Serie A takes action against piracy with Meta

Serie A has partnered with Meta to combat illegal live streaming of football matches, aiming to protect its broadcasting rights. Under the agreement, Serie A will gain access to Meta’s tools for real-time detection and swift removal of unauthorised streams on Facebook and Instagram.

Broadcasting revenue remains vital for Serie A clubs, including Inter Milan and Juventus, with €4.5 billion secured through deals with DAZN and Sky until 2029. The league’s CEO urged other platforms to follow Meta’s lead in fighting piracy.

Italian authorities have ramped up anti-piracy measures, passing laws that enable swift takedowns of illegal streams. Earlier this month, police dismantled a network with 22 million users, highlighting the scale of the issue.

Meta introduces tools to enhance the Metaverse

Meta has announced the release of a new AI model, Meta Motivo, designed to enhance the realism of human-like digital agents in the Metaverse. This innovation promises more lifelike movements for avatars, addressing longstanding issues with digital body control. The company believes these advancements will revolutionise character animation and create immersive experiences with highly interactive non-playable characters (NPCs).

Meta’s focus on AI and Metaverse technologies has led to record-breaking investment forecasts for 2024, with capital expenditures projected to reach up to $40 billion. The company has also embraced an open-source approach by making its AI models available for free to developers, fostering innovation across its platforms.

In addition to Meta Motivo, the company introduced the Large Concept Model (LCM), an AI system designed to reimagine language modelling by focusing on high-level concepts rather than predicting text tokens. This system processes entire sentences in multilingual and multimodal contexts, aiming to enhance reasoning capabilities. Meta also unveiled Video Seal, a tool that embeds invisible, traceable watermarks into videos, signalling its commitment to both innovation and security in digital content creation.

These releases reflect Meta’s vision of advancing AI to shape the future of digital interaction and the Metaverse, aiming to establish itself as a leader in cutting-edge virtual and augmented reality technologies.

Italy focuses internet tax on major digital companies

Italy is revamping its web tax to target large tech companies while sparing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and publishing groups, government officials announced. The move aims to balance domestic fiscal needs with international concerns, especially those raised by the United States, which has criticised the tax as unfairly targeting US-based firms like Meta, Google, and Amazon.

Introduced in 2019, the 3% tax applies to digital firms with global revenues exceeding €750 million and at least €5.5 million generated in Italy. Recent attempts by Italy’s Treasury to expand the tax’s scope were met with backlash, prompting officials to retain the original revenue thresholds to avoid burdening smaller companies.

Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti argued that a broader tax base could reduce friction with the US, but internal government opposition led to a pivot. Rome also plans to cut corporate taxes for companies that invest and create jobs, offsetting the cost by raising €5 billion from banks and insurers over three years through measures outlined in the 2025 budget. By refining its approach, Italy seeks to strike a balance between fiscal responsibility and fostering a favorable business environment for smaller enterprises.

Meta tax investigation concludes in Italy

Italian prosecutors have concluded an investigation into alleged tax evasion involving Facebook owner Meta, focusing on unpaid VAT worth €887.6 million. Two executives from the company’s Irish subsidiary are implicated in the case. This marks the final step before a potential trial unless the suspects can demonstrate their innocence.

The dispute centres on whether Meta’s provision of free access to platforms like Facebook and Instagram, in exchange for users’ personal data, qualifies as a taxable transaction. Italian tax police argue that user registrations represent a non-monetary exchange that should incur VAT. Meta disputes these claims, maintaining that it has met all tax obligations and cooperated fully with Italian authorities.

Italy’s Revenue Agency has supported the findings of an earlier police investigation, alleging Meta failed to declare €4 billion in taxable income between 2015 and 2021. Meta now has 60 days to address these observations, potentially leading to either a settlement or a judicial tax dispute.

The case, involving consultations with the European Commission’s VAT Committee, could set significant precedents for digital taxation. A final resolution remains pending, with Meta standing firm against the notion of applying VAT to user access.

Google and Meta under European scrutiny over teen ad partnership

European regulators are investigating a previously undisclosed advertising partnership between Google and Meta that targeted teenagers on YouTube and Instagram, the Financial Times reports. The now-cancelled initiative aimed at promoting Instagram to users aged 13 to 17 allegedly bypassed Google’s policies restricting ad personalisation for minors.

The partnership, initially launched in the US with plans for global expansion, has drawn the attention of the European Commission, which has requested extensive internal records from Google, including emails and presentations, to evaluate potential violations. Google, defending its practices, stated that its safeguards for minors remain industry-leading and emphasised recent internal training to reinforce policy compliance.

This inquiry comes amid heightened concerns about the impact of social media on young users. Earlier this year, Meta introduced enhanced privacy features for teenagers on Instagram, reflecting the growing demand for stricter online protections for minors. Neither Meta nor the European Commission has commented on the investigation so far.

