Facebook pledged to invest at least $1 billion to support journalism over the next three years as the social media giant defended its handling of a dispute with Australia’s overpayments to media organizations. Nick Clegg, head of global affairs, said in a statement that the company stands ready to support news media while reiterating its concerns over mandated payments. "Facebook is more than willing to partner with news publishers," Clegg said after Facebook restored news links as part of a compromise with Australian officials. Facebook News to Be Restored in Australia as Government Agrees to Amend Law. 

"We absolutely recognize quality journalism is at the heart of how open societies function - informing and empowering citizens and holding the powerful to account."

Facebook and Google have both devoted money to supporting journalism in the past, citing its critical role in democracies. Clegg defended the California titan in a blog post titled "The Real Story of What Happened With News on Facebook in Australia." Australia Passes Landmark Law on Content Payment as Facebook Restores News. The social media platform came under fire after it blanked out the pages of media outlets for Australian users and blocked them from sharing any news content, rather than submit to the proposed legislation.

Clegg contended in his post that at the heart of the controversy is a misunderstanding about the relationship between Facebook and news publishers. Newsgroups share their stories on the social network, or make them available for Facebook users to share with features such as buttons designed into websites, Clegg noted. Facebook drove some 5.1 such "free referrals" to Australian news publishers last year, worth an estimated 407 million Australian dollars, according to Clegg.

"The assertions - repeated widely in recent days - that Facebook steals or takes original journalism for its own benefit always were and remain false," Clegg said.

"We neither take nor ask for the content for which we were being asked to pay a potentially exorbitant price."

 

'Erred' enforcement

Clegg said that to comply with the law as originally proposed in Australia, "Facebook would have been forced to pay potentially unlimited amounts of money to multi-national media conglomerates under an arbitration system that deliberately misdescribes the relationship between publishers and Facebook."

He maintained that in blacking out all news in the country, "we erred on the side of over-enforcement" and acknowledged that "some content was blocked inadvertently" before being restored. After two decades of light-touch regulation, tech giants such as Google and Facebook are coming under increased government scrutiny. In Australia, regulators have zeroed in on their online advertising dominance and its impact on struggling news media. According to Australia's competition watchdog, for every $100 spent on online advertising, Google captures $53, Facebook takes $28 and the rest is shared among others. To level the playing field, Australia wants Google and Facebook to pay for using expensive-to-produce news content in their searches and feeds.

"It is understandable that some media conglomerates see Facebook as a potential source of money to make up for their losses, but does that mean they should be able to demand a blank check?" Clegg asked rhetorically.

"It's like forcing carmakers to fund radio stations because people might listen to them in the car - and letting the stations set the price."

World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee recently warned that introducing the precedent of charging for links could open a Pandora's Box of monetary claims that would break the Internet.

source: gadgetsndtv

Also Read:

DISH HOME AND HIMALMEDIA ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT    

HUSQVARNA SVARTPILEN 250 & VITPILEN 250 LAUNCHED IN NEPAL    

LG WASHING MACHINE PRICE LIST    

REALME C17- SPECS, PRICE AND AVAILABILITY | REVIEWS NEPAL    

BEST FACIAL KITS IN NEPAL | 2020    

DFSK SUV - DASHIAN OFFER 2077    

Last month, Facebook unveiled the plans of releasing their own cryptocurrency named Libra along side Calibra, wallet for Libra. But now Facebook's plan for a cryptocurrency has come under attack at a US hearing, with politicians calling the company "delusional" and not trust worthy. senator Sherrod Brown said, The company had showed "through scandal after scandal that it doesn't deserve our trust."

Facebook last month announced plans to launch a digital currency, possibly next year. But to do so it needs to get Washington lawmakers on its side. Since it unveiled the plan, critics have lined up to voice skepticism, including US president Donald Trump.

The Senate Banking Committee is questioning Facebook executive David Marcus over the tech giant's intention to launch its Libra digital currency. Martha McSally a Republican senator said "I don't trust you guys, instead of cleaning up your house you are launching into a new business model." Facebook was told to clean up its house before launching a new business model.

David Marcus who was president of PayPal from 2012 to 2014 said “We know we need to take the time to get this right.” He tried to assure concerns in his opening remarks by promising that Facebook will not begin offering Libra until regulatory issues are addressed.

Senators are concerned about the issues regarding how Facebook is planning to prevent money laundering through the new payment system and how consumers' data and funds will be protected. For that Facebook pledged that the Libra Association - the supposedly independent body tasked with managing the currency - will only share customer data with Facebook and external third parties if it has consent, or in "limited cases", where it is necessary.

