Facebook Bans Sales of Amazon Conservation Areas on its Apps

An aerial view shows a river and a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil August 14, 2020. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
An aerial view shows a river and a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil August 14, 2020. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
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Facebook Bans Sales of Amazon Conservation Areas on its Apps

An aerial view shows a river and a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil August 14, 2020. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
An aerial view shows a river and a deforested plot of the Amazon near Porto Velho, Rondonia State, Brazil August 14, 2020. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

Facebook on Friday said it will stop allowing the sale of land in Amazon rainforest conservation areas at marketplaces on the social network or its Instagram and WhatsApp services.

The announcement came as Facebook defends itself against accusations that it has long put profit over societal good, and caused some online to question why it had allowed sales of precious rainforest land in the first place.

"We are updating our commerce policies to explicitly prohibit the buying or selling of land of any type in ecological conservation areas on our commerce products across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp," the online social network said in a post.

"Protected areas are crucial for conserving habitats and ecosystems and are critical to tackling the global nature crisis."

Facebook focused the announcement on the Amazon rainforest, saying it planned to ramp up the effort.

Facebook said it will review listings at its online Marketplace against an authoritative database of protected areas to identify and block listings for sales of land there.

"Wait, this is something that was happening?" read a tweeted reply to Facebook sharing the announcement at its verified Twitter account.

The sale of land in conservation areas happens on other platforms and offline, but Facebook is working to stop it from happening in its family of apps, the company said.



Microsoft, Turning 50, Dials up Copilot Actions to Stay in AI Game

The Microsoft logo during the Hanover Fair 2025 (Hannover Messe) in Hanover, Germany, 31 March 2025 (reissued 03 April 2025). (EPA)
The Microsoft logo during the Hanover Fair 2025 (Hannover Messe) in Hanover, Germany, 31 March 2025 (reissued 03 April 2025). (EPA)
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Microsoft, Turning 50, Dials up Copilot Actions to Stay in AI Game

The Microsoft logo during the Hanover Fair 2025 (Hannover Messe) in Hanover, Germany, 31 March 2025 (reissued 03 April 2025). (EPA)
The Microsoft logo during the Hanover Fair 2025 (Hannover Messe) in Hanover, Germany, 31 March 2025 (reissued 03 April 2025). (EPA)

Thousands of people swooned in a dark conference hall that felt more like a rock concert when a Microsoft product manager demonstrated the company's latest feature: how to sum numbers in Excel, with the click of a button.

"It was literally like Mick Jagger walked out," said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft's consumer chief marketing officer, who started as an intern.

That was more than 30 years ago. On Friday, the day Microsoft turned 50, the company's leaders and staff gathered at its Redmond headquarters to remember the software maker's glory days while trumpeting what they hope will bring it into the future: more powerful artificial intelligence.

Copilot, Microsoft's AI assistant, is gaining a host of new features to make it more proactive. The version for consumers will start remembering personal facts about them. It will offer birthday reminders or support ahead of a presentation, or consumers can opt out, Mehdi said in an interview.

Copilot likewise will personalize podcasts and shopping recommendations, and it will let consumers task their AI to book events for them, or send a friend a gift while checking in for guidance. "It frees you up," said Mehdi.

Microsoft is hardly first to roll out action-taking or "agentic" software. As with rival systems, the AI will work best on popular sites where Microsoft has done some behind-the-scenes technical work, like with 1-800-Flowers.com and OpenTable, Mehdi said.

Mehdi recalled days when Microsoft was smaller and growing. He said CEO Bill Gates could devour three books' worth of information from one day to the next, at a time when the co-founder still worked on Microsoft software. Mehdi watched Steve Ballmer, Gates' eventual successor, chant "developers, developers, developers!" in a sweat-drenched shirt to rouse a crowd into the ".net" era.

Microsoft went from top of the pack to badly bruised in a high-profile lawsuit that US antitrust enforcers brought against it in 1998. Years later, younger companies and startups, among them Alphabet and ChatGPT creator OpenAI, beat it to the punch on key AI developments.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft's current CEO, is not standing still. The leader who turned Microsoft into the No. 2 cloud powerhouse challenged his executives at an internal summit this week, recalled Mehdi: "How do we rethink the way that we build the software?"

Microsoft is iterating on its chatbot technology in a crowded field that includes Elon Musk's xAI and Anthropic. It has added Copilot to its heavily used productivity suites for business while giving consumers a distinctive version.

"It's warm; it has that personality," said Mehdi. Some users have taken to this, while others find it asks too many questions, he said.

"When we get to now be more personalized, we can start to get smarter," Mehdi said. "We're part way through that journey."