
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Meta will drop its fact-checking program and replace it with an X-style community notes feature, the social media giant’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday, saying the move will help restore “free expression” on the company’s platforms as he attacked governments and legacy media by accusing them of pushing for more censorship.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">Key Facts</h2>



<p>In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/zuck/videos/1525382954801931" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">video posted on Facebook</a>, Zuckerberg said the company is going to get back to its “roots” and focus on “simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.”</p>



<p>The Meta CEO then specified that the company would “get rid of fact-checkers” and replace them with “community notes similar to X,” starting first in the U.S.</p>



<p>Zuckerberg said the recent U.S. elections felt like “a cultural tipping point towards, once again, prioritizing speech.”</p>



<p>The billionaire added that the debate about “potential harms from online content” had led to Meta developing “complex systems” to moderate content, which led to “too many mistakes” and “too much censorship.”</p>



<p>Zuckerberg claimed that the fact-checkers implemented by Meta “have been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they have created.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-are-the-changes-being-implemented-by-meta">What Are The Changes Being Implemented By Meta?</h2>



<p>The company’s new Chief Global Affairs Officer, Joel Kaplan, detailed the changes in a&nbsp;<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2025/01/meta-more-speech-fewer-mistakes/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">blog post, saying</a>: “We’ve seen this approach work on X.” Once operational, Meta won’t write any of the community notes or decide “which ones show up.” The feature will “require agreement between people with a range of perspectives to help prevent biased ratings,” the blog noted. Community Notes will be rolled out in phases over the next few months and will appear on Facebook, Instagram and Threads. Meta will also be loosening its moderation policies and removing restrictions on topics like “immigration, gender identity and gender that are the subject of frequent political discourse and debate.” In his announcement, Zuckerberg claimed these restrictions are “out of touch with mainstream discourse,” and said they had been used as a tool to “shut down opinions,” instead of being more inclusive. The company is also rolling back its efforts to reduce the visibility of political content, saying it wants to replace its “blunt approach” with a “more personalized approach so that people who want to see more political content in their feeds can.” This means political content will be ranked and displayed “like any other content in your feed.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">Key Background</h2>



<p>Meta’s changes come as Zuckerberg has made several public overtures to mend his and his company’s tense relationship with President-elect Donald Trump. Meta suspended Trump from all its platforms after the Jan. 6 Capitol riots and, which Trump said at the time was “an insult” to Americans who voted for him, and added: “They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win.” While his accounts were eventually&nbsp;<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2023/01/trump-facebook-instagram-account-suspension/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">restored</a>&nbsp;in 2023, Trump and his allies continued to attack Meta and Zuckerberg. Last year, Trump said Meta was a bigger threat than the Chinese social media platform TikTok and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2024/03/11/trump-says-tiktok-ban-could-make-facebook-bigger-slams-meta-as-enemy-of-the-people/">called it</a>&nbsp;“an enemy of the people.” In late November, Zuckerberg&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2024/11/28/zuckerberg-meets-with-trump-at-mar-a-lago-in-bid-to-mend-strained-relationship/">met with Trump</a>&nbsp;at his Mar-A-Lago residence in Florida, a move that was seen as a bid by the Meta CEO to mend the strained ties. At the time, Meta said Zuckerberg was “grateful for the invitation to join President Trump for dinner and…meet with members of his team about the incoming administration.” Trump’s pick for deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller told Fox News Zuckerberg informed Trump that “he wants to support the national renewal of America under Trump’s leadership,” and he sees the president-elect as an “agent of change and…prosperity.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">Big Number</h2>



<p>$1 million. That is the amount Meta has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2024/12/12/meta-donates-1-million-to-trumps-inaugural-fund-weeks-after-ceo-zuckerberg-met-president-elect/">donated</a>&nbsp;to Trump’s inaugural fund.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">Further Reading</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2024/12/12/meta-donates-1-million-to-trumps-inaugural-fund-weeks-after-ceo-zuckerberg-met-president-elect/">Meta Donates $1 Million To Trump’s Inaugural Fund Weeks After Mark Zuckerberg Met President-Elect</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2024/11/28/zuckerberg-meets-with-trump-at-mar-a-lago-in-bid-to-mend-strained-relationship/">Zuckerberg Meets With Trump At Mar-A-Lago After Years Of Strained Ties</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p></p>


Key Speakers At The Meta Connect Event

Meta Ditches Fact-Checks For X-Style Community Notes—Zuckerberg Says It Will Restore ‘Free Expression’

Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity 2024 – Day Three

The Top 10 Richest People In The World (September 2024)


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">Topline</h2>



<p>Meta shares soared during premarket trading on Thursday, extending a rally from the day before after the social media titan <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2024/07/31/meta-earnings-deliver-stock-jumps-as-profits-soar-73/">reported</a> strong earnings in its core ad business as CEO Mark Zuckerberg strives to soothe investor concerns over the company’s aggressive investments in artificial intelligence.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Facts</h2>



<p>Meta shares were up more than 7.5% during premarket trading as of just after 7 a.m. EDT on Wednesday after the company exceeded analysts’ expectations in its second-quarter earnings report.</p>



<p>The tech giant, whose social media platforms include WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, said net income in the second quarter climbed 73% to $13.47 billion, and Meta shares had climbed 2.5% by market close before the earnings drop.</p>



<p>Meta’s Frankfurt-listed shares also rose more than 7% on Thursday.</p>



<p>The rally marks a turnaround from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/04/25/tech-stocks-tumble-as-metas-ai-bet-spooks-investors/">reaction sparked by</a>&nbsp;Meta’s last earnings report in April when Zuckerberg told investors to expect slower growth and big spending on the company’s AI projects.</p>



<p>Meta shares&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/04/25/tech-stocks-tumble-as-metas-ai-bet-spooks-investors/">plummeted</a>&nbsp;following the announcement and the news sparked a wider selloff across the tech sector as investors questioned whether big tech’s big bets on AI would pay off.</p>



<p>While Meta bumped the lower end of its range for capital expenditures to account for its AI projects, Zuckerberg said its investments in the technology were beginning to bear fruit and that the costs are outweighed by the company’s strong performance in its core advertising business.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Forbes Valuation</h2>



<p>Zuckerberg, who cofounded and led Meta’s precursor, Facebook, is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-zuckerberg/?list=rtb/&amp;sh=7f054a7e3e06">worth</a>&nbsp;an estimated $166.6 billion. His fortune, a large portion of which comes from his founding stake in Facebook, has grown by $4 billion, or 2.5%, over the last 24 hours. Zuckerberg is the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#40d647753d78">fifth richest person</a>&nbsp;in the world, behind Larry Ellison, Bernard Arnault, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk (who he has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2023/09/26/mark-gets-meta-zuckerberg-talks-ai-and-that-musk-mma-fight-thats-never-going-to-happen/?sh=426454083037">feuded</a>&nbsp;with publicly and agreed to fight in a cage match).</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Key Background</h2>



<p>Meta has bucked the trend of other big tech companies issuing earnings reports in recent weeks as investors grow more skeptical over whether their heavy investments in AI are paying off. Shares for <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2024/07/30/microsoft-earnings-stock-tanks-as-ai-business-growth-worse-than-expected/">Microsoft</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2024/07/24/elon-musks-net-worth-falls-16-billion-as-tesla-stock-tanks/">Tesla</a> tanked following their earnings reports and shares for <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-earnings-dow-sp500-nasdaq-07-23-2024/card/alphabet-earnings-what-to-watch-3TR22ZbujXxcZHWhrXcx#:~:text=Alphabet%20shares%20were%20down%20nearly,with%20%2484.21%20billion%20analysts%20expected." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google parent Alphabet </a>also fell after its report. Analysts at UBS articulated growing concerns among investors when it <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/07/24/tesla-slide-continues-as-analysts-reality-check-musks-ai-hype-that-has-overvalued-stock/">doubled down</a> on its decision to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2024/07/12/tesla-sell-off-continues-as-analysts-warn-ai-hype-has-gone-too-far/">downgrade</a> Tesla from neutral to sell over fears market hype over AI and Musk’s grandiose rhetoric for the company’s future with the technology were out of touch with reality and the ability of investments in the technology to pay off in the short term, or even at all.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What To Watch For</h2>



