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  • Meta takes aim at Twitter with new Threads app | CNN Business

    Meta takes aim at Twitter with new Threads app | CNN Business


    London
    CNN
     — 

    The rivalry between Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk has just kicked up a notch.

    Zuckerberg’s Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has teased a new app that is set to take on Twitter by offering a rival space for real-time conversations online.

    The app is called Threads and it is expected to go live Thursday, according to a listing in the App Store. The app appears to have many similarities to Twitter — the App Store description emphasizes conversations, as well as the potential to build a following and connect with like-minded people.

    “Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” it reads.

    “Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.”

    The move by Meta comes amid a fresh bout of turmoil at Twitter, which experienced an outage over the weekend, followed by an announcement that the site had imposed temporary limits on how many tweets its users are able to read while using the app.

    Musk, the platform’s billionaire owner, said these restrictions had been applied “to address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation.”

    Commenting on the launch of Threads Monday, Musk tweeted: “Thank goodness they’re so sanely run,” parroting reported comments by Meta executives that appeared to take a jab at Musk’s erratic behavior.

    Since taking Twitter private in October, Musk has turned the social media platform on its head, alienating advertisers and some of its highest-profile users.

    He is now looking for ways to return the platform to growth. Twitter announced Monday that users would soon need to pay for TweetDeck, a tool that allows people to organize and easily monitor the accounts they follow.

    Twitter is also attempting to encroach on Meta’s domain.

    In May, Twitter added encrypted messaging and said calls would follow, developments that could allow the platform to compete with Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, also owned by Meta.

    Musk and Zuckerberg’s rivalry could soon extend beyond business and into the ring. Last month, the two men discussed the possibility of a cage fight, with the Las Vegas arena that hosts the Ultimate Fighting Championship seemingly the favorite location for the match.

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  • Meta, Microsoft, hundreds more own trademarks to new Twitter name | CNN Business

    Meta, Microsoft, hundreds more own trademarks to new Twitter name | CNN Business



    Reuters
     — 

    Billionaire Elon Musk’s decision to rebrand Twitter as X could be complicated legally: companies including Meta and Microsoft already have intellectual property rights to the same letter.

    X is so widely used and cited in trademarks that it is a candidate for legal challenges – and the company formerly known as Twitter could face its own issues defending its X brand in the future.

    “There’s a 100% chance that Twitter is going to get sued over this by somebody,” said trademark attorney Josh Gerben, who said he counted nearly 900 active U.S. trademark registrations that already cover the letter X in a wide range of industries.

    Musk renamed social media network Twitter as X on Monday and unveiled a new logo for the social media platform, a stylized black-and-white version of the letter.

    Owners of trademarks – which protect things like brand names, logos and slogans that identify sources of goods – can claim infringement if other branding would cause consumer confusion. Remedies range from monetary damages to blocking use.

    Microsoft since 2003 has owned an X trademark related to communications about its Xbox video-game system. Meta Platforms – whose Threads platform is a new Twitter rival – owns a federal trademark registered in 2019 covering a blue-and-white letter “X” for fields including software and social media.

    Meta and Microsoft likely would not sue unless they feel threatened that Twitter’s X encroaches on brand equity they built in the letter, Gerben said.

    The three companies did not respond to requests for comment.

    Meta itself drew intellectual property challenges when it changed its name from Facebook. It faces trademark lawsuits filed last year by investment firm Metacapital and virtual-reality company MetaX, and settled another over its new infinity-symbol logo.

    And if Musk succeeds in changing the name, others still could claim ‘X’ for themselves.

    “Given the difficulty in protecting a single letter, especially one as popular commercially as ‘X’, Twitter’s protection is likely to be confined to very similar graphics to their X logo,” said Douglas Masters, a trademark attorney at law firm Loeb & Loeb.

    “The logo does not have much distinctive about it, so the protection will be very narrow.”

    Insider reported earlier that Meta had an X trademark, and lawyer Ed Timberlake tweeted that Microsoft had one as well.

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  • Despite TikTok ban threat, influencers are flocking to a new app from its parent company | CNN Business

    Despite TikTok ban threat, influencers are flocking to a new app from its parent company | CNN Business


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    In the days after TikTok’s CEO was grilled by Congress for the first time, many TikTok users began posting about an alternative platform called Lemon8, sometimes with eerily similar language.

    Multiple creators described the app as being like “if Pinterest and Instagram had a baby, with TikTok’s algorithm.” Some compared it to TikTok circa 2020 and encouraged other influencers to join the app before it grows. They also asked followers to share their Lemon8 usernames in the comments.

