Friday, April 19

Tag: Social media

TikTok sues US President Trump over banning its app
USA

TikTok sues US President Trump over banning its app

New York, 24th Aug 2020: Chinese short video platform TikTok suing Trump administration for banning its app service in the USA over national-security concerns. TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance said that it is not a national-security threat and that the government is acting without evidence or due process. The company filed suit Monday in federal court in California against the Commerce Department, President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, saying that it sought to prevent the government from “impermissibly banning" TikTok. President Donald Trump has issued two executive orders in August, first a sweeping but unspecified ban on any “transaction” with ByteDance, to take effect within 45 days. He then ordered ByteDance to sell assets used to support TikTok in the U...
Twitter in discussion with TikTok for Acquisition
News

Twitter in discussion with TikTok for Acquisition

New York, 10th Jul 2020: According to a report, the Social media platform Twitter is in discussions for the acquisition of TikTok USA after Microsoft bid. The move of US President Donald Trump said he would ban the app in 45 days creates an opportunity for a platform like Twitter to make big in the current social media war. Trump declared Thursday that the popular Chinese video app TikTok and social network WeChat “threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” In an executive order, Trump gave Americans 45 days to stop doing business with the platforms, effectively setting a deadline for a sale of TikTok by its Chinese parent firm ByteDance. He has also demanded that a significant portion of the sale go to the US Treasury. Microsoft has...
US looking at banning TikTok & other Chinese apps
USA

US looking at banning TikTok & other Chinese apps

Washington, Jul 7, 2020: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US is "certainly looking" at banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTok, days after India blocked the popular video-sharing platform. India banned 59 apps with Chinese links, including TikTok and UC Browser, on June 29, saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country. During an interview on Monday with Fox News'' Laura Ingraham, Pompeo said that he and President Donald Trump are taking the reports seriously after he was told by the host that India had already banned the app and Australia is considering doing so. "We are taking this very seriously and we are certainly looking at it. We have worked on this very issue for a long time, whether it's the problem of having Huawei...
Anand Mahindra invests $1 million in Indian social media startup Hapramp
FUNDING

Anand Mahindra invests $1 million in Indian social media startup Hapramp

NEW DELHI: Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra has invested USD 1 million (about Rs 7.5 crore) in Gurugram-based Hapramp -- a startup working on technologies like blockchain and social media. The startup was founded in 2018 by five students of Indian Institute of Information Technology-Vadodara. "Took 2 yrs, but I finally found the start-up I was looking for! @Hapramp is indigenous, built by 5 young founders & brings together a best-in-class combination of creativity, technology & data protection. Look out for  @gosocial_app their social networking platform," Mahindra tweeted on Wednesday. In 2018, Mahindra had announced via Twitter a funding opportunity for an Indian social media startup that met certain criteria. He had asked ex-Mahindra executive, Jaspreet Bindra...
Facebook employees criticize Mark Zuckerberg for being Neutral over Protest
News

Facebook employees criticize Mark Zuckerberg for being Neutral over Protest

New York, Jun 2, 2020: Some Facebook employees criticize Facebook founder & CEO Mark Zuckerberg's inaction over President Donald Trump post that suggested protesters in Minneapolis could be shot. While arch-rival of Facebook, Twitter took the stand and placed a warning on President's tweet about the protests “when the looting starts the shooting starts,” while Facebook founder Zuckerberg took the neutral stand and leave it to US authorities. “I know many people are upset that we've left the President's posts up, but our position is that we should enable as much expression as possible unless it will cause an imminent risk of specific harms or dangers spelled out in clear policies,” Zuckerberg wrote. The tweets of President Trump evoked the civil-rights era by borrowing a phras...
Twitter fact check controversy: President Trump threatens new regulation or shutdown
USA

Twitter fact check controversy: President Trump threatens new regulation or shutdown

