WASHINGTON: The Biden administration on Thursday accused Meta Platforms Inc. of trying to buy its way to dominance in the metaverse, kicking off a high-profile trial to try to prevent the Facebook parent from buying virtual reality app developer Within Inc.
The FTC sued in July to stop the deal, saying Meta’s acquisition of Within would “tend to create a monopoly” in the market for virtual reality (VR) fitness apps. It has asked the judge to order a preliminary injunction that would halt the proposed transaction.
In an opening statement, FTC lawyer Abby Dennis said the Within acquisition was part of Meta’s bid to acquire new and more diverse virtual reality users, including customers of Within’s popular subscription-based virtual reality workout app Supernatural.
That would complement Meta’s existing virtual reality users, who tend to skew young and male, and be more focused on gaming, Dennis added.
“Meta could have chosen to use all its vast resources and capabilities to build its own dedicated VR fitness app, and it was planning on doing that before it acquired Within,” Dennis said, pointing to a plan from early 2021.
The plan, Operation Twinkie, involved expanding a rhythm game app called Beat Saber that the company acquired in 2019 into the fitness space via a proposed partnership with digital fitness company Peloton, Dennis said.
She cited an email from Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg saying he was “bullish” on fitness and calling the proposed partnership with Peloton “awesome.”
Lawyers for Meta and Within argued that the FTC did a poor job of defining the relevant market and said the companies compete with a range of fitness content, not just VR-dedicated fitness apps.
Meta’s lawyers also disputed that plans for a Meta-owned VR fitness app had proceeded beyond low-level “brainstorming” and argued that the FTC underestimated the competition in the market it had defined, citing the potential for fellow tech giants Apple Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google and Bytedance to join the fray.
Rade Stojsavljevic, who manages Meta’s in-house VR app developer studios, testified that he had proposed the tie-up between Beat Saber and Peloton but did not develop a formal plan and never discussed the idea with either party.
Internal documents from early 2021 that were displayed in court showed Stojsavljevic proposing acquisitions of VR developers before they could be “cannibalized” by competitors and discussing pressure from Zuckerberg to “get aggressive” in response to reports of a prospective Apple headset.
The trial, scheduled through Dec. 20, will serve as a test of the FTC’s bid to head off what it sees as a repeat of the company acquiring small upcoming would-be rivals and effectively buying its way to dominance, this time in the nascent virtual and augmented reality markets.
The FTC is separately trying to force Meta to unwind two previous acquisitions, Instagram and WhatsApp, in a lawsuit filed in 2020. Both were in relatively new markets at the time the companies were purchased.
PRESSURE TO PRODUCE HIT APPS
A government victory could crimp Meta’s ability to maneuver in an area of emerging technology — virtual and augmented reality — that Zuckerberg has identified as the “next generation of computing.”
If blocked from making acquisitions in the space, Meta would face greater pressure to produce its own hit apps and would give up the gains — in terms of revenue, talent, data and control — associated with bringing innovative developers in-house.
Within developed Supernatural, which it advertises as a “complete fitness service” with “expert coaches,” “beautiful destinations” and “workouts choreographed to the best music available.”
It is available only on Meta’s Quest devices, which are headsets offering immersive digital visuals and audio that market research firm IDC estimates capture 90 percent of global shipments in the virtual reality hardware market.
The majority of the more than 400 apps available in the Quest app store are produced by external developers. Meta owns the most popular virtual reality app in the Quest app store, Beat Saber, the app it was considering expanding with the Peloton partnership.
The social media company agreed to buy Within in October 2021, a day after changing its name from Facebook to Meta, signalling its ambition to build an immersive virtual environment known as the metaverse.
Zuckerberg will be a witness in the trial. Other potential witnesses are Within CEO Chris Milk and Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bosworth, who runs the company’s metaverse-oriented Reality Labs unit.
