Tag: Facebook

  • How to cope with changing workplace and the new digital age

    How to cope with changing workplace and the new digital age

    Work has always changed and grown in tandem with new technologies and significant shifts in consumer purchasing habits. 

    Did you know that in Victorian Britain, factory workers were paid to tap on their windows to inspire them? They were known as “knocker-uppers” and were popular until alarm clocks rendered them obsolete.

    You may have read in recent months that as artificial intelligence (AI) solutions like ChatGPT gain popularity, timely engineering will become a significant and vital professional skill. 

    Some experts believe that the field, which boils down to providing the best information possible to AI tools, is so important that it could become a career path in and of itself. 

    However, this is only one example of how work is changing. If you truly want to be prepared for the future, you should have a far broader perspective. And you could do a lot worse than keeping a close eye on the digital marketing sector on this front.

    Read also: Google announces Google Security AI Workbench

    An adaptable workspace sector

    Digital marketing has always kept up with big changes in technology and society. From spot ads on websites to new products on social media and streaming platforms, each change has forced people in the industry to learn new skills so they can better serve their clients.

    It’s not likely that will change soon, either. LinkedIn says that “Digital Marketing Specialist” is one of the top 10 most-wanted jobs, with more than 860,000 job openings. The fact that social media, content planning, SEO, and analytics are the most sought-after skills in digital marketing shows how broad the field has become 

    Even those areas of expertise change. Before 2016, when Facebook and Twitter were well established, no one knew how to market on TikTok

    Today, the platform has more than a billion users and is an increasingly important part of any organization’s digital marketing strategy. As a result, people in digital marketing have had to build up the skills necessary to market on the platform.

    Social media sites’ new products are the same. Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Spotify appear different. It’s also vital to realize that TikTok’s performance is unrelated to Twitter’s. Few people know a lot about all platforms. To succeed in digital marketing, you must constantly learn and adapt. 

    These traits are also necessary in a fast-changing workplace.

    Acquiring the right skills

    How should you go about getting the skills you need to be successful in digital marketing and other similar fields?

    Without a doubt, getting a formal certification can be very helpful, especially in the beginning stages of a pursuit. 

    Self-exploration is crucial after those basics. Be curious. Learning requires desire. It’s mandatory. By certification on all systems (typically free). Learn Google Adwords, Instagram marketing, and as many additional products as possible. 

    It won’t take long to get there. Some people can get there in as little as six months. Practice more. Market yourself to find a client. In a fast-changing environment, results matter more than experience.

    Digital marketing has always had this. In general, work is growing more like that. If you want to be ready for the future, look to an industry that has adapted well to epoch-shifting developments.

  • Elon Musk incorporates Twitter Inc into X Corp

    Elon Musk incorporates Twitter Inc into X Corp

    Musk’s Twitter move is typical of his useful ways. According to court documents on Twitter, Twitter Inc. no longer exists.

    The document claims that the microblogging service has been incorporated into X Corp, a newly formed shell company that is a subsidiary of X Holdings Company, both of which are owned by Elon Musk and were founded in April last year.

    Elon Musk has been working to make X more comparable to Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat, a Chinese super-app used for everything from communication to payments. The business magnate has always had this vision, but he has never truly articulated how it fits into his vast corporate empire.

    Read also: Twitter’s $1,000 “simple” verification enrages users

    Musk may already have a clear idea of the structure of his new business empire, given that he now owns the domain “X.com,” the name of the online payments company he founded and subsequently merged with PayPal, and Twitter.

    The Twitter CEO tweeted “X” after releasing the legal filing paperwork, making a forceful statement. After Musk bought Twitter for US$44 billion last year, Twitter underwent a major renovation.

    X Corp: what’s next?

    Twitter’s focus is shifting to the Everything app, but X Corp hasn’t announced any plans or deadlines. This transformation may happen shortly, given Elon Musk’s reputation and business speed.

    Musk is known for shaking up businesses and raising the stakes, which might disrupt the market. And now he has a platform to do precisely that with X Corp.

    X Corp might also challenge tech giants like Facebook, Google, and Amazon. Musk may change everything with an everything app.

