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.
Though the music streaming platform posted results in-line with expectations on revenue and paid subscribers, the company is still losing money, and revenue growth for the current quarter looks uninspiring. Spotify's shares fell about eight percent after the bell Wednesday.
The electric carmaker brought in more revenue than expected in the first quarter but posted a net loss of over $780 million. It said it would reverse that by the second half of the year, if it's able to meet its production goals.
The video sharing platform is deliberately staying away from original content because there's already "billions of dollars being invested in that," said CEO Anjali Sud. Instead, she added, Vimeo is focused on being a tool for creators.
Apple and Snap reported earnings with wildly different results. Apple beat expectations on earnings and revenue, bolstered by strong iPhone sales, international growth, and an increase in wearables. The iPhone X was Apple's best-selling phone last quarter, putting rumors to rest that it would discontinue the phone.
On the other hand, Snap had a pretty disappointing quarter, missing Wall Street estimates on revenue and user growth. The unpopular redesign to the Snapchat app likely contributed to slower than expected daily active user growth.
Facebook's F8 developer conference is underway in San Jose, California. Cheddar's Alex Heath sat down with Ime Archibong, Facebook's VP of Partnerships, at the conference to discuss how the company is changing its data practices in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
"We have a really strong conviction that VR is the most incredible social entertainment platform there could be," says Hugo Barra, Vice President of Virtual Reality at the social media giant. The new Oculus Go lets users watch movies, sports games, or concerts together, and even "hang out" and play board games, Barra tells Cheddar's Alex Heath.
Facebook said it will resume its process of reviewing third-party apps using new, tighter controls after the Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed holes in the social network's data privacy protocols.
Telecom giant Verizon has been angling to get a bigger slice of the digital content industry, because these days people are leap-frogging cable networks altogether and going straight to internet streaming, says Chris Carey, Chief Strategy Officer for Verizon Digital Media Services. "This year, and in the next three to four years, all the technology has been solved for, so essentially all of the television distribution services are no longer necessary," he tells Cheddar.
The film and TV studio known for the "Hunger Games" has invested heavily in acquiring game developers and esports franchises. "I think the hardest thing to do in media, and probably the most expensive thing to do, is to launch a globally successful video game," says Peter Levin, President of Interactive Ventures, a unit of the studio.
The platform recently surpassed five million home and apartment listings with plans to keep growing that space, says Gillian Tans, CEO of the unit.
Apple and Snap reported earnings today. By in large, Apple beat across the board while Snap came up short. Earnings per share and revenue reports below:
Snap
EPS: adjusted -$0.17 vs. -$0.17
Revenue: $230.7 million vs. $244.48 million
Apple
EPS: $2.73 vs. estimate $2.67
Revenue: $61.1 billion vs. estimate $60.84 billion