<p>Amazon is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/amazon-set-join-big-techs-spending-surge-ai-race-heats-up-2024-07-31/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">due</a>&nbsp;to issue its second-quarter earnings report on Thursday. The e-commerce and cloud computing giant is widely expected to reveal surging capital spending on AI, in line with Microsoft and Google.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/amazon-set-join-big-techs-spending-surge-ai-race-heats-up-2024-07-31/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">According</a>&nbsp;to LSEG data, capital investments are expected to have climbed 43% to more than $16 billion in the second quarter. Most of this will be for cloud computing and generative AI infrastructure. Amazon shares were up 1.3% during premarket trading.</p>


Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg Interview On The Circuit

Meta Shares Rally As Tech Giant’s Aggressive AI Investments Start Paying Off

Billionaire Elon Musk Receives Axel Springer Award

The Top 10 Richest People In The World (July 2024)


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Meta registered its highest-ever share price Friday, potentially completing the social media giant’s dramatic recovery amid Wall Street’s renewed faith in Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has refocused the firm&#8217;s attention on improving bottom lines.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>Shares of Meta climbed as much as 2.2% to $384.36 in Friday trading, eking out their prior intraday high of $384.33 set in September 2021.</p>



<p>Meta, which also broke its prior high closing share price of $382, capped a significant comeback from the stock’s 77% collapse from its 2021 peak to its November 2022 nadir.</p>



<p>The 2021-22 unraveling, though coming as worsening economic conditions and the threat of higher interest rates broadly weighed on technology stocks, notably coincided with Meta’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisakim/2021/10/28/facebook-announces-new-name-meta/">name change</a>&nbsp;from Facebook to reflect the company’s shifting focus away from its core social media product and into Zuckerberg’s pet “metaverse” augmented and virtual reality passion project.</p>



<p>The metaverse push&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/07/26/metaverse-results-keep-getting-worse-at-meta/?sh=78e1c8672b24">proved</a>&nbsp;highly unpopular among investors, as the company’s augmented and virtual division reported $13.7 billion of operating losses in 2022.</p>



<p>But Meta shares came roaring back in 2023 as Zuckerberg&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/03/14/meta-cuts-another-10000-jobs/?sh=1d164387725b">touted</a>&nbsp;the company’s “year of efficiency”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/meta-lay-off-employees-metaverse-silicon-unit-wednesday-2023-10-03/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">marked</a>&nbsp;by more than 20,000 layoffs and a push to boost profits, an effort that began to bear fruit in Meta’s results as the company is fresh off of its most profitable quarter ever, generating $13.9 billion in cash during the quarter ending September 30, 2022.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>Meta was the S&amp;P 500’s second-best performer of 2023, returning almost 200%. Its gains came during a broad rally for big tech stocks, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index rose more than 40% last year. Zuckerberg, who owns about 13% of the company, grew much richer as Meta stock soared. His $134 billion net worth Friday, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-zuckerberg/?sh=51ad6d243e06">as estimated</a> by Forbes, is the fifth-largest fortune in the world.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



<p>Meta is now within 2% of achieving a $1 trillion market capitalization for the first time in its history. Apple, Microsoft, Saudi Aramco, Alphabet, Amazon and Nvidia are the only companies in the world now valued at over $1 trillion. Meta’s roughly $985 billion market cap Friday made it the world’s seventh-most valuable company.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



<p>Meta will report fourth-quarter and full-year financial results February 1. Analysts expect Meta to report its most profitable year ever with a record $72.6 billion of projected EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), according to FactSet.</p>


In this photo illustration the American online social media

Meta Stock Sets Record High—How It Emerged From 77% Plunge And Metaverse Fiasco


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Meta inched toward its highest-ever share price Friday, potentially completing the social media giant’s dramatic recovery amid Wall Street’s renewed faith in Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has refocused the firm&#8217;s attention on improving bottom lines.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>Shares of Meta climbed as much as 1.7% to $382.59 in morning trading, hitting their highest level in more than two years and testing their prior intraday high of $384.33 set in September 2021.</p>



<p>Meta, which is also on the cusp of breaking its prior high closing share price of $382, can cap a significant comeback from the stock’s 77% collapse from its 2021 peak to its November 2022 nadir.</p>



<p>The 2021-22 unraveling, though coming as worsening economic conditions and the threat of higher interest rates broadly weighed on technology stocks, notably coincided with Meta’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisakim/2021/10/28/facebook-announces-new-name-meta/">name change</a>&nbsp;from Facebook to reflect the company’s shifting focus away from its core social media product and into Zuckerberg’s pet “metaverse” augmented and virtual reality passion project.</p>



<p>The metaverse push&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/07/26/metaverse-results-keep-getting-worse-at-meta/?sh=78e1c8672b24">proved</a>&nbsp;highly unpopular among investors, as the company’s augmented and virtual division reported $13.7 billion of operating losses in 2022.</p>



<p>But Meta shares came roaring back in 2023 as Zuckerberg <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/03/14/meta-cuts-another-10000-jobs/?sh=1d164387725b">touted</a> the company’s “year of efficiency” <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/meta-lay-off-employees-metaverse-silicon-unit-wednesday-2023-10-03/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">marked</a> by more than 20,000 layoffs and a push to boost profits, an effort that began to bear fruit in Meta’s results as the company is fresh off of its most profitable quarter ever, generating $13.9 billion in cash during the quarter ending September 30, 2022.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>Meta was the S&amp;P 500’s second-best performer of 2023, returning almost 200%. Its gains came during a broad rally for big tech stocks, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq index rose more than 40% last year. Zuckerberg, who owns about 13% of the company, grew much richer as Meta stock soared. His $134 billion net worth Friday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-zuckerberg/?sh=51ad6d243e06">as estimated</a>&nbsp;by Forbes, is the fifth-largest fortune in the world.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



<p>Meta is now within 2% of achieving a $1 trillion market capitalization for the first time in its history. Apple, Microsoft, Saudi Aramco, Alphabet, Amazon and Nvidia are the only companies in the world now valued at over $1 trillion. Meta’s roughly $980 billion market cap Friday made it the world’s seventh-most valuable company.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



<p>Meta will report fourth-quarter and full-year financial results February 1. Analysts expect Meta to report its most profitable year ever with a record $72.6 billion of projected EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), according to FactSet. </p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/"></a></p>


gettyimages-1197863868-594×594

Meta Stock On Cusp Of Record High—How It Emerged From 77% Plunge And Metaverse Fiasco


<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



<p>Tech executives Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk suggested in June they’d be interested in clashing in a UFC-style cage fight, and egged each other on while tensions escalated between the two billionaires and their companies—but Zuckerberg&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/08/13/zuckerberg-thinks-its-time-to-move-on-from-planned-cage-fight-with-musk-elon-isnt-serious/">downplayed the potential</a>&nbsp;of a billionaire brawl Sunday when he said Musk “isn’t serious” about picking a date.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>The idea of a cage match was first posed by Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1671364992665264131" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">over Twitter</a>, where the Tesla CEO responded to a thread about Instagram’s then-upcoming rival app Threads, saying, “I’m up for a cage match if he is lol.”</p>



<p>Zuckerberg responded the next day with an Instagram story showing a screenshot of Musk’s tweet captioned “send me location”—a reference to a famous line from former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov (a Meta spokesperson confirmed to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/21/23769263/mark-zuckerberg-elon-musk-fight-cage-match-worldstar" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Verge</a>&nbsp;that Zuckerberg was being serious in his response to Musk).</p>



<p>As hype around a potential fight picked up, UFC president Dana White joined in on the anticipation, posting a video of himself sporting a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuCyF4HJQut/?img_index=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Zuckerberg vs Musk shirt</a>&nbsp;that was made available for purchase on the UFC’s website.</p>



