AUSTIN: Facebook, one of the original social media networks, has become known as the platform of parents and grandparents, while young adults take up photo and video apps like Instagram and TikTok.
Meta, the company that owns Facebook, is setting out to change that.
While Facebook was originally centered on helping users stay in touch with family and friends, the future lies in helping people expand their networks and make new connections, which lines up with how younger generations use the service, said Tom Alison, head of Facebook at Meta.
“We see young adults turn to Facebook when they make a transition in life. When they move to a new city, they’re using Marketplace to furnish their apartments. When they become parents, they’re joining parenting groups,” Alison said during an interview in Austin, Texas, ahead of an event on Friday with content creators.
During the event, Facebook announced two new tabs called Local and Explore, currently being tested in select cities and markets and which aggregate content from across the platform. The Local tab shows users nearby events, community groups and local items for sale, and the Explore tab recommends content based on a user’s interests.
An increased focus on young adults will be key to bringing in new users as Facebook faces vast competition for their attention. Short-form video app TikTok has 150 million users in the US and is wildly popular among Gen Z, prompting Meta to introduce its copycat product called Reels in 2021.
Young adults on Facebook spend 60 percent of their time watching videos and more than half watch Reels daily. The company said it would also roll out an updated video tab in coming weeks that collects short-form, live and longer videos in one place.
Facebook’s dating feature, launched in 2019 and which lets users flip through suggested profiles, has seen a 24 percent year-over-year increase in conversations started among young adults in the US and Canada, the company said.
At the pop-up event in Austin, a small booklet summed up the platform’s positioning for the future: “Not your mom’s (Facebook),” the title read.
Facebook seeks to attract young adults with new community, video features
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Facebook seeks to attract young adults with new community, video features
- Facebook announced two new tabs called Local and Explore that would help people expand their networks and make new connections
British regulator upholds complaint against The Telegraph for labeling Muslim organization ‘extremist’
- Newspaper inaccurately called Muslim Association of Britain ‘extremist’ following a remark by then minister Michael Gove
- In response to complaints, The Telegraph issued a correction and attributed mistake to ‘human error’
LONDON: The Independent Press Standards Organisation has upheld a complaint filed by the Muslim Association of Britain against The Telegraph for inaccurately labeling the organization as “extremist.”
The decision, announced on Thursday, followed a seven-month investigation into an article published in March, which wrongly described MAB as extremists.
“IPSO has upheld our complaint against The Telegraph for falsely labelling us as an extremist organisation, after Michael Gove’s abused parliamentary privilege in promoting a discredited and politicised definition of extremism,” said MAB in a post on X.
The regulator concluded that the newspaper violated the Editors’ Code of Practice by “failing to take care not to publish inaccurate information” and “for failing to offer a correction to a significant inaccuracy with sufficient promptness.”
IPSO has upheld our complaint against @Telegraph for falsely labelling us as an extremist organisation, after Michael Gove’s abused parliamentary privilege in promoting a discredited and politicised definition of extremism.
— Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) (@MABOnline1) October 3, 2024
IPSO found The Telegraph breached Clause 1(i) for… pic.twitter.com/VW41uNrjnY
The article, written by right-wing commentator Nick Timothy, claimed MAB was “one of several organizations declared extremist by Michael Gove in Parliament.” However, Gove had actually stated that MAB raised concerns due to its “Islamist orientation” and that the government would assess whether it met the definition of extremism.
In response to the complaint, The Telegraph issued a correction on its Corrections and Clarifications page, attributing the error to “human error.”
“While the correction is welcome, we urge the media to reflect on their responsibility to report facts and avoid spreading harmful falsehoods,” said MAB.
The decision comes at a critical moment, with British media facing accusations of bias in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, further complicating discussions on Islamophobia and antisemitism and highlighting ongoing challenges for Muslim organizations in the press, particularly in the context of extremism.
