Odaily Frontline｜How can Libra help Facebook make more money? Zuckerberg explained
This article comes fromCNET, original author: Queenie Wong
Odaily Translator |
Odaily Translator |
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg (Mark Zuckerberg) explained on Wednesday how the launch of the new cryptocurrency Libra will help Facebook earn more advertising revenue.
At Wednesday's annual shareholder meeting, Zuckerberg was asked how Facebook would make money from its yet-to-be-launched Libra project. Zuckerberg replied that the introduction of a new cryptocurrency and other tools, such as an online store, would make business commerce more efficient, leading to higher advertising prices, which would benefit Facebook financially.
That's because Facebook doesn't sell ads for a fixed price. Instead, he said, businesses bid based on the outcome the ad was trying to achieve. Facebook allows advertisers to target ads based on age, location, interests and other characteristics.
"When they run an ad, people who click on that ad are now more likely to buy something because they actually have a more viable way to pay, and then it basically becomes more valuable for businesses to pay more on the ad, we see The result is a higher overall price for the ad.”
Zuckerberg's explanation provided more detail on the company's strategy around rolling out new payments and e-commerce features. Facebook and its partners have touted Libra as a way to help those who lack access to financial services or have to pay high fees to send money overseas. But it's clear that Facebook thinks it can also benefit financially from Libra, even as it faces increasing regulatory scrutiny from lawmakers. Companies like Shopify, Uber, Lyft and others are members of the Libra Association. Other original partners, such as PayPal, eBay, Visa and Mastercard, all dropped out of the association.
Facebook has also been working on developing a digital wallet to store cryptocurrencies, with Calibra digital money changing its name to Novi this week. Earlier this month, the Libra Association also said HSBC chief legal officer Stuart Levey would serve as its first CEO.
Libra was originally expected to launch in the first half of 2020, but the current status of the project is unclear. The Libra Association did not immediately respond to questions about when the new cryptocurrency would launch.
Facebook shareholders also made eight proposals on Wednesday, including efforts to rein in Zuckerberg's power and delay the company's plan to end-to-end encrypted messages by default on messaging services including Messenger and Instagram. The plans have raised concerns that they will make it harder to fight child exploitation because even Facebook cannot read encrypted messages. As expected, all eight proposals were rejected. Zuckerberg has majority control of the company because he owns a class of stock with more voting power.
During the meeting, Zuckerberg answered various questions, including how the company handles content moderation. This week, Facebook retained a post by U.S. President Donald Trump that included the misleading claim that mail-in ballots "would not be substantively fraudulent," a claim that was picked up by fact-checkers and news outlets. Agency debunked. Twitter added a "fact-check" label to Trump's tweets, but Facebook typically doesn't send posts by political figures to fact-checkers. Meanwhile, Facebook faced criticism at its shareholder meeting for not doing enough to clamp down on hate speech that violates its rules.
"You need to figure out the nuances of getting this right, and it's an area where there's not a whole-of-society consensus on the right way to do it," he said.A whistleblower filed a complaint against Facebook with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the week of Facebook's annual shareholder meeting.Related Reading:
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Odaily Frontline｜Facebook Digital Wallet Calibra Renamed to Novi