    How to use Twitter 2-factor Authentication for free

    Twitter collapsed

    Before Musk bought Twitter, it started to change. Fans stopped using the microblogging service because it laid off a lot of people and made verification marks and subscriptions for the blue tick expensive. A blue verification mark might be on an account that is a month old and has only one follower. Twitter’s focus changed.

    Twitter CEO Elon Musk recently replaced the bluebird emblem with the dogecoin sign for a few days. The microblogging site’s biggest insult is to its faithful audience. Elon Musk appeared to assure his cryptocurrency followers, though the cause is unclear.

    Twitter has been exploring blockchain’s potential for a while, and Musk has been vocal about his idea that technology might transform finance, social media, and other aspects of online life. X Corp. gives him a concentrated platform to fulfil his goals.

  • Meta removes Facebook, Instagram NFT functions amid Crypto turmoil

    Meta removes Facebook, Instagram NFT functions amid Crypto turmoil

    Meta Platform Inc. is removing digital collectibles and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) from its platforms (Instagram and Facebook) less than a year after launching them.

    The decision is the result of a careful study of the recent calamity that has befallen the cryptocurrency market.

    “We are winding down digital collectibles (NFTs) for the time being to focus on other methods to assist creators, consumers, and businesses,” Meta’s fintech chief Stephane Kasriel tweeted.

    Kasriel stated, “We will continue investing in fintech solutions that individuals and businesses will need.” “Meta Pay streamlines payments, make checkout and payout easier, and invests in messaging payments across Meta.”

    The major tech company specifically aims to give consumers the tools they need to remain in touch with their followers and make money off the platforms. It has made the decision to concentrate on things like developing payment rails through its chat apps and platform, as well as monetizing reels, the brief video clip that displays on Facebook and Instagram.

    Read also: Binance announces AI-powered NFT generator, Bicasso

    Meta allowed Instagram and Facebook NFT posting in 2022. Users could add Ethereum, Polygon, and Flow digital collectibles to their wallets. This choice was made as a result of certain experimental procedures that got started in May of the same year.

    Meta allowed producers to post NFTs on Instagram and Facebook owing to rising interest in crypto assets and the billions of dollars made from selling them. Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s CEO, sold an NFT of his childhood baseball card for $105,000, prompting the company to support NFTs on its social networks.

    Crypto’s meltdown affects Meta’s NFTs plan

    The crypto market has suffered a succession of disasters in the past year. These events have caused crypto asset values to plummet. Due to their doubts, crypto investors invested less.

    Meta is the latest crypto business to leave. Meta revealed NFTs on social media with great anticipation. Unfortunately, market losses have raised questions. Bitcoin and other major tokens fell after FTX’s collapse in November.

    The market has fallen into a fresh crisis after three U.S. banks, two of which are crypto-friendly, failed. These events increased cryptographic space uncertainty. Meta’s U-turn and concentration on features not subject to crypto’s vulnerability and significant risk of loss are not surprising.

    Smart TVs from LG Electronics will soon have NFTs

    Meta Announcement Feedback

    Meta’s announcement has been fiercely criticized by NFT proponents, as expected. NFT artist Dave Krugman called it “a short-sighted move” and said Meta “quit before it even started.” He said, “The trust built over the past year is now squandered.”

    Podcaster Marc Colcer called the move “short-sighted for a firm that is meant to be thinking long-term” and requested openness on the company’s NFT support decision.

    Meta may be able to capitalize on a crypto and NFT boom. NFTs and crypto may be covered in future company announcements.

  • Messenger returns to Facebook to improve privacy, user experience

    Messenger returns to Facebook to improve privacy, user experience

    The Messenger component that had been removed from the main Facebook app will soon be reinstated, according to an announcement made by Meta.

    This move comes after the social media giant removed Messenger from the main app in 2014 and required users to download a separate Messenger app instead. 

    With the latest upgrade, users will be able to access Messenger straight from within the Facebook app, eliminating the need to move between applications.

    When Facebook made a choice in 2014 to remove Messenger from the Facebook app, users had a variety of reactions to the change. Some customers liked how having a separate app for messaging helped streamline their experience, while other users thought it was irritating to have to go back and forth between apps.

