Leak shows Facebook’s business model needs regulating, says MEP

The European Parliament’s lead and shadow rapporteur for a major reboot of the bloc’s digital rulebook have called for an investigation following the Facebook whistleblower leaks. One of the MEPs has also called for incoming EU rules to directly tackle business models that favor “disinformation and violence over factual content”. In a joint statement, the […]

Should Mark Zuckerberg be scared of Peter Thiel?

Unless you’ve been in a cave over the last week, you’ve likely read a review or some discussion about The Contrarian, a new book about billionaire investor Peter Thiel by longtime Bloomberg Businessweek features editor and tech reporter Max Chafkin. It isn’t surprising. Thiel has become an increasingly powerful figure in the U.S., and Chafkin […]

TikTok reached 1 billion monthly active users

TikTok announced in a blog post today that 1 billion people use TikTok every month. That means that on this big rock in space that we call home, about one in seven-and-a-half people are regularly watching short-form videos of dancing, dangerous “milk crate challenges” and even actual educational content. For context, Facebook said that in […]

Facebook’s CTO to step down after 13 years at the company

Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer just announced that he will stepping down from the role next year and transition to a part-time position as a “Senior Fellow” at the company. It’s one of the biggest leadership departures for Facebook in recent memory. He will be replaced in the role by long-time executive Andrew Bosworth […]

Facebook knows Instagram harms teens. Now, its plan to open the app to kids looks worse than ever

Facebook is in the hot seat again. The Wall Street Journal published a powerful multi-part series on the company this week, drawing from internal documents on everything from the company’s secretive practice of whitelisting celebrities to its knowledge that Instagram is taking a serious toll on the mental health of teen girls. The flurry of […]