Privacy: Facebook 'unintentionally' scraped and uploaded 1.5 million users' email contacts
It seems that barely a week passes without another Facebook scandal emerging, and this week is no different. The company has revealed that it accidentally uploaded the email contacts of up to 1.5 million users who signed up for the social network since 2016.
A glitch meant that new users who signed up for email password verification had their email contacts scraped and uploaded without consent. As of last month , Facebook stopped offering this verification option to first-time users, although it's not clear if this is because of the privacy issue.
UK recommends that Facebook and other social media sites disable 'like' option and data collection for minors
UK watchdog the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has put forward new proposals it believes will help to improve the safety of children online. Among the recommendations is the suggestion that Facebook and other social media sites should disable "like" functionality for minors.
The ICO's "Age Appropriate Design" consultation document is a code of practice for online services, and includes proposals such as minimum age checks and an increase in privacy settings for minors. Another suggestion in the 16-point set of proposals is that social media firms limit the collection of personal data about under-18s.
Forget Easter eggs, Facebook Messenger now officially has a dark mode
Following the popular trend, Facebook has now officially rolled out the much-requested dark mode option to Facebook Messenger on both iOS and Android.
The feature was available as a secret Easter egg from the start of last month, but now it is being rolled out on a global basis for everyone to enjoy. Dark mode can now be accessed as a regular setting without the need to jump through any special hoops.
Facebook suffers huge outage, along with WhatsApp and Instagram
If you've had trouble accessing Facebook today, you're not alone. Users in the US, Europe and Asia struggled to access not only Facebook, but also the WhatsApp and Instagram services owned by the social media giant.
Facebook has said little about this incident which comes just a month after it suffered its worst outage ever, causing problems for users for over 24 hours. This weekend's outage led to #FacebookDown, #instagramdown, and #whatsappdown hashtags trending on Twitter, and numerous reports of problems were posted to Downdetector.
Facebook updates its terms and conditions in Europe to clarify personal data usage
Facebook has faced numerous battles and controversies around the world, but the social networking giant has come under particular fire from Europe. Today, in response to concerns raised by the European Commission, Facebook has agreed to update its terms and conditions in the EU to make it clear to users how their personal data is used.
The new terms clarify how user data is shared with third parties, and how it can be used to target advertising. They also explain how users can close their accounts if they want, and detail reasons for which accounts can be disabled.
Twitter slashes the number of users you can follow each day
In an attempt to cut down on bots and spam activity, Twitter is dramatically reducing the number of accounts it is possible to follow each day.
The previous limit meant users could follow up to 1,000 new accounts on a daily basis, but this has been abused by spammers and bots to quickly grow their networks. The new limit is less than half of this -- just 400 -- and is an update to Twitter's policies against "aggressive following or follower churn" and "bulk or aggressive activity".
GDPR rules could be used by the UK to fine tech firms for 'harmful content'
The UK is looking at hitting technology companies with financial penalties if they fail to do enough to counter "harmful content" on their platforms.
Jeremy Wright, the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) secretary, says that tech firms need to be made to "sit up and take notice" when it comes to dealing with problematic content. While clearly aimed more at social media companies, the proposals would encompass other technology firms as well. The plans also suggest that search engines should remove links to offending websites, and that some sites could even be blocked completely.
How I quit social media, but it didn't quit me
My name is Jason Kingdon, social media addict and Founder and CEO of BOLDFISH. I've been Facebook free for three years now, but I can't seem to separate it from my life. Wherever I go, there it is. Sign in with Facebook or follow us for more. At networking events, new contacts are incredulous and offended when I state my lack of social media. He lies, their eyes read.
Some of my friends have acclimated to just texting me, but others have fallen out of touch. I've become accustomed to the "OMG! How are you!? I haven't seen you in forever! Are you still in China?" It’s as though time had frozen since the last time we made contact. There are amazing memories from pictures and status updates, yet they assume that what they consume is all that there ever was or will be.
WhatsApp now lets you block people from adding you to a group chat
Facebook is hardly renowned for respecting privacy, but with WhatsApp the company is taking a small step to give users greater control.
A change to privacy settings for groups means that it is now possible -- at last -- to avoid being added to a group chat you don't to be involved in. WhatsApp has announced that "we're introducing a new privacy setting and invite system to help you decide who can add you to groups".
Data of 540 million Facebook users exposed in latest privacy cock-up
It is only a couple of weeks since we learned that Facebook has been storing user passwords in searchable plain text, and now there is -- yet another -- privacy scandal. This time, the private data of over half a billion Facebook users was left exposed on publicly-accessible Amazon servers.
Security firm UpGuard discovered that the private data of 540 million Facebook users was exposed in Amazon Web Services S3 buckets. Now removed, the data included identification numbers, comments, reactions and account names. In some instances, names, passwords and email addresses were also exposed.
Facebook explicitly bans white nationalism and white separatism
The "praise, support and representation" of both white nationalism and white separatism are to be explicitly banned on Facebook and Instagram. The new policies will be enforced as of next week.
Facebook announced the change in policy as it and other social networks face increasing pressure to do more to counter hate speech. It also comes in the wake of the Christchurch, New Zealand mosque shooting, footage of which was shared on the platform.
BitTorrent Inc announces BitTorrent Live, a social streaming platform that's not based on BitTorrent
BitTorrent Inc has announced plans to launch a new social media platform for live streaming. It will be called BitTorrent Live and -- at least initially -- it will be centralized rather than decentralized, meaning that it is not based on the BitTorrent protocol or other P2P technology.
The first beta version is expected to launch in the coming quarter, and it will compete with the likes of Facebook Live. BitTorrent Live will enable users to stream content to mobile devices, or broadcast live, and will include social media elements.
Warning: Don't change your Twitter birthday to 2007
Many things go viral online these days -- funny cat videos, memes, stupid "challenges", and all manner of helpful hints and tips. Something that's doing the rounds at the moment encourages Twitter users to change their birthday to a date in 2007.
This might sound like a strange thing to do, but there is the promise of secret new color schemes or rainbow mode being unlocked to lure people in. There are also claims that changing your birthday will get your account verified and earn you a prestigious blue tick. It is -- of course -- not true, but this is not stopping Twitter users from trying it... and regretting it.
Facebook stored millions of users' passwords in searchable plain text for years
Just when you think things couldn't get any worse with Facebook, something else comes along to lower your opinion of the social network even further. The latest security slip-up relates to passwords: it turns out that for up to six years, millions of user passwords were stored in plain text.
As well as being stored in plain text, passwords were searchable by thousands of Facebook employees. An investigation by Facebook suggests that somewhere between 200 million and 600 million user accounts were affected, some as far back as 2012.
Oops! MySpace has lost 12 years' worth of photos, videos and music
MySpace -- that forerunner of the social networking phenomenon -- appears to have had a bit of an accident. In the process of migrating servers, it seems that the site has managed to lose 12 years' worth of uploaded music and other data.
The slip up means that photos, videos and music uploaded between 2003 and 2015 have been lost forever. This is not a case of data being temporary unavailable; MySpace has lost it, and -- almost unbelievably -- has no backup.
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