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Twitter is Wall Street's favorite social media stock – CNN

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Shares of Twitter (TWTR) are up nearly 20% so far in 2020. That’s well ahead of the gains of social media rivals Facebook (FB) and Snapchat parent Snap (SNAP).
The company reported strong financial results earlier this month, too. Twitter’s quarterly revenue beat Wall Street estimates, topping $1 billion for the first time thanks to solid gains in advertising sales.
Twitter also posted a 21% jump in what it calls “monetizable daily active users” — essentially anyone who logs into Twitter through the desktop or mobile version of Twitter as opposed to a third party app like TweetDeck.
Twitter will run some political ads, just not from politicians. It seems well-intentioned, but might get messy.
On recent earnings calls with analysts, company executives stressed that they are doing a better job targeting ads relevant to users while cracking down on abusive behavior on the platform.
So can that little blue bird keep flying high?
Several analysts who were once Twitter skeptics have warmed to the company, in part because of changes the company has made to increase relevance on the platform.
“Through a combination of significant machine learning and AI investments, tweets are increasingly finding a Twitter user, versus the user having to do the work of scrolling/searching endlessly,” wrote LightShed Partners analyst Richard Greenfield in a recent report. “Today, Twitter just ‘knows’ you,

Product improvements leading to faster user growth

Greenfield launched coverage on the stock earlier this month with a “buy” rating and a $45 price target, nearly 20% above its current price. Twitter “simply is a better product now,” he said.
Twitter also just added a new feature that makes it easier for people to add tweets to older threads.
“We are encouraged by the work Twitter has done to improve the user experience,” said Jefferies analyst Brent Thill in a report after the company’s last earnings release. Thill boosted his price target on Twitter to $40 following those results.
And while Twitter no longer runs ads from individual politicians, analysts expect 2020 to be a big year for the company because of heavy interest in the presidential election.
Twitter's political ad policy is a small step in the fight against disinformationTwitter's political ad policy is a small step in the fight against disinformation
Twitter is likely to see increased traffic and advertising, as individual companies may target more ads around big events, particularly in sports.
Chief financial officer Ned Segal said on the company’s last earnings conference call that it had done an effective job during the Super Bowl, especially with so-called pre-roll ads that air before videos on Twitter.
That has investors hopeful that Twitter can repeat that performance in late July and early August when the Summer Olympics take place in Tokyo.
“We loved hearing the color about how effective Twitter was in monetizing the Super Bowl, and suspect they are coming to market with a far better integrated product — something we think will be needle-moving around the Olympics,” said Pivotal Research Group analyst Michael Levine in a report earlier this month.
Levine also raised his price target — to $44.50 a share — after Twitter’s latest earnings.
Twitter is still far from perfect. It sorely needs an edit function, especially since users can tweak what they post on other social media behemoths as Facebook, Slack (WORK) and Microsoft (MSFT)-owned LinkedIn. But the investments the company is making to improve its oft-maligned product are paying off.

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CTV National News: Social media giants sued – CTV News

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CTV National News: Social media giants sued  CTV News

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India’s media – captured and censored

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Across almost every form of media in India – social, broadcast and print – Narendra Modi and the BJP hold sway.

With India amid a national election campaign, its news media is in sharp focus. Until recently it was believed that the sheer diversity of outlets ensured a range of perspectives, but now, India’s mainstream media has largely been co-opted by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Just how did the media in India get to this point and what does it mean for the upcoming elections?

Featuring:

Ravish Kumar – Former Host, NDTV
Shashi Shekhar Vempati – Former CEO, Prasar Bharati
Pramod Raman – Chief Editor, MediaOne
Amy Kazmin – Former South Asia Bureau Chief, Financial Times
Meena Kotwal – Founder, The Mooknayak

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Social media lawsuit launched by Ontario school boards

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Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against multiple social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.

The school boards, including three in the Greater Toronto Area, have launched lawsuits seeking $4.5 billion in damages against Snapchat, TikTok, and Meta, the owner of both Facebook and Instagram, for creating products that they allege negligently interfere with student learning and have caused “widespread disruption to the education system.”

But at an unrelated news conference in Ottawa on Friday, Ford said that he “disagrees” with the legal action and worries it could take the focus away from “the core values of education.”

“Let’s focus on math, reading and writing. That is what we need to do, put all the resources into the kids,” he said. “What are they spending lawyers fees to go after these massive companies that have endless cash to fight this? Let’s focus on the kids, not this other nonsense that they are looking to fight in court.”

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Four separate but similar statements of claim were filed in Ontario’s Superior Court of JusticSocial media lawsuit launched by Ontario school boards pervasive problems such as distraction, social withdrawal, cyberbullying, a rapid escalation of aggression, and mental health challenges,” Colleen Russell-Rawlins, the director of education with the Toronto District School Board, said in a news release issued Thursday.

“It is imperative that we take steps to ensure the well-being of our youth. We are calling for measures to be implemented to mitigate these harms and prioritize the mental health and academic success of our future generation.”

The school boards are represented by Toronto-based law firm Neinstein LLP and the news release states that school boards “will not be responsible for any costs related to the lawsuit unless a successful outcome is reached.”

These lawsuits come as hundreds of school districts in the United States file similar suits.

“A strong education system is the foundation of our society and our community. Social media products and the changes in behaviour, judgement and attention that they cause pose a threat to that system and to the student population our schools serve,” Duncan Embury, the head of litigation at Neinstein LLP, said in the new release.

“We are proud to support our schools and students in this litigation with the goal of holding social media giants accountable and creating meaningful change.”

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