TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Axios: Meta provides another $150 million in funding for its Oversight Board. “Meta on Friday said it approved a new three-year, $150 million commitment to fund its global content oversight board, which it has designed to be independent and provides money for via a separate trust…. The board was created to help Meta make tough calls on content moderation, but the group’s power has been challenged at times by the company’s unwillingness to outsource some of its decisions.”

Axios: Sweeping changes remake Facebook app in TikTok’s image. “Meta announced major changes Thursday to the Facebook app that will transform its experience into a more TikTok-like selection of algorithmically chosen videos — and shunt off content posted by family, friends and groups into a separate side feed.”

CNN: Meta considers easing its Covid-19 misinformation policy. “The social media giant on Tuesday asked its independent Oversight Board for an opinion on whether its tougher pandemic policies are still warranted, citing higher vaccination rates around the world as well as the company’s own efforts to promote authoritative information about Covid-19.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

The Verge: Zuck Turns Up The Heat. “Facebook went public in 2012, riding what became the longest US stock market bull in history. When the government lowered interest rates in the pandemic and investors flooded into tech stocks, the company’s valuation surpassed $1 trillion for the first time. It rebranded to Meta in October of last year, just a few months before its stock price would enter the free fall it’s in now. Now, Zuckerberg isn’t the only one sounding the alarm about potentially worse times ahead.”

Slate: Facebook May Be on the Cusp of an Embarrassing Milestone. “Meta­ may report its first ever revenue decline when it releases its second-quarter earnings next week, a potentially stunning slowdown for a business that once seemed to have no ceiling.”

Reuters: Facebook’s growth woes in India: too much nudity, not enough women. “On Feb. 2, when Meta Platforms reported Facebook’s first-ever quarterly drop in daily users, its finance chief identified higher mobile data costs as a unique obstacle slowing growth in India, its biggest market. On the same day, the U.S. tech group posted the findings of its own research into Facebook’s business in India on an internal employee forum. The study, conducted over the two years to the end of 2021, identified different problems.”

Washington Post: Facebook workers fear cuts after blunt warnings from Zuckerberg, leaders. “Facebook executives have issued a dizzying number of directives, outlining a new era of higher performance expectations and slowed hiring as the company emerges from the pandemic with a growing list of economic challenges.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

TorrentFreak: Meta Hit With Massive Piracy Lawsuit Over Epidemic Sound Royalty-Free Music. “Meta has been hit with a copyright infringement lawsuit demanding at least $142 million in damages. Epidemic Sound, a company that provides royalty-free music to YouTubers and other creators, claims that Meta hosts 94% of Epidemic’s music in its own library, none of it licensed. According to Epidemic, this has resulted in billions of illegal views across Facebook and Instagram.”

Bleeping Computer: LinkedIn phishing target employees managing Facebook Ad Accounts. “A new phishing campaign codenamed ‘Ducktail’ is underway, targeting professionals on LinkedIn to take over Facebook business accounts that manage advertising for the company.”

CNN: First on CNN: Human smugglers peddle misinformation to US-bound migrants on Facebook, watchdog says. “Human smugglers frequently misrepresent immigration policies and conditions along the US-Mexico border in Facebook and WhatsApp social media posts targeting US-bound migrants, according to a report released Wednesday by a tech transparency group.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

VoxEU: Social media and mental health . “Using the gradual expansion of the website across US colleges as a natural experiment, the authors find that students were more likely to report that mental health issues negatively affected their academic performance after Facebook was introduced at their college, with evidence suggesting that the effects operated through unfavourable social comparison.”

Washington Post: My video criticizing the Iranian government went viral. Then Instagram restricted my account.. “What did I do wrong? I still don’t know. Instagram didn’t initially offer any explanation. I might guess that my offense was giving voice to the voiceless in Iran. My 7 million followers on Instagram make for a powerful platform.”

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