<p>A round of discussion was&nbsp;started when Oscar-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy from Pakistan shared a series of tweets addressing the incident of her sister&#39;s visit to&nbsp;a hospital.&nbsp;</p>

<p>It so happened that after Obaid-Chinoy&#39;s sister&#39;s treatment at a hospital in Pakistan, she received a friend request from the doctor on Facebook.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This led to a series of&nbsp;heated tweets by the filmmaker about sexual harassment. She mentioned&nbsp;how &#39;Pakistan has zero boundaries and that the doctors messed with the wrong women in the wrong wrong family&#39; in her tweets.&nbsp;</p>

<p>She further added that she will file a report against the doctor.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Obaid-Chinoy&#39;s portrayal of the Facebook request as &#39;harassment&#39;&nbsp;set off an angry response from many Pakistanis saying that she had overreacted.&nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Still I would say the term &quot;harassment&quot; is so cheap. you should not have used this word... next time be careful..</p>
&mdash; Muhammad Owais ???? (@xmowais) <a href="https://twitter.com/xmowais/status/925247710952919040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">If ALL women in ur family R strong enough, then why didn&rsquo;t ur sister tweet her plea ? Why did u tweet ? Bcoz u thought u were more pwrful.</p>
&mdash; Mir Mohammad Alikhan (@POSITIVEiBANKER) <a href="https://twitter.com/POSITIVEiBANKER/status/925328613183979520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">I don&rsquo;t feel that sending friend request to a female on social media is a transgression. Sending annoying msgs/posts such comments for sure</p>
&mdash; Muhammad Bilal (@muhammadbellal) <a href="https://twitter.com/muhammadbellal/status/925305437225914368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">She had to make a stunt now and then to show the distorted face of Pakistan, to the west to get funding while west is far ahead of us</p>
&mdash; A.A.KHAN (@mbckhan) <a href="https://twitter.com/mbckhan/status/925253167977295872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>However, she also had people in her support, asserting the frequent abusive response she received showed the misogyny of her critics.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">It is harassment</p>
&mdash; Shahbaz Taseer (@ShahbazTaseer) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShahbazTaseer/status/925247931313160192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">And to the ppl who are bringing Sharmeen&#39;s Oscars into this. Stop with the jealousy.</p>
&mdash; Myra Zafar (@MyraZafar) <a href="https://twitter.com/MyraZafar/status/925251837225250816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">More power to you. I am a doctor. Thanks for standing up for women who go through much worse in our hospitals.</p>
&mdash; Hassan (@HassanWaqar8) <a href="https://twitter.com/HassanWaqar8/status/925250091195265024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>She released detailed statement on &lsquo;tweeting, doctor-patient privilege, women and harassment&rsquo;, she wrote: &quot;My recent tweets about a doctor&rsquo;s inappropriate behaviour has drawn much comment and controversy. The conversation has unfortunately steered far from the safety of women, unchecked unethical practices &amp; harassment.&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">On tweeting, doctor-patient privilege, women and harassment <a href="https://t.co/2HoCK36wjb">pic.twitter.com/2HoCK36wjb</a></p>
&mdash; Sharmeen Obaid (@sharmeenochinoy) <a href="https://twitter.com/sharmeenochinoy/status/925242089444651009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 31, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>She added: &ldquo;As a public figure I receive unsolicited friendship requests from strangers all the time, and never once have I brought that up, however, this request to my sister was under different circumstances.&quot; &nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;Patients are vulnerable, especially women who trust a doctor to see them simply as a patient, in whatever medical state that may be. When that trust is broken it is a violation,&quot; Sharmeen continued.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Obaid later admitted that her&nbsp;words were poorly chosen, sources reported.</p>


A round of discussion was?started when Oscar-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy shared a series of tweets addressing the incident of her sisters visit to the hospital.

A round of discussion was started when Oscar-winning filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy from Pakistan shared a series of tweets addressing the incident of her sister's visit to a hospital. It so happened that after Obaid-Chinoy's sister's treatment at a hospital in Pakistan, she received a friend request from the doctor on Facebook. This led to a series of heated tweets by the filmmaker about sexual harassment. She mentioned how 'Pakistan has zero boundaries and that the doctors messed with the wrong women in the wrong wrong family' in her tweets. She further added that she will file a report against the doctor. Obaid-Chinoy's portrayal of the Facebook request as 'harassment' set off an angry response from many Pakistanis saying that she had overreacted. Still I would say the term "harassment" is so cheap. you should not have used this word... next time be careful.. — Muhammad Owais ???? (@xmowais) October 31, 2017 × If ALL women in ur family R strong enough, then why didn’t ur sister tweet her plea ? Why did u tweet ? Bcoz u thought u were more pwrful. — Mir Mohammad Alikhan (@POSITIVEiBANKER) October 31, 2017 × I don’t feel that sending friend request to a female on social media is a transgression. Sending annoying msgs/posts such comments for sure — Muhammad Bilal (@muhammadbellal) October 31, 2017 × She had to make a stunt now and then to show the distorted face of Pakistan, to the west to get funding while west is far ahead of us — A.A.KHAN (@mbckhan) October 31, 2017 × However, she also had people in her support, asserting the frequent abusive response she received showed the misogyny of her critics. It is harassment — Shahbaz Taseer (@ShahbazTaseer) October 31, 2017 × And to the ppl who are bringing Sharmeen's Oscars into this. Stop with the jealousy. — Myra Zafar (@MyraZafar) October 31, 2017 × More power to you. I am a doctor. Thanks for standing up for women who go through much worse in our hospitals. — Hassan (@HassanWaqar8) October 31, 2017 × She released detailed statement on ‘tweeting, doctor-patient privilege, women and harassment’, she wrote: "My recent tweets about a doctor’s inappropriate behaviour has drawn much comment and controversy. The conversation has unfortunately steered far from the safety of women, unchecked unethical practices & harassment." On tweeting, doctor-patient privilege, women and harassment pic.twitter.com/2HoCK36wjb — Sharmeen Obaid (@sharmeenochinoy) October 31, 2017 × She added: “As a public figure I receive unsolicited friendship requests from strangers all the time, and never once have I brought that up, however, this request to my sister was under different circumstances." "Patients are vulnerable, especially women who trust a doctor to see them simply as a patient, in whatever medical state that may be. When that trust is broken it is a violation," Sharmeen continued. Obaid later admitted that her words were poorly chosen, sources reported.

