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    Facebook tech chief Mike Schroepfer to step down

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments995 Views

    By Barbara Ortutay, AP Technology Writer

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    Facebook's Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer is stepping down from the social media company, taking on a part-time role while longtime executive Andrew Bosworth will replace him next year. 

    Schroepfer, known as "Schrep," has been at Facebook for 13 years and is a close friend of CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He called his decision difficult "because of how much I love Facebook and how excited I am about the future we are building together" but added that his new role will let him focus on personal and philanthropic efforts while staying connected to Facebook. 

    The transition will happen sometime in 2022.

    Bosworth, known as "Boz," is another longtime Facebook exec and a close friend of Zuckerberg's. He has most recently been in charge of Facebook's augmented reality and virtual reality efforts, as well as hardware products such as Oculus and Portal, Facebook's video calling gadget. 

    "As our next CTO, Boz will continue leading Facebook Reality Labs and overseeing our work in augmented reality, virtual reality and more, and as part of this transition a few other groups will join Boz's team as well," Zuckerberg wrote in a memo to Facebook staff that was posted online. "This is all foundational to our broader efforts helping to build the metaverse, and I'm excited about the future of this work under Boz's leadership."

    Schroepfer's transition comes amid relentless challenges for Facebook that have ranged from concerns about extremism, vaccine and election-related misinformation spreading on its platforms, regulatory pressure on competition, antitrust issues and user privacy among other issues. 

    Another longtime executive, Fidji Simo, left Facebook over the summer to become CEO of Instacart. 

    Tags:FacebookMark ZuckerbergMike Schroepfer



    A Closer Look At Proposed Measures Designed To Curb Google’s Search Monopoly

    Thursday, November 21, 2024

    U.S. regulators are proposing aggressive measures to restore competition to the online search market after a federal judge ruled Google maintained an illegal monopoly for the last decade.

    The sweeping set of recommendations filed late Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice could radically alter Google's business, including possibly spinning off the Chrome web browser and syndicating its search data to competitors. Even if the courts adopt the blueprint, Google isn't likely to make any significant changes until 2026 at the earliest, because of the legal system's slow-moving wheels.

    Here's what it all means:

    What is the Justice Department's goal?
    Federal prosecutors are cracking down on Google in a case originally filed during near the end of then-President Donald Trump's first term. Officials say the main goal of these proposals is to get Google to stop leveraging its dominant search engine to illegally squelch competition and stifle innovation.

    "The playing field is not level because of Google's conduct, and Google's quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired," the Justice Department asserted in its recommendations. "The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages."

    Not surprisingly, Google sees things much differently. The Justice Department's "wildly overbroad proposal goes miles beyond the Court's decision," Kent Walker, Google's chief legal officer, asserted in a blog post. "It would break a range of Google products — even beyond search — that people love and find helpful in their everyday lives."

    It's still possible that the Justice Department could ease off on its attempts to break up Google, especially if President-elect Donald Trump... Read More

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