WEBVTT - Tech News: A Mega Load of Meta News And More 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.320 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:17.639 Jonathan Strickland, Diamond executive producer with I Heart Radio and 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:20.360 how the tech are you. It's time for the tech 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:25.200 News for Thursday, July twenty twenty two, and we are 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:30.080 going to cover a ton of news about meta slash 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:34.360 Facebook because the company recently held an earnings call for 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.159 Q two of twenty two, that's second quarter in case 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:41.479 you're not familiar with the terminology, and it gives us 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:46.400 more insight into the company and its priorities. Also, we've 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.080 got other meta stuff that wasn't part of the earnings call, 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:52.600 for example, and executive blogged about how the company hopes 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:55.200 that it's totally okay to ease off on the crackdown 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:58.240 for COVID misinformation. But we'll get to that in a bit. 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:02.240 First up, let's talk about we learned during that earnings call, 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:05.280 and one really big piece of news is that net 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:09.280 income is down by thirty six percent compared to this 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:14.120 time last year. Now that is net income, mind you. 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:17.080 That's when you take your total revenue and you subtract 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:20.679 costs from it. If we go by total revenue. The 0:01:20.680 --> 0:01:24.120 company is actually only down by a single percentage point 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:27.560 compared to this time last year, so Meta brought in 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:31.600 a little less money overall than Facebook did last year. 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:35.280 This is fun because remember the company changed its name 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:41.080 from Facebook to Meta in late so Q two METAe 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:47.640 is actually Facebook. Anyway. Meta made way less profit in 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:51.240 Q two twenty twenty two than Facebook did in Q 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:55.360 two one, and by way less, I don't mean that 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:58.480 Meta is, you know, strapped for cash or is in 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:00.840 danger of going out of business. Is far from it. 0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:04.560 In Q two, the company brought in nearly seven billion 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:10.079 dollars in profit. That is an unfathomable amount of money, 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:12.760 at least for someone like me. I would love to 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:16.560 fathom it, but my tax brackets like not even in 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:20.000 the same solar system as that. Anyway. The Wall Street 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:23.280 Journal claims that this is the first time in metas 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:26.679 history that it actually had a drop in revenue, even 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:28.640 though again it was just a one percent drop in 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:34.320 revenue drop in profit year over year. The company also 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:38.200 reported it saw a modest increase in the number of 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:43.360 users across its platforms. Facebook the platform, their average daily 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:48.040 users increased by three percent. Users across the company's platforms 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:51.160 overall increased by four percent, which is better news than 0:02:51.200 --> 0:02:54.320 what Facebook reported earlier this year, when the company saw 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:57.960 a decline in users on some of its properties. Another 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.400 thing that Mark Zuckerberg revealed ring that earnings call is 0:03:01.440 --> 0:03:05.360 that your experience on Instagram, if in fact you do 0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:10.359 use Instagram, is going to change. Now. Already, MENA realize 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:14.640 on artificial intelligence to promote content to users, content from 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:19.080 accounts that those users don't necessarily follow, and that is 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:23.000 not going away. In fact, it's going to increase. Zuckerberg 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:26.040 revealed that they were essentially going to double how frequently 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:30.120 this happens. So currently AI is responsible for recommending around 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:32.920 of the content that shows up in your feet as 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:35.960 you're scrolling through Instagram. Soon that's going to go up 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:40.720 to so nearly a third. So you could think of 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:43.720 this as like every third thing you see on Instagram 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.680 will be presented to you from this AI algorithm, and 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:49.960 you're gonna see a lot more stuff from accounts that 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:53.440 you don't actually follow. This also means that the content 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:56.320 that is posted by your friends and the accounts that 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:59.120 you're actually interested in is going to get more diluted 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:03.560 by all this other stuff And you might say, why, Well, 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:06.640 it all comes down to money. Really, Uh, it's a 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:11.320 continuing effort to compete against TikTok. TikTok has a recommendation 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:14.800 