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Meta 'optimistic and excited' about India, says Sandhya Devanathan

Amid the grim global economic scenario, social media platform Facebook's parent firm Meta sees resilience in India although it will not be immune to international events and the company is optimistic about the prospects in the country, company country Head and Vice-President, Sandhya Devanathan said on Tuesday. The company will continue to develop India specific products and innovations to tap the huge opportunity provided by digitisation here, she said while speaking at the Times Network India Digital Fest here. "The news is grim, isn't it? Like anytime you see there's a bank failing, be it SVB or Credit Suisse, interest rates are rising that causes more turmoil in the market, capital markets (are) drying up, VC funding drying up... So, I think the macroeconomic situation suddenly certainly looks grim," she said. She was responding to a query on the impact of global economic downturn and the drying up of funds and investments in the start-up ecosystem and the Indian tech sector. "

In a bid to cut costs, Meta looking to trim employee bonus payouts

After laying off 21,000 employees in two job cut rounds, Meta (formerly Facebook) is further looking to cut costs, and has reportedly plans lower bonus payouts for some workers

Meta pauses hirings after mass layoffs, no longer listing remote positions

After laying off 21,000 employees in two job cut rounds, Meta is further looking to cut costs, and has reportedly plans to lower bonus payouts for some workers in its 'Year of Efficiency'

Align with govt's vision to keep women, youth safe from harm: Irani to Meta

Companies like Meta should align with the central govt's vision to keep people, especially women and youth, safe online across cities and towns in India, Union Minister Smriti Irani said

WhatsApp's new feature to allow users share status updates to FB Stories

Meta-owned WhatsApp is reportedly developing a new feature, which will allow users to share their status updates to Facebook stories without leaving WhatsApp

Nothing innovative solution presented by NUE applicants, says RBI

Six New Umbrella Entity (NUE) hopefuls, including Facebook, Google and Amazon, have failed to present any innovative solution due to which efforts to build an alternative to the NPCI have not moved ahead, the RBI said on Thursday. A total of six consortiums which had the global tech majors teaming up with local entities including Axis Bank and ICICI Bank had applied in 2021 for the NUE licence. "Of the proposals that we have received, we did not quite see any innovative or infrastructural solution that had come up," Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar told reporters when asked about progress on the front. He said the RBI has had a look at the applications, and reminded that the central bank's objective was to get some innovations into the digital payments system which is already functioning well with efforts like Unified Payments Interface. "We wanted to bring in new ideas. We did not want something which is either incremental or a substitute of existing ideas or technologies," Sankar ..

Meta's artificial intelligence model can now make videos and illustrations

Meta's tool spins up surrealist videos from text prompts, another generates children's book illustrations from prose

Meta's Facebook to let you play games during video calls on Messenger

The tech giant said that there are 14 free-to-play games available in Messenger video calls on iOS, Android, and the web, with no installs required

65% from 85%: Bonus slashed for Meta Platforms staff, says report

Meta gave thousands of employees subpar ratings in its most recent round of performance reviews, WSJ reported

Meta Platforms Inc sued by its home county over social media addiction

Issues around social media addiction were highlighted at a Congressional hearing Thursday

German group sues Facebook owner Meta over death threats on social network

A prominent German environmental group said Wednesday that it's suing Facebook's parent company Meta over persistent death threats posted on the social network against its staff. Environmental Action Germany, known by its German acronym DUH, says Meta has been unwilling to stop the threats of violence regularly directed at DUH director Juergen Resch and others in a Facebook group with more than 50,000 members. DUH has conducted high-profile campaigns demanding that German cities enforce air quality rules by banning certain heavily polluting vehicles. Meta didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. German lawmaker Renate Kuenast won a case against Facebook last year forcing the company to remove fake quotes attributed to her from its site and pay damages. Facebook is appealing the ruling.

Meta rolling out its paid verification in US for Instagram, Facebook users

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the company is rolling out its paid subscription plan for Facebook and Instagram to users based in the US

Microsoft AI Bing's new feature lets users share chat responses on Facebook

Tech giant Microsoft has introduced a new feature which allows users to share AI-powered Bing chat responses with others on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, email or using a persistent link

Former US President Donald Trump returns to Facebook after 2-year ban

Former President Donald Trump has returned to Facebook after a more than two-year ban. "I'M BACK!" Trump posted on the site weeks after his personal account was reactivated. He also shared an old video clip in which he said: "Sorry to keep you waiting. Complicated business." Trump posted the same clip on YouTube, which announced Friday that it, too, was welcoming him back. Facebook parent Meta had said in January that it would be restoring Trump's personal account in the coming weeks, ending the suspension it imposed in the wake of the January 6 insurrection, when Trump's supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bid to halt the peaceful transition of power. His access was restored to Facebook and Instagram on February 9, the company confirmed. "The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying the good, the bad and the ugly so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box," Nick Clegg, Meta's vice president of global affairs, wrote at the ...

Meta starts next round of layoffs with 1,500 jobs in recruiting, HR: Report

During an internal meeting with employees, Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg told employees the economic climate of layoffs and restructuring could last many years

Engineers who joined in-person perform better than remote workers: Meta CEO

Analysis of performance data suggests that engineers who either joined Meta in-person and then transferred to remote or remained in-person performed better on average than people who joined remotely

Meta to cut 10,000 jobs, close about 5,000 open roles in efficiency push

The Facebook parent company has been marketing 2023 as a "year of efficiency" in an effort to improve its financial performance and achieve longer-term goals

Facebook-parent Meta to cut 10,000 jobs in second round of layoffs

With the latest move, Meta expects expenses in 2023 to come in between $86 billion and $92 billion, lower than the $89 billion to $95 billion forecast previously

Meta-owned WhatsApp widely rolling out voice status updates on iOS

Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp is widely rolling out the 'voice status updates' feature on iOS

Instagram's new feature to let users access recently shared Reels

Meta-owned Instagram is reportedly testing a new feature that will let users quickly access their recently shared Reels, making it easier for them to reshare them later to other friends