<p>White was quoted in a July 1 story from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/technology/elon-musk-mark-zuckerberg-cage-match.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>New York Times</em></a><em>&nbsp;</em>saying he would help organize an exhibition match between the tech CEOs and that they both wanted to fight—with both men agreeing there should be a charity component to the bout.</p>



<p>On July 3, photos of Musk training with UFC legend Georges St. Pierre, mixed martial arts coach John Danaher and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu black belt Lex Fridman surfaced online—with an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CuQLly_vqrT/?img_index=1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Instagram post</a>&nbsp;from St. Pierre showing the four men in training gear.</p>



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<p>By signing up, you accept and agree to our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/terms-and-conditions" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Terms of Service</a>&nbsp;(including the class action waiver and arbitration provisions), and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/privacy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Privacy Statement</a>.</p>



<p>Zuckerberg, who is trained in the grappling combat discipline of Jiu-jitsu, also employed the training services of elite fighting talent in July—made evident by&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/stylebender/status/1678848822041255937" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">gym photos</a>&nbsp;taken with UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and UFC featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski on July 11.</p>



<p>The two billionaires reinvigorated interest in a potential match in early August, when Musk said he was weightlifting to prepare for the fight, suggesting it would be live-streamed on X—the rebranded Twitter platform—and that all proceeds would go to a charity for veterans.</p>



<p>Zuckerberg responded to Musk’s posts via Threads, asking if a “more reliable platform” should be used for a live-stream of the fight and adding he was “not holding his breath” for a fight to materialize.</p>



<p>Although Zuckerberg has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.threads.net/@zuck/post/CvnechDSJeC" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">made clear</a>&nbsp;he is ready for a match, the same can’t be said for Musk, who said the date is “still in flux” and he&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1688377445957652480?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">may need surgery</a>&nbsp;before a fight can happen.</p>



<p>Days after calling the idea “in flux,” Musk said the Italian government agreed to an “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/08/11/elon-musk-says-italian-government-approved-epic-location-for-his-billionaire-clash-against-mark-zuckerberg/?sh=1d1742f043f9">epic location</a>” for a fight that would be managed by his and Zuckerberg’s respective foundations, not the UFC.</p>



<p>Zuckerberg shot down Musk’s plans, saying, “if he ever agrees on an actual date, you&#8217;ll hear it from me,” adding that he’d prefer to work with professional fight promotions such as UFC and ONE.</p>



<p>Just days after Zuckerberg expressed hesitation about Musk’s commitment to the match, the Meta CEO&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2023/08/13/zuckerberg-thinks-its-time-to-move-on-from-planned-cage-fight-with-musk-elon-isnt-serious/">posted on Threads</a>&nbsp;on August 13 “it’s time to move on” because Musk won’t confirm a date, adding Musk said he needs surgery—and months of recovery—before fighting and wanted to do a practice round in Zuckerberg’s backyard.</p>



<p>The same day Zuckerberg announced the desire to move on, Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1690747345674137600" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">posted</a>&nbsp;a screenshot to X of the purported conversation in which he suggested a practice round; Zuckerberg responded over text telling him he should train on his own and say when he’s ready to compete, adding he doesn’t “want to keep hyping something that will never happen.”</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



<p>In the background of Musk and Zuckerberg fight-related banter, tensions between the two have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/phoebeliu/2023/07/09/billionaire-brawl-now-whos-winning-the-fight-between-musk-and-zuckerberg/?sh=11d0221d26bc">increased</a>&nbsp;following the launch of Instagram’s Threads platform, a direct competitor to Twitter that launched July 5 and racked up its first&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/07/10/with-100-million-users-in-five-days-threads-is-the-fastest-growing-app-in-history/?sh=287d252549ab">100 million users</a>&nbsp;on July 10. That same day, Musk called Zuckerberg a “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/07/10/musk-hits-below-the-belt-with-latest-zuckerberg-attacks-zuck-is-a-cuck/?sh=356527f622ee">cuck</a>” over Twitter and proposed a “dick measuring contest” with him. An attorney for Twitter accused and threatened to sue Meta for allegedly misusing Twitter’s &#8220;trade secrets and other intellectual property&#8221; and employing former Twitter staffers for help with developing Threads, labeling it as a “copycat” app of Twitter.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contra">CONTRA</h2>



<p>Musk biographer Walter Isaacson later claimed in a Twitter Spaces session that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-mark-zuckerberg-cage-fight-match-unlikely-walter-isaacson-2023-7" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">he doubted</a>&nbsp;a fight would happen and that it was “a metaphor” for the competition between the CEOs’ rivaling social media sites.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



<p>-160. That was the&nbsp;<a href="https://dknation.draftkings.com/pop-culture/2023/6/22/23769810/mark-zuckerberg-vs-elon-musk-odds-cage-fight-who-will-win-wheres-the-asteroid" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hypothetical line</a>&nbsp;DraftKings set in June for Zuckerberg to win the match, making him the betting favorite, with bettors needing to wager $160 on Zuckerberg to return a $100 profit. DraftKings set the odds for a Musk upset at +140, meaning a $100 bet would deliver a $140 profit. The sports betting company attributed the lines to Zuckerberg’s younger age and his regular physical activity.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>A cage match between the tech CEOs might involve some parameters to account for their difference in size. Notably, Musk told White that he would not be willing to “lose any weight” for a potential matchup. Musk, 52, stands around 6’1” tall and has made clear on Twitter that he&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1671699387620237312" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">almost never works out</a>. Zuckerberg, 39, is 5 &#8216;7” and regularly takes to physical training and competition, recently securing two medals in his first&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/09/business/mark-zuckerberg-jiu-jitsu-winner/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Jiu-jitsu tournament</a>&nbsp;in May, though he was also choked out in one of his fights, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/02/style/mark-zuckerberg-workout.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>New York Times</em></a>&nbsp;(Zuckerberg has denied the claim). Zuckerberg also seems to be the more avid fight fan, as he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, attended a UFC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.insider.com/video-mark-zuckerberg-attends-ufc-event-priscilla-chan-looks-shook-2022-10" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">fight card</a>&nbsp;last October.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-forbes-valuation">FORBES VALUATION</h2>



<p>We estimate Musk is the richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?list=rtb/&amp;sh=5a59a8f87999">$225.2 billion</a>. Zuckerberg’s net worth is estimated at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-zuckerberg/?sh=350141a23e06">$107 billion</a>—placing him at No. 8 on&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>’ list of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#7b288cfb3d78">world’s real-time billionaires</a>.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/07/11/mark-zuckerberg-training-with-ufc-champions-israel-adesanya-and-alexander-volkanovski-as-elon-musk-spat-intensifies/?sh=52e0cfd75d9a">Mark Zuckerberg Training With UFC Champions Israel Adesanya And Alexander Volkanovski As Elon Musk Spat Intensifies</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/01/technology/elon-musk-mark-zuckerberg-cage-match.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A ‘Cage Match’ Between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg May Be No Joke</a>&nbsp;(New York Times)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/07/10/musk-hits-below-the-belt-with-latest-zuckerberg-attacks-zuck-is-a-cuck/?sh=356527f622ee">Musk Hits Below The Belt With Latest Zuckerberg Attacks: ‘Zuck Is A Cuck’</a> (Forbes)</p>


Elon Musk Vs Mark Zuckerberg Illustration

Zuckerberg Vs Musk: Disputes Heat Up Over Billionaire Cage Fight—Here’s Everything We Know


<p><strong>TOPLINE</strong> Facebook published its guidelines on content distribution Thursday, reiterating that it throttles the reach of “problematic or low-quality” content including clickbait, misinformation and sensationalist health claims, as the company faces increasing pressure from users and lawmakers to reveal how it decides what content to display. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



<p>There are dozens of reasons Facebook curtails the reach of content it displays in its News Feed, according to Content Distribution Guidelines&nbsp;<a href="https://transparency.fb.com/en-gb/features/approach-to-ranking/types-of-content-we-demote/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published</a>&nbsp;on Thursday, including spam, unsafe reporting on suicide and “posts from broadly untrusted news publishers.”&nbsp;</p>



