By Barbara Ortutay
Facebook is launching podcasts and live audio streams in the U.S. on Monday to keep users engaged on its platform and to compete with emerging rivals.
Facebook says it is allowing public figures with verified accounts to start live audio rooms and invite anyone else to speak. A handful of podcasts will be available to people in the U.S. at first and the company plans to add more down the line.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has appeared on the video streaming app Clubhouse in the past, hosted his own live audio room on his Facebook page last week.
“Live Audio Rooms and podcasts rolling out in the US is just the beginning of our audio journey," wrote Fidji Simo, head of the Facebook app, in a blog post Monday. “Looking ahead, we are working with creators who will use our audio tools to further develop and launch Soundbites — short-form, creative audio clips."
But podcasts and live audio have also been an outlet for racism, misinformation and extremist material. Live audio is particularly difficult to moderate, compared with traditional social media posts.
Facebook, which announced its audio plans to push into audio streams in April, says its rules apply to live audio and podcasts and anyone can report offending material.
“In addition, our broader integrity and safety work and the tools we have built for proactively and automatically identifying harmful content are great building blocks, but we plan to adapt tech and processes as we learn more," the company said in a prepared statement.
The company says that it may also retain live audio after it is no longer live to enforce its policies, which will be done both by human moderators and machine learning.
Tax season is around the corner as soon as we conclude the holiday festivities. Mark Steber, chief tax information officer with Jackson Hewitt, joined Cheddar News to discuss some tax changes that people should be aware of and what to expect during next year's tax filing season.
There's a winning lottery ticket in Florida worth $44 million that's gone unclaimed and is set to expire next week.
Getting crafty for the holidays to entertain guests can be pretty expensive. Cheddar News explains how you can do all of that on a budget.
New regulations from the U.S. government may cause the price of electric vehicles to go up.
New data shows job openings fell in October even though hiring remains healthy.
The holiday season is here and it could be a stressful time as people plan shopping, cooking and traveling. Sally Holmes, editor-in-chief of InStyle Magazine, joined Cheddar News to discuss a new social media trend #Treatculture that helps people take a moment to treat themselves and how that is a psychological benefit to relieve stress.
English Wikipedia raked in more than 84 billion views this year, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit behind the free, publicly edited online encyclopedia. And the most popular article was about ChatGPT (yes, the AI chatbot that’s seemingly everywhere today).
Wikipedia has released its list of most viewed articles for 2023 with the site seeing over 84 billion visits. The most searched topic was ChatGPT with nearly 50 billion page views
Closing arguments are happening in a federal trial over whether Jetblue Airways will be allowed to buy Spirit Airlines for $3.8 billion.
Johnson and Johnson is reportedly looking to settle multiple lawsuits claiming that its baby powder causes cancer, according to Bloomberg.
