Author: Toby Shapshak

Facebook’s decades-long disregard for its users’ mental health is coming back to bite it in the form of a major lawsuit by several states in the US. The attorneys general of 42 States have sued Instagram owner Meta – or Facebook as we all still call it – for the callous and cynical way they have profited from the world’s youth while damaging their mental health. “Meta has harnessed powerful and unprecedented technologies to entice, engage, and ultimately ensnare youth and teens,” according to the 233-page lawsuit. “Its motive is profit.” And that is exactly why Facebook did it. Money,…

Only Google would have the chutzpah to call an invasive new way to track people online “Privacy Sandbox”. This feature, found in its Chrome browser is supposed to be a move away from the intrusive tracking of what has become of the once-useful cookies. This little piece of software was a clever idea when it first emerged in Netscape in 1994. It was a way for a website to store your login details and other pertinent information and these first-party cookies were private. But as search and advertising emerged as the new default business model of the internet, this software…

Geeks don’t watch sport, they say. Nor do we love rugby. Yeah right. After Saturday night’s historic win in the World Cup final in Paris, we’re all Springbok fans. And the internet is filled with patriotic and funny memes celebrating the 12-11 victory – as well as endless video clips of the remarkable moments that we’ve seen in this event where the Springboks held on to win by a single point in their last three games. Inspirational captain Siya Kolisi has united his team and our country in a way that only Francois Pienaar and Nelson Mandela did after the…

South Africans will have to wait a little longer for the holy grail of e-commerce to arrive. Amazon’s much-rumoured local launch was finally confirmed – but its launch has been delayed until next year. “We look forward to launching amazon.co.za in South Africa, providing local sellers, brand owners and entrepreneurs — small and large — the opportunity to grow their business with Amazon, and delivering great value and a convenient shopping experience for customers across South Africa,” says Amazon GM for sub-Saharan Africa Robert Koen. “The launch of amazon.co.za in 2024 will provide independent sellers throughout the country an opportunity to rapidly launch, grow…

When Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard was working out if he could kick the 55-metre penalty that would ultimately win the quarter-finals against host France, on-field captain Bongi Mbonambi screamed into his ear: “This is for South Africa”. And it was. Pollard slotted that crucial late penalty away, as he did the following week against England, where a lacklustre and emotionally exhausted Springboks stumbled into the final. But we’re in the final and, once again, sports has shown us the way to unite our fractured country – in precisely the way our (ageing) political leaders cannot. Bringing braai-loving South Africans together…

Internet sleuths have revealed that Tom Curry isn’t a “white c**t”, he just can’t understand Afrikaans. Last Saturday night, in the heat of a frantic World Cup semi-final, on-field South African captain Bongi Mbonambi wasn’t taking time out to hurl insults at the English flanker. He was seemingly warning his teammates that England was going “wit kant” (white side) – a warning that the English Roses had changed their attacking direction. We don’t know what “wit kant” referred to, but it clearly wasn’t Curry – who does seem a bit of a narcissist thinking it was all about him. If…

Google makes as much as 40% of its revenue from media content for its search business in Switzerland, according to new research. “The value of news is far higher than policymakers or publishers think it is, at least on Google Search, which accounts for the majority of Google’s $280bn annual revenue,” Courtney Radsch, director of the Center for Journalism & Liberty and a fellow at the Institute for Technology, Law & Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, writes in Tech Policy Press. Radsch was quoting figures from a new study commissioned by the Swiss Media Publishers’ Association that assessed the…

The uncontrolled power of US Big Tech firms has finally met its match with the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA). The wide-ranging Digital Services Act was promulgated last year and took effect on 25 August 2023. History will show this is when the Old World took back its power from the New World – to use the historic classifications of Europe and the Americas. For the past two decades Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Twitter have owned – or pwned (look it up) – the internet, social media, advertising and e-commerce spaces. No longer. Say hello to the DSA For…

Only “illicit businesses (cigarettes or drugs) that could rival these economics” said Google vice president for finance Michael Roszak in a note that the search giant fought to keep from being made public. “Search advertising is one of the world’s greatest business models ever created,” Roszak started the July 2017 note, adding “We are fortunate to have an amazing business”. The note, supposedly from a training session, has come to light in the first month of the US government’s first major antitrust case in two decades. Talk about an own goal. Having lost the fight for the note to be…

For many millions, a mobile phone is their only computer and their only screen. Jason Lobel, MTN South Africa’s head of video, wants to get streaming services to those people, he tells Stuff editor-in-chief Toby Shapshak. MTN wants you to stream more video Also available on Apple podcasts | Spotify | Google podcasts