Trump Sides With Meta in Growing Clash Over Canada’s Digital Tax Policy

In response to increasing concerns over fraudulent financial promotions online, Meta is introducing stricter verification requirements for advertisers running securities and investment ads in India. The move comes as part of broader compliance efforts with new guidelines issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).Back in March, SEBI raised the alarm over a “rapid increase in frauds related to securities markets” proliferating across social media and digital platforms — including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, Telegram, and others. These scams typically masquerade as investment education, offering trading courses, seminars, or guaranteeing “risk-free” returns, often with deceptive testimonials.To counter this surge, SEBI mandated that all advertisers in the financial sector must register on every digital platform they use for advertising. This registration must be tied to verified email addresses and mobile numbers listed in SEBI’s own SI Portal — a measure designed to increase accountability and curb digital exploitation.Now Meta is building that requirement into its ad infrastructure.In a statement, the company announced:“Meta is updating its requirements for advertisers targeting users in India with securities and investment ads. All advertisers running such ads in India, including global campaigns, will need to verify the person or organization benefiting from and paying for the ad by providing their SEBI registration details.”This requirement, Meta explains, will begin rolling out globally from June 26, 2025. Full implementation across all eligible advertisers is expected by July 28, 2025. Enforcement of compliance, however, will begin “as early as July 31st, 2025,” depending on when individual advertisers are prompted to complete the verification process.Advertisers will be notified through Meta’s interface, with in-platform banners alerting them to upcoming verification obligations, such as “Verification required for securities and investment ads in India.”Though it may seem a niche update, this shift carries significant weight for financial service providers — both domestic and international — seeking to engage Indian audiences. It’s also indicative of a larger trend: regulatory bodies stepping up digital governance to match the speed and sophistication of online deception.As Meta adapts to regulatory pressure worldwide, these changes underscore the growing need for platforms to serve not only as vehicles for promotion but as enforcers of trust and transparency.For advertisers, the message is clear: ensure compliance, or risk being cut off from one of the world’s largest and most dynamic digital markets.📢 If you're interested in Facebook Ads Account, don't hesitate to connect with us!🔹 https://linktr.ee/Adshinepro💬 We're always ready to assist you!

As Meta continues to funnel AI tools and features into its suite of apps, it’s clear that the company isn’t even close to slowing down its push into artificial intelligence. In fact, Meta plans to invest a staggering $65 billion into AI projects this year alone, aiming to secure its position at the forefront of the ongoing AI arms race.And according to recent reports, Meta’s next frontier may be conversational AI, with a custom voice component designed to create more relatable interactions.Bloomberg reports that Meta is in advanced negotiations to acquire PlayAI, a small California-based startup specializing in replicating voices using artificial intelligence. While the deal has yet to be finalized, sources indicate that Meta would acquire both PlayAI’s technology and some of its staff as part of the agreement.If completed, the acquisition would fit perfectly into Meta’s broader strategy of snapping up AI talent wherever it can find it. In recent weeks, Meta has embarked on an aggressive AI hiring spree, reportedly offering enormous compensation packages to lure top industry researchers and engineers. Among those brought onboard is Scale CEO Alexandr Wang, who now leads Meta’s new "superintelligence" initiative, along with several former OpenAI researchers.The goal of this "superintelligence" project is ambitious: to develop AI systems capable of reasoning beyond human cognitive capacity, theoretically creating models that not only replicate human-like thinking but surpass it.Whether that vision is even technically achievable remains a matter of debate. But what’s clear is that Meta intends to push the boundaries of logic-based systems and see just how far current AI frameworks can be extended.The push into conversational AI seems like a logical piece of that puzzle. Meta has already spent years developing its AI bot platform, which allows creators to build AI-based avatars of themselves that fans can interact with at any time. Adding advanced conversational voice tools would likely make those interactions feel more authentic and personalized, which aligns with Meta’s broader goal of weaving AI into every layer of its user experience.Ultimately, Meta’s bet on AI isn’t merely about keeping up with the competition. With tens of billions invested and some of the sharpest minds in the field under its roof, Meta is signaling its intent to lead the AI race—and perhaps redefine what intelligent systems are capable of in the years to come.Those bots were hyped as the next evolution of engagement on Messenger, offering a way for fans to interact with virtual representations of their favorite celebrities. But the response was tepid at best. Users quickly found that while the novelty of chatting with a pseudo-celebrity was intriguing, the interactions themselves often felt hollow or contrived. Engagement tailed off within months, highlighting the challenge Meta faces in making conversational AI truly sticky with its audience.But the technology is improving. With advances in generative AI, and Meta’s increasing investment into making its systems feel more human, the company clearly sees potential in this area. Adding custom voices, especially those that mirror the unique cadence and warmth of real human speech, could be one way to overcome that hurdle and keep people coming back for more.The bigger picture is Meta’s race to build the most powerful, intuitive AI platform in the world. It’s throwing billions at the problem, recruiting top talent, acquiring smaller players, and experimenting across its entire suite of products. Whether it’s wearables, messaging apps, or the looming promise of the metaverse, Meta wants AI to be the connective tissue that ties its ecosystem together and makes it indispensable to billions of users.Of course, the ethical and societal questions remain. As Meta barrels forward, critics warn about the risks of deepening dependency on AI-driven experiences, and the potential erosion of authentic human connection. For now, though, Mark Zuckerberg seems undeterred. He’s betting big that a future built on AI-driven conversations, personalized assistants, and synthetic voices will be the next great leap — for Meta, and perhaps for society at large.Despite Meta’s bold push into celebrity-inspired AI bots last year, the project landed with a thud. Users simply didn’t care, and engagement with the feature was so low that Meta quietly shuttered the experiment in under a year. That experience underlined a simple truth: AI clones of famous figures aren’t necessarily the draw Meta hopes they might be.Still, that hasn’t deterred the company. Last summer, reports surfaced indicating Meta was dangling multimillion-dollar deals to top-tier celebrities, attempting to lure them into lending their voices to AI ventures. And now, Meta appears to be doubling down on the idea, moving to acquire a startup specializing in voice replication technology.The end goal? Perhaps a more personable, approachable stable of AI bots that people can interact with on-demand, via Meta’s glasses or other wearable devices. Such bots could theoretically deepen engagement and expand Meta’s ecosystem in ways that transcend screens.Or, alternatively, this latest move might simply be another maneuver in Meta’s broader race toward AI supremacy. The company has already poured billions into its so-called "superintelligence" project, recruiting top minds and snapping up promising startups to build the foundation for its next generation of AI tools.Regardless of the immediate payoff, one thing is clear: Meta’s AI push is far from over. And as the company races to dominate the next frontier of artificial intelligence, expect even more ambitious experiments — from voice clones to sophisticated conversational companions — to surface in the months ahead.📢 If you're interested in Facebook Ads Account, don't hesitate to connect with us!🔹 https://linktr.ee/Adshinepro💬 We're always ready to assist you!