    As it turned out, the app wasn’t just a random alternative to TikTok. Lemon8 is a social media platform launched in the United States earlier this year by TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance amid federal and state efforts to ban or restrict TikTok in the country over national security concerns.

    The similarities in the videos comparing the new service to Instagram and Pinterest, which were posted by both English and Spanish-speaking creators, raised questions about whether people were being paid to promote the new app on TikTok. But despite that speculation — and the mounting scrutiny on TikTok and ByteDance — a growing number of US users and influencers are now eagerly touting Lemon8, with its focus on photos and highly curated, informational or “aspirational” content.

    “We have to talk about TikTok’s new sister app,” a creator said in one such video.

    “I’ve seen a lot of bigger content creators that I love on it and promoting it on their Instagram stories, so I thought, ‘okay, it’s my time to hop on this bandwagon,’” said Melanie Cruz, who got her start creating content as a YouTube vlogger in high school around 2018. “I like that it’s something simple, it’s nothing too in your face … it’s not overwhelming.”

    Lemon8 has been downloaded just over one million times in the United States since it became available on US app stores in February, and had around half a million daily active US users last month, according to intelligence platform Apptopia.

    The early traction for Lemon8 hints at the whack-a-mole challenge lawmakers could face in reining in TikTok and other social media platforms. It also carries some hints of TikTok’s own rise, which was reportedly fueled in part by ByteDance spending heavily to advertise the service on rival platforms Facebook and Snapchat. This time, however, the best place to promote the next TikTok may be on TikTok itself.

    The New York Times reported last month that ByteDance had begun early marketing efforts for Lemon8 that included working with influencers. Now, some creators featured on Lemon8’s “for you” feed appear to be disclosing their work with the company using the hashtag #Lemon8Partner in their captions.

    A ByteDance company source said that Lemon8 is still in its early days and testing how to work with creators. They said ByteDance has not launched any formal marketing efforts for Lemon8, but in some cases has made deals to pay creators to post on the platform. However, they denied rumors that ByteDance had paid creators to promote the new app on TikTok.

    ByteDance has also recently listed open jobs for Lemon8 creator partnerships roles, according to postings viewed by CNN. “Lemon8 is a social media platform committed to building a diverse and inclusive community where people can discover new content and creators every day,” the job postings read.

    Lemon8’s photo-heavy focus marks a stark shift away from most of the major social apps that, following TikTok’s lead, have gone all-in on endlessly scrollable short-form videos in recent years.

    Lemon8’s homepage is a “for you” feed where users can scroll through content, similar to TikTok, but instead of videos, the feed is two columns of still images. When you click through to a post, it might be a single photo or a carousel of images. It’s also possible to post videos on the app, but they’re less popular.

    The app is heavily centered on beauty and lifestyle content — the “for you” page can be sorted into six categories including fashion, home and travel. Many of the posts feature lengthy captions, and users can also edit images to include text overlays. On top of similarities to Instagram and Pinterest, Lemon8 looks nearly identical to the Chinese app Xiaohongshu.

    Still, the app lacks some standard social platform features such as messaging and the option to tag other users in posts.

    A recent scroll through Lemon8’s “for you” page showed before-and-after photos of a botox treatment, a “no restrictions” day-long eating plan, book recommendations, black tie wedding attire tips and “10 recent girly Amazon buys I do NOT regret.”

    “It seems like people love it or hate it,” Madison Bravenec, a health coach and content creator, said of the app’s focus on aesthetics. But she added that the app’s targeted focus on certain types of content has made it easier to find a community that’s interested in the wellness content she likes to create, whereas the most popular posts on TikTok often have to appeal to a wider audience.

    Some creators say Lemon8 is filling a hole in the social media ecosystem that was left when Instagram moved to prioritize short-form video content in order to better compete with TikTok, frustrating many creators who joined the app for its original focus on photos.

    “We’re not videographers, we’re not the types of people who would like to change the ways we create content and communicate with others just because a platform is prioritizing one deliverable over the other,” said Can Ahtam, a professional photographer who joined Instagram more than a decade ago. “So all of us did feel the impact of reach being lower with the photos we were sharing [on Instagram].”

    Ahtam added: “If we were to compare them side-by-side right now, Lemon8 would have the upper hand in photos being shared.”

    Lemon8’s userbase remains a far cry from the 150 million users TikTok says it has in the United States.

    Still, in videos reviewing Lemon8, some creators have pondered whether the app could ultimately function as a replacement if TikTok were to get banned in the United States, preserving the content recommendation algorithm that helped make TikTok one of the country’s most popular apps and launched the careers of countless influencers.

