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.
Weeks after Spotify's public offering, the music streaming service has already made a crucial acquisition: Loudr, a company that automates royalty payments to music publishers. The deal could help Spotify "take control of this important piece" of its business, says Sun Jen Yung, a partner and the head of digital media at NFluence Partners.
Facebook shares plummeted after the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke, but internet analyst Mark Mahaney, Managing Director at RBC Capital, said this is just a "PR issue, not a fundamental issue," and now is the perfect time to buy into the social media network.
In light of Facebook's data scandal, other tech companies should give users a cut of the money they made off of their information, says Brittany Kaiser, a former director of business development at data company Cambridge Analytica.
Brittany Kaiser, a former executive at the company that gained access to data on millions of Facebook users, said that the estimate of 87 million people affected is far less than the reality.
FAANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google) are taking over old-school media companies, growing "at a rate that no one thought was possible," says Lorne Brown, the CEO of the ad tech firm Operative. To keep up, traditional media outlets should consider "comingling" with the newcomers, says Brown.
Since customers now have so much at their fingertips, "we need to weed through everything," says Jenny Fleiss, CEO of Code Eight, a personal shopping start-up owned by Walmart. Fleiss was also the co-founder of fashion-tech company Rent the Runway.
Amazon is betting big on AR/VR and its plans do not include any headsets or devices. PCMag's Rob Marvin joins Cheddar to discuss his exclusive look at the upcoming company's development platform, Sumerian.
The giant e-commerce site has launched Sumerian, an easy-to-use platform that lets users build AR and VR apps, explains Rob Marvin, PCMag Associate Features Editor
Netflix stock is surging after the company reported first-quarter earnings, disclosing that the company added 7.4 million subscribers in the first three months of this year. Netflix now has 125 million subscribers globally. This year, Netflix plans to spend $8 billion on developing original content.
Goldman Sachs reported earnings on Tuesday, soaring past Wall Street estimates. The firm said its quarterly revenue hit $10 billion, an increase of 27%. Goldman's successful first quarter is due in large part to the recent surge in trading and market volatility.
Plus, we talk artificial intelligence with Sam Mantle, managing director of digital enterprise at Luxoft. The company recently announced a partnership with Softbank Robotics America to improve technology in "Pepper" the robot. Mantle digs into how Pepper can be used across industries from travel, to retail, to hospitality, noting that developers are just starting to learn how expansive and beneficial artificial intelligence can be.
The software developer Luxoft is teaming up with Softbank Robotics America to bring its humanoid robot Pepper to life.
"This is about making robots accessible," says Sam Mantle, managing director of digital enterprise at Luxoft.
