More than 200 groups, including civil organizations, researchers, and journalists, have written to major tech company CEOs, urging them to take action to ensure truthful online content and safeguard democratic processes. The letter that went out to the CEOs of Discord, Google, Instagram, Meta, TikTok, X, YouTube, Pinterest, Reddit, Snap, Rumble, and Twitch, coincides with upcoming elections in over 60 countries in 2024. The Impact Of Online Discourse On Democracy “Research illustrates that individual users can have an outsized impact on online discourse, which results in real-world harms, such as the rise of extremism and violent attempts to overthrow democratic
Meta’s AI-powered image generator has recently been scrutinized for its difficulty in generating images of interracial couples and friends. Meta’s AI Fails To Generate Interracial Couples The AI tool, introduced in December, revealed its shortcomings when CNN tested its ability to create pictures of people from different racial backgrounds. The requests for images of interracial relationships consistently resulted in the AI producing images of same-race couples or friends, contradicting the diversity seen in real-world relationships. For instance, a request for a Black woman with a white husband yielded images of Black couples. This pattern was broken
Colorintech and Meta have launched the Spectrum AI Accelerator tailored to harness the potential of diverse UK technology founders. Colorintech is an award-winning nonprofit working towards a more transparent and inclusive tech economy. It is known for its student programs and working with governments, universities, VCs, and technology companies to help close the wealth and opportunity gap for underrepresented individuals. The AI Roadshow The program is a “Roadshow” where the duo will cover three core areas across different stakeholders in the community to make them positively impacted by AI. The Roadshow is a visionary
After making pledges following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, companies such as Google have cut back on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives and hiring. Following Floyd’s murder in 2020, companies set pledges to prioritize DEI. Between June and August 2020, there was a 55% increase in corporate DEI roles, and leading corporations pledged $12.3 billion to fight racism. Google, in particular, aimed to improve the representation of underrepresented groups in leadership by 30% by 2025 and address representation issues in hiring, retention, and promotions. Over the last year, however,
Kenyan President William Ruto has announced that Meta has agreed to monetize content in Kenya, benefitting the country’s creators. Following a year-long negotiation with the Kenyan government, Facebook and Instagram content creators will begin earning from these Meta platforms. Paying Kenyan Content Creators The President revealed that Meta had run a pilot program with eligible Kenyan content creators. “I have good news for our creatives and those who imagine and produce content through Facebook and Instagram,” Ruto said during the Jamhuri Day celebrations at Uhuru Gardens in Nairobi. “Just yesterday, Meta committed
According to The Information, Meta is paying creators such as Snoop Dogg millions for AI chatbots, with the top creator making as much as $5 million over two years for six hours of work in a studio. During Meta’s Connect event in September, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta will be integrating new AI assistants across its social media platforms that can have human-like conversations. While the company has its own AI chatbot similar to ChatGPT, it has now introduced 28 new ones with different personalities that use celebrities’ images. These
Diversity programs continue to come under fire as Meta Platforms Inc. and three entertainment groups face lawsuits. What has been happening? Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against colleges and universities considering race in their admissions process and ending Affirmative Action, there have been several lawsuits against diversity programs. Following that, conservative group American Alliance for Equal Rights, led by Edward Blum, filed lawsuits against law firms Perkins Coie and Morrison Foerster, challenging their diversity fellowships. The lawsuits alleged these fellowships unlawfully discriminated against white candidates and requested that racial
A leaked internal document from TikTok revealed that the company is preparing for scrutiny over the treatment of its outsourced content moderators in Kenya. Kenyan Content Moderators Sue Meta Last month, a court in Kenya issued a landmark ruling against Meta, deeming the US tech giant the “true employer” of its outsourced content moderators. Hundreds of content moderators in Nairobi go through posts and images to filter out violence, hate speech, and other disturbing content. This ruling now allows Meta to be sued in Kenya for labor rights violations, despite
A Kenyan court has ruled that Meta is the primary employer of content moderators involved in a lawsuit against the social media giant and is prohibited from laying them off until the case is resolved. In March, the moderators, who worked for Meta’s content review partner, Sama, filed a lawsuit accusing Meta, Sama and a second subcontractor, Majorel, of union-busting operation masquerading as a mass redundancy. Meta sought to dismiss the case, arguing that it was outside the jurisdiction of Kenyan courts. However, the court rejected Meta’s claim and asserted its
Renowned tennis champion Naomi Osaka has forayed into the world of digital fashion in a new partnership with Meta Avatars. Osaka has unveiled her flagship digital apparel collection that showcases her unique sense of style which she describes as “eclectic, unpredictable, yet comfortably cool.” The collection launched on Wednesday with five outfits that draw inspiration from her Haitian and Japanese heritage, her love for tennis, her media company Hana Kuma, and even her beloved dog Butta. “Being able to take trends from the real world and translate into the metaverse