    But if TikTok were to go down, Lemon8 would likely go with it, according to James Lewis, director of the strategic technologies program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

    “The concern is still the same, which is that ByteDance is a Chinese company subject to Chinese law,” Lewis said. “If it collects [users’ personal] information, then you’ve got the same problem.”

    TikTok, for its part, has said that its app does not pose a risk to US users, and that the Chinese government has never asked for US user data.

    The practical ramifications for creators of a TikTok (and, perhaps by extension, Lemon8) ban — if one were enacted — would still likely be months away, if not more. Lewis said he doesn’t expect any nationwide legislation to be passed before the end of this year, and it would almost certainly face legal challenges that could drag out its implementation if it did.

    By launching a new app even with TikTok in the spotlight, “ByteDance clearly doesn’t feel like they’re at risk,” Lewis said. And many creators say they’re not necessarily worried either.

    Even if TikTok and Lemon8 were banned, Cruz said, “I already have a following on all the other platforms.”

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  • Meta threatens to pull news content in California if bill to pay publishers passes | CNN Business

    Meta threatens to pull news content in California if bill to pay publishers passes | CNN Business



    CNN
     — 

    Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, threatened to remove news from its social media sites in California if the state passes a bill requiring big tech companies to pay news outlets for their content.

    In a statement posted on Twitter, Andy Stone, Meta’s communications director, called California’s Journalism Preservation Act “a slush fund that primarily benefits big, out-of-state media companies under the guise of aiding California publishers.”

    “The bill fails to recognize that publishers and broadcasters put their content on our platform themselves and that substantial consolidation in California’s local news industry came over 15 years ago, well before Facebook was widely used,” Stone said.

    The bill, sponsored by Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, requires digital companies such as Google and Facebook to pay local news publishers a “journalism usage fee” whenever their news content is used or posted on those platforms. The bill also requires news publishers to invest 70% of usage fee profits into journalism jobs.

    “This threat from Meta is a scare tactic that they’ve tried to deploy, unsuccessfully, in every country that’s attempted this,” Wicks said in a statement. “It’s egregious that one of the wealthiest companies in the world would rather silence journalists than face regulation.”

    According to a spokesperson for Wicks, the bill is due for a vote in the California State Assembly on Thursday.

    The bill has garnered praise from some of the largest journalism unions in California, including Media Guild of the West and Pacific Media Workers Guild. In a joint letter, the two unions called Meta and Google “powerful landlords overseeing an ever-expanding slum of low-quality information, happy to collect advertising rents from struggling tenants while avoiding paying for upkeep.”

    However, the bill also has its detractors. Free Press Action, a non-profit media advocacy organization, has criticized the bill as doing “nothing to support trustworthy local reporting and would instead pad the profits of massive conglomerates.”

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  • Meta releases clues on how AI is used on Facebook and Instagram | CNN Business

    Meta releases clues on how AI is used on Facebook and Instagram | CNN Business


    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    As demand for greater transparency in artificial intelligence mounts, Meta released tools and information Thursday aimed at helping users understand how AI influences what they see on its apps.

    The social media giant introduced nearly two dozen explainers focused on various features of its platforms, such as Instagram Stories and Facebook’s news feed. These describe how Meta selects what content to recommend to users.

    The description and disclosures came in the face of looming legislation around the world that may soon impose concrete disclosure requirements on companies that use AI technology.

    Meta’s so-called “system cards” cover how the company determines which accounts to present to users as recommended follows on Facebook and Instagram, how the company’s search tools function and how notifications work.

    For example, the system card devoted to Instagram’s search function describes how the app gathers all relevant search results in response to a user’s query, scores each result based on the user’s past interactions with the app and then applies “additional filters” and “integrity processes” to narrow the list before finally presenting it to the user.

    Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, tied the company’s new disclosures to a global debate about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence that range from the spread of misinformation to a rise in AI-enabled fraud and scams.

    “With rapid advances taking place with powerful technologies like generative AI, it’s understandable that people are both excited by the possibilities and concerned about the risks,” Clegg wrote in a blog post Thursday. “We believe that the best way to respond to those concerns is with openness.”

    A longer blog post describing how Facebook content ranking works, meanwhile, identifies detailed factors that go into determining what information the platform presents first.

    Those factors include whether a post has been flagged by a third-party fact checker, how engaging the account that posted the material may be, and whether you may have interacted with the account in the past.

    Meta’s new explainers coincide with the release of new tools for users to tailor the company’s algorithms, including the ability to tell Instagram to supply more of a certain type of content. Previously, Meta had only offered the ability for users to tell Instagram to show less, not more, Clegg wrote.