engine that has proven to be incredibly effective at keeping 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:19.200 people on the platform, and Zuckerberg says that since introducing 0:04:19.520 --> 0:04:23.880 the AI recommendations on Instagram, the company has seen engagement 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:27.679 on the rise. And by engagement, we're really just talking 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:30.560 about the amount of time the average user spends while 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:34.400 on the platform. That directly ends up translating into how 0:04:34.480 --> 0:04:38.000 much AD revenue Metic can generate off each user. So 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:41.360 Meta's goal is to coerce users into spending as much 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:45.440 time on their platforms as is possible, and according to Zuckerberg, 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:50.200 AI recommended content gets the job done. Oh brave new 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:53.760 world to have such algorithms in it. Getting back to 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:57.320 that earnings call, one thing that factored into the thirty 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:01.200 six percent drop in net income was the cost of 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:05.240 operating the Reality Labs division. Now that's the division within 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:09.800 Meta that's responsible for stuff like mixed reality hardware like 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:13.280 the the stuff that used to be Oculus essentially, and 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:17.839 also the Metaverse R and D department. Reality Labs generated 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:20.760 four hundred fifty two million dollars in revenue in Q 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:24.440 two of twenty twenty two. That's actually up from the 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:28.880 previous year. So Q two one the division brought in 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.080 three hundred five million dollars, so four fifty two million 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.200 dollars good, we get to see an increase. But the 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:40.640 division overall lost two point eight billion dollars. That's up 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:44.040 from two point four billion this time last year. That 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.400 being said, in Q one of this year, the division 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:51.839 actually lost two point nine six billion. Now last year overall, 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:55.240 that division lost ten billion dollars for for Meta. Essentially 0:05:55.240 --> 0:05:59.640 they said they spent ten billion UM. By the way 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.240 this is going, we might be looking at between eleven 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:04.440 and twelve billion for this year. We'll have to see 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.599 unless things dramatically change in the second half of the year. 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:10.560 Uh and Meta is trying to bring the concept of 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:13.719 the metaverse into reality, so that does require a lot 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:16.760 of money in order to make it happen. We're also 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.600 about to see some changes in Meta strategy with this division. 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:23.200 The company is about to hike prices on the Meta 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:27.680 quest to VR headsets, so each of those models of 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:31.920 those headsets is about to become a hundred dollars more expensive, 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:34.240 the prices going up by a hundred bucks for each 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:37.360 of them. Other peripherals will also get a price hike, 0:06:37.520 --> 0:06:41.159 and you might wonder why a company is increasing prices 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:44.440 on hardware that's it's been selling for quite some time now. 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:46.120 It's not like this is brand new, it's not like 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:49.080 it's a new generation. It's the hardware that the company 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:50.520 has been selling. It's just now going to be a 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.760 hundred dollars more expensive. And one reason for this is that, 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:57.560 like much of the industry, Meta was selling hardware at 0:06:57.600 --> 0:06:59.719 a loss, or at least at a much lower price 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:03.000 than what it could have demanded. This was in an 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:06.599 effort to create a large install base. You want to 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:09.880 get as many people out there as possible using the product, 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:12.800 and we see this with video game consoles all the time. 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:15.560 You know, video game companies like you know, Microsoft and 0:07:15.600 --> 0:07:18.640 Sony will sell their consoles for less than what it 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:22.160 cost to make the consoles because they know they're gonna 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:26.000 make their money back in game sales and subscription services, 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:30.560 specifically the subscription services. That's gonna be like an ongoing 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.640 theme throughout this episode, even when we get away from Meta. 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:36.119 So you could see this as a move that Meta 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:39.720 is going to ease off on, you know, subsidizing it's 0:07:39.800 --> 0:07:41.920 VR hardware at least to the extent that it had 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:45.280 been uh and that some more of that expense is 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:48.920 going to fall on customers. Related to this, the US 0:07:49.080 --> 0:07:52.840 Federal Trade Commission, or FTC, has sued Meta in an 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:58.200 effort to block a planned acquisition of a company called Within. Now. 0:07:58.240 --> 0:08:03.480 Within makes a v our workout app called Supernatural, which 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:07.280 has a subscription revenue model, so you pay an ongoing 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:10.360 monthly fee in order to keep using this this particular app. 