In 2008, Facebook's slogan was “Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life”. This simplicity went to the heart of what the website was offering the world: a revolution in the way we communicate. Behind closed doors, there was another remarkable aspect of the mission – its profitability. In 2008, Facebook's worth was estimated at $15 billion. As of August 2022, the company's market value stood at more than $560bn.
It is true for other sites, too. YouTube now brings in annual revenue of almost $30bn, Instagram $24bn. In 2021, the net worth of Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, was $97bn, and $35bn for TikTok's Zhang Yiming.
With such power and money comes great responsibility. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter have been credited with seismic historic events, from enabling political uprisings to shaping elections. It is impossible to predict the effect of new domains such as the virtual-reality Metaverse, but they could well be epoch-defining.
Editorials from The National
Keeping pace with these developments on a governmental and personal level matters, because not all of social media's effects have been good. For no group is this more true than children. Companies are very often criticised for not doing enough to protect them.
There has been some progress. YouTube Kids says it "provides a more contained environment for kids to explore". Facebook is developing pop-up warnings to target users who search content "associated with child exploitation".
Snapchat, a video-sharing app that has roughly 350 million daily users, introduced particularly important controls on Tuesday that let parents see who their children are talking to on the platform. The new Family Centre feature will allow them to see accounts teenagers have been in conversation with over the past seven days, although they will not be able to see the content. It is a sensible balance between respecting the privacy of users, while protecting their well-being, too. It puts Snapchat at the forefront of platforms thinking about safety.
It is crucial they and others continue to do so. In the very worst of cases, social media can enable terrible bullying on a mass scale, cause severe mental distress and make it easy for criminals to target children. What is worse, this often happens with little parental and legal oversight. Last year, the Wall Street Journal said it had seen internal research conducted by Facebook, Instagram's owner, that the latter platform had made body issues worse for one in three girls in the UK and US. There are cases where authorities and adults have been denied access to accounts of young people who have died.
It is right companies respect privacy rules, but more flexibility must be built in when it comes to extreme cases. It is unacceptable that, in many ways, the advertisers from whom companies make money know more about the activity of children on social media than their parents.
Thankfully, some companies are taking this imperative seriously. The issue must be a priority. It is a dangerous irony that the demographic most likely to use, understand and circumvent controls on social media, is also the one that has the most to lose in terms of safety and well-being. Parents have a crucial responsibility in protecting them in the virtual world as they do in person, and many have been ready to do so for years. Snapchat is right to do its bit to empower them. Hopefully more firms will follow suit.
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Tesalam Aleik
Abdullah Al Ruwaished
(Rotana)
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Sheer grandeur
The Owo building is 14 storeys high, seven of which are below ground, with the 30,000 square feet of amenities located subterranean, including a 16-seat private cinema, seven lounges, a gym, games room, treatment suites and bicycle storage.
A clear distinction between the residences and the Raffles hotel with the amenities operated separately.
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THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Joker: Folie a Deux
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Brendan Gleeson
Director: Todd Phillips
Rating: 2/5
Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
Wednesday's results
Finland 3-0 Armenia
Faroes Islands 1-0 Malta
Sweden 1-1 Spain
Gibraltar 2-3 Georgia
Romania 1-1 Norway
Greece 2-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Liechtenstein 0-5 Italy
Switzerland 2-0 Rep of Ireland
Israel 3-1 Latvia
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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
The specs: 2018 Range Rover Velar R-Dynamic HSE
Price, base / as tested: Dh263,235 / Dh420,000
Engine: 3.0-litre supercharged V6
Power 375hp @ 6,500rpm
Torque: 450Nm @ 3,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 9.4L / 100kms
The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
The Matrix Resurrections
Director: Lana Wachowski
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Henwick
Rating:****
Black Panther
Dir: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o
Five stars
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
The biog
First Job: Abu Dhabi Department of Petroleum in 1974
Current role: Chairperson of Al Maskari Holding since 2008
Career high: Regularly cited on Forbes list of 100 most powerful Arab Businesswomen
Achievement: Helped establish Al Maskari Medical Centre in 1969 in Abu Dhabi’s Western Region
Future plan: Will now concentrate on her charitable work
Zayed Sustainability Prize
List of alleged parties
May 12, 2020: PM and his wife Carrie attend 'work meeting' with at least 17 staff
May 20, 2020: They attend 'bring your own booze party'
Nov 27, 2020: PM gives speech at leaving party for his staff
Dec 10, 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary Gavin Williamson
Dec 13, 2020: PM and his wife throw a party
Dec 14, 2020: London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey holds staff event at Conservative Party headquarters
Dec 15, 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
Dec 18, 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
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
Match info
Premier League
Manchester United 2 (Martial 30', Lingard 69')
Arsenal 2 (Mustafi 26', Rojo 68' OG)
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final:
First leg: Liverpool 5 Roma 2
Second leg: Wednesday, May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
TV: BeIN Sports, 10.45pm (UAE)
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
