Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram suffer worldwide outage
Facebook and its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms were down in parts of the world on Monday.
The company said it was “aware that some people are having trouble accessing Facebook app” and it was working on restoring access.
The company did not say what might be causing the outage, which began around 11:45 ET. It is normal for websites and apps to suffer outages, though one on a global scale is rare. Users reported being unable to access Facebook in California, New York and Europe.
Facebook sorry for ‘primates’ label on video of Black men
Facebook has apologized for putting a “primates” label on a video of Black men, according to a report in the New York Times.
The newspaper said the video was posted by a tabloid in June and showed Black men in altercations with white civilians and police officers. After the video ended, an automatic message popped up that said “keep seeing videos about Primates,” according to the Times.
Facebook turned off the artificial intelligence feature that showed the message, the Times said, and apologized for what it called “an unacceptable error” and told the newspaper that it would investigate further so that it doesn’t happen again.
Read:Bangladesh to launch ‘Jogajog’ as alternative to Facebook, says Palak
Facebook on Saturday did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. But a company spokeswoman told the Times that even though Facebook has made improvements to its artificial intelligence, “it’s not perfect” and has “more progress to make.”
Read: Over 11 mn Bangladeshis sign up as blood donors on Facebook
Artificial intelligence has mislabeled people of color before. In 2015, Google apologized after it labeled a photo of two Black people as gorillas.
How social platforms are dealing with the Taliban
As the Taliban negotiates with senior politicians and government leaders following its lighting-fast takeover of Afghanistan, U.S. social media companies are reckoning with how to deal with a violent extremist group that is poised to rule a country of 40 million people.
Should the Taliban be allowed on social platforms if they don’t break any rules, such as a ban on inciting violence, but instead use it to spread a narrative that they’re newly reformed and are handing out soap and medication in the streets? If the Taliban runs Afghanistan, should they also run the country’s official government accounts?
And should tech companies in Silicon Valley decide what is — and isn’t — a legitimate government? They certainly don’t want to. But as the situation unfolds, uncomfortable decisions lie ahead.
Also read: Who are the Taliban?
DOES THE TALIBAN USE SOCIAL MEDIA?
The Taliban quickly seized power in Afghanistan two weeks before the U.S. was set to complete its troop withdrawal after a two-decade war. The insurgents stormed across the country, capturing all major cities in a matter of days, as Afghan security forces trained and equipped by the U.S. and its allies melted away.
The last time the Taliban was in power in Afghanistan, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube did not exist. Neither did MySpace, for that matter. Internet use in the country was virtually nonexistent with just 0.01% of the population online, according to the World Bank.
In recent years, that number has vastly increased. The Taliban have also increased their online presence, producing slick videos and maintaining official social media accounts. Despite bans, they have found ways to evade restrictions on YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp. Last year, for instance, they used WhatsApp groups to share pictures of local health officials in white gowns and masks handing out protective masks and bars of soap to locals.
On Twitter, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has been posting regular updates to more than 300,000 followers, including international media. Twitter suspended another account, @AfghPresident, which has served as the nation’s de facto official presidential account, pending verification of the account holder’s identity.
“There’s a realization that winning the war is as much a function of a nonmilitary tool like social media as it is about the bullets,” said Sarah Kreps, a law professor at Cornell University who focuses on international politics, technology and national security. “Maybe these groups, even from just an instrumental perspective, have realized that beheading people is not a way to win the hearts and minds of the country.”
Also read: Taliban promise women's rights, security under Islamic rule
WAIT, THE TALIBAN WERE ALLOWED ON TWITTER?
Facebook and YouTube consider the Taliban a terrorist organization and prohibit it from operating accounts. Twitter has not explicitly banned the group, though the company said Tuesday that it will continue to enforce its rules, in particular policies than bar “glorification of violence, platform manipulation and spam.”
This essentially means that until the accounts violate Twitter’s rules — for instance, by inciting violence — they are allowed to operate.
