Meta Employees Are Now ‘Metamates’; Senate Bill Would Make Social Nets Protect Kids More; Google Bows Privacy Sandbox on Android; Twitter ‘Bot Accounts Get Label Indicating They Are ‘Bots

They were formerly Facebookers, but with the move to the name and over-arching company Meta, Facebook employees aren now ‘Metamates.’ Marketwatch.com reports that this is by decree of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. (Could be worse…could have been Metamucilmates…) In addition, Zuck has detailed new company values, with ‘Be Open’ now changed to ‘Be Direct and Respect Your Colleagues.’ It’s a long way from the old days of ‘Move Fast and Break Things.’

A conservative Republican Senator and liberal Democratic one have introduced a bill called the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), that will give kids more control over their privacy and safety on social media. The Act, introduced by Senators Marsha Blackburn and Richard Blumenthal, will also set out stricter guidelines for the companies in question. According to the Washington Post, the Act will require social media companies to give kids under 16 tools to protect their data, turn off ‘addictive’ features, and opt out of algorithm based recommendations. The strongest settings, affording the most protection to the children, would have to be on by default. 

Google is following Apple in bringing a Privacy Sandbox to Android. 9to5google.com says it starts out with new privacy preserving APIs that limit which user data gets shared with third parties and don’t use cross-party identifiers…like Android’s AdID. To prevent covert user tracking, an SDK Runtime will isolate advertising SDKs (and their processes) included by apps. This is a double whammy to Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, which have relied on hoovering up user data to serve up targeted ads. Facebook took a hit after revealing a drop off in ad revenue due to Apple’s tightening things up. They have a little time to adjust, though…Google says it won’t have things fully implemented until 2023. 

Twitter bot accounts can now be labeled as such, effective today. Engadget.com reports the company has begun rolling out the feature world wide. Twitter says the notice will help users to get more detail about an account and its purpose, and then can decide whether or not to follow or engage with that account.