Facebook fears legal fight over targeted ads
Facebook has officially agreed to stop targeting its ads at individual users following legal action against parent company, Meta.
This lawsuit could empower other users to make a stand against social media companies serving them targeted adverts based on their demographics and interests.
Tanya O’Carroll, who joined Facebook nearly two decades ago, filed a lawsuit against Meta in 2022, demanding that the company stop using her personal data to curate targeted ads in her social media feed based on presumed interests.
In a statement, Meta said it provided “robust settings and tools for users to control their data and advertising preferences”.
Ms. O’Carroll’s lawsuit claimed that Facebook’s targeted advertising fell under the UK’s definition of direct marketing, granting individuals the right to object.
Meta argued that its ads were only directed at groups of at least 100 people, not individuals, and therefore did not qualify as direct marketing. However, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) disagreed.
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Meta bans memoir over working for Facebook
A former director of Facebook has released a memoir detailing her seven years working at Facebook. The book includes a series of critical claims about what she witnessed.
Meta has won an emergency ruling in the US that orders the former director to stop promoting the book to the extent within her control. Claiming that the book is false and defamatory, and should never have been published.
The UK publisher Macmillan argued it is “committed to upholding freedom of speech” and Ms Wynn-Williams’ “right to tell her story”.
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AI continues to grow… where will it go next?
Meta has invested in an AI tool that will analyse millions of ads to ensure the right person is targeted with the right ad at the right time, maximising efficiency of advertising spend.
The social media conglomerate is actively exploring generative AI and its uses within retail to help drive online and in-store sales.
The new update will mean ads can be targeted to users likely to shop in store and provide them with the location of the nearest store with products in stock.
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Threads can replicate your X following
Threads is working on an update that will make it easier for users to follow the same profiles they currently follow on X.
Although lots of users seem to be taking a step away from X, the platform still maintains a high active user count, with 250 million users active on the platform daily.
The new update appears to be a tedious process, requiring manual downloads from X and updates to threads. However, the platform hopes this change will boost its popularity.
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The Meta AI button is causing chaos over privacy
The release of Meta AI has caused issues amongst users. The feature is now available across Facebook messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp acting as a digital assistant.
Some users are expressing concern about the inability to switch it off, or remove it from their device, whilst others are worried about their data being ‘hoovered up’.
Meta reassures users that it can’t access private messages or posts to train its AI model. It can only use publicly shared content from Facebook and Instagram such as comments, as well as user interactions with the AI feature to help it improve.
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