    Read also: “Meta Verified” is now available on Facebook, Instagram

    Users could expect a better unified experience as a result of Facebook’s decision to reintegrate Messenger into the main app, as stated by the social networking service. The company has claimed that one of its goals is to facilitate an easier connection between users and their friends and family, whether it be through the usage of texting, video conferencing, or other social services.

    As a result of this change, users will be able to stay within the Facebook app while still having access to Messenger and other social features. It is anticipated that this will lead to an increase in overall engagement with the platform. It is hoped that this will result in an increase in the amount of time spent on the platform, which will lead to an increase in the amount of advertising revenue the company receives.

    Facebook Implementation of little Modifications 

    In the most recent few months, Facebook has been in the process of implementing a number of modifications to its platform. These modifications include the addition of new privacy features as well as the removal of certain ad targeting options. A number of recent upgrades, including the reintegration of Messenger into the primary app, have been made in an effort to enhance the overall quality of the experience provided by the platform.

    The latest version is now being distributed to users, and all users are expected to have access to it over the next several weeks. Users only need to tap on the Messenger icon that is located in the top right corner of the screen in order to access Messenger while they are logged into the Facebook app.

    How to stop Facebook videos From Auto-Playing

    Many Facebook app users view the reintegration of Messenger into the primary Facebook app as a positive development overall. Facebook’s goal is to maintain user engagement and encourage them to spend more time on the platform.

    To this end, the company has made it simpler for users to access Messenger and other social features within the main app. Although it is too soon to tell whether or not this strategy will be fruitful for the industry leader in social media, it is undeniably a step in the right way for the company.

  • “Meta Verified” is now available on Facebook, Instagram

    “Meta Verified” is now available on Facebook, Instagram

    “Meta Verified” is the name of a new paid verification service that has been introduced by Meta for the Facebook and Instagram platforms.

    Mark Zuckerberg described Meta Verified as “a subscription service that allows you to verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support” in a post that was published on Facebook recently.

    Two weeks ago, it was rumoured that Instagram was working on a subscription plan that included the blue badge. This information came from code snippets that suggested the company might be thinking about letting users pay for verification.

    Zuckerberg revealed that the new feature, Meta Verified, will cost users $11.99 per month on the web and $14.99 per month on iOS and Android. According to Zuckerberg, the new feature’s purpose is to enhance authenticity and security across all of Meta’s services.

    Read also: Meta updates Facebook business page

    More on Meta Verified, the Blue Tick

    This initiative is modelling itself after Twitter Blue, a paid-for verification system that the social media platform offers. A couple of days ago, Elon Musk’s Twitter made an announcement that as of the beginning of the following month, users who do not subscribe to Twitter Blue will no longer have the ability to use two-factor authentication via text message. To ensure the safety of their accounts, they will need to implement additional verification procedures.

    This should bring in some additional revenue for Meta, which has seen a decline in its overall revenue in recent years as a result of Apple’s decision to implement stringent privacy changes on iOS. These changes limit the social company’s ability to track users’ internet activities. This should bring in some additional revenue for Meta. In the previous year, Meta predicted that Apple’s decision would result in a loss of more than $10 billion in advertising revenue in the year 2022.

    Meta grants Donald Trump access to social media accounts

    More Expectations from META

    Meta asserts that in the long run, its goal is to construct a subscription offering that will be valuable to all parties involved, including content creators, businesses, and the Meta community as a whole. As part of this vision, it is transforming the meaning of the verified badge in order to increase access to verification and allow more people to have faith that the accounts they interact with are genuine.

    This week, Meta will launch Meta Verified in Australia and New Zealand, and the service will expand to additional countries very soon.

  • Meta updates Facebook business page

    Meta updates Facebook business page

    In markets where this feature is now accessible, Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has announced that sellers can no longer create vehicle and property investment listings using a Facebook business page, the Vehicles tab, and the Manage Inventory tab.

    The social media behemoths asserted that this is a change in how technology may be displayed and provided the assurance that visual listings for cars, houses, and rental properties would be made available on Marketplace. The new policy will take effect on January 30, 2023.

    Read also: Meta Launches ‘‘Creators Of Tomorrow” Campaign to Celebrate Emerging African Talents

    Meta’s prior alterations

    Facebook introduced digital tools and training in 2022 to assist small company owners in connecting with new customers online and expanding their brands. In the past, Meta has changed some obvious things, but thus far, nothing has caused their services to decline.

