Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it would consider the complaint carefully…reports Asian Lite News
Britain’s information regulator said on Wednesday it would look into an official complaint accusing Alphabet Inc’s YouTube of illegally collecting data from millions of children.
The complaint lodged by father-of-three Duncan McCann, who is leading the campaign and supported by his employer the advocacy group 5Rights, said the video-streaming platform had broken the newly implemented law by gathering “the location, viewing habits and preferences” of up to 5 million children.
Countries have been wrestling to strike the right balance with legislation that protects social media users, particularly children, from harmful content without damaging free speech.
McCann said in a statement that YouTube should change the design of its platform and delete data it had been gathering.
“It is a massive, unlicensed, social experiment on our children with uncertain consequences,” McCann said.
A spokesperson for YouTube said it had taken steps to bolster child privacy with more protective default settings, and made investments to protect children and families by launching a dedicated kids app and introducing new data practices.
“We remain committed to continuing our engagement with the ICO on this priority work, and with other key stakeholders including children, parents and child protection experts,” the YouTube spokesperson said in a statement.
Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it would consider the complaint carefully.
“The Children’s code makes clear that children are not like adults online, and their data needs meaningful protections,” the ICO’s Deputy Commissioner, Regulatory Supervision, Stephen Bonner said in a statement.
Britain’s Children’s code requires providers to meet 15 design and privacy standards to protect children, including limiting collection of their location and other personal data.
In 2019, YouTube was fined $170 million by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle allegations that it broke federal law by collecting personal information about children.
Meta managers gave approximately 10 per cent of employees a rating of “meets most”, which is the second lowest performance rating at the company. The lowest rating “meets some” is rare…reports Asian Lite News
Meta (formerly Facebook) has reportedly given thousands of employees “subpar ratings” in a latest round of performance reviews, possibly setting the stage for more layoffs at the company.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that the leadership at Meta “expects the ratings to lead more employees to leave in the coming weeks”.
“The company will consider another round of layoffs if not enough depart,” according to the report.
Meta managers gave approximately 10 per cent of employees a rating of “meets most”, which is the second lowest performance rating at the company. The lowest rating “meets some” is rare.
“Within Meta, some employees take such a rating as a sign to look for new work opportunities,” said the report, citing sources. The performance ratings reveal that more job cuts are likely to happen at the social network.
A company spokesperson was quoted as saying that “we have always had a goal-based culture of high performance, and our review process is intended to incentivise long-term thinking and high-quality work, while helping employees get actionable feedback”.
Zuckerberg told investors last month that the company is “working on flattening our org structure and removing some layers of middle management to make decisions faster as well as deploying AI tools to help our engineers be more productive”.
Since last year, Meta executives have suggested that low performers wouldn’t last at the company. “Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here,” Zuckerberg had said.
After firing 11,000 employees in November last year, Meta (formerly Facebook) is reportedly planning to reduce headcount further in its “year of efficiency”, reported Financial Times earlier this week.
As a result, staff have complained that “zero work” is getting done as managers have been unable to plan their coming workloads, the report noted.
Meta did not comment on reports about upcoming layoffs.
Chinese hackers luring Indian WhatsApp users into 'part-time' jobs
WhatsApp was rated as the only app with ‘high accessibility’ based on the number of WCAG success criteria at level A compliance level…reports Asian Lite News
Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new feature which will allow users to send images in their original quality, on Desktop beta.
With the new feature, users will no longer have to worry about their images losing quality or resolution while sending them, reports WABetaInfo.
When the feature will be available to the beta testers, they will still be able to send images using the standard compression method, which will be useful for those who want to save storage space.
The ability to send photos in their original quality is currently under development and is expected to be released in a future update of the desktop application, the report said.
Last month, it was reported that the messaging platform was working on this feature for Android beta.
The feature will provide users more control over the quality of photos they send, especially when sending the photo in its original quality is necessary.
In December last year, WhatsApp was reportedly working on a new feature which will provide users the ability to report status updates on desktop beta.
WhatsApp leads digital accessibility in India
WhatsApp is India’s most accessible app for persons with disabilities via its easy-to-use digital products and services, a report has showed.
Other apps audited in the report by The Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, along with I-Stem and Mission Accessibility, include PhonePe, Paytm, Swiggy, Zomato, Amazon, Flipkart, Telegram, Uber and Ola.
Restaurants’ body moves CCI against Zomato, Swiggy
The report evaluated the 10 apps across categories like messaging, online payments, transport, e-commerce and food delivery.
The applications were rated as apps with ‘high accessibility’, ‘moderate accessibility’ and ‘low accessibility’ based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
WhatsApp was rated as the only app with ‘high accessibility’ based on the number of WCAG success criteria at level A compliance level.