Watch: Can a Facebook friend request be 'harassment'?

<p>Facebook Inc said on Monday that Russia-based operatives published about 80,000 posts on the social network over a two-year period in an effort to sway US politics and that about 126 million Americans may have seen the posts during that time.</p>

<p>Facebook&#39;s latest data on the Russia-linked posts&nbsp;possibly reaching around half of the US&nbsp;population of voting age, far exceeds the company&#39;s previous disclosures. It was included in written testimony provided to US&nbsp;lawmakers, and seen by Reuters, ahead of key hearings with social media and technology companies about Russian meddling in elections on Capitol Hill this week.</p>

<p>Twitter separately has found 2,752 accounts linked to Russian operatives, a source familiar with the company&#39;s written testimony said. That estimate is up from a tally of 201 accounts that Twitter reported in September.</p>

<p>Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, said in a statement on Monday it had found $4,700 in Russia-linked ad spending during the 2016 U.S. election cycle, and that it would build a database of election ads.</p>

<p>Executives from Facebook, Twitter and Google are scheduled to appear before three congressional committees this week on alleged Russian attempts to spread misinformation in the months before and after the 2016 US&nbsp;presidential election.</p>

<p>The Russian government has denied any attempts to sway the election, in which President Donald Trump, a Republican, defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.</p>

<p>Facebook&#39;s general counsel, Colin Stretch, said in the written testimony that the 80,000 posts from Russia&#39;s Internet Research Agency were a tiny fraction of content on Facebook, equal to one out of 23,000 posts.</p>

<p>However, the posts violated Facebook&#39;s terms of service, and any amount of such activity using fake accounts is too much, Stretch wrote.</p>

<p>&quot;These actions run counter to Facebook&#39;s mission of building community and everything we stand for. And we are determined to do everything we can to address this new threat,&quot; he wrote.</p>

<p>The 80,000 posts were published between June 2015 and August 2017. Most of them focused on divisive social and political messages such as race relations, Facebook said.</p>

<p>Twitter&#39;s revised estimate of how many Russia-linked accounts were on its service comes a month after an influential Democratic senator, Mark Warner, slammed it for what he called an insufficient investigation.</p>

<p>Twitter has suspended all 2,752 accounts that it tracked to Russia&#39;s Internet Research Agency, and it has given US&nbsp;congressional investigators the account names, the source familiar with the company&#39;s testimony said.</p>

<p>&quot;State-sanctioned manipulation of elections by sophisticated foreign actors is a new challenge for us - and one that we are determined to meet,&quot; Twitter said in written testimony, according to the source.</p>


Facebook said Russia-based operatives published about 80,000 posts on the social network over a two-year period in an effort to sway US politics and that about 126 million Americans may have seen the posts during that time.

Facebook Inc said on Monday that Russia-based operatives published about 80,000 posts on the social network over a two-year period in an effort to sway US politics and that about 126 million Americans may have seen the posts during that time. Facebook's latest data on the Russia-linked posts possibly reaching around half of the US population of voting age, far exceeds the company's previous disclosures. It was included in written testimony provided to US lawmakers, and seen by Reuters, ahead of key hearings with social media and technology companies about Russian meddling in elections on Capitol Hill this week. Twitter separately has found 2,752 accounts linked to Russian operatives, a source familiar with the company's written testimony said. That estimate is up from a tally of 201 accounts that Twitter reported in September. Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, said in a statement on Monday it had found $4,700 in Russia-linked ad spending during the 2016 U.S. election cycle, and that it would build a database of election ads. Executives from Facebook, Twitter and Google are scheduled to appear before three congressional committees this week on alleged Russian attempts to spread misinformation in the months before and after the 2016 US presidential election. The Russian government has denied any attempts to sway the election, in which President Donald Trump, a Republican, defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. Facebook's general counsel, Colin Stretch, said in the written testimony that the 80,000 posts from Russia's Internet Research Agency were a tiny fraction of content on Facebook, equal to one out of 23,000 posts. However, the posts violated Facebook's terms of service, and any amount of such activity using fake accounts is too much, Stretch wrote. "These actions run counter to Facebook's mission of building community and everything we stand for. And we are determined to do everything we can to address this new threat," he wrote. The 80,000 posts were published between June 2015 and August 2017. Most of them focused on divisive social and political messages such as race relations, Facebook said. Twitter's revised estimate of how many Russia-linked accounts were on its service comes a month after an influential Democratic senator, Mark Warner, slammed it for what he called an insufficient investigation. Twitter has suspended all 2,752 accounts that it tracked to Russia's Internet Research Agency, and it has given US congressional investigators the account names, the source familiar with the company's testimony said. "State-sanctioned manipulation of elections by sophisticated foreign actors is a new challenge for us - and one that we are determined to meet," Twitter said in written testimony, according to the source.

