Enterprise

Facebook CEO doesn’t care about fake political ads, employees say

Employees express displeasure

Published

October 30, 2019

Luigi Leonardo

Image source: Anthony Quintano

Do you still get your news from Facebook? Amidst all the baby photos and memes, the social media network remains one of the most voluminous content aggregators today. Unfortunately, since its launch all those years ago, Facebook’s credibility has consistently been called into question. Can you rely on everything you see on Facebook?

Of course, Facebook’s open framework allows just about anyone to share anything, even it’s untrue. Who remembers the whole debacle with fake news from years ago? Authenticity is still a sensitive issue in today’s social media networks. Inauthentic content can notoriously steer political conversations, especially during elections.

Unfortunately, despite the inherent risk, Facebook itself doesn’t seem to care. The social network’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has issued a conclusive statement on his site’s policy regarding content freedom.

For context, the US is on the cusp of its next presidential elections. Incumbent President Donald Trump is awaiting the winner of a heated Democratic race. Currently, the Democratic party includes former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Senator Bernie Sanders.

Earlier this month, Trump’s reelection campaign released a 30-second video ad. The video allegedly depicts Biden bribing Ukraine a total of US$ 1 billion in aid if the latter drops a current investigation against his son. Various news sources, like CNN, have refused to broadcast the “demonstrably false” content. Facebook, however, ran the ad, regardless.

In retaliation, Warren, one of Biden’s competitors, ran a demonstrably false ad of her own: a video proclaiming that Zuckerberg and Facebook support Trump’s reelection. Unlike Trump’s ad, however, Facebook refused to run the ad, showing a blatant contrast in approaches.

Amidst all the controversy, Zuckerberg issued a revealing speech at Georgetown University. In his speech, he doubles down on his website’s allegedly rigid campaign against disinformation. “We’ve found a different strategy works best: focusing on the authenticity of the speaker, rather than the content itself,” he said. “I don’t think it’s right for a private company to censor politicians or the news in a democracy.”

The defensive call to action was unsatisfactory for a lot of people, especially his own coworkers. Soon after the speech, Facebook’s own employees issued an internal letter addressed to the company’s leaders. Instead of dwelling on the value of free speech, the letter focuses the discussion on sponsored content. “Free speech and paid speech are not the same thing,” the letter said.

According to the letter, paid misinformation “increases distrust [on Facebook] by allowing similar paid and organic content to sit side-by-side” and “undoes integrity product work.” The disgruntled employees suggest a more rigorous screening of political ads (like those for corporate ads), louder visual separation from other content, and restricted targeting.

“This is still our company,” the letter concludes.

Years after the brouhaha against fake news, Facebook is still in the same mire. How can we trust Facebook content?

Apps

foodpanda relaunches cult-favorite roast chicken brand after 8 years of persistent search queries

Heritage chain Andok’s returns to the platform, driven entirely by long-term user analytics.

Published

June 19, 2026

MJ Jucutan

In the world of e-commerce and food delivery, platform algorithms usually dictate what consumers see. But occasionally, consumer behavior is so relentless that it shapes the platform’s strategy.

In a move driven entirely by long-term user analytics, foodpanda has officially relaunched Andok’s, one of the Philippines’ most iconic heritage rotisserie chains, back onto its platform after an eight-year absence.

The search bar as a digital wishlist

The decision to ink the partnership wasn’t just a marketing play. It was a response to an ongoing data anomaly. Despite being offline from the foodpanda platform for eight years, Andok’s consistently ranked as one of the most-searched merchants on the app.

Year after year, users treated the empty search results page as an unofficial wishlist. This persistent search intent gave foodpanda a clear, data-backed signal of pent-up demand.

Prior to the official digital rollout, teaser campaigns on social media validated this demand, generating thousands of organic interactions from users anticipating the return.

Bridging heritage flavor with digital infrastructure

For foodpanda, onboarding a merchant with this level of built-in demand fits its broader strategy of marketplace optimization and hyper-local network expansion, turning a heritage brand into another data point for how legacy retail plugs into delivery infrastructure.

For Andok’s, the integration works as a fast track to digital scale. A legacy quick-service chain skips years of independent app development and reaches customers already using foodpanda’s existing logistics network, on a platform they already check daily.

Andok’s built its following on charcoal spit-roasted chicken, a slow-cooked technique that’s stayed largely unchanged since the brand’s early days, alongside seasoned grilled pork belly.

More recently, the Dokito line extended that following into crispy fried chicken and chicken burgers, broadening the brand’s appeal beyond its original rotisserie format and giving foodpanda a menu with both heritage pull and everyday fast-food convenience.

Enterprise

Global Connect Show Shenzhen empowers Chinese enterprises

Opportune time for new Chinese enterprises to go global

Published

June 2, 2026

GadgetMatch

The Global Connect Show Shenzhen 2026 (GCS SZ 2026) was successfully held on June 1 at China’s innovation hub.

More than 100 Chinese enterprises joined the event, encouraged to expand into international markets.

The program focused on three core pillars:

Chinese brand going global
Global channel connection
Dedicated “Into the Enterprise” series

China has developed a new generation of internationally competitive companies across various sectors, including:

consumer electronics
smart hardware
artificial intelligence
robotics

As these companies enter a new phase of going global, demand is growing for global communications, brand building, market trust, and localized business networks.

As such, the Global Connect Show is one of the platforms to be able to strengthen the relationship across enterprises, partners, business associations, and even media and influencers.

It is a significant window for innovative brands to enter global retail channels by building compelling brand narratives and developing strong localized operations.

This year’s GCS is the third staging of the show, which consistently aims to match Chinese brands with partners through a results-first approach. Such an approach includes hands-on product experiences, presentations, and one-on-one meetings.

Enterprise

New US-China ban might affect 75% of phones, laptops

Companies can no longer use Chinese labs to test their products.

Published

May 5, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

The United States is continuing its crusade against Chinese technology today. However, the target now isn’t a company from China but a method important to a lot of non-Chinese brands.

Today, via Reuters, the Federal Communications Commission (or FCC) has unanimously voted to prohibit companies from using Chinese labs to test their electronic devices if they are to be sold for use in the United States. Naturally, this includes smartphones and computers.

Notably, the prohibition doesn’t directly target Chinese brands. However, it will still affect a huge swath of the industry. The FCC estimates that around 75 percent of the entire market are devices tested in labs based in China.

This means that companies who wish to sell future products in the country must move their testing to labs in the United States or other countries that it deems secure. At its current iteration, the prohibition will not affect devices that already earned their certification prior. However, it might prevent them from getting recertified once their current one expires.

Now, the prohibition isn’t an absolute lock just yet. The FCC will allow the industry to submit comments about the proposal. But, with a unanimous vote from the FCC, companies might have to start looking for alternative testing sites if they want to stay operation in the United States.