    On both Facebook and Instagram, he added, users will now be able to customize their feeds further by accessing a menu from individual posts.

    Finally, he said, Meta will be making it easier for researchers to study its platforms by providing a content library and an application programming interface (API) featuring a variety of content from Facebook and Instagram.

    Meta’s announcement comes as European lawmakers have swiftly advanced legislation that would create new requirements for explanation and transparency for companies that use artificial intelligence, and as US lawmakers have said they hope to begin working on similar legislation later this year.

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  • Meta’s Threads gets a highly requested ‘following feed’ | CNN Business

    Meta’s Threads gets a highly requested ‘following feed’ | CNN Business


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Meta on Tuesday launched a highly anticipated “following feed” option in its Threads app as part of its latest batch of updates that could help the new social platform further chip away at Twitter’s position in the market.

    The option to see a reverse chronological feed of posts from only accounts a user follows had been one of the most requested features since Threads launched earlier this month. On Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg replied to a post requesting the feature, saying, “Ask and you shall receive.”

    The following feed, one of the central features of the Twitter experience, can be accessed on Threads by double tapping on the app’s home button.

    Meta has been steadily rolling out updates to Threads as it tries to keep users engaged in the new app. Threads had a hugely successful launch, topping 100 million sign-ups in its first week, but engagement has declined somewhat since then.

    Meta rolled out Threads as a barebones app — missing popular features such as direct messages and a robust search function — to take advantage of a weak moment at rival Twitter. Now, Meta executives have acknowledged that they must continue building out the app to keep the momentum going.

    “I’m very optimistic about how the Threads community is coming together,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on the platform last week. “Early growth was off the charts, but more importantly 10s of millions of people now come back daily … The focus for the rest of the year is improving the basics and retention.”

    Tuesday’s round of updates also includes automatic translation of posts into a users’ default language, the ability for users to see posts they’ve liked in their settings, the option for private users to batch “approve all” follow requests and buttons to filter the activity feed by various types of interactions, according to the company.

    The changes followed another batch of updates last week, which included a translation button and the option to subscribe and receive notifications from accounts a user doesn’t follow.

    Meta’s ongoing work on Threads comes as the chaos at Twitter continues. Earlier this week, owner Elon Musk began doing away with the platform’s iconic bird branding and replacing it with “X” in hopes of building an “everything” app similar to China’s WeChat.

    As Musk rebrands the app, he could face a different threat from Meta: Facebook’s parent company is one of many businesses that already have intellectual property rights to the letter “X.”

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  • Meta’s latest round of layoffs is underway | CNN Business

    Meta’s latest round of layoffs is underway | CNN Business


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Facebook parent Meta on Wednesday began its latest round of layoffs focusing on technical workers, who are often thought of as more immune to job cuts in Silicon Valley.

    Meta spokesperson Nkechi Nneji confirmed to CNN that some previously announced layoffs were taking place Wednesday, and pointed to CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s March announcement that the company would cut another 10,000 employees in the coming months.

    Zuckerberg’s notice said that restructurings and layoffs in Meta’s tech groups would take place in April. Among those affected by Wednesday’s layoffs were members of the company’s sustainability, well-being, user experience, news feed and messaging teams, according to public LinkedIn posts.

    Meta reportedly told North American employees to work from home on Wednesday in anticipation of the layoffs. (CNN has not independently confirmed that.)

    Members of Meta’s recruiting team were notified of additional layoffs last month, and cuts to the company’s business groups are expected to take place in late May.

    The 10,000 job reductions mark the second recent round of significant job cuts at Meta. The company said in November that it was eliminating approximately 13% of its workforce, or 11,000 jobs, in the single largest round of cuts in its history.

    In September, Meta reported a headcount of 87,314, per a securities filing. With 11,000 job cuts announced in November and the 10,000 announced last month, Meta’s headcount will fall to around 66,000 — a total reduction of about 25%.

    Meta has said the layoffs are part of its “year of efficiency,” as the company attempts to engineer a turnaround following repeated revenue declines, heightened competition, concerns about user growth and big losses in its Reality Labs division amid its pivot to building the so-called metaverse. Zuckerberg has also taken responsibility for over-hiring earlier in the pandemic, when there was strong demand for the company’s products and online advertising, which dropped off somewhat once the world reopened.

    Zuckerberg said last month that, in some cases, it may take through the end of this year to complete its staff restructuring processes.

    “As I’ve talked about efficiency this year, I’ve said that part of our work will involve removing jobs — and that will be in service of both building a leaner, more technical company and improving our business performance to enable our long term vision,” Zuckerberg said in his March statement.

