Meta
Facebook renamed itself Meta to reflect its focus on expanding the Metaverse, but its development of Facebook and Instagram, its biggest platforms, have become increasingly focused around AI. It has taken an open-source approach with its Llama large language model, while also continuing to try to unseat X with its still-new microblogging challenger Threads, and TechCrunch is covering all of its moves and updates across its many platforms.
Photographers say the social media giant is applying a ‘Made with AI’ label to photos they took, causing confusion for users.
The U.S. is facing an accountant shortage. Fewer first-time candidates took the CPA exam in 2022 than in 2006, according to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. One possible…
Meta AI removes block on election-related queries in India while Google still applies limits
Meta AI removes restrictions around answering election-related queries in India while Google is still restricting them.
Meta said today that it finally launched its much-awaited API for Threads so developers can build experiences around it.
Meta pauses plans to train AI using European users’ data, bowing to regulatory pressure
Meta has confirmed that it will pause plans to start training its AI systems using data from its users in the European Union and U.K. The move follows pushback from…
WhatsApp adds new features to the calling experience, including support for 32-person video calls
WhatsApp updated the video calling experience across devices on Thursday by introducing screen sharing with audio support and a new speaker spotlight feature. It’s also increasing the limit for video…
Meta is quietly rolling out a new “Communities” feature on Messenger, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. The feature is designed to help organizations, schools and other private groups communicate in…
Meta rolls out Meta Verified for WhatsApp Business users in Brazil, India, Indonesia and Colombia
Meta launched its Meta Verified program today along with other features, such as the ability to call large businesses and custom messages.
Last year, during the Q3 2023 earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg talked about leveraging AI to have business accounts respond to customers for purchase and support queries. Today, Meta announced AI-powered…
Instagram Threads is rolling out the ability for users to signal which sort of posts they wanted to see more or less of by swiping.
The change would see Instagram becoming more like the free version of YouTube, which requires users to view ads before and in the middle of watching videos.
Yes, we’re calling it “ThreadsDeck” now. At least that’s the tag many are using to describe the new user interface for Instagram’s X competitor, Threads, which resembles the column-based format…
Spain bans Meta from launching election features on Facebook, Instagram over privacy fears
Meta has been banned from launching features on Facebook and Instagram that would have collected data on voters in Spain using the social networks ahead of next month’s European Elections.…
Tech giants form an industry group to help develop next-gen AI chip components
Microsoft, Meta, Intel, AMD and others have formed a new group to design next-gen interconnects for AI accelerator hardware.
Instagram now lets teens limit interactions to their ‘Close Friends’ group to combat harassment
Instagram is expanding the scope of its “Limits” tool specifically for teenagers that would let them restrict unwanted interactions with people.
The families of victims of the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas are suing Activision and Meta, as well as gun manufacturer Daniel Defense. The families bringing the…
Welcome back to TechCrunch’s Week in Review — TechCrunch’s newsletter recapping the week’s biggest news. Want it in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. OpenAI announced this week that…
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Meta’s new AI council is composed entirely of white men
Meanwhile, women and people of color are disproportionately impacted by irresponsible AI.
Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses now let you share images directly to your Instagram Story
Meta is updating its Ray-Ban smart glasses with new hands-free functionality, the company announced on Wednesday. Most notably, users can now share an image from their smart glasses directly to…
Microsoft’s new ‘Volumetric Apps’ for Quest headsets extend Windows apps into the 3D space
Microsoft announced on Tuesday during its annual Build conference that it’s bringing “Windows Volumetric Apps” to Meta Quest headsets. The partnership will allow Microsoft to bring Windows 365 and local…
Data-labeling startup Scale AI raises $1B as valuation doubles to $13.8B
Scale AI has raised a $1 billion Series F round from a slew of big-name institutional and corporate investors including Amazon and Meta.
Meta, Match, Coinbase and others team up to fight online fraud and crypto scams
The new coalition, Tech Against Scams, will work together to find ways to fight back against the tools used by scammers and to better educate the public against financial scams.
Meta’s Oversight Board has now extended its scope to include the company’s newest platform, Instagram Threads, and has begun hearing cases from Threads.
Welcome back to TechCrunch’s Week in Review. This week had two major events from OpenAI and Google. OpenAI’s spring update event saw the reveal of its new model, GPT-4o, which…
Meta’s latest experiment borrows from BeReal’s and Snapchat’s core ideas
Meta is once again taking on its competitors by developing a feature that borrows concepts from others — in this case, BeReal and Snapchat. The company is developing a feature…
Mark Zuckerberg’s makeover: Midlife crisis or carefully crafted rebrand?
For Mark Zuckerberg’s 40th birthday, his wife got him a photoshoot. Zuckerberg gives the camera a sly smile as he sits amid a carefully crafted re-creation of his childhood bedroom.…
With the end of Workplace, it’s fair to wonder if Meta was ever serious about the enterprise
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, launched an enterprise version of the prominent social network in 2015. It always seemed like a stretch for a company built on a consumer…
Meta Threads is testing pinned columns on the web, similar to the old TweetDeck
X, formerly Twitter, turned TweetDeck into X Pro and pushed it behind a paywall. But there is a new column-based social media tool in town, and it’s from Instagram Threads.…
Meta’s newest social network, Threads, is starting its own fact-checking program after piggybacking on Instagram and Facebook’s network for a few months.
Meta is shutting down Workplace, its enterprise communications business
Facebook once had big ambitions to be a major player in enterprise communication and productivity, but today the social network’s parent company Meta will be closing a very significant chapter…