Facebook says 126 million Americans may have seen Russia-linked political posts

<p>After years of refusing to address rumours about his sexuality, Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey said on Sunday he has chosen to live his life as a gay man.</p>

<p>Spacey, 58, who won Oscars for &ldquo;The Usual Suspects&rdquo; and &ldquo;American Beauty,&rdquo; made the declaration in a post on Twitter.</p>

<p>He apologized to fellow actor Anthony Rapp in the same post for an incident Rapp said occurred in 1986. Rapp, who went on to star in the Broadway musical &ldquo;Rent,&rdquo; was 14 at the time and starting his career.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="und"><a href="https://t.co/X6ybi5atr5">pic.twitter.com/X6ybi5atr5</a></p>
&mdash; Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinSpacey/status/924848412842971136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 30, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>Spacey said he was &ldquo;horrified&rdquo; to hear Rapp&rsquo;s story of the encounter, which he said &ldquo;I honestly do not remember&rdquo; because it occurred more than 30 years ago. He also said he owed Rapp a &ldquo;sincere apology&rdquo; for what he said would have been &ldquo;deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Rapp&rsquo;s story &ldquo;has encouraged me to address other things in my life,&rdquo; Spacey wrote. &ldquo;I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I now choose to live life as a gay man.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&ldquo;I want to deal with this honestly and openly,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and that starts with me examining my own behavior.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Rapp described in an interview attending a party hosted by Spacey in which the actor picked him up, brought him to a bed and lay down on top of him after other guests left. Rapp, who said he had the impression Spacey was drunk, said he pushed him away and left.</p>

<p>Spacey, a Tony Award winner for &ldquo;Lost in Yonkers,&rdquo; stars in the Netflix political drama &ldquo;House of Cards.&rdquo; He also served for 10 years as artistic director of London&rsquo;s Old Vic theater company.</p>


'I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I now choose to live life as a gay man,' Spacey said on Twitter

After years of refusing to address rumours about his sexuality, Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey said on Sunday he has chosen to live his life as a gay man. Spacey, 58, who won Oscars for “The Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty,” made the declaration in a post on Twitter. He apologized to fellow actor Anthony Rapp in the same post for an incident Rapp said occurred in 1986. Rapp, who went on to star in the Broadway musical “Rent,” was 14 at the time and starting his career. pic.twitter.com/X6ybi5atr5 — Kevin Spacey (@KevinSpacey) October 30, 2017 × Spacey said he was “horrified” to hear Rapp’s story of the encounter, which he said “I honestly do not remember” because it occurred more than 30 years ago. He also said he owed Rapp a “sincere apology” for what he said would have been “deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.” Rapp’s story “has encouraged me to address other things in my life,” Spacey wrote. “I have loved and had romantic encounters with men throughout my life, and I now choose to live life as a gay man.” “I want to deal with this honestly and openly,” he said, “and that starts with me examining my own behavior.” Rapp described in an interview attending a party hosted by Spacey in which the actor picked him up, brought him to a bed and lay down on top of him after other guests left. Rapp, who said he had the impression Spacey was drunk, said he pushed him away and left. Spacey, a Tony Award winner for “Lost in Yonkers,” stars in the Netflix political drama “House of Cards.” He also served for 10 years as artistic director of London’s Old Vic theater company.

Kevin Spacey declares he has chosen to live life as a gay man

<p>US&nbsp;tech firms such as Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc should be more aggressive in tackling extremism and political misinformation if they want to avoid government action, a report from the World Economic Forum said on Monday.</p>

<p>The study from the Swiss nonprofit organization adds to a chorus of calls for Silicon Valley to stem the spread of violent material from Islamic State militants and the use of their services by alleged Russian propagandists.</p>

<p>Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet Inc&#39;s Google will go under the microscope of US&nbsp;lawmakers on Tuesday and Wednesday when their general counsels will testify before three US&nbsp;congressional committees on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US&nbsp;presidential election.</p>

<p>The report from the World Economic Forum&#39;s human rights council warns that tech companies risk government regulation that would limit freedom of speech unless they &quot;assume a more active self-governance role.&quot;</p>

<p>It recommends that the companies conduct more thorough internal reviews of how their services can be misused and that they put in place more human oversight of content.</p>

<p>The German parliament in June approved a plan to fine social media networks up to 50 million euros if they fail to remove hateful postings promptly, a law that Monday&#39;s study said could potentially lead to the takedown of massive amounts of content.</p>


The study from the Swiss nonprofit organization adds to a chorus of calls for Silicon Valley to stem the spread of violent material.

