Social Networks

Saying Apple forced changes during months of rejection, the social network is releasing a version for iPhone and iPad users today.Facebook said it had made changes to its Gaming app to get Apple’s approval for its App Store.Credit...FacebookAug. 7, 2020, 6:00 a.m. ETFor six months, Facebook tried to get Apple to approve its new Facebook Gaming app so it could be available in Apple’s App Store. Each time, Apple said no.This week, Facebook said it had acceded to Apple’s demands to change its Gaming app so that it could be distributed to iPhone and iPad users starting on Friday. To comply with Apple’s rules, which prohibit apps if their “main purpose” is distributing software such as games, the social network said it had entirely removed playable games from its new app.Facebook said Apple had essentially used its power over the App Store to force its hand, turning the Gaming app into an inferior experience for iPhone and iPad owners. In addition to playable games, the original version of the app allows users to watch and create live gameplay streams and participate in gaming communities — functions that will still operate in the Apple version.The frustration with Apple extends to Facebook’s highest echelons. In a statement, Sheryl Sandberg, the company’s chief operating officer, said, “Unfortunately, we had to remove gameplay functionality entirely in order to get Apple’s approval on the stand-alone Facebook Gaming app.” She added that Facebook would continue to build communities for those who played games on Facebook, “whether Apple allows it in a stand-alone app or not.”Games are the largest source of revenue for Apple on the App Store, and many tech executives have concluded that Apple blocks game services that could compete with its own products and sales.Apple, without directly addressing Facebook Gaming, said its App Store…

Toei Animation, Kodansha and other anime content providers have banded together to start a channel on YouTube. The goal is to have 30 companies providing 3,000 anime titles by 2022, with the number of views per month reaching 300 million. Called Animelog, or Anilog, the channel was launched Friday by Analyzelog, a company that supports corporate digital strategies. The target audience for the channel is currently local, but there are also plans to add sub-titled content in English and Chinese for overseas fans. Content at launch includes: the “Black Jack” series, based on a famous Osama Tezuka manga, and which was aired in the 2000s by Yomiuri TV; and “Future Boy Conan,” a 1978 anime co-directed by Hayao Miyazaki, and produced by Nippon Animation. Several Japanese companies such as Kadokawa (publishing) and Toei Animation (anime production) now operate their own anime channels on YouTube. But the partners argue that, by joining forces, they can grow their audience, and advertising revenues, more quickly than they could individually. According to the Association of Japanese Animations’ survey for 2019, the industry enjoyed record growth for the sixth straight year, with earnings totalling $20 billion. Streaming grew 10%. “There exists a problem of illegal video distribution service these days, but “AnimeLog” will distribute only officially-licensed animations and operate as a safe channel that families can enjoy together,” said Analyzelog in a statement. Analyzelog was formed in 2018 with seed capital backing from U.S. venture investor “Next10 Ventures” and its founder Benjamin Grubbs. It has since struck numerous business and investment alliances with companies including Toei Animation (December 2019), Shogakukan (April 2020), and last month with animation studio Shin Ei Animation (“Doraemon,” “Crayon Shin Chan”).

The call from 20 state officials adds to the rising pressure facing Mark Zuckerberg and his company.The state officials also called on Facebook to provide supportive services for people harassed on its social network.Credit...Jim Wilson/The New York TimesAug. 5, 2020, 2:06 p.m. ETTwenty state attorneys general on Wednesday called on Facebook to better prevent messages of hate, bias and disinformation from spreading, and said the company needed to provide more help to users facing online abuse.In a letter to the social media giant, the officials said they regularly encountered people facing online intimidation and harassment on Facebook. They outlined seven steps the company should take, including allowing third-party audits of hate content and offering real-time assistance to users.“We hope to work with you to ensure that fewer individuals suffer online harassment and discrimination, and that it is quickly and effectively addressed when they do,” said the letter, which was addressed to Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, and its chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg. The officials who signed the letter, all of them Democrats, represent states including New York, New Jersey, Illinois and California, as well as the District of Columbia.The letter adds to the rising pressure facing Mr. Zuckerberg and his company to stop disinformation and harassment on Facebook. Civil rights leaders, advertisers and some of the company’s own employees have criticized Facebook for failing to curtail the spread of noxious content. Extremists and conspiracists have turned to social media — most often Facebook, Twitter and YouTube — to circulate falsehoods about the coronavirus pandemic, the coming presidential election and Black Lives Matter protests.ImageFacebook and other social media companies have made some changes to dismantle misinformation and hate on their services. Last month, Twitter announced that it would remove thousands of accounts associated with the fringe conspiracy movement QAnon, saying…

