Meta Archives | Page 37 of 49 | Digital Watch Observatory

India investigates WhatsApp’s privacy policy

WhatsApp is facing potential sanctions from India’s Competition Commission (CCI) over its controversial 2021 privacy policy update, which has raised significant privacy concerns. The CCI is reportedly preparing to take action against the messaging platform, owned by Meta, for allegedly breaching antitrust laws related to user data handling. The policy, which allows WhatsApp to share certain user data with Meta, has faced widespread criticism from regulators and users who view it as intrusive and unfair.

The CCI’s investigation suggests that WhatsApp’s data-sharing practices, particularly involving business transaction data, may give Meta an unfair competitive advantage, violating provisions against the abuse of dominance. A draft order has been prepared to penalise both WhatsApp and Meta, as the CCI’s director general has submitted findings indicating these violations.

In response, WhatsApp stated that the case is still under judicial review and defended its privacy policy by noting that users had the choice to accept the update without losing access to their accounts. If sanctions are imposed, this could represent a pivotal moment in India’s efforts to regulate major tech firms and establish precedents for the intersection of privacy and competition laws in the digital age.

AI pioneer says concerns over AI are exaggerated

In a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, AI pioneer Yann LeCun dismissed concerns about AI poses an existential threat to humanity, calling them ‘complete B.S.’ LeCun, a professor at New York University and senior researcher at Meta, has been vocal about his scepticism, emphasising that current AI technology is far from achieving human-level intelligence. He previously tweeted that before worrying about super-intelligent AI, we need to first create a system that surpasses the intelligence of a house cat.

LeCun argued that today’s large language models (LLMs) lack essential capabilities like persistent memory, reasoning, planning, and a comprehension of the physical world—skills even a cat possesses. In his view, while these models are adept at manipulating language, this does not equate to true intelligence, and they are not advancing toward developing artificial general intelligence (AGI).

Despite his scepticism about current AI capabilities, LeCun is not entirely dismissive of the potential for AGI in the future. He suggested that developing AGI will require new approaches and pointed to ongoing work by his team at Meta, which is exploring ways to process and understand real-world video data.

Meta takes action against Russian-linked accounts in Moldova

Meta Platforms announced it had removed a network of accounts targeting Russian speakers in Moldova ahead of the country’s October 20 election, citing violations of its fake accounts policy. Moldovan authorities have also blocked numerous Telegram channels and chatbots allegedly used to pay voters to cast “no” votes in a referendum on EU membership being held alongside the presidential election. Pro-European President Maia Sandu, seeking a second term, has made the referendum central to her platform.

The deleted Meta accounts targeted President Maia Sandu, pro-EU politicians, and the strong ties between Moldova and Romania while promoting pro-Russia parties. This network featured fake Russian-language news brands masquerading as independent media across various platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, OK.ru, and TikTok. Meta’s actions involved removing multiple accounts, pages, and groups to combat coordinated inauthentic behaviour.

Moldova’s National Investigation Inspectorate has blocked 15 Telegram channels and 95 chatbots that were offering payments to voters, citing violations of political financing laws. Authorities linked these activities to supporters of fugitive businessman Ilan Shor, who established the ‘Victory’ electoral bloc while in exile in Moscow. In response, Moldovan police have raided the homes of Shor’s associates, alleging that payments were funnelled through a Russian bank to influence the election. Shor, who was sentenced in absentia for his involvement in a significant 2014 bank fraud case, denies the bribery allegations. Meanwhile, President Maia Sandu accuses Russia of attempting to destabilise her government, while Moscow claims that she is inciting ‘Russophobia.’

Meta agrees to data collection changes in Germany

German cartel authorities have closed their investigation into Meta’s data practices following extensive negotiations that led to the US tech giant agreeing to address regulatory concerns. Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, has committed to implementing several measures to change how user data is collected and processed on its platforms, the officials announced on Thursday.

According to Andreas Mundt, the president of the German Federal Cartel Office, one of the most significant changes is that users of Facebook will no longer be required to consent to the unrestricted collection and association of data to their user accounts. This new approach ensures that data not generated through Facebook’s services cannot be automatically linked to a user’s account without specific consent. The decision marks a significant step in limiting the scope of Meta’s data collection and improving user privacy in Germany.

The investigation into Meta was part of a larger initiative by European regulators to closely examine and regulate the data practices of major tech firms. Meta’s cooperation with German authorities highlights its readiness to comply with regulatory standards and could set a precedent for similar cases across Europe. The agreed changes aim to enhance privacy protections for users and increase transparency in how tech platforms manage and utilise personal data.

New features for Meta AI in 21 countries

Meta has announced the expansion of its AI chatbot to 21 new markets, including the UK and Brazil, as it intensifies competition with ChatGPT. The chatbot is now available to millions of users, offering support in several additional languages. The expansion reflects the ongoing race among technology companies to capture global interest in AI tools.

The AI chatbot already boasts almost 500 million monthly active users and is expected to be accessible in 43 countries by the end of the year. Its broadening reach includes more languages, with Meta aiming for it to become the leading AI assistant by the end of 2024.

While Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, revealed new character voices for the chatbot at the company’s Connect event, these will be rolled out at a later stage. Meta clarified that the new voices are part of a separate timeline, indicating a phased approach to the overall AI development.

In addition, Meta AI will soon be available through Ray-Ban Meta glasses in the UK and Austra l ia, marking another innovative feature as the company seeks to integrate its technology into daily life.

New AI model by Meta elevates video editing

Meta has launched Movie Gen, a powerful AI model designed to produce 1080p videos with synchronised audio. The system can edit videos based on instructions, allowing for personalised content creation using user-supplied images.

With a transformer model containing 30 billion parameters, Movie Gen can generate 16-second videos at 16 frames per second. The model’s advanced techniques improve video motion realism, trained on over 100 million video-text pairs and 1 billion image-text pairs.

Movie Gen outperforms previous models, including Runway Gen3 and OpenAI Sora, particularly in video editing and text-to-video tasks. Benchmarks show its superiority in maintaining video structure and fine details, especially in the TGVE+ test.

Future developments for Movie Gen include improving scene understanding, safeguarding against misuse, and making the system more accessible. Meta envisions applications in social media, film production, and marketing campaigns.

Meta revamps Facebook to engage young adults

Facebook, once the go-to platform for connecting with family and friends, is shifting its focus to attract younger users, according to Tom Alison, head of Facebook at Meta. With younger generations favouring apps like Instagram and TikTok, Meta aims to revitalise Facebook by helping users expand their networks and make new connections, aligning with how young adults use the platform today.

To achieve this, Facebook is testing two new tabs, Local and Explore, aimed at helping users find nearby events, community groups, and content tailored to their interests. This initiative aligns with Meta’s efforts to compete with TikTok, which has 150 million US users, by introducing its short-form video feature, Reels, in 2021. Data reveals that young adults on Facebook spend 60% of their time watching videos, with over half engaging with Reels daily.

Facebook also reported a 24% increase in conversations initiated through its dating feature among young adults in the US and Canada. At a recent event in Austin, Texas, the platform promoted its new direction with the slogan ‘Not your mom’s Facebook,’ emphasising its push to attract a younger audience.

CJEU: Meta must restrict the use of personal data for targeted ads

Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) delivered a landmark ruling restricting the use of personal data for targeted advertising by platforms like Meta, formerly Facebook. That decision stems from a complaint by data privacy advocate Max Schrems, who argued Meta violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) principles of ‘data minimisation’ and ‘purpose limitation’ when processing users’ data for personalised ads. Consequently, the court has mandated time limits on data usage and stipulated that data must only be utilised for expressly defined purposes under GDPR, impacting the vast data reservoirs companies have accumulated over time.

An essential aspect of the ruling addresses the use of sensitive data, such as publicly shared sexual orientation information, for advertising. Schrems challenged Meta’s adherence to the ‘purpose limitation’ principle when the company used such public data without explicit consent. The court decided that declaring such information publicly does not permit its use for targeted advertising, establishing that public availability does not equate to consent under GDPR. This sets a significant precedent for sensitive data processing and aligns with the broader GDPR framework.

Why does it matter?

The ruling has implications beyond social media advertising, particularly AI training practices. The European Center for Digital Rights (Noyb), founded by Schrems, emphasised that companies like Meta, X (formerly Twitter), and OpenAI often scrape online data to train AI models, frequently diverging from the data’s original intent.

This ruling also highlights the evolving regulatory landscape and the EU’s global data privacy governance leadership. Schrems’ advocacy, informed by past victories in the Schrems I and Schrems II cases, continues to shape strict data privacy standards within Europe, reaffirming the ongoing scrutiny of technology firms’ data practices.

Meta battles scam ads in Australia

Meta and Australian banks have worked together to remove 8,000 fraudulent ‘celeb bait’ advertisements from Facebook and Instagram. The scams, often using AI-generated images of celebrities, deceive users into investing in fake schemes. Australian banks flagged 102 such cases since April.

The rise in these scams has led Australia to draft a new anti-scam law, which could impose fines of up to A$50 million on companies that fail to combat online fraud. Reports in 2023 show that Australians lost a staggering A$2.7 billion to various scams.

Meta is currently facing legal challenges in Australia, including a lawsuit for allowing cryptocurrency ads featuring celebrities like Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman. Despite these issues, Meta continues its efforts to fight fraudulent ads.

Meta, alongside Australian banks, believes that early signs within ads could help detect wider scam activity. The company is reviewing Australia’s draft legislation, signalling a continued focus on anti-scam measures in the future.

Vietnam to host Meta’s new AI and tech projects

Meta is set to expand its presence in Vietnam by increasing investment in AI and manufacturing. Starting in 2025, production of its latest mixed reality headset, the Quest 3S, will move to the country.

The announcement came shortly after Meta’s president for global affairs, Nick Clegg, met with Vietnamese officials. Vietnam is a key market for Meta, with millions of users relying on its social media platform, Facebook.

Meta also supports numerous small businesses in the region. While the size of the investment remains unclear, Meta’s commitment highlights the growing importance of the Vietnamese market for the company.

Additionally, Meta plans to further integrate AI innovations into its platforms. Testing of its Meta AI tool in Vietnamese will begin soon, with a full launch expected by the end of the year.