WhatsApp now has more than 3 billion people using it every month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted during the company’s Q1 results conference call on Wednesday. Founded in 2009 and acquired by Facebook for $19 billion in 2014, WhatsApp remains free to use and doesn’t serve any ads. The app reached the 2 billion monthly…
Category: Mark Zuckerberg
Apps, FTC, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta
Mark Zuckerberg really wants to make Facebook cool again
In an ongoing antitrust case, the Federal Trade Commission says that Meta has a monopoly on “personal social networking services” and should have to spin off Instagram and WhatsApp. Throughout the proceedings, there have been several internal messages and plans that have come to light. In one, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg considered wiping all Facebook…
Elon Musk, Global Security News, Guest blog, jeff bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, road sign, Security threats
Crosswalks hacked to play fake audio of Musk, Zuck, and Jeff Bezos
“Stop, look, and listen” is the standard advice we should allow follow when crossing the road – but pedestrians in some parts are finding that they cannot believe their ears – after a hacker compromised crosswalks to play deepfake audio mocking tech bosses Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos. Read more in my article…
Facebook, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Social
Uncovered emails showed how Meta struggled to keep Facebook culturally relevant
With the first week of Meta’s antitrust trial behind us, documents shared by the U.S Federal Trade Commission (FTC) offered more insight into Meta’s internal struggles to keep Facebook relevant. In emails from 2022, Meta executives mulled different visions for Facebook’s future to boost its success, acknowledging that its cultural relevance was decreasing. Fast-forward to…
Facebook, Global Security News, Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Social
Read what Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook execs said about Instagram before buying it
The first week of the Meta antitrust trial brought new revelations about how the company formerly known as Facebook approached the competitive threat posed by Instagram in the early 2010s. The U.S. government is accusing Meta of violating competition laws by acquiring companies like Instagram and WhatsApp that threatened the Facebook monopoly. If lawyers for…
antitrust, Facebook, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Social
Mark Zuckerberg once considered deleting all your Facebook friends
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg once considered deleting everyone’s Facebook friends in an effort to boost the social network’s cultural relevance. This “potentially crazy idea,” as the exec called it at the time, was revealed on Monday as a part of the evidence introduced during the first day of the U.S. government’s antitrust trial against Meta.…
content moderation, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Social
Meta officially says goodbye to its US fact checkers on Monday
Meta will no longer have any fact-checkers in the U.S. come Monday, according to Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan. Meta announced this significant policy change in January when it also loosened its content moderation rules. The timing of this change coincided with President Trump’s inauguration, which Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg attended after…
Facebook, Global Security News, In Brief, Mark Zuckerberg, Social
‘It was weird, man’: Zuckerberg took Facebook employees to see ‘The Social Network’ when it came out
Mark Zuckerberg may not be the most likable figure in Silicon Valley, but we can empathize with him on this: It would feel really weird if someone made a movie about your life. On the YouTube podcast Colin and Samir, Zuckerberg spoke about the one and only time he saw “The Social Network.” “It was…
Apps, Global IT News, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, social network, Threads
Threads adds new features to highlight topics and limit replies
Meta’s social network Threads, an X competitor with more than 320 million monthly active users, is now rolling out new features related to topics, reply controls, and video playback in the app, among other things. It’s also making political content suggestions more personalized to the user, the company says. Combined, the features aim to make…
Bluesky, Commerce, Global IT News, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Social, social media, social networking
Bluesky made more money selling t-shirts mocking Zuckerberg than custom domains
Bluesky CEO Jay Graber made a splash at SXSW last week, showing up at her keynote event in a t-shirt that subtly poked fun at Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg. Or, at least it seemed like it was subtle. But so many people appreciated the jab that users convinced Bluesky to reproduce and sell Graber’s shirt…
Apps, Facebook, Global Security News, Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, North America, Social
Meta is launching Community Notes in the US next week
Next week, Meta will begin one of the company’s most significant overhauls ever for how it fact-checks information on its platforms. On March 18, Meta will start releasing its version of Community Notes for Facebook, Instagram, and Threads users in the United States. The program copies a crowdsourced fact-checking system that Twitter unveiled in 2021…
Bluesky, Global IT News, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Social, SXSW
At SXSW, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber pokes fun at Mark Zuckerberg with Latin phrase T-shirt
When Bluesky CEO Jay Graber walked on stage at SXSW 2025 for her keynote discussion, she wore a large black T-shirt with her hair pulled back into a bun. At first glance, it might appear as though she’s following the same playbook that so many women in tech leadership have played before: downplaying her femininity…
Apps, Global IT News, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Social
Meta fires around 20 employees for leaking confidential information
Meta has fired “roughly” 20 employees for leaking confidential information, The Verge reports. “We tell employees when they join the company, and we offer periodic reminders, that it is against our policies to leak internal information, no matter the intent,” Meta told the publication. “We recently conducted an investigation that resulted in roughly 20 employees…
Elon Musk, Global IT News, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Social
Mark Zuckerberg’s makeover didn’t make people like him, study shows
A study by the Pew Research Center found that Americans’ views of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg skew more negative than positive. While Zuckerberg has sparked chatter in Silicon Valley with his sudden interest in high fashion, the Meta CEO is less popular than President Trump’s right-hand man, Elon Musk, the report found. While about…
DEI, Global IT News, Global Security News, Government & Policy, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta
Mark Zuckerberg’s charity U-turns, ends DEI efforts
Mark Zuckerberg’s charity has eliminated its DEI programs and efforts just weeks after assuring staff it would continue supporting DEI efforts, the Guardian reports. The Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), co-founded by Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, will end internal DEI programs and no longer provide “social advocacy funding,” which provided grants for racial equity and…
