Meta opens Horizon Worlds to teens in Canada, the US

Image: Meta

Meta is making Horizon Worlds available to younger teens. The metaverse space will be accessible to teens aged 13 to 17 in Canada and the US in the coming weeks. Meta promises "robust" safety measures and parental controls. It wants to ensure the experience is "age-appropriate." And this gradual rollout will determine how well the protections are working.

Click to read more ...

Meta's paid verification program comes to the US

Image: Meta

Meta Verified, the company's paid verification program, goes live in the US. It costs USD 12 (around CAD 16) per month via the web or USD 15 (~CAD 20) on mobile to account for the in-app fees of both Apple and Google. Meta Verified brings features like a blue verification badge for both Facebook and Instagram, "proactive impersonation protection," and direct access to customer support. 

Meta is also giving stars each month (which you use to tip Facebook creators) and extra stickers for Stories and Reels. The US version of this feature won't gain increased visibility in some parts of the app yet. 

Click to read more ...

Meta to kill off NFT support on Facebook, Instagram

Image: Meta

Meta is ending its support for NFTs on both Facebook and Instagram. The move comes less than a year since it pushed to adopt these "digital collectibles" across the platform. This update comes as the social network laid off thousands of workers and shuttered numerous projects. It wasn't elaborated on why Meta is reversing course on NFTs, but it hasn't been the only product or initiative that the company has shuttered.

“We’re winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses,” Stephane Kasriel, Meta’s Head of Commerce and Financial Technologies wrote in an update shared on Twitter. “We learned a ton that we’ll be able to apply to products we’re continuing to build to support creators, people, and businesses on our apps, both today and in the metaverse.” In its place, the company would be focusing on “monetization opps for Reels” and “messaging payments across Meta.”

Source

Meta's 2023 layoffs may match the scope of last year's

Photo: Muhammad Asyfaul/Unsplash

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg refers to 2023 as the "year of efficiency," and part of that means more layoffs. The first wave of cuts is expected to be announced next week, with non-engineering roles being hit hard. The company is expected to shut down projects and teams in conjunction with these job cuts. Facebook's parent company is expected to do multiple layoff rounds over the coming months, resulting in another 13% cut of its workforce.

Last year, Meta cut approximately 11,000 jobs or around 13% of its employees. Among the projects expected to get axed include wearable devices in the works at its Reality Labs (Meta's hardware and metaverse division).

Click to read more ...