While the Taliban is not on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations, the U.S. has imposed sanctions on it. Facebook said Tuesday that the group is banned from its platform under its “dangerous organization” policies. which also bars “praise, support and representation” of the group and accounts run on its behalf. The company emphasized in a statement that it has a dedicated team of Afghanistan experts that are native speakers of Dari and Pashto, Afghanistan’s official languages, to help provide local context and to alert the company of emerging issues.
Facebook has a spotty record when it comes to enforcing its rules. Doing so on WhatsApp, also owned by Facebook, could prove more difficult given that the service encrypts messages so that no one but senders and recipients can read them.
Twitter said it is seeing people in Afghanistan using its platform to seek help and that its top priority is “keeping people safe.” Critics immediately questioned why the company continues to ban former President Donald Trump even as it allows Mujahid to post.
“They certainly decided to silence a former U.S. president,” said Alex Triantafilou, chairman of the Hamilton County Republican Party in Cincinnati, Ohio, who called Twitter’s decision “preposterous.”
Twitter permanently suspended Trump following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, saying his posts glorified and could lead to more violence. The company has long insisted that it suspends accounts based on behavior and whether they violate its rules on the service, and not on offline actions and affiliation.
While he understands that social media companies operate in a global economy, Triantafilou said, “it seems to me that supporting America and our own interest” would make more sense for a U.S. company.
Also read: What Taliban's return means for Bangladesh
WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
As the situation unfolds, the major companies are grappling with how to respond. It’s not an entirely unique situation — they have had to deal with groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, for instance, which hold considerable political power but are also violent and have carried out acts of terrorism.
“For the past decade, Hamas has used social media to gain attention, and convey their messages to international audiences in multiple languages,” wrote Devorah Margolin, senior research fellow at the Program on Extremism at The George Washington University, in a July report. For example, she wrote, both the political and military wings of Hamas operated official accounts on Twitter.
Despite attempts to use its English-language account to make its case to the international community, Margolin said the group still used Twitter to call for violence. In 2019, Twitter closed the official accounts, @HamasInfo and @HamasInfoEn, for violating its rules, saying there is “no place on Twitter for illegal terrorist organizations and violent extremist groups.”
Facebook declined to say specifically if it would hand over Afghanistan’s official government accounts to the Taliban if it is recognized as the country’s government. The company pointed to an earlier statement saying it “does not make decisions about the recognized government in any particular country but instead respects the authority of the international community in making these determinations.”
Twitter declined to answer questions beyond its statement. YouTube, meanwhile, provided a boilerplate statement saying it complies with “all applicable sanctions and trade compliance laws” and bans the incitement of violence.
All that effectively leaves the door open for the social platforms to eventually hand over control of the official accounts, assuming the Taliban behave and U.S. sanctions are lifted. “That seems like a reasonable approach, because I think the social media platforms don’t necessarily want to be adjudicating is which groups are legitimate themselves,” said Kreps, who served in the U.S. Air Force from 1999 to 2003, partly in Afghanistan.
At the same time, she noted, the companies, especially Facebook, have learned a great deal — and paid a price — for the way the way social media helped incite genocidal behavior in Myanmar. And they’re unlikely to want a repeat of those horrors.
Facebook to launch mobile upskilling prog for Bangladeshi journalists
Facebook Journalism Project has partnered with the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) and Center for Communication Action Bangladesh (C-CAB) to upskill over 1,000 journalists.
The programme, Facebook Fundamentals for News, will be delivered completely digitally via BigSpring, mobile skilling platform partner.
Read:Bangladesh to launch ‘Jogajog’ as alternative to Facebook, says Palak The mobile curriculum, available in both English and Bangla, includes skills on online safety, best practices on Facebook, and how to best leverage video on the platform. The programme can be accessed via mobile and web. "We are committed to supporting quality journalism and providing tools and training to journalists globally," said Anjali Kapoor, Director of News Partnerships, Facebook Asia Pacific.
