Meta

Instagram sorry for adding 'terrorist' to some Palestinian user bios

Meta said it fixed a problem "that briefly caused inappropriate Arabic translations" in some of its products.

"We sincerely apologise that this happened," it told the BBC.

The platform has also faced accusations of suppressing content voicing support for Palestinians during the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Some users say they have been "shadow banned" on Instagram over pro-Palestinian posts. This is when a platform intervenes to make sure posts do not appear in other people's feeds.

Meta settles Cambridge Analytica scandal case for $725m

The long-running dispute accused the social media giant of allowing third parties, including the British firm, to access Facebook users' personal data.

The proposed sum is the largest in a US data privacy class action, lawyers say.

Meta, which did not admit wrongdoing, said it had "revamped" its approach to privacy over the past three years.

In a statement, the company said settling was "in the best interest of our community and shareholders".

"We look forward to continuing to build services people love and trust with privacy at the forefront."

Zuckerberg reveals AI projects to power Metaverse

In a livestreamed demonstration, he created a basic virtual world - including an island, trees and a beach - using the AI feature Builder Bot.

Mr Zuckerberg also announced a plan to build a universal speech translator.

"The ability to communicate with anyone in any language is a superpower that was dreamt of forever," he said.

Builder Bot was part of Meta's CAIRaoke project to improve AI assistants and allow "AI to see the world from our experience" as people entered virtual reality via headsets or glasses, Mr Zuckerberg said.

Facebook owner Meta sees biggest ever stock market loss

Its shares fell 26.4% after quarterly figures disappointed investors.

Meta also said that Facebook's daily active users (DAUs) had dropped for the first time in its 18-year history.

The company's share price slide saw chief executive Mark Zuckerberg's net worth fall by $31bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The drop in Mr Zuckerberg's personal fortune was equivalent to the annual gross domestic product of Estonia.

Facebook shares drop as owner Meta warns advertising is slowing

The firm said sales growth could be just 3 percent in the first three months of 2022, far below its historic pace.

Profits have already been hit as the firm ploughs money into projects focused on virtual reality.

The update sent shares down 20 percent in after-hours trade.

The sell-off spread to similar companies, like Snap, which also saw its shares plunge.

Analysts had been expecting Meta to report strong numbers, after Google-owner Alphabet shared its results yesterday.

Meta bans surveillance-for-hire firms for targeting users

A new report by Meta says about 50,000 users will receive warnings about the "malicious activities".

It accused surveillance firms of actions like creating fake accounts, befriending targets and using hacking methods to harvest information.

The company accused the companies of targeting individuals including journalists and human rights activists.

It said in its report that some 1,500 pages had been suspended by Meta across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp following a months-long investigation.

Facebook to shut facial recognition system and delete 1bn ‘faceprints’

Facebook will delete the “faceprints” of more than a billion people after announcing that it is shutting down its facial recognition system due to the “many concerns” about using the technology.