Meta

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted a picture to WhatsApp that shows him wearing what he says are “the new limited edition Ray-Ban Meta x Coperni frames last night.” They’re coming tomorrow, he adds. Meta teased last week that “an exciting collaboration” is coming soon, and I suppose these are them.

Meta is testing a new feature that lets you add specific topics to a dedicated “Interests” section on your Threads profile, as spotted by @faslu_35. The company confirmed the test to TechCrunch.

We gave a brief overview of the components that make up the prototype AR glasses in our Orion hands-on, but Meta just released a series of blogs that go deep. I mean real deep into why they picked silicon carbide, as well as the tech in its custom silicon chips and compute pucks. There’s also some neat photos, especially in the blog on the silicon chips, that give you a good sense of all the tech in those glasses.

Meta AI fans on Android will soon be able to get to the chatbot more quickly via WhatsApp. A widget is in the works offering direct shortcuts to open the chat with the AI, send an image to it, or begin a voice chat. Some WhatsApp beta users already have the widgets available, though no date’s been set for an official launch.

Contrary to what Facebook ad scams are promoting via deepfake videos of Fox News personalities, Musk hasn’t discovered “one simple trick” to reverse the blood sugar condition. Most of these ads, which Engadget started noticing in early February, are linking viewers to unproven supplements that “big pharma” doesn’t want you to see.

Users on a Facebook group for Cybertruck owners are posting about public backlash being directed towards their vehicles, showing people flicking them off and lewd or abusive messages they’ve received.

Meta has ditched the pink/purple hued design it introduced in 2020 and replaced it with a more boring version.

My colleague Chris Welch spotted that the tab had been pinned to the top of his home screen in the iOS app, beckoning him to stick with Threads for the latest news on the awards show, which is starting in less than an hour at 7PM ET.

Android Authority spotted that the latest WhatsApp Android beta now lets you raise your hand or send emoji reactions during a video call.

Some Instagram users experienced an error within the last few days that flooded their personal Reels feeds with violent and NSFW imagery, some (but not all) of which was hidden behind content warnings.

As spotted by Engadget, Meta’s community notes website has links to sign up for waitlists for Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Meta plans to phase in community notes “over the next few months,” according to the website.

The company is launching a $50 million fund and early access to a desktop editor for Horizon Worlds, its 3D social platform for mobile and VR.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which was founded by Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan, has told employees that it will no longer have a team dedicated to DEI, nor will it continue hiring efforts focused on diversity, according to a report from The Guardian. It also plans on ending “social advocacy funding.”

Meta has announced Project Waterworth, a previously-rumored “multi-billion dollar, multi-year” plan to build an over 50,000-kilometer undersea cable to support AI infrastructure. It would be the world’s longest, designed to resist “damage from ship anchors and other hazards.”

Per Meta spokesperson Andy Stone: “Mark Zuckerberg was at the White House today to discuss how Meta can help the administration defend and advance American tech leadership abroad.”

Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute — and previous Decoder guest — runs down the list of major media companies capitulating to frivolous Trump lawsuits and investigations, with particular scorn for Meta, which agreed to donate $25m to Trump’s presidential library instead of fighting a case it would have won handily. And not fighting has real consequences — as Jaffer says: