AI Weekly Malaysia

Meta has begun testing a Facebook experience in India that drops some users straight into a full-screen, Reels-first video view on app open, with the classic feed demoted to a second tab; test users can opt out and return to Feed-first. Facebook head Tom Alison first outlined the test in July, saying Meta would trial it in 'video-heavy countries' outside the U.S. before exploring a U.S. rollout next year. Meta cites internal figures that young adults spend about 60% of their Facebook time on video, that 97% of surveyed users watch video on its platforms daily, and that 89% of Gen Z respondents use Reels daily; India is Facebook's largest market by users.

Why: If you use Facebook feed posts or links to drive installs, signups, or content distribution to Indian or Southeast Asian users, the default surface for a slice of those users is now full-screen video, not the feed — so feed-link campaigns may see weaker default placement for opted-in users, and vertical video becomes the primary impression format. Nothing here changes APIs, ad products, or monetization rules, so there is no engineering work to do today; the decision is whether to shift creative and posting format toward short vertical video for regional reach. The test is India-only for now, with a U.S. attempt targeted for next year, so a similar change reaching Malaysian users is a possibility, not a stated plan.

Elon Musk posted on X on Wednesday (US time) accusing unnamed Indian 'oligarchs' of blocking Starlink's launch in India to protect their 'monopolistic chokehold', calling it 'a crime against the people of India'. The article notes India's telecom/internet market is dominated by Mukesh Ambani's Jio and Sunil Mittal's Airtel, which together hold over 80% share, and that SpaceX signed memorandums of understanding with both companies last year. Musk added that Starlink would enable high-speed, affordable internet 'for those who cannot afford current prices'.

Why: This is a public-accusation story, not a product or regulatory decision: no Indian regulator, licence term, pricing, or launch date is cited, so there is nothing here that changes a build or deployment plan. The only concrete numbers are the 80%-plus combined Jio/Airtel market share and the prior SpaceX MoUs with both — useful only as a reminder that in concentrated telco markets, connectivity-dependent products (satellite backhaul, rural SaaS, IoT) can be gated by incumbents rather than by technology. The text contains no Malaysia-specific detail, so treat any local read-across as your own inference, not something this article supports.