Frances Haugen called on lawmakers in Brussels to seize the opportunity to create a "global gold standard" as they draft oversight regulation for tech giants.

Facebook became Meta Platforms on October 28 and subsequently announced its grand plans for bringing the virtual and physical worlds together in the metaverse. Since then, tech and entertainment giants have been jumping on the bandwagon and staking their own claims as builders of a new reality. But what exactly is the metaverse and what are the risks associated with it? Peter O'Brien takes a closer look in this week's Tech 24, the first in a new live format.

A report by a US Senate Committee has raised concerns by whistleblowers about the safety approval process for new aircraft, in the wake of the deadly Boeing 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. Senators spoke to whistleblowers at Boeing, its supplier GE, and engineers working for the Federal Aviation Administration. It found the FAA's certification process had been "eroded" and that the agency had "increasingly delegated away its authority". Our business editor Stephen Carroll tells us more.

Many Facebook groups based in Mali and Nigeria began sharing a video of a helicopter on December 9, claiming it showed an aircraft delivering weapons to terrorists. In Mali, the posts often accused the French government of operating the helicopter, while posts coming from Nigeria laid the blame on the Nigerian government. In reality, the video is from neither one of these countries – it was filmed in the Central African Republic during a routine supply drop.

For the first time since inception in 2004, Facebook lost about 5 lakh users on a daily basis during Oct-Dec 2021. That saw the shares of its parent company, Meta, plunge 20 percent on the exchanges, wiping off $200 bn in market capitalisation.

Here are a few reasons to pick up a copy of The Guardian on Wednesday⁣.⁣

Facebook and Instagram's parent company, Meta, has been designated as an "extremist" organization by a Russian court. But Meta's WhatsApp is excluded from the ban.

The European Union agreed on new regulations that require social media companies and online marketplaces to remove illegal content. Advertisement targeting minors will also be banned.

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.