Facebook pulls ads on pages that contain sexual, violent content
(CNN) -- Starting Monday, Facebook will no longer allow ads on pages that contain sexual or violent content.The move, announced in a blog post, comes after pressure from advocacy groups.
Facebook bug exposes some user contact information
(CNN) -- A newly discovered Facebook bug may have inadvertently compromised the contact information of six million users, the company says.The bug, which has since been repaired, was part of the Download Your Information tool, which lets Facebook users export all the data from profiles, such as posts to their timeline and conversations with friends.
Facebook, Microsoft disclose info. on user data requests
(CNN) -- Technology giants Facebook and Microsoft disclosed that they received thousands of requests for user data from government agencies in the United States in the last half of 2012.
Google buys social mapping service Waze
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Google announced Tuesday that it has acquired Waze, a highly sought-after social mapping service.Rumors have persisted for months that Waze was going to be bought by a major tech company.
Google CEO, Facebook's Zuckerberg deny giving access to NSA program
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Two of the biggest names in the tech world responded publicly Friday, June 7th, to reports that the government has been given direct access to their companies' servers as part of a sweeping surveillance program.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Larry Page penned blog posts in response to reports from The Guardian and The Washington Post that a secret National Security Agency program known as PRISM allows the government to monitor emails, photos, search histories and other data from some of America's biggest Internet companies.According to the newspapers, a top-secret government document describing the program says it uses "collection directly from the servers" of Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple.Zuckerberg called the reports "outrageous," saying Facebook "is not and has never been part of any program to give the US or any other government direct access to our servers."Writing along with Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond in a blog post titled "What the ...?", Page said reports "that suggest that Google is providing open-ended access to our users' data are false, period."The other tech companies named in the reports have also denied having knowledge of PRISM or giving the government direct access to their servers.The reports come on the heels of a revelation earlier this week by the Guardian of a top-secret court order requiring Verizon to hand over "metadata" from phone conversations to the government on a daily basis.Zuckerberg said Facebook has "never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk, like the one Verizon reportedly received." Both he and the Google executives said their companies review every data request they get from the government to ensure legality.Analysts are puzzling over the apparent conflict between the newspaper reports and the tech companies' denials.
Under pressure, Facebook targets sexist hate speech
(CNN) -- Under mounting pressure from activists and advertisers, Facebook is ramping up efforts to stamp out hate speech, particularly depictions of violence against women.The move, announced Tuesday, came after a weeklong campaign by women's groups targeting pages that celebrated or made light of rape, domestic violence and sexual degradation of women."In recent days, it has become clear that our systems to identify and remove hate speech have failed to work as effectively as we would like, particularly around issues of gender-based hate," Marne Levine, a Facebook vice president in charge of public policy, wrote in a post on the site."In some cases, content is not being removed as quickly as we want.
Survey: Teens' enthusiasm for Facebook is waning
(CNN) -- There's fresh evidence that American teenagers may be growing weary of Facebook.They don't like the fact that their parents, grandparents and other adults are also there, diluting Facebook's "cool" factor.
Facebook sales jump 38%, with mobile boost
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Facebook's sales jumped 38% in the first quarter, boosted by the social network's growing mobile advertising business.Investors are heavily focused on mobile, which Facebook has said is the key to its future success.
Facebook Home makes mild changes to phone's lock screen
(CNN) -- Facebook is the fast food of the Internet: easy, quick, satisfying and requiring minimal effort.
Police say grandfather used Facebook to sell newborn grandson
FOX -- Police in India say a grandfather used Facebook to sell his newborn grandson!The baby, born earlier in April is now back with his mom.
Teens accused of posting pictures of sexual assault
(CNN) -- Three teenage California boys are facing charges of sexual battery in connection with the alleged rape of a girl who subsequently committed suicide, authorities said.The incident happened at an unsupervised house party in Saratoga, California, in September, but the three 16-year-olds were arrested Thursday, CNN affiliate KGO reported.The case is similar to one that played out in court this year in Steubenville, Ohio, where two star football players were convicted of rape for assaulting a girl who had too much to drink.
Get some early peeks at Facebook Home app for Android
(CNN) -- The new Facebook Home Android app isn't scheduled to launch until Friday, but the Internet is getting some early peeks.First there's the quirky new Facebook Home ad, which was released over the weekend (watch just below).The ad shows a man boarding an airplane while simultaneously flipping through the latest updates on his Facebook Home phone.
Facebook extends pay-to-message trial
LONDON (CNNMoney) -- Facebook is giving select users in nearly 40 countries around the world access to a trial service that will charge them a fee for sending direct, personal messages to people outside their network.That means that if you've been trying to get in touch with your favorite celebrity or a secret crush in the office who doesn't know your name, Facebook may be able to help you out.Facebook has been testing the pay-to-message concept for some time in the United States.The price for sending a direct Facebook message will vary based on a number of different factors, including the popularity of the person you're trying to contact and how many other messages are sent their way.The company said it was still deciding on pricing for the test service, but U.K. media reports say prices will range from the equivalent of about $1 to $15.
Five questions answered about Facebook Home
(CNN) -- Facebook has unveiled a new product, Facebook Home, at an event everyone knew would have something to do with phones and apps and operating systems."We're not building a phone and we're not building an operating system," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday. "But we're also building something that's a whole lot deeper than just another app."Um, OK.
The Facebook phone is here -- sort of
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The long-rumored "Facebook phone" is closer to becoming a reality, after the social network on Thursday unveiled Facebook Home, a custom homescreen for Android smartphones.Facebook Home integrates all of the social network's services into the operating system of Android phones.
What does the red equal sign mean on Facebook, Twitter?
(CNN) -- Scroll through your Facebook newsfeed today and there is a good chance you will be seeing red.A simple red equal sign, a variation of the Human Rights Campaign's traditionally blue and yellow logo, has dominated social media.
Picture of boy with hunting rifle on Facebook leads to home search
NEW JERSEY (WITI) -- A New Jersey man says his home was searched illegally by police after a photo of his 11-year-old son posing with a gun was posted on Facebook.Shawn Moore says he gave the gun to his son as a present to use on hunting trips.However, someone saw the picture and called the child abuse hotline.Moore says his wife told him that state child welfare investigators, along with four cops, stopped at the house and asked to inspect the family's guns."They wanted to go through the house, make sure guns were not available to kids and once they went through the house, they wanted to get into my safe and they wanted to run the serial numbers on all my firearms and make sure they were registered to me and catalog them.
Millions use social media to welcome Pope Francis
(CNN) -- As 150,000 people gathered in St.
New Netflix Facebook app lets users share viewing history
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Finally, your Facebook friends can see when you've spent a lazy Sunday binge-watching "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" on Netflix.The video streaming service on Tuesday launched its first Facebook app.
Facebook 'likes' can reveal your secrets, study finds
(CNN) -- Your Facebook "likes" might be revealing more than you know about your private life.It is possible to predict potentially private traits such as a person's sexual orientation, political leanings, religion, intelligence, emotional stability and even if they abuse drugs or alcohol, just by analyzing their Facebook likes, according to a new study out of the University of Cambridge.Liking something on Facebook is a simple, almost mindless way to pass time on the social networking site, which says it has more than a billion users worldwide.