Between one problem and another, Meta is carrying out its projects, both aimed at guaranteeing high inclusiveness in its platforms, and regarding the Metaverse and its virtual reality viewers.
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The colossus of social media and chat apps, Meta – formerly Facebook Inc – recently grappling with several thorny issues, took the opportunity to leave the difficulties behind, announcing several novelties in the field of VR, but also to celebrate Pride Month.
In 2020, Meta bought the animated image platform Giphy, for 400 million dollars, raising the concerns of the English antitrust, the CMA (Competition and Markets Authority) regarding the fact that this move could damage the competition, being Giply one of the few companies in the animated GIF sector. In 2021 the decision came that Meta should have sold Giphy, separating it from himself, with the consequence that Menlo Park challenged the decision in court.
In the past few hours, there has been the pronouncement of the CAT (Competition Appeal Tribunal) which seems to have given Meta wrong (“seemingly failed to appeal”, according to Android Police) even if it is pointed out that, in reaching its decision, the CMA has kept quiet about the fact that rival Snap, Snapchat’s parent, the same year Meta bought Giphy, had bought a similar platform, Gfycat. This, therefore, “undermines the totality of the decision”. Meta, who senses the possibility that the CMA’s decision will be canceled or at least delayed, has already ruled on the matter, stating that it is “looking forward to understanding how these serious process defects will be resolved” since it is firmly convinced that the investment made at the time in the acquisition can improve “the GIPHY product for the millions of people, companies and partners who use it”.
Another thorny issue that Meta is facing is that of the resignation of former COO Sheryl Sandberg: according to the Wall Street Journal, which listened to people with knowledge of the facts, Meta’s lawyers have been investigating since last fall to ascertain a possible use of resources. of the company, by Sandberg (annoyed by such investigations), for private projects. Of course, a response quickly came from Sandberg’s entourage that her decision to leave Meta was not related to the audit in question.
Moving on to the level of concrete news for users, Meta, as is known, recently approved the launch of parental control measures for its viewers: specifically, in addition to systems to keep the time of use of the viewers under control, among the other solutions adopted, there is not only the blocking of apps that could be unsuitable for the target of minors, but also the blocking of the download or purchase of apps deemed unsuitable according to the IARC classification. At that point, a child aged 13 and over can send the parent a purchase request, which the parent can respond to, favorably or not, via a notification received in the Oculus mobile app. Likewise, a hub will be launched containing the ConnectSafely guide for the supervision tools available to parents in VR, so as to offer discussion points between parents and children.
Another novelty for the VR in release, but in the coming weeks, concerns the voice mode for Horizon Worlds (by the summer extended to other European countries) accessible via Quest 2. According to Latesly, this will allow you to hear at the same volume the closest users, that is friends, while those who are not included in the list of friends, will be rendered with “friendly but incomprehensible” sounds: it will still be possible, using the ear controller to raise your hand to hear what a not friend, without having to add him to your friends list.
Still on the subject of VR, according to a new report published by Upload VR, Meta is developing a more practical system for generating realistic avatars that do without the MUGSY scanning system, based on 171 professional cameras, instead allowing you to use your own smartphone, as long as it has a front depth sensor, in the name of a procedure that should last just 3 and a half minutes.
Finally, the Pride-themed news. Meta has announced the availability of new stickers, made by the non-binary artist Wednesday Holmes, of new word effects triggered by words (in Messenger), of new chat themes (for Messenger and Instagram), of new 3D Avatar stickers ( for the Facebook feed and Stories and for Messenger). On Messenger Kids will arrive the rainbow AR effect and, usable in the camera, the frame and the Pride stickers.