It appears Mark Zuckerberg may finally be reaping some return on his strategic alliance with U.S. President Donald Trump — though perhaps not in the way Meta might have envisioned.President Trump has announced the suspension of all trade discussions with Canada, in retaliation for what he describes as unfair taxes imposed by the Canadian government on U.S. tech giants, particularly Meta.At the heart of this latest standoff is Canada’s "Online News Act," introduced in 2023. The legislation was designed to force major digital platforms, like Meta and Google, to compensate local publishers for news content shared on their services. Both companies argued the measures were out of step with today’s news ecosystem and refused to comply. In response, Meta pulled all Canadian news outlets from its platforms — a ban that remains in effect.To recoup what it viewed as lost revenue opportunities for domestic publishers, Canada introduced an additional "Digital Services Tax" last year. The law imposes a 3% tax on local earnings exceeding $20 million for digital services operating in the region. The first payments under this tax are due next week.Trump, seizing on this as an affront to American interests, took to Truth Social to announce the U.S. would halt all trade negotiations with Canada, accusing the country of copying the European Union in targeting U.S. tech companies with what he called "egregious" taxes. He further warned Canada to expect retaliatory tariffs within a week.It remains to be seen how impactful Trump’s intervention will be. The Canadian government appears unlikely to reverse course, and Meta’s Canadian news ban effectively sidestepped the "Online News Act" costs. Yet the White House’s action, no matter how belated, is exactly the kind of muscular backing Meta has hoped to secure by aligning itself with Trump’s second administration.For Zuckerberg and Meta, the real battleground remains Europe. EU regulators have fined Meta an average of $1 billion annually over the past several years, largely under the bloc’s sweeping Digital Services Act. Zuckerberg has framed these fines as a de facto tariff targeting U.S. innovation and has repeatedly called for the U.S. government to step in.Earlier this year, senior U.S. officials, including FCC chairman Brendan Carr and Vice President JD Vance, criticized the EU’s regulatory regime, with Carr describing the DSA as fundamentally at odds with American free speech values. Trump himself has threatened tariffs on European imports but has yet to translate those threats into policy.In this light, Trump’s crackdown on Canada may be more symbolic than substantive — a convenient punching bag in an already tense trade relationship. But for Meta, it offers a glimpse of the political backing it hopes will soon turn toward Brussels, where the stakes, and the potential penalties, are far higher.Whether Trump will follow through on those threats against Europe remains to be seen. But as Meta continues to battle rising regulatory pressure overseas, any sign of U.S. resolve will likely be welcomed in Menlo Park — even if it means enduring the fallout from supporting one of the most polarizing political figures in modern history.📢 If you're interested in Facebook Ads Account, don't hesitate to connect with us!🔹 https://linktr.ee/Adshinepro💬 We're always ready to assist you!