“Apps and websites have enormous potential to empower the disabled. If they are not designed with their needs in mind, however, they can replicate the barriers the disabled otherwise face,” said Rahul Bajaj, senior associate fellow at Vidhi and Co-Founder, Mission Accessibility.
“WhatsApp was the only app that was ranked as being highly accessible. It shows that accessibility does not happen automatically; it must be a function of proactive and thoughtful actions,” he added.
Over the years, WhatsApp has invested in continuous product innovations to enhance user experience, and make the app more inclusive and simple, with an aim of making private messaging easy and accessible to all.
Features like voice notes, reactions and video-calling make WhatsApp a preferred messaging platform and its easy-to-use interface also makes it one of the first digital gateways for millions of Indians, facilitating access to essential digital services and delivering solutions.
Meta did not comment on the fresh layoffs….reports Asian Lite News
After firing 11,000 employees in November last year, Meta (formerly Facebook) is reportedly planning to reduce headcount further in its “year of efficiency”.
According to a report in the Financial Times, citing sources, there had been a “lack of clarity about budgets or future headcount in recent weeks”.
As a result, staff have complained that “zero work” is getting done as managers have been unable to plan their coming workloads, the report noted.
Certain budgets would typically get finalised by the end of the year at the company.
“Honestly, it’s still a mess. The year of efficiency is kicking off with a bunch of people getting paid to do nothing,” an employee was quoted as saying.
Meta did not comment on the fresh layoffs.
Earlier this month, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he wants 2023 to be the “year of efficiency”.
In his quarterly earnings call with analysts, Zuckerberg said that “I just think we’ve entered somewhat of a phase change for the company”.
He said that global headcount steadily climbed for nearly two decades, making it “very hard to really crank on efficiency while you’re growing that quickly”.
After the layoffs, Zuckerberg said he is focused on “increasing the efficiency of how we make decisions”.
Zuckerberg has also reportedly put middle managers at the company on notice.
According to the newsletter Command Line by The Verge’s Alex Heath, Zuckerberg warned managers at a recent all-hands meeting.
“I don’t think you want a management structure that’s just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work,” the Meta CEO apparently told them.
Former US President Donald Trump.(photo:Instagram)
Trump’s last post on Facebook before the suspension called for people to leave the Capitol…reports Asian Lite News
Facebook and Instagram pages belonging to former US President Donald Trump have been restored. Andy Stone, policy communications director at Meta, has confirmed the development, NBC News reported.
The reinstatement had been expected after Facebook’s president of global affairs Nick Clegg in January said that the suspension will be lifted, as per the news report. Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram were suspended by Meta after January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. The ban was announced initially as an indefinite ban that included the last two weeks of his presidency, as per the NBC News report. The ban on Trump’s account was later formally extended for two years.
At the time of writing this news article, Trump has not shared any new posts on his Facebook or Instagram accounts. His last Instagram post, dated January 6, 2021, promoted the “Save America” march where he would encourage his supporters to march on the Capitol.
While sharing the post on Instagram, Trump in the caption wrote, “I will be speaking at the SAVE AMERICA Rally tomorrow on the Ellipse at 11 AM Eastern. Arrive early – door open at 7 AM Eastern. Big Crowds!”
Trump’s last post on Facebook before the suspension called for people to leave the Capitol. In the post on Facebook, Trump stated, “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order — respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!”
Recently, former US President Donald Trump’s Twitter account was also restored. Twitter reinstated Trump’s account after Elon Musk took over as the CEO of the microblogging platform. Musk had put up a poll asking users of the microblogging site to vote on whether to reinstate Trump’s Twitter account.
Former US President Donald Trump’s Twitter account had been banned since January 8, 2021. Trump has not yet shared any tweets on Twitter. However, he continues to post on Truth Social, the Twitter-like platform he founded. (ANI)
As per sources, these apps are used to trap financially strapped people in a debt trap, by increasing their interest on loans up to 3,000 per cent…reports Asian Lite News
Following constant complaints against Chinese loan and betting apps, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has started the process of banning 138 betting apps and 94 lending apps that had Chinese links, on the instructions of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
According to the information, the MeitY was recently instructed by the MHA to ban such apps, which operate through a third-party link.
Sources said that all these apps were found violating Section 69 of the IT Act and contained material which was deemed as a threat to India’s sovereignty and integrity.
As per sources, these apps are used to trap financially strapped people in a debt trap, by increasing their interest on loans up to 3,000 per cent.
Many such people who were caught in the debt trap committed suicide when the people working for the apps mentally harassed them.
The issue came to the fore after several cases of suicides by borrowers of these apps were seen in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
On the other hand, the Chinese apps can potentially misuse server-side security by using them as spying tools as they have access to the important data of many Indians.
Access to such data can be used for espionage on a large scale, due to which all such apps are being considered as a threat to the country.
The MHA had started investigating some Chinese loan giving apps around six months ago. It was revealed that 94 such apps were available on the e-store and operated through third party links.