The trial is at the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
Meta battles US antitrust agency over future of virtual reality
https://arab.news/zbs6r
Meta battles US antitrust agency over future of virtual reality
- FTC sued Meta in July to stop the tech giant's acquisition of virtual reality app developer Within
- Government victory could crimp Meta’s ability to maneuver in an area of emerging technology
‘Controlling technology does not bridge the divide,’ says e& chief at WEF
- Hatem Dowidar said that while poorer nations may lack the expertise and resources to build AI infrastructure, governance and data sovereignty could unlock opportunities for decentralizing such technologies
- Brad Smith pointed to Microsoft’s $1 billion investment, in partnership with Abu Dhabi-based AI firm G42, in establishing a data center in Kenya as an indication of decentralization efforts
LONDON: Controlling key technologies such as artificial intelligence does little to bridge the divide between richer and poorer nations, hindering the potential to benefit all, according to Hatem Dowidar, group chief executive officer of e&.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Dowidar highlighted the need for a shift in mindset among regulators to “close the divide rather than widen it.”
He said that the challenge lay less in countries lacking the expertise or resources to build AI infrastructure and more in governance and data sovereignty issues, which often required external handling.
“We do have a couple of cases now where agreements have been done that allow for data to be handled securely,” he said. “In other markets, there are a few lighthouse cases that allows this to happen, and actually some of the hyperscalers — Microsoft and AWS — are working on creating these ring-fenced sovereign clouds that can serve countries from another country while really preserving that integrity and sovereignty.”
Dowidar explained that while many countries lacked access to AI know-how and connectivity, the energy-intensive process of training AI models presented perhaps a more significant barrier.
“So there is a possibility where you can have these central areas, where we can serve the countries that don’t have the massive energy needed to teach the models, but then we need to relax the AI data sovereignty issues,” he said.
Participating in the panel, “AI: Lifting All Boats,” Brad Smith, vice-chair and president of Microsoft, discussed his company’s push toward a decentralized approach to AI development. He pointed to Microsoft’s $1 billion investment, in partnership with Abu Dhabi-based AI firm G42, to establish a data center in Kenya as an example of such efforts.
“It is hard to spend a billion dollars to support 50 million people in Kenya alone, but we’re doing it,” he said. “But the real question is, can we grow that and can we reach Rwanda? We can, but only under one circumstance that you get Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda and Kenya and Ethiopia, that you get the East African Community to decide together that they will all use that data center.”
He called this type of development “a data zone, just like we have free trade zones that will get us halfway there.”
However, Smith emphasized that the private sector alone could not shoulder the burden of such investments. Local governments and international institutions were essential to “kickstart the demand” if regions such as East Africa were to bridge the divide and compete on the global stage.
The panelists also criticized the US for its protectionist approach, particularly the imposition of export controls on competitive nations such as China.
While acknowledging that American technology currently held a significant edge, they argued that these restrictive policies were fueling rival nations to “catch up in various ways, partly by driving them to develop more frugal and innovative models.”
Middle East’s mass events are new scale of nation-building, marketing chief tells WEF
- Sir Martin Sorrell said region is leveraging major events to reposition itself on global stage
LONDON: The Middle East has used large-scale events such as the World Expo and FIFA World Cup as transformative exercises in nation-building, Sir Martin Sorrell, executive chairman of digital advertising and marketing company S4Capital, told the World Economic Forum in Davos.
During a panel session called “Mass Events, Massive Gains?” Sorrell highlighted how countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE were leveraging major events to reposition themselves on the global stage.
“What’s really interesting about what's happening in the Middle East is we’re seeing nation branding on a scale that we’ve never seen before,” he said. “Because what’s happening in the Middle East is (that) the rulers of these countries are really thinking about not just (in terms of) sports positioning, (but) it goes much more (deeply), it’s about political, cultural, social positioning of the country.”
The region, particularly Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, has heavily invested in hosting high-profile events to boost international appeal while providing citizens with a growing array of entertainment and cultural experiences.