    Meta is set to report earnings for the first three months of 2023 next week, during which Wall Street analysts expect it to post its fourth straight quarterly decline in revenue and a more than 30% decline in profits. Still, Meta’s shareholders appear to have been reassured by Zuckerberg’s plans for efficiency — the company’s shares were up more than 70% year-to-date as of midday Wednesday.

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  • What is Threads? Here’s what you need to know about the potential ‘Twitter Killer’ | CNN Business

    What is Threads? Here’s what you need to know about the potential ‘Twitter Killer’ | CNN Business


    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Facebook-parent Meta on Wednesday officially launched its Twitter competitor, Threads, after first confirming its plans for the app just three months ago.

    Threads is already off to a strong start: the app received 30 million sign-ups as of Thursday morning, according to the company, including a large number of brands, celebrities, journalists and many other prominent accounts.

    The mood on Threads Wednesday night felt a bit like the first day of school, with early adopters rushing to try out the app and write their first posts — and some questioning whether the app could end up being the “Twitter killer.” As of Thursday morning, Threads was the top free app on Apple’s App Store and a top trending topic on Twitter.

    Threads could pose a serious threat to Twitter, which has faced backlash since Elon Musk took over the platform in October 2022 and has run it with a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach. But Twitter has become particularly vulnerable in recent days, angering users over a temporary limit on how much content users can view each day. And for Meta, Threads could further expand its empire of popular apps and provide a new platform on which to sell ads.

    Here is everything we know so far about Meta’s Threads:

    Threads is a new app from the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The platform looks a lot like Twitter, with a feed of largely text-based posts — although users can also post photos and videos — where people can have real-time conversations.

    Meta said messages posted to Threads will have a 500-character limit. Similar to Twitter, users can reply to, repost and quote others’ Threads posts. But the app also blends Instagram’s existing aesthetic and navigation system, and offers the ability to share posts from Threads directly to Instagram Stories.

    Thread accounts can also be listed as public or private. Verified Instagram accounts are automatically verified on Threads.

    “The vision for Threads is to create an option and friendly public space for conversation,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Threads post following the launch. “We hope to take what Instagram does best and create a new experience around text, ideas, and discussing what’s on your mind.”

    Some users did experience occasional glitches and issues getting content to load in the early hours after Threads launched, but that is to be expected when millions of users are joining and using an app at once.

    Users sign up through their Instagram accounts and keep the same username, password and account name, although they can edit their bio to be unique to Threads. Users can also import the list of accounts they follow directly from Instagram, making it super easy to get up and running on the app.

    But it’s not quite so easy to leave Threads. While users can temporarily deactivate their profiles via the settings section on the app, the company says in its privacy policy that “your Threads profile can only be deleted by deleting your Instagram account.” Some users have also raised concerns about the amount of data that the Threads, like Instagram, can collect about users, including location, contacts, search history, browsing history, contact info and more, according to the Apple App Store.

    Threads is available in 100 countries and more than 30 languages via Apple’s iOS and Android, according to the company.

    Threads is just the latest platform launched in recent months in hopes of unseating Twitter as the go-to app for real-time, public conversations. But it may have the greatest chance at success.

    Many Twitter users have expressed desire for an alternative since Musk took over the platform late last year. Frequent technical issues and policy changes have sent some noteworthy Twitter users heading for the exits.

    Meta has at least one significant leg up on Twitter: the size of its existing user base. Meta is hoping to capture at least some of its more than 2 billion global active Instagram users with the new app. That’s compared to Twitter’s active user base, which is somewhere around 250 million.

    “It’ll take some time, but I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it,” Zuckerberg said in a Threads post. “Twitter has had the opportunity do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will.”

    In a tweet on Thursday, Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino appeared to acknowledge the rival app’s launch, calling Twitter “irreplaceable.”

    “We’re often imitated – but the Twitter community can never be duplicated,” she said.

    Meta’s existing scale and infrastructure could play to its advantage. Whereas many of the other Twitter competitors rolled out in recent months have required users to join waitlists or receive invitations to sign up, only to have to work to recreate their network on the new site, Threads makes it remarkably easy for users to get started.

    But Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri noted in a video posted to the platform that the challenge for new social media platforms often is not getting users to sign up, but rather keeping them engaged long-term.

    In particular, Meta will have to work to prevent spam, harassment, conspiracy theories and false claims on Threads, issues that have caused many users to sour on Twitter. The new platform’s launch comes after Meta laid off more than 20,000 workers starting last November, including user experience, well-being, policy and risk analytics employees. It also comes as campaign season for the 2024 US Presidential election ramps up, with some experts warning of an incoming wave of misinformation. Meta says its Community Guidelines will apply to Threads, just like its other apps.

