Facebook ties up with Indian firm to provide SMB loans up to ₹50 lakh
3 years, 4 months ago

Facebook ties up with Indian firm to provide SMB loans up to ₹50 lakh

Live Mint  

New Delhi: Facebook is partnering with an Indian online lending firm to help provide loans to small domestic businesses, its country head said on Friday, as part of a push to bring more businesses to advertise on its platform. The social media giant is joining hands with Indifi to help provide loans ranging from Ra 50,00,00 to ₹50, 00,000 at annual interest rates of up to 20%, Ajit Mohan, Facebook India's managing director, told a virtual news conference. India is a key growth market for Facebook with more than 410 million users, and its WhatsApp messenger counts the South Asian country as its biggest market with over 530 million users. Last year, Facebook invested $5.7 billion in billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms digital unit, which will allow WhatsApp to offer payments services to millions of mom-and-pop stores.

India Whatsapp Facebook Help Provide  social  million  small  loans  indian  apps  ties  users  50  smb  firm  whatsapp  businesses  lakh  help  provide  facebook

History of this topic

‘WhatsApp Payments not looking to compete as a fintech firm’
3 months, 1 week ago

‘WhatsApp Payments not looking to compete as a fintech firm’

The Hindu  

WhatsApp Payments, Meta’s payment aggregator feature on the messaging app, is not looking to make it as a separate business, but wants it to be more of an enabler for WhatsApp Business, Ravi Garg, Director, Business Messaging, Meta India told The Hindu. During the event, WhatsApp Business unveiled Meta-verfied badges for all small businesses in India beginning September 12 at …

Researchers reveal alarming rise in investment scams in India through Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram
5 months, 3 weeks ago

Researchers reveal alarming rise in investment scams in India through Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram

India TV News  

Cybersecurity researchers have revealed an alarming rise in investment scams in India that are being promoted through social media messaging platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, and others. The findings revealed over 29,000 malicious investment Additionally, the report emphasised the concerning tactic of impersonation, with 81,000 X accounts posing as recognized financial institutions to lend credibility to these scams. "Scammers …

Fraudulent loan apps proliferate in India. But how big of a problem are they?
11 months, 3 weeks ago

Fraudulent loan apps proliferate in India. But how big of a problem are they?

Firstpost  

The Centre has ordered popular social media platforms and other websites not to host The Centre is cracking down on fraudulent loan apps. The government on Wednesday ordered social media platforms and other websites not to host Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said, “One of the areas we are now cracking down on is advertising of fraudulent loan apps that many …

WhatsApp adds rival in-app payment options in India commerce push
1 year, 3 months ago

WhatsApp adds rival in-app payment options in India commerce push

The Hindu  

WhatsApp said on Wednesday that it will offer credit card payments and services from rival digital payment providers within its app in India, the latest bet by the Meta-owned service to boost commerce offerings in its biggest market. People shopping on WhatsApp could also pay using popular services like Alphabet Inc’s Google Pay, Paytm and Walmart’s PhonePe but only after …

Meta launches UPI payments for WhatsApp Business messaging in India
1 year, 3 months ago

Meta launches UPI payments for WhatsApp Business messaging in India

The Hindu  

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Wednesday that India would get access to payments via WhatsApp Business messaging, allowing customers to pay businesses on the app with the UPI option of their choice. Zuckerberg made the announcement virtually during the Meta Conversations event focusing on WhatsApp Business, at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai. The accepted payment methods now …

Big biz on Net comes with riders
1 year, 5 months ago

Big biz on Net comes with riders

The Hindu  

Not many had heard of Mrz Thoppi until June 24 when his arrest made news. A full-time profession Despite the murkiness of cyberspace, being a social media influencer in Kerala today is a lucrative, full time-profession, says Jinsha Basheer, a YouTuber from Kayamkulam, who has one million followers on Facebook and over two-and-a-half lakh subscribers on YouTube. “For a format …

WhatsApp Business Cross 200 Million Users Facebook Instagram Create Account
1 year, 5 months ago

