Facebook to warn users who 'liked' coronavirus hoaxes
NEW YORK — Have you liked or commented on a Facebook post about the COVID-19 pandemic that turned out to be a hoax?The social media company said Thursday it is now going to let users know if they liked, reacted or commented on posts with harmful misinformation about the virus that moderators later removed.
Facebook launches COVID-19 survey to help researchers track how disease is spreading, abating
NEW YORK -- Facebook is inviting users to share their coronavirus symptoms and location to help researchers track how the disease is spreading or abating.A survey will appear on Facebook starting this week for some U.S. users and is run by health researchers at Carnegie Mellon University.
FOX News partners with Facebook to host 1st-of-its-kind virtual COVID-19 town hall event
LOS ANGELES -- In partnership with Facebook, FOX News Channel will present a virtual town hall on the global coronavirus pandemic on Thursday evening, April 2.
Facebook ‘bug’ sends some users notification that legitimate news content they shared is spam
MILWAUKEE — On Tuesday night, March 17, the Facebook VP of Integrity took to Twitter, where hundreds of media outlets were sharing frustrations that their legitimate news content was being flagged as spam by the social media platform.Guy Rosen, Facebook’s VP of Integrity, tweeted that the issue is a bug with their anti-spam system, and that the issue should be resolved soon and all posts would be restored.
Unique Illinois privacy law leads to $550M Facebook settlement
CHICAGO — Adam Pezen, Carlo Licata and Nimesh Patel are among millions of people who have been tagged in Facebook photos at some point in the past decade, sometimes at the suggestion of an automated tagging feature powered by facial recognition technology.It was their Illinois addresses, though, that put the trio's names atop a lawsuit that Facebook recently agreed to settle for $550 million, which could lead to payouts of a couple hundred dollars to several million Illinois users of the social networking site.The lawsuit — one of more than 400 filed against tech companies big and small in the past five years, by one law firm's count — alleges that Facebook broke Illinois' strict biometric privacy law that allows people to sue companies that fail to get consent before harvesting consumers' data, including through facial and fingerprint scanning.
Twitter, Pinterest crack down on voter misinformation
NEW YORK -- Twitter and Pinterest are taking new steps to root out voting misinformation designed to suppress participation in the November elections.Twitter unveiled a new tool Wednesday that will make it easier for users in the U.S. to report tweets containing misleading information about registering to vote or casting a ballot.
US, France reach tax deal averting broader trade war
DAVOS, Switzerland — France will delay its tax on the digital business of big tech firms like Google and Facebook in exchange for the United States' promise to hold off retaliatory sanctions - a deal that could avert a broader trade dispute.Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Wednesday he had agreed on the truce with U.S. Treasury chief Steven Mnuchin, at a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.Le Maire said France would delay collection of the digital tax until December - through the next U.S. election cycle, potentially easing pressure for President Donald Trump as he seeks reelection.But the French minister said his country would never scrap it entirely until an international accord can be reached.“Digital companies will pay their fair tax in 2020,” Le Maire told reporters in Davos.The U.S., in turn, will hold off imposing retaliatory tariffs that it had threatened to slap tariffs on French wine, cheese and other products.The move appears to dial down the risk of a wider trade war between the United States and the European Union, of which France is part.
Facebook again refuses to ban political ads, even false ones
SAN FRANCISCO — Despite escalating pressure ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Facebook reaffirmed its freewheeling policy on political ads Thursday, saying it won’t ban them, won’t fact-check them and won’t limit how they can be targeted to specific groups of people.Instead, Facebook said it will offer users slightly more control over how many political ads they see and make its online library of political ads easier to use.These steps appear unlikely to assuage critics — including politicians, activists, tech competitors and some of the company's own rank-and-file employees — who say that Facebook has too much power and that social media is warping democracy and undermining elections.And Facebook’s stance stands in contrast to what its rivals are doing.
Twitter, Facebook ban fake users; some had AI-created photos
NEW YORK — Twitter has identified and removed nearly 6,000 accounts that it said were part of a coordinated effort by Saudi government agencies and individuals to advance the country's geopolitical interests.Separately, Facebook said it removed hundreds of Facebook accounts, groups and pages linked to inauthentic behavior from two separate groups, one originating in the country of Georgia and one in Vietnam, which targeted people both in Vietnam and in the U.S.Facebook said some of the accounts used profile photos generated by artificial intelligence and masqueraded as Americans.
