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Meta Under the Microscope

Meta Under the Microscope

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Image by A3DigitalStudio from Pixabay

The social networks love kids. That especially seems to be the case with Meta nee Facebook, with its many social platforms. The company has a long history of engaging children – the more the merrier and cha-ching!

Just how engaging and by what methods is at long last coming under scrutiny. How Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Failed Children on Safety, States Say, the New York Times reported. The C.E.O. and his team drove Meta’s efforts to capture young users and misled the public about the risks, lawsuits by state attorneys general say. That’s not exactly a news flash, but then again, it’s the New York Times – all the news that’s fit to print…eventually.

There were more than a dozen lawsuits filed since last year by the attorneys general of 45 states and the District of Columbia, the Times reported. “The states accuse Meta of unfairly ensnaring teenagers and children on Instagram and Facebook while deceiving the public about the hazards. Read More...

Tik Tok, Tik Tok, Tik Tok

Tik Tok, Tik Tok, Tik Tok

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Image by Benjamin Zocholl from Pixabay

Due to the purported national security concerns posed by China-based ByteDance’s ownership of Tik Tok, the video sharing app which is used by around 170 million Americans and more than a billion people globally is in the spotlight. Congress is attempting to pass a law requiring that ByteDance divest itself of its interest in the company.

The ban would go into effect in six months.

“These countries have blocked or restricted it (Britain, EU, Canada, India, New Zealand, Afghanistan and Pakistan and note – primarily on government-issued devices),” the Washington Post reported. “The federal government already bans TikTok on government-owned devices.” Read More...

And the Winner for Worst Company of 2021 Is…

And the Winner for Worst Company of 2021 Is…

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According to an audience survey conducted by Yahoo Finance, Facebook/Meta takes the prize, hands down, with 50% more votes than its competitor, Alibaba. According to the article, “its stock price is up 22% year-to-date — strong, but lagging the S&P 500— but down around 13% from its September high.”

So how does one achieve such a dubious honor? Well, there’s CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg himself, whose list of missteps are just too long to enumerate, considering that many of you no doubt still have holiday shopping to get done and this wouldn’t necessarily be the holiday list worth getting into – again – despite the fact that it is that time of the year.

Then there were “The Facebook Files, a series of investigative reports published by the Wall Street Journal and based on leaks provided by whistleblower Frances Haugen. Much of the publicity around the leaks focused on the impact of Instagram (a subsidiary of Meta Platforms) on teenage girls, and the company’s alleged indifference… Haugen also alleged that Facebook’s potential for radicalization has contributed to genocides in Myanmar and Ethiopia, among a myriad of other concerns expressed in the reports,” as ZeroHedge reminded us. Read More...

The Platform Formerly Known as Facebook

The Platform Formerly Known as Facebook

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When recording artist Prince got into a contract dispute with his record label, Warner Brothers, he literally changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and was thereafter referred to as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince.

Which brings us to The Platform Currently Known As Facebook, which will soon be a name to forget, with a nod to those readers among you for whom that ship sailed long ago, name change or not.

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Words, Words, Words – or Is It All Talk?

Words, Words, Words – or Is It All Talk?

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Image by pencil parker from Pixabay

As a writer, we love words. New words enter the patois constantly, and always good to keep up, what, eh? Some we appreciate; some leave us utterly gobsmacked. You needed to turn that noun into a verb? Seriously??? Sometimes they make sense. Ofttimes, we roll our eyes at the absurdity. Those are the ones that we know in our heart of hearts will lead us right down the rabbit hole

We thought we’d share a few that have entered the vocabulary, for better or for worse:

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