Meta faces legal battle over dismissal of Kenyan moderators

Content moderators in Kenya are suing Meta and its former contractor, Sama, for wrongful dismissal and blacklisting after attempting to unionise. The moderators allege they were excluded from reapplying for similar roles when Meta transitioned to a new contractor, Majorel. This legal dispute sheds light on challenges faced by moderators, particularly those focusing on Ethiopia, who say they received death threats from the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) for removing violent posts but were ignored by their employer.

According to court filings, the moderators accuse Sama of initially dismissing their complaints, accusing them of fabricating the threats. One moderator, publicly identified by the rebels, was eventually sent to a safe house. The OLA reportedly warned moderators to stop deleting their graphic posts, escalating the atmosphere of fear among employees. Moderators claim Meta failed to address hate speech effectively, leaving them in a constant cycle of reviewing harmful content that did not breach Meta’s policies.

The case also highlights broader concerns over how Meta manages its global network of moderators tasked with handling violent and graphic content. This comes amid separate allegations that Meta allowed violent and hateful posts to proliferate during Ethiopia’s civil conflict, worsening tensions. Out-of-court settlement talks failed last year, and the legal outcomes could shape how content moderation is approached worldwide.

Meta and Sama have refrained from commenting on the latest allegations, while the OLA did not respond to requests. As the trial unfolds, it raises critical questions about accountability and workplace protections for moderators operating in volatile regions.

Meta expands clean energy initiatives with major solar projects

Meta Platforms has partnered with Invenergy to purchase green energy credits from four large solar projects in the United States, supporting its goal to power operations with 100% clean energy. These projects, generating 760 megawatts—enough to power approximately 130,000 homes—will be located in Ohio, Texas, New Mexico, and Arkansas and are expected to connect to the grid between 2024 and 2027.

The deal is part of Meta‘s broader strategy to meet the energy demands of its data centres sustainably, including prior agreements with geothermal and solar initiatives. While Meta won’t directly use the power, the credits will offset its energy footprint.

Urvi Parekh, Meta’s head of global energy, stated the projects reaffirm Meta’s commitment to environmental sustainability. The move comes amid rising energy demands from the company’s expanding global operations.

Meta and Lightstorm Vision collaborate on 3D content

Meta Platforms has teamed up with James Cameron‘s Lightstorm Vision to enhance 3D entertainment production for its Meta Quest headsets. The partnership will focus on live sports, concerts, and TV series, with the Quest serving as Lightstorm’s exclusive mixed reality hardware platform.

This collaboration reaffirms Meta’s commitment to its mixed-reality initiatives, following significant investments in augmented reality and metaverse technologies. In addition, both companies will work on reducing the production costs of creating 3D content, making immersive media more accessible.

In September, Meta introduced a more affordable version of the Quest, aligning with its goal to expand its user base.

Meta reports minimal AI impact on global misinformation

Meta Platforms has reported that generative AI had limited influence on misinformation campaigns across its platforms in 2023. According to Nick Clegg, Meta‘s president of global affairs, coordinated networks spreading propaganda struggled to gain traction on Facebook and Instagram, and AI-generated misinformation was promptly flagged or removed.

Clegg noted, however, that some of these operations have migrated to other platforms or standalone websites with fewer moderation systems. Meta dismantled around 20 covert influence campaigns this year. The company aims to refine content moderation while maintaining free expression.

Meta also reflected on its overly strict moderation during the COVID-19 pandemic, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressing regret over certain decisions influenced by external pressure. Looking forward, Zuckerberg intends to engage actively in policy debates on AI under President-elect Donald Trump‘s administration, underscoring AI’s critical role in US technological leadership.

Louisiana to host Meta’s largest AI data centre

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, plans to invest $10 billion to construct a state-of-the-art AI data centre in Richland Parish, Louisiana. Once completed, it will be the largest data centre in Meta’s global portfolio, designed to manage the vast data needs of AI and digital infrastructure. The facility is set to begin construction in December and is expected to take until 2030 to complete.

The company is working with Entergy, a utility provider operating in Louisiana, to ensure the centre’s energy consumption is fully matched by renewable sources. Entergy already supports similar projects, including Amazon’s upcoming cloud services facility in Mississippi, and operates two nuclear power plants in Louisiana.

As AI computing drives a surge in energy demand among tech giants like Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft, companies are increasingly exploring nuclear power to supplement renewable energy. However, challenges such as an ageing reactor fleet, regulatory hurdles, and supply chain limitations for uranium fuel may slow the adoption of nuclear energy.

Meta recently sought proposals from nuclear power developers to support its AI and environmental goals, aiming for 1 to 4 gigawatts of new US nuclear capacity by the early 2030s. The Louisiana data centre is part of Meta’s broader strategy to integrate sustainability with cutting-edge AI technology.