Frances Haugen: Facebook whistleblower testifies before US Congress

Sandberg helped transform the company into an over $100-billion-a-year powerhouse. She will continue to serve on the board of directors.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, among others, is facing several economic constraints. Mark Zuckerberg said he will "get more done with fewer resources."

Twitter shareholders have approved Elon Musk's $44 billion offer to buy the social media platform, months after the billionaire tried to back out of the deal. The case will be heard by a US court in October. Meanwhile, a Senate panel has heard explosive testimony about security practices at Twitter. A whistleblower alleges that a Chinese agent was on Twitter's payroll and that management routinely ignored warnings about data security. Also in the show, US inflation hovers near 40-year highs.

Amnesty International accuses Facebook of exacerbating human rights violations in Myanmar. It claims the social network proactively "amplified" anti-Rohingya content back in 2017, when the country's military launched a deadly crackdown on the ethnic minority.

Meta Platforms Inc META.O said on Wednesday it will let go of 13% of its workforce, or more than 11,000 employees, in one of the biggest layoffs this year as the Facebook parent battles soaring costs and a weak advertising market.

Despite expectations of sweeping losses, Democrats have defeated Republicans in some key races. But projections put Republicans in the lead for the race for control of the House of Representatives.

US President Joe Biden has called on lawmakers to pass legislation that would avert a nationwide rail shutdown. This would impose a contract that has not been approved by all negotiating unions but would nonetheless guarantee a 24 percent wage increase for rail workers. The US economy stands to lose $2 billion a day in the event of a strike.

The EU's competition watchdog has accused tech giant Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, of breaching antitrust rules. An early analysis says the firm distorted competition in the online classified ads business.

The spending bill includes provisions to reform US election laws — the first legislative response to the January 6 riots at the Capitol after Donald Trump refused to accept the results.

The former US president fought for years to keep his tax affairs secret, even suing the committee that tried to make them public.

The former US president had been blocked from the social media platforms since the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Meta said it was taking measures to prevent "repeat offenders" from violating its rules.

Facebook has been under scrutiny before, for failing to curb hate speech on its platform in Ethiopia. The son of a man killed after calls for his murder appeared on the platform argues that Facebook treats Africa differently to Europe and the US.