<p>Facebook said the guidelines, previously shared through earlier announcements, have been newly gathered in the platform’s months-old&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/emmawoollacott/2021/05/20/facebook-launches-transparency-center-shares-data-on-content-removal/?sh=46511bcb1f53">transparency center</a>.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Facebook said there are three reasons it will reduce the reach of content: to incentivize creators to build “high-quality and accurate content,” to foster a “safer community,” and in response to direct user feedback.&nbsp;</p>



<p>Publishing the measures in one place—which apply to problematic posts that do not warrant removal from the site—is supposed to provide more clarity on Facebook’s internal process, the company&nbsp;<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2021/09/content-distribution-guidelines/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>, as it faces increasing fire around the world to reveal how it controls what users see.</p>



<p>According to the guidelines, Facebook also demotes posts by people who “probably have multiple accounts for the purposes of evading enforcement,” news articles lacking clear authorship and links that lead to pages containing explicit or shocking content.&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-we-don-t-know">WHAT WE DON’T KNOW</h2>



<p>The guidelines offered only a top-level look at how Facebook controls News Feed and did not, for example, give details on how content is reduced, by how much or whether different kinds of posts have their reach cut in different ways.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



<p>The guidelines are not a new initiative of Facebook’s and simply shine a small light on the company’s well-known and poorly-understood&nbsp;<a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/mark-zuckerberg-joel-kaplan-facebook-alex-jones" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">practice</a>&nbsp;of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.motherjones.com/media/2020/10/facebook-mother-jones/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">manipulating</a>&nbsp;what users see. Recent investigations by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-facebook-files-11631713039" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><em>Wall Street Journal&nbsp;</em></a>and the&nbsp;<em>New York Times</em>&nbsp;uncovered details of a project to show people<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/technology/zuckerberg-facebook-project-amplify.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;positive stories&nbsp;</a>about Facebook,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/09/21/facebook-oversight-board-cross-check-moderation/?sh=3b04693351f7">separate rules</a>&nbsp;for high-profile users and politicians, and evidence the company is fully aware its products can be&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/facebook-knows-instagram-is-toxic-for-teen-girls-company-documents-show-11631620739" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">harmful</a>&nbsp;to users,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jemimamcevoy/2021/09/14/facebook-internal-research-found-instagram-can-be-very-harmful-to-young-girls-report-says/?sh=1dad6885a2a5">including</a>&nbsp;young girls. In 2014, Facebook&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/29/facebook-users-emotions-news-feeds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">revealed</a>&nbsp;a clandestine experiment on nearly 700,000 to determine whether or not it could&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/everything-we-know-about-facebooks-secret-mood-manipulation-experiment/373648/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">manipulate</a>&nbsp;users’ emotions using News Feed (the study found they could).&nbsp;</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/21/technology/zuckerberg-facebook-project-amplify.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">No More Apologies: Inside Facebook’s Push to Defend Its Image</a>&nbsp;(NYT)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/09/21/facebook-oversight-board-cross-check-moderation/?sh=3b04693351f7">Facebook Oversight Board Will Investigate Whether The Company Has Different Rules For Powerful Users</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/23/22688840/facebook-releases-content-distribution-guidelines-for-news-feed" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Facebook is starting to share more about what it demotes in News Feed</a>&nbsp;(Verge)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-algorithm-change-zuckerberg-11631654215" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Facebook Tried to Make Its Platform a Healthier Place. It Got Angrier Instead.</a>&nbsp;(WSJ)</p>


Facebook Holds Virtual F8 Developer Conference

Facebook Reveals What Content It Will Suppress, But Not Remove — Though Crucial Details Remain Hidden


<p id="h-a-federal-district-court-ruled-in-favor-of-facebook-in-two-lawsuits-brought-by-the-federal-trade-commission-ftc-and-state-attorneys-general-monday-thwarting-government-efforts-to-break-up-the-big-tech-behemoth-and-sending-the-company-s-market-value-to-record-heights-though-the-court-said-the-ftc-can-file-their-complaint-again-and-make-another-attempt"><strong>TOPLINE</strong>: A federal district court ruled in favour of Facebook in two <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2020/12/09/48-us-states-ftc-file-antitrust-charges-against-facebook/?sh=24ef02ec7653">lawsuits</a> brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general Monday, thwarting government efforts to break up the big tech behemoth and sending the company’s market value to record heights—though the court said the FTC can file their complaint again and make another attempt.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



<p>The FTC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/enforcement/cases-proceedings/191-0134/facebook-inc-ftc-v" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">sued</a>&nbsp;Facebook in December 2020, alleging the company had violated antitrust law through practices like buying up competitors like Instagram and WhatsApp.</p>



<p>U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg&nbsp;<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.224921/gov.uscourts.dcd.224921.73.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ruled</a>&nbsp;the government agency’s claims about Facebook being a monopoly were “legally insufficient and must therefore be dismissed,” saying the government’s case was “light on specific factual allegations” even as the judge acknowledged the court “does not agree with all of Facebook’s contentions here.”</p>



<p>New York Attorney General Letitia James led 48 states in separately&nbsp;<a href="https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2020/attorney-general-james-leads-multistate-lawsuit-seeking-end-facebooks-illegal" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">suing</a>&nbsp;Facebook for alleged antitrust violations in December, which Boasberg also&nbsp;<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.224923/gov.uscourts.dcd.224923.137.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dismissed</a>&nbsp;Monday, saying the states waited too long to bring their case.</p>



<p>The states’ case “is premised on public, high-profile conduct nearly all of which occurred over six years ago,” Boasberg wrote—“when Ebola was the virus dominating headlines”—and granting relief to the states now would result in harm to Facebook and its shareholders given that Instagram and WhatsApp have been fully integrated into the company.</p>



<p>The FTC lawsuit was dismissed “without prejudice,” which means it can be filed again with changes to address the court’s concerns, but the state complaint was dismissed in its entirety.</p>



<p>The favorable ruling&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/28/tech/facebook-trillion-ftc/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">led to</a>&nbsp;Facebook’s stock rising by more than 4% Monday and the company hitting a $1 trillion market cap for the first time, and the company said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/andymstone/status/1409611408371859459?s=21" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>&nbsp;they were “pleased” the court’s decisions “recognize the defects in the government complaints filed against Facebook.”</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h3>



<p>“The FTC alleges only that Facebook has ‘maintained a dominant share of the U.S. personal social networking market (in excess of 60%)’ since 2011&#8230;and that ‘no other social network of comparable scale exists in the United States.’ That is it,” Boasberg wrote to explain why he ruled in Facebook’s favor, saying the FTC did “not even provide an estimated actual figure or range for Facebook’s market share at any point over the past ten years” and their allegations “ultimately fall short of plausibly establishing that Facebook holds market power.”</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h3>



<p>The FTC is likely to submit an amended complaint to get the court to reconsider the issue, particularly considering the agency’s new director,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/15/technology/lina-khan-ftc.html#:~:text=Liz%20Cheney-,Biden%20Names%20Lina%20Khan%2C%20a%20Big%2DTech%20Critic%2C%20as,on%20the%20agency%20on%20Tuesday." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Lina Khan</a>, has a history of being critical of big tech. The new FTC chief, who the Senate just confirmed in mid-June, expressed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/business/lina-khan-ftc.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">concerns</a>&nbsp;about the dominance of big tech companies like Facebook during her confirmation hearing, saying she believed there was a “whole range of potential risks” associated with companies’ growing power.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



