Half of Canadians have negative opinion of latest Liberal budget: poll
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
Amid fallout from the Facebook Papers documents supporting claims that the social network has valued financial success over user safety, Facebook on Monday reported higher profit for the latest quarter.
The company's latest show of financial strength followed an avalanche of reports on the Facebook Papers -- a vast trove of redacted internal documents obtained by a consortium of news organizations, including The Associated Press -- as well as Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen's Monday testimony to British lawmakers.
Facebook said its net income grew 17% in the July-September period to $9.19 billion, buoyed by strong advertising revenue. That's up from $7.85 billion a year earlier. Revenue grew 35% to $29.01 billion. The results exceeded analyst expectations for Facebook's results.
The company's shares rose 2.5% in after-hours trading after closing up 1% for the day.
"For now, the revenue picture for Facebook looks as good as can be expected," said eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson. But she predicted more revelations and described the findings so far as "unsettling and stomach-churning."
CEO Mark Zuckerberg made only a brief mention of what he called the "recent debate around our company." Largely repeating statements he made after Haugen's Oct. 5 testimony before a U.S. Senate subcommittee, he insisted that he welcomes "good faith criticism" but considers the current storm a "coordinated effort" by news organizations to criticize the company based on leaked documents.
Haugen, meanwhile, told a British parliamentary committee Monday that the social media giant stokes online hate and extremism, fails to protect children from harmful content and lacks any incentive to fix the problems, providing momentum for efforts by European governments working on stricter regulation of tech companies.
While her testimony echoed much of what she told the U.S. Senate this month, her in-person appearance drew intense interest from a British parliamentary committee that is much further along in drawing up legislation to rein in the power of social media companies.
Haugen told the committee of United Kingdom lawmakers that Facebook Groups amplifies online hate, saying algorithms that prioritize engagement take people with mainstream interests and push them to the extremes. The former Facebook data scientist said the company could add moderators to prevent groups over a certain size from being used to spread extremist views.
"Unquestionably, it's making hate worse," she said.
Haugen said she was "shocked to hear recently that Facebook wants to double down on the metaverse and that they're gonna hire 10,000 engineers in Europe to work on the metaverse," Haugen said, referring to the company's plans for an immersive online world it believes will be the next big internet trend.
"I was like, `Wow, do you know what we could have done with safety if we had 10,000 more engineers?"' she said.
Facebook says it wants regulation for tech companies and was glad the U.K. was leading the way.
"While we have rules against harmful content and publish regular transparency reports, we agree we need regulation for the whole industry so that businesses like ours aren't making these decisions on our own," Facebook said Monday.
It pointed to investing $13 billion (9.4 billion pounds) on safety and security since 2016 and asserted that it's "almost halved" the amount of hate speech over the last three quarters.
Haugen accused Facebook-owned Instagram of failing to keep children under 13 -- the minimum user age -- from opening accounts, saying it wasn't doing enough to protect kids from content that, for example, makes them feel bad about their bodies.
"Facebook's own research describes it as an addict's narrative. Kids say, `This makes me unhappy, I feel like I don't have the ability to control my usage of it, and I feel like if I left, I'd be ostracized,`" she said.
The company last month delayed plans for a kids' version of Instagram, geared toward those under 13, to address concerns about the vulnerability of younger users. Haugen said she worried it may not be possible to make Instagram safe for a 14-year-old and that "I sincerely doubt it's possible to make it safe for a 10-year-old."
She also said Facebook's moderation systems are worse at catching content in languages other than English, and that's a problem even in the U.K. because it's a diverse country.
"Those people are also living in the U.K. and being fed misinformation that is dangerous, that radicalizes people," Haugen said. "And so language-based coverage is not just a good-for-individuals thing, it's a national security issue."
Pressed on whether she believes Facebook is fundamentally evil, Haugen demurred and said, "I can't see into the hearts of men." Facebook is not evil, but negligent, she suggested.
"It believes in a world of flatness, and it won't accept the consequences of its actions," pointing to its mammoth one-level, open-plan corporate office as an embodiment of the philosophy.
It was Haugen's second appearance before lawmakers after she testified in the U.S. about the danger she says the company poses, from harming children to inciting political violence and fueling misinformation. Haugen cited internal research documents she secretly copied before leaving her job in Facebook's civic integrity unit.
The documents, which Haugen provided to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, allege Facebook prioritized profits over safety and hid its own research from investors and the public. Some stories based on the files have already been published, exposing internal turmoil after Facebook was blindsided by the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot and how it dithered over curbing divisive content in India. More is to come.
Representatives from Facebook and other social media companies plan to speak to the British committee Thursday.
U.K. lawmakers are drafting an online safety bill calling for setting up a regulator that would hold companies to account when it comes to removing harmful or illegal content from their platforms, such as terrorist material or child sex abuse images.
Haugen is scheduled to meet next month with European Union officials in Brussels, where the bloc's executive commission is updating its digital rulebook to better protect internet users by holding online companies more responsible for illegal or dangerous content.
Under the U.K. rules, expected to take effect next year, Silicon Valley giants face an ultimate penalty of up to 10% of their global revenue for any violations. The EU is proposing a similar penalty.
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Associated Press writer Marcy Gordon in Washington contributed to this report.
A new poll suggests the Liberals have not won over voters with their latest budget, though there is broad support for their plan to build millions of homes.
Appointing a trusted person to help with financial obligations can give you peace of mind. In his personal finance column for CTVNews.ca, Christopher Liew outlines the key benefits of naming a confidant to take over your financial responsibilities, if the need ever arises.
A Toronto couple are speaking out about their “extremely dangerous” experience on board a sinking tour boat in the Dominican Republic last week.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
The federal government has added $36.4 million to a program designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
An Ontario senior’s attempt to get technical help online led him into a spoofing scam where he lost $25,000. Now, he’s sharing his story to warn others.
A Minnesota state senator and former broadcast meteorologist told police that she broke into her stepmother's home because her stepmother refused to give her items of sentimental value from her late father, including his ashes, according to burglary charges filed Tuesday.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a Grade 4 student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.