“This partnership was developed after speaking with the news community and our partners in APAC who had identified the need to support the region’s journalists with foundational skills so they can use Facebook more effectively. We hope that this program can help journalists to adapt digitally, and create more informed and engaged communities across the news ecosystem.” Zain Mahmood, Executive Director at Center for Communication Action Bangladesh explained, “We welcome the support of Facebook to bring a curriculum that can help improve the social media skills of our journalists and strengthen the foundation of reporting across the country. "
"The fact that we can make this available via a mobile platform, through BigSpring’s technology, ensures that the program can reach more journalists across the country more rapidly. The impact of this program starts today.”
Read: Over 11 mn Bangladeshis sign up as blood donors on Facebook Dilrukshi Handunetti, Executive Director of Center for Investigative Reporting said this collaboration provides the opportunity for them to nurture the next generation of journalists, and equip them with best practices of working across platforms and new ways of storytelling.
"It will enable us to support the work of local journalists and newsrooms as they tell in-depth and ground-breaking stories that engage and empower communities.” Bhakti Vithalani, the Founder and CEO of BigSpring said they are delighted to provide the mobile platform that puts digital skills into the hands of journalists in Bangladesh.
"BigSpring’s platform enables users to access bite-sized content and engage in learning communities to gain skills proficiency. Our mobile-first, multilingual platform provides easy access and ensures journalists in Bangladesh can continue their important work. We are proud to be a partner in this endeavour.”
Read: Facebook to end rule exemptions for politicians Journalists can register for this program using iOS and Android phones.
The curriculum follows Facebook Journalism Project’s commitment to Bangladeshi journalists, which also includes other training programs, such as the recent launch of Reuters Digital Journalism Course to enhance reporting skills.
Facebook launches Vaccine Finder in Bangladesh
Facebook, in collaboration with the Health Ministry and ICT Division, has launched 'Vaccine Finder', a new tool to help Bangladeshis confirm their eligibility and identify nearby places to get a shot in their arm.
This initiative is actually a part of the US-headquartered social networking website's holistic approach to raise awareness about hygiene measures, help people access Covid-related information and support the vaccine roll-out in the country.
Read:All will get Covid vaccine shots, reassures PM Hasina
Vaccine Finder connects people to local resources through their news feed and includes eligibility criteria as well as the location of the nearby vaccination centre and links to register for an appointment, a release said.
The tool can be found on Facebook's online Covid-19 Information Center, which is also available in Bangla.
In Bangladesh, Facebook sends news feed notifications directing people to register for the vaccine on the government’s website www.surokkha.gov.bd. It also helps people easily access www.corona.gov.bd for latest government directives.
Earlier this year, a public education campaign (www.fightcovidmisinfo.com) was launched to help Bangladeshis identify and combat false information related to the deadly coronavirus.
Read:Vaccine inequity biggest barrier to ending pandemic: WHO chief
Facebook has been working with partners in Bangladesh and around the world to increase health awareness and connect people to the latest information from health experts during the pandemic.
So far, 11 million Bangladeshis have signed up using the platform’s 'Blood Donations' feature to play a role in reducing critical blood shortage in the country.
Bangladesh to launch ‘Jogajog’ as alternative to Facebook, says Palak
Bangladesh is going to create its own social media platform called ‘Jogajog’ as an alternative to Facebook and ‘Alapon” for WhatsApp, State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said on Saturday.
He said this while speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural function of "Entrepreneurship Masterclass Series 2" organized by Women e-Commerce.“Through this(Jogajog app) the entrepreneurs of the country will be able to create their own online marketplace and group for information, data and communication .”
Also read: Telemedicine service to be launched at 16000 community hospitals: PalakPalak explained how his ministry successfully created ‘Boithok’ app as an alternative to Zoom online and ‘Surokkha App’ for vaccine registration.He said the digital e-commerce policy of 2018 aims to create 20 lakh jobs in the ICT sector by 2021.He further said that e-commerce, hardware, software and BPO sectors will be able to meet the target of more than 20 lakh jobs by 2021.
Also read: 170,000 schools to be connected with high speed internet by 2030: Palak In addition, it will be possible to earn 5 billion US dollars in export revenue by 2025, the minister hoped.