Around that time, security agencies had asked the Ministry to impose a ban on such betting and loan lending apps.
Significantly, the Centre had banned 54 Chinese apps that posed as a threat to the country’s security in 2022.
Chinese hackers luring Indian WhatsApp users into 'part-time' jobs
The feature is useful as it will allow users to pin important messages to the top of the chat, reports WABetaInfo…reports Asian Lite News
Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp, in its latest update to iOS, has rolled out the ability to create personalised avatars and use them as stickers and profile pictures.
Some users may already be able to configure an avatar on the previous update, but it is rolling out to even more people, according to WABetaInfo.
Users will need to open WhatsApp Settings in order to discover if the feature is already enabled for their account.
Moreover, in the latest update, the messaging platform introduced the ability to record videos hands-free by swiping left inside the WhatsApp camera. Users also get the ability to undo “delete for me” for a few seconds in the latest update.
Further, the report mentioned that some accounts may receive the new feature over the coming weeks. Meanwhile, WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new feature which will allow users to pin messages within chats and groups.
The feature is useful as it will allow users to pin important messages to the top of the chat, reports WABetaInfo.
If a message is pinned and the recipient is using an old version of the application, then the app will show a message in the conversation to ask to upgrade to the latest version available on the store.
Meta said that its headcount increased 20% year-over-year to 86,482 as of December 31, 2022. That number includes a large chunk of the over 11,000 workers that Meta said it would lay off last November…reports Asian Lite News
Meta shares popped in extended trading on Wednesday after the company reported fourth-quarter revenue that topped estimates and announced a $40 billion stock buyback.
The company also reported restructuring charges for its Family of Apps segment and Reality Labs unit of $3.76 billion and $440 million, respectively during the fourth quarter of 2022. Because of those charges, it’s difficult to compare the company’s earnings per share to analyst estimates of $2.22 per share.
Meta said it expects revenue in the first quarter of between $26 billion and $28.5 billion. Analysts were expecting sales of $27.1 billion, according to Refinitv. Sales in the first quarter of 2021 came in at $27.9 billion. Should Meta reach the high end of its guidance range, the company could end its streak of year-over-year declines.
“Our community continues to grow and I’m pleased with the strong engagement across our apps,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “Our management theme for 2023 is the ‘Year of Efficiency’ and we’re focused on becoming a stronger and more nimble organization.”
Meta said that its headcount increased 20% year-over-year to 86,482 as of December 31, 2022. That number includes a large chunk of the over 11,000 workers that Meta said it would lay off last November.
The company expects that its total expenses in 2023 will be in the range of $89 billion to $95 billion, which is lower than its prior outlook of $94 billion to $100 billion for the year. Meta attributed the adjustment to “slower anticipated growth in payroll expenses and cost of revenue.”
Meta also said that it’s lowering its capital expenditure estimates for the year to be in the range of $30 billion to $33 billion, down from $34 billion to $37 billion. That’s partly due to the company spending less money on data center construction. Instead, Meta said it’s shifting to a different kind of data center architecture intended to be more cost efficient while acting as the backbone of its various artificial intelligence projects.
Meta said on Wednesday that it authorized a $40 billion increase to its stock repurchase plan. The company bought back $27.9 billion worth of its shares last year.
Earlier this week, Snap reported fourth quarter earnings that missed on sales, sending its shares tumbling. While much smaller than Meta, Snap faces some of the same challenges, including a slowdown in online advertising spend, increased competition from TikTok and a weakened targeting advertising system due to Apple’s 2021 iOS privacy update.
Meta shares plummeted by over 60% last year, as Zuckerberg struggled to sell Wall Street on his plan to pivot the company towards the yet-to-be-developed world of the metaverse. Zuckerberg has said the metaverse, which would include virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, could represent the next major way people interact.
The big bet has frustrated investors, who worry the company is putting too much focus on a futuristic endeavor while its core ad business struggles to revive growth. Meta’s Reality Labs unit, home to the metaverse ambitions, lost $4.28 billion in the fourth quarter, bringing its total operating loss for the year to $13.72 billion.
Meta said last year that “Reality Labs operating losses in 2023 will grow significantly year-over-year.”
Here are some other key numbers
Daily Active Users (DAUs): 2 billion vs 1.99 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
Monthly Active Users (MAUs): 2.96 billion vs 2.98 billion expected, according to StreetAccount
Average Revenue per User (ARPU): $10.86 vs $10.63 expected, according to StreetAccount
Revenue in the fourth quarter fell 4% from a year earlier, marking a third straight quarter of declining sales. The company’s cost and expenses ballooned 22% year-over-year to $25.8 billion.
Meta’s Reality Labs loses $13.7 bn on VR-AR projects
Meta (formerly Facebook) lost a whopping $13.7 billion in operating losses for Reality Labs for 2022, giving its AR-VR and Metaverse dream a huge jolt.
