Articles about Facebook

One of the problems with Facebook -- and the internet in general -- is that it has been incredibly democratizing in terms of who is able to publish news and other messages online. Democratization of anything is usually perceived as a good thing, but as the genuine problem of "fake news" (i.e. not the notion peddled by Trump that anything presenting an opposing idea is fundamentally untrue) demonstrates, it can also be a bad thing.

To help with this, Facebook is testing a feature that helps to add context to stories and links that appear in your newsfeed.

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It's no secret that Russia tried to influence the outcome of the US election last year using a variety of techniques including the use of advertising on Facebook. The social network recently said that it would share details of these ads with Congress, but would not be making them public.

But while the company is not making the ads themselves available for all to see, it has revealed some more details about them -- including the fact that they were seen by an estimated 10 million people in the US. Facebook also says that 44 percent of more than 3,000 Russian-placed ads were seen prior to the election.

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There has been something of a trend in recent months for "lite" versions of popular services to launch in developing markets. While the aim is to provide access for people with limited data plans, there is interest in data-saving apps from all parts of the world.

Having launched Facebook Messenger Lite last year to a limited number of markets, the social networking giant is now pushing its messaging app to the US, Canada, UK and Ireland. For now the app is only available for Android -- Facebook has not yet said whether an iOS version is in the works.

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Yesterday, Donald Trump used his favorite medium of Twitter to complain that -- as well as some media outlets -- Facebook was opposed to him. Mark Zuckerberg has now responded, speaking out to deny the claim.

He said: "Trump says Facebook is against him. Liberals say we helped Trump. Both sides are upset about ideas and content they don't like. That's what running a platform for all ideas looks like." The Facebook founder also backtracked on his earlier dismissal of the social network's influence on the election as "crazy."

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Facebook is currently under investigation for displaying advertisements placed by Russia to try to influence the 2016 presidential election against Hillary Clinton, but Donald Trump is convinced that the social network is against him.

In a tweet, the president set out a simple accusation: "Facebook was always anti-Trump." Dredging up his bugbear of "fake news" he also made the same claim of television networks and newspapers. More than this, he suggests that there may have been collusion between those he regards as being "anti-Trump."

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Facebook -- like many companies who exist solely online -- is highly reliant on ad revenue. As such, it goes to great lengths to outwit ad-blocking tools that seek to rob it of income by giving users a more enjoyable experience.

Adblock Plus is a well-known name in this field, having already had something of a back-and-forth with the social network as Facebook took steps to block adblockers. But now Adblock Plus has a new filter available to block ads on Facebook -- and improve privacy -- and it says it is more resilient than ever.

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That your online activities influence the ads you see on Facebook and other websites is well known. But now Facebook has developed tools that makes it possible to track your location in the real world to determine which stores you visit and then use this information to hit you with targeted ads.

The new tools work for users who allow the Facebook app to access their location. The social network and advertisers are making profitable use of this valuable information.

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As well as handing over Russian ads to Congress to allow for investigation into election interference, Facebook is also overhauling its rules for political ads. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, claims that: "We do not know how to place an advert on Facebook. We have never done this, and the Russian side has never been involved in it" -- but there is still a firm belief that Russia tried to influence the outcome of the election.

In a bid to prevent this from happening in the future, Facebook has announced a series of updates to its policies governing political advertising. Part of the changes are increases in transparency, making it possible for people to see what ads are being run by advertisers, and how they are being targeted.

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Facebook is to provide Congress with 3,000 advertisements taken out by Russians in the run-up to the 2016 US election. The social media giant says that it is "actively working" with the government in its investigation into Russian interference into the election.

Earlier in the month it was revealed that a group operating out of Russia had taken out $100,000 worth of advertising with a "focus on amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum." But while Facebook is willing to share the ads with Congress, they are not going to be made public.

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UK prime minister Theresa May has called on the likes of Microsoft, Google, Twitter and Facebook to act faster to remove terrorism-related and extremist content. At the moment, it takes an average of 36 hours to remove content shared by the likes of Isis, and May wants this slashed to just two hours.

But even this is not enough for the government. It wants technologies to be developed -- or refined -- that will identify this sort of content and prevent it from getting online in the first place. Facebook agrees -- its love of AI is well-known -- but the solution to online extremism is not as simple as saying "technology firms need to do more."

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You’ve probably noticed that Facebook’s facial recognition technology is extremely accurate. You can upload a photo of friends and before you can identify everyone, Facebook has already made accurate tag suggestions for you.

Facebook’s facial recognition technology is powered by a system called DeepFace, and uses machine learning, or, Artificial Intelligence, to increase its accuracy. Each time your face is tagged in a Facebook photo, the database collects even more identifying information about your face.

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Facebook is opening another AI research lab as it looks to expand its artificial intelligence capabilities.

The company's fourth dedicated AI lab is following the footsteps of Google and Microsoft by being located in Montreal, Canada.

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While you may be friends with someone on Facebook, it doesn't mean that they're not going to annoy you. Stoking the fires of annoyance is, after all, one of the (albeit probably unintentional) functions of social media.

If a friend upsets you, you might consider unfriending them. It's a somewhat extreme reaction, but it's something that happens regularly. Should you feel that this is indeed something of an over-reaction, Facebook's testing of a Snooze function may appeal to you, as it lets you put your irritating friends on a timeout.

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Facebook has been forced to amend its ad targeting policies after an investigation by ProPublica found that the social network was permitting advertisers to target individuals with anti-Semitic beliefs.

The New York-based news organization found that advertisers were able to use a number of categories such as "Jew hater," "How to burn Jews," "History of 'why jews ruin the world,'" and "Hitler did nothing wrong." All of these categories were created by users -- rather than Facebook or advertisers -- as they self-reported their education and employment history with offensive terms and labels.

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Facebook has today launched Crisis Response, a central hub that provides access to its various crisis response tools such as Safety Check. Over the years, the social network has gradually added more and more tools that serve to help those caught up in a disaster, and those who know them, and the new center pulls all of these into one place.

As well as serving as a central hub, Crisis Response on Facebook is also being bolstered by links to articles and videos posted on the site so users can be kept better informed about a given crisis.

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