    For Meta, Threads could be a way of eking additional engagement time out of its massive existing user base.

    Although there are no ads on the platform just yet, Threads could also ultimately supplement Meta’s core advertising business. Meta’s ad business could use a boost after facing challenges from a broad decline in the online ad market and changes to Apple’s app privacy practices, although, if Twitter’s history is any guide, the format is unlikely to attract as many ad dollars as Meta’s other platforms.

    For Zuckerberg, though, the real draw may be in attempting to best his rival, Musk, with whom he has in recent weeks been making plans to engage in a cage fight. Perhaps winning in the battle of social networks is even better.

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  • Meta begins blocking news access on its platforms in Canada | CNN Business

    Meta begins blocking news access on its platforms in Canada | CNN Business


    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    Meta has begun to remove news content from Facebook and Instagram in Canada, the social media giant said Tuesday, in response to recently passed legislation in the country that requires tech companies to negotiate payments to news organizations for hosting their content.

    As a result of the move — which Meta had previously said would occur before the law takes effect — Meta’s Canadian users will no longer be able to click on links to news articles posted to Facebook and Instagram.

    The changes began Tuesday and will roll out gradually over the coming weeks, said Meta spokesperson Andy Stone.

    The decision comes amid a global debate over the relationship between news organizations and social media companies about the value of news content, and who gets to benefit from it.

    Google has also announced that it plans to remove news content from its platforms in Canada when the law takes effect, which could happen by December.

    The Canadian legislation, known as Bill C-18, was given final approval in June. It aims to support the sustainability of news organizations by regulating “digital news intermediaries with a view to enhancing fairness in the Canadian digital news marketplace.”

    It comes after the passage of a 2021 Australian law that the tech platforms initially opposed by warning it would similarly force them to remove news content. Since then, the platforms have reached voluntary agreements with a range of news outlets in that country.

    Like-minded proposals have been introduced around the world amid allegations that the tech industry has decimated local journalism by sucking away billions in online advertising revenues.

    In May, Meta also threatened to remove news content from California if the state moved ahead with a revenue-sharing bill. The legislation was put on hold last month.

    And at the federal level, the US Senate in June advanced a bill that would grant news organizations the ability to jointly negotiate for a greater share of advertising revenues against online platforms, thanks to a proposed antitrust exemption for publishers and broadcasters.

    In a blog post Tuesday, Meta said the Canadian legislation “misrepresents the value news outlets receive when choosing to use our platforms.”

    “The legislation is based on the incorrect premise that Meta benefits unfairly from news content shared on our platforms, when the reverse is true,” the blog post said. “News outlets voluntarily share content on Facebook and Instagram to expand their audiences and help their bottom line.”

    Canadian users of Meta’s platforms will still be able to access news content online by visiting news outlets’ websites directly or by signing up for their subscriptions and apps.

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  • Alvarado Street Bakery Sees Ads Rejected by Facebook, Responds With Lighthearted Protest Campaign

    Alvarado Street Bakery Sees Ads Rejected by Facebook, Responds With Lighthearted Protest Campaign

    Press Release
    –


    updated: Sep 20, 2018


    PETALUMA, Calif., September 20, 2018 (Newswire.com)
    –
    Alvarado Street Bakery, a cooperatively owned organic bakery that produces sprouted-grain breads for customers across the country, is launching a new campaign poking fun at Facebook for rejecting Facebook ads and posts promoting its new Sprouted Wheat Hemp & Hops Bread.

    Seeing its ads and boosted posts were rejected by Facebook on the grounds that “Facebook doesn’t allow the promotion of illegal drugs,” Alvarado Street Bakery appealed to Facebook by clarifying that its products are made with organic hemp and hops, not illegal, hallucinogenic cannabis. While a few ads were eventually approved, some ads were still rejected — so Alvarado Street set out to poke the bear.

    With so many Russian trolls still lurking out there, it was surprising to see Facebook continually spending their energy rejecting our humble little organic bread. They made life a lot harder for our team to promote our new dizzyingly delicious new product, so we decided to have a little fun with our predicament.

    Michael Girkout, President, Marketing Director

    “With so many Russian trolls still lurking out there, it was surprising to see Facebook continually spending their energy rejecting our humble little organic bread,” says Michael Girkout, president of Alvarado Street. “They made life a lot harder for our team to promote our new dizzyingly delicious new product, so we decided to have a little fun with our predicament.”

