2025-09-14
New from me: Anthropic is navigating tensions with the Trump administration as it tries to figure out its political strategy. It recently abandoned a plan to hire a Republican to lead its government relations efforts. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Sources: Anthropic scrapped plans to hire a Republican for its top policy role, instead choosing an Obama alumn as it adopts a cooler stance towards Trump
speaking out on potential downsides of AI, including risks to the safety of humanity.
2025-08-06
“Uber received a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the United States almost every eight minutes on average between 2017 and 2022, sealed court records show, a level far more pervasive than what the company has disclosed.” Great reporting: https://www.nytimes.com/...
New York Times
Court records: from 2017 to 2022, 400,181 US Uber trips had sexual assault and sexual misconduct reports; Uber only disclosed 12,522 reports during the period
Uber received a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the United States almost every eight minutes on average between 2017 and 2022 …
2025-07-07
Scoop w/ @JuroOsawa: TikTok is building a new version of its app and plans to eventually shut the existing version down. The effort comes as the Trump administration says it is getting close to an agreement for the sale of TikTok's U.S. operations. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Sources: TikTok plans to launch a new app version on September 5, ahead of the US' September 17 divest-or-ban enforcement deadline, that US users must switch to
TikTok is building a new version of its app for users in the U.S. ahead of a planned sale of the app to a group of investors.
2025-04-14
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson appeared on Fox this morning ahead of the Meta FTC trial, commenting that “it's important that we don't over regulate” but “2020 revealed Meta is different.”
New York Times
FTC v. Meta: in opening arguments, FTC lawyers accuse Meta of a “buy-or-bury strategy” to cement a social networking monopoly by buying Instagram and WhatsApp
The tech giant went to court on Monday in an antitrust trial focused on its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.
FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson appeared on Fox this morning ahead of the Meta FTC trial, commenting that “it's important that we don't over regulate” but “2020 revealed Meta is different.”
New York Times
Legal expert: Meta's FTC antitrust trial, where Mark Zuckerberg could take the stand as early as today, is set to be more grueling than Congressional hearings
Meta's chief has grown accustomed to tough questioning in courts and hearings, but an antitrust trial starting Monday could be more grueling, experts said.
2024-08-25
Scoop: Three of the five co-founders of French AI startup ‘H’ have left the company, after raising $220 M from investors including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. One of the departing founders told me they had “operational and business disagreements.” https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
The French AI startup called H, formerly Holistic, says three of its five co-founders are leaving over “operational differences”, after raising $220M in May
The Information :
2024-08-24
Scoop: Three of the five co-founders of French AI startup ‘H’ have left the company, after raising $220 M from investors including former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. One of the departing founders told me they had “operational and business disagreements.” https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
The French AI startup called H, formerly Holistic, says three of its five co-founders are leaving over “operational differences”, after raising $220M in May
Three of the five co-founders of buzzy French artificial intelligence startup H, formerly known as Holistic …
2024-02-15
Scoop with @KalleyHuang: Meta is is reducing payments to news organizations that fact-check potential misinformation on WhatsApp, including around elections. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Sources: Meta is reducing payments to news outlets that fact-check potential WhatsApp misinformation, including on elections, and has cut CrowdTangle funding
The Information :
2023-11-19
In *other* AI news: Meta has split up its Responsible AI team and will move most of its members over to Generative AI, as part of a broader AI reshuffle announced internally this week. Scoop w/ @KalleyHuang: https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Meta split up its Responsible AI team, moving most of its members to the generative AI team formed in February 2023, and the others to an AI infrastructure unit
Meta Platforms has split up a team responsible for understanding and preventing harms associated with the artificial intelligence …
2023-10-26
It was interesting to note in today's Meta earnings the subtle change in how they about Reels. Meta is now going to focus on “overall video” rather than just Reels. I reported last week that advertisers had also noticed Meta was talking about Reels less: https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
Meta Investor Relations
Meta reports Q3 revenue up 23% YoY to $34.15B, net income up 164% YoY to $11.58B, and family daily active people up 7% YoY to 3.14B for September 2023
that's what the Ray Ban glasses are for Ryan Deffenbaugh / Investor's Business Daily : Meta Earnings Crushed Targets. Why Is The Stock Falling Anyway? Yuvraj Malik / Reuters : Face...
