11,000 laid off today at Meta

Rumored for weeks and coinciding with Twitter's own downsizing, Meta is expected to lay off thousands of workers today. The company, which has lost nearly three quarters of its market capitalization in recent months, is among those hardest-hit by the tech downturn—a malaise seemingly compounded by its expensive pivot to VR.

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Facebook has ruined our reality, now it’s coming for the metaverse too, Imogen West-Knights

After 17 years, billions of dollars in profit and some minor controversies involving the erosion of world democracy, Facebook has changed its name.

 From now on, the parent company will be known as Meta, to reflect the company’s shift in focus to the next digital frontier: the metaverse (or virtual reality to non-nerds). Facebook knows that our associations with it are less than favourable these days. 

The Wikipedia page “Criticism of Facebook” has a forbiddingly long contents list, including entries on tax avoidance and copyright violation, right through to traumatising its employees and allowing the publication of content that denies various genocides.

 Founder Mark Zuckerberg and his company have been busy trying to revamp its image, particularly in the wake of the platform’s Cambridge Analytica scandal. This renaming probably demonstrates their awareness that the whole thing has become toxic – that making noises, as they have been lately, about factchecking posts and shutting down sources of disinformation isn’t going to cut it PR-wise. 

There is a long tradition of companies renaming themselves after a scandal.

Facebook seems to want a slice of that pie.

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Millions Ask Facebook to Ban Their Relatives

In a petition signed by a staggering number of the platform’s users, millions are asking Facebook to ban their relatives. 

 The signatories to the petition praised Facebook for its decision to ban the online rants of Donald J. Trump, but argued that the move “does not go far enough.” 

 “A major source of conspiracy theories, misinformation, and hate-mongering still exists on Facebook—namely, our relatives,” the petition read. Although the signatories said that they had already taken steps to block their relatives, they declared that it was “Facebook’s responsibility to keep them from irritating other users.”

 Responding to the petition, Facebook’s C.E.O., Mark Zuckerberg, said that, rather than banning the objectionable relatives, he would refer the decision to the company’s Oversight Board. 

 The board, however, tossed the decision back into Zuckerberg’s court, as the members asked him to ban their own horrible relatives. 

The Borowitz Report 

 

Facebook Accidentally Blocks Its Own Page in Australia Following News Ban

Facebook blocked dozens of charity groups, nonprofit organizations, and even random big box retailers in Australia late Wednesday , a move that appears to be collateral damage from Facebook’s ban on news in the country.

 Facebook even briefly blocked its own page in Australia, according to multiple reports and confirmation from a Facebook spokesperson.

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