Just when it looked like Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang’s keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas would dominate the news cycle, Meta’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, proved that his company still has the technological muscle and media clout to make headlines with an announcement about a seemingly unexciting topic: content moderation.
In a video posted to Meta’s Instagram platform that lasted for a little more than five minutes, Mr Zuckerberg mentioned all the characters sure to get the attention of people of just about every political persuasion. He touched upon US president-elect Donald Trump, politics, and even mentioned one of Meta’s biggest rivals, Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter).
For a chief executive not exactly known for his public speaking prowess or charismatic delivery, the video packed a punch. Some might say it was unwise to mention Mr Trump in such a politically charged environment. Others might have urged him to stay away from the mention of his social media competitor. Yet he dived straight in.
However, as they say in various technology circles these days, the decision to do so wasn’t a technical bug, but rather, it was a feature. It was a way to achieve a thunderclap with his announcement, a way to flood the zone with so much information that ultimately, the details get lost and yet the key constituencies are left happy.
Let’s try to focus on the substance for a moment though. After years of taking criticism from Democrats and Republicans over Meta’s content moderation policies, many of which were enacted with the help of third-party fact-checkers enlisted by the company, Mr Zuckerberg doesn’t want to deal with them any more.
Just how much is he tired of dealing with content moderation critics? He is now openly praising a feature that is prominent on X, called Community Notes, and saying that Meta will now implement something similar in both of its most used platforms, Facebook and Instagram.
On X, community notes add context or clarification to various posts that users deem inaccurate. X routinely approves people who apply to be community note editors, and for the most part, yes, the tool does help to clarify misleading posts. Even Mr Musk has occasionally been flagged with community note disclosures.
Yet I would hardly call it content moderation. Essentially, it is a way to crowd-source and give important context to content.
Even in his video message, Mr Zuckerberg acknowledged that Meta won’t be completely dismantling its content moderation apparatus, but rather, it will be moving some within the “trust and safety” team from Democratic Party-run California to Texas, a Republican Party stronghold, to lessen concern about what some perceive as political bias.
And with that, the entire strategy behind Mr Zuckerberg’s announcement became abundantly clear: it is about optics, and adjusting those optics to assuage those with political capital.
Slowly but surely, in a bipartisan manner throughout the US, the public’s mood soured on social media and Big Tech companies. There is concern about the potential, albeit unproven, addictiveness of social media feeds used by minors. There is a worry that smartphones are distracting far too many young people, and for that matter, their parents as well. And yes, concerns about disinformation continue to abound around the world.
All those fears, and all that angst, have taken much of the shine off these once-venerated companies such as Meta.
Yet it is worth noting that as of the writing of this article, Meta has a market cap of $1.56 trillion. It is not a plucky underdog with its feet unfairly being held to the fire. Between Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, some estimate that more than 3.5 billion people in the world use a Meta-owned platform. It is a company with unprecedented success and almost unfathomable reach in terms of influence.
With all that power, there are bound to be calls to take some responsibility, and in the past few years those calls have translated into the need for content moderation.
Nobody said it was going to be easy, and it clearly wasn’t easy, as Mr Zuckerberg explained, borrowing a page from Mr Musk and blaming what he called “legacy media”, despite the fact that Meta itself is 21 years old – again, not exactly a startup.
“Starting in the US after Trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote non-stop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy. We tried, in good faith, to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth, but the fact-checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they’ve created,” he claimed.
Mr Zuckerberg insisted, however, that Meta would still largely be on the lookout for posts that violate the law with regard to drugs, terrorism and child exploitation, among other things. But he also said that there were simply too many fires to put out when it came to less severe issues.
For a chief executive not exactly known for his public speaking prowess or charismatic delivery, the video packed a punch
“So we built a lot of complex systems to moderate content, but the problem with complex systems is they make mistakes. Even if they accidentally censor just 1 per cent of posts, that’s millions of people, and we’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship,” he said in his video address.
