“The only constant is change,” Greek philosopher Heraclitus has famously said. We can’t prove it, but we’re pretty sure he was talking about Facebook updates. Sometimes its changes delight (see: the introduction of Messenger). Sometimes they cause mass outrage (see: literally any time the interface is redesigned). But one thing’sContinue Reading
Over the past two years, social media networks have made no secret of their efforts to fight the spread of spam on their sites. It largely began when it was revealed that foreign actors had weaponized Facebook to spread misinformation and divisive content in hopes of influencing the 2016 U.S.Continue Reading
Facebook announced on Friday that it would remove Trending: the section of its site, typically appearing to the right of the News Feed, that displays a list of the most popular news topics at a given moment. “We’re removing Trending soon to make way for future news experiences on Facebook,”Continue Reading
Facebook announced today that it will be sending all users a News Feed alert asking them to review their data and privacy options. The alert, says Facebook, is “similar” to the one received by users in the European Union (EU), as required by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which comes into forceContinue Reading
Facebook today unveiled the publicly searchable archive of political ads it said it would develop in April. The launch comes alongside new labeling requirements for all election- and issue-based ads, which includes a disclosure of who paid for them. The History of These Changes These latest developments come after monthsContinue Reading
When Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before Congress last month, one of the biggest criticisms to follow it was the lack of preparedness among the lawmakers asking questions. So when European Parliament president Antonio Tajani confirmed that Zuckerberg would be appearing before its Conference of Presidents, many took it asContinue Reading
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is due to testify before members of European Parliament (MEPs) tomorrow, in an appearance that was confirmed by President Antonio Tajani on Twitter last week. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO and founder, has accepted our invitation. He will come to the European Parliament. My full statement ⤵️Continue Reading
Update on Wednesday, May 16 at 2:07 PM EST: Bloomberg reports that Zuckerberg’s initial appearance before EU lawmakers will take place behind closed doors. European Parliament will schedule a separate hearing with representatives from Facebook that may not necessarily include Zuckerberg himself. European Parliament President Antonio Tajani released a statement today confirmingContinue Reading
Facebook released a statement today indicating that 200 apps have been suspended from its platform for possible data misuse. The update, penned by Facebook VP of Product Partnerships Ime Archibong, comes as a follow-up to a full audit and investigation of all apps with access to significant amounts of personal userContinue Reading
At 1:00 AM EST, Facebook released a statement that it has launched its Youth Portal: a guide to help teens navigate the network. According to the statement, penned by Facebook Global Head of Safety Antigone Davis and Global Policy Programs Manager Karuna Nain, the Youth Portal serves a few primary purposes. OneContinue Reading
Today, Facebook released its first ever Community Standards Enforcement Report to the public. This report includes a preliminary inventory of rule-violating content and the removal action Facebook took on it. The report, which was included in the company’s overall Transparency Report, largely covers the content in violation of Facebook’s CommunityContinue Reading
The U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) Minority yesterday released roughly 3,400 ads that ran on Facebook and Instagram leading up to the 2016 U.S. presidential elections. The ads, which were purchased by the Russian-based Internet Research Agency (IRA), ran between Q2 2015 and Q3 2017, meaning that someContinue Reading
For the past several months, Facebook has been on a seemingly endless campaign to associate its name with greater transparency: of its terms, its privacy policies, and how it approaches and ranks the content shared on its site. Today, Axios reports that the latest suite of changes is coming: this time,Continue Reading
When Bloomberg reported that Facebook was conducting market research to gauge interest in an ad-free, paid subscription model, we decided to do a bit of our own research. Facebook — to most consumers, at least — has long served as a free product. Advertisers, content creators, and publishers have enlisted theContinue Reading