    It’s crucial to approach their impending changes in the same way.

    Additionally, Meta modified the connection’s value of algorithm-based engagement or consumption. They remembered a time when streaming services and social media platforms saw a battle for consumers’ attention between tech and entertainment corporations.
    Facebook now lets people delete erroneous information, improving privacy. Last year, the platform added intriguing features like “reactions” to its chat app.

    Meta’s expectations after the revisions

    Users have been led to expect a friendly outcome from the adjustments. The marketplace’s customers can relaunch their enterprises by offering vehicles and property investment from their profiles until January 30, 2023.

    This is to inform people that, although Facebook will no longer allow business pages, existing business pages can still thrive since business owners can continue their companies on their private pages.

    Meta assured auto companies that they would continue investing in advanced technologies to meet their future needs. Meta expects its real estate business customers to be able to create real property listings from their profiles.

    Urgency is needed in situations like this. Meta advised corporate users to download all listings before the changes take effect to avoid losing data.

    Qualcomm and Meta collaborate to provide metaverse experiences

    What to know about Meta

    Meta Platforms, Inc., formerly Facebook, Inc. and TheFacebook, Inc., is a Menlo Park, California-based multinational technological company. The corporation owns Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and others. Meta, previously one of the world’s most valuable firms, is not among the top twenty US companies as of 2022.

    It is one of the “Big Five” American IT businesses, along with Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft. The least profitable of the five will be in 2022. Meta offers Facebook, Messenger, Facebook Watch, and Meta Portal. It owns Oculus, Giphy, Mapillary, Kustomer, Presize, and 9.99% of Jio Platforms. Advertising sales accounted for 97.5% of income in 2021.
    The parent company of Facebook changed its name from Facebook, Inc. to Meta Platforms, Inc. in October 2021 to “reflect its focus on establishing the metaverse.” Meta’s “metaverse” is the integrated environment that links all of its goods and services.

  • Sama African content moderator quits Meta

    Sama African content moderator quits Meta

    Sama, Meta’s largest content moderation provider in Africa for monitoring dangerous content on Meta’s platforms, has declared that it will stop providing services to the tech giant and shut down its center in the area. The deal was terminated, according to Meta.

    This emerged a year after an exposé of Sama’s office in Nairobi, Kenya, and its cruel treatment of African contract workers.

    Sama is closing due to the poor economy, according to the official announcement. The startup hopes to specialize in computer vision data annotation.

    We appreciate Sama’s choice to discontinue its content screening services for social networking sites. In order to prevent any effects on our capacity to review content during this transition, we will collaborate with our partners.

    In order to help with data labelling and AI training, the tech giant hired a content moderation service provider in 2017. However, during the past two years, the Nairobi office has been active in monitoring and censoring some of the most offensive and graphic content on Meta’s platforms.

    Read also: Meta is laying off more than 11,000 employees

    Sama’s and Meta’s charges


    Meta and Sama, the subcontractor, have encountered numerous legal challenges as a result of their content filtering practices, working culture, and disregard for the mental health of their employees.

    Daniel Motaung, a former employee, filed a lawsuit against Sama in 2021, alleging that both firms neglected mental health care for moderators and failed to educate them about the nature of the job. By various activist groups, the firms were also sued for many violations of the Kenyan constitution.

    Meta, Facebook’s parent corporation, was sued in Kenya’s High Court for $2 billion in 2022 for allegedly fostering hate speech, inciting ethnic violence, and failing to monitor content in Eastern and Southern Africa.

    Meta Releases Sub-Saharan Africa 2022 Review

    What about the workforce?

    Meta will hire 1,500 of Sama’s personnel to work with the new data labeling contractor, leaving 200 staff members unemployed. The IT behemoth fired nearly 11,000 workers in the fourth quarter of 2022.

    According to Sama, affected employees will receive severance compensation and 12 months of support.

    Who will manage the content? Majorel of Luxembourg will handle the deal, according to reports. TikTok’s African moderating services were provided by the business.