US tech firms such as Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc should be more aggressive in tackling extremism and political misinformation if they want to avoid government action, a report from the World Economic Forum said on Monday. The study from the Swiss nonprofit organization adds to a chorus of calls for Silicon Valley to stem the spread of violent material from Islamic State militants and the use of their services by alleged Russian propagandists. Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet Inc's Google will go under the microscope of US lawmakers on Tuesday and Wednesday when their general counsels will testify before three US congressional committees on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. The report from the World Economic Forum's human rights council warns that tech companies risk government regulation that would limit freedom of speech unless they "assume a more active self-governance role." It recommends that the companies conduct more thorough internal reviews of how their services can be misused and that they put in place more human oversight of content. The German parliament in June approved a plan to fine social media networks up to 50 million euros if they fail to remove hateful postings promptly, a law that Monday's study said could potentially lead to the takedown of massive amounts of content.

Tech firms must do more on extremism: World Economic Forum

<p>Iran&#39;s oldest social media <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/new-communication-minster-of-iran-to-get-services-of-twitter-unblocked-in-the-country-19315">website cloob.com launched nearly twelve years ago </a>has decided to shut down after a long battle with the country&#39;s censors.</p>

<p>The website which was launched<a href="http://www.wionews.com/life-fun/iranian-actor-will-shun-oscars-to-protest-trumps-muslim-immigrant-ban-11740"> in </a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/life-fun/iranian-actor-will-shun-oscars-to-protest-trumps-muslim-immigrant-ban-11740">January,</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/life-fun/iranian-actor-will-shun-oscars-to-protest-trumps-muslim-immigrant-ban-11740"> 2005 in Farsi(Persian) at its height&nbsp;commanded 1 </a>million pageviews with Iranians busy blogging and chatting on the site.</p>

<p>The site even had an online video and photo sharing service. &nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;Cloob.com was entirely blocked three times and the last time it took 28 days to unblock it,&quot; said company director Mohammad Javad Shakouri Moghadam in a blog post.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The website was able to fill the vacuum left by social media site Orkut after the government banned it, after several run-ins with the Iranian government cloob founder Moghadam decided to shut Iran&#39;s popular site.</p>

<p>However, sites such as Instagram are not banned and have boomed in Iran, while Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov&#39;s messaging service &quot;Telegram&quot; has nearly 25 million users in the country.</p>

<p>&quot;Cloob was one of the top three services in Iran but its flourishing tree has withered,&quot; said Shakouri.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;These days, some have started to... sue the new wave of content creators such as Aparat(a cloob product) and other services -- a source of domestic content creation which would definitely be of benefit to our country and culture,&quot; he told AFP.&nbsp;</p>

<p>President Hassan Rouhani was re-elected in May promising to soften social restrictions.&nbsp;He appointed Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, to head the communications portfolio.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Jahromi had said that negotiations were underway to lift a ban on Twitter, though no progress has since been announced.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In 2013, the Iranian government had blocked YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus in a huge Internet crackdown.&nbsp;</p>


The website was able to fill the vacuum left by social media site Orkut after the government banned it

Iran's oldest social media website cloob.com launched nearly twelve years ago has decided to shut down after a long battle with the country's censors. The website which was launched in January, 2005 in Farsi(Persian) at its height commanded 1 million pageviews with Iranians busy blogging and chatting on the site. The site even had an online video and photo sharing service. "Cloob.com was entirely blocked three times and the last time it took 28 days to unblock it," said company director Mohammad Javad Shakouri Moghadam in a blog post. The website was able to fill the vacuum left by social media site Orkut after the government banned it, after several run-ins with the Iranian government cloob founder Moghadam decided to shut Iran's popular site. However, sites such as Instagram are not banned and have boomed in Iran, while Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov's messaging service "Telegram" has nearly 25 million users in the country. "Cloob was one of the top three services in Iran but its flourishing tree has withered," said Shakouri. "These days, some have started to... sue the new wave of content creators such as Aparat(a cloob product) and other services -- a source of domestic content creation which would definitely be of benefit to our country and culture," he told AFP. President Hassan Rouhani was re-elected in May promising to soften social restrictions. He appointed Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, to head the communications portfolio. Jahromi had said that negotiations were underway to lift a ban on Twitter, though no progress has since been announced. In 2013, the Iranian government had blocked YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus in a huge Internet crackdown.

Iran's oldest social media site decides to shut over government censorship

<p>Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled &quot;Oculus Go&quot;- a new virtual reality (VR) headset.&nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fzuck%2Fvideos%2F10104098492370231%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="560"></iframe></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>Zuckerberg called it the &quot;most accessible virtual reality experience ever built&quot;.</p>

<p>&#39;Oculus G&#39; is a unique standalone feature, not part of Facebook. The device will&nbsp;not require any connection&nbsp;with a phone or personal computer.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The previous VR headset &quot;Oculus Rift&quot; operated only after connecting with either a smartphone or a personal computer.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Priced at $199, the shipments for the VR handset will begin&nbsp;next year.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="550" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fzuck%2Fposts%2F10104098056059601&amp;width=500" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="500"></iframe></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>The device is designed for playing games, watching movies and connecting with friends.&nbsp;The headset is designed with high-resolution fast switch LCD screen.</p>

