Articles about Facebook

Facebook has revealed it is harnessing the power of AI to support its growth across the world.

The social media giant, which has over two billion users worldwide, is now using neural networks for to automatically translate content in foreign markets.

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Chatbots on Facebook's Messenger have helped companies increase their sales more than expected, meaning the technology could soon become widespread.

The news was announced during Facebook's F8 keynote, with its VP of messaging products David Marcus discussing a number of big-name brands such as Sephora, SnapTravel and Tommy Hilfiger.

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Facebook has acquired an AI start-up as it aims to strengthen the artificial intelligence capabilities of its Messenger platform.

The start-up in question is called Ozlo. It is based in Palo Alto, California, and has roughly 30 employees, the majority of which will be joining Facebook in either Menlo Park, California, or Seattle, Washington.

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It's been a little while since we heard anything about Free Basics by Facebook -- the successor to its Internet.org project which aims to provide access to a number of online services, free of charge, in developing countries (63 in total) -- but a new report slams the service.

On the face of it, this is a good thing, but Free Basics from Facebook has certainly not been without its controversies: the service was banned in India and Egypt, for example. Now a report from Global Voices -- a "global anti-censorship network of bloggers and activists dedicated to protecting freedom of expression online" -- has published a damning report about the service.

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This is why you never accept Facebook friend requests from people you don't know, kids.

Reuters has reported that Russian agents created two dozen fake Facebook accounts to try and infiltrate and spy on campaign officials working for Emmanuel Macron during his presidential campaign.

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WhatsApp is slowly but surely strengthening its position in the messaging space, now boasting one billion daily users. It joins a very select club that includes parent company Facebook.

WhatsApp has also seen a significant increase in the number of monthly users. It has 1.3 billion monthly users, 300 million more than early last year when it broke the one billion monthly users mark.

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Facebook, Twitter and Google have failed to impress EU authorities with their proposed revisions to user terms. The three companies have been under pressure to amend their terms to bring them in line with European law.

The European Commission and consumer protection authorities wrote to the tech giants last month, giving them until July 20th to submit proposals about their respective social networks. The companies have until September to implement changes that satisfy Europe, or fines could be handed out.

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Any online platform must contend with the problem of piracy and intellectual property rights, and Facebook is no different. The social network gives content owners the opportunity to monetize their videos, but in order for this to work, owners' rights need to be protected; this is why Facebook introduced its Rights Manager tool a couple of years ago.

But it seems that Facebook's own weapons in the fight against piracy and content theft have not been as effective as the company -- and content owners -- would have hoped. As such Facebook is taking Source3 under its wing. The startup develops tools for tracking intellectual property to allow for the monitoring of unauthorized sharing.

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Over the years Facebook has done plenty of tinkering with the News Feed -- and not always for the better. Like Google, the social network frequently experiments with new ideas, and groups of users are often used to beta test features. One such recent experiment saw the arrival of a new version of the timeline for some users via a rocket icon in the Facebook app.

Now this new option is rolling out on a wider scale. Known as Explore Feed -- and retaining the rocket icon from beta testing -- the idea is to encourage Facebook users to look at more content on the network rather than just the post of their friends and pages they follow. You'd be forgiven for missing the option as it's not entirely obvious.

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Following a more limited testing phase in Thailand and Australia, Facebook is rolling out ads globally in Facebook Messenger. The beta program is being extended meaning that Facebook is now able to target Messenger's 1.2 billion monthly users.

When users click or tap an ad in Messenger, they will either be transported to the advertiser's website, or taken to a chat with the company in question. Facebook's latest ad drive is the company's attempt to squeeze money from its Messenger platform.

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If you use Facebook at all, you have almost certainly seen warnings recently that make reference to Jayden K Smith. You've probably not only been warned about this "hacker" but also been advised to make everyone you know aware of the danger they pose.

"Please tell all the contacts in your messenger list not to accept Jayden K. Smith friendship request. He is a hacker and has the system connected to your Facebook account. If one of your contacts accepts it, you will also be hacked, so make sure that all your friends know it," reads the message. It is -- of course -- utter nonsense, yet it is being shared far and wide. Stop it. Stop it this instant.

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Two of the biggest names in tech have finally added their names to a growing list of participants in a protest next week against the FCC's plans to tear up net neutrality rules.

Google and Facebook have confirmed they will take part in the July 12 protest which is known variously as the "Day of Action," the "Battle for the Net" and -- rather more wordily -- the "Internet-wide Day of Action to Save Net Neutrality." Precisely what form the companies' participation will take remains to be seen, but the involvement of two such big names will send a clear message to the FCC.

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World Cup 2018 is not far off, and social media networks are preparing to offer millions to obtain streaming rights from Fox Sports. The soccer tournament is to be held in Russia next year, and Facebook, Twitter and Snap Inc are all eager to be able to show highlights online.

As Fox Sports is the exclusive US rights holder, there is potential for bids for access to highlights to become high. A report from Bloomberg suggests that the social media giants have already put up "tens of millions of dollars."

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Currently barred from telling three of its users about government search warrants seeking to gain access to their information, Facebook is fighting back. The social network is challenging what it says is a threat to freedom of speech.

Documents filed at a Washington DC appeal court show that Facebook wants to notify the users about the warrants so they have an opportunity to object to them. The company cites the First Amendment in seeking to let users know about the warrants, at least one of which relates to protests against Donald Trump.

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A privacy case against Facebook has been thrown out of court by a judge in the US District Court, Northern District of California. The case surrounded Facebook's tracking of users via Like buttons on other sites even when they were not logged into their accounts.

Plaintiffs said that Facebook violated wiretapping and privacy laws, but District Judge Edward Davila ruled that there was no evidence that the social network had illegally "intercepted" communications. She said that plaintiffs had failed to show "realistic" economic harm or loss, adding that they could have taken steps to maintain the privacy of their browsing histories.

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