by Tech Talk | Dec 6, 2022 | Articles
Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Apple’s App Store presents a conflict of interest, adding his voice to a flurry of criticism of the iPhone maker’s software policies.
“It is problematic for one company to be able to control what app experiences end up on a device,” Zuckerberg said on Wednesday in an interview at the New York Times DealBook conference. The “vast majority of profits in mobile ecosystem go towards Apple”, he added.
App Store policies and fees implemented by Apple, and to a lesser extent Google, have long been a point of contention for technology companies looking to reach broad mobile audiences. Billionaire Elon Musk added to the chorus after his acquisition of Twitter, sending a flurry of tweets this week denouncing Apple’s fees and restrictions on what apps can be sold. Musk said Apple had threatened to bump Twitter from the App Store.
Zuckerberg echoed some of Musk’s points. He called Apple’s content moderation rules for apps a “conflict of interest” since they are often pointed at rivals. It makes Apple “not just a governor looking out for people’s interests”. Revenue at Meta, which owns social networks Facebook and Instagram, has taken a hit since Apple tightened its privacy policies to restrict how users can be tracked and targeted with advertising.
As for Musk’s approach to running Twitter, Zuckerberg hedged his comments — he said he guesses that some approaches will work and others won’t. “I think it’ll be very interesting to see how this plays out,” he said. As for whether Meta will allow former US President Donald Trump back onto Facebook, as Twitter recently did, Zuckerberg said the company’s oversight board will handle that decision.
Wall Street has become increasingly bearish on Meta’s investment in its money-losing virtual reality business amid slowing ad revenue. Earlier this month, Zuckerberg said the company would slash more than 11 000 jobs, and took personal responsibility for decisions that led to the need to cut costs. In April, Meta reported its first-ever quarterly revenue drop.
The interview on Wednesday began with a recorded conversation between Zuckerberg and the moderator as avatars in the immersive digital world the company calls the metaverse. Still, Zuckerberg said the idea that Meta is wholly focused on the metaverse is “basically wrong”. Messaging program WhatsApp will be his next major monetisation target, he said, as that platform is “largely untapped”.
He cited progress in Reels, the company’s short-video feature, saying some estimates show it has half the traffic of viral video-sharing app TikTok outside of China.
Zuckerberg also raised the issue of TikTok’s ownership by Beijing-based ByteDance, adding that there are “real questions” about the influence of China’s government on TikTok. “In a lot of countries, all data goes to the government,” the CEO said. — Bloomberg
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
by Tech Talk | Nov 7, 2022 | Articles
Meta Platforms Inc. is planning to begin layoffs that will affect thousands of workers from this week, Wall Street Journal reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The job cuts could come as early as Wednesday, the newspaper said.
The company has already told employees to cancel non-essential travel from this week, according to the report.
Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg in September outlined plans to reorganise teams and reduce headcount for the first time, following a sharp slowdown in growth at the parent of Facebook and Instagram.
Zuckerberg said then that Meta will likely be smaller in 2023 than it was this year.
The layoffs come as Meta struggles with growing losses and as it invests heavily in developing its metaverse business. Its shares have fallen 73% this year.
The cuts will add to already mounting job losses in Silicon Valley.
Twitter Inc. last week slashed nearly 3,700 positions after Elon Musk completed his $44 billion takeover of the social media platform.
Other companies that have also reduced their workforce or announced plans to include ridehailing firm Lyft Inc. and hard drive maker Seagate Technology Holdings Plc.
A spokesman for Meta declined to comment to the WSJ.
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
by Tech Talk | Oct 31, 2022 | Articles
Investors are losing patience over Meta Plaforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s enormous and experimental bets on his metaverse project that helped drive up the company’s overall costs by a fifth in the third quarter.
Investors rushed to dump Meta’s stock after hours, pushing it down 20% and wiping US$67-billion off its market value after the company posted its fourth straight decline in quarterly profit.
The Facebook parent said its overall expenses could rise as much as 16% next year and anticipates that operating losses at Reality Labs — the unit responsible for bringing the metaverse to life — “will grow significantly” next year.
One Meta shareholder had recently voiced concerns, calling the company’s investments “super-sized and terrifying”. Analysts on Wednesday called them “confusing and confounding” and Meta’s inability to cut costs “extremely disturbing”.
On a post-earnings conference call, Jefferies analyst Brent Thill asked executives: “I think kind of summing up how investors are feeling right now is that there are just too many experimental bets versus proven bets on the core … I think everyone would love to hear why you think this pays off.”
In the July to September quarter, losses at Reality Labs ballooned to a whopping $3.67-billion from $2.63-billion a year earlier. Revenue nearly halved.
“It would be a mistake for us to not focus on any of these areas that will be fundamentally important to our future,” Zuckerberg said on the call.
“I know that sometimes when we ship a product … people say: ‘Hey, you’re spending all this money, and you’ve produced this thing,’ and I think that’s not really the right way to think about it.”
“…We’re doing leading work that will become … eventually mature products at different cadences in different periods of time over the next five to 10 years.”
He spoke about the company’s various efforts, including a recently unveiled virtual and mixed reality headset called Quest Pro that is priced at $1 500 and a social metaverse platform where people can express themselves via avatars.
He said Meta is investing in two other areas: augmented reality and neural interfaces.
“The metaverse … feels like a one big gamble given the economic crisis,” said Paolo Pescatore, an analyst at PP Foresight, adding that the journey ahead was going to be “long and painful”.
“People are not rushing out of their seats to buy a VR headset or even watch 360-degree videos… The new device still feels like an expensive toy,” he said.
At a time when other tech companies such as Microsoft and Google are cutting jobs or slowing hiring, Meta’s headcount surged 32% in the third quarter from the end of the second.
In an open letter to Zuckerberg on Monday, Meta shareholder Altimeter Capital Management called on Meta to streamline by cutting jobs and capital expenditure. The fund suggested Meta cap annual investments in the metaverse to $5-billion instead of the current $10-billion. — Reuters
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
by Tech Talk | Oct 10, 2022 | Articles
Meta Platforms has sued a group of Chinese companies behind fake WhatsApp apps HeyMods, Highlight Mobi, and HeyWhatsApp for stealing over one million WhatsApp accounts since May 2022.
Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Bleeping Computer reports that the companies allegedly created “unofficial” Android WhatsApp apps that steal account credentials.
The apps were available for download from the HeyMods, Highlight Mobi, and HeyWhatsApp websites, as well as the Google Play Store, APK Pure, APKSFree, iDescargar, and Malavida.
The malicious apps contained malware that scraped WhatsApp login credentials and used the hacked accounts to send spam messages.
“After victims installed the Malicious Applications, they were prompted to enter their WhatsApp user credentials and authenticate their WhatsApp access on the Malicious Applications,” Meta’s complaint reads.
“The Defendants programmed the Malicious Applications to communicate the user’s credentials to WhatsApp’s computers and obtain the users’ account keys and authentication information (collectively, ‘access information’).”
In July, WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart warned users that using fake or modified versions of WhatsApp on Android could lead to their personal information being stolen.
Cathcart explained that WhatsApp’s security research team found hidden malware within apps offering similar services to WhatsApp, available outside the Google Play Store from a developer called HeyMods.
“These apps promised new features but were just a scam to steal personal information stored on people’s phones,” Cathcart warned.
“We’ve shared what we found with Google and worked with them to combat the malicious apps.”
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
