1. Zuckerberg Releases New Internet Rules
On Saturday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg released an opinion piece in the Washington Post outlining new internet rules he thinks companies and regulators should consider. The four key issues he addressed were “harmful content, election integrity, privacy and data portability,” all problems that Facebook has struggled with firsthand. Zuckerberg adds that Facebook plans to set up an independent body to regulate its content. He ends the piece with a call to action to “update these rules” and “define clear responsibilities for people, companies, and governments going forward.” What was the reaction? To some people, this seemed like an attempt by Facebook to self-regulate and beat lawmakers to the punch in setting up guidelines. Rhode Island Representative David Cicilline tweeted:
Rule #5 should be that Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t get to make the rules anymore. Facebook is under criminal and civil investigation. It has shown it cannot regulate itself. Does anyone even want his advice? https://t.co/HoHMZO0Iz6
— David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) March 30, 2019
In fact, the piece comes just after Facebook was hit with a discrimination lawsuit. Other politicians, such as Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, supported Zuckerberg’s post. He tweeted:
Zuckerberg is right. Tech companies must be accountable for safeguarding against violent extremists & foreign adversaries. There must be strict legal limits on how platforms use our data. It’s time for Congress to set clear & commonsense rules. https://t.co/UTHmluoQod
— Richard Blumenthal (@SenBlumenthal) March 31, 2019
(Source: Washington Post)
2. The Impossible Whopper: Meatless Burger
Burger King just started selling a burger that contains 0% meat, and neither customers nor employees can taste the difference. The Impossible Whopper is made with a plant-based patty produced by Impossible Foods. Currently, the burger is available for a limited time at several St. Louis Burger King locations. The restaurant hopes to offer the burger at all of its locations if the trial goes well. The Impossible Whopper is different than the veggie burgers Burger King already sells because it actually looks and tastes like meat. The patty utilizes heme, an iron-rich protein cultivated from soybean roots. Why the change? Impossible Foods developed the burger to decrease dependence on animal agriculture and combat ethical issues related to meat consumption. As culture moves toward more plant-based products, Burger King’s chief marketing officer, Fernando Machado, states, “I have high expectations that it’s going to be big business, not just a niche product.”
3. Google Shuts Down Failed Google+ Service
Yesterday, Google started deleting accounts on its social networking platform, Google+. The firm launched the network in 2011 to rival services like Facebook but it never actually took off. Google linked Google+ to its other services and forced customers to join to comment on YouTube videos, which didn’t sit well with users. Even worse, the public discovered that a security bug in Google+ had been exposing the data of over tens of millions of users, and the company kept this a secret for months. What was the final straw? Shortly after, another data leak was exposed. At this point, Google accelerated the shutdown plan by four months. Looks like Google+ never stood a chance against Facebook.
