Meta Platforms

October 29, 2024 12:17 PM

Brazil institute sues social media giants for $525 mln over usage by minors

Brazil's Collective Defense Institute, a consumer rights group, has filed two lawsuits demanding 3 billion reais ($525.27 million) from the Brazilian units of TikTok, Kwai and Meta Platforms for allegedly failing to create mechanisms to prevent indiscriminate use of these social media platforms by minors, according to initial petitions reviewed by Reuters. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Social media regulation has become a hot topic in Latin America's largest country after a months-long feud between X own...

September 18, 2024 11:00 AM

Meta faces hefty EU antitrust fine over classified ads practices: report

Meta Platforms Inc. is facing a hefty fine in the EU over its alleged efforts to dominate the classified advertising market, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. EU regulators will claim Facebook's parent company links its free Marketplace services with the social network in an effort to undermine its rivals, the newspaper said. The bloc's decision could come as early as next month and would mark one of the final investigations overseen by the EU's...

September 17, 2024 5:43 PM

Instagram rolls out teen account with privacy, parental controls as scrutiny mounts

Meta Platforms is rolling out special accounts with new privacy settings for teenaged Instagram users, it said on Tuesday, its latest effort to limit their exposure to harmful content on its apps amid regulatory pressure. The social media firm said it will port all designated accounts automatically to teen accounts, which will be private accounts by default. Users of such accounts can only be messaged and tagged by accounts they follow or are already connected to, while sensitive content setti...

July 24, 2024 5:51 PM

Facebook removes 63,000 accounts in Nigeria over ‘sextortion’ scams

Meta Platforms said on Wednesday it had removed about 63,000 Facebook accounts in Nigeria that attempted to engage in financial sexual extortion scams mostly aimed at adult men in the United States. Nigerian online fraudsters, known as "Yahoo boys", are notorious for scams that range from passing themselves off as people in financial need or Nigerian princes offering an outstanding return on an investment. Meta said in a statement the removed accounts also included a smaller coordinated networ...

July 3, 2024 12:29 PM

Meta to end ban on the word ‘shaheed’ on oversight board’s recommendations

Meta Platforms said on Tuesday it would lift its blanket ban on the word "shaheed", or "martyr" in English, after a year-long review by its oversight board found the social media giant's approach was "overbroad". The company has been criticized for years over its handling of content involving the Middle East, including in a 2021 study Meta itself commissioned that found its approach had an "adverse human rights impact" on Palestinians and other Arabic-speaking users of its services. Those crit...