Within the Reality Labs segment, Q4 revenue was $727 million, down 17 per cent due to lower Quest 2 sales. Reality Labs expenses were $5 billion, up 20 per cent primarily due to employee-related costs and restructuring-related expenses.
Reality Labs operating loss was $4.3 billion in the holiday quarter of 2022. Meta bought AR hardware company Oculus for $2 billion back in 2014.
Last year, Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company will invest $10 billion for its Metaverse dream. Meta CFO Susan Li said that the company expects its annual losses for Reality Labs to be even higher in 2023.
“We’re going to continue to invest meaningfully in this area given the significant long-term opportunities that we see. It is a long-duration investment,” said Li. Zuckerberg said that the company shipped Quest Pro at the end of last year.
“It’s the first mainstream mixed reality device, and we’re setting the standard for the industry with our Meta Reality system,” he said.
“Beyond MR, the broader VR ecosystem continues growing. There are now over 200 apps on our VR devices that have made more than $1 million in revenue,” the Meta CEO informed.
The company launched avatars on WhatsApp last quarter and more than 100 million people have already created avatars in the app.
Under the upgraded IT Rules 2021, major digital and social media platforms, with in excess of 5 million users, have to publish monthly compliance reports…reports Asian Lite News
Meta-owned WhatsApp on Wednesday said it banned over 36 lakh ‘bad’ accounts in India in the month of December 2022 in compliance with the new IT Rules 2021, which are being amended to put more responsibilities on social media platforms.
Between December 1 and December 31, 3,677,000 WhatsApp accounts were banned, and 1,389,000 of these accounts were proactively banned before any reports from users, said the company.
The messaging platform, which has more than 400 million users in the country, received 1,607 complaint reports in December in the country, and the records ‘actioned’ were 166.
“In accordance with the IT Rules 2021, we’ve published our report for the month of December 2022. As captured in the latest Monthly Report, WhatsApp banned over 3.6 million accounts in the month of December,” according to a WhatsApp spokesperson.
Under the upgraded IT Rules 2021, major digital and social media platforms, with in excess of 5 million users, have to publish monthly compliance reports.
Meanwhile, in a major push towards an open, safe, trusted and accountable Internet, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has notified some amendments aimed at protecting the rights of ‘Digital Nagriks’.
The amendments impose a legal obligation on intermediaries to take reasonable efforts to prevent users from uploading such content.
Apex court passed an interim direction in a batch of petitions challenging the privacy policy of WhatsApp and scheduled the matter for further hearing on April 11…reports Asian Lite News
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed WhatsApp to give wide publicity in the media that users aren’t bound to accept its 2021 privacy policy and also WhatsApp’s functionality would not be affected till the new data protection bill comes into effect.
In May 2021, WhatsApp, in a response to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s letter, had assured that the messaging service will not limit functionality for its users if they do not accept the new privacy policy update.
A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice K.M. Joseph observed that giving wide publicity to the WhatsApp undertaking would benefit those who have not agreed to the terms of its 2021 privacy policy. The top court asked WhatsApp to give advertisements in five newspapers regarding its undertaking given to the government.
The bench – also comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy, and C T Ravikumar – said: “We further direct that WhatsApp will give publicity to this aspect to the customers of WhatsApp in five national newspapers on two occasions.”
The bench said it has recorded the stand taken in the response to the government and “we record the submission of the senior counsel for WhatsApp that they will abide by the terms of the letter till next date of hearing”.
The apex court noted that it Centre’s counsel has brought to its notice that a digital personal data protection bill 2022 is about to be placed before the Parliament, and it is there contention that bill would cover most of the aspects which are subject matter of petitions before this court and the matter may be taken up at a later stage. This request was echoed by WhatsApp counsel too.
However, the petitioners’ counsel vehemently contested this aspect and submitted that law should not come in the way of addressing issues raised in the petitions before the apex court. The petitioners’ counsel said the stand by WhatsApp for its customers in Europe stands in stark contrast with its stand taken here, and urged the court to hear the matter. The petitioners’ counsel stressed that the privacy policy should have an option to opt out from data sharing.
After hearing day-long arguments, the apex court passed an interim direction in a batch of petitions challenging the privacy policy of WhatsApp and scheduled the matter for further hearing on April 11.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal represented WhatsApp and senior advocate Arvind Datar represented Meta. Senior advocates Shyam Divan and K.V. Viswanathan represented the petitioners’ along with other counsel.
The top court was hearing petitions, which included a plea filed by two students, Karmanya Singh Sareen and Shreya Sethi, against the contract entered into between WhatsApp and its parent Facebook to provide access to calls, photographs, texts, videos, and documents shared by users. The petitioners claimed it is a violation of their privacy and free speech.