Elon Musk’s X fails bid to escape Australian fine
- Elon Musk’s X loses legal bid to avoid a $417,000 fine levelled by Australia’s online watchdog
- In June, X fended off a separate legal suit brought by Australia’s eSafety Commission
SYDNEY: Elon Musk’s X on Friday lost a legal bid to avoid a $417,000 fine levelled by Australia’s online watchdog, which has accused the platform of failing to stamp out harmful posts.
Australia’s eSafety Commission approached what was then Twitter in February 2023, demanding the company explain how it was tackling the spread of child sexual abuse content.
The following month Twitter was merged into Musk’s newly formed X Corp, which was eventually fined for “incomplete” responses to the commission’s repeated requests.
X Corp. argued in Australia’s Federal Court that it did not need to respond because the commission had first targeted Twitter, a company that no longer existed.
“X Corp. has failed on all its claims,” Justice Michael Wheelahan found in a decision handed down on Friday.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant — a former Twitter employee — welcomed the court’s decision.
“Had X Corp’s argument been accepted by the court it could have set the concerning precedent that a foreign company’s merger with another foreign company might enable it to avoid regulatory obligations in Australia.”
Inman Grant has previously said X’s efforts to rid the platform of graphic sexual and violent content amounted to “empty talk.”
The commission must now fight a separate legal battle in a bid to enforce the fine — one of many skirmishes pitting the Australian government against tech mogul Musk.
Musk likened the Australian government to “fascists” earlier this year, attacking proposed laws that would fine social media giants for failing to stem the spread of misinformation.
In June, X fended off a separate legal suit brought by Australia’s eSafety Commission.
The watchdog had sought a global takedown order forcing X to remove “extremely violent” videos showing the stabbing of a Sydney preacher.
But it dropped the case after a preliminary hearing, a move celebrated by Musk as a free speech triumph.
Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” has clashed with politicians and digital rights groups worldwide, including in the European Union, which could decide within months to take action against X with possible fines.
In Brazil, where X has effectively been suspended after it ignored a series of court directives, Musk has responded by blasting the judge as an “evil dictator cosplaying as a judge.”
Google says it will stop linking to New Zealand news if proposed new law passed
- New Zealand government to progress legislation that ensures fair revenue sharing between operators of digital platforms and news media entities
WELLINGTON: Google said on Friday it will stop linking to New Zealand news articles and ditch the agreements it has with local news organizations, if the country’s government goes ahead with a law to force tech giants to pay a fair price for content that appears on their feeds.
The New Zealand government in July confirmed it would progress legislation started by the previous Labour Party-led government that ensures fair revenue sharing between operators of digital platforms and news media entities. The proposed legislation is still in review and is likely to see changes including some to bring it more in line with Australian legislation.
Caroline Rainsford, Google New Zealand Country Director said in a blog post that if the bill as it currently stands becomes law, Google would be forced to make significant changes to its products and investments.
“We’d be forced to stop linking to news content on Google Search, Google News or Discover surfaces in New Zealand and discontinue our current commercial agreements and ecosystem support with New Zealand news publishers,” Rainsford said.
Google, which is owned by Alphabet Inc., is concerned that bill is contrary to the idea of the Internet being open, that it will be harmful to small publishers and that the uncapped financial exposure provides business uncertainty.
New Zealand Minister for Media and Communications Paul Goldsmith said he was considering the range of views in the sector.
“We are still in the consultation phase and will make announcements in due course,” he said in a statement. “My officials and I have met with Google on a number of occasions to discuss their concerns, and will continue to do so.”
Although minority government coalition partner ACT does not support the legislation, it is likely to find enough cross party support to pass once finalized.
Australia introduced a law in 2021 that gave the government power to make Internet companies negotiate content supply deals with media outlets. A review released by the Australian government in 2022 found it largely worked.
Advertising network TBWA is committed to ‘building a future’ in Saudi Arabia, says global CEO
- Earlier this year, parent company Omnicom announced its MidEast RHQ will be based in Riyadh
DUBAI: Creative advertising network TBWA and its parent company Omnicom are looking forward to reinforcing their presence in Saudi Arabia, said Troy Ruhanen, global CEO of TBWA.
