The Week That Was. IT and Media news week 49
Eva Kaili, VP of the European Parliament and for years a MEP very active in tech issues at the parliament, was arrested suspected of participating in a ring taking bribes from Qatar. After a police search in her home and office, Kaili and four others were arrested and Kaili, one of 14 elected vice presidents of the parliament, was suspended from the parliament and Greek Pasok-party. Read an earlier interview that Moonshot.News made with her about digital rights and controlling of big tech companies.
Meta’s Oversight Board is strongly criticizing the company’s cross-check programme that allows VIPs and other powerful users to post content that is not in line with moderation rules. The management has said the programme aims to protect human rights while the board says it is used for commercial reasons. Information about the cross-check programme was included in whistleblower leaks to the Wall Street Journal last year saying that Facebook prioritized traffic driving content from celebrity users rather than ethics.
Chinese-owned TikTok is growing fast as a source for news. Around half (49%) of top news publishers are now regularly publishing content on TikTok. A large proportion of these have joined TikTok in the last year, a study from Reuters Institute shows. “News on TikTok is still mostly generated by social media influencers, activists, or ordinary people rather than by journalists. Many worry about the credibility of the information they see on TikTok and the potential for misinformation and disinformation”, the report says.
Global advertising will grow 4.5% next year and will accelerate to 7.2% in 2024 around major events, including the US Presidential elections and the Olympics, marketing firm Zenith Media forecasts. It says global advertising expenditure is expected to grow 7.3% in 2022. Group M predicts global advertising to grow 5.9% next year with strong gains in connected TV, retail media and fast-growing markets like India. The Group M’s prediction is a downgrade from 6.4% forecasted in June. “Barring an escalation to the war in Ukraine or another pandemic-sized global disaster, we expect growth to climb in 2024 to 6.2% before returning to a trend of decelerating mid-single-digit growth through 2027”, Group M said.
Gaming is a fast growing market and the growth is forecasted to continue, especially in the future metaverse. The US competition authority, Federal Trade Commission, has now taken the controversial decision to go to court to block Microsoft’s buying of video-game studio Activision Blizzard for USD 69 billion – the company’s biggest acquisition ever. FTC thinks Microsoft could harm competition by making.
Despite discussions about hate speech and polarisation, a majority think social media has a positive impact on democracy and is giving people a sense of empowerment. A survey across 19 countries shows a median of 57% saying social media has been more of a good thing for their democracy. 84% believe internet and social media have made people easier to manipulate with false information and rumours, a Pew Research Center survey shows.
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