Articles about Facebook

In a move that's likely to raise a few eyebrows, Facebook today opened up its messaging platform to children under the age of 13. A new app, Messenger Kids, is now available in the US for iOS users.

The app is currently available as a preview, and Facebook says that it has worked with parents and groups such as the National PTA to ensure safety. The company also emphasizes the fact that parents are in full control of who their children are able to connect with.

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Some Facebook users have reported that the social network is asking them to upload a selfie as a means of verifying their identity.

It seems that the company is testing out a new form of captcha as it asks that you "upload a photo of yourself that clearly shows your face." Just like Facebook's recent idea that users could protect themselves against revenge porn by uploading naked images of themselves, the test is likely to raise concerns about privacy.

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Starting next year, it will no longer be possible to log into Skype using your Facebook account. Thanks to the rollout of the updated Skype experience, as of January 2018, Skype users will need to log in using their Microsoft account.

This is not a change that is likely to affect regular users of Skype, but for anyone who rarely uses it, it is something of a pain.

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Facebook has long offered a range of support options to help those considering suicide. Today the social network launches an automated AI-powered tool that aims to spot suicidal posts before they are reported.

Relying on the reports of people who spot worrying posts is just one of the ways Facebook has tried to provide a safety net for people who are struggling, and by adding artificial intelligence to the mix, the company will be hoping to speed up detection and offer help more quickly when it matters most.

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Facebook is accustomed to criticism, and it's no different when it comes to advertising. There's been a lot of talk about advertising on the social network recently, not least because of concerns about Russian ads being used to influence the outcome of the US election.

In its latest attempt to calm fears that may have built up around its advertising platform, Facebook has today set out its advertising principles. This sees the company explaining the ethics behind ads, as well as seeking to reassure users that their privacy is protected and respected at all times.

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Russia's use of Facebook and other social media to try to influence the outcome of elections around the world has been the subject of investigation for some time now. Millions of Facebook users were exposed to divisive ads placed by Russia, and the social networking site is doing what it can to be transparent about what happened.

Having admitted that Russia bought ads on the site, Facebook is now developing a tool that will enable users to determine if they interacted with the Internet Research Agency -- the propaganda company also known as the Trolls from Olgino.

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Facebook has revealed more details about how its test program for combating revenge porn works. The social network has been trialing a system which allows users to upload naked images of themselves to Facebook so the company can look out for and block others from sharing them.

People were rather shocked at this idea, but even more so when it transpired that the uploaded nudes would be reviewed by Facebook employees. Keen to calm the storm that has whipped up around the issue, Facebook's global head of safety, Antigone Davis, has penned a blog post explaining that "we want to be clear about how it works."

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Facebook caused more than a little eye-rolling with its anti-revenge porn program which requires users to upload the naked images of themselves that they would like to protect. It had been assumed that the entire process would be automated, making use purely of algorithms to analyze images and protect privacy. This assumption was wrong.

Facebook says that in actual fact an employee -- an actual human being -- will have to review the nude images that are sent in.

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Revenge porn is one of the latest online problems, and it's one to which it would seem difficult to come up with a solution. Facebook, however, thinks it has the answer. If you're willing to share your nude photos with the social network, it will use them to protect you against revenge porn attacks.

It's an idea that sounds like utter madness, but Facebook is at pains to convince users that it's actually a brilliant solution. Compromising images that are shared with Facebook will be hashed to create a digital fingerprint which the company can then use to identify the same images if they are uploaded by someone else.

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Ads on Facebook have been something of a controversial subject for some time now -- particularly with suggestions of Russian attempts to influence the outcome of the US presidential election. In its latest attempt to have a more transparent ad platform, the social network has announced a series of measures that will help people understand more about advertising.

All ads -- not just political ones -- are to be subject to extra transparency, with a new View Ads link making it possible to view all the ads a particular advertiser has placed. Political advertiser will face more stringent requirement. They must not only verify their identity, but also publicly disclose the source of funding for their ads.

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It's something that has been rumored for years -- that Facebook is using the microphones on smartphones and computers around the world to listen in on conversations. Is it that the social network is particularly interested in hearing what everyone has to say? Sort of -- rumor has it that the company wants to know what you're talking about so it can deliver carefully targeted ads.

A surprising number of Facebook users believe that Facebook is listening to them. They say that following conversations about a topic, they then see ads related to it. But is this really because of Facebook?

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Facebook has expanded its Workplace enterprise suite with the launch of a real-time desktop comms offering called Workplace Chat.

Even though it is called Workplace Chat, the PC app offers much more than just text-based communication. It also offers video chat with a co-worker or a group, screen sharing and file sharing.

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Facebook Marketplace has been with us for a little while now, giving users of the social network a handy place to buy and sell goods in the same place they chat with friends and post holiday photos. The company today announced a series of changes designed to make it easier to buy cars through Marketplace.

A year after the launch of the platform, used cars now have their own dedicated Marketplace section. More than this, it is possible -- in the US at least -- to filter vehicles in a variety of ways to home in on the perfect car, as well as seeing valuations from Kelley Blue Book.

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It is now widely accepted that Russia -- at least to some degree -- tried to influence the outcome of the US presidential election through the use of ads placed on Facebook.

Attention now turns to Europe, where the UK's digital, culture, media and sport committee is asking Mark Zuckerberg to investigate potential interference in the UK general election, as well as the EU referendum that led to Brexit.

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Changes to the Facebook newsfeed are generally somewhat controversial, not least because many people wish Facebook would just stop buggering around and leave things as they are for a while. But the latest change that's being tested has some people -- page owners and publishers in particular -- worried.

Facebook is testing splitting the newsfeed in two: one half for posts from friends, and the other half from pages. There is an exception, however: promoted posts from pages can appear in the personal newsfeed. This has caused concern because smaller publishers and business fear their posts will disappear and not be seen, while those with big budgets remain visible. But Facebook is trying to calm anxieties.

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