<p>The Facebook lawsuits are part of a growing government effort against Facebook and its big tech brethren. Government&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/these-are-the-u-s-antitrust-cases-facing-google-facebook-and-others-11608150564" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lawsuits</a>&nbsp;have also been brought against Google, the FTC is reportedly&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazons-planned-purchase-of-mgm-to-be-reviewed-by-ftc-11624379614" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">preparing</a>&nbsp;to investigate Amazon over its acquisition of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2021/05/26/amazon-buys-mgm---but-heres-why-you-still-wont-find-wizard-of-oz-or-gone-with-the-wind-on-there/">MGM</a>&nbsp;and the House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/10/06/long-awaited-house-report-recommends-breaking-up-big-tech/?sh=7158f975c831">concluded</a>&nbsp;in October that Congress should consider updating its antitrust laws and breaking up big tech companies, among other efforts. Facebook, for its part, has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/07/28/tech-ceo-antitrust-hearing-opening-statement-385233" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">maintained</a>&nbsp;it does not practice anticompetitive behavior—even as emails&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/29/21345723/facebook-instagram-documents-emails-mark-zuckerberg-kevin-systrom-hearing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">show</a>&nbsp;CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he viewed Instagram as a threat that “can hurt us meaningfully” before Facebook bought the company—and has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/11/facebook-breakup-antitrust/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">integrated</a>&nbsp;the tech behind its platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp reportedly in order to make the company harder to break up.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h3>



<p>Antitrust legislation that could result in big tech companies like Facebook potentially getting broken up is moving forward in Congress, with the House Judiciary Committee&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/24/technology/antitrust-overhaul-congress.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">advancing</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/22/tech-industry-urges-congress-to-slow-down-new-antitrust-bills.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">legislation</a>&nbsp;last week that would prohibit companies from owning businesses that present a conflict of interest, stop tech platforms from advantaging their own services over those of competitors and give regulators more of an advantage over the tech companies. Those bills likely face an uphill battle in a closely divided Senate, however, even as both Republicans and Democrats have advocated against tech companies’ growing power.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h3>



<p>Among those who have called for Facebook to be broken up is the company’s own co-founder Chris Hughes, who wrote in a 2019 op-ed that the “government must hold Mark accountable.” “Mark’s power is unprecedented and un-American,” Hughes wrote about Zuckerberg. “It is time to break up Facebook.”</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h3>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2020/12/09/48-us-states-ftc-file-antitrust-charges-against-facebook/?sh=24ef02ec7653">48 Attorneys General, FTC File Antitrust Charges Against Facebook</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2021/03/10/facebook-seeks-dismissal-of-antitrust-lawsuits/?sh=1458cb054e30">Facebook Seeks Dismissal Of Antitrust Lawsuits</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/28/tech/facebook-trillion-ftc/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Facebook hits $1 trillion market cap after federal court dismisses FTC antitrust complaint</a>&nbsp;(CNN)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/11/facebook-breakup-antitrust/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Regulators want to break up Facebook. That’s a technical nightmare, insiders say. </a>(Washington Post)</p>



<p><em><strong>By Alison Durkee, Forbes Staff</strong></em></p>


In this photo illustration, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook Wins Antitrust Lawsuits — At Least For Now


<p id="h-topline"><strong>TOPLINE</strong> Facebook, the world&#8217;s largest social media company, posted its strongest first-quarter earnings yet Wednesday afternoon, shattering Wall Street expectations thanks to surging advertising revenues despite heightened competition from the likes of Google and threats on the regulatory front.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook <a href="https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2021/Facebook-Reports-First-Quarter-2021-Results/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> revenue of $26.1 billion in the first quarter, 48% more than the $17.7 billion it pulled in the first quarter of last year and nearly $3 billion more than analysts expected.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Net income also smashed expectations, hitting $9.5 billion, or $3.30 per share—well above average analyst expectations of $2.33 per share and nearly double income of $4.9 billion in the first quarter of last year.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Facebook’s monthly active users jumped about 50 million, meaning a record-breaking 2.85 billion people used the social network in the last month of the quarter. </li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>A slew of analysts upped their Facebook price targets this week in anticipation of the better-than-expected earnings report, with Credit Suisse&#8217;s Stephen Ju on Monday saying improving ad trends should bode well for Facebook and Instagram&#8217;s bottom lines.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Facebook stock futures jumped 7% within minutes of the announcement; shares closed up 1.2% on Wednesday and have climbed about 14% for the year—better than the tech-heavy Nasdaq’s 11% increase.</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h3>



<p>$341.50. That&#8217;s how high analysts think Facebook shares can go over the next year, according to Bloomberg data, giving the stock about 11% upside to Wednesday’s closing price of $307.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h3>



<p>Facebook&#8217;s third-quarter&nbsp;<a href="https://investor.fb.com/investor-events/event-details/2021/Facebook-Q1-2021-Earnings-/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">earnings call</a>&nbsp;is at 5 p.m. EDT Wednesday.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE&nbsp;</h3>



<p>&#8220;We had a strong quarter as we helped people stay connected and businesses grow,&#8221; said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-zuckerberg/">Mark Zuckerberg</a>, Facebook’s billionaire founder and CEO. &#8220;We will continue to invest aggressively to deliver new and meaningful experiences for years to come, including in newer areas like augmented and virtual reality, commerce, and the creator economy.&#8221;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



<p>Founded in 2004 by a group of Harvard College classmates including Zuckerberg and fellow billionaire&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/dustin-moskovitz/">Dustin Moskovitz</a>, Facebook is now the fifth-largest U.S. company by market cap, worth a staggering $862 billion. More than 95% of the company&#8217;s revenue comes from advertising, with about 50% of sales saturated in the U.S. and Canada. Though Bank of America expects the stock could soar another 20% in the next three years, the biggest risks to watch for include declines in user activity, privacy issues, big-tech regulation and any adverse impact on advertising prices.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h3>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2021/04/27/facebooks-stock-to-grow-as-earnings-expected-to-beat-market-estimates/">Facebook&#8217;s Stock To Grow As Earnings Expected To Beat Market Estimates?</a>&nbsp;<em>(Forbes)</em></p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2021/04/28/why-mark-zuckerberg-wants-influencers-to-get-rich/">Why Mark Zuckerberg Wants Influencers To Get Rich</a>&nbsp;<em>(Forbes)</em></p>



<p><strong><em>By Jonathan Ponciano, Forbes Staff</em></strong></p>


Facebook Posts $26 Billion In Revenue, Shattering Wall Street Expectations As Income Nearly Doubles


<p><strong>Despite the pandemic, it was a record-setting year for the world’s wealthiest—with a $5 trillion surge in wealth and an unprecedented number of new billionaires.</strong></p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<p class="has-drop-cap">It’s been a year like no other, and we aren’t talking about the pandemic. There were rapid-fire public offerings, surging cryptocurrencies and skyrocketing stock prices. The number of billionaires on&nbsp;<em>Forbes’</em>&nbsp;35th annual list of the world’s wealthiest exploded to an unprecedented&nbsp;<strong>2,755</strong>—660 more than a year ago. Altogether they are worth&nbsp;<strong>$13.1 trillion</strong>, up from $8 trillion on the 2020 list.&nbsp;</p>



<p>There are a record high&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2021/04/06/nearly-500-people-have-become-billionaires-during-the-pandemic-year/?sh=386c528125c0"><strong>493 newcomers</strong></a>&nbsp;to the list—roughly one new billionaire every 17 hours, including 210 from China and Hong Kong and 98 from the U.S. The richest newcomer, at $38.2 billion, is&nbsp;<strong>Miriam Adelson</strong>&nbsp;of Nevada, who inherited her husband Sheldon Adelson’s casino empire following his death in January. Other notable new entrants include movie and TV producer&nbsp;<strong>Tyler Perry</strong>, Bumble dating app cofounder&nbsp;<strong>Whitney Wolfe Herd</strong>—the world’s youngest self-made woman billionaire, and Europe’s&nbsp;<strong>Guillaume Pousaz</strong>, founder of payments firm Checkout.com. Another 250 people who’d fallen off the billionaires’ list in the past came roaring back. Altogether, a staggering 86% of all billionaires are richer than a year ago.https://embedly.forbes.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fe.infogram.com%2F203c82a4-0962-4ff3-b2f9-883366e688b1%3Fsrc%3Dembed&amp;display_name=Infogram&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Finfogram.com%2Fdesktop-2021-billionaires-recirc-1ho16vojl5w8x4n&amp;image=https%3A%2F%2Finfogram-thumbs-1024.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com%2Fd1c81d9b-cd07-4ed9-ae1f-456751923c71.jpg&amp;key=3ce26dc7e3454db5820ba084d28b4935&amp;type=text%2Fhtml&amp;schema=infogram</p>