David Marcus told the hearing: "The way we've built this is to separate social and financial data because we've heard loud and clear that they don't want those two types of data streams connected, so this is the way the system is designed. "Facebook will only have one vote and will not be in a position to control the association, nor will Facebook or the Libra Association position themselves to compete with sovereign currencies or interfere with monetary policy,"

Even though, Libra is a democratic, open system over which Facebook does not have control. On the other hand, Calibra very much is Facebook's product meaning it will be backed by the world's biggest and most powerful social network which might become the dominant force in global cryptocurrency.

 

Source: BBC

 

After a long wait, Facebook has started rolling out dark mode for Android users. Facebook had earlier rolled out the dark mode for the website and the Facebook Lite App. The social media giant will now make the feature available to the Facebook app users on Android as well.

The development was first announced by noted tipster Jane Manchun Wong, who tweets about the features of the social media apps but this time her tweet comes in collaboration with Facebook. She also shared a small snippet of how the Facebook dark mode will look like once the feature is rolled out. She wrote, “Facebook is publicly testing Dark Mode! You asked it, I chatted with Facebook’s @alexvoica about it, and here’s a video made in collaboration with Facebook!”

Facebook had rolled out dark mode for web users earlier this year. However, it took Facebook rather long to roll out the feature to the Android users. Now that Facebook has started rolling out the feature, here is what you can do to get it

• To get the dark mode, you first need to update your Facebook app on the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.
• After updating the app, go to the Settings menu on Facebook
• Scroll down and you will find the dark mode option
• In order to enable it, you will have to turn on the toggle to activate the dark mode feature.

Facebook is yet to announce the feature officially but a spokesperson of the company was quoted as saying, “We know people have been asking for dark mode, and they won’t have to wait much longer. People will start to see the option in their Facebook app settings as we roll it out globally.”

Earlier, Facebook rolled out a new logo for Messenger along with interesting color pallets. “Messenger gets a new look to mark our continued evolution from a simple way to message your Facebook friends, to a place to hang out with your favorite people, on your favorite apps and devices. With over a billion users around the world, our mission is to be a universal way to connect and be closer together. That mission has never been more important as people everywhere look to private online spaces to stay connected,” Stan Chudnovsky, VP of Messenger said in a blog post.

Source: indiatoday

---

Reviews is conducting a weekly contest. Answer a simple question and get a chance to win exciting gift hampers from Aiken Care Package. Go to our Facebook page for more details or also can check the details on our Instagram page.

---

Also Read:

TIPS ON TAKING CARE OF YOUR PC/ DESKTOP

CLEANING TIPS FOR TAKING CARE OF YOUR MAKEUP BRUSHES

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN BUYING A STRAIGHTENER

TIPS FOR TAKING CARE OF YOUR MICROWAVE OVEN

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHILE BUYING A AIR PURIFIER | REVIEWS

SAMSUNG QLED TVS PRICE LIST IN NEPAL

Australia will not change proposed laws that would make Alphabet Inc's Google and Facebook pay news outlets for content, a senior lawmaker said, despite vocal opposition from the Big Tech firms. Facebook has strongly protested the laws and last week abruptly blocked all news content and several state government and emergency department accounts. The social media giant and Australian leaders continued discussing the changes over the weekend.

But with the bill scheduled for a debate in the Senate on Monday, Australia's most senior lawmaker in the upper house said there would be no further amendments. "The bill as it stands ... meets the right balance," Simon Birmingham, Australia's Minister for Finance, told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio. The bill in its present form ensures "Australian-generated news content by Australian-generated news organizations can and should be paid for and done so in a fair and legitimate way".

The laws would give the government the right to appoint an arbitrator to set content licensing fees if private negotiations fail. While both Google and Facebook have campaigned against the laws, Google last week inked deals with top Australian outlets, including a global deal with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

"There's no reason Facebook can't do and achieve what Google already has," Birmingham added. A Facebook representative declined to comment on Monday on the legislation which passed the lower house last week and has majority support in the Senate. Lobby group DIGI, which represents Facebook, Google, and other online platforms like Twitter Inc, meanwhile said on Monday that its members had agreed to adopt an industry-wide code of practice to reduce the spread of misinformation online.

Under the voluntary code, the companies commit to identifying and stopping unidentified accounts, or "bots", disseminating content, informing users of the origins of content, and publishing an annual transparency report, among other measures.

Also Read:

HERO MAESTRO ELECTRIC SCOOTER SPOTTED

APPLE, GOOGLE BAN LOCATION TRACKING IN CORONAVIRUS CONTACT TRACING APPS

USEFUL WASHING MACHINE CARE TIPS FOR SMOOTH PERFORMANCE

AC CLEANING GUIDE: HOW TO CLEAN YOUR AIR CONDITIONER BY YOURSELF

TIPS FOR FIRST TIME CAR BUYERS | NEW OR USED

NEPAL'S FIRST EVER WORD PUZZLE GAME 'SABDA KHOJ'- AVAILABLE IN PLAY STORE