Meta is starting to ramp up its growth-hacking tactics for Threads in a bid to boost engagement on the Twitter competitor. The social network is promoting its newest app by cross-posting Threads posts to users’ Facebook feeds, the company confirmed Monday.

It’s a familiar move for Meta, which regularly uses the Facebook feed to promote new features, including those from its other apps. The company has inserted Instagram Reels into recommendations in Facebook’s feed for years, and also allows businesses on WhatsApp to buy ads that appear in Facebook feeds. But unlike those efforts, it seems that Threads promotions on Facebook are not optional.

“We’ve launched an update to make it easier for people to see the latest content from Threads directly on Facebook and Instagram,” the company wrote in response to a Threads user who asked how to keep their posts off of Facebook. “But we’re listening to feedback like yours as we continue to build on this.”

Meta began testing the promotion of Threads posts on Instagram in August, but the move to put posts on Facebook without providing an opt-out feature, seems to be more controversial. Some users are pointing out that they use Threads much differently than Facebook and may not want their Threads posts to be put in front of their Facebook friends. 

We’ve reached out to Meta for more information about how it recommends Threads posts and if it intends to allow users to opt out of that kind of sharing. But the company has previously hinted that it would one day use its much larger apps to try and boost Threads. When Threads reached 100 million sign-ups shortly after it launched, Mark Zuckerberg remarked that the growth had happened with “mostly organic demand” and that the company hadn’t “even turned on many promotions yet.” (Interestingly, that post has since been deleted.)

Threads’ initial explosive growth proved to be short lived, however, with engagement dropping considerably in the weeks that followed. Anecdotally, the service feels much more lively in recent weeks, and downloads have started to once again tick up, according to a recent report from Insider.

But a report from analytics firm SimilarWeb, which tracks web traffic, suggests the company still has a lot of ground to make up. “In the US, where Threads attracted the most attention, September Threads usage on Android was down 40% from where it was in July,” senior insights manager David Carr wrote in the report. Given those trends, and that Meta has been steadily adding new features like post editing and keyword search, it’s maybe not all that surprising the company would now be trying to juice Threads’ growth, even if its tactics for doing so are unpopular.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-is-promoting-threads-posts-on-facebook-and-theres-no-way-to-opt-out-202057606.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – Meta is promoting Threads posts on Facebook and there’s no way to opt out

The Department of Justice has expanded its investigation into Tesla, the company has confirmed. In an SEC filing, Tesla said the agency has issued subpoenas for information related to “personal benefits, related parties, vehicle range and personnel decisions.” In January, Tesla confirmed that the DOJ sought details from the company regarding Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features for its electric vehicles.

According to Reuters and Consumer Reports, Tesla vehicles didn’t hit Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) range estimates in road tests. The EPA tests vehicle ranges on rollers in a lab. The New York Times points out that all EVs have a lower range in colder temperatures, but even in warm weather, a Tesla Model Y ran out of juice at least 50 miles below its claimed range in Consumer Reports’ tests.

Tesla, which has been penalized in other countries for failing to disclose that its EVs have shorter ranges in low temperatures, reportedly formed a special team that sought to quash complaints about the distance its cars can travel on a single charge. The team is said to have told customers who flagged such issues with their EVs that EPA range figures were merely predictions and that the range would be reduced due to battery degradation.

As the Times notes, when the term “related parties” is used in a regulatory filing, it often refers to senior management, company directors or major shareholders. Earlier this year, it was reported that Tesla opened an internal investigation to determine whether CEO Elon Musk dipped into company coffers to help fund a glass house he was building. The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and SEC are said to have asked the company for information related to the house and other personal benefits afforded to Musk. 

In its filing, Tesla noted that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, the SEC and other local, state, federal and international regulators have also sought information from the company related to a variety of investigations and inquiries. Tesla does not have a PR department that can be reached for comment.

“To our knowledge, no government agency in any ongoing investigation has concluded that any wrongdoing occurred,” Tesla said in its SEC filing. “We cannot predict the outcome or impact of any ongoing matters. Should the government decide to pursue an enforcement action, there exists the possibility of a material adverse impact on our business, results of operation, prospects, cash flows, financial position or brand.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-doj-tesla-probe-has-expanded-to-include-ev-driving-ranges-201050660.html?src=rss

Source: Engadget – The DOJ Tesla probe has expanded to include EV driving ranges

Netflix has dropped a trailer for the upcoming reality series Squid Game: The Challenge. The forthcoming show starts with 456 contestants competing for a $4.56 million prize in events repackaged (minus the brutal violence) from the scripted series. What better way to follow a fictional critique of modern capitalism’s exploitation of the financially desperate for profit and entertainment than to embrace a reality TV spectacle that exploits the financially desperate for profit and entertainment?

Among other games ripped from the South Korean show, the competition’s trailer showcases the original series’ creepy “red light, green light” doll as players in green tracksuits nervously scoot across the floor, ready to stop at a moment’s notice. (In this version, the “gunshots” fired at infringing players involve pre-placed blood packets exploding on their chests.) In standard reality TV fashion, there are hints of shameless backstabbing and plenty of lusting over the prize money. Masked guards create an ambiance of intimidation as Sammy Davis Jr.’s “I’ve Gotta Be Me” plays in the background, echoing the source material’s theme of unlikely riches as the sole path to fulfillment in a late-capitalist hellscape.

When the competition was filmed earlier this year, each player subjected themselves to this exhibition for a 0.22% chance at a couple of million dollars after taxes.

The reality series made headlines earlier this year when several contestants reportedly required medical attention, proving that irony has flatlined, and Netflix is selling tickets to view its corpse. “It was like a war zone,” one player told The Sun. “People left in tears.” The report described frigid conditions: one exhausted player was hauled away on a stretcher while others crawled to the finish line.

“Even if hypothermia kicked in then people were willing to stay for as long as possible because a lot of money was on the line,” one competitor said. “Too many were determined not to move so they stood there for far too long. There were people arriving thinking they were going to be millionaires but they left in tears.”

As a contestant says in the trailer, “This is a savage game.” Squid Game: The Challenge begins streaming on Netflix on November 22.