<p>Equipped with next-generation lenses it also has built-in speakers.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Foculusvr%2Fvideos%2F1188809907887188%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="560"></iframe></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fzuck%2Fvideos%2F10104094221883321%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="560"></iframe></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


The device will?not require any connection?with a phone or personal computer

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled "Oculus Go"- a new virtual reality (VR) headset. × Zuckerberg called it the "most accessible virtual reality experience ever built". 'Oculus G' is a unique standalone feature, not part of Facebook. The device will not require any connection with a phone or personal computer. The previous VR headset "Oculus Rift" operated only after connecting with either a smartphone or a personal computer. Priced at $199, the shipments for the VR handset will begin next year. × The device is designed for playing games, watching movies and connecting with friends. The headset is designed with high-resolution fast switch LCD screen. Equipped with next-generation lenses it also has built-in speakers. × ×

Facebook's new standalone VR headset: Oculus Go

<p>As more and more services go online, people are increasingly spending extra hours hooked onto their computer screens. Since people are not strictly monitoring the time they spend on the Internet, this is resulting into addiction.</p>

<p>While some of us log onto the Internet just to surf, others spend crazy amount of time on social media websites liked Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others. People think this behavior is fine, but in reality, it&rsquo;s not. Today, internet addiction has become a severe issue.</p>

<p>It leads to mental disturbance, early depression and can have dangers of serious illness like schizophrenia. Internet addiction can also significantly hurt long-term memory and lead to suicidal tendencies.</p>

<p>To make things worse, internet addiction is hard to identify. You can&rsquo;t identify this disorder like the way you can find out other diseases or problems.</p>

<p>Different countries are treating this as a serious issue. In 2008, China declared internet addiction as a disorder and started boot camps to cure it. South Korea too considers internet addiction a public health crisis; in the US, a study is being conducted to figure the best treatment for it.</p>

<p><strong>How to cure internet addiction</strong></p>

<p>If you think you spend too much time on the internet, well it&rsquo;s time for you to relax, take a deep breath and follow these simple tips:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Disable notifications for apps you constantly monitor: Enjoying the little moments of life is more important, notifications can wait</li>
	<li>Be connected, but not always: Disable internet on your phone for a couple of hours every day</li>
	<li>Keep your phone away from bed: Exposure to phone at night can lead to sleep disorders</li>
	<li>Go out and pursue a hobby</li>
</ul>

<p><br />
So, there is no need to be afraid of the online addiction. You can still be connected and be with your phones and laptops, you just have to strike a balance between your online and offline lives. Happy surfing!</p>


As more and more services go online, people are increasingly spending extra hours hooked onto their computer screens. Since people are not strictly monitoring the time they spend on the Internet, this is resulting into addiction.

As more and more services go online, people are increasingly spending extra hours hooked onto their computer screens. Since people are not strictly monitoring the time they spend on the Internet, this is resulting into addiction. While some of us log onto the Internet just to surf, others spend crazy amount of time on social media websites liked Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others. People think this behavior is fine, but in reality, it’s not. Today, internet addiction has become a severe issue. It leads to mental disturbance, early depression and can have dangers of serious illness like schizophrenia. Internet addiction can also significantly hurt long-term memory and lead to suicidal tendencies. To make things worse, internet addiction is hard to identify. You can’t identify this disorder like the way you can find out other diseases or problems. Different countries are treating this as a serious issue. In 2008, China declared internet addiction as a disorder and started boot camps to cure it. South Korea too considers internet addiction a public health crisis; in the US, a study is being conducted to figure the best treatment for it. How to cure internet addiction If you think you spend too much time on the internet, well it’s time for you to relax, take a deep breath and follow these simple tips: Disable notifications for apps you constantly monitor: Enjoying the little moments of life is more important, notifications can wait Be connected, but not always: Disable internet on your phone for a couple of hours every day Keep your phone away from bed: Exposure to phone at night can lead to sleep disorders Go out and pursue a hobby So, there is no need to be afraid of the online addiction. You can still be connected and be with your phones and laptops, you just have to strike a balance between your online and offline lives. Happy surfing!

Spending too much time online? Tips to avoid internet addiction

<p>October 1 was National Blood Donation Day, which Facebook commemorated with the launch of a new feature that should help people in India find blood donors.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The initiative is meant to help fight the shortage of blood in the country.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the initiative on his page on September 27:&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="555" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fzuck%2Fposts%2F10104068056444071&amp;width=500" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="500"></iframe></p>

<p>&quot;We now have those tools and hope they help people come together in ways that weren&rsquo;t possible before,&rdquo; Zuckerberg wrote.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Functional since October 1, the service allows Facebook users to sign up as blood donors via a simple process.</p>

<p>The people signing up have to mention their blood group and other important details. (The&nbsp;details can be made public or kept private as per your discretion.) You can also choose to display a donor status on your timeline in order to try and motivate others.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The service aims to connect donors with people in need of blood.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Then when someone makes a request for blood, listed donors with the same blood group in nearby areas are sent a notification.</p>

<p>After reviewing the request, interested donors can contact the person who has made the request on messenger, WhatsApp, or via telephone.</p>

<p>People in India can go to facebook.com/donateblood to learn more about the initiative and to sign up as&nbsp;blood donors.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


The feature was launched on October 1, National Blood Donation Day

October 1 was National Blood Donation Day, which Facebook commemorated with the launch of a new feature that should help people in India find blood donors. The initiative is meant to help fight the shortage of blood in the country. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the initiative on his page on September 27: "We now have those tools and hope they help people come together in ways that weren’t possible before,” Zuckerberg wrote. Functional since October 1, the service allows Facebook users to sign up as blood donors via a simple process. The people signing up have to mention their blood group and other important details. (The details can be made public or kept private as per your discretion.) You can also choose to display a donor status on your timeline in order to try and motivate others. The service aims to connect donors with people in need of blood. Then when someone makes a request for blood, listed donors with the same blood group in nearby areas are sent a notification. After reviewing the request, interested donors can contact the person who has made the request on messenger, WhatsApp, or via telephone. People in India can go to facebook.com/donateblood to learn more about the initiative and to sign up as blood donors. .

