Why is Zoom secretly sharing data with Facebook?
With so many people now working from home, video conferencing service Zoom has become a household name virtually overnight. But while millions of users appreciate the ability to connect with the office, colleagues, friends and family for free, a worrying privacy issue has been found.
The Zoom iOS app has been spotted sharing data with Facebook... even for users that don't have a Facebook account. So what's going on?
Facebook is doing more to promote reliable information about coronavirus
The coronavirus pandemic has people around the world searching for information about what they should and shouldn't be doing, as well as news about the spread. But there is a lot of misinformation out there, and social media platforms are breeding grounds for such harmful content to spread.
Facebook has been taking steps to counter misinformation about COVID-19, not only on the main Facebook platform, but also on Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Now the company is expanding its efforts to connect people with trustworthy information about coronavirus.
Microsoft, Facebook, Slack and others support #BuildforCOVID19 Global Online Hackathon
There are numerous technology companies that have agreed to offer their services for free as the world tries to tackle the coronavirus crisis, and others who have taken steps to reduce their strain on the internet. Tomorrow, #BuildforCOVID19 Global Online Hackathon kicks off, with many of the big names from the world of tech coming together to tackle some of the problems COVID-19 presents.
There are also numerous partners from the health community, including the World Health Organization, and the aim is to come up with software solutions that can be used to improve health and hygiene, help with social isolation, assist in education, and help businesses stay afloat.
The surprising state of social media background checks in 2020
Your friends and followers aren't the only ones looking at what you Like. In 2017, CareerBuilder revealed that 70 percent of employers review social media during the hiring process. Today that number may be even higher: one survey by First Advantage found that nearly two-thirds of employers choose to screen all employees and applicants for "red flag" behavior on websites such as Facebook and Twitter.
The primary peril of vetting candidates by examining their online profiles remains the same as when this trend first rose to prominence: employers performing "social media background checks" may inadvertently uncover sensitive or protected information which compromises their ability to make an unbiased hiring decision. Not hiring a candidate based on such information, from sexual orientation to religion to race, could expose a business to accusations of unfair or discriminatory hiring practices.
Facebook Messenger lands in the Mac App Store in some countries
There has been talk of a macOS version of Facebook Messenger for the best part of a year, and now it seems that the app is finally rolling out.
Facebook had said that it wanted Messenger for macOS to launch by the end of 2019, but it is only now that it has started to appear in the Mac App Store. For now, sadly, it is limited to a handful of markets, suggesting that this is a staged rollout targeting key countries first.
New Facebook Messenger app is simpler, and twice as fast
There are lots of apps you can use to communicate with friends, family and colleagues. These include WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, Skype, and Facebook Messenger. Messenger was first spun off into its own app in 2011, and since then the social network has added more and more features to it, to the point where it has become bloated, and harder to use.
Realizing this, Facebook has gone back to basics, and redesigned Messenger to make it faster, smaller, and simpler.
Facebook will pay you for your voice recordings
If you feel you should be able to benefit financially from sharing information with Facebook, there's some good news: the company is willing to pay you for your voice recordings.
The scheme is part of the social network's Pronunciations program, and it sees Facebook trying to improve its speech recognition capabilities. But if you're hoping to get rich, you might be a little disappointed.
Selectively revealing yourself to the world -- Privacy in the 21st century
Fifteen years ago, if you wanted to join Facebook (then The FaceBook), you needed a valid college email address and the site did not offer much more than study group meetups or a place to chat and share pictures with high school friends. Today, Facebook is a juggernaut with roughly 2.5 billion monthly active users -- and as one of the world’s largest ad platforms, the amount of data it has on its users is staggering. But in 2018, the Cambridge Analytica breach profoundly shook users’ confidence in the social network -- and the entire tech industry as well. Since the scandal, there have been Congressional hearings, lawsuits, antitrust concerns and even the complete demise of Cambridge Analytica. But the questions did not end there -- consumers began to question how all big tech used their data. Why does Google track people’s location even if they have turned tracking off? Is Alexa recording my private conversations?
Thanks to the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the endless stream of data sharing scandals since, consumers are more aware of their online privacy and are beginning to question how companies are monetizing their data. Let’s look at how the rise of social media created this data economy, the tech industries attempt to regulate itself and how the U.S. government is woefully unprepared to address modern privacy challenges. How do we progress in a world where every detail of our days are tracked?
Facebook claims there are 2 billion WhatsApp users
WhatsApp is a wildly popular chat program globally, but in the USA, not so much. Don’t get me wrong, there are many Americans that use it, but it is far more ubiquitous in other countries such as India, for instance. In the USA, SMS and iMessage seem to reign supreme.
Today, the social network Facebook — which owns WhatsApp — is celebrating a huge milestone. You see, the company is claiming there are now 2 billion people using WhatsApp.
Reuters will fact-check content on Facebook and Instagram
Reuters has teamed up with Facebook to launch a new fact-checking initiative. It is looking to identify misinformation on social media, and will draw on the news agency's history of verifying data.
The partnership will see Reuters fact-checking content on Facebook and Instagram, working with Facebook's Third-Party Fact-Checking Program. The fact-checking program is seen as being particularly important in the run-up to the US presidential election, but it will continue beyond this.
UK government wants Ofcom to police social media
The UK government has long wanted to police the internet, and now it has expressed a desire for Ofcom to regulate social media.
The government would like to give the telecoms watchdog greater powers to enable it to serve as regulator for the likes of Facebook, Google, Twitter, Snapchat and TikTok. The aim is to protect internet users from "harmful and illegal content" while maintaining free speech.
Facebook Messenger Kids now lets parents view their kids' chat history and remotely log them out
Facebook has announced a raft of changes to its Messenger Kids service, giving parents more control and oversight over what their children are able to do.
Parents are now about to see 30 days' worth of chat logs as well as details of the types of conversation they are having with different contacts. Other new features include the ability to see images that have been shared, and also to remotely log their child out of chat sessions using the Parent Dashboard.
Facebook promises to give users more control over their privacy... again
Today is Data Privacy Day, and Facebook is using the occasion to try to convince its users that it cares about their privacy.
The social network says that it recognizes there is a lot of work to do to improve privacy protections, but that's not going to stop the company from trying to make it seem as though it doesn't represent a massive invasion of privacy. As part of its latest PR campaign, Facebook will encourage users to review their privacy settings as well as launching the Off-Facebook Activity tool globally.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker lands in Facebook Messenger
It's that time of year again: time for a new Star Wars movie. Inevitably, this means there is lots of marketing and a lot of tie-ins, and Facebook is never one to miss out on a trend.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is here, and as such Facebook Messenger is getting something of a Star Wars makeover, with new themes, reactions, stickers and augmented reality effects. Facebook says that they are "limited-edition Messenger features" -- so move quickly, you must.
New Any.do integration lets you create tasks and reminders in WhatsApp
While WhatsApp is primarily a communication tool, a new integration from Any.do also makes it possible to extend the capabilities of the chat app to create tasks and reminders using natural language.
As WhatsApp is often used in both the business and personal worlds to discuss a set up meetings, appointments and get-togethers, the ability to set reminders at the same time as discussing plans makes perfect sense. Like Any.do and WhatsApp themselves, the new feature is cross-platform, and can be found on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows and the web.
Recent Headlines
Most Commented Stories
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.