WhatsApp Business Cross 200 Million Users Facebook Instagram Create Account

ABP News  

WhatsApp Business has crossed 200 million users, company CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said. The world's most popular messaging platform is also getting a new paid messaging feature that is aimed to help small businesses easily target new customers. "Soon the 200M+ users of the WhatsApp Business app will be able to create Facebook and Instagram ads to find and connect …

Facebook’s India Growth Is An Issue, Platform Worried About Low Women Userbase: Report
2 years, 5 months ago

Facebook’s India Growth Is An Issue, Platform Worried About Low Women Userbase: Report

News 18  

Facebook is facing a hard time with growth in India, which is one of its biggest markets outside of the United States. The company’s recent quarterly report highlighted the drop in users from India, citing high mobile data prices. The other main reason for the possible slowdown of Facebook’s growth has been attributed to content riddled with nudity, which again …

Facebook suffers biggest one-day fall in history as shares plunge over 26pc
2 years, 10 months ago

Facebook suffers biggest one-day fall in history as shares plunge over 26pc

The Telegraph  

Facebook suffered the biggest one-day drop in value of any company in Wall Street history as a dismal set of financial results prompted a brutal sell-off. Shares in Meta, the recently rebranded parent company, fell by 26.4pc, knocking over $230bn off its value, the day after it revealed that growing competition from TikTok had sent Facebook’s user numbers falling for …

Centre seeks details of algorithm processes used by Facebook amid hate speech allegations
3 years, 1 month ago

Centre seeks details of algorithm processes used by Facebook amid hate speech allegations

Firstpost  

The move assumes significance as a series of reports recently citing internal documents showed “a struggle with misinformation, hate speech and celebrations of violence” in India - Facebook’s biggest market with over 40 crore users New Delhi: The government has written to Facebook seeking details of the algorithms and processes used by the social media giant, following allegations that the …

The Facebook Crisis in India Might Be the Worst Facebook Crisis of All
54 years, 11 months ago

The Facebook Crisis in India Might Be the Worst Facebook Crisis of All

Slate  

This article is part of the Free Speech Project, a collaboration between Future Tense and the Tech, Law, & Security Program at American University Washington College of Law that examines the ways technology is influencing how we think about speech. According to the Verge, at the end of 2019 Facebook placed India within “tier zero,” meaning it was one of …

How dependent are Indian businesses on Facebook and WhatsApp?
3 years, 2 months ago

How dependent are Indian businesses on Facebook and WhatsApp?

Business Standard  

Social media services Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp were recently hit by an outage that lasted almost six hours. According to PIB and the Ministry of Electronics and IT, India had 410 million Facebook users, 530 million WhatsApp users, and 210 million Instagram users as of February this year. As of April of 2019, an estimated 1.5 million small and medium …

SC says Facebook needs to be accountable, upholds Delhi Assembly's right to summon it in riots case
3 years, 5 months ago

SC says Facebook needs to be accountable, upholds Delhi Assembly's right to summon it in riots case

India Today  

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Delhi Assembly's right to summon and compel entities like Facebook to appear before its committees on grounds of its privilege. Hearing a plea filed by Facebook India's MD Ajit Mohan challenging the Delhi Assembly's summon to appear before it in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots, the Supreme Court held that digital platforms …

Facebook joins $1 trillion club after antitrust win
3 years, 5 months ago

Facebook joins $1 trillion club after antitrust win

The Telegraph  

Facebook has reached a $1 trillion valuation, becoming the last of the “big five” American tech giants to pass the milestone following a victory in two antitrust cases. The social media giant’s shares jumped as much as 4.4pc - the biggest intraday gain since April 29 - after a judge granted its request to dismiss complaints filed last year by …

Reliance AGM: Silicon Valley gave Mukesh Ambani billions, but things aren’t all going to plan
3 years, 6 months ago

Reliance AGM: Silicon Valley gave Mukesh Ambani billions, but things aren’t all going to plan

CNN  

San Francisco CNN Business — Last year, Google and Facebook collectively bet more than $10 billion on Asia’s richest man and his plan to bring hundreds of millions of Indians online. The investments quickly established Mukesh Ambani, the billionaire head of sprawling Indian conglomerate Reliance, as a gatekeeper for Silicon Valley in the country — but also raised the stakes …

Analysis | Facebook and its family of apps want to be a mega digital bazaar
3 years, 6 months ago

Analysis | Facebook and its family of apps want to be a mega digital bazaar

The Hindu  

Most of us know Facebook and its family of apps as platforms that let people stay connected with friends and family. The European country’s lead data protection regulator called the messaging platform’s privacy update “illegal” just a few days before its proposed policy opt-in deadline, May 15th. Caspar had invoked extraordinary powers under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation …

There is Need for Positive Regulatory Framework for Internet Cos, Says Facebook India Head at Raisina Dialogue
3 years, 8 months ago

There is Need for Positive Regulatory Framework for Internet Cos, Says Facebook India Head at Raisina Dialogue

News 18  

Facebook India Head Ajit Mohan said there is a need for a “forward-looking and positive regulatory framework” for internet companies, and that organisations also need to be more transparent about how they use customer data. I’m hoping that we can emerge with a very forward-looking and positive regulatory framework,” he said at the Raisina Dialogue. “I think democracies will have …

Paytm's Savage Dig at WhatsApp, Facebook Goes Viral amid Social Media Platforms' Global Outage
3 years, 9 months ago

Paytm's Savage Dig at WhatsApp, Facebook Goes Viral amid Social Media Platforms' Global Outage

News 18  

Late on Friday evening, thousands of netizens from India and other parts of the world scrambled to Twitter to check if they were the only ones facing “Internet downtime”. Once there, it soon sunk in that major social media platforms WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram– all the apps were facing global outage, something that lasted for at least 30 minutes in …

Rising Internet Users, Next Big Thing to Rake in Money for Social Media Platforms
3 years, 9 months ago

Rising Internet Users, Next Big Thing to Rake in Money for Social Media Platforms

News 18  

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, while unveiling the social media guidelines last month, put forward some interesting figures. A 2019 estimate by the World Bank and the United States Census Bureau put Indian population at 136.64 crore while the data statistics platform Statista put the number of internet users in India in 2020 at 69.7 million. Likewise, YouTube is used …

India imposes new rules on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
3 years, 9 months ago

India imposes new rules on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube

CNN  

CNN Business — India issued strict new rules on Thursday for Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms weeks after the country’s government attempted to pressure Twitter to take down accounts it deemed incendiary. The rules require any social media company to create three roles in India: a “compliance officer” who will ensure they follow local laws; a “grievance officer” …

Government reveals stats on social media users, WhatsApp leads while YouTube beats Facebook, Instagram
3 years, 9 months ago

Government reveals stats on social media users, WhatsApp leads while YouTube beats Facebook, Instagram

India Today  

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad while announcing new social media rules revealed that WhatsApp is the most used app in India. The focus of this guideline is on self-regulation.” Prasad said that the government wants social media platforms to introduce a mechanism for better verification of users. "Social media platforms upon being asked either by a court order or a …

Online Payment Systems Beyond RBI: A Threat To National Financial Security
3 years, 10 months ago

Online Payment Systems Beyond RBI: A Threat To National Financial Security

Live Law  

"Data is the new oil". Given this backdrop, and the recent developments concerning companies whose activities of using customer data without consent, casts an imminent danger to the privacy, security and even safety of the user in the digital age. The new Privacy Policy and Terms of Use of WhatsApp have mentioned that it shares the customer data with Facebook …

WhatsApp may soon touch 500 million users in India despite new privacy policy, claims report
3 years, 11 months ago

WhatsApp may soon touch 500 million users in India despite new privacy policy, claims report

India Today  

WhatsApp was launched in India in mid-2010 and soon became the most popular messaging app in the country, reaching 400 million users by mid-2019. The app may soon reach 500 million users in India and is still being used by people in the country, despite the new privacy policies in place. According to the report, Google and Chrome apps have …

