The Week That Was. IT and Media news week 45
Published on:
Meta is laying off 11 000 staffers after its latest disappointing quarterly report. CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s message to staff came a year after changing the name from Facebook to Meta and just a few days after Twitter, under its new owner Elon Musk, fired around half of his social media company’s staff. Meta actions include hiring freeze through first quarter next year.
An unprecedented number of women journalists are now detained in Iran. As the regime continues its crackdown on protests after Mahsa Amini’s death, close to half of all newly arrested journalists are women, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reports. 22-year old Mahsa Amini died in a hospital in Iran on September 16 with eyewitnesses saying she died because of police brutality. Her death has led to widespread protests. Authorities’ attempts to stop the protests have led to violence and a number of deaths.
Cybercriminals continue to act as sophisticated profit enterprises, Microsoft says in its annual Digital Defence Report. During the past year, cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure jumped from comprising 20% of all nation-state attacks to 40%. This spike was due, in large part, to Russia’s goal of damaging Ukrainian infrastructure, and aggressive espionage targeting Ukraine’s allies.
Big tech’s business models and algorithms must be overhauled for women journalists to be able to work safely online. Big Tech’s business models and algorithms have been found to drive hate and prioritise profit over human rights, the International Centre for Journalists, supported by Unesco, writes in global report. The report, published with support of Unesco, says online violence against women journalists is one of the most serious contemporary threats to press freedom internationally.
The days of viral videos exploding across the internet are over. People are instead seeking content that speaks to their niche interests, YouTube says in a trends report describing the development as “mass media is evolving into my media. Going forward, trends that matter will be born from creativity that is not restricted to any one digital video format or medium. As a result, we can expect hybrid creators and continuously remixed trends to become the new norm.”
Moonshot News is an independent European news website for all IT, Media and Advertising professionals, powered by women and with a focus on driving the narrative for diversity, inclusion and gender equality in the industry.
Our mission is to provide top and unbiased information for all professionals and to make sure that women get their fair share of voice in the news and in the spotlight!
We produce original content, news articles, a curated calendar of industry events and a database of women IT, Media and Advertising associations.