    The digital campaign will feature pseudo-political campaign tactics to both poke fun at Facebook in a lighthearted way while building awareness for the Hemp & Hops product. To let people know the company is intent on doing good and not just stirring up trouble, $1 of every Hemp & Hops sale from Sept.15 to Oct. 15 will be donated to Feeding America, the nonprofit national network of food banks.

    Customers can find Alvarado Street Bakery’s Sprouted Hemp & Hops Bread at their local grocery store and learn more about the campaign at AlvaradoStreetBakery.com/bread/hh.

    ABOUT ALVARADO STREET BAKERY

    For nearly 40 years, Alvarado Street has been making bread the right way — sourcing organic grains direct from family farms and sprouting them to life for healthier, more delicious breads. Solar-powered and worker-owned, Alvarado Street Bakery products can be found across the nation, as well as in select global markets. Learn more at www.alvaradostreetbakery.com.

    Contact: 

    Jim Canterbury 
    707-291-3352
    ​jim@alvaradostreetbakery.com

    Source: Alvarado Street Bakery

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  • Gemr Celebrates Batman Day With Launch of User-Created Clubs, Ultimate Collector Giveaway, More

    Gemr Celebrates Batman Day With Launch of User-Created Clubs, Ultimate Collector Giveaway, More

    Updates Include Chrome Browser Extension, “Nerdlebrity” Influencers, CollectorCast Podcast, and YouTube Channel Launch

    Press Release
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    updated: Sep 22, 2017


    NASHUA, N.H., September 22, 2017 (Newswire.com)
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     Collector culture is growing at an exponential rate, and online collector hub Gemr (pronounced with a soft “g” because they’re a real gem) is quickly emerging as the preferred community for people to collect, connect, discover, expand, and immerse themselves in the things they love. Since their relaunch in March of 2017, Gemr’s user base has expanded to over 100,000 collectors with a diverse range of interests, due in large part to an aggressive marketing campaign combined with a bi-monthly site and app updates based primarily off of user feedback. Most recently, Gemr has begun an expansion into officially branded club experiences with the launch of the Loot Anime Club, a partnership between the collecting hub and subscription box service Loot Crate.

    In anticipation of the upcoming Batman Day on Sept 23, (with the help of Gemr’s Chief Marketing Officer Chris Gore’s alter-ego @BatChrisGore) Gemr is hosting a giveaway that even Bruce Wayne would love to get his hands on: A Blu-ray Batman ’66 TV series boxed set signed by the original Batman and Robin, Adam West and Burt Ward. All Bat-fans of Batman are eligible to win, provided they click the contest link (below), join Gemr, and join the Batman Club. The lucky winner of what’s guaranteed to be the crown jewel of any Batman collection will be announced Monday evening on Gemr, via email, and via Gemr’s social media accounts.

    The goal really is to create the ultimate community platform for collectors, brands and influencers. Traditional social channels are full of noise, lacking in collector specific features and are taking an ‘all things to all people’ approach, which ends up diluting the experience. We’re built from the ground up to solve problems for collectors, influencers and the brands that they know and love. Gemr Clubs provide a platform for very focused communities around a collecting interest and are packed with features.

    Tom Bennett, CEO

    Gemr is thrilled to pair the giveaway with the official launch of a new user-created club feature, with the most active being the aforementioned Batman Club. Thanks in part to our favorite caped crusader, platform engagement is growing yet again, as users have the ability to create specific clubs based on their personal collecting niche and curate their own communities within Gemr. CEO Tom Bennett chose to prioritize user-created clubs to fill a void left by the generalized approach to collecting from competitor’s sites, as well as the frustration many brands and artists have found in trying to overcome the Facebook algorithm that often necessitates spending a significant amount of money in order to communicate effectively with fans via “boosted” posts. Gemr’s user-created and officially branded clubs are a completely free and uncomplicated way for brands, artists, and creators to stay connected with (and sell to) their followers in a meaningful way — a move that has been very well-received by the Gemr community.

    “The goal really is to create the ultimate community platform for collectors, brands and influencers,” said Bennett. “Traditional social channels are full of noise, lacking in collector specific features and are taking an ‘all things to all people’ approach, which ends up diluting the experience. We’re built from the ground up to solve problems for collectors, influencers and the brands that they know and love. Gemr Clubs provide a platform for very focused communities around a collecting interest and are packed with features. Collectors, influencers and brands are telling us they need and want. With clubs, you create the experience, you control the experience, and you’re not paying for access to the audience you work so hard to build.”

