San Francisco, United States | AFP | Leaked documents from a civil suit against Facebook show how the social network aimed to employ user data as a tool for bargaining and to manipulate competitors, NBC News reported on Wednesday. Some 7,000 pages of documents reveal how Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg and …
Read More »Twitter to ban political ads worldwide on its platform
Washington, United States | AFP | Twitter will stop accepting political advertising globally on its platform, the company said, responding to growing concerns over misinformation from politicians on social media. Chief executive Jack Dorsey tweeted that while internet advertising “is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings …
Read More »Facebook takes more heat for enabling political falsehoods
Washington, United States | AFP | Facebook came under fresh criticism Tuesday for its hands-off approach to political speech, as a group of employees and US lawmakers called on the social network to apply fact-checking for politicians spreading misinformation. A letter from Facebook employees urged the company to crack down on …
Read More »More companies back away from Facebook’s Libra coin
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook’s digital currency alliance lost more companies on Friday amid heavy criticism from regulators around the world on the planned Libra global cryptocurrency. Credit card giants Visa and Mastercard, online marketplace eBay and digital payments firm Stripe each announced they had changed their minds …
Read More »US, allies push Facebook for access to encrypted messages
San Francisco, United States | AFP | The United States, Britain and Australia have called on Facebook to give authorities the ability to circumvent encryption used in its messaging services — a measure opposed by the social media giant. Facebook has been dogged by several privacy scandals in recent years and …
Read More »Governments must regulate social networks: Facebook’s Clegg
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Governments, not companies, must regulate social networks, Facebook’s head of global affairs and former UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, said Monday. “It’s not for private companies, however big or small, to come up with those rules. It is for democratic politicians in the democratic …
Read More »Zuckerberg ‘optimistic’ on regulation after Macron meeting
Paris, France | AFP | Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg on Friday said he was “encouraged” and “optimistic” about the regulatory framework being suggested by France for the social media giant and other online platforms, after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. The meeting followed the drawing up of a report …
Read More »Break up Facebook, says company’s co-founder
New York, United States | AFP | One of the co-founders of Facebook called on Thursday for the social media behemoth to be broken up, warning that the company’s head, Mark Zuckerberg, had become far too powerful. “It’s time to break up Facebook,” said Chris Hughes, who along with Zuckerberg founded …
Read More »In revamp, Facebook bets on small-scale connections, and romance
San José, United States | AFP | Got a crush on another Facebook user? The social network will help you connect, as part of a revamp unveiled Tuesday that aims to foster real-world relationships and make the platform a more intimate place for small groups of friends. Changes coming to the …
Read More »Zuckerberg sees Facebook future in private, small-scale messaging
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook is moving away from being a “digital town square” to meet growing demands for secure, private messaging on a smaller scale, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Wednesday as he outlined a broad vision for transforming the world’s biggest social network. Zuckerberg’s announcement signals a strategic shift for …
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