such as the …

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Facebook Moderators Demand End To Their NDAs

The Verge reports: Facebook content moderators in Europe and the US are calling on the company to put an end to overly restrictive nondisclosure agreements that discourage people from speaking out about working conditions. In a letter addressed to Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and the CEOs of Covalen and Accenture, moderators say these NDAs aren’t limited to user data and …

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BOOK: How FB Botched Russian Election Meddling

Axios reports: “Oh f—, how did we miss this?” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asked, looking around at the somber faces of his top executives, the N.Y. Times’ Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang write in their book, “An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination,” out Tuesday. In an excerpt provided first to Axios, the authors write that the executives met …

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Axios: Trump To Sue CEOs Of Facebook And Twitter

Axios reports: Former President Donald Trump, who has complained about censorship by social media giants, plans to announce class action lawsuits today against Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, sources tell Axios. Why it matters: It’s the latest escalation in Trump’s yearslong battle with Twitter and Facebook over free speech and censorship. Trump is completely banned from …

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Nine Tech Moguls Made $360 Billion During Pandemic

The Washington Post reports: The wealth of nine of the country’s top titans has increased by more than $360 billion in the past year. And they are all tech barons, underscoring the power of the industry in the U.S. economy. Tesla’s Elon Musk more than quadrupled his fortune and jockeyed with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos for the title of world’s wealthiest …

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Facebook To Stop Pushing Political Content To Users

CNN Business reports: CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook is considering steps it can take to reduce the amount of political content in the News Feed. “One of the top pieces of feedback that we’re hearing from our community right now is that people don’t want politics and fighting to take over their experience on our services,” Zuckerberg said. Ahead of …

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Zuckerberg Defends Not Banning Steve Bannon: Calling For Beheading Anthony Fauci “Did Not Cross The Line”

Reuters reports: Facebook chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told an all-staff meeting on Thursday that former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon had not violated enough of the company’s policies to justify his suspension when he urged beheading two senior U.S. officials, according to a recording heard by Reuters. “We have specific rules around how many times you need to violate …

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Zuckerberg Gives Another $100M For Election Costs

The Washington Post reports: Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, announced Tuesday an additional $100 million in donations to local governments to pay for polling place rentals, poll workers, personal protective equipment and other election administration costs over the coming weeks. The donation, which follows a previous gift of $300 million for state and local governments …

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Facebook Users Asked To Volunteer As Poll Workers

The Verge reports: Facebook is launching a recruitment drive for poll workers this weekend, putting messages into users’ News Feeds with links to poll worker registration sites in their state. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post announcing the drive that it was part of the company’s larger voting information campaign, which has a goal of helping 4 million people …

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Facebook To Bar Political Ads One Week Before Election

The Washington Post reports: Facebook plans to block new advertising the week before the presidential election — the first time the company has taken action to limit political advertising in the United States, the company said Thursday. The move to limit ads, part of a spate of election-related announcements, is an attempt to reduce misinformation that is expected to flood …

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WSJ: Zuckerberg Pushed Trump To Move Against TikTok

How utterly unsurprising: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushed concerns about TikTok’s ties to China during meetings with officials and lawmakers, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The Journal reported that Zuckerberg discussed TikTok with Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) before the government began its national security investigation into the app owned by the China-based ByteDance. Zuckerberg also made the case to …

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Zuckerberg: Trump’s COVID Response Is Disappointing

Axios reports: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, during an hourlong online conversation with Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday, criticized the Trump administration’s coronavirus response and called for “a reset.” “It’s really disappointing that we still don’t have adequate testing, that the credibility of our top scientists like yourself and the CDC are being undermined — and that until recently, that parts …

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Facebook Reverses, Will Ban “Hate Speech” Ads After Consumer Goods Giant Unilever Joins Growing Boycott

CNBC reports: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Friday said the company will change its policies to prohibit hate speech in its advertisements. Under its new policies, Facebook will ban ads that claim people from a specific race, ethnicity, nationality, caste, gender, sexual orientation or immigration origin are a threat to the physical safety or health of anyone else, Zuckerberg said. …

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Facebook To Launch “Historic” Voter Turnout Campaign

Mark Zuckerberg writes for USA Today: With so much of our discourse taking place online, I believe platforms like Facebook can play a positive role in this election by helping Americans use their voice where it matters most — by voting. We’re announcing on Wednesday the largest voting information campaign in American history. Our goal is to help 4 million …

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Zuckerberg: Facebook Will Review Policies On Content

Axios reports: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Friday that the company will review a number of its policies and decision-making processes, including for content about state use of force. Facebook has faced backlash for its decision to leave up a post from President Trump because it didn’t violate the social media company’s policy about inciting violence. Zuckerberg’s public announcement …

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FB Managers Publicly Rebuke Boss On Handling Trump

Reuters reports: Facebook employees critical of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision not to remove an inflammatory comment from U.S. President Donald Trump took their dissent public over the weekend on Twitter, praising the rival social media firm for taking action and rebuking their own employer. Many tech workers at companies including Facebook, Google and Amazon have become active on social justice …

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Facebook Shrugs At Trump’s “Shoot Them” Postings

CNN reports: Twitter decided to affix a warning label to Trump’s tweet — and an identical tweet later posted by the official White House Twitter account — for the first time, indicating that it violated the platform’s rule against glorifying violence. But the exact same message, saying “looting” will lead to “shooting” and referencing “THUGS,” was posted to Trump’s Facebook …

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Pelosi Roasts Zuckerberg, Says Twitter Is No Better

The Daily Beast reports: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) ripped Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg for saying he didn’t believe social media platforms should be the “arbiters of truth” and fact-check political speech. “I think Mark Zuckerberg’s statement was a disgrace,” Pelosi told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Thursday. “And Twitter, they’re not taking off any accusations the president is …

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