Gillian Tett on how to assess risk in the age of coronavirus

WhatsApp, which began testing its mobile payments feature in India two years ago, could offer at least one more financial service to people in its biggest market. In a filing with the local regulator in India, the Facebook -owned messaging platform has listed credit as one of the areas it will pursue in the country. […]

The coronavirus pandemic is significantly slowing the growth of Facebook’s ads business, but investors seem pleased with the company’s performance in Q1 after Facebook released its earnings report Wednesday. The company beat Wall Street expectations on revenues, sharing that they had made $17.74 billion while falling short on earnings per share at $1.71. The company […]

The quarantine lockdown is driving a record number of users to Facebook’s products. On a conference call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg disclosed a number of new metrics highlighting a significant bump in Facebook usage during the broader quarantine lockdown. In the past month, more than 3 billion internet users logged onto a Facebook service, including its […]

Researchers at NYU have identified hundreds of groups of Instagram users, some with thousands of members, that systematically exchange likes and comments in order to game the service’s algorithms and boost visibility. In the process, they also trained machine learning agents to identify whether a post has been juiced in this way. “Pods,” as they’ve […]

Facebook is today rolling out a tool that will allow users in the U.S. and Canada to export their Facebook photos and videos to Google Photos. This data portability tool was first introduced in Ireland in December, and has since been made available to other international markets. To use the feature, Facebook users will need […]

Byju’s, an education learning startup in India that has seen a surge in its popularity in recent weeks amid the coronavirus outbreak, is in talks to raise as much as $400 million in fresh capital at a $10 billion valuation, said three people familiar with the matter. The additional capital would be part of the […]

Weeks after Facebook invested $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms, India’s top telecom operator, private equity firm Silver Lake is following suit — and is willing to pay a premium for it. Silver Lake announced on Monday it will be investing 56.56 billion Indian rupees (about $746.8 million) in Jio Platforms for about 1.15% stake in the Indian […]

Facebook is expanding its Community Help hub to better serve local communities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The hub has already seen significant usage by those requesting food, supplies and information about local resources, as well as use by volunteers and groups willing to lend a hand. Now, Facebook is adding more features to the hub […]

Facebook has a new connectivity app called Discover to help those who can’t afford to get online access information on the web. The service, available through mobile web and Android app, allows users to visit any website in text format (no video, images, audio and other elements that eat up large amounts of data) and […]

In spite of their protected status under international laws, pangolins remain one of the most trafficked animals in the world — and at least some of that trade is taking place right out in the open on Facebook . A new report from tech watchdog group the Tech Transparency Project details how Facebook users are […]

A number of popular apps including Spotify, GroupMe, Pinterest and TikTok were fielding user iOS crash reports Wednesday evening, the result of an apparent issues with Facebook’s SDK according to a lengthy GitHub thread on the topic. Downdetector logged tens of thousands of user crash reports on Spotify between 3:30 and 5:30 pm PT, the […]

For many college seniors, school is a time for self-exploration, considering options, leisurely contemplating the future. Yet that’s rarely the case for computer engineering students who either attend the world’s best universities or rise to the very top of their classes. Almost immediately after choosing their courses during the first week of school, they typically […]

Private equity firm Vista Equity Partners said on Friday it will invest $1.5 billion in Reliance Jio Platforms, joining social conglomerate Facebook and Silver Lake that have also made bets on the Indian telecom giant in recent weeks. The planned announcement, which would give the U.S.-headquartered software-focused buyout firm Vista Equity Partners a 2.32% stake in […]

After months of testing, Facebook’s redesign is finally official. Announced last year at F8, the more minimalist approach to its desktop design has been rolled out in waves. In March, the company added an option to try out the new version. Users could switch back and leave feedback for why they had done so. This […]

The anti-Brexit movement wasted energy on negative campaigning and parliamentary wrecking tactics

The German finance minister’s proposition on EU deposit insurance are not quite what they seem

The new president should ensure governments grasp the interaction of fiscal and monetary policy

Security and climate change will be high on Ursula von der Leyen’s list of priorities

The problem with bad data is that it lures us into believing false truths

The UK should not agree to proposals to stagger the talks, with fish as part of the first course

The continent could become a playground of conflicting US, Chinese and Russian interests

Research shows that the policy has had an adverse effect on economic growth

Recognition of a two-speed Europe would help fix divides

Investment strategies have failed to prepare the country for the technology shock

London and Brussels have both turned these negotiations into a zero-sum game

Direct payments should be made to citizens and companies

But statistics that show how many days one country is behind another are humbug

What if Italy cannot service its debt and a future government is tempted to default?

We do not need another big lending programme; equity investments would get us out of the credit-versus-loans debate

It would be the underlying law and EU treaty that needs changing, not the ruling

Trump impeachment hearings go public

TV debate vacates centre ground

UK election campaign fights for national health

COP25 attempts to confront climate change

Democrats gear up for US impeachment

Boris Johnson rules out trade deal extension

The world faces increasing temperatures

Tensions in Iraq and North Korea greet Trump’s re-election plans

Carlos Ghosn takes the stage

‘Phase one’ deal provides only limited relief in US-China trade war

Saudis alleged to have hacked Jeff Bezos’s phone

Boris Johnson dives into the transition period

The US Republican party rallies behind Donald Trump

Democratic presidential contenders cling on over early hurdles

Tech companies caught in coronavirus disruption

Donald Trump visits India as sectarian violence erupts

Refugee crisis looms as ‘gates open’ on the Turkish border

UK government spending faces increasing pressures

Turning the key on the coronavirus crisis