<p><strong>Jeff Bezos</strong>&nbsp;is the world’s richest person for the fourth year running, worth $177 billion, up $64 billion from a year ago as a result of surging Amazon shares.&nbsp;<strong>Elon Musk</strong>—the biggest gainer in dollar terms—rocketed into the No. 2 spot with a $151 billion fortune, a whopping $126.4 billion more than a year ago, when he ranked No. 31 and was worth $24.6 billion. The main reason: a 705% climb in Tesla shares. French luxury goods tycoon&nbsp;<strong>Bernard Arnault</strong>&nbsp;holds onto his spot at No. 3 but his fortune nearly doubled to $150 billion, from $76 billion, due to an 86% rise in the shares of LVMH, owner of brands including Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior and cosmetics retailer Sephora.&nbsp;<strong>The top ten richest are worth $1.15 trillion, up by two-thirds from $686 billion last year</strong>. Altogether,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddawkins/2021/04/06/europes-billionaires-are-1-trillion-richer-than-a-year-ago/?sh=623d979f76e5">Europe’s billionaires</a>&nbsp;are $1 trillion richer than a year ago.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-net-worth-of-the-world-s-richest-person"><strong>Net Worth of the World’s Richest Person</strong></h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/606b6013b0a2afc5b16302b6/0x0.png?fit=scale" alt="Richest person net worth"/></figure>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<p>This year there are four people worth $100 billion or more—up from just one (Bezos) on last year’s list. Besides Bezos, Musk and Arnault, there’s&nbsp;<strong>Bill Gates</strong>, who ranks No. 4 at $124 billion, buoyed by the strength of shares he owns in Microsoft, Canadian National Railway and tractor maker Deere &amp; Company.</p>



<p>Rounding out the top five is Facebook founder&nbsp;<strong>Mark Zuckerberg</strong>, at $97 billion. He’s worth an eye-popping $42.3 billion more than a year ago; Facebook’s shares have risen 80% in the past year as people around the world used its social media platforms to stay in touch. (For more on the richest tech billionaires, see&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrickcai/2021/04/06/here-are-the-richest-tech-billionaires-in-2021/?sh=691f42bb4d70">here</a>; and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mominakhan/2021/04/06/the-10-richest-american-billionaires-2021/?sh=7e747aa4d981">here</a>&nbsp;for the richest Americans.) The richest woman this year is cosmetics heir Francoise Bettencourt Meyers of France; see here for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/denizcam/2021/04/06/the-top-richest-women-in-the-world-in-2021/?sh=59cfe7094598">richest women</a>.</p>



<p><strong>Warren Buffett&nbsp;</strong>is the world’s sixth richest person, worth $96 billion. It’s the first year since 1993 that the revered investor running Berkshire Hathaway has not appeared in the top five. Not that the 90-year-old Oracle of Omaha had a bad year—he’s still worth $28.5 billion more than he was on the 2020 list.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-number-of-billionaires-worldwide-and-combined-net-worth"><strong>Number of Billionaires Worldwide and Combined Net Worth</strong></h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/606b5e244876c7b64f423816/0x0.png?fit=scale" alt="Number of Billionaires and combined net worth"/><figcaption>Forbs.com</figcaption></figure>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<p>The<strong>&nbsp;U.S.</strong>&nbsp;still has more billionaires than any other country, with 724 (up from 614 last year), but China is closing the gap with 698 (including 71 from&nbsp;<strong>Hong Kong</strong>&nbsp;and 1 from&nbsp;<strong>Macao</strong>). Last year the U.S. had 614 billionaires and China had 456 (including 66 from Hong Kong and 1 Macao).&nbsp;<strong>India</strong>&nbsp;has the third highest number of billionaires, with 140. Altogether, the 1,149 billionaires from Asia-Pacific countries are worth $4.7 trillion, while the U.S. billionaires are worth a total $4.4 trillion.&nbsp; (For more on the countries with the most billionaires, see&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2021/04/06/the-countries-with-the-most-billionaires-2021/?sh=42c017c0379b">here</a>. Plus&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferwang/2021/04/06/the-10-richest-chinese-billionaires-in-2021/?sh=7e5164685ca2">China’s richest</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferwang/2021/04/06/asia-ascendant-the-richest-new-chinese-billionaires-in-2021/?sh=3361ff131a1a">China’s newcomers</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/naazneenkarmali/2021/04/06/indias-10-richest-billionaires-2021/?sh=2922cf8359b7">India’s richest</a>.)&nbsp;</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-countries-with-the-most-billionaires"><strong>The Countries With The Most Billionaires</strong></h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/606b7cca1391bb569e6302b6/0x0.png?fit=scale" alt="Countries With The Most Billionaires"/><figcaption>Forbes.com</figcaption></figure>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<p>A record 1,975 billionaires are self-made, up from 1,457 last year. That equates to 72% of the list (vs. about 70% in 2020). It’s a marked change from the 2001 list of billionaires, when 49% of the total 565 billionaires were self-made.&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;uses the term “self-made” as a contrast to “inherited” and “inherited &amp; growing;” it’s not meant to indicate that someone created a billion-dollar fortune all on their own. To achieve such a feat takes teamwork.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-total-number-of-billionaires-and-self-made-status"><strong>Total Number of Billionaires and Self-Made Status</strong></h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/606c413115a36070b1428bf7/0x0.png?fit=scale" alt="Self-Made Status"/><figcaption>Forbes .com</figcaption></figure>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<p>One hundred and five of the list members are under 40, two-thirds of whom are self-made. The new youngest self-made billionaire is 26-year-old American&nbsp;<strong>Austin Russell,</strong>&nbsp;who dropped out of Stanford to found automotive sensor firm Luminar Technologies; he is worth $2.4 billion and ranked No. 1299. There’s a new youngest billionaire as well: 18-year-old&nbsp;<strong>Kevin David Lehmann</strong>&nbsp;of Germany, whose father Guenther Lehmann transferred his stake in drugstore chain dm-drogerie mkt to him; he’s worth $3.3 billion and ranks No. 925. (Read more about the youngest billionaires&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/arielshapiro/2021/04/06/the-worlds-youngest-billionaires-2021-include-a-teenager-from-germany-a-crytpo-magnate-and-a-stanford-dropout/?sh=5e87182a509d">here</a>.). At the other end of the spectrum,&nbsp;the oldest billionaire, at age 99, is U.S. insurance tycoon&nbsp;<strong>George Joseph</strong>.&nbsp;</p>



<p><strong>Mukesh Ambani</strong>&nbsp;of India has become the richest person in Asia, ranked No. 10 and worth an estimated $84.5 billion. He nudges out&nbsp;<strong>Jack Ma</strong>&nbsp;of China, Asia’s richest person a year ago, whose rank dropped to No. 26 (from No. 17 last year) despite a nearly $10 billion jump in his fortune to $48.4 billion. The biggest gainer in percentage terms this year is from China:&nbsp;<strong>Zhong Shanshan</strong>&nbsp;took his bottled water company Nongfu Spring public last fall on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and shares soared, lifting his net worth to $68.9 billion, up 3,345% from $2 billion a year ago.</p>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-total-new-billionaires-and-combined-net-worth"><strong>Total New Billionaires and Combined Net Worth</strong></h3>



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/606b5ea2affa9dd12fb89021/0x0.png?fit=scale" alt="Total Newcomers over the years"/><figcaption>Forbes.com</figcaption></figure>



