Insight and opinion from The National’s editorial leadership
August 11, 2022
In 2008, Facebook's slogan was “Facebook helps you connect and share with the people in your life”. This simplicity went to the heart of what the website was offering the world: a revolution in the way we communicate. Behind closed doors, there was another remarkable aspect of the mission – its profitability. In 2008, Facebook's worth was estimated at $15 billion. As of August 2022, the company's market value stood at more than $560bn.
It is true for other sites, too. YouTube now brings in annual revenue of almost $30bn, Instagram $24bn. In 2021, the net worth of Facebook's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, was $97bn, and $35bn for TikTok's Zhang Yiming.
With such power and money comes great responsibility. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter have been credited with seismic historic events, from enabling political uprisings to shaping elections. It is impossible to predict the effect of new domains such as the virtual-reality Metaverse, but they could well be epoch-defining.
Keeping pace with these developments on a governmental and personal level matters, because not all of social media's effects have been good. For no group is this more true than children. Companies are very often criticised for not doing enough to protect them.
There has been some progress. YouTube Kids says it "provides a more contained environment for kids to explore". Facebook is developing pop-up warnings to target users who search content "associated with child exploitation".
Snapchat, a video-sharing app that has roughly 350 million daily users, introduced particularly important controls on Tuesday that let parents see who their children are talking to on the platform. The new Family Centre feature will allow them to see accounts teenagers have been in conversation with over the past seven days, although they will not be able to see the content. It is a sensible balance between respecting the privacy of users, while protecting their well-being, too. It puts Snapchat at the forefront of platforms thinking about safety.
Meta has big ambitions in the field of virtual reality. Regulating them will be tough. AFP
It is crucial they and others continue to do so. In the very worst of cases, social media can enable terrible bullying on a mass scale, cause severe mental distress and make it easy for criminals to target children. What is worse, this often happens with little parental and legal oversight. Last year, the Wall Street Journal said it had seen internal research conducted by Facebook, Instagram's owner, that the latter platform had made body issues worse for one in three girls in the UK and US. There are cases where authorities and adults have been denied access to accounts of young people who have died.
It is right companies respect privacy rules, but more flexibility must be built in when it comes to extreme cases. It is unacceptable that, in many ways, the advertisers from whom companies make money know more about the activity of children on social media than their parents.
Thankfully, some companies are taking this imperative seriously. The issue must be a priority. It is a dangerous irony that the demographic most likely to use, understand and circumvent controls on social media, is also the one that has the most to lose in terms of safety and well-being. Parents have a crucial responsibility in protecting them in the virtual world as they do in person, and many have been ready to do so for years. Snapchat is right to do its bit to empower them. Hopefully more firms will follow suit.
Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Remaining fixtures
August 29 – UAE v Saudi Arabia, Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
September 5 – Iraq v UAE, Amman, Jordan (venue TBC)
Wednesday's results
Finland 3-0 Armenia
Faroes Islands 1-0 Malta
Sweden 1-1 Spain
Gibraltar 2-3 Georgia
Romania 1-1 Norway
Greece 2-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina
Liechtenstein 0-5 Italy
Switzerland 2-0 Rep of Ireland
Israel 3-1 Latvia
The Birkin bag is made by Hermès.
It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
YEMEN: “The developments we have seen are promising. We really hope that the parties are going to respect the agreed ceasefire. I think that the sense of really having the political will to have a peace process is vital. There is a little bit of hope and the role that the UN has played is very important.”
PALESTINE: “There is no easy fix. We need to find the political will and comply with the resolutions that we have agreed upon.”
OMAN: “It is a very important country in our system. They have a very important role to play in terms of the balance and peace process of that particular part of the world, in that their position is neutral. That is why it is very important to have a dialogue with the Omani authorities.”
REFORM OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL: “This is complicated and it requires time. It is dependent on the effort that members want to put into the process. It is a process that has been going on for 25 years. That process is slow but the issue is huge. I really hope we will see some progress during my tenure.”
Match info
Manchester United 1
Fred (18')
Wolves 1
Moutinho (53')
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, second leg:
Liverpool (0) v Barcelona (3), Tuesday, 11pm UAE
Game is on BeIN Sports
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023 More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
if you go
European arms
Known EU weapons transfers to Ukraine since the war began: Germany 1,000 anti-tank weapons and 500 Stinger surface-to-air missiles. Luxembourg 100 NLAW anti-tank weapons, jeeps and 15 military tents as well as air transport capacity. Belgium 2,000 machine guns, 3,800 tons of fuel. Netherlands 200 Stinger missiles. Poland 100 mortars, 8 drones, Javelin anti-tank weapons, Grot assault rifles, munitions. Slovakia 12,000 pieces of artillery ammunition, 10 million litres of fuel, 2.4 million litres of aviation fuel and 2 Bozena de-mining systems. Estonia Javelin anti-tank weapons. Latvia Stinger surface to air missiles. Czech Republic machine guns, assault rifles, other light weapons and ammunition worth $8.57 million.
Top financial tips for graduates
Araminta Robertson, of the Financially Mint blog, shares her financial advice for university leavers:
1. Build digital or technical skills: After graduation, people can find it extremely hard to find jobs. From programming to digital marketing, your early twenties are for building skills. Future employers will want people with tech skills.
2. Side hustle: At 16, I lived in a village and started teaching online, as well as doing work as a virtual assistant and marketer. There are six skills you can use online: translation; teaching; programming; digital marketing; design and writing. If you master two, you’ll always be able to make money.
3. Networking: Knowing how to make connections is extremely useful. Use LinkedIn to find people who have the job you want, connect and ask to meet for coffee. Ask how they did it and if they know anyone who can help you. I secured quite a few clients this way.
4. Pay yourself first: The minute you receive any income, put about 15 per cent aside into a savings account you won’t touch, to go towards your emergency fund or to start investing. I do 20 per cent. It helped me start saving immediately.
