04/05/2017 World Business Report

Now it's time for World Business Report.

Like it or loathe it, it is bigger and more controversial than ever.

Facebook closes in on 2 billion users but can it see off the

controversy. Also France and youth unemployment. Also in the programme,

China's answer to Boeing prepares for its maiden flight.

because despite the ongoing controversy over everything

from fake news to extremist and violent content,

the social network just keeps getting bigger and more profitable.

Facebook has been warning for some time it can't keep growing at this

rate but the latest results show no sign of a slowdown yet.

Facebook made profits of just over $3 billion in the first three months

That's a jump of more than 76% on the same period last year

and more than investors were expecting.

Facebook is creeping ever closer to two billion users -

1.94 billion people are now actively using the social media platform

every month, up 17% on this time last year.

But in recent months there's been growing criticism over

how Facebook polices its content - failing to stop extremist or violent

material - or the spread of 'fake news' that some claim

It's planning to hire 3000 more people to monitor

The first impression when one hears that Facebook is hiring 3,000

employees to monitor posts and to try to find the fake news

that's out there amongst the Facebook posters is that it's

really about public relations and trying to improve

So for Facebook making an announcement and doing whatever

they can to prevent everything from post that are violent

being being posted on their sites, to trying to fight fake news,

all of that is very important to their shareholder base

and to the value that they're creating."

With me is Peter Veash, founding partner and MD of The BIO

Agency which helps companies with their digital marketing

Good morning and thank you for coming in. We heard one view on how

Facebook is doing and what needs to change. They have had phenomenal

results. Profits are up. Revenue is up and stop a very strong

performance, more than was predicted. There is a question as to

whether that continues into the future. There is not much further

they can push it, they admit that themselves. Every time they come out

with numbers, they say they cannot continue this momentum and Facebook

shares were down on concerns about future sales. What do they have to

do to try and keep up? They need to look to widen as their portfolio.

Virtual reality, artificial intelligence and conductivity is

something they are delving into. They had to drop prices and a

product which has not really sold. What they do next and how they

connect the platform together is the question. Valid concern about what

is on the social media site, the violent material, material of abused

children which they are not taking down quickly enough. They are

employing 3000 people to help with that. Human beings are needed to

make that happen? It feels a bit outside of the control today. It is

quite surprising given that they are a technology business. I think they

are playing catch up and they are on the foot and do not how to control

it. When it comes to the data they collect in, it is the huge and so

valuable, I assume, because it is getting data about what we like,

what we're of buying, where we are going, it is extremely value. Should

we be concerned about it? At the moment they are using it to make

sure we get the right content and advertising but to be frank about

it, 2 billion users, matching data, and they are getting artificial

intelligence, the world is their oyster. Watch this space, I think.

They know a lot more about us than we think. It is a scary thought.

Thank you for coming in and sharing your oils. Lots more analysis on our

website. -- your thoughts. As you have been hearing

Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen have been squaring off

in a TV debate ahead of France's Presidential

election this Sunday. Whoever wins will inherit a raft

of economic challenges. Unemployment at 9.6% is far higher

than in Germany or the UK. Youth unemployment is

a particular problem - nearly a quarter of 15-24

year olds are out of work, and in some areas the figure

is even greater. Must say it is one of France's

biggest cities. More than 150,000 people live here in what is a

relatively prosperous region but inequality and social division are

right. You get a good impression of the sheer scale of the problem by

coming here. Intel is like the one behind me, thousands of families

that lived, many in poverty and the youth unemployment rate is 45%. Many

of those young people stand little if any chance of getting a job.

Breaking the cycle of low expectation, poor quality patients

is difficult. In this area, a foundation is trying to help people

find work but there are many obstacles. They do not have

something inside and to drive them and want something else. To make

easy money, to pay for things. Also the social system around them is not

helping them. It is just assisting them, making them dependent. The

young people who want to help themselves, there are opportunities.

Further to the north, in Lyon, intensive classes are held in

computing. The courses here are free and they are offered to people who

left school without proper qualifications. The aim is to find

work in the technology. We have 95% success with our students who now

work in good jobs. It is a really Gate thing to have taken people who

are marginalised by society because of their lack of education and to

help them to become reductive members of society. The academy is

funded by private businesses. It is a lifeline for unqualified people

but it is a drop in the ocean for the next president, tackling youth

unemployment will have to be a priority.

To Asia now where China is poised to enter the airliner business.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China -

or COMAC - has announced that tomorrow will be the maiden flight

for this - the C919 - its first home-produced

Rico has been looking at this in Singapore

Nice to see you. People could soon be boarding this new plan? Keeping

our fingers crossed, hopefully by 2019 and that is that when most of

the airlines which avoided it will be having their aircraft. At this

point, China is indeed an ambitious and the world will be watching the

maiden flight of the C919. It is intended to compete with the Boeing

737 and the Airbus 320 family of planes in a single aisle market. If

all goes to plan, the C919 could be in service in about two years time.

The test flight has really been pushed back from 2016 so this is

maiden flight tomorrow is very critical. If successful, the

manufacturer could take a significant chunk of Chinese

business, forecasts of over $1 trillion over the next 20 years.

China will need 6000 100 aircraft over that period. -- 6,800.

In other news Europe's largest bank HSBC says first quarter profits fell

It made just under 5 billion dollars for the first three months

of the year - down from 6.1 billion this time last year -

but better than analysts were expecting.

HSBC says the fall was mostly down to accounting changes

and the fact last year's results included earnings from its Brazil

business that it sold in July last year.

I will see you in a moment when we reviewed the other stories in the

press.