Facebook rebuffs US AG over access to encrypted messages
WASHINGTON -- Facebook is rebuffing efforts by U.S. Attorney General William Barr to give authorities a way to read encrypted messages.The heads of Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Messenger services told Barr and his U.K. and Australian counterparts that Facebook is moving forward with plans to enable end-to-end encryption on all of its messaging services.
Facebook tests tool to move photos to Google, other rivals
LONDON — Facebook started testing a tool on Monday that lets users move their images more easily to other online services, as it faces pressure from regulators to loosen its grip on data.The social network’s new tool will allow people to transfer their photos and videos directly to competing platforms, starting with Google Photos.The company said it will first be available to people in Ireland and will be refined based on user feedback.The tool will then be rolled out worldwide in the first half of 2020.U.S. and European regulators have been examining Facebook’s control of personal data such as images as they look into whether the tech giant’s dominance is stifling competition and limiting choice for consumers.
Facebook is deleting the name of the potential whistleblower
Facebook says it is deleting the name of the person who has been identified in conservative circles as the whistleblower who triggered a congressional impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump's actions.The company said Friday that mention of the potential whistleblower's name violates Facebook's "coordinating harm policy," which prohibits material that could out a "witness, informant, or activist."Facebook says it is removing mentions of the whistleblower's name and will revisit this decision if the name is widely published in the media or used by public figures in debate.U.S. whistleblower laws exist to protect the identity and careers of people who bring forward accusations of wrongdoing by government officials.
Facebook launches a news section - and will pay publishers
MENLO PARK, Calif. -- Over the course of its 15 year history, Facebook has variously ignored news organizations while eating their advertising revenue, courted them for video projects it subsequently abandoned, and then largely cut their stories out of its newsfeeds .Now it plans to pay them for news headlines — reportedly millions of dollars in some cases.Enter the "News Tab," a new section in the Facebook mobile app that will display headlines — and nothing else — from the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, BuzzFeed News, Business Insider, NBC, USA Today and the Los Angeles Times, among others.
Woman charged after gripe about ex on Facebook gets justice
TENNILLE, Ga. — A Georgia woman who was criminally charged after complaining about her ex-husband on Facebook said she feels like she's finally gotten justice.Anne King posted in 2015: "That moment when everyone in your house has the flu and you ask your kid's dad to get them (not me) more Motrin and Tylenol and he refuses."The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports she removed the post after a complaint from her ex-husband, Corey King.
Mark Zuckerberg defends Facebook's currency plans before Congress
WASHINGTON — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg endured hours of prickly questioning from lawmakers Wednesday as he defended the company's new globally ambitious project to create a digital currency while also dealing with widening scrutiny from U.S. regulators.House Financial Services Committee's immediate focus was Facebook's plans for the currency, to be called Libra.
Attorney General Josh Kaul joins multistate investigation into Facebook antitrust issues
MADISON — Wisconsin's Josh Kaul has joined a multistate coalition of attorneys general investigating Facebook over antitrust issues.The bipartisan group includes attorneys general from more than 30 states as well as from the District of Columbia and Guam.The probe was announced in September.
Facebook ramps up election security efforts ahead of 2020
NEW YORK -- With just over a year left until the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Facebook is stepping up its efforts to ensure it is not used as a tool to interfere in politics and democracies around the world.The efforts outlined Monday include a special security tool for elected officials and candidates that monitors their accounts for hacking attempts such as login attempts from unusual locations or unverified devices.
Despite defections, Facebook officially launches Libra
NEW YORK — Facebook officially moved forward with its plans Monday to create a new digital currency called Libra, despite several high-profile defections from the project and intense criticism from U.S. regulators and politicians.The Libra Association, the nonprofit that will govern the currency, officially signed on 21 charter members on Monday at the organization's inaugural meeting in Geneva.
US authorities seek access to Facebook encrypted messaging
NEW YORK — U.S. Attorney General William Barr and other U.S., U.K. and Australian officials are pressing Facebook to give authorities a way to read encrypted messages sent by ordinary users, re-igniting tensions between tech companies and law enforcement.Facebook’s WhatsApp already uses so-called end-to-end encryption, which locks up messages so that even Facebook can’t read their contents.
Facebook says it won't fact check politicians
SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook says it does not fact check politicians' statements, even if they might be false.