Brussels, Belgium | AFP | Facebook unveiled Monday new tools to counter online political meddling in the European elections, part of a campaign to answer growing pressure to rein in disinformation. The US tech giant’s vice president, former British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, said in a speech the methods …
Read More »Facebook to invest $300 million in local journalism
New York, United States | AFP | Facebook announced Tuesday that it will invest $300 million over three years in various projects related to journalism, especially to promote local news, which has been hit hard in the digital age. The move comes with online platforms under pressure for dominating the internet advertising ecosystem, making it …
Read More »Trump campaign firm pleads guilty in Facebook data case
London, United Kingdom | AFP | A UK consultancy working on Donald Trump’s US election campaign pleaded guilty and was fined by a London court Wednesday over its refusal to release personal data it secretly hoovered off Facebook. The social media giant has admitted that Cambridge Analytica — a political …
Read More »Vietnam accuses Facebook of breaching new cyber law
Hanoi, Vietnam | AFP | Vietnam has accused Facebook of violating a new cybersecurity law by refusing to scrub anti-government content from its site, the first reprimand since the controversial bill came into effect days ago. The law, which went live January 1 and has drawn criticism from the US, …
Read More »Don’t fall in love on Facebook, jailed Indian warns
Mumbai, India | AFP | An Indian man released last week after being jailed for six years in Pakistan issued advice on Friday not to follow his example and fall in love on Facebook. Hamid Nehal Ansari illegally entered Pakistan from Afghanistan in 2012 to meet a woman he had …
Read More »Facebook: backlash threatens world’s biggest platform
Washington, United States | AFP | Facebook, the world’s largest social network, faces a growing backlash over privacy and data protection, with revelations this week about sharing data with business partners adding to pressure. Here is a summary of the main issues in the Facebook controversy: What are the latest …
Read More »Facebook defends data sharing after new report on partner deals
Washington, United States | AFP | Facebook defended its data sharing practices Wednesday after a report revealing that certain partners of the social network had access to a range of personal information about users and their friends. The New York Times late Tuesday reported that some 150 companies — including …
Read More »Indian journalist jailed after Modi Facebook post
New Delhi, India | AFP | An Indian journalist has been jailed for a year after he criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Facebook, in the latest example of what critics claim is a clampdown on free speech. Kishorechandra Wangkhem was arrested last month in the remote northeastern state of …
Read More »Facebook kicks Myanmar military-linked pages off platform
Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Facebook has removed hundreds of pages and accounts in Myanmar with hidden links to the military, the platform said Wednesday, as the company scrambles to respond to criticism over failures to control hate speech and misinformation. The social media giant — Myanmar’s most popular and …
Read More »New Facebook bug may have exposed unposted photos
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook apologized Friday for a “bug” that may have exposed unposted photos from as many as 6.8 million users over a 12-day period through third-party applications. In the latest in a string of incidents on data protection, the leading social network said using …
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