The solution, at least to Mr Zuckerberg’s mind, seems to be one of making content moderation society’s responsibility instead of Meta’s responsibility. Crowd source it, and let the chips fall where they may and consequences be darned.
In that same breath, he is also continuing to try to win over an audience of one, that audience being Mr Trump. It is worth remembering that the president-elect once threatened Meta, which had previously banned him from the platform after the January 6, 2021 insurrection. In response, Mr Trump bestowed Meta’s chief executive with the nickname, “Zuckerschmuck”.
Yet in Mr Trump’s most recent news conference, he said that Facebook had “come a long way”.
Mr Zuckerberg’s pivot might make for an obvious and brilliant strategic move. It also might buy Meta time amid what looks to be a momentum swing in the US Congress towards social media policy regulation for young people.
Ultimately, however, by punting on many parts of content moderation, Mr Zuckerberg is relinquishing himself of all sorts of responsibility and in turn, holding everyone else responsible. That could backfire in the long run.
He is also banking that Mr Trump won’t mercurially change his mind and once again turn on Meta. Given Mr Trump’s track record, that seems to be a fanciful wish.
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
THE BIO
Ambition: To create awareness among young about people with disabilities and make the world a more inclusive place
Job Title: Human resources administrator, Expo 2020 Dubai
First jobs: Co-ordinator with Magrudy Enterprises; HR coordinator at Jumeirah Group
Entrepreneur: Started his own graphic design business
Favourite singer: Avril Lavigne
Favourite travel destination: Germany and Saudi Arabia
Family: Six sisters
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Match info
Manchester City 3 (Jesus 22', 50', Sterling 69')
Everton 1 (Calvert-Lewin 65')
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
House-hunting
Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove
- Edinburgh, Scotland
- Westminster, London
- Camden, London
- Glasgow, Scotland
- Islington, London
- Kensington and Chelsea, London
- Highlands, Scotland
- Argyll and Bute, Scotland
- Fife, Scotland
- Tower Hamlets, London
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Overview
What: The Arab Women’s Sports Tournament is a biennial multisport event exclusively for Arab women athletes.
When: From Sunday, February 2, to Wednesday, February 12.
Where: At 13 different centres across Sharjah.
Disciplines: Athletics, archery, basketball, fencing, Karate, table tennis, shooting (rifle and pistol), show jumping and volleyball.
Participating countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Qatar and UAE.
The specs
Engine: 0.8-litre four cylinder
Power: 70bhp
Torque: 66Nm
Transmission: four-speed manual
Price: $1,075 new in 1967, now valued at $40,000
On sale: Models from 1966 to 1970
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
What is a black hole?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Virtual banks explained
What is a virtual bank?
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority defines it as a bank that delivers services through the internet or other electronic channels instead of physical branches. That means not only facilitating payments but accepting deposits and making loans, just like traditional ones. Other terms used interchangeably include digital or digital-only banks or neobanks. By contrast, so-called digital wallets or e-wallets such as Apple Pay, PayPal or Google Pay usually serve as intermediaries between a consumer’s traditional account or credit card and a merchant, usually via a smartphone or computer.
What’s the draw in Asia?
Hundreds of millions of people under-served by traditional institutions, for one thing. In China, India and elsewhere, digital wallets such as Alipay, WeChat Pay and Paytm have already become ubiquitous, offering millions of people an easy way to store and spend their money via mobile phone. Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are also among the world’s biggest under-banked countries; together they have almost half a billion people.
Is Hong Kong short of banks?
No, but the city is among the most cash-reliant major economies, leaving room for newcomers to disrupt the entrenched industry. Ant Financial, an Alibaba Group Holding affiliate that runs Alipay and MYBank, and Tencent Holdings, the company behind WeBank and WeChat Pay, are among the owners of the eight ventures licensed to create virtual banks in Hong Kong, with operations expected to start as early as the end of the year.
Take Me Apart
Kelela
(Warp)
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Pieces of Her
Stars: Toni Collette, Bella Heathcote, David Wenham, Omari Hardwick
Director: Minkie Spiro
Rating:2/5
ENGLAND SQUAD
Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
