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A12 TECHNOLOGY
Monday 18 January 2021
Insider Q&A: Mark Weinstein, MeWe’s anti-Facebook CEO

By FRANK BAJAK a growth spurt you say has structural design prohibits
AP Technology Writer hit 20,000 new users an the amplification (of mis-
BOSTON (AP) — Some users hour? How many modera- information). Members do
have fled Facebook and tors do you have? moderation for us, but a
Twitter after the platforms A: Social media can get very deep violation can
booted President Donald messy in times like these. lead to immediate removal
Trump and some of his con- And just like Facebook and and being reported to out-
federates for inciting unrest Twitter, and other sites that side authorities. For others,
and spreading false claims also moderate we are do- a member can be placed
about election fraud. Some ing the very best we can. “in jail” — temporarily sus-
migrated to far-right friend- We are expanding our pended — and then a
ly sites like Parler or Gab. moderation team as rap- three-strike rule applies.
Others joined a service that idly as we can, and we’re Q: You said in a 2019 op-
aims to stand apart. investigating reports from ed piece that you don’t
MeWe is a 4-year-old, full- our members, who are believe that breaking up
featured social media helping. (Weinstein would Facebook will solve the
company positioned as not disclose the size of his problem of competition
an anti-Facebook. It says it moderation team.) in social media. Is that still
does not collect data on its Q: You say MeWe is not your thinking?
users, and features a Priva- built, as its big competitors A: Breaking up Facebook
cy Bill of Rights. In the past are, to serve up politically would just create a lot of
year, MeWe more than charged material. mini-Facebooks. It doesn’t
doubled its membership A: We are absolutely not solve the problem of sur-
to nearly 15 million. In the an opinion chamber of one veillance capitalism.
week ending Jan. 12, it was side or another. We are Facebook has lobbyists
downloaded 787,000 times fundamentally different by worldwide influencing leg-
from Apple and Google’s design from Twitter or Par- islation and government
U.S. smartphone app stores, ler or Gab. We’re a social officials. And it doesn’t
according to SensorTower. media platform like Face- comply with regulations,
While Trump supporters’ book, where family mem- anyhow. Regulating Face-
disaffection with Facebook bers and friends connect. book more carefully will
has surely helped, CEO This undated photo provided by MeWe shows MeWe CEO Mark Your news feed is purely only serve to institutional-
Mark Weinstein says MeWe Weinstein. Associated Press and exclusively everything ize surveillance capitalism,
owes its growth to “every- you choose to connect to. make it harder for compe-
one who is infuriated by Argentina. We’re trans- ogy on human beings. We There is nothing injected tition and sort of legitimize
their data being sold down lated into 20 languages. have fewer than 100 em- into your news feed by us or their business model, which
the river” by surveillance Currently 3% to 4% of our ployees and we did $1.2 anybody else on the plat- is really an illegitimate form
capitalists. members sign up for pre- million in revenue in 2020. form. We don’t have trend- of capitalism.
Weinstein spoke to The mium. We haven’t spent a Revenue grew 300 percent ing topics. We don’t have Pure capitalism is, plain
Associated Press from his penny on marketing. All our from November to Decem- boosted content. and simple, delight your
southern California home. growth is organic. ber. Q: What is your stance customer, build a relation-
This interview has been ed- Q: What does your capital Q: Your terms of service on potentially dangerous ship of love and trust. Re-
ited for clarity and length. investment and revenue are explicit about prohib- speech and misinformation spect them and they will
Q: Where are your mem- look like? Who is behind the iting hateful and inciteful of the type that could, say be your customer for a life-
bers? Under your “free- company? content and insist it will be adversely impact public time. Facebook has com-
mium” model, how many A: We’ve got about $22 promptly taken down. But health during a global pan- pletely broken that bond.
people pay for services million from high net worth I’ve seen some incendi- demic? Facebook is a marketing
such as additional data investors and our advisory ary language in chats. The A: We have absolutely no company. Facebook is a
storage and video calling? board includes Tim Berners- watchdog Alethea Group censorship for good peo- data company. They’re not
A: The members are 50% in Lee, founder of the World reported similar, and it was ple who follow our rules. We a true social network. Their
North America, about 24% Wide Web, and Sherry apparently taken down. don’t care what your opin- customers are advertisers,
in Asia, 24% in Europe and Turkle, perhaps the most es- How can you be sure you ion is, if you’re on the right marketers and political op-
2% in Australia. Some are in teemed academic expert are adequately moderat- or the left. That’s none of eratives. MeWe’s custom-
South America, in Brazil and on the impact of technol- ing the site, especially amid our business. Also, MeWe’s ers are its members.q

FAA approves fully automated commercial drone flights

WASHINGTON (AP) — A touted the advantage of to industries such as en- the data they collect from yond the sight of an op-
Massachusetts company its machines as being able ergy and agriculture, but aerial surveys. erator “is critical for the
has been granted approv- to operate continuously that FAA safety require- The FAA has allowed com- industry to truly take off.”
al to operate commercial without “expensive human ments have restricted their panies to operate drones According to documents
drone flights without a per- labor.” The Marlborough, use. beyond the line of sight posted Thursday by the
son directing the machine Massachusetts, company The company said its of operators, but a per- FAA, the drones, which fly
and keeping it in sight. said Friday it has tested Scout drones have tech- son on the ground had to along planned routes, will
It’s the first time that the fully automated drones for nology to stay a safe dis- be nearby. Lisa Ellman, a be limited to altitudes be-
Federal Aviation Admin- four years. tance from other aircraft. lawyer for the company low 400 feet (122 meters)
istration has allowed fully CEO and co-founder Re- They are housed in base and executive director of in rural areas. The FAA will
automated commercial ese Mozer said there could stations that allow for au- the Commercial Drone allow them to have a max-
drone flights. be a $100 billion market in tonomous charging and Alliance, said allowing ex- imum takeoff weight of 20
American Robotics Inc. providing drone services to process and transmit panded operations be- pounds (nine kilograms).q