Where To? Black People, Racism & The Metaverse
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: PixelsEffect / Getty For years, people of color have been fighting to be heard on Facebook (ahem, Meta)—beyond the ubiquitous hot takes on pop culture and viral video clips. According to groups like Color of Change, the social media site has been punishing users who inform, denounce and call out racism in their corner of Facebook. USA Today reports that the regulation goes as far as account suspension whenever the phrase “white people” appears in a status update—even when describing personal real-life prejudicial scenarios. So if our communities already feel as if they don’t have a place on Facebook, where would they fit in within the metaverse? The growing popularity of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have opened the floodgates for people to take their race-b...
Mark Zuckerberg Says Meta Employees “Lovingly” Refer to Him as “The Eye of Sauron”
Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t always had a squeaky-clean reputation, and the Facebook/Meta founder and CEO has accrued a slew of less-than-flattering nicknames throughout his career. But during his recent appearance on The Tim Ferriss Show, he shared a particularly eyebrow-raising label given to him by his own employees: The Eye of Sauron. Zuckerberg brought up the moniker after he and Ferriss began discussing how he manages his energy in the workplace while constantly being barraged with news and information. “Maybe I’m not strong-willed enough or calm enough to do just straight-up meditation,” Zuck said. “I actually need to put myself in a situation where it’s difficult to not focus on that thing.” He continued: “Some of the folks I work with at the company — they say this lovingly — but I thin...
Equinix Expands to Africa After Buying Nigerian Data Centre Firm for $320M
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit “Cookie Settings” to provide a controlled consent.
TikTok ‘Deeply Concerned’ by Facebook’s Paid Campaign to Promote Negative Coverage of Social App
TikTok said Wednesday it was “deeply concerned” by a campaign paid for by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, to promote negative coverage of the shortform social platform in local media coverage. As reported by The Washington Post, Meta has paid a “right of center” marketing firm, Targeted Victory, to lead a campaign that has included placing op-eds and letters to the editor in local papers to promote anti-TikTok sentiment, especially when it comes to children using the app. Targeted Victory allegedly worked with local operatives to promote the negative coverage around purported trends on TikTok harming children to compel lawmakers to take action; the firm also sought to promote positive coverage about Meta and use the anti-TikTok pieces to deflect from government antitrust and privacy ...
Facebook Hired GOP Firm to Launch Smear Campaign Against TikTok
Facebook’s parent company Meta has contracted one of the country’s largest Republican consulting firms to choreograph a nationwide smear campaign against TikTok, The Washington Post reports. The campaign has successfully placed op-eds and letters to the editor in major newspapers, spread unfounded rumors that damaging Facebook trends began on TikTok instead, and won the support of one apparently unwitting Democrat senator, all while exposing how deeply intertwined Meta has become with GOP politics. The Republican firm, Targeted Victory, was described in 2016 as “the GOP’s go-to technology consultant firm,” with a track record at the time of successfully boosting Ted Cruz’s national profile. Its website advertises a “hyperlocal” approach to politics, which can be seen in the astro...
Facebook to Verify Ads Ahead of Kenyan General Elections
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit “Cookie Settings” to provide a controlled consent.
Instagram Introduces “Favorites List”
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit “Cookie Settings” to provide a controlled consent.
Don’t Want to Get Blocked Out of Facebook? Accept These Policies
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit “Cookie Settings” to provide a controlled consent.
Weekly Report: Russia’s largest bank can now issue digital assets, Optimism raises $150 million
Optimism aims to invest in hiring following the conclusion of a Series B funding round A FinCEN rep has said it is impossible to move large scale amounts of funds via crypto to avoid sanctions Meta could be legally charged for allowing misleading crypto ads on Facebook that falsely portrayed support by celebrity figures in Australia Sberbank has been licensed to issue and exchange virtual assets in Russia GameStop fans will by the end of July exchange NFTs for free on the retailer’s marketplace Ethereum L2 scaling solution Optimism raises $150M in a Series B funding round Optimism, an Ethereum layer two scaling solution, has completed a $150 million Series B funding round co-led by giant venture capital firms Paradigm Capital and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) at a $1.65 billion valuatio...
Australian competition regulator takes Meta to court over fake crypto ads
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is taking Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook) to the Federal Court, alleging that the firm and its Irish branch engaged in “false, misleading or deceptive conduct” by publishing scam celebrity crypto ads. Some users have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars to the sophisticated and long running scams tied to the ad. The spotlight on Meta has heated up in Australia since the start of February, with Cointelegraph previously reporting that the ACCC was investigating the firm over allegedly fraudulent crypto ads. Aussie mining billionaire Andrew Forrest also took legal action against the company for hosting ads that allegedly used his name to defraud victims. In an announcement posted earlier today, the ACCC asserted that Meta “ai...
How the Internet is Giving Side-Hustling South Africans the Earning Edge
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit “Cookie Settings” to provide a controlled consent.
Diem team members raise $200M to launch blockchain derived from it
Former Meta employees and key players behind the firm’s defunc stablecoin project Diem have raised $200 million to expand a new project dubbed “Aptos.” Aptos was cofounded by former Novi — Meta’s crypto unit — strategic partnerships lead Mo Shaikh and tech lead Avery Ching. The duo arenow serving as the CEO and CTO for the new firm. Both left the company in December, prior to Diem being sold to Silvergate Capital in February this year. The team is building a decentralized Layer 1 blockchain that is partly based on Move, the coding language initially developed for Diem. The company is now in the process of growing its developer ecosystem and attracting projects to the blockchain, which it touts will be a cheap, secure and scalable network. According to a March 16 announcement, Aptos’ $200 m...
