Best Technology Stuff from Around the World
Meta says he has removed more than a thousand Nicaraguan fake accounts from Facebook and Instagram. According to the social media company, the accounts were part of a fake news campaign by the government in that country. The campaign spread fake news about the opposition and protesters, manipulating public debate in the country, Meta said. … Read more
Facebook is set to unveil a new company name next week, rumor has it. The new umbrella name should reflect that the company is more than a social network and also reflect a focus on the metaverse. It is probably a company name that Facebook will fall under in addition to Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus, … Read more
The Russian communications watchdog wants to fine Google between 5 and 20 percent of the search giant’s turnover in Russia. That writes Reuters. The fine would come because Google would not remove illegal content and would not have paid other fines. The fine mentioned by the Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor was mentioned during e-mail between … Read more
The whistleblower who released the internal investigation into the harm Instagram is doing to teens has come out. It concerns a 37-year-old American data scientist who worked for two years at the social media company. The whistleblower, Frances Haugen, made herself known on the CBS interview program 60 Minutes. The reason was that she noticed … Read more
Facebook will give its European users more control and insight over collected cookies through an expanded banner and new settings menu. The company says it does this to be in line with the GDPR and the European e-privacy guidelines. The social media company will soon introduce a new cookie form on Facebook and Instagram that … Read more
The United Kingdom plans to change the GDPR and privacy rules in the country. Now that the country has left the European Union, the UK wants to get rid of certain parts of privacy laws, such as cookie banners and rules for small businesses and agencies. The plans will be unveiled by Oliver Dowden, UK … Read more
Two US senators are asking TikTok’s CEO to explain more about the use of biometric data that the company has been collecting on its US users since early June. The senators say they are “alarmed” by TikTok’s plans. In the letter, US Senators Amy Klobuchar and John Thune ask TikTok’s CEO to clarify the terms … Read more
As a test, Instagram allows a limited number of users to post to their feed via the desktop browser. Users do not need to change any workaround or settings for this. Instagram says it wants to improve the experience via the desktop browser. Developer and reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi discovered the functionality already more than … Read more
A week after Twitter reopened its ‘verified’ program, it closed again. The requests for the check mark next to a username ran so quickly that the social media company could not keep up. Twitter previously said it took into account waiting times that could go up to ‘a few weeks’, but the queue is now … Read more
Russia and Iran are home to the most organizations that seek to manipulate or corrupt the public debate in a coordinated manner, according to Facebook. This is according to a report from the social media company. The United States was most affected by the influence campaigns. According to Facebook’s security experts, since 2017, the company … Read more