GoKawiil
Tech News
Meta's board approved a new non-voting Class C common stock class, effective January, which the company says will fund capital raising, employee pay and acquisitions tied to its AI push. The New York Times reports an SEC filing shows the plan was also shaped by CEO Mark Zuckerberg's concerns about California's proposed Proposition 40 billionaire tax, which could impose a one-time 5% levy on billionaires' net worth.
A New Mexico judge imposed a $25 billion civil penalty on Meta after a jury found the company committed nearly 44 million violations of the state's Unfair Practices Act. The case stemmed from Meta misleading users about data privacy practices connected to the Cambridge Analytica scandal tied to the 2016 presidential election. Meta had sought to cap penalties at $3.45 billion but failed, though the final sum is far below the $219 billion some estimates had floated.
President Trump spoke with Elon Musk about lifting speed caps currently placed on Starlink satellite internet service used in Ukraine, according to a report. The conversation touched on Ukraine's reliance on the Starlink network, which has faced restrictions affecting connection speeds for users there.
Meta disclosed in a quarterly filing that it created a new class of non-voting stock, effective January, that could help offset taxes Zuckerberg would owe if California's Proposition 40 billionaires tax passes on Nov. 3. In exchange, Zuckerberg has committed to remain a California resident for eight years, with exceptions for unforeseen circumstances. The 5% tax would apply to Californians worth over $1 billion; Zuckerberg's net worth is about $225 billion.
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha has filed a lawsuit against Meta, alleging the company fails to adequately police fraudulent advertisements on its platforms and profits from allowing them to run. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone disputed the claims, saying the company has removed over 159 million scam ads and accused the AG of refusing to engage before filing suit. Rhode Island's office says it is the first state to sue over this issue, though similar suits came earlier this year from the Consumer Federation of America and Santa Clara County.
1Password unveiled 1Password for Agents, a platform that lets AI agents like Meta's Muse and Grok Bot perform tasks using stored credentials without directly exposing passwords to the agent. The company says further integrations with OpenAI, Anthropic and other partners are planned, following its earlier Claude integration in July. The service is currently available via a waitlist.
A jury found Meta liable for nearly 44 million violations of New Mexico's consumer protection law, and US District Judge Francis J. Mathew imposed a $25 billion penalty, the largest ever levied against the company. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez had rejected an $18 billion multistate settlement Meta reached with other states earlier this year and pursued the case separately, seeking up to $40 billion. Mathew's ruling cites trial evidence that Meta's leadership, including Mark Zuckerberg, knew the company was misleading the public about data control, misinformation and other practices since 2010.
Consumer-facing AI agents such as Meta's Muse and xAI's Grok Bot are increasingly interacting with businesses directly, pursuing refunds, discounts and credits for the people who deploy them. Some retailers have already responded, with Amazon blocking Muse and Shopify building a separate checkout path for it, reflecting an early split in how companies are handling these bots.
Meta edited the business terms for its platform, removing explicit language saying it could 'train' AI models on content from linked news websites, after publishers objected. The revised terms, effective October 30th, still permit Meta to use scraped content to 'develop' business products, a term attorneys say is undefined and broad.
Meta re-enabled sharing on its Muse AI assistant after temporarily disabling it when security researchers found that shared conversation links were predictably named and discoverable via public DNS records. Meta executive David Singleton said the flaw affected URLs for shared 'artifacts' like documents and images, not chat sharing itself, and has now been fixed. Previously shared artifact links have been invalidated and given new URLs, requiring users to re-share them.
Meta has reached an agreement allowing Mark Zuckerberg to sell shares without losing control of the company, aimed at keeping him in California if a proposed billionaire tax passes. The measure, a one-time 5% levy on residents worth over $1bn, goes before California voters on 3 November. Zuckerberg had warned Meta's board he was considering moving his primary residence out of the state.
Meta's stock fell about 6% after third-quarter results showed negative free cash flow of $2.12 billion and a raised capital expenditure floor, now projected at $135-145 billion for the year. Revenue rose 26% year-over-year to $64.60 billion, beating estimates, while the company also disclosed plans for a new nonvoting Class C stock class tied to Mark Zuckerberg's continued residency in California.