2023-10-03
New: Instagram is reaching out to Black creators to better understand why many are not making the shift from Twitter to Threads. It's part of a nascent effort at IG to revive the text-based app: https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Source: Instagram seeks to revive interest in Threads by getting creators to post more, making Threads a place for real-time updates about big events, and more
Sylvia Varnham O'Regan / The Information :
2023-02-02
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says on an earnings call that the company plans to flatten its structure to remove layers of middle management, and to be more proactive on cutting projects that aren't performing.
Meta
Meta reports Q4 revenue down 4% YoY to $32.2B, net income down 55% YoY to $4.7B, and family daily active people up 5% YoY to 2.96B; stock jumps 24%+
Meta Platforms, Inc. (Nasdaq: META) today reported financial results for the quarter and full year ended December 31, 2022.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says on an earnings call that the company plans to flatten its structure to remove layers of middle management, and to be more proactive on cutting projects that aren't performing.
TechCrunch
Mark Zuckerberg says Meta's management theme for 2023 is the “Year of Efficiency” and emphasizes the company is aiming to “become a leader in generative AI”
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch :
2023-02-01
New: Meta's efforts to make money from Reels videos is proving complicated, with leaders debating everything from where to place ads to whether to follow TikTok and YouTube by sharing ad revenue with creators. Story w/@kyurieff https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Sources: seeking to boost Reels' quality, Meta executives are leaning toward relaxing the company's long-standing opposition to sharing ad revenue with creators
Sylvia Varnham O'Regan / The Information :
2023-01-10
1/Instagram head @mosseri announced today that IG will be removing the Shop tab on the app, confirming my reporting from last September: https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
TechCrunch
In February, Instagram plans to replace the Shop tab with a Reels button in the app's bottom navigation bar and return the Compose button to the center
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch :
2/The change is part of a broader shift away from shopping, which was once a priority for Meta: https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
TechCrunch
In February, Instagram plans to replace the Shop tab with a Reels button in the app's bottom navigation bar and return the Compose button to the center
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch :
2022-09-07
Scoop: Instagram will remove its existing Shop page as it tests a simpler version called “Tab Lite.” It's also testing removing the button that directs users to shops, with tentative plans to scrap the button altogether next March. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Internal memo: Meta plans to eliminate Instagram's Shopping page and test a simpler and less personalized version known as Tab Lite over the next few months
Instagram is planning to drastically scale back its shopping features, the company told Instagram staffers on Tuesday …
2022-07-12
New from me: A Meta exec told managers in a Workplace group to identify employees by 5pm today who “need support,” and to “move to exit people who are unable to get on track,” according to an internal post. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
In an internal post, Meta Vice President of Remote Presence and Engineering Maher Saba instructed managers to identify and “move to exit” poor performers
Meta Platforms' Vice President of Remote Presence and Engineering Maher Saba has instructed managers to identify and …
2022-06-25
I reported in January that Meta was pausing access to CrowdTangle. Many people I spoke with feared it would get cut completely. New reporting from @business shows that FB is planning to shut it down, “with some Facebook engineers tasked to killing it”: https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Bloomberg
Source: in February, Meta started an official internal process to shut down CrowdTangle, but paused the plan as the EU's Digital Services Act gained traction
and fund it for a year or two — to ensure that this vital tool is here for the next series of elections. https://twitter.com/... Davey Alba / @daveyalba : NEW from me: CrowdTangle ...
2022-06-10
Scoop: Meta has decided not to release its forthcoming “Nazare” AR glasses, and will instead focus on a second version of the glasses. This announcement was part of a wider shakeup at Reality Labs this week as it tries to cut costs. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
The Information
Source: Meta will not publicly release the first version of its AR glasses, scheduled for 2024, to focus on its second version, unlikely to arrive for years
Meta Platforms has scaled back its plans to release a series of augmented reality glasses over the next several years as part …