Heena Sharma Blog

  Amid growing misinformation on social media, Facebook plans to remove posts with what they consider to be false information or conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines . The company said in a statement on Thursday, in coming weeks they will start removing false claims about vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts. "Given the recent news that COVID-19 vaccines will soon be rolling out around the world, over the coming weeks we will start removing false claims about these vaccines that have been debunked by public health experts on Facebook and Instagram," the release said. "For example, we will remove false claims that COVID-19 vaccines contain microchips, or anything else that isn't on the official vaccine ingredient list," the release added. Read More  

  Apple Inc . on Thursday slammed Facebook Inc. and other internet giants for their ad-targeting practices in response to a letter questioning a decision by the iPhone maker to delay a new privacy feature. The Cupertino, California-based technology company criticised Facebook’s approach to advertising and user tracking, according to a written reply sent to several human rights and privacy organisations, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Human Rights Watch: By contrast, Facebook and others have a very different approach to targeting. Not only do they allow the grouping of users into smaller segments, they use detailed data about online browsing activity to target ads. Facebook executives have made clear their intent is to collect as much data as possible across both first and third party products to develop and monetise detailed profiles of their users, and this disregard for user privacy continues to expand to include more of their products. Read More

  The government has finally allowed Facebook to start operating its WhatsApp payments service in the world's biggest open technology market, that's India.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg today announced that no fee will be charged for sending money via WhatsApp as the company rolled out its payments services in India. In 2018, WhatsApp had started testing its UPI-based payments service in India, which allows users to utilise the messaging platform to send and receive money.The testing was limited to about a million users as it waited for regulatory approvals to come in.On Thursday, NPCI allowed WhatsApp to start its payments service in the country in a "graded" manner, starting with a maximum registered user base of 20 million in UPI. Read More

Facebook on Wednesday announced investment of Rs 43,574 crore to pick a 9.9 per cent stake in Reliance Industries Limited's wholly-owned subsidiary, Jio Platforms, in what is being touted as the largest foreign direct investment for minority stake in India. The company said, "Today we are announcing a $5.7 billion, or INR 43,574 crore, investment in Jio Platforms Limited, part of Reliance Industries Limited, making Facebook its largest minority shareholder." “Reliance Industries Limited, Jio Platforms Limited and and Facebook today announced the signing of binding agreements for an investment of Rs 43,574 crore by Facebook into Jio Platforms,” Reliance Industries said in its statement. Read More

Facebook-owned Oculus on Tuesday said it is buying the studio behind hit virtual reality game " Beat Saber " as it looks to expand VR technology to wider audiences. Oculus, which makes Rift and Quest VR headgear, did not disclose financial terms of the deal to acquire Prague-based Beat Games. "Beat Games is joining us in our quest to bring VR to more people around the world," Oculus director of augmented and virtual reality content Mike Verdu said in a blog post. "Beat Games' accomplishments are already impressive, but Facebook and the Beat Games team know that there is so much more that can be done across VR, games, and music." Verdu assured players that the studio would continue to ship content and updates for "Beat Saber" on platforms where it is already available. In the virtual game, players use light sabers to slash oncoming, large cubes to the beat of music, sometimes twisting or ducking to avoid oncoming walls. ...

Google plans to launch a checking account service next year in a collaboration with Citigroup and a credit union in Silicon Valley , the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. In a project code named Cache, Google is working on a system that will host checking accounts clearly bearing the brands of the financial institutions, which will handle security and regulatory compliance issues, according to the Journal report. The report quoted a Google executive as saying the company's approach "is going to be to partner deeply with banks and the financial system" in what might be seen as a longer but safer route. The move would come as internet titans become increasingly involved in online financial transactions and e-commerce. Apple and Google both offer digital wallets that can be used on smartphones to pay for purchases online or in real-world shops. Apple also recently released a credit card. Amazon has been reported to be in talks with banks about cr...

In yet another data breach, Facebook on Wednesday revealed that at least 100 app developers may have accessed Facebook users' data for months, confirming that at least 11 partners "accessed group members' information in the last 60 days". The social networking giant found that the apps -- primarily social media management and video streaming apps -- retained access to group member information, like names and profile pictures in connection with group activity, from the Groups API (application programming interface). "Although we've seen no evidence of abuse, we will ask them to delete any member data they may have retained and we will conduct audits to confirm that it has been deleted," the company said in a statement. "We've removed or restricted a number of our developer APIs, such as the Groups API, which provides an interface between Facebook and apps that can integrate with a group," it added. Facebook is facing scrutiny a...

Internet advertising is “incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics, where it can be used to influence votes to affect the lives of millions”, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said early on Thursday while discontinuing political ads from the microblogging platform globally. Dorsey said the company would share the final policy by November 15, and will start enforcing it from November 22, to provide advertisers a notice period. Political ads on social media platforms have been a growing cause for concern globally, especially since reports of foreign interference in the 2016 US Presidential elections surfaced. India also cracked down heavily on advertising content placed by political parties in the run up to the General Elections this year. Vipul Mudgal, director at advocacy firm Common Cause, said once Twitter releases the full policy, things would become clearer. “I want to see if their policy is US oriented and ...

Scandals have damaged the company, but the most pressing problem is that there aren't that many people left to convert- they're all already on Facebook Companies News : After all the controversy Facebook Inc. has generated in recent months, it seemed almost inevitable that at some point, the social media giant would get what it had coming. A reckoning. Wednesday’s disappointing earnings report and Thursday’s historic 19 per cent stock drop appeared to be a fitting conclusion to an easy narrative. But the story isn’t that simple. Yes, the privacy protections the company put in place after a series of scandals played a role in the dismal earnings. But the company’s bigger problem is that the main social network— the invention that made it a corporate behemoth—simply can’t grow much more. And the new dollars Facebook will mint in the next few years will have to come from businesses that are less certain, like ads in chat applications, virtual reality, television-l...