YouTuber Jake Paul’s Los Angeles area mansion was raided by federal agents on Wednesday morning. Several apparent firearms were seized.“The FBI has executed a federal search warrant in connection with an ongoing investigation,” a spokesman confirmed to Yahoo Entertainment. The affidavit in support of the search warrant has been sealed by a judge, so the official is prohibited from commenting on the nature of the investigation. No arrests are planned.TMZ obtained video of a “small army” of at least 20 agents in tactical gear entering Paul’s gated residence in armored trucks. It’s unknown if the 23-year-old was home.Paul is a controversial figure in the digital influencing world and is known for his pranks and stunts. His YouTube channel has over 20 million subscribers.In June, he was charged with criminal trespassing and unlawful assembly after he was identified among a crowd of looters at a mall in Scottsdale, Ariz. Both are misdemeanors. Paul faced backlash as videos posted to social media showed him walking through the mall as looters smashed the glass of a Sephora and Swarovski crystal store. In one video, Paul appeared to be handling a stolen bottle of vodka from P.F. Chang's.“Our investigation has revealed that Paul was present after the protest was declared an unlawful assembly and the rioters were ordered to leave the area by the police,” the Scottsdale Police Department said in a statement. “Paul also unlawfully entered and remained inside the mall when it was closed. As a result, Paul has been charged with criminal trespass and unlawful assembly.” Paul maintained his innocence and said he and his videographer, Andrew Blue, were at the mall to capture Black Lives Matter protests.Paul launched to fame in 2013 thanks to the now-defunct platform Vine. He starred on the Disney Channel show Bizaardvark, but parted ways after his Beverly Hills…

Published: Aug. 5, 2020 at 1:59 p.m. ET Instagram Reels includes a video distribution algorithm similar to TikTok’s that lets consumers see the most popular videos at the moment. Facebook Inc. Facebook Inc. on Wednesday announced its alternative to popular social-media app TikTok at a time when the future of its Chinese corporate owner is in limbo. The unveiling of Instagram Reels continues a long Facebook FB, -0.18% tradition of rolling out features that have been popularized by competing platforms like Snap Inc. SNAP, +0.43% and making them available to Facebook’s billions of users worldwide to grab market share. In the case of Reels, it includes a video distribution algorithm similar to TikTok’s that lets consumers see the most popular videos at the moment. The key, killer feature is the ability to create 15-second videos with editing tools embedded in Instagram’s camera. “Facebook has a mixed track record when it comes to copying other companies’ features. Many of its attempts over the years have failed,” eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson said. “Instagram did it extremely well with Stories, which it copied from Snapchat. I believe Instagram has a similar opportunity with Reels, but it’s not a guaranteed success.” In ordinary times, the prospect of Facebook diving into the shallow end of the pool would be daunting but the social-networking behemoth is the least of worries for ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok. It not only is navigating a possible sale to Microsoft Corp. MSFT, -0.23% but enduring the wrath of the Trump Administration. Read more: Opinion: Trump has no right to demand money from Microsoft-TikTok deal President Donald Trump on Monday said he was ready to approve a deal but only if the U.S. government gets a cut of the sale price. This led to howls of protest from…

Wiley appears to be have been removed from YouTube after pressure mounted for the platform to do so following his anti-Semitic tirade. The Wearing My Rolex rapper launched into an offensive tirade about the Jewish community last month, which included comparing them to the Ku Klux Klan and tweeting that ‘Israel is not yours’.  It prompted an investigation from the Metropolitan Police and bans from social media sites Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.  With few platforms to utilise, Wiley began uploading rants on his YouTube channel sparking further outrage.  However, the account no longer appears on the website following mounting calls for YouTube to ban the grime star.  Addressing the move, a spokesperson from Campaign Against Anti-Semitism said: ‘Following contact between Campaign Against Antisemitism and Google, Wiley has now been banned from YouTube.  ‘This should have happened faster but we are pleased that this now means that Wiley can no longer incite antisemitism on any of the major social media platforms and has lost the ability to broadcast his hatred to the hundreds of thousands of people who followed him.’  To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video They added: ‘It is extremely important to us that Wiley is held to account for his actions, which is why we are in touch with the Metropolitan Police Service to ensure that he is prosecuted and the Cabinet Office to ensure that he is stripped of his MBE.  Wiley, 41, revealed he had been blocked out of his Google account – which owns YouTube – in a TikTok video showing a message which said: ‘Unable to access a Google product,’ in reference to YouTube.  YouTube initially demonetised Wiley’s account and said of its policy: ‘Hate speech and content that promotes hate against religious…

News Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Hunton Andrews Kurth are among the law firms that Facebook has hired for a Texas Supreme Court appeal seeking to toss out lawsuits by three sex trafficking victims who have sued over sex trafficking on Facebook and Instagram. Photo: PK Studio/Shutterstock.com Some of Texas’ largest Big Law firms are behind Facebook Inc. in a Texas Supreme Court appeal of rulings that are allowing victims to sue over sex trafficking that happened on Facebook and Instagram. Want to continue reading?Become a Free ALM Digital Reader. Benefits of a Digital Membership: Free access to 3 articles* every 30 days Access to the entire ALM network of websites Unlimited access to the ALM suite of newsletters Build custom alerts on any search topic of your choosing Search by a wide range of topics *May exclude premium content Already have an account? Sign In Now Angela Morris is ALM Media's Texas litigation reporter. She covers lawsuits in all levels of Texas state and federal courts. Based in Austin, Morris earned journalism and government degrees from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006, and since then, has worked primarily as a reporter and writer, but also has skills in videography, photography and podcasts. Follow her on Twitter at @AMorrisReports. More from this author