“We’re committing to really building a future there (Saudi Arabia),” which included working with more local clients and developing Saudi talent, he said during a recent visit to the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
From Jan. 1, 2025, Ruhanen will serve as the global CEO of the newly formed organization Omnicom Advertising Group, which brings together the group’s creative and advertising agencies and networks BBDO, DDB, TBWA, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Zimmerman, and others.
As he prepares for the new role, Ruhanen said that he is eager to explore the (Saudi) marketplace” from both perspectives: TBWA’s to finish the year and Omnicom Advertising Group’s to look at possibilities for next year.
This June, as a testament to its commitment to the Kingdom, Omnicom announced the establishment of a Middle East regional headquarters in Riyadh, bringing together 10 Omnicom agency brands including BBDO, DDB, TBWA, OMD, PHD, Hearts and Science, and FleishmanHillard.
Currently, TBWA has a mix of local and international talent in Saudi Arabia, partly owing to global clients, because “there are people who are more familiar with those global clients right now,” Ruhanen said.
However, he added that the network plans “to grow a very locally informed, local leadership kind of base.
“We know that’s our destiny, and it’s just a matter of making sure that we plan ourselves and transition ourselves to that right place.”
TBWA has several proprietary platforms and units such as Backslash, self-described as a cultural intelligence unit; NEXT, a global innovation practice based on analytics and strategy; and the Collective AI Platform to harness the power of artificial intelligence for employees and clients.
Launched in June, Collective AI is a suite of generative AI services powered by partnerships with the likes of Microsoft, Adobe and Google.
“AI is not meant to be an answer machine,” but rather “a catalyst for original thinking,” Ruhanen said.
The platform has been built by feeding in various strategies, case studies, and so on, to make it a more “informed practice,” he said.
In terms of the adoption of AI, Ruhanen said there were some “mature corporations” that understood the current boundaries of AI such as regulation and privacy, and there are others who “want to talk about how they’re doing all of these things all at once.”
TBWA’s priority was to protect its clients while also experimenting, within legal boundaries, to see what was possible, he said.
The conversation around AI tended to be dominated by the idea of efficiency and speeding up the creative process, which was the wrong way of looking at it, he said.
He added: “It’s about enabling a better, more accurate, and more informed way of working, (which) is giving us the best place to launch our creative minds and come up with the original solutions that no one has ever seen.
“It can’t be about an efficiency mindset; it has got to be about a growth mindset.”
Addressing concerns about AI’s threat to human talent, Ruhanen recounted a 1994 article by technology magazine WIRED with the headline “Is Advertising Dead?” Over the years, there have been several such articles questioning the role of advertising and agencies in an increasingly digital world.
However, in the past three decades, advertising agencies have “grown tremendously,” he said.
AI will not replace human talent or creative agencies, but will “change the nature of how we operate and the skills we’re going to require,” which means there will be a shift “from a service mindset to much more of a strategic mindset,” Ruhanen said.
“A lot of people have predicted what the future of this business is going to look like, and they’ve been sorely wrong for many years,” he said.
Israel releases Palestinian journalist after 6 months in detention
- Asmaa Harish was among dozens of reporters held under administrative detention by Israeli authorities
LONDON: Israeli authorities on Wednesday released Palestinian journalist Asmaa Harish, according to local media reports, after she had spent six months in administrative detention at Damon Prison.
Harish was detained in April without charge or trial under the practice of administrative detention, which Israeli authorities often use for “security reasons.”
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, a Ramallah-based human rights organization, said that Harish was among more than 80 Palestinian journalists who had been imprisoned and subjected to ill-treatment and rights violations since Oct. 7 last year.
The group added that dozens of Palestinian journalists remain in Israeli custody, including six women who continue to be arbitrarily detained.
Damon Prison, which is located near Haifa, has been criticized by humanitarian organizations for holding Palestinian detainees and undocumented migrant workers in “inhumane conditions.”
The facility was temporarily closed in 2000 following mounting concerns about the treatment of prisoners.
The prisoner support group Addameer in 2023 reported little evidence of “significant changes or improvements” in the prison’s conditions since the 1950s.
