Facebook malware infects 10,000 users in two days
A new malware was spotted by security researchers at Kaspersky Lab, targeting Facebook users. According to the researchers’ new report, there have been 10,000 victims in two days.
The malware has two stages: firstly, an unsuspecting victim gets a message from a Facebook friend, saying they had mentioned them in a comment. But when the victim clicks to see the comment, they instead download a bunch of malware, including a Chrome add-on which can take over the victim’s Facebook account, once they log back in.
Facebook announces an open source wireless access platform called 'OpenCellular'
Here in the good ol' USA, we take a lot of our blessings for granted. Sure, we aren't perfect-- there is poverty in all places -- but a large part of this country has access to things like clean water and internet access. Sadly, there are plenty of people globally without access to either of those aforementioned things. While water is obviously essential for life, internet access is crucial for knowledge -- especially in regions where access to formal education is limited.
Today, Facebook announces an open source wireless access platform called 'OpenCellular'. The goal of this project is to connect more citizens of the globe to the internet. According to the social network, there are still 4 billion folks that don't have access -- shocking. OpenCellular could contribute to lowering that number.
Facebook hits back at Israeli complaints about sabotaging police work
Facebook has responded to complaints from Israel's Minister of Internal Security saying that it does remove abusive content from the site. On Saturday, Israeli cabinet minister Gilad Erdan referred to Facebook as a 'monster' adding that it "does not cooperate" with requests from the police.
Tensions between Palestine and Israel have seen an increase in posts inciting violence and terrorism. While Erdan accuses Facebook of failing to step in as well as "set[ting] a very high bar for removing inciteful content", the social network says it work closely with numerous countries, including Israel, to stem the flow of hate speech.
Facebook's new multilingual composer will let you post status updates in multiple languages
Facebook has announced a new tool that aims to break down language barriers. Previously available for Pages on the social network, the multilingual composer is set to make its way to individuals' accounts as well.
Previously anyone who wanted to post bi-, tri- or multilingual status updates would have to either type out each language as a separate post, or post a lengthy status featuring multiple translations. The latest change means that you can write in, say, French, and only friends and followers with their language set to French will see it.
Facebook uses Irish headquarters to skirt privacy laws
Facebook has won an appeal against a court ruling that said the social network could not store data about people who did not have an account. It had been ruled that Facebook could not gather data about non-users in Belgium; Facebook responded by blocking access to those without an account.
Back in 2015, Facebook was told to stop this blocking or face hefty daily fines. Facebook felt that the ruling was unfair and appealed. In a new ruling today, the Brussels Court of Appeal said: "Belgian courts don't have international jurisdiction over Facebook Ireland, where the data concerning Europe is processed".
Facebook opens up about how it controls your newsfeed
Earlier today, Facebook announced the latest tweak to newsfeeds. Having denied being politically bias towards Brexit, or having a liberal leaning, Facebook continues to face question and criticism about how its news feeds and trending topics are formulated.
As well as updating the way newsfeeds are populated, Facebook today revealed just how it choses what appears in your newsfeeds. This isn’t a case of full transparency, but it is an interesting insight nonetheless.
Facebook tweaks its newsfeed, yet again, so you'll see more posts from people you actually know
When it's not messing around with privacy settings and manipulating trending topics, there's nothing Facebook seems to like more than to tinker with timelines. Today the social network announces the latest changes to your newsfeed -- now you should see more posts from your friends and family.
The problem we currently face, Facebook says, is that there is "far too much information for any one person to consume". This is where algorithms come into play, meddling with timelines and newsfeeds in ways that never please everyone. The latest change promises that content from "the friends you care about" will appear "higher up in your News Feed".
Facebook launches Share and Save extensions for Chrome, redesigns Social Plugin buttons
Facebook is all about sharing and consuming, and today the social network launches two new extensions for the Chrome browser that make it easy to do both. The Share to Facebook and Save to Facebook extensions do very much what you would expect, encouraging not only sharing, but also the use of Facebook as a bookmarking tool for articles you want to read later.
As well as these two extensions, Facebook is also rolling out redesigned Social Plugin buttons. The Like button that you see adorning so many websites is getting a modern makeover, losing the iconic Facebook 'f' logo, and gaining an emoji-lover-friendly thumbs up icon instead.
Report: YouTube and Facebook are now using automated tools to remove extremist content
With the likes of ISIS understanding the power of social media, Facebook and other online services find themselves under increasing pressure to counter terrorist and other extremist content. A report by Reuters says that a number of online companies are using automated tools to remove videos that violate terms of use.
Such tools have previously been used to prevent the spread of copyright videos online, but now it seems that they have been put to a new task. While automation can do little, if anything, to prevent the initial appearance of extremist videos, social networks can use them to stem the flow of republishing.
Check your privacy settings -- Facebook is (probably) sharing your employment history
Somewhat out of the blue, Facebook has decided to change the way it displays certain information on your profile. Not content with showing your current place of work -- whether this is real, or some clever pun you've engineered -- it now also shows your employment history.
This is not a direct change to privacy settings as it does not make public anything that had been previously set to be private. It does, however, broadcast your previous places of work to people looking at your profile. You might not like this. You might want to do something about it.
Mark Zuckerberg is so concerned about his privacy that he tapes over his webcam and microphone
Facebook and privacy are not words usually associated with one another, and it seems this holds true even for the man at the top. Only recently we learned that Mark Zuckerberg uses terrible passwords, making it easy to hack his accounts, but now it turns out he's also quite paranoid.
As Instagram popped champagne corks for reaching the milestone of half a billion users, Zuckerberg posted a celebratory picture. Eagle-eyed people soon pointed out that both the mic and camera of his laptop were taped over.
Chicago man gunned down while live streaming on Facebook
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have all been pushing live streaming video these days, and many people take advantage of it.
Unfortunately it can sometimes end with a result that nobody wishes to see. That was the case with a Chicago man just recently.
Most of us rely on social media for news
In the lives of many consumers, social networks have begun to replace traditional news outlets as their primary source of news, making it much more difficult for publishers who still rely on a more traditional business model to earn revenue from their stories.
In its annual report on digital news, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) highlights the rise of Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and how they transformed the way news media is consumed today. The institute conducted a study across 26 countries that found that over 50 percent of all the Internet users turned to social media to get their news.
How to find and play Facebook's secret soccer game
Facebook has a couple of secret games you can play in Messenger. There’s a basketball game or, if you fancy something more intellectually stimulating, you can challenge your friends to a nice game of chess.
Timed, no doubt, to coincide with the European Championships, Facebook has now snuck in a football game (or soccer, if you’re in the US) that you can play.
Facebook rolls out suicide prevention tools around the world
Facebook has announced that an updated batch of suicide prevention tools are being rolled out globally. It's a feature that has been available in some parts of the English-speaking world for a little while, but now the social network has decided to offer them up to everyone.
The aim is to make it easier for people to reach out to friends who they believe may be either suicidal, or at risk of self-harming. The tools have been developed in conjunction with people with experience of suicide and self-harm, as well as mental health charities. In addition to giving Facebook users the chance to reach out to those they may be concerned about, Facebook is also providing a round-the-clock worldwide team to whom concerns can be voiced.
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