After Musk and Snowden, Paytm CEO urges people to move on to Signal. Says Facebook abusing monopoly
3 years, 11 months ago

After Musk and Snowden, Paytm CEO urges people to move on to Signal. Says Facebook abusing monopoly

India Today  

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has urged users to move to Signal and not fall victim to WhatsApp’s new policy. Here in India, WhatsApp / Facebook are abusing their monopoly & taking away millions of users' privacy for granted. Here in India WhatsApp / Facebook are abusing their monopoly & taking away millions of users' privacy for granted. https://t.co/iCmKoyLc5x — …

Indian TikTok Alternative Josh Gets Google and Microsoft Backing in $100 Million Funding
4 years ago

Indian TikTok Alternative Josh Gets Google and Microsoft Backing in $100 Million Funding

News 18  

The Indian parent of a TikTok copycat has raised more than $100 million from investors including Alphabet’s Google and Microsoft, months after the Chinese-owned short-video app was banned in the country. The app, Josh, is one of several home-grown short-video platforms that have sprung up since India blocked the wildly popular TikTok in June amidst a border crisis with China, …

WhatsApp partners with SBI, ICICI, Axis and HDFC Bank for its payment service in India
4 years ago

WhatsApp partners with SBI, ICICI, Axis and HDFC Bank for its payment service in India

Firstpost  

After getting a green signal from the Unified Payments Corporation of India, WhatsApp rolled out its payment services in India for 20 million users last month. The facebook-owned messaging platform, WhatsApp has announced that it has now teamed up with banks like SBI, HDFC, ICICI and Axis Bank for its digital payment service in India. It further added that “with …

WhatsApp Payments Is Now Live With SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank And Axis Bank For UPI Payments
4 years ago

WhatsApp Payments Is Now Live With SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank And Axis Bank For UPI Payments

News 18  

WhatsApp Payments feature is now available to up to 20 million users in India for enabling UPI payments. The Facebook owned WhatsApp platform confirms that WhatsApp Payments are now Live with State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, and will enable the National Payments Corporation of India’s Unified Payment Interface system for users to make payments, …

Partnership with Jio to help support millions of SMBs: Zuckerberg
4 years ago

Partnership with Jio to help support millions of SMBs: Zuckerberg

India TV News  

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday said its partnership with Jio Platforms will help support millions of small businesses in India. "With more than 60 million small businesses and millions of people around the country relying on them for jobs -- these small businesses form a big part of what our partnership with Jio can serve here," he said. "One …

Facebook Fuel For India 2020: Facebook Outlines 2021 Vision With Focus On Small Businesses And UPI
4 years ago

Facebook Fuel For India 2020: Facebook Outlines 2021 Vision With Focus On Small Businesses And UPI

News 18  

Social media giant Facebook has renewed its India focus at the first edition of the Facebook Fuel For India 2020 summit. Facebook has said that the focus areas for 2021 include the focus on small business to help drive the economic recovery in the post COVID era as well as participation in the government’s efforts to push for financial inclusion …

Mukesh Ambani And Mark Zuckerberg In Conversation at Facebook Fuel For India 2020: Key Takeaways
4 years ago

Mukesh Ambani And Mark Zuckerberg In Conversation at Facebook Fuel For India 2020: Key Takeaways

News 18  

Two of the biggest names in the world of business. The two business leaders spoke about the importance of digital connectivity as a means to empower the masses, how small businesses get a much-needed push with the correct technology and tools in place, Jio’s partnership with Facebook as well as India’s Digital India mission and the entrepreneurial journey. Ambani said …

Facebook-Jio to Boost Indian Economy: Ambani Chats With Zuckerberg
4 years ago

Facebook-Jio to Boost Indian Economy: Ambani Chats With Zuckerberg

The Quint  

RIL Chairman said that all the digitisation steps that India has taken will democratise wealth and value creation for individuals and small businesses. Jio Mart, which is our retail service, has the aspiration of serving tens of millions of small shopkeepers in India, who are the bedrock of employment.” “So, what does this mean? This means Jio brings digital connectivity, …

