The indictment of 13 Russians for interfering with the Presidential election has intensified the pressure put on Facebook, which uncovered about three-thousand Russian-linked ads on its platforms before and after November 2016. Cheddar Senior Reporter, Alex Heath, breaks down the the latest developments.
Facebook's Vice President for ads, Rob Goldman, tweeted about Russia's disinformation effort. President Trump then cited him. Facebook did not intend for Goldman’s tweets to be quoted by Trump. They thought the tweets would only be seen by a contextually-aware audience of techies and media types who follow Goldman.
Heath believes that the tweeting from Goldman and other execs is part of a carefully orchestrated PR campaign by Facebook to make itself appear more transparent and relate-able through engaged spokespeople on Twitter.
The markets looked to recover losses for October in the last day of trading for the month. Facebook shares were making solid gains on the heels of its third-quarter earnings results. Revenue slowed but the company beat estimates on earnings per share. Plus, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, an Ecuadorian immigrant running to represent Florida's 26th district, tells Cheddar the changes she would make if elected to office. The midterms are just six days out.
In the fight to save broadcast from cord cutters and big tech, television streamer Locast has an ambitious plan: increase and improve the data available to traditional broadcasters. "What I'd like to be able to do is help broadcasters with their advertising, reaching the audiences that are online," Locast's chairman David Goodfriend told Cheddar Wednesday.
Deloitte Digital CMO Alicia Hatch told Cheddar that the exploding adoption of mobile devices will drive consumers to embrace the value of AR in more of their everyday lives. "We've been in a mobile world for a while, but the number of devices, and the ubiquity of them, will allow us to have fewer barriers to entry to actually be using AR and have it threaded through our lives."
Known for disrupting the "Big Mattress" industry as one of the original digitally native, direct-to-consumer brands, Casper is set to open 200 new brick-and-mortar locations around the world. It's part of what CMO Jeff Brooks says is a strategy to meet the consumer wherever they are, on their terms. (And it helps the company stand out in a crowded marketplace, too.)
An executive named in a damning report about sexual harassment at Google has resigned, Axios reported, as Google employees prepare to stage a walkout to protest the company's leadership ー or lack thereof ー on issues of alleged misconduct at the company.
These are the headlines you Need 2 Know.
Apple showed some love to the MacBook Air and Mac Mini Tuesday. Reports ahead of the event anticipated the announcements, but that didn’t leave the crowd — made up of Apple employees, guests, partners, and media — any less enthused when C.E.O. Tim Cook and team finally got on stage. Cheddar's Hope King was in Brooklyn for the unveiling.
It's been nearly two weeks since Canada opened the retail market for recreational marijuana, and now it faces a shortage of supply across many of the retail operations in a number of provinces. "Given the robustness of the demand, suppliers clearly did have challenges getting the stores full and adequately supplied," Cowen Managing Director Vivien Azer told Cheddar's CannaBiz Tuesday.
T-Mobile President Mike Sievert spoke with Cheddar on Tuesday after the tech company announced quarterly earnings that topped expectations. The company's quarter included its highest ever service revenues and EBITDA in company history.
Facebook shares whipsawed in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company just narrowly missed third-quarter revenue and user estimates and forecast a continued ramp-up in spending.