Washington, May 28 (AP): President Donald Trump, the historically prolific tweeter of political barbs and blasts, threatened social media companies with new regulation or even shuttering after Twitter added fact checks to two of his tweets. He turned to his Twitter account to tweet his threats. The president can''t unilaterally regulate or close the companies, and any effort would likely require action by Congress. His administration has shelved a proposed executive order empowering the Federal Communications Commission to regulate technology companies, citing concerns it wouldn''t pass legal muster. But that didn''t stop Trump from angrily issuing strong warnings. Tech giants “silence conservative voices," he claimed on Twitter early Wednesday. “We will strongly regulate, or clo...
Twitter adds fact check warnings to President Trump’s tweets
USA

Twitter adds fact check warnings to President Trump’s tweets

Washington, May 27th, 2020: For the first time, Twitter has flagged some of President Donald Trump's tweets with a fact-check warning. On Tuesday, Twitter added a warning phrase to two Trump tweets that called mail-in ballots "fraudulent” and predicted that "mail boxes will be robbed,” among other things. Under the tweets, there is now a link reading “Get the facts about mail-in ballots” that guides users to a Twitter “moments” page with fact checks and news stories about Trump''s unsubstantiated claims. Until now, the president has simply blown past Twitter's half-hearted attempts to enforce rules intended to promote civility and “healthy” conversation on its most prominent user. Trump frequently amplifies misinformation, spreads abuse, and uses his pulpit to personally attac...
Facebook Acquired GIPHY for $400 million
ACQUISITION

Facebook Acquired GIPHY for $400 million

Social media platform Facebook had acquired the animated graphics startup GIPHY for $400 million. However, the Terms of the deal were not disclosed. GIPHY is known for its use of stickers and other products using the graphics interchange format or GIFs. Facebook would integrate Giphy's animated graphics in its social network platform Instagram. "GIPHY, a leader in visual expression and creation, is joining the Facebook company today as part of the Instagram team," Facebook said in a statement. "GIPHY makes everyday conversations more entertaining, and so we plan to further integrate their GIF library into Instagram and our other apps so that people can find just the right way to express themselves. Facebook also said in its press release that 50% of GIPHY’s traffic comes fr...
LinkedIn Launched LinkedIn Live For Virtual Events
News

LinkedIn Launched LinkedIn Live For Virtual Events

Professional networking platform LinkedIn announced global launch of a virtual events solution LinkedIn Live to enable companies to stay connected and strengthen relationships with their online communities in real time. Using LinkedIn Live, companies can now host virtual events by streaming live to event attendees, it said in a statement. This integration between LinkedIn Live and LinkedIn Events helps companies to host live, real-time events in a trusted environment, attract the right professional audiences, drive strong reach and engagement, and get more mileage for their events with a dedicated hub for videos of the event on their Pages, the company said. In October 2019, LinkedIn launched LinkedIn Events globally and in March 2020, the platform enabled companies to create an ...
Facebook revenue grew 17 percent, Posted $4.9 billion profit in Q1 2020
BUSINESS

Facebook revenue grew 17 percent, Posted $4.9 billion profit in Q1 2020

World's leading social media platform Facebook reported a profit of $4.9 billion on revenue that grew 17 percent to $17.4 billion during the first quarter result of the year. Facebook also reported a sharp jump in usage as the global pandemic in a quarterly result. The shares of social media platform climbed some 10 percent. "Our work has always been about helping you stay connected with the people you care about," said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and CEO. "With people relying on our services more than ever, we're focused on keeping people safe, informed and connected." Facebook Q1 2020 Result Facebook's daily active users were 1.73 billion on average for March 2020, an increase of 11% year-over-year. Facebook monthly active users were 2.60 billion as of March 31, 2020, ...
ShareChat acquires Memer, looking for more buyouts
ACQUISITION

ShareChat acquires Memer, looking for more buyouts

Indian social media platform ShareChat has acquired Kae Capital-backed meme-sharing app Memer and is looking for more buyouts, the company said on Monday. The deal size was however not disclosed by the company. ShareChat claims to have around 6 crore monthly active users and aims to cross the 12-crore mark by the end of 2020. "We are on an active lookout for startups that complement our product capabilities and share the vision of serving diverse content and social needs of Indian masses. Memer happens to be the first step towards this approach,"Manohar Charan, vice president for corporate development and strategic finance, ShareChat said in a statement. The integration of Memer into ShareChat will help it bring more variations to content, a better user experience that may lea...