Facebook Fuel For India 2020 Starts Today: Social Good, Digital Tools And Open Internet On The Agenda
4 years ago

Facebook Fuel For India 2020 Starts Today: Social Good, Digital Tools And Open Internet On The Agenda

News 18  

The Facebook Fuel For India 2020 is the first edition of what the social platform hopes will be an annual dialogue about the tech company’s commitment to India, and it flags off today. Some of the listed conversation agenda following the keynote by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, include focus on the communities in India, using digital tools for social good, democratizing …

Facebook-Jio partnership will help in getting small businesses digitised, says Zuckerberg
4 years ago

Facebook-Jio partnership will help in getting small businesses digitised, says Zuckerberg

India Today  

Facebook Fuel for India, a two-day virtual event started on Tuesday. It further noted that it reached out to 9 million small businesses across India with a local SMB Guide available in both Hindi and English. So, decisions that are made here shape the global discussion about how technology can drive more economic opportunity and better outcomes for people.” In …

The Hindu Explains | Why are the the recent accusations against Facebook significant, and what do they entail?
4 years ago

The Hindu Explains | Why are the the recent accusations against Facebook significant, and what do they entail?

The Hindu  

The story so far: On December 9, social networking giant Facebook was sued by the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. agency which seeks to protect consumers and promote competition, as well as by the attorneys general of 46 States, the territory of Guam and the district of Columbia. The plaintiffs — the FTC and attorneys general of all U.S. States …

Facebook Says Indian Govt Asked for Data of 57,294 Accounts in the First Half of 2020
4 years, 1 month ago

Facebook Says Indian Govt Asked for Data of 57,294 Accounts in the First Half of 2020

News 18  

Government requests for Facebook user data increased 23 percent globally in January-June 2020 with India occupying the second spot after the US in terms of such requests being made. In the first six months of 2020, government requests for user data increased by 23 percent to 1,73,592 globally from 1,40,875 in the second half of 2019. The highest number of …

Google-Jio deal: CCI clears Google picking up 7.73% stake in Jio Platforms for ₹33,737 cr
4 years, 1 month ago

Google-Jio deal: CCI clears Google picking up 7.73% stake in Jio Platforms for ₹33,737 cr

Live Mint  

The Competition Commission of India has said that it has approved Google picking up 7.73% stake in Mueskh Ambani-led Jio Platforms for ₹33,737 crore, facilitating the internet major and Jio Platforms Ltd to develop and launch Android smartphones in India. Taking to Twitter, the watchdog wrote, "Commission approves acquisition of 7.73% equity share capital of Jio Platforms by Google." 14th …

UPI will create opportunities for Indian SMBs: Mark Zuckerberg
4 years, 1 month ago

UPI will create opportunities for Indian SMBs: Mark Zuckerberg

Live Mint  

BENGALURU: Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg in a video message said that with Unified Payments Interface, India has created something ‘truly special’, which will open up a world of opportunities for micro and small businesses that are the backbone of the Indian economy. In a blogspot, WhatsApp said that payments on its platform will be available in 10 regional languages, as …

WhatsApp starts UPI payments service in India from today
4 years, 1 month ago

WhatsApp starts UPI payments service in India from today

Live Mint  

WhatsApp has started its payments service in India on Friday, the messaging app said in a blog post. WhatsApp, which counts India as its biggest market with more than 400 million users, had been running a peer-to-peer payments service with limited users for over two years, awaiting regulatory approvals. WhatsApp said it had partnered with five Indian banks, ICICI Bank, …

User data of millions of Indians put on sale online, advertised on Facebook
4 years, 3 months ago

User data of millions of Indians put on sale online, advertised on Facebook

India Today  

Purported data, including names, emails and phone numbers, of millions of Indian users have been put online for a flat price of Rs 850, India Today has learnt. "We can confirm that there has been no breach of our database and all our user information is secure," a Truecaller spokesperson told India Today. Speaking to India Today, independent cyber security …

TikTok Users Grew at a Whopping 11x Globally in Two Years: Should Facebook be Worried?
4 years, 3 months ago

TikTok Users Grew at a Whopping 11x Globally in Two Years: Should Facebook be Worried?

