Meta Platforms is testing a paid consumer subscription tier for WhatsApp, a significant pivot for a messaging service that has defined its global dominance through a strictly free-to-use model. Read: Bandwidth Blog & Smile 90.4FM Tech Tuesday: Apple smart glasses! The new offering, titled WhatsApp Plus, was first spotted in recent Android beta builds and…
Meta is debuting its first major artificial intelligence model since the costly hiring of Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang nine months ago, as the Facebook parent aims to carve out a niche in a market that’s being dominated by OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Dubbed Muse Spark and originally codenamed Avocado, the AI model announced Wednesday is…
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg arrives for a meeting on Capitol Hill on March 26, 2026. Andrew Harnik | Getty Images A bad week for stocks was particularly rough for tech investors, as the Nasdaq suffered its worst weekly drop since April 2025. Meta and Micron saw double-digit drops, but the pain was felt across the…
A woman has been awarded $6m in a verdict that could have implications for hundreds of other cases in the US.
Meta may be preparing for one of the most significant rounds of layoffs in its history. According to a report from Reuters, the social media giant is considering cutting approximately 20% of its workforce. While the report indicates that neither a specific date nor the final headcount has been officially set, the scale of the…
Meta Platforms is planning sweeping layoffs that could affect 20% or more of the company, three sources familiar with the matter have said, as Meta seeks to offset costly AI infrastructure bets and prepare for greater efficiency brought about by AI-assisted workers. No date has been set for the cuts and the magnitude has not…
So potentially fraught is the outcome that Mark Zuckerberg, the billionaire co-founder and chief executive of Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, appeared in person to defend his platforms. It was the first time he had ever given such testimony before a court, despite his company being sued hundreds of times in the past.
AI rivals will be allowed on WhatsApp for a year, Meta Platforms said, aiming to head off a possible temporary order from EU antitrust regulators after complaints from competitors shut out of the messaging service. The European Commission, the EU’s competition enforcer, last month threatened interim measures to prevent potential serious and irreparable harm to…
Lisa Su, chair and chief executive officer of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., displays an AMD Instinct MI455X GPU during the 2026 CES event in Las Vegas, Jan. 5, 2026. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images A week after Meta committed to using millions of Nvidia’s processors to power its AI expansion, the social media company…
Meta Platforms plans to release its first smartwatch this year, The Information reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter. The company has revived its “Malibu 2” smartwatch project, the report said, adding that the device, set for release later this year, will feature health tracking and a built-in Meta AI assistant. Meta…
