Category: Facebook
Facebook uploaded 1.5 million users’ email contacts without their consent
Facebook harvested the email contacts of more than 1.5 million new users who joined the site since 2016, without their consent. The social network has said it “unintentionally uploaded” the email contacts after asking some users to email passwords when signing up to the site as a way of verifying their identity – a practice…
Facebook may switch off ‘Like’ function for British children under safety plans
Facebook and other social media companies may have to turn off the “like” function for British children under proposed guidelines to ensure their safety online. Techniques that “nudge” users to follow the tech firms’ desired outcome should not be used to keep under 18s online longer, according to the planned code touted as the first…
Facebook reveals more changes to News Feed in attempt to tackle bad content
Facebook has introduced a quality measurement tool to track content posted to its News Feed in its latest attempt to cut down on removing bad content from its platform. A tool which gives more information about publishers and why their content is appearing on a user’s News Feed is also being extended to images, the…
Facebook to use AI to help honour deceased loved ones
Facebook is to use artificial intelligence (AI) to prevent the profiles of deceased friends and family being promoted on the site in painful ways, such as in reminders about their birthday. The social network has confirmed it will also introduce a new Tributes section for memorialised accounts, which will enable friends and family to share…
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg meets with senior politicians in Dublin
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is discussing the regulation of social media with senior politicians in Dublin. He arrived at the Merrion Hotel in the city on Tuesday afternoon where he is meeting Hildegarde Naughton, James Lawless and Eamon Ryan, three members of the International Grand Committee on Disinformation and Fake News. He also visited the technology giant’s offices in…
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg looks to fund high-quality news journalism
Facebook wants to create a new section dedicated to high-quality and trusted news that could offer new ways to support funding for journalism, the social network’s boss Mark Zuckerberg has revealed. The tech giant is at the early stages of exploring a news surface idea, similar to its existing Watch platform devoted entirely to videos.…
Facebook to explain how mysterious news feed algorithms work
Facebook is to begin explaining to users why they are seeing certain posts on their news feed in an attempt to make the platform easier to understand. The social network has announced it is to start offering users a “why am I seeing this post?” tab, which they can click on to see how Facebook’s…
Facebook finds millions of user passwords stored in plain text
Facebook is alerting hundreds of millions of users that it stored their passwords in a plain text, putting the security of many accounts at risk. Passwords are usually masked in an unreadable format but the social network has admitted hundreds of millions of Facebook Lite users, tens of millions of other Facebook users and tens…
‘No Facebook users reported Christchurch massacre during livestreaming’
No-one reported the video of the Christchurch terror attack while it was being streamed live, Facebook claims. It was 29 minutes after the video had started – and 12 minutes after it had ended – before the first user flagged up the footage, the social media giant said. The company earlier revealed that it had…
Facebook launches new AI detection tool to help revenge porn victims
Facebook is launching new detection technology that uses AI (artificial intelligence) to detect nude images, in a bid to better protect victims of revenge porn. The social network is using machine learning to identify near nude images or videos that have been shared on both Facebook and Instagram, which will then be sent to a…