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:14.920 The FDC argues that the reportedly four million dollar deal 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:19.480 would reduce competition in the VR fitness space, which would 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:23.240 potentially make Meta a monopoly for that specific market. Now 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.720 that sounds pretty niche to me, right. It's it sounds 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:29.600 really kind of laser focused in a way. So I 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.920 find it an interesting approach. And while I don't necessarily 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.960 disagree with the FTC on this, I'm actually left to 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:38.280 wonder if maybe this is a case where a regulatory 0:08:38.320 --> 0:08:43.040 agency is looking for footholds in order to grab opportunities 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:45.600 to reduce the company's influence. I have no way of 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.360 knowing that all of that is just wild speculation on 0:08:48.440 --> 0:08:51.880 my part, and that could be totally the furthest from 0:08:51.920 --> 0:08:54.640 the truth. But one thing that might have set off 0:08:54.840 --> 0:08:59.439 FTC is that Meta has been acquiring various VR software 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:03.160 developer over the last few years. That includes the company 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:07.600 Beat Games, which makes the popular VR title Beat Saber. 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:10.920 The FDC also argues that Met up, you know if 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:13.880 they own both Beat Games and Within. If they own 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:16.480 both of those companies, those two companies will have no 0:09:16.559 --> 0:09:20.439 incentive to innovate because their main competitor is no longer 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:24.280 a competitor. They both belong to Meta. That's the argument 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.160 is that you know, identifying Beat Games and Within as 0:09:27.160 --> 0:09:31.000 being chief competitors in the space, and when you have 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:34.240 a lack of competition, there's typically a lack of innovation. 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:36.880 There's no reason to innovate. You don't need to because 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:41.520 you've already got all the players. So why spend the 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:45.880 resources to innovate if there's no competition? Uh, and that 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:49.640 this ultimately hurts consumers, and it's an interesting take. We'll 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:52.120 have to see if it's successful or if Meta will 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:55.320 continue its trend of gobbling up other companies in an 0:09:55.360 --> 0:09:59.920 effort to achieve corporate goals. Meanwhile, as Meta tries to 0:10:00.120 --> 0:10:03.680 the biggest Fish is also looking to reduce employee head 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:07.200 count so the company can buy other companies, but it 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.040 can't afford to pay the folks who do its work, 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:12.840 which is interesting, I can't afford them being snarky here, 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:17.840 Zuckerberg says he expects to do more with less, potentially 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:20.600 reducing head count by as much as ten percent by 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:24.600 the end of the year. According to inCider, the process 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.640 has already started. The company has been slowing down headcount 0:10:27.760 --> 0:10:31.320 growth also known as hiring, across pretty much all of 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:34.560 its departments. That's going to continue, and then some teams 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:38.480 within the company will, in Zuckerberg's own words, quote, shrink 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.720 so we can shift energy to other areas inside the 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:44.800 company end quote. He said that work at METTA will 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:48.880 require more intensity with fewer resources, and that he kind 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:51.760 of sees this as a trial by fire situation in 0:10:51.800 --> 0:10:54.520 which the company will emerge stronger on the other side. 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:58.600 This echoes things that we've heard Zuckerberg say before, like 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:01.720 he essentially said there are people who work at Facebook 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:04.840 who probably shouldn't be working there, and that this process 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:08.400 is in part a way to shake the tree pretty hard. 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.280 So that the folks who shouldn't be there will fall 0:11:11.320 --> 0:11:13.760 out of it. That's weird analogy for me to use, 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.080 but I think it's accurate and Gali, we're still going 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.360 with a meta stories here. So next up, The Verge 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:22.160 managed to get a recording of an internal company meeting 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:25.440 at Meta in which Zuckerberg named Apple as a top 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:29.160 rival when it comes to developing the metaverse. Zuckerberg argued 0:11:29.200 --> 0:11:32.880 that Apple's approach would be to create a closed off ecosystem, 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:36.079 and yeah, that's pretty much in line with Apple's m O. 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:37.800 All you have to do is look at how the 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.520 company has traditionally handled everything from the Macintosh platform to 0:11:41.640 --> 0:11:44.800 iOS devices to see that Apple is all about creating 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:49.120 uh an entire ecosystem, a foundation, and then maintaining tight 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:53.000 control and influence over whatever is built on top of 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:57.240 that foundation. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. If 0:11:57.280 --> 0:12:01.200 it's done well. It can help ensure that the content 0:12:01.400 --> 0:12:04.080 and services that are created to be on top of 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:08.440 that platform all meet certain standards. But this also makes 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:12.880 Apple the final arbiter and also the fee collector. That's 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:17.760 something that has left Apple in the target sites of 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:22.440 various regulatory agencies around the world. So in this Meta 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:25.840 internal meeting, Zuckerberg said that Meta's approach would be a 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:29.599 little more open than Apple's. Uh. He also argued that 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:32.800 Apple is a company that counts on profit from hardware sales, 0:12:33.600 --> 0:12:35.480 at least to a point. I would actually argue that 0:12:35.520 --> 0:12:38.320 Tim Cook has really been guiding Apple to lean much 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:42.000 harder into becoming a services company and less of being 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:45.640 a hardware company in recent years. But Zuckerberg's point was that, 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:50.240 you know, Apple sells iPhones at really high prices. They're 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:54.360 not like marking down the cost or the price rather 0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:57.520 of these devices and selling them at cost or even 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:01.520 lower than at cost to customers, whereas Facebook had been 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:04.000 doing that at least with things like mixed reality headwear. 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:07.840 Even with the recent news of the price hike, my 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:10.199 guess is that the hardware that there, you know, the 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:12.320 price that they're selling the hardware at is probably still 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:16.400 pretty close to at cost for the company. So he said, 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:18.600 you know, that's a totally different approach. We are trying 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:23.000 to create an enormous user base, and then we will 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:28.040 really rely on services to generate revenue, which ultimately, again 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:31.040 I think takes it right back to Apple's own strategy. 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:35.640 It's just that Apple is kind of transitioning from being 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:39.720 so so much hardware focused to being services focused, and 0:13:40.080 --> 0:13:43.240 Meta in this case is looking at just going services 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:46.400 focused from the get go. But I would argue that 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:50.840 they really aren't that different in the long run. All Right, 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:53.520 last Meta story for today, and then we're gonna move 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:57.280 on to other stuff. Nick Clegg, Meta's head of global affairs, 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:00.439 released a statement indicating that Meta is as king it's 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.800 oversight board if maybe, possibly it would be okay for 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:06.880 the company to start allowing misinformation about COVID to post 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:11.679 on the site now that everything's fine again. But Jonathan, 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:14.360 I hear some of you say things are most certainly 0:14:14.440 --> 0:14:20.360 not okay. Well, yeah, that's that's true. That's reality. But 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:23.160 Meta's argument is that, you know, maybe things are okay 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:26.640 and we're back to normal now, maybe or something. Anyway, 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:29.760 Clegg said that what the company is considering is a 0:14:29.800 --> 0:14:34.120 major change in policy. Currently, the official policy at Meta 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.560 is that the company will prevent or remove posts that 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:42.200 promote COVID misinformation in an effort to protect users. Now, 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:46.760 some people argue that this infringes upon free speech. I 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:50.520 would counter that argument by saying, free speech has never 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:55.480 been entirely free. There have always been limitations in place. Namely, 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.040 if the speech were to cause harm to others, it 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:03.200 is not protect it as free speech. Anyway, Meta would 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:06.760 like to change this policy they have been using so 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:09.920 that the company could maybe go back to perhaps pushing 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:14.320 misinformation posts lower in priority for its recommendation algorithms, so 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:16.800 in other words, it would still allow the posts to post, 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:21.000 but they wouldn't spread as far in theory, and they 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:25.280 would have less reach, and maybe also to include labeling 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:31.040 them as potentially including misinformation rather than just outright banning 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:34.600 the post entirely. And The Guardian and several other news 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:37.920 outlets have all kind of positive that since the oversight 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:42.360 boards recommendations are not mandatory, like Meta is under no 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:46.600 obligation to actually enact any suggestion the oversight board makes. 