<hr class="wp-block-separator"/>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#1 | Jeff Bezos</strong></h2>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">NET WORTH:&nbsp;<strong>$177 BILLION</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SOURCE OF WEALTH:&nbsp;<strong>AMAZON</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">RESIDENCE: <strong>SEATTLE</strong></h4>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#2 | Elon Musk</strong></h2>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">NET WORTH:&nbsp;<strong>$151 BILLION</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SOURCE OF WEALTH:&nbsp;<strong>TESLA, SPACEX</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">RESIDENCE: <strong>AUSTIN, TEXAS</strong></h4>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#3 | Bernard Arnault</strong></h2>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">NET WORTH:&nbsp;<strong>$150 BILLION</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SOURCE OF WEALTH:&nbsp;<strong>LUXURY GOODS</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">RESIDENCE:&nbsp;<strong>PARIS</strong></h4>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#4 | Bill Gates</strong></h2>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">NET WORTH:&nbsp;<strong>$124 BILLION</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SOURCE OF WEALTH:&nbsp;<strong>MICROSOFT</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">RESIDENCE:&nbsp;<strong>MEDINA, WASHINGTON</strong></h4>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#5 | Mark Zuckerberg</strong></h2>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">NET WORTH:&nbsp;<strong>$97 BILLION</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SOURCE OF WEALTH:&nbsp;<strong>FACEBOOK</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">RESIDENCE:&nbsp;<strong>PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA</strong></h4>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#6 | Warren Buffett</strong></h2>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">NET WORTH:&nbsp;<strong>$96 BILLION</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SOURCE OF WEALTH:&nbsp;<strong>BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">RESIDENCE:&nbsp;<strong>OMAHA, NEBRASKA</strong></h4>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#7 | Larry Ellison</strong></h2>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">NET WORTH:&nbsp;<strong>$93 BILLION</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SOURCE OF WEALTH:&nbsp;<strong>SOFTWARE</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">RESIDENCE:&nbsp;<strong>LANAI, HAWAII</strong></h4>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#8 | Larry Page</strong></h2>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">NET WORTH:&nbsp;<strong>$91.5 BILLION</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SOURCE OF WEALTH:&nbsp;<strong>GOOGLE</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">RESIDENCE:&nbsp;<strong>PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA</strong></h4>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#9 | Sergey Brin</strong></h2>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">NET WORTH:&nbsp;<strong>$89 BILLION</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SOURCE OF WEALTH:&nbsp;<strong>GOOGLE</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">RESIDENCE:&nbsp;<strong>LOS ALTOS, CALIFORNIA</strong></h4>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>#10 | Mukesh Ambani</strong></h2>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">NET WORTH:&nbsp;<strong>$84.5 BILLION</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SOURCE OF WEALTH:&nbsp;<strong>DIVERSIFIED</strong></h4>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">RESIDENCE:&nbsp;<strong>MUMBAI, INDIA</strong></h4>



<p><em><strong>By Kerry A. Dolan, Forbes Staff</strong></em></p>


Forbes’ 35th Annual World’s Billionaires List: Facts And Figures 2021


<p><strong>TOPLINE</strong> Tech CEOs Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai and Jack Dorsey will soon have to answer to lawmakers about the rise of misinformation on their platforms and how they plan to address it, as the House Energy and Commerce Committee announced Thursday a hearing with the Facebook, Google and Twitter leaders will take place on March 25.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h3>



<p>Zuckerberg, Pichai and Dorsey—who lead Facebook, Google and Twitter, respectively—will testify at a remote hearing on “misinformation and disinformation plaguing online platforms,” the House committee announced.</p>



<p>The hearing will further the committee’s work of “holding online platforms accountable” for the issues on their platforms, committee chair Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) and subcommittee chairs Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Penn.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said in a statement.</p>



<p>The lawmakers singled out misinformation on election fraud and the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccine as particular matters of concern.</p>



<p>The tech leaders have previously&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/17/facebook-twitter-ceos-senate-judiciary-committee-prepared-testimony.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">testified</a>&nbsp;before lawmakers in recent months, including an October&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/28/facebook-google-and-twitter-ceos-testify-in-congress-over-section-230-live-updates.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hearing</a>&nbsp;with all three CEOs before the Senate Commerce Committee on Section 230, which shields tech companies from legal liability for the content their users post.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h3>



<p>“For far too long, big tech has failed to acknowledge the role they’ve played in fomenting and elevating blatantly false information to its online audiences. Industry self-regulation has failed,” Pallone, Doyle and Schakowsky said in a statement. “We must begin the work of changing incentives driving social media companies to allow and even promote misinformation and disinformation.”</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h3>



<p>93%. That’s the percentage of Americans who say they are either very or somewhat about the spread of misinformation on the internet, according to a Gallup/Knight Foundation&nbsp;<a href="https://knightfoundation.org/articles/most-americans-would-believe-social-media-misinformation-warnings/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>&nbsp;conducted in September.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h3>



<p>The House Judiciary Committee also separately announced plans to investigate big tech Thursday, unveiling a series of antitrust hearings aimed at curbing tech giants’ market dominance as it develops antitrust legislation. The renewed investigation will continue the antitrust subcommittee’s ongoing work probing the tech giants and their monopolistic power, which included a July&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/07/29/republicans-use-tech-antitrust-hearing-to-rail-against-anti-conservative-bias/?sh=6f7e186855aa">hearing</a>&nbsp;with Dorsey, Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h3>



<p>Online misinformation and its spread on major social networks has come under significant scrutiny in recent months, particularly amid the Covid-19 pandemic and around the November election. Social media companies have taken significant&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/01/31/heres-how-facebook-twitter-and-tiktok-are-battling-coronavirus-misinformation/?sh=2dfca99c6651">steps</a>&nbsp;to curb the spread of false information, such as Twitter&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/10/09/twitter-new-rules-try-to-prevent-election-and-trump-related-chaos-misinformation/?sh=262d250f6840">adding safeguards</a>&nbsp;to limit sharing posts that have been flagged for misinformation and Facebook&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2021/02/18/facebook-continues-fight-against-misinformation-plans-to-debunk-climate-change-myths/?sh=7cac8aee4804">announcing</a>&nbsp;Thursday new efforts to combat misinformation around climate change. Despite their efforts, however, misinformation still continues to persist: an October study by the German Marshall Fund of the United States&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/10/12/facebook-users-interacting-with-misinformation-way-more-now-than-in-2016-study-finds/?sh=403d34415973">found</a>&nbsp;that engagement with false content producers on Facebook had gone up by 102% since 2016, for instance, while a September&nbsp;<a href="https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/news/releases/covid-related-misinformation-videos-spread-primarily-through-facebook-as-its-fact-checkers-fail-to-spot-false-information-finds-new-oxford-study/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">study</a>&nbsp;from the University of Oxford found Facebook’s third-party fact checkers had only caught less than one percent of Covid-19 misinformation videos on the platform.</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h3>



<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/18/house-antitrust-amazon-apple-facebook-google/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">House to grill Facebook, Google, Twitter CEOs as Washington seeks to crack down on disinformation, antitrust</a>&nbsp;(Washington Post)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2021/02/18/facebook-continues-fight-against-misinformation-plans-to-debunk-climate-change-myths/?sh=7cac8aee4804">Facebook Continues Fight Against Misinformation, Plans To Debunk Climate Change Myths</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/01/31/heres-how-facebook-twitter-and-tiktok-are-battling-coronavirus-misinformation/?sh=2dfca99c6651">Here’s How Facebook, Twitter And TikTok Are Battling Coronavirus Misinformation</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)</p>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisondurkee/2020/10/12/facebook-users-interacting-with-misinformation-way-more-now-than-in-2016-study-finds/?sh=403d34415973">Facebook Users Interacting With Misinformation Way More Now Than In 2016, Study Finds</a> (Forbes)</p>



