Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Saturday, December 14, 2024 76° Today's Paper


Top News

Facebook launches podcasts, live audio service

ASSOCIATED PRESS
                                A conference worker passed a demo booth at Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference, in April 2017, in San Jose, Calif. Facebook is launching podcasts and live audio streams in the U.S. today to keep users engaged on its platform and to compete with emerging rivals.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

A conference worker passed a demo booth at Facebook’s annual F8 developer conference, in April 2017, in San Jose, Calif. Facebook is launching podcasts and live audio streams in the U.S. today to keep users engaged on its platform and to compete with emerging rivals.

Facebook is launching podcasts and live audio streams in the U.S. today to keep users engaged on its platform and to compete with emerging rivals.

Facebook says it is allowing public figures with verified accounts to start live audio rooms and invite anyone else to speak. A handful of podcasts will be available to people in the U.S. at first and the company plans to add more down the line.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has appeared on the video streaming app Clubhouse in the past, hosted his own live audio room on his Facebook page last week.

“Live Audio Rooms and podcasts rolling out in the US is just the beginning of our audio journey,” wrote Fidji Simo, head of the Facebook app, in a blog post today. “Looking ahead, we are working with creators who will use our audio tools to further develop and launch Soundbites — short-form, creative audio clips.”

But podcasts and live audio have also been an outlet for racism, misinformation and extremist material. Live audio is particularly difficult to moderate, compared with traditional social media posts.

Facebook, which announced its audio plans to push into audio streams in April, says its rules apply to live audio and podcasts and anyone can report offending material.

“In addition, our broader integrity and safety work and the tools we have built for proactively and automatically identifying harmful content are great building blocks, but we plan to adapt tech and processes as we learn more,” the company said in a prepared statement.

The company says that it may also retain live audio after it is no longer live to enforce its policies, which will be done both by human moderators and machine learning.

By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have agreed to the Terms of Service. An insightful discussion of ideas and viewpoints is encouraged, but comments must be civil and in good taste, with no personal attacks. If your comments are inappropriate, you may be banned from posting. Report comments if you believe they do not follow our guidelines. Having trouble with comments? Learn more here.