Dubai hosted the World Expo in 2021, the first such event in the Middle East, while Qatar welcomed a cumulative 3.4 million attendees during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, according to official figures.
Saudi Arabia has also expanded its portfolio of global events, hosting major sports competitions such as Formula One in Jeddah, the 2024 WTA Tennis Finals in Riyadh, and the Dakar Rally since 2020. Looking ahead, the Kingdom is set to host marquee events including the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, the 2030 Riyadh Expo, and the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
While these drive significant social and economic benefits, they also come with high costs. Sorrell emphasized the need for a more balanced approach to event planning in the future.
“There’s also an economic tension, because whilst it’s true that these events are very powerful, they’re also very costly,” he explained.
“So what’s happening is the events are going to have to be changed, in my view, in the longer term. One, they’re going to probably have less new facilities, and therefore (be) more economic. And they’re also going to have to be much more sustainable, and they’re also going to have to appeal to consumers, particularly Gen Z, who are different.”
On the same panel, H.H. Sheikha Latifa Bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, chairperson of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, emphasized the broader social impact of such events, particularly in enhancing quality of life and fostering cultural connection.
“Culture is a very important part of social fabric. It is the thread that connects communities. It is the thing that formulates your self-identity, creates your values, and it’s the thing that really connects people and brings people together,” she said.
Dubai, she added, has aimed to deliver strategies that provide opportunities for cultural industries to thrive organically and create that social cohesion.
For Anna Marks, global chair at Deloitte, the key lies in understanding the human need for connection and experiences, particularly among younger generations like Gen Z, who place a high value on belonging and social cohesion.
“When you look at some of the research out there around what Millennials and Gen Zs want, when they want to spend their money, they make choices, and they actually are telling us they want to spend their money on experiences and not product,” she said. “And that’s a really interesting trend.”
“You need to really come together, not just sort of cooperate by not getting in each other’s way, but deeply collaborate, agreeing what the vision is, building the solution together and delivering that. And (then) you move that into partnership and the economic aspect.”
To avoid creating unused facilities, Marks suggested repurposing venues for other uses, such as retail or community spaces.
“I think we should be excited about this sector,” she added.
Cybersecurity technology needs to move faster, says WEF panel
DUBAI: Artificial intelligence is a big topic of discussion at this year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, which is being held under the central theme of “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.”
A panel on Wednesday titled “Cutting through Cyber Complexity,” brought together experts from the private and public sectors to discuss the increasingly complex world of cybersecurity in an age dominated by technology.
Wired magazine’s global editorial director Katie Drummond, who moderated the panel, set the stage saying that “factors like AI and emerging technology, geopolitical instability, supply chain vulnerability and talent shortages” combined make cybersecurity considerations more complicated, potentially “exacerbating inequity across the board.”
As governments push the adoption of technology, they must also ensure that the devices and platforms people use are safe, said Malaysia’s minister of digital, Gobind Singh Deo.
Last year, for example, Malaysia implemented the Cyber Security Act, establishing regulatory standards for the country’s cyber defenses, amended its data protection laws and introduced data-sharing legislation, he said.
The most important thing now, in this digital revolution, is speed, according to Oscar Lopez, Spain’s minister for digital transformation and civil service.
In addition to regulation, which is devised and implemented in conjunction with the EU, Spain is investing in infrastructure, skills and education, he added.
With 66 percent of organizations being concerned about AI’s impact on cybersecurity, according to WEF’s latest “Global Security Outlook” report, there is an urgent need for governments and businesses to build systems to counter cyberattacks.
Hoda Al-Khzaimi, associate vice provost for research translation and entrepreneurship at New York University Abu Dhabi, highlighted that cyber attackers have access to information and opportunity as well as the agility to build platforms and increase the threat level of attacks.
However, she added, there is room for improvement in the structures required to counter those attacks as evidenced by the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack in 2021.