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:50.480 They're more like advisors in this In this capacity, this 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:52.720 could be a case where Meta actually already has a 0:15:52.760 --> 0:15:55.040 plan in place of what it is going to do, 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:59.600 like it they've already decided, but that the company is 0:15:59.640 --> 0:16:02.040 trying to use the oversight board to kind of shoulder 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:05.600 some of the responsibility for that decision so that all 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:11.080 the hate doesn't hit Meta itself. In other words, Meta 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:13.240 is probably going to ease off on how it police 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:17.600 has misinformation because there's way more money. If it allows 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:22.280 misinformation to proliferate on the platform, it just gets more engagement, 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.280 and that means more money, and the company loves that money, 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:28.280 especially since you know, in the last couple of quarters 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:30.440 things have been a little more shaky and they really 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:36.720 need to reassure stakeholders shareholders that the company is is 0:16:36.800 --> 0:16:41.280 heading in a strong financial direction. Uh, but you know, 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:43.520 the company who still would really like someone else to 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:45.600 kind of take at least some of the heat for 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.000 that decision. So if the oversight board says, yeah, you know, 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:51.040 this is a reasonable thing for you to to switch 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:54.240 gears because how things have changed in the world, you 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.200 don't need to ban everything, well, then the oversight board 0:16:57.200 --> 0:17:00.160 can take some of the heat for that decision one 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:03.000 that I think again that Meta has already made so 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:06.200 it it becomes theater. In other words, now the oversight 0:17:06.240 --> 0:17:09.240 board has actually opened this matter up to public comment, 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:12.960 which I suspect will be very active, and I can't 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:15.960 predict what the board will conclude. I just feel fairly 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:18.359 sure that no matter what the board says, Meta is 0:17:18.400 --> 0:17:20.760 heading to a future where it will not be taking 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:25.200 a hardline stance against misinformation as it had been forced 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:27.600 to do in the recent past. All Right, we've got 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:29.680 a lot more news today. Before we get any of that, 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:40.880 let's take a quick break. Yesterday, which was Wednesday, July 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:44.280 twenty two, for those of you from the future who 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:47.160 for some reason decided to listen to a news episode 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:51.640 of tech Stuff, Google announced several new policies that will 0:17:51.680 --> 0:17:54.960 affect developers who are creating apps for Android. Now. A 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:58.600 lot of those policies are for small technical things. Uh. 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.200 For example, they're going to be restrictions on the types 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:04.160 of apps that will be able to access the alarm 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:08.119 function on an Android device. So if the app doesn't 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:11.920 fall into one of a couple of specific categories, then 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:18.040 it should not tap into that that particular function, and 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:21.760 any app that's discovered to do that that doesn't fall 0:18:21.760 --> 0:18:25.240 in those categories could be removed from Google Play. Other 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:28.880 policies are much more sweeping, such as measures that are 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:33.000 meant to limit the spread of misinformation through apps, also 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:37.280 to limit things like impersonation. So this means Google is 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:40.560 going to crack down on apps that advocate. For example, 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:45.520 harmful health practices, conversion therapy being a big and terrible 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:49.440 example of that. If an app is found to promote 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:54.160 that sort of stuff that is fundamentally harmful, Google will 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:58.920 remove it. Uh. Also, if an app actively spreads misleading 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:02.480 claims about stuff vaccines, like if an app says this 0:19:02.560 --> 0:19:06.399 vaccine will alter your DNA, which is a false claim, 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:09.640 Google will remove it. It's it's this is these policies 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:13.280 are are the rules that Google establishes so that it 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:16.360 has the authority to do things like remove apps from 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:19.120 the play Store. Right. This is this is saying, hey, 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:21.640 we told you what the rules were. If you don't 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:26.280 follow them, then we get to act um. And as 0:19:26.280 --> 0:19:28.760 for impersonation, well, that actually covers a lot of ground. 