#Facebook

Meta

Meta starts rolling out generative AI tools for all advertisers

The tools will be available in Meta’s Ads Manager and their rollout will be completed next year

Instagram

Meta’s Instagram, Facebook to charge EU users for ad-free service: Report

The proposal is an attempt by Meta to comply with European Union regulations that threaten to curb its ability to personalise ads for users

Facebook News

Meta to remove Facebook News from UK, Germany, and France

Facebook News, a dedicated tab on Facebook’s platform spotlighting news content, is set to be phased out in early December

Messenger Lite

Messenger Lite for Android to shutdown in September

The app has been removed from Google Play Store for new users and will no longer be available for existing users after September 18

Meta

Meta unloads Giphy to Shutterstock at a loss of more than $260m

Facebook’s parent company Meta announced the sale of Giphy after its purchase of the GIF maker was blocked by competition regulators in the UK

Cold storage in Meta data center. Image Credit: META

Meta fined record $1.3bn in EU over US data transfers

The Meta fine coincides with the fifth anniversary of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, widely seen as the world’s benchmark for privacy

Meta

Meta prepares more layoffs across Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram

The move is part of a cost-cutting push that will eventually whittle away 10,000 positions at the company

Meta sells Giphy to Shutterstock.

Meta launches subscription service for Facebook, Instagram

Meta is testing the subscription product first in Australia and New Zealand, starting later this week

Fintech PayTabs acquires Turkey’s social commerce platform, Paymes

The acquisition aims to create a unified social commerce platform for micro merchants, fempreneurs and webpreneurs across the MENA region

Facebook asks users for more help improving its algorithms

Users will soon see “show more” and “show less” buttons on posts that appear in their feed

Meta

Meta makes bond-market debut with four-part offering

Meta may sell $8bn to $10bn of debt depending on demand, with proceeds used for general corporate purposes

Facebook TikTok

Facebook changes users’ feeds to look more like TikTok

The main feed on Facebook will now be called ‘Home,’ and will be a place for people to discover new content

Facebook Profiles

Facebook users will be able to have up to five profiles

Additional profiles are required to adhere to Facebook’s content policies and will tie back to user’s core account

Sheryl Sandberg

Sheryl Sandberg is stepping down as Meta’s COO after 14 years

Javier Olivan, who has led the company’s growth efforts for years, will take Sandberg’s place as COO when she formally steps down in fall

Instagram tool

Parental supervision tools for Instagram

The new update to Instagram, already available in the US and slated to roll out globally, allows teens to invite a parent to supervise their accounts

How trust in digital payments is priming social commerce for a major uplift

S-commerce has several other factors going in its favour

Meta

Meta announces new initiative to upskill UAE startups and SMBs

The Ministry of Economy’s Entrepreneurial Nation project intends to provide support to startups through a series of public-private partnerships

Gold heads for weekly gain as stocks drop before US jobs data

January’s employment report due Friday is expected to be weak

Getty Images

Why Facebook and Twitter opened the door to NFTs

For NFT owners, the opening to social media presents an opportunity to add value to their holdings

The art of newsjacking

How the temporary outage on Facebook’s platforms was leveraged as a marketing opportunity by Twitter

Facebook

Facebook changes company name to Meta, Zuckerberg announces

The announcement was made at Facebook’s Connect conference

Social media apps

Update: Here’s what caused Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram outage for six hours

Downdetector.com stated in a post that the Facebook outage has become the largest in its history with over 10.6 million reports from all over the world

WhatsApp can officially hide online status, announces rollout of Communities

Major outage: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp down globally

WhatsApp and Facebook took to Twitter, saying it is working to get things back to normal.

Facebook chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer to step down

Schroepfer will continue to advise the company in a new part-time ‘senior fellow’ role

Game-changers: Top 10 tech executives across MENA

As organisations across the MENA region march ahead with technology-centric transformations, we profile 10 senior executives from global technology firms with a substantial presence in the region, and who play an influential role in the regional tech industry

Five tips to re-energise your social media feed

With attention spans getting shorter and competition getting tougher, there is a constant need to keep social media content fresh and exciting

Facebook retools messaging again by adding calling to main app

Facebook also started testing a limited version of Messenger’s inbox in the core Facebook app last fall

Facebook says it will expand remote work to all employees

Facebook also is expanding the number of workers who are allowed to move to other countries

Facebook announces $600,000 support for Lebanon SMBs

The #LoveLocal Campaign to boost SMBs affected by coronavirus and Port explosion

Facebook risks Instagram, WhatsApp breakup in antitrust case

U.S. antitrust officials, states, seek to break up Facebook over monopoly fears