Facebook is removing its “Trending” news feature in favor of exploring “breaking news” labels and additional news videos, the social network announced Friday. Trending, introduced in 2014 to promote trending news topics, got less than 1.5 percent of clicks to news publishers on average, Facebook Head-News Products Alex Hardiman said: “Over time people found the product to be less and less useful.” The platform also will remove “third-party partner integrations that rely on the Trends” application programming interface. Facebook will test breaking news labels with 80 publishers in North America, South America, Europe, India and Australia; a “Today In” section devoted to the latest local breaking news; and added news videos in the “Watch” section. “We’ve seen that the way people consume news on Facebook is changing to be primarily on mobile and increasingly through news video,” Hardiman wrote.
Worldwide spending on augmented reality and virtual reality will reach $27 billion this year, up 92 percent over 2017, IDC reported Thursday. The consumer industry is projected to remain the biggest spender ($53 billion) on AR/VR products and services through 2022, followed by retail, manufacturing and transportation ($56 billion combined). VR gaming leads use cases, with spending expected to reach $7 billion this year.
The Apple App Store, Google Play Store and YouTube leading the industry in transparency and public disclosure, but Facebook and Instagram “have failed to adopt truly meaningful notice practices and policies that inform users of crucial details,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation reported Thursday. EFF graded online platforms on “transparency on legal takedown requests, transparency on platform policy takedown requests, providing meaningful notice, allowing appeals, and limiting the geographic scope of takedowns.” Platforms were either awarded a star or not, amounting to a pass-fail test. The Apple App Store, Google Play Store and YouTube received a star in every category. Facebook and Instagram received one star each for “limiting the geographic scope of takedowns.” Reddit earned stars for all categories other than providing meaningful notice, Twitter received three stars and LinkedIn earned one star for allowing appeals.
The federal government needs private sector collaboration to maximize cybersecurity defense, said Assistant Attorney General-National Security John Demers Thursday. Speaking at a FedScoop/FireEye event, Demers cited successful public-private cybersecurity efforts with Yahoo, Google and other private entities that shared cybersecurity interests with law enforcement. Those efforts led to enforcement action against criminals from Russia, Iran, the Islamic State and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, he said. “We will continue to work with other agencies to use all elements of national power to meet this ever-changing and growing challenge,” Demers said. “To adequately protect our shared national cyber security against persistent attack, we will need your help as well.”
Worldwide consumer spending on smart home devices, systems and services, up 16 percent to $84 billion last year, is forecast to reach nearly $96 billion in 2018 and $155 billion by 2023, said a Wednesday Strategy Analytics report. North America will have 41 percent of total spending, $40 billion, followed by the Asia-Pacific region at $26 billion and Western Europe at $17 billion, said SA. “Consumer awareness is rising, prices are coming down, and the technology is becoming more intuitive," said analyst Bill Ablondi, also citing a "high degree of fragmentation" in a competitive market with no clear winners.
Replicating the EU’s general data protection regulation in the U.S. would not be an efficient way to protect American privacy, but Congress should “critically study” the GDPR as it outlines useful ideas for comprehensive privacy legislation, said Public Knowledge Global Policy Director Gus Rossi Friday. “A comprehensive American privacy bill should also encourage companies to rethink their data collection and processing practices to guarantee security of user information, require meaningful notice and consent for personal data sharing, list user rights, and designate at least one independent enforcement agency,” Rossi said.
The Federal Election Commission should adopt “the stronger of two proposals” being considered and require online political ads to include paid-for-by disclaimers, Common Cause said Friday. “There is too much at stake for the FEC to continue turning a blind eye to this huge vulnerability of our campaign finance regulations,” said Common Cause Vice President-Policy and Litigation Paul Ryan. The organization supported the Honest Ads Act (S-1989), which has been a catalyst for online political ad reform, from Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., Mark Warner, D-Va., and John McCain, R-Ariz. (see 1805240052).
Antitrust enforcers might need to closely monitor whether “competition is suffering or competitors are losing out as a result of misdeeds by an incumbent,” Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim said Friday, discussing online markets in Milan. He emphasized that antitrust law should be guided by the “consumer welfare standard,” ensuring that free market competition benefits the consumer. Enforcers also should recognize that in innovative markets, “an incumbent’s monopoly may be fragile, and prone to being toppled by new entrants offering something better and more exciting,” he said. Cowen analyst Paul Gallant noted after an earlier speech by Delrahim in Rome that the DOJ antitrust chief has been “publicly establishing a framework for” internet companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon.
The FTC finalized a settlement with PayPal over allegations Venmo customers weren't adequately informed about balance transfer procedures, preventing them from being able to pay bills (see 1802270048), the FTC said Thursday. The settlement dictates that Venmo “is prohibited from misrepresenting any material restrictions on the use of its service, the extent of control provided by any privacy settings, and the extent to which Venmo implements or adheres to a particular level of security.”
Dominant online platforms should provide users due process, or “procedural protections that ensure fairness,” when platforms take potentially detrimental action toward users, Public Knowledge said Thursday. Platforms should offer clear explanations about proposed actions, options for users to challenge those actions and independent boards to resolve such matters, PK Senior Counsel John Bergmayer said.