Over 11 mn Bangladeshis sign up as blood donors on Facebook
So far, over 11 million Bangladeshis have signed up to receive notifications with opportunities to donate blood, says Facebook on Monday.
Globally, over 100 million people have signed up to be blood donors on Facebook since this feature was launched in 2017.
In response to urgent blood shortages during the pandemic, it was scaled up to 26 countries in the past year.
Read Why to Give Blood? Know the Benefits of Blood Donation
“At Facebook, we are trying to build online communities for positive impact. During the pandemic, Facebook has worked with Bloodman and blood banks around the country to ensure people continue to have safe access to blood. This World Blood Donor Day, we encourage more Bangladeshis to sign up, donate blood to their nearest blood banks and motivate others,” said Sabhanaz Rashid Diya, who leads public policy for Bangladesh at Facebook.
As countries around the world continue to grapple with the ongoing pandemic, blood banks are in urgent need of blood donors.
In conjunction with World Blood Donor Day this year, Facebook has partnered with Bloodman to urge more people in Bangladesh to become blood donors and encourage friends and family to do the same.
Read: Lockdown triggers blood shortage in Bangladesh
In 2018, Facebook’s Blood Donations feature was launched in Bangladesh in partnership with Bloodman, the country’s first digital blood donation organization.
This was a collaboration between Facebook and the ICT Division of Bangladesh to connect people to their local blood banks, so they know where there is a shortage and when it is safe to donate.
People in Bangladesh can play a role in raising awareness about the importance of donating and help build a reliable and sustainable supply of blood in the country, said a media release.
Read: ICT Division partners with Facebook, Bloodman BD to boost .blood donation
To better support community-based blood collection, Facebook also introduced a way for blood banks to share their mobile drives via Facebook Events, increasing their visibility to nearby, potential donors.
“Hospitals and blood banks across Bangladesh have been facing challenges in collecting blood because of the pandemic. At this time, Facebook’s Blood Donations tool has made it easier for blood banks to digitise their services and connect with potential blood donors. We thank Bloodman and Facebook for digitising the blood donations system and raising awareness about donating. Patients in hospitals can now use this technology to receive care swiftly during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Syed Mujibul Huq, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
To receive notifications from blood banks nearby about donating, one needs go to the Blood Donations feature in the About section of Facebook profile.
Read Quantum Foundation honours 221 voluntary blood donors
Facebook suspends Trump for 2 years, then will reassess
Facebook announced Friday that former President Donald Trump’s accounts will be suspended for two years, freezing his presence on the social network until early 2023, following a finding that Trump stoked violence ahead of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
At the end of the suspension, the company will assess whether Trump’s “risk to public safety” has subsided, Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs, wrote in a blog post. He said Facebook will take into account “external factors” such as instances of violence, restrictions on peaceful assembly and other markers of civil unrest.
Facebook also announced that it would end a contentious policy that automatically exempted politicians from rules banning hate speech and abuse, and that it would stiffen penalties for public figures during times of civil unrest and violence.
READ: Online speech shield under fire as Trump Facebook ban stays
The former president called Facebook’s decision on the suspension “an insult.” The two-year ban replaced a previous ruling that ordered Trump to be suspended indefinitely.
“They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing, and ultimately, we will win. Our Country can’t take this abuse anymore!” Trump said in a news release.
Social platforms like Facebook and Twitter have become indispensable tools for politicians to get their messages out and to raise small-dollar donations. Without the megaphone of Twitter and the targeted fundraising appeals his campaign mastered on Facebook, Trump could be at a serious disadvantage relative to other politicians.
Trump has teased running for president again in 2024. His aides say that he has been working on launching his own social media platform to compete with those that have booted him, but one has yet to materialize. A blog he launched on his existing website earlier this year was shut down after less than a month. It attracted dismal traffic.
On Facebook, Trump’s suspension means that his account is essentially frozen. Others can read and comment on past posts, but Trump and other account handlers are unable to post new material. Twitter, by contrast, has permanently banned Trump from its service, and no trace of his account remains.