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:31.879 Like impersonation in this sense doesn't mean an app that 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:38.040 somehow impersonates a person necessarily. Instead, it's like creating false 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:42.720 expectations or false representations in the eyes of app users. So, 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:46.760 as an example, it is against Google's policy now for 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:48.639 you to design your app in such a way that 0:19:48.720 --> 0:19:52.320 it implies that you have a relationship with some other 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:56.280 well known entity, which could be another app, it could 0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:59.120 be a famous person that could be an official organization, 0:19:59.640 --> 0:20:03.640 and yet no actual relationship really exists between the two 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:06.760 of you. So if I were to make an app 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:12.240 that implied that somehow the app was connected to the FBI, 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:15.200 but that was not true, that there was no connection 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:17.720 to the FBI, but I was claiming that, then I 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:20.440 would be in violation of that policy and Google could 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:23.840 remove my app from the play Store. Um Or if 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:25.639 I made an app that just claimed to be the 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:29.560 official app of some celebrity, let's say Tim Curry, I 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:34.200 say it's the Tim Curry Official app, but I provide 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:37.040 no evidence to prove that it's the Tim Curry official app, 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:40.919 that there has been any involvement with Tim Curry or 0:20:40.960 --> 0:20:44.879 anything like that. Again, I would be violating Google's new policy. 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:49.159 Other changes will create more positive experiences for customers, including 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:51.920 a policy that or required developers to make it easier 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:56.960 for users to cancel a subscription. Now this change requires 0:20:56.960 --> 0:21:01.720 developers to make cancelation settings easier to find. It has 0:21:01.760 --> 0:21:04.560 to be included in the apps account settings that cannot 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:09.680 be obfusekated, or buried like ten menus down, and if 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:15.480 you click on the cancel uh feature or option in 0:21:15.520 --> 0:21:18.720 that menu, then you are supposed to be taken directly 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:24.840 to that apps cancelation process or to Google Place subscription center. 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:29.159 If the app is using the Google architecture for that 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:32.520 and there, you should be able to cancel your subscription. 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:35.119 It should not set you on a wild goose chase 0:21:35.560 --> 0:21:39.720 where the whole goal again is to discourage you from canceling, 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:43.439 not by convincing you that the services worth having, but 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:45.920 by convincing you it's too much trouble to go through 0:21:45.920 --> 0:21:49.240 the process to actually cancel the ding dang darn thing. 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:52.520 There are a lot of other policy changes that Google announced, 0:21:52.520 --> 0:21:55.600 including some really important ones, like restrictions on apps that 0:21:55.640 --> 0:21:59.520 have been marketed as surveillance or spying apps, like apps 0:21:59.560 --> 0:22:02.920 that are meant attract people's movements, that kind of stuff. Uh, 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:05.840 there's a policy that now restricts developers that are using 0:22:05.840 --> 0:22:10.200 the VPN service function on Android from collecting personal user 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:14.960 data without first giving prominent disclosure and getting consent from 0:22:15.040 --> 0:22:18.919 the users. Developers will have a thirty day grace period 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:21.800 to make sure that their apps are conforming to these 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:25.080 new policies before Google will start to take any action 0:22:25.240 --> 0:22:29.760 against apps that you know don't do that. The US 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:32.400 Senate has voted in favor of a bill that will 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:36.520 ultimately allow for subsidies, grants, and tax brakes valued at 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:39.960 more than fifty billion dollars in an effort to bring 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:45.040 semiconductor manufacturing back to the United States on a grand scale. Uh, 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:47.000 that's not to say that it doesn't happen in the 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:49.600 US already. It does, it's just at a fraction of 0:22:49.600 --> 0:22:53.160 what it used to. So quick history lesson. We used 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:55.159 to have a lot of silicon manufacturing here in the 0:22:55.240 --> 0:23:00.960 United States, but other regions, namely Taiwan, invested huge amounts 0:23:00.960 --> 0:23:03.840 of money to build out facilities that could make chips 0:23:03.920 --> 0:23:09.560 cheaper and at enormous manufacturing scale. Naturally, this meant that 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:13.639 most semi conductor manufacturing would move overseas, and today the 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:17.080 US makes up just twelve percent of the world's chip manufacturing. 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:21.440 Taiwan is producing nearly half of all semi conductors used 0:23:21.440 --> 0:23:24.160 around the world. And it's it's even more than that 0:23:24.680 --> 0:23:27.520 when you start looking at advanced semi conductors, not just 0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:31.359 like simple ones for you know, micro controllers and stuff, 0:23:31.359 --> 0:23:34.960 but when you're looking at advanced semiconductors, Taiwan produces more 0:23:35.000 --> 0:23:40.040 than half of those and Taiwan's um relationship with China 0:23:40.240 --> 0:23:43.639 is a big cause for concern. You know, Taiwan is 0:23:43.680 --> 0:23:47.520 an island that's just off the coast of mainland China. UH. 0:23:47.680 --> 0:23:53.400 The history of these two regions is tightly intertwined. The 0:23:53.400 --> 0:23:57.320 the Republic of China, not the People's Republic of China, 0:23:57.359 --> 0:23:59.679 but the Republic of China, which was in charge of 0:23:59.680 --> 0:24:03.679 the whole country up to nineteen forty nine, effectively retreated 0:24:03.720 --> 0:24:09.000 to Taiwan and still lays claim over mainland China. Mainland 0:24:09.080 --> 0:24:12.959 China is ruled by the People's Republic of China, and 0:24:13.000 --> 0:24:15.440 it lays claim over Taiwan. So you've got these two 0:24:15.520 --> 0:24:19.919 entities that simultaneously claimed that they're in charge of the other. Uh. 0:24:19.960 --> 0:24:23.679 Except that China is way bigger than Taiwan is, and 0:24:23.720 --> 0:24:28.480