Like Lopez, Al-Khzaimi emphasized the need for speed in building faster and more agile structures, saying that attackers take seconds to decimate a system, which will take months and years to rebuild.
This is partly because “larger companies are stuck with inertia and that’s really what’s causing all the issues,” said Jay Chaudhry, CEO, chairman and founder of IT security company Zscaler.
“Hackers have no inertia,” he said.
Chaudhry said organizations and governments need to move away from old technologies like firewalls and VPNs to a zero-trust cybersecurity architecture, which is based on the principle of not trusting anyone — even those inside the system or organization, unlike a firewall.
“Technology needs to move,” and it is not necessarily the government’s job to push it; if anything, “over-regulation can stop things,” he added.
The CEO and co-founder of industrial cybersecurity technology firm Dragos, Robert Lee, echoed the sentiment.
He said: “We need a lot more (of an) approach to harmonization of regulation, especially for multinational (companies).”
Lee also presented an alternate view to the adoption of emerging technologies and automation, highlighting the perils of digitization.
“Some of these private companies are so excited to take that automation journey … that they really don’t understand some of the systems they’re putting in place,” he said.
“This means that when something goes wrong, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to pinpoint the cause if the company hasn’t invested in the right systems ahead of time,” he added.
Lee said that there is a lot of conversation around “the next big thing” and AI, but “you have no idea how little is being done correctly. The basics do work. It’s just (that) a lot of companies aren’t doing the basics.”
Trust identified as cornerstone of journalism in AI era, WEF panel hears
- ‘Despite continued criticisms, people trust human more than robots to deliver the story,” says Mina Al-Oraibi, The National’s editor-in-chief
LONDON: Trust will remain the defining characteristic of journalism in the age of artificial intelligence, protecting the industry from being “taken over by robots,” panelists said on Tuesday.
Speaking at “Scrolling Media’s Future” on the second day of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mina Al-Oraibi, editor-in-chief of UAE daily The National, said trust had become a central pillar in the survival and evolution of journalism.
“We approach it (AI) in three different ways. One is organizing information, and that’s incredible, because there is all this information out there. We just don’t have enough time to process it, understand it,” she explained.
“Pillar number two is efficiency. Unfortunately, usually companies think efficiency means let people go, but actually it’s efficient to (consider) how do you free up more of their time, not doing the mundane tasks.”
However, she noted that the third aspect — verification — was where much of the concern lay.
The rise of AI as a disruptive force has significantly impacted journalism, particularly with the emergence of tools such as deepfakes and generative AI capable of mimicking human output. This has led to increased skepticism among audiences, even as traditional media faces ongoing criticism.
“With AI producing content that sounds like you but isn’t you, there’s a growing trust issue. Readers, despite their complaints about the media, still trust journalists more than machines. They trust a human to go out and gather the story,” Al-Oraibi said.
The Iraqi-British journalist, who has led the Abu Dhabi-based English-language newspaper since 2017, expressed optimism about journalism’s resilience, saying that such trajectory revealed a “kind of silver lining that there’s still a role for us, and it won’t be taken over by machines.”
Al-Oraibi illustrated her point with an example involving Justin Bieber, who sparked controversy at the start of the Israel-Hamas war by sharing an Instagram post with a photo of a demolished building in Gaza alongside the message “Praying for Israel.”
“It went viral because everybody thought because he’s a celebrity, he’s somebody they (can) trust,” she said. “(In episodes like this), we see the value of strong journalists. We see the value of news gathering and going out there and getting the story, and that’s what we want to have our journalists do.”
Speaking on the same panel, Daniel Roth, editor-in-chief and vice-president of content at LinkedIn, highlighted how the platform’s structure, which prioritizes content quality over popularity, has helped mitigate the impact of AI and misinformation.
“We have not done a lot of the attention economy work that other platforms have done that also keep it safe,” Roth explained, noting how, like in LinkedIn, “AI is going to stay away from doing anything highly opinionated.”