“What they’ve done here is shield themselves from potential presidential rage” with a reassessment of Trump’s account in two years, said Jennifer Grygiel, a Syracuse University communications professor.
In a color-coded chart on its blog post, the company said public figures who violate its policies during times of crisis can be restricted from posting for a month (yellow) or as long as two years (red). Future violations, it said, will be met with “heightened penalties, up to and including permanent removal.”
READ: Facebook board’s Trump decision could have wider impacts
The policy that exempted politicians from rules on hate speech and abuse was once championed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The company said it never applied the policy to Trump, but on Friday backtracked to say it did use it once, in 2019 for a video of a rally on his Facebook page.
The social media giant said it will still apply the “newsworthiness” exemption to certain posts it deems to be in the public interest, even if they violate Facebook rules. But it will no longer treat material posted by politicians any differently than other posts. In addition, Facebook said it will make public whenever it does apply the exemption to a post.
The announcements are in response to recommendations from the company’s quasi-independent oversight board. Last month, that panel upheld a decision by Facebook to keep Trump suspended, but the board said the company could not merely suspend him indefinitely. It gave the company six months to decide what to do with his accounts.
In its decision last month, the board agreed with Facebook that two of Trump’s Jan. 6 posts “severely violated” the content standards of both Facebook and Instagram.
“We love you. You’re very special,” Trump said to the rioters in the first post. In the second, he called them “great patriots” and told them to “remember this day forever.”
Those comments violated Facebook’s rules against praising or supporting people engaged in violence, the board said. Specifically, the board cited rules against “dangerous individuals and organizations” that prohibit anyone who proclaims a violent mission and ban posts that express support for those people or groups.
The two-year suspension is effective from Jan. 7, so Trump has 19 months to go.
A group calling itself the Real Facebook Oversight Board, which is critical of Facebook and its oversight panel, said in a statement Friday that the ban brings Trump back just in time for the 2024 presidential election and shows “no real strategy to address authoritarian leaders and extremist content, and no intention of taking serious action against disinformation and hate speech.”
Due to its sheer size and power, Facebook’s decision has broad implications for politicians and their constituencies around the globe. Chinmayi Arun, a fellow at Yale Law School’s Information Society Project, said it’s good that the company laid out a standard for when it will suspend political leaders and for how long.
“What’s tremendous is that Facebook took the oversight board’s recommendation to reevaluate the real-world context and the offline tensions, while deciding what to do with a politician’s online speech,” she said. But she remains concerned that suspensions cannot be reviewed unless Facebook asks.
READ: Trump goes after Pence, McConnell in speech to party donorsFor years, Facebook gave the former president special treatment and free reign to spread misinformation and threats on the platform. Outside critics and even Facebook’s own employees called for the company to remove Trump long before the Jan. 6 comments.
Last summer, for instance, Zuckerberg decided to leave up posts by Trump that suggested protesters in Minneapolis could be shot, using the words “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Trump’s comment evoked the civil-rights era by borrowing a phrase used in 1967 by Miami’s police chief to warn of an aggressive police response to unrest in Black neighborhoods.
While Facebook put labels on many of Trump’s election posts, he did not face penalties such as suspension for repeatedly and falsely claiming victory in 2020.
In Friday’s post, Clegg anticipated criticism from both sides of the political aisle.
“We know that any penalty we apply — or choose not to apply — will be controversial. There are many people who believe it was not appropriate for a private company like Facebook to suspend an outgoing President from its platform, and many others who believe Mr. Trump should have immediately been banned for life,” he wrote.
Facebook’s job, he said, is “to make a decision in as proportionate, fair and transparent a way as possible, in keeping with the instruction given to us by the Oversight Board.”
But by staying in the middle, some experts said Facebook had once again punted the decision instead of taking a firm stance.
“It’s the wait-and-see approach,” said Sarah Kreps, a Cornell professor and director of the Cornell Tech Policy Lab. “I think they’re hoping this can just resolve itself with him not being kind of an influential voice in politics anymore.”
Facebook to end rule exemptions for politicians
Facebook plans to end a contentious policy championed by CEO Mark Zuckerberg that exempted politicians from certain moderation rules on its site, according to several news reports.