With new feature, Facebook helps those in need find blood donors

<p>Facebook on Monday said it will hire more than 1,000 people to thwart deceptive ads crafted to knock elections off course.</p>

<p>The announcement came as the leading social network turned over to Congress some 3,000 Russia-linked ads that appeared to use hot-button issues to turn people against one another ahead of last year&#39;s US election.</p>

<p>&quot;Today we are delivering those ads to congressional investigators,&quot; Facebook vice president of global policy Joel Kaplan said in an online post.</p>

<p>&quot;Many appear to amplify racial and social divisions.&quot;</p>

<p>The ads appeared to be linked to a Russian entity known as the Internet Research Agency, and violated Facebook policies because they came from inauthentic accounts, according to Kaplan.</p>

<p>&quot;Aggressive steps&quot; by Facebook will include hiring more than 1,000 people to bolster its global ads review teams in the coming year, Kaplan said.</p>

<p>Facebook also planned to ramp up investment in machine learning to identify and take down ads violating the social network&#39;s policies.</p>

<p>&quot;Enforcement is never perfect, but we will get better at finding and removing improper ads,&quot; Kaplan said.</p>

<p>Facebook will require those interested in running ads related to US elections to confirm businesses or organizations they represent.</p>

<p><strong>- Asking forgiveness -</strong></p>

<p>Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg last month announced a crackdown on efforts to use the leading social network to meddle with elections.</p>

<p>Zuckerberg outlined a series of steps that would help prevent the manipulation of the social network, including more transparency on political ads appearing on Facebook.</p>

<p>Facebook last month agreed to hand over information about the ads from the Internet Research Agency to special counsel Robert Mueller&#39;s investigation of the 2016 election.</p>

<p>An internal Facebook review showed that Russia-linked fake accounts were used to buy ads aimed at exacerbating political clashes ahead of and following the 2016 US presidential election.</p>

<p>Some 470 accounts spent a total of approximately $100,000 between June 2015 to May 2017 on ads that touted fake or misleading news or drove traffic to pages with such messages, a Facebook official said.</p>

<p>While the amount of money involved was relatively small, enough to buy roughly 3,000 ads, the accounts or pages violated Facebook policies and were shut down, according to Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos.</p>

<p>Zuckerberg over the weekend posted a message marking the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, or day of atonement, asking forgiveness &quot;for the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together.&quot;</p>

<p><strong>- Free speech vs abuse -</strong></p>

<p>Facebook vice president of communications Elliot Schrage on Monday posted answers to &quot;hard questions&quot; prompted by the Russia ads.</p>

<p>The social network estimated that 10 million people in the US saw the ads, some 44 percent of those views happening before the November election and the rest afterwards.</p>

<p>Many of the ads did not violate Facebook rules regarding banned content but instead broke a policy barring accounts from hiding who is really running them, according to the social network.</p>

<p>&quot;That means that for most of (the ads) if they had been run by authentic individuals, anywhere, they could have remained on the platform,&quot; Schrage said.</p>

<p>&quot;This is an issue we have debated a great deal.&quot;</p>

<p>Facebook has become an important platform for debate on political and social issues and faces the challenge of protecting free speech while guarding against malicious interference in elections.</p>

<p>&quot;We are dedicated to being an open platform for all ideas, and that may sometimes mean allowing people to express views we &mdash; or others &mdash; find objectionable,&quot; Schrage said.</p>

<p>&quot;This has been the longstanding challenge for all democracies: how to foster honest and authentic political speech while protecting civic discourse from manipulation and abuse.&quot;</p>


The announcement came as the leading social network turned over to Congress some 3,000 Russia-linked ads that appeared to use hot-button issues to turn people against one another ahead of last year's US election

