Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller announced Dec. 30 three consumer protection priorities the office will pursue in 2022, including investigating the effects of Facebook’s algorithms on consumers. Miller said at the press conference that it’s important to address consumer protection in Big Tech because of technology’s “incredibly important place in…
Timothy McCoy was volunteering at Creative Visions, a nonprofit community center in Des Moines, when an employee there approached him about joining Facebook’s new construction training program called Hardhat in Hand. Although McCoy is a certified carpenter and had worked in residential construction, he was hesitant about joining the program….
Facebook announced that U.S. employees will not return to the office until at least January 2022 due to concerns about the coronavirus delta variant. “Data, not dates, is what drives our approach for returning to the office,” Facebook said in a statement. The social media company is the latest among…
The East Polk Innovation Collaborative, Facebook and other local partners have established the East Polk County Relief Fund for local COVID-19 relief, supported by an initial $350,000 contribution by Facebook, the company announced this week. The fund will designate $250,000 for small business support and $100,000 for nonprofit and individual…
Fourteen Central Iowa schools and nonprofits were awarded 2020 Facebook Community Action grants ranging from $3,900 to $62,386, the Facebook Altoona Data Center announced this week. The full list of local organizations is available online. The Altoona Data Center also announced applications are open for the Facebook Small Business Grants…
The Carroll Times Herald, an Iowa newsroom serving the Carroll community online and twice-weekly in print, is one of 13 North American news organizations joining the Facebook Journalism Project’s Local News Accelerator for digital subscriptions — and the smallest. The paper is co-owned by third-generation family members Douglas and Tom…
Facebook and Des Moines Area Community College hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new digital classroom located on DMACC’s Ankeny campus. The digital classroom is funded through a $97,000 grant from Facebook and houses technologies designed to support synchronized online learning, including a digital camera that follows instructors as they…
Facebook’s Community Action Grants program is now open to applications from regional nonprofits and school systems, targeting the surrounding area of the Facebook Altoona Data Center, the company announced this week. The program, which accepts applications until Dec. 3, is available to organizations addressing critical community needs through technology and can…
Only 4% of bank business and IT executives believe that the impact of technology on the pace of banking change has stayed the same over the past three years, while 96% said it has either significantly accelerated or accelerated, according to a new report from Accenture. This technological disruption has a…
For the first time in its six-year relationship with Facebook Inc., the city of Altoona has walked away from the negotiating table with a few dollars in hand — an estimated $3 million a year from an agreement that will land a 1 million-square-foot, $400 million data center at the…