Read: Facebook won’t remove posts claiming COVID-19 is human-made
The company’s rationale for that policy held that the speech of political leaders is inherently newsworthy and in the public interest even if it is offensive, bullying or otherwise controversial. The social media giant is currently mulling over what to do with the account of former President Donald Trump, which it “indefinitely” suspended Jan. 6, leaving it in Facebook limbo with its owners unable to post.
The change in policy was first reported by the tech site The Verge and later confirmed by the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Read: Online speech shield under fire as Trump Facebook ban stays
Facebook has had a general “newsworthiness exemption” since 2016. But it garnered attention in 2019 when Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs and communications, announced that speech from politicians will be treated as “newsworthy content that should, as a general rule, be seen and heard.”
The newsworthiness exemption, he explained in a blog post at the time, meant that if “someone makes a statement or shares a post which breaks our community standards we will still allow it on our platform if we believe the public interest in seeing it outweighs the risk of harm.”
Read: Facebook board’s Trump decision could have wider impacts
This hasn’t given politicians unlimited license, however. When Facebook suspended Trump in January, it cited “the risk of further incitement of violence” following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol as the reason. The company says it has never used the newsworthiness exemption for any of Trump’s posts.
Facebook declined to comment.
The World's 10 Self-made Youngest Billionaires in 2021
Becoming a billionaire is everyone’s dream. Who doesn’t like to live a life of luxury with access to all the amenities there can be? However, the path to becoming a billionaire isn’t easy. And that stands true even more for people who are self-made billionaires. The sheer effort and odds that requires to be defied are truly commendable. Let's take a look at the world’s 10 self-made youngest billionaires in 2021.
Austin Russell
The 26-year-old CEO of Luminar Technologies is the youngest self-made billionaire on the Forbes list for 2021. He’s also received the prestigious fellowship by the billionaire investor Peter Thiel in 2012 to drop out of college and start his own venture. His tech firm, Luminar Technologies develops optical sensors for autonomous vehicles. As of 2021, companies like Toyota and Volvo have used Lidar-based technology in their cars.
The billionaire shot his way to the list after his company started trading in NASDAQ in December 2020 through a SPAC merger. He is currently valued at 2.4 billion dollars.
Read The 7 Most Promising Tech Startups in Bangladesh
Ritesh Agarwal
The story of Ritesh Agarwal is a truly fascinating case of rags to riches. Ritesh had a very humble beginning and dropped out of college in 2011 to pursue his plans of budget accommodations. Soon after in 2012, he got accepted into the Peter Thiel fellowship program and launched his own company, OYO rooms in 2013.
Since then, it has been a smooth sail for him. By the end of 2018, OYO rooms were valued at over 1 billion dollars. Soon after in 2019, Ritesh tripled his stakes in the business through share purchases and in the process saw his valuation rise to 1.1 billion dollars. Currently, he is the second-youngest self-made billionaire in the world.
Evan Spiegel
The CEO of Snap Inc., Spiegel is more commonly known as the founder of the popular social media platform Snapchat. He jointly developed the app with two of his classmates, Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown when he was studying at Stanford.
Soon after its initial release in 2012, the app grew by leaps and bounds reaching over 1 million users by the end of 2012. The popularity of the platform continued to grow and Spiegel became the youngest billionaire for the year 2015 in Forbes List after Snap Inc. went public. He is also one of the youngest CEO of a publicly traded company. Currently, his net valuation stands at 11.1 billion dollars.
Read Digital Currency: Benefits and Risks of the Cashless Economy in Bangladesh
John Collison
John Collison is the cofounder of Stripe, a financial service that primarily operates for the digital payment in e-commerce platform as well as building different application programming interfaces.
John and his brother started with their first venture, Shuppa, and Auctomatic which was a software company primarily developing tools for e-bay back in 2008. They co-founded stripe in 2010 which received funding from CapitalG and General Catalyst. The company was also backed by Elon Musk and Peter Thiel in its initial days. The investment made the company to be valued at over 9 billion dollars which took John’s net worth to 1.1 billion dollars. He was the youngest self-made billionaire on the Forbes List of 2016.