    But according to Cori Crider, co-director of Foxglove, a legal NGO that is backing Motaung’s action against Sama and Meta, the company that would be taking over Sama’s contract with Meta has harsher working conditions for its employees.

    According to her, there is no adequate mental health support, and the base pay appears to be just about half as low as Sama’s meager income. But Meta hasn’t said anything about Majorel taking up the content moderation responsibilities.

  • Facebook to erase sexuality, religion, and address from profiles

    Facebook to erase sexuality, religion, and address from profiles

    Facebook will erase religious, political, and sexual preference information from user accounts. The transition begins on December 1.

    Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, noticed the small but telling change. It shows that Facebook wants you to think about its platform in a different way now. In the early days of Facebook, people would fill out their profiles for hours on end. Things were different back then. 

    On Facebook, the information on your page is much more important than on newer social media sites, where a bio is usually just a few sentences and an occasional link. 

    Ten years of privacy problems have made giving out personal information less fun and carefree. Some people even put in fake information because they think it will trick the algorithms.

    Facebook to erase sexuality, religion, and address from profiles
    We’re getting rid of Interested In, Religious Views, Political Views, and Address because we want Facebook to be easier to use and navigate, said Emil Vazquez, a spokesperson for Meta. We’re sending notices to people who have filled out these fields to let them know that they’ll be taken away. This change does not affect anyone’s ability to share this information about themselves elsewhere on Facebook.

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    This change is part of Meta’s larger efforts to improve its public image. Overall, the tech industry wants people to know the difference between “sensitive” data and “regular” data. Meta will tell you that, for example, Instagram and Facebook don’t use sensitive data for advertising, but that’s because researchers found serious problems.

    Read also: Kenyans Now Pay VAT For Facebook Ads

    Why is Facebook erasing those from profiles?

    After breaking the Housing Rights Act by allowing advertisers to use its systems to use those demographics to tailor housing ads, Facebook had to remove what it called “sensitive” ad targeting categories like race, region, and sexual orientation. 

    This amounted to discrimination against some viewers. In response, advertisers focused on proxies, such as targeting advertising based on interest in Jewish festivals rather than a person’s actual ethnicity. Since then, Facebook has eliminated hundreds of more categories used for the same reasons.

    But there’s still a lot of data you can use, like location data or browser history, that could give you access to private information that the public shouldn’t see. 

    Recent research also found that Facebook uses people’s ages, races, and genders in commercials to show ads to people of different ages, races, and genders. For instance, ads portraying black individuals are less likely to be seen by white people.

    How to stop Facebook videos From Auto-Playing

    Disputable Facebook revamps its platform

    Facebook is also trying to clean up and simplify its platform, which has many features that are rarely used and interfaces that are hard to understand. Facebook has a bad name, not just because it causes problems in society but also because it’s no longer cool. Users have been leaving in droves, and even Instagram, Facebook’s younger and slightly cooler sibling, has seen its popularity drop.

    Because of this, the company is in terrible financial shape. Just last week, it fired 11,000 people. Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, changed the company’s entire future. He moved away from social media and toward a “moonshot” goal of building “the metaverse,” which is a mix of virtual and augmented reality. But for now, Meta’s only way to make money is through Facebook and Instagram. 

    Even though WhatsApp is the most popular messaging service in the world, it hasn’t made much money for Facebook yet. Executives at the company are struggling as they try to stop the company from going downhill. They are trying to update the platforms and keep up with social media trends in a world without TikTok.

    Reducing the number of ways in which your profile may be updated is, in a sense, an admission of defeat. The world has moved on, and Facebook has to evolve just as quickly as the rest of the world if it wants to continue to be relevant.

  • Kenyans Now Pay VAT For Facebook Ads

    Kenyans Now Pay VAT For Facebook Ads

    Facebook advertisements in Kenya will be subject to the nation’s 16% value-added tax (VAT). The announcement was made by Meta. This impacts anyone who runs advertisements on Facebook or Instagram. Therefore, each time you run an advertisement on the platforms, you will pay a higher tax rate.

    Meta made the following statements: “Beginning November 2022, Meta ads in Kenya are subject to a value-added tax (VAT) at the applicable local rate. This applies to all advertisers whose ‘Sold To’ country on their business or personal address is set to Kenya.”

