State-sponsored disinformation campaign ‘significantly bigger’ than first reported
A state-sponsored disinformation campaign identified on Facebook and Twitter is significantly bigger than it first appeared, says a new report …
Google and other tech giants discussing countermeasures to election disinformation
Google is one of more than a dozen tech giants meeting today to discuss countermeasures for state-sponsored disinformation campaigns on their platforms during the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections …
2018 elections cannot be saved from foreign interference, says former Facebook security head
Facebook’s former security head, Alex Stamos, has said that it is now too late for America to prevent foreign interference in this year’s midterm elections. Stamos left Facebook earlier this month, reportedly unhappy with the limited transparency of the company in disclosing Russian abuse of the platform …
Facebook announces tools to help limit your use of the main app and Instagram
Facebook shares fall 25% as company reveals impact of privacy issues
Facebook saw as much as $150B wiped from its value as after-market trading saw the share price fall by 25%. This followed the company warning that its profit margin is likely to fall from its current 44% to the mids-30s for more than two years …
Google, Microsoft, Facebook, & Twitter’s Data Transfer Project simplifies switching services
With “Download Your Data,” Google allows users to get a copy of their data if they ever want to switch to a different service. Google, along with Twitter, Facebook, and Microsoft, is now taking this a step further by directly transferring data between different products to make switching seamless.
Report: Facebook considering G Suite switch over employee frustration w/ Microsoft services
Google Cloud is making headway in the enterprise market on a variety of fronts from AI-powered developer services to Chromebooks. The company is also trying to increase paid G Suite adoption with Facebook apparently contemplating a switch to Drive, Docs, and other Google productivity services.
Google loses head of Pixel Visual Core, Titan, and other chip development to Facebook
As Google doubles downs on consumer hardware with the Pixel and Home, in-house chip development becomes increasingly important in order to own the entire stack and create an optimized experience. Those efforts might’ve taken a blow recently as Facebook poached an important Googler working on chips.
Facebook to shutter three of its mobile applications, including ‘Moves’ fitness tracking
In a blog post this afternoon, Facebook announced that it is shutting down three of its ancillary applications: Hello, Moves, and Tbh. The latter two were acquired by Facebook, while Hello was a first-party, Android-only app during its lifespan.
Facebook testing new feature to help you track the time you spend in its app
Amid a growing push towards improved digital health, Facebook is seemingly testing a new tool that would show users how long they spend on the platform per day. As reported by TechCrunch, the “Your Time on Facebook” feature was discovered in an unreleased version of the Facebook mobile app, with the company confirming the feature’s development…
Accessing some Facebook groups could soon cost you money
Access to Facebook groups has always been free, but that could be about to change. The company is currently trialling subscription access to some groups …
Facebook to begin rolling out autoplay video ads to Messenger users
Facebook is rolling out a controversial change to its popular Messenger application. As reported by Quartz, Facebook is beginning to test autoplaying video ads in Messenger, a move that isn’t likely to be well-received by users…
Snap CEO continues to defend Snapchat redesign as he takes potshots at Facebook
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has continued to defend the unpopular redesign of the Snapchat app, despite the billion dollars it wiped off the company’s market value.
He has also taken the opportunity of speaking at Re/code’s Code conference to take a couple of digs at Facebook …
Many Facebook questions still unanswered, as non-EU users asked to review settings
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was widely criticized yesterday for failing to answer many of the questions put to him by the European Parliament.
He promised written answers to these, and some have been provided, but more than half of the unanswered questions remain so …
Facebook streamlines two-factor setup, adds support for home services to Marketplace
Facebook has today announced a pair of new features for its platform. The company is rolling out support for finding home service professionals via its Marketplace platform and is also making two-factor authentication easier to set up.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg failed to answer 40+ questions in yesterday’s hearing
With the European Parliament having passed some extremely tough privacy legislation, and many members being well-versed in the issues as they relate to tech companies, there were high hopes for yesterday’s grilling of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Tough and pertinent questions were indeed asked, far more so than in Congress – but Zuckerberg failed to answer more than 40 of them …
How to watch today’s livestream of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s European grilling
If you enjoyed watching Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg squirming while being asked difficult questions and trying to keep a straight face while being asked stupid ones during his testimony to Congress, you might want to tune in to the sequel today …
Call for Facebook to be broken up as EU says it will livestream Zuckerberg’s testimony
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony to Congress was the video stream that launched a thousand memes – and now meme creators will get another opportunity. The European Parliament has announced that its meeting with Zuckerberg tomorrow will also be livestreamed …
Facebook suspends 200 apps in data misuse investigation, says they may not be guilty
Facebook has suspended around 200 apps as part of the internal investigation prompted by data misuse by Cambridge Analytica …
Twitter working on encrypted DMs; Facebook on Bitmoji-style avatars
Twitter appears to be working on supporting encrypted direct messages, with a feature currently labelled Secret Conversations. A computer science student spotted code which supports the use of end-to-end encryption …
Cambridge Analytica filing for bankruptcy after Facebook scandal, but may re-emerge
Facebook may have taken a huge PR hit from allowing personal data to be misused by Cambridge Analytica, but the impact on the political consultancy itself appears to have been more significant. The firm says that it has ceased most operations, and is filing for bankruptcy …
WhatsApp cofounder to leave Facebook amid growing differences over data sharing
WhatsApp cofounder Jan Koum announced today that he will be leaving the company. While Koum himself doesn’t elaborate on reasoning for the departure, a report from The Washington Post indicates that the decision comes amid growing discord with WhatsApp parent company, Facebook…
Twitter sold data to Cambridge Analytica; data sales account for 13% of revenue
Facebook came under massive fire for first allowing Cambridge Analytica to hoover up user data from the platform, and second keeping quiet when it found out about it. But it turns out that Twitter has directly sold data to the company …
Facebook apps to be banned from posting to your profile, in two stages
Facebook continues to tighten security after the Cambridge Analytica saga. After recently explaining how it will comply with new privacy laws, it is now taking steps to stop apps posting to your profile …