Bobby Murphy
Bobby Murphy is the co-founder of Snap Inc. along with Evan Spiegel and Reggie Brown. Originally belonging to the same Sigma Kappa fraternity at Stanford University, Murphy and Spiegel first had a failed venture called Future Freshman which worked to advise the new graduates on career choices.
Later both of them worked on a photo disappearing app called Picaboo which later became Snapchat. Murphy spearheaded the engineering division of Snapchat as well as working with the Snap Labs team to develop the spectacles, their flagship camera glasses. At the time of the IPO, Murphy and Brown both had over 45% control of the share. Murphy is currently estimated to be worth 10.2 billion dollars.
Read Top Insurance Companies in Bangladesh in 2021
Mark Zuckerberg
Probably the most well-known name on the list, Mark Zuckerberg is an American media magnate and the founder of Facebook. Zuckerberg was born in White Plains, New York. Since his early days, he showed a glimpse of his talents through various activities. When kids his age were busy playing games, Zuckerberg was into making them. He entered Harvard with a keen interest in software development. However, he soon dropped out to pursue the development of Face Smash which was renamed Facebook later on.
Today Facebook Inc. controls several social media sites like Instagram and Whatsapp that drive the largest share of social media traffic in the world. Zuckerberg was the youngest billionaire in 2007 and with a net worth of over 117 billion dollars, he is currently the 5th richest person in the world.
Dustin Moskovitz
Dustin Moskovitz was one of four co-founders of Facebook. He was born in Gaines Florida and attended Harvard with a major in Economics. However, he left Harvard just after two years to work full-time for Facebook in Palo Alto.
In its initial days, Moskovitz was the first chief technology officer of Facebook and subsequently, the vice president of engineering. He led a team of engineers who designed the interface of the platform and gave it a shape as we all know it to be today. He also played a key role in developing the mobile version of the platform. Moskovitz left Facebook to pursue other ventures and in 2011, he was the youngest self-made billionaire based on his 2.34% stake at Facebook. Currently, he is valued at 19.2 billion dollars.
Read Online Business: How to Get Started from Home?
Nathan Blecharczyk
Nathan Blecharczyk is the co-founder and chief strategy officer of Airbnb. Blecharczyk was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard. Initially, he started his career as an engineer at Opnet technologies. He along with Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia came up with the idea of Airbnb. Though initially failing to raise capital, the project came into the attention of the Y combinator and was soon fast-tracked into their seed funding program.
Blecharczyk played a key role in the development of the initial interface of Airbnb and soon after transitioned into the position of CTO of the organization. Blecharczyk is currently valued at 13.3 billion dollars.
Pavel Durov
Pavel Durov is an entrepreneur from Russia who is also the founder of the popular social media platform VK. Since being removed from the position of CEO of VK, he is known for his continued effort to ensure the data safety of the users which is believed to be the reason for his fall out with VK. Durov was born in Leningrad and attended St Petersburg University.
After his dismissal from VK, he went on to become a citizen of St Kitts and Neves. He then founded the end-to-end encrypted messaging platform Telegram. Currently, Durov is valued at 17.2 billion dollars which are largely driven by his control of Telegram.
Read Ways of Affiliate Marketing while Staying in Bangladesh
Patrick Collison
The co-founder of Stripe and brother of John Collison, Patrick Collison is a key stakeholder of Stripe. Born in Ireland, Collison had a knack for software and AI from his early days. He decided to participate in the 40th Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition with his AI-powered project called Issac.
The innovative ideas continued with the foundation of Shuppa and later Auctomatic. Collison later attended MIT and has been a key figure in the development of Stripe. Currently, he is valued at 11.4 billion dollars.
Bottom Line
With Forbes estimating a new billionaire being made every 17 hours, it's only natural that young people would take a stride in this list. However, this list consists of people that defied all odds to establish themselves on the global map as well as contribute to the social causes.
Read The Difference between a Startup and a Small Business