    “If you’re registered for VAT and provide your VAT ID, your VAT ID will show up on your ads receipts. In the event that you’re entitled to recover the VAT, this may help you recover any VAT you paid to the Kenyan tax authorities if you are a VAT-registered business in Kenya.”

    No matter whether advertisers are paying for advertisements for their businesses or for their personal use, VAT will be added whenever they are, according to a statement on the company’s support centre.

    Read also: “1 million Facebook accounts” may have been hijacked, says Meta

    Kenyan business owners must register for the VAT, which is levied on products and services produced or delivered in the nation if their annual taxable supply turnover exceeds Ksh 5 million ($41,150).

    According to TechTrendsKE, the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) announced plans to boost the tax collected from IT companies that operate in the nation or facilitate digital payments from 1.5% to 3% in April of this year.

    Directive on The VAT ID

    Your VAT ID must first be added to your page’s payment settings. Your VAT ID will appear on your ad receipts if you are registered for VAT and supply it.

    According to Meta, if your firm is VAT-registered in Kenya and you are eligible to recover VAT, this could aid in your ability to recoup whatever VAT you may have previously paid to Kenyan tax officials.

    Furthermore, regardless of whether you purchase Meta Advertisements for commercial or non-commercial use, VAT is added anytime you are charged for your ads.

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    The Impact of The Kenyan Government on This

    Kenya’s government has been attempting to take advantage of every opportunity to increase tax revenue. Numerous modifications to tax legislation have been enacted in the previous few years under the guise of Parliament Acts. Kenyans have had to dig deeper into their wallets to meet their tax commitments as a result of some of these changes and developments, the majority of which take the shape of adjustments to finance legislation. It should be kept in mind that some of the suggestions aimed to capture money from internet-based/digital services, which have grown to be quite profitable for the companies who provide them.

    For instance, the state implemented the DST, or digital service tax, which imposed a 1.5 per cent tax on the gross transaction value of digital services. It came into force in January 2021 and was levied against those who made money by selling goods and services on the internet. The state didn’t stop there; the Finance Act of 2022 boosted the rate of the digital service tax from 1.5 per cent to 3 per cent.

  • “1 million Facebook accounts” may have been hijacked, says Meta

    “1 million Facebook accounts” may have been hijacked, says Meta

    Researchers at Meta Inc., a company specialising in information security, have found over 400 “scammy apps” on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store designed to steal users’ Facebook login information.

    The team at Meta acknowledged that these applications often require users to “Log In with Facebook” before accessing certain functionalities. According to the company, these apps try to look like “fun or useful” services, like picture editors, camera apps, VPN services, horoscope apps, and programs that track your fitness.

    David Agranovich, the company’s Director of Threat Disruption, stated that many of the discovered applications “were barely functional” and said that they offered little functionality before logging in. According to him, “the majority had no functionality even once a user logged in.”

    Read also: Meta Launches ‘‘Creators Of Tomorrow” Campaign to Celebrate Emerging African Talents

    Meta warns users of malicious apps

    Meta warns 1 million Facebook users that third-party applications from Apple or Google’s stores may have exposed their account information. Most of these applications were harmful in both Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store, although most were Android apps.

    An Engadget writer who attended the briefing stated that the malicious Android applications were largely consumer apps, such as picture filters, while the 47 iOS apps were nearly solely “business utility” apps. These services have titles like “Very Business Manager,” “Meta Business,” “FB Analytic,” and “Ads Business Knowledge.”

    The briefing’s leader, Agranovich, claimed his organization shared its results with Apple and Google. “It was up to the shops to delete the applications,” the director said.

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    How should the victims respond?

    If you were among the 1 million users who got Facebook’s warning, it’s likely that you installed or used one of these rogue programs, and your account information has been hijacked.

    Step 1: Delete apps that need to “Log In with Facebook.”

    Step 2: change your Facebook password and enable two-factor authentication.

    Step 3: Enable log-in alerts to be alerted if your account is accessed.

    Engadget verified that Apple and Google deleted all Meta-identified applications from their app stores. The representative said Google Play Protect bans these applications on Android.

    A Google spokeswoman confirmed that all the applications mentioned in the report are no longer on Google Play.