Social Media

Twitter Says Account Removal Requests Jump From India

Between July and December 2017, the Indian government made 315 Twitter account information requests, up from 261 made during the January-June period, and asked the micro-blogging website to remove 144 accounts, up from 102 from the previous period. According to Twitter’s 12th bi-annual Transparency Report that was released late Thursday, the company withheld content in three percent of the account removal requests from the ... Read More »

Facebook ‘Didn’t Do a Good Enough Job’ Protecting Data, Says COO Sheryl Sandberg

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said the social media company failed to protect users’ information during an interview with PBS NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff on Thursday (April 5). “We know that we did not do a good enough job protecting people’s data. I’m really sorry for that,” Sandberg said. The company’s shares have sunk 16 percent, wiping more than $80 billion from its market value ... Read More »

Facebook Asked to Explain Curb on Russia Media Accounts: RIA

Russia’s communications watchdog said on Friday it had asked Facebook to explain why access had been restricted to the Facebook accounts of some Russian media organisations, RIA news agency said. Roskomnadzor said it considered the restrictions to be a continuation of Facebook’s “unfriendly policy towards Russian users,” RIA said. The report did not specify which accounts had been affected, but Roskomnadzor said ... Read More »

Facebook Being Pressed by EU on Sharing of Its Users’ Data

The European Commission pressed Facebook on Monday over whether EU citizens’ data were among those improperly harvested by a British political consultancy, after the US regulator said it was investigating the firm’s privacy practices. That piled yet more pressure on a firm that has lost more than $100 billion (roughly Rs. 6.5 lakh crores) in market value in the last 10 days. Facebook shares fell ... Read More »

Facebook, Alphabet, Twitter CEOs Invited to Testify at US Senate Hearing

A panel of Senate lawmakers aims to grill the top executives of Facebook, Google, and Twitter next month, the latest indication that the controversysurrounding Facebook’s data privacy practices now threatens to envelop the whole of Silicon Valley. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s chairman, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa, on Monday scheduled an April 10 hearing on the “future of data privacy and social media” – and the ... Read More »

Germany Vows ‘Stricter’ Facebook Oversight After Data Leak

Germany’s justice minister on Monday said Facebookshould face “stricter” oversight and be more transparent with its users, as the tech giant struggles to contain the fallout from a huge data privacy scandal. Speaking after a meeting with European Facebook executives in Berlin, Justice Minister Katarina Barley said the firm’s assurances that it had already cracked down on the misuse of personal data ... Read More »

Twitter Suspends Several Accounts Known for ‘Tweetdecking’: Report

HIGHLIGHTS Several accounts were popular with hundreds of thousands of followers They were suspended for stealing tweets or mass-retweeting tweets Tweetdecking is an explicit violation of Twitter’s spam policy Continuing its tirade against the “tweetdeckers”, Twitter has suspended several popular accounts known for stealing tweets or mass-retweeting tweets into manufactured virality. According to Buzzfeed, accounts, including @Dory, @GirlPosts, @SoDamnTrue, Girl Code/@reiatabie, Common ... Read More »

Facebook to Show 25 Major League Baseball Games This Season

HIGHLIGHTS Facebook is getting deeper into the professional sports streaming game Games will be available to users in the US on Facebook Watch Recorded broadcasts will also be available globally Facebook is getting deeper into the professional sports streaming game, partnering with Major League Baseball to air 25 weekday afternoon games in an exclusive deal. The games will be available to ... Read More »

New German Minister to Challenge Google, Facebook’s Presentation of News

Germany’s incoming minister with responsibility for digital policy says she will push social media giants to make users’ information feeds more diverse and timely to avoid creating “echo chambers” for the like-minded. Companies such as Facebook have come under pressure from regulators around the world as evidence has emerged of how the recirculation of a particular selection of news and views on ... Read More »

Facebook Opens Its Community Help to Organisations, Businesses

Facebook has started opening up its Community Help feature — part of the Safety Check system — to businesses and other organisations so that that they can provide critical information and services for people to get the help they need in a crisis. The Community Help feature was added to Facebook’s Safety Check system a year ago to let people find ... Read More »