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Facebook is the most popular social media service in the world with 2.32 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2018

Facebook is the most popular social media service in the world with 2.32 billion monthly active users as of December 31, 2018. It also averages 1.52 billion daily active users as of December 2018.

Facebook was launched in February of 2004 (as The Facebook) for college students and then rapidly grew as it opened the service to more than those with a .edu email address. It was the subject of the 2010 movie called “The Social Network“.

In 2012, the social media giant offered its IPO and Facebook earned the title of the fastest company to grow to $250 billion market capitalization in the S&P 500.

In recent years, the company has been at the center of attention related to its role in the Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Since then, it’s been a continual stream of negative news for the company. They recently had all of their enterprise certificates for iOS revoked after it was discovered they had repackaged Onavo VPN as a ‘Research’ app and were paying teens $20/month to sneakily sideload it.

In early 2019, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a “privacy shift” for the company. He outlined a detailed vision for the future of the social media platform, specifically its messaging services. Notably, in contrast to how the company operates today, he says the future of the platform will be privacy-focused with features like end-to-end encryption, interoperability between its various apps like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, reducing how long it holds data, secure storage of personal data, and more.

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Facebook Live Audio Rooms rolling out today; hosts need an iPhone

Facebook Live Audio Rooms

Facebook Live Audio Rooms are beginning their rollout today. The ability to create and host rooms is currently limited to public figures, and a handful of high-profile Facebook groups.

You can join in with chats using either iOS or Android apps, but you’ll need to be an iPhone user to host rooms, as this requires the main Facebook iOS app …

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Just before WWDC, Facebook once again criticizes Apple’s 30% App Store cut

Apple CEO Tim Cook and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Less than an hour before Apple’s WWDC keynote kicks off, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared some news that the company would be keeping its paid online events free for creators through 2023. Notably, the platform is also going to start showing Apple’s fees as a line item for Facebook creators’ earnings with Zuckerberg using the opportunity to once again criticize the 30% App Store cut.

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Official hint at WhatsApp iPad app in interview with Mark Zuckerberg

Official hint at WhatsApp iPad app

It’s been almost two years since the first reliable rumor that there is a WhatsApp iPad app in the works, but the company has now dropped an official hint that this may finally be arriving in the coming months.

An interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart also officially confirmed reports of a disappearing messages feature …

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40%+ of children under 13 using TikTok, Facebook, and more; high rates of online sexual abuse

Many children under 13 use social media

A research study into use of social media platforms by minors found that upwards of 40% of children under 13 were using them, despite accounts supposedly being limited to teenagers and adults. The research included TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.

The study also found that a full third of minors had experienced an “online sexual interaction,” which included being asked for, or receiving, nude photos …

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Trump's latest tariff threat could hit Apple hard

Facebook Oversight Board upholds Trump ban but ‘insists’ on a review and permanent decision

Facebook’s Oversight Board has officially given a verdict over the platform’s January decision to ban then-President Donald Trump. While the board ruled to keep the indeterminate ban in place, it also “insists” that Facebook review the matter within six months to make a permanent decision that is “consistent with the rules that are applied to other users of its platform.”

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New emails show Steve Jobs referred to Facebook as ‘Fecebook’ amid App Store conflict

New documents brought to light as part of the Apple vs. Epic legal battle offer interesting details on the history of the relationship between Facebook and Apple. The documents, revealed by Epic Games and first spotted by CNBC, show that the relationship between Apple and Facebook has been strained since as far back as 2011.

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Facebook encourages iOS 14.5 users to enable tracking so its apps remain ‘free of charge’

Now that iOS 14.5 has been released to the public, we’re starting to get a closer look at how various companies are implementing the new App Tracking Transparency privacy requirement. Perhaps most notably, the Verge has details on the popup message Facebook and Instagram are using to encourage users to choose the “Allow” option when prompted about tracking…

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Leaked Facebook memo reveals how advertisers will be impacted following iOS 14.5 release

Facebook

Apple finally introduced iOS 14.5 this week, which comes with the long-awaited App Tracking Transparency feature to prevent third-party apps from tracking users across the web. Since the announcement of this feature, Facebook has been complaining about the impact this option will have on its business model, and now a leaked company memo reveals how advertisers will be affected.

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