Apps, evergreens, Facebook, Global IT News, Global Security News, Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Social, Threads
How to delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads
In the wake of Meta’s decision to remove its third-party fact-checking system and loosen content moderation policies, Google searches on how to delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads have been on the rise. People who are angry with the decision accuse Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg of cozying up to the Trump administration at the expense of…
Global IT News, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Social, TC
Meta says end of fact-checking hasn’t impacted ad spend
Meta says its controversial decision to put an end to its fact-checking program hasn’t impacted advertiser spend. On its Q4 2024 call, Meta CFO Susan Li assured investors that advertiser demand remains strong and the company’s commitment to brand safety remains unchanged, despite the new measures. Meanwhile, CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that the community notes…
AI, CAPEX, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, In Brief, investment, Mark Zuckerberg, report
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta will have 1.3M GPUs for AI by year-end
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company plans to significantly up its capital expenditures this year as it aims to keep pace with rivals in the cutthroat AI space. In a Facebook post Friday, Zuckerberg said that Meta expects to spend $60 billion-$80 billion on capex in 2025, primarily on data centers and growing…
Apps, evergreens, Facebook, Global IT News, Global Security News, Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Social, Threads
How to delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads
In the wake of Meta’s decision to remove its third-party fact-checking system and loosen content moderation policies, Google searches on how to delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads have been on the rise. People who are angry with the decision accuse Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg of cozying up to the Trump administration at the expense of…
doge, Elon Musk, Exclusive, Global IT News, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Startups, Trump
Startup founders flooded inauguration parties hopeful for dealmaking
All throughout America’s capital, founders enjoyed the fruits of their industry’s political jockeying. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
AI, ai copyright, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, Llama, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, TC
In AI copyright case, Zuckerberg turns to YouTube for his defense
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears to have used YouTube and its battle to take down pirated content to defend his own company’s use of a data set containing copyrighted e-books to train AI models, newly released snippets of his deposition reveals. The deposition, which was part of a complaint submitted to the court by plaintiffs’…
Apps, Global IT News, Global Security News, Layoffs, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Social
Meta to cut roughly 5% of its workforce based on performance
Meta is reducing its workforce by about 5% through performance-based terminations, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. The company plans to hire new people to fill the roles, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an internal memo to staff. “I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” Zuckerberg said in the note. “We…
Apps, Facebook, Global IT News, Global Security News, Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Social, Threads
How to delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads
In the wake of Meta’s decision to remove its third-party fact-checking system and loosen content moderation policies, Google searches on how to delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads have been on the rise. People who are angry with the decision accuse Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg of cozying up to the incoming Trump administration at the expense…
DEI, Global IT News, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Social
Meta eliminates DEI programs
Axios reports that Meta is eliminating its biggest DEI efforts, effective immediately, including ones that focused on hiring a diverse workforce, training, and sourcing supplies from diverse-owned companies. Its DEI department will also be eliminated. In a memo leaked to the outlet, Meta said it was making these changes because the “legal and policy landscape…
Apps, Facebook, fact checking, Global IT News, Global Security News, Google Search, google trends, Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg, Media & Entertainment, Meta, meta content moderation, Social, social media, Threads, trends
Google searches for deleting Facebook, Instagram explode after Meta ends fact-checking
Google searches for how to cancel and delete Facebook, Instagram, and Threads accounts have seen explosive rises in the U.S. since Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will end its third-party fact-checking system, loosen content moderation policies, and roll back previous limits to the amount of political content in user feeds. Experts see…
Global Security News, Government & Policy, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Policy, TC
Meta policy chief Nick Clegg steps down
The President of Meta’s Global Affairs team, Nick Clegg, is stepping down from his position at the company, the executive announced in a tweet on Thursday. Clegg, Meta’s politically centrist policy chief since 2018, will be replaced by one of the company’s most prominent Republican executives, Joel Kaplan. Clegg noted on X that Kaplan is…
california, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, North America, NSO Group, pegasus, privacy, Spyware, U.S. courts, WhatsApp
Judge grants ruling in favor of WhatsApp against spyware firm NSO Group
A federal judge has dealt the first major legal blow against spyware maker NSO Group, ruling in favor of WhatsApp in a five-year-old lawsuit against the Israeli firm over allegations that it hacked the chat service. Northern California District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton made her ruling on Friday as a summary judgment, thus not requiring…
adam mosseri, Apps, Global IT News, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Social, TC, Threads
Mark Zuckerberg says Threads now has 100M daily active users
Meta’s X rival Threads is growing steadily with more than 100 million people using the service daily, the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Monday. Zuckerberg also noted that Threads now has 300 million monthly active users, up from 275 million monthly active users in November. While Meta has regularly released updated numbers about monthly active…
AI, ChatGPT, Elon Musk, Global Security News, James Bond, jeff bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, openai, Podcast, Tesla, The AI Fix, Zoom
The AI Fix #27: Why is AI full of real-life Bond villains?
In episode 27 of The AI Fix, robots catch a ball, lead a revolt, and enjoy a juicy steak. Or do they? Graham struggles with a Micro USB cable, a student struggles with a school’s anti-AI rules, and OpenAI’s Sora video generation AI is leaked by hacktivists. Graham circles back into an outside-the-box deep-dive where…