A pro-Trump ad was removed from Facebook after claims that it contained false information, Fox News has learned.America First Action PAC on Tuesday told Fox News that Facebook removed one of its ads, titled "On Hold," which was placed in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on July 24. The ad was flagged by Politifact on July 29, according to the PAC."Facebook's decision to take down this ad shows its anti-conservative bias," America First Communications Director Kelly Sadler told Fox News. "America First Action has logged an appeal, but the threat of anti-conservative bias, targeting, and censorship remains ahead of Election Day in November and we must be vigilant in holding big tech, like Facebook accountable."TWITTER EXEC IN CHARGE OF FACT-CHECKING MOCKED TRUMP SUPPORTERS, CALLED MCCONNELL 'BAG OF FARTS'Sadler, during an interview on Fox Business on Tuesday, added that this "is just more bias from these social media companies.""We're going to file an appeal, but there's really little we can do about it," she told host Stuart Varney. "These social media giants are monopolies, and ultimately they make the decision of what runs on their platform."Facebook confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday that the ad had, in fact, been fact-checked. A Facebook spokesperson told Fox News that ads that are fact-checked and found to contain false information are not eligible to run as a paid ad on the social media platform.The spokesman added that the videos can, instead, run as original content on the group's page.America First Action, though, said certain versions of the ad were removed in particular states, but the Facebook spokesman said that once the ad was fact-checked as false, all versions would be removed from the platform.The Facebook spokesperson said that if any version of the ad was still running on the platform, it would be due to a lag in Facebook's fact-checking system.The ad…

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday launched the National Cooperative Development Corporation's YouTube channel, 'Sahakar Cooptube NCDC India', to encourage farmers and the youth to take benefit of cooperatives. He also released videos on formation and registration of cooperatives for 18 states in Hindi and regional languages. The videos will be aired on the new channel. "Cooperatives are part of our culture. Through this channel, our effort should be to facilitate involvement of the youth in the cooperative movement," Tomar said after the launch. Formation of new cooperatives is a prerequisite for bringing new life and dedication in the realm of the cooperative movement, he said. The guidance videos in different languages covering 18 states would also strengthen and deepen the major initiatives of our government to promote and form 10,000 farmer-producer organisations (FPOs), he said in a statement. Stating that NCDC has a major role in the formation of FPOs in the cooperative mode, he said more states will be added to the collection of guidance videos on Sahakar Cooptube NCDC India channel on YouTube in due course of time. Further, the minister said NCDC as an apex-level statutory institution under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare has achieved tremendous success with a cumulative financial assistance to cooperatives to the tune of Rs 1,54,000 crore. Beginning with a disbursement of Rs 2.36 crore in 1963, NCDC disbursed around Rs 28,000 crore during 2019-20, he said. According to the government, cooperatives in India have come a long way and have proven their success in improving the condition of farmers and economic development. Largely as associations of small and marginal farmers and the rural poor, the cooperatives have acquired a huge network of over 8.50 lakh organisations and 290 million members. Cooperatives lend support to farmers in minimising risks…

Twitch Streamer HasanAbi has hit back at YouTuber Leafy after he posted a video heavily criticizing Pokimane's content, and implied that YouTubers have it harder than Twitch streamers.Hasan “HasanAbi” Piker is a popular face in streaming culture, known for his political commentary for group “The Young Turks,” activism, and Twitch broadcasts, boasting over 172,000 followers on the platform.In a stream on Twitch HasanAbi said in reference to Leafy's video: “I get so mad at this when YouTubers literally sit around and they make one video a month and get like Patreon money, or they make two videos a week max and then they cash out with like a six-figure cheque because they have a sea of simps“Then they turn around and s*** on streamers who literally go live for 6-8 hours every day. Like that’s nuts dude, of course, there’s going to be dead space in between.”He also criticized Leafy personally, pointing out that he has no place to mock others for their appearance (as he did to Pokimane)."It's so funny when people are like, 'this person is so ugly' – b*tch you don't even show your f**king face."The animosity between YouTubers and Twitch streamers began after Keemstar tweeted “Pokimane...2/10”, which sparked a wave of outrage from popular streamers and YouTubers alike including Froste, Valkyrae and FaZe Ewok. — KEEM 🍿 (@KEEMSTAR) July 27, 2020Popular YouTuber Leafy also made a video allegedly “exposing” Pokimane. In it, he criticized her streams, saying they are not funny, that she has "no redeeming qualities," and that she is unable to take criticism.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7RxRDYSAxUCommentary YouTuber Nicholas DeOrio tweeted that the debate is “literally the battle of first world problems...The Twitch streamers are trying to argue that their dream job is harder than a YouTuber's dream job. These people are such losers.” Read more: Mr Beast…