    In addition to the user-created club experience, Gemr has debuted several new features and updates in the past month that have vastly improved and supported the platform experience. They include:

    • “Gemr: Collect It!” extension available in the Chrome web store that allows users to save webpage images to their Gemr collections in a simple Pinterest-reminiscent click.
    • “Nerdlebrity” influencers, including custom lightsaber artist Rob Petkau, doll collector Bu Pias, and Star Wars enthusiasts and YouTube celebrities The Cancrizans, who display their collections and interface with fans and fellow collectors on the site and via YouTube.
    • Gemr CollectorCast podcast on SoundCloud, with host Jeff Tucker tackling a different collector culture each week along with expert guests.

    In addition to these new initiatives, Gemr has also recently launched an official YouTube channel featuring original content for collectors, including weekly shows and special documentary-style spotlights on items and collections of note. Additionally, Gemr is also producing a wealth of independent coverage for collector-focused events such as the recent San Diego Comic-Con International, for which they have over 40 videos on the channel.

    Gemr is a social community and online marketplace (think Facebook meets eBay) for people who love collecting. Launched in 2015, Gemr provides collectors with all the tools they need to easily pursue their collecting passions online. From antiques to vintage and pop-culture collectibles, Gemr is the premier platform for collectors to share what they love. Visit Gemr at Gemr.com.

    Source: Gemr

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  • Archery Tag Rings in 2017

    Archery Tag Rings in 2017

    Press Release
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    updated: Jan 3, 2017


    Ashley, IN, January 3, 2017 (Newswire.com)
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    ​Global Archery announced Archery Tag®, the original family-friendly combat archery sport, acquired the millionth Facebook follower to our page https://www.facebook.com/archerytag/ on January 1st, 2017, less than six years since the sport’s creation by John Jackson.

    Social media has played a huge role in helping us achieve our mission of “CONNECTING THE WORLD THROUGH ARCHERY™.” This latest milestone is proof positive that we are indeed doing just that.

    The popularity of Archery Tag is evidenced by numerous viral videos that continually attract people from around the world to our Facebook page.

    Fulfill your New Year’s resolution to get health and fit with a family-friendly game of Archery Tag. Go to our website http://archerytag.com/locations to find the Archery Tag licensee nearest you.

    Source: Global Archery

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  • Win Cash for Yourself and the School of Your Choice With Our August Facebook Giveaway

    Win Cash for Yourself and the School of Your Choice With Our August Facebook Giveaway

    Check Into Cash pledges $500 to one winner and $500 to the winner’s favorite school.

    Press Release
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    Aug 1, 2016


    Cleveland, TN, August 1, 2016 (Newswire.com)
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    ​For Check Into Cash, 2016 has been a year of giving. Since January, Check Into Cash has awarded $500 to one lucky winner a month, plus a matching $500 donation to preselected monthly charities via Facebook giveaway. But this month’s giveaway will be slightly different. For August, Check Into Cash will allow the lucky $500 winner to choose a school to receive the matching $500 donation!

    “Check Into Cash understands the importance of a good education,” said  Steve Scoggins. “We also encourage people to show pride in their background, whether this means supporting their state, hometown, or alma mater.”

    “We encourage everyone to sign up for the Facebook giveaway. This is a chance to help fund education and contribute to a brighter future.”

    Steve Scoggins, Check Into Cash President

    Of course, the winner is not obligated to select a school based on home state, personal background, or any other affiliation. All schools and universities are eligible to receive the donation. But the winner should keep in mind schools that rely heavily on donations to fund new scholarships, student programs, and basic operations. A $500 donation could make a huge difference for a school in need.

    “We encourage everyone to sign up for the Facebook giveaway,” explained Scoggins. “This is a chance to help fund education and contribute to a brighter future.” (Plus, the winner personally gets $500!)

    Anyone who wants to enter for a chance to win can visit Facebook.com/CheckIntoCash before midnight on August 31, 2016, and select the School Spirit Giveaway tab. To learn more about Check Into Cash stores and services, check out CheckIntoCash.com.

    About Check Into Cash

    Founded in Cleveland, Tennessee, in 1993 by entrepreneur and philanthropist Allan Jones, the Check Into Cash brand is state regulated and offers customers a wide variety of financial solutions. Check Into Cash stores offer consumer micro-loans, check cashing, Western Union® money transfers, prepaid U.S. Money Cards, and other convenient services as a complete one stop money shop.

    Check Into Cash is a founding member of the Community Financial Services Association of America (CFSA), the trade association representing the nation’s payday lenders. The CFSA advocates for best practices and helps enact legislation that balances the needs of the consumer with the interests of the industry.

    As a national leader and industry standard bearer, Check Into Cash firmly believes in truthful advertising and full disclosure of its services.

    Source: Check Into Cash, Inc.

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