Facebook on Monday said it will hire more than 1,000 people to thwart deceptive ads crafted to knock elections off course. The announcement came as the leading social network turned over to Congress some 3,000 Russia-linked ads that appeared to use hot-button issues to turn people against one another ahead of last year's US election. "Today we are delivering those ads to congressional investigators," Facebook vice president of global policy Joel Kaplan said in an online post. "Many appear to amplify racial and social divisions." The ads appeared to be linked to a Russian entity known as the Internet Research Agency, and violated Facebook policies because they came from inauthentic accounts, according to Kaplan. "Aggressive steps" by Facebook will include hiring more than 1,000 people to bolster its global ads review teams in the coming year, Kaplan said. Facebook also planned to ramp up investment in machine learning to identify and take down ads violating the social network's policies. "Enforcement is never perfect, but we will get better at finding and removing improper ads," Kaplan said. Facebook will require those interested in running ads related to US elections to confirm businesses or organizations they represent. - Asking forgiveness - Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg last month announced a crackdown on efforts to use the leading social network to meddle with elections. Zuckerberg outlined a series of steps that would help prevent the manipulation of the social network, including more transparency on political ads appearing on Facebook. Facebook last month agreed to hand over information about the ads from the Internet Research Agency to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of the 2016 election. An internal Facebook review showed that Russia-linked fake accounts were used to buy ads aimed at exacerbating political clashes ahead of and following the 2016 US presidential election. Some 470 accounts spent a total of approximately $100,000 between June 2015 to May 2017 on ads that touted fake or misleading news or drove traffic to pages with such messages, a Facebook official said. While the amount of money involved was relatively small, enough to buy roughly 3,000 ads, the accounts or pages violated Facebook policies and were shut down, according to Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos. Zuckerberg over the weekend posted a message marking the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, or day of atonement, asking forgiveness "for the ways my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together." - Free speech vs abuse - Facebook vice president of communications Elliot Schrage on Monday posted answers to "hard questions" prompted by the Russia ads. The social network estimated that 10 million people in the US saw the ads, some 44 percent of those views happening before the November election and the rest afterwards. Many of the ads did not violate Facebook rules regarding banned content but instead broke a policy barring accounts from hiding who is really running them, according to the social network. "That means that for most of (the ads) if they had been run by authentic individuals, anywhere, they could have remained on the platform," Schrage said. "This is an issue we have debated a great deal." Facebook has become an important platform for debate on political and social issues and faces the challenge of protecting free speech while guarding against malicious interference in elections. "We are dedicated to being an open platform for all ideas, and that may sometimes mean allowing people to express views we — or others — find objectionable," Schrage said. "This has been the longstanding challenge for all democracies: how to foster honest and authentic political speech while protecting civic discourse from manipulation and abuse."

Facebook beefing up team to thwart election manipulation

<p><a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/facebook-changes-algorithm-to-curb-tiny-group-of-spammers-17547" target="_blank">Facebook</a> said it plans on Monday to turn over to the US Congress copies of some 3,000 ads that the social network says were bought on Facebook likely by people in Russia in the months before and after the 2016 US election.</p>

<p>Last month, in response to calls from US lawmakers, <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/facebook-ceo-zuckerberg-wife-vow-3-billion-to-end-all-diseases-6641" target="_blank">Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg</a> pledged to hand over the ads to congressional investigators who are looking into alleged Russian involvement in the US presidential election, but he had left the timing unclear.</p>

<p>The materials would be delivered on Monday, Facebook said on Sunday.</p>

<p>Facebook, the world&#39;s largest social network, has become a primary platform for internet political ads because it has a wide reach and gives advertisers powerful targeting capabilities. For that reason, it may possess valuable clues for US investigators.</p>

<p>Facebook has already provided information about Russia-linked ads to US special counsel Robert Mueller, who is also investigating alleged election meddling, a source said last month.</p>

<p>Moscow has denied any meddling in last year&#39;s US election, in which Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton.</p>

<p>Facebook said on Sunday it would provide to Congress copies of the ads it has found, as well as related data such as whom the ads were targeted at and how much each ad cost.</p>

<p>The materials would be turned over to the intelligence committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, and to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Facebook said.</p>

<p>The $100,000 in ads linked to Russia focused on amplifying divisive US social and political messages, Facebook said last month. Some ads mentioned Muslim support for Clinton, promoted in-person events and weighed in on the Black Lives Matter protests against police shootings, according to media reports.</p>

<p>The emergence of Facebook as a battleground for government-sponsored propaganda has become a major challenge for the social network&#39;s corporate image.</p>

<p>Zuckerberg, in Facebook posts last month, disclosed a series of steps he said the company would take to prevent governments from manipulating it and said he had earlier been wrong to dismiss the possibility of Facebook being used in such a way.</p>

<p>US Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, has likened digital political advertising to the &quot;Wild, Wild West,&quot; and he and others have called for legislation to impose disclosure requirements similar to what is required in the United States for political ads on television.</p>


Facebook said on Sunday it would provide to Congress copies of the ads it has found

Facebook said it plans on Monday to turn over to the US Congress copies of some 3,000 ads that the social network says were bought on Facebook likely by people in Russia in the months before and after the 2016 US election. Last month, in response to calls from US lawmakers, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg pledged to hand over the ads to congressional investigators who are looking into alleged Russian involvement in the US presidential election, but he had left the timing unclear. The materials would be delivered on Monday, Facebook said on Sunday. Facebook, the world's largest social network, has become a primary platform for internet political ads because it has a wide reach and gives advertisers powerful targeting capabilities. For that reason, it may possess valuable clues for US investigators. Facebook has already provided information about Russia-linked ads to US special counsel Robert Mueller, who is also investigating alleged election meddling, a source said last month. Moscow has denied any meddling in last year's US election, in which Republican Donald Trump defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton. Facebook said on Sunday it would provide to Congress copies of the ads it has found, as well as related data such as whom the ads were targeted at and how much each ad cost. The materials would be turned over to the intelligence committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, and to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Facebook said. The $100,000 in ads linked to Russia focused on amplifying divisive US social and political messages, Facebook said last month. Some ads mentioned Muslim support for Clinton, promoted in-person events and weighed in on the Black Lives Matter protests against police shootings, according to media reports. The emergence of Facebook as a battleground for government-sponsored propaganda has become a major challenge for the social network's corporate image. Zuckerberg, in Facebook posts last month, disclosed a series of steps he said the company would take to prevent governments from manipulating it and said he had earlier been wrong to dismiss the possibility of Facebook being used in such a way. US Senator Mark Warner, a Democrat, has likened digital political advertising to the "Wild, Wild West," and he and others have called for legislation to impose disclosure requirements similar to what is required in the United States for political ads on television.