<p><em>By Alison Durkee, Forbes Staff</em></p>


US-politics-computers-internet

Facebook, Google, Twitter CEOs Set To Testify About Misinformation


<p id="h-topline"><strong>TOPLINE</strong> Apple will introduce privacy features this spring limiting the ability of apps to track users—but while the change is applauded by privacy advocates, Facebook is staging an all-out offensive by announcing Monday it would send out its own notifications extolling the benefits of tracking.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h4>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Apple’s new privacy update will ask all users whether they want to be tracked across different apps, preventing third parties like Facebook from collecting data from other apps and using it to build profiles on individual users for targeted advertising.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Currently, if a user puts something into their cart on the Amazon app, for example, Facebook can access that data,  and users might see an ad for that same product on Facebook. </li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The new notifications that allow users to opt-out will pop up as soon as users open or download an app, making them more visible than Apple’s current system, which requires users to go into their settings to make that choice.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Facebook has been outspoken against the change because it threatens its lucrative advertising business, and could result in a 7% revenue dip, according to recent <a href="https://mobiledevmemo.com/facebook-may-take-revenue-hit-from-apple-privacy-changes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">estimates</a>.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>In its fiercest opposition yet, Facebook said Monday it would send out its own prompt directly countering Apple’s, telling users that collecting such data allows for more personalized ads and supports “small businesses that rely on ads to reach customers.”</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Facebook argues that if users opt-out, they won’t see fewer ads, the ads will just be less relevant, and at the same time, small businesses would lose some of their ability to serve hyper-targeted ads, forcing some to raise prices or turn to a subscription model.</li></ul>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



<p>&nbsp;Facebook and Apple have been on a collision course since Apple made the App Tracking Transparency announcement over the summer. Facebook took out full page ads in several newspapers declaring it was “standing up to Apple for small businesses.” And last week Zuckerberg&nbsp;<a href="https://seekingalpha.com/article/4401479-facebook-inc-fb-ceo-mark-zuckerberg-on-q4-2020-results-earnings-call-transcript" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said&nbsp;</a>Apple is increasingly one of the social network’s biggest competitors. Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook fired back, saying “if a business is built on misleading users on data exploitation, on choices that are no choices at all, then it does not deserve our praise” during a speech in Brussels.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



<p>&nbsp;“This is a laughable attempt from Facebook to distract you from its poor track record of anticompetitive behavior and privacy issues as it tries to derail pro-privacy changes from Apple that are bad for Facebook’s business,”&nbsp; the Electronic Frontier Foundation&nbsp;<a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/12/facebooks-laughable-campaign-against-apple-really-against-users-and-small" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said&nbsp;</a>in December. “Requiring trackers to request your consent before stalking you across the Internet should be an obvious baseline, and we applaud Apple for this change.”&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h4>



<p>Public polling has&nbsp;<a href="https://epic.org/privacy/survey/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">consistently&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2019/11/15/americans-and-privacy-concerned-confused-and-feeling-lack-of-control-over-their-personal-information/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">shown&nbsp;</a>that users don’t like being tracked. It’s unclear just how many iOS users will opt-out when prompted, but dating app Bumble&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/15/bumble-ipo-filing-warns-apple-privacy-changes-could-harm-its-business.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">estimates&nbsp;</a>that only 0-20% will choose to be tracked.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h4>



<p>Apple’s privacy update will go into effect early this spring, Apple says.</p>



<p><em>By Rachel Sandler, Forbes Staff</em></p>


In this photo illustration the Apple and Facebook logos are

Apple Wants To Make It Harder For Apps To Track You. Facebook Isn’t Happy.


<p><strong>TOPLINE</strong> Facebook will no longer recommend political groups to users, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday, amid criticism for how the platform was used by pro-Trump extremists to plan the attack on the Capitol earlier this month.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h4>



<p>Facebook had already halted political and social issue group recommendations leading up to the November election last year, but Zuckerberg said on an earnings call Wednesday that the change will become permanent.</p>



<p>The move is significant because private Facebook groups are rife with misinformation and conspiracy theories, researchers&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/22/881826881/facebook-groups-are-destroying-america-researcher-on-misinformation-spread-onlin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">say</a>, with some involved in the planning of the Capitol riots, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/some-pro-trump-extremsists-used-facebook-plan-capitol-attack-report-n1254794" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report&nbsp;</a>from the Tech Transparency Project.</p>



<p>The ban comes the day after Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) wrote a scathing letter to Zuckerberg saying, “Facebook’s system of recommending political groups poses grave threats to American democracy and public safety.”</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



<p>&nbsp;Critics have long pressured Facebook to crack down on calls for violence, hate speech and misinformation. They argue Facebook is a cesspool of extreme views, and can play a role in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/opinion/facebook-far-right.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">radicalizing&nbsp;</a>normal users. At least in part recognizing Facebook’s divisiveness, Zuckerberg also said Wednesday the social network plans to reduce the amount of political content people see in their feeds. “One of the top pieces of feedback that we’re hearing from our community right now is that people don’t want politics and fighting to take over their experience on our services,” Zuckerberg said.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h4>



<p>Facebook’s revenue and profit grew in 2020, despite a looming antitrust investigation, privacy mishaps and scrutiny over content moderation. But the company warned in its fourth-quarter earnings report that it would face significant obstacles this year as Apple plans to make it harder for Facebook to track iOS users.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h4>



<p>Facebook already <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/17/21443742/facebook-health-groups-recommendations-new-admin-rules" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stopped</a> recommending health-related groups in September to address coronavirus and other health misinformation.</p>



<p><em>By Rachel Sandler, Forbes Staff</em></p>


Facebook Will Permanently Stop Promoting Political Groups


<p>Despite seeing his net worth skyrocket in recent months—and a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-06/musk-close-to-surpassing-bezos-as-world-s-richest-person#:~:text=Elon%20Musk%2C%20the%20outspoken%20entrepreneur,the%20world's%20500%20wealthiest%20people." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a>&nbsp;from Bloomberg on Wednesday that he’s now the world’s richest person—<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/elon-musk/?list=rtb/">Elon Musk</a>&nbsp;remains the second-richest person in the world, according to&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>’ estimates.</p>



<p>Shares of Musk’s electric-vehicle maker Tesla&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/tesla" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">TSLA</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/tesla">+6.9%</a>&nbsp;rose by 7% as of 2:30 p.m. EST on Thursday, pushing Musk’s net worth up by $9.8 billion, to $175.2 billion. That makes him $22 billion richer than the planet’s third-wealthiest person, French luxury tycoon&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/bernard-arnault/?list=rtb/">Bernard Arnault</a>, but still $11 billion behind the world’s number one, Amazon&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/amazon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AMZN</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/amazon">+1.8%</a>&nbsp;CEO&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/jeff-bezos/?list=rtb/">Jeff Bezos</a>.&nbsp;<em>Forbes</em>&nbsp;estimates that Bezos has a net worth of $186.8 billion.</p>



<p>Musk’s net worth has grown at an astronomical clip over the past year. He has added nearly $150 billion to his fortune since March 2020, when he was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/">worth $24.6 billion</a>. Much of that increase comes from Tesla’s skyrocketing share price, which rose more than 720% in 2020. It has gained another 10% so far over the first week of 2021.&nbsp;</p>



<p>As Tesla’s stock soared ahead of its inclusion in the S&amp;P 500 Index on December 21, Musk surpassed Facebook&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/facebook" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FB</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/facebook">+1.9%</a>&nbsp;CEO&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/mark-zuckerberg/?list=rtb/">Mark Zuckerberg</a>&nbsp;(who is worth $98.2 billion today) to become the world’s fourth-richest person in early November, then leapfrogged Microsoft&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/microsoft" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">MSFT</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/microsoft">+3%</a>&nbsp;cofounder&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/bill-gates/?list=rtb/">Bill Gates</a>&nbsp;(worth $121.9 billion today) for the number three spot.</p>



<p>Musk owns around 21% of Tesla’s shares, plus a stake in private rocket company SpaceX. Tesla stock still sits at record highs, now trading for over $800 per share. The company’s $765 billion market cap makes it by far the most valuable car company in the world.</p>



<p><em>-By Sergei Klebnikov, Forbes Staff</em></p>


Tag: Mark Zuckerberg

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