News 18  

TikTok has decided to retaliate, in light of a potential ban in USA – now its most popular market for users outside of its home country, China. In essence, Bytedance’s TikTok was only 2.6 percent Facebook’s size, with the latter’s might including Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Facebook itself – four apps that are at the top of all app download …

Congress writes to Facebook CEO on 'bias'
4 years, 4 months ago

Congress writes to Facebook CEO on 'bias'

The Hindu  

The Congress on Tuesday made an official complaint to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on the social media company's ‘bias’ and asked for a “thorough and impartial investigation and inquiry into the Facebook India operations and practices”. Venugopal wrote to Mr. Zuckerberg on behalf of the party and cited The Wall Street Journal's report, which claimed that Facebook India officials provided …

Hate Speech, Favouritism, Political Slugfest: Why Indians Want to Delete Facebook, Again
4 years, 4 months ago

Hate Speech, Favouritism, Political Slugfest: Why Indians Want to Delete Facebook, Again

News 18  

Social media site Facebook owned by Mark Zuckerberg is no stranger to political controversies. Inflammatory posts It all started when The Wall Street Journal published a report on the alleged abuse of power by Facebook's India team which was allegedly in favour of leaders from the ruling party. — Shashi Tharoor August 16, 2020 Facebook India has violated its own …

India opposition seeks probe into Facebook’s ties with Modi’s BJP
4 years, 4 months ago

India opposition seeks probe into Facebook’s ties with Modi’s BJP

Al Jazeera  

Congress calls for parliamentary panel to investigate Facebook and WhatsApp employees’ relations with right-wing party. India’s main opposition Congress party has called for a parliamentary panel to investigate what it has described as favourable treatment by Facebook’s India team towards the country’s governing right-wing party. Citing a report published by the Wall Street Journal on Friday, the party said employees …

Zuckerberg says Facebook-Jio deal will bring millions of small businesses to WhatsApp
4 years, 4 months ago

Zuckerberg says Facebook-Jio deal will bring millions of small businesses to WhatsApp

India TV News  

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said his company's deal with Reliance Jio will bring millions of small businesses on WhatsApp to do commerce. In a statement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "A big part of the partnership that we have with Jio will be to wire up and get thousands of small businesses across India on-boarded onto WhatsApp, to do …

FB, Google bet on Jio pact to tap into opportunities in India; plan to take solutions global
4 years, 4 months ago

FB, Google bet on Jio pact to tap into opportunities in India; plan to take solutions global

India TV News  

Tech giants Facebook and Google - which have invested in Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms - are keen on leveraging the partnership to cash in on the fast growing business opportunity in India and expand the learnings to other countries as well. Referring to the investment in Jio Platforms, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the partnership "will be to wire up …

Mark Zuckerberg believes WhatsApp Pay to empower millions in India with Jio's help
4 years, 4 months ago

Mark Zuckerberg believes WhatsApp Pay to empower millions in India with Jio's help

India TV News  

Reiterating his commitment to launch WhatsApp Pay for over 400 million users of the messaging platform in India, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the Reliance Jio partnership is a huge opportunity to enable small businesses and individuals in the country to buy and sell things through WhatsApp. A big part of the partnership that we have with Jio will …

Jio Platforms raises $4.5 billion from Google
4 years, 5 months ago

Jio Platforms raises $4.5 billion from Google

Live Mint  

Alphabet Inc.’s Google will invest $4.5 billion in Reliance Industries Ltd’s digital unit, joining a list of global backers, including Facebook, seeking to exploit India’s vast and fast-growing market of internet users. The deal will give Google a 7.73% stake in RIL’s Jio Platforms at a valuation of ₹4.43 trillion, marking the US technology giant’s biggest-ever investment in an Indian …

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