“If you have people who are experts and have very strong opinions and can sway an audience, I think that’s going to do well,” he said, adding that AI’s impact on breaking news — a core journalistic area — would remain limited.
James Harding, founder and editor of Tortoise Media, agreed with many points raised but warned the rapid development of AI tools capable of generating videos, images and stories will exacerbate the current information overload. This, he suggested, could have significant economic implications for media outlets.
“Human-generated information, verified information, reliable information, is going to become a smaller proportion of that (amount of info),” Harding explained. “At some point it’s going to be the case that advertising-based news media is going to find it harder and harder because it’s just managing to command a smaller amount of the public’s attention.”
Harding also discussed Tortoise Media’s recent acquisition of The Observer, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper. While some view the purchase of a print-focused publication as counterintuitive in a digital-first era, Harding framed it as a strategic move to enhance Tortoise’s digital reach.
“We appreciated the value of print and what it could do in terms of broadcasting, the value of the journalism as a platform for advertising and as a way, in fact, of recruiting digital subscribers. But it was, what Mina was saying was that you have something that has an identity and a meaning to people, that you can then build a relationship in digital,” he said.
Lebanese social entrepreneur among Schwab Foundation awardees at WEF
- Aline Sara, co-founder of NaTakallam (Arabic for “we speak”), has been enabling refugees and other conflict-affected people to earn an income online
DUBAI: The co-founder of an online platform that hires refugees and displaced persons as online tutors, teachers and translators was among 18 recipients of the 2025 Schwab Foundation Award announced on the first day of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.
Aline Sara, co-founder of NaTakallam (Arabic for “we speak”), has been enabling refugees and other conflict-affected people to earn an income online and connect them with people around the world through language.
In this context, the social enterprise “disrupts the conventional approach to humanitarian aid” and uses the gig economy to promote sustainable solutions to major crises, according to the Schwab Foundation’s official statement.
Although the idea was inspired by the Syrian refugee crisis, Sara, a Lebanese citizen, has expanded the platform to serve displaced people around the world, reaching as far as Venezuela, Burundi and Yemen.
Launched with an initial offer of online Arabic conversation classes, NaTakallam proposes services ranging from translation, interpretation and transcription to an Arabic curriculum in partnership with Cornell University in the US. Other languages include Persian and Spanish to address the pressing needs of Venezuelan refugees.
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, in partnership with the Motsepe Foundation, awarded 18 social entrepreuners from 15 organizations whose groundbreaking solutions address urgent issues and drive positive change around the world.
“This year’s awardees are addressing health disparities from the United States to Zambia, creating income opportunities for displaced individuals, combatting deforestation in Central and West Africa, and improving the lives of vulnerable communities in India and beyond,” the foundation said in a statement.
The entrepreneurs were rewarded based on their business, social development and environmental models that are helping to build a more equitable and sustainable world.
According to the WEF, social entrepreneurship and innovation are gaining momentum worldwide, with more than 10 million social enterprises creating 200 million jobs and generating $2 trillion annually.
Despite their significant economic contribution and commitment to sustainable and inclusive development, social enterprises face a $1.1 trillion funding need.
At the Annual Meeting 2025, the Schwab Foundation aims to spotlight social entrepreneurs and innovators who are already leading the way with successful and innovative business models and, ultimately, help advance these solutions at scale to reach more of the world’s people.
Francois Bonnici, director of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, said: “Our world is grappling with instability, polarization and disenfranchisement while facing extreme, unpredictable weather events and disasters. It is also undergoing a radical transformation with both the green and digital transitions.
“Although this comes with economic opportunity, it also risks exacerbating existing inequalities or creating new ones,” he said. “In the face of these significant challenges, the need for bold and innovative solutions has never been more pressing. The work of social entrepreneurs and innovators is not just important, it is essential.”