Facebook to give Russia-linked ads to US Congress on Monday

<p>Facebook Inc founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg asked for forgiveness for ways his work was used to divide people in a Facebook posting marking the end of Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday of atonement on Saturday.</p>

<p>&quot;For the ways, my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask forgiveness and I will work to do better,&quot; Zuckerberg said in the post.</p>

<p>He did not refer to specific issues in the message, which comes as Facebook and other technology companies are under increased scrutiny amid a US&nbsp;investigation into potential Russian involvement in the 2016 US&nbsp;Presidential election campaign.</p>

<p>Facebook said on September 6 it had found that an operation likely based in Russia spent $100,000 on thousands of US&nbsp;ads promoting divisive social and political messages in a two-year-period through May.</p>

<p>Facebook, the dominant social media network, said 3,000 ads and 470 &quot;inauthentic&quot; accounts and pages spread polarizing views on topics including immigration, race and gay rights.</p>

<p>Facebook has launched an overhaul of how it handles paid political advertisements after US&nbsp;lawmakers threatened to regulate the world&#39;s largest social network over secretive ads that run during election campaigns.</p>

<p>Probes being conducted by several congressional committees along with the Department of Justice have clouded US&nbsp;President Donald Trump&#39;s tenure since he took office in January and have threatened his agenda, which has yet to secure a major legislative victory.</p>


The Facebook chief was referring to a post marking the end of Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday of atonement on Saturday

Facebook Inc founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg asked for forgiveness for ways his work was used to divide people in a Facebook posting marking the end of Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday of atonement on Saturday. "For the ways, my work was used to divide people rather than bring us together, I ask forgiveness and I will work to do better," Zuckerberg said in the post. He did not refer to specific issues in the message, which comes as Facebook and other technology companies are under increased scrutiny amid a US investigation into potential Russian involvement in the 2016 US Presidential election campaign. Facebook said on September 6 it had found that an operation likely based in Russia spent $100,000 on thousands of US ads promoting divisive social and political messages in a two-year-period through May. Facebook, the dominant social media network, said 3,000 ads and 470 "inauthentic" accounts and pages spread polarizing views on topics including immigration, race and gay rights. Facebook has launched an overhaul of how it handles paid political advertisements after US lawmakers threatened to regulate the world's largest social network over secretive ads that run during election campaigns. Probes being conducted by several congressional committees along with the Department of Justice have clouded US President Donald Trump's tenure since he took office in January and have threatened his agenda, which has yet to secure a major legislative victory.

Mark Zuckerberg seeks forgiveness for division caused by his work

<p>Twitter has announced a test project allowing tweets to be expanded to 280 characters, double the existing limit, in the latest effort to boost flagging growth at the social network.</p>

<p>San Francisco-based Twitter said the new limit, a major shift for the messaging platform known for its 140-character tweets, aims to address &quot;a major cause of frustration&quot; for many users.</p>

<p>Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey fired off what may be one of the first expanded tweets.</p>

<p>&quot;This is a small change, but a big move for us,&quot; he wrote. &quot;140 was an arbitrary choice... Proud of how thoughtful the team has been in solving a real problem people have when trying to tweet.&quot;</p>

<p>A &quot;small group&quot; of users will see the new limits before Twitter decides on rolling out the changes more broadly, the company said.</p>

<p>&quot;Trying to cram your thoughts into a tweet, we&#39;ve all been there, and it&#39;s a pain,&quot; product manager Aliza Rosen and software engineer Ikuhiro Ihara said in a blog post.</p>

<p>&quot;We&#39;re doing something new: we&#39;re going to try out a longer limit, 280 characters, in languages impacted by cramming.&quot;</p>

<p>Twitter planned to leave the old limit in place for tweets in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean because internal data showed written characters in those languages packed plenty into the allotted space.</p>

<p>&quot;Our research shows us that the character limit is a major cause of frustration for people tweeting in English, but it is not for those tweeting in Japanese,&quot; Rosen and Ihara said.</p>

<p>&quot;Also, in all markets, when people don&#39;t have to cram their thoughts into 140 characters and actually have some to spare, we see more people tweeting.&quot;</p>

<p>Twitter, which became a public company in 2013, has never reported a profit even though it has built a loyal base of celebrities, journalists, and political figures.</p>

<p>In its most recent quarter, Twitter reported its base of monthly active users was unchanged at 328 million compared to the first three months of the year and up just five per cent from a year earlier.</p>

<p>Its growth has failed to keep pace with the social network leader Facebook, which has some two billion users, and Facebook-owned Instagram, with 800 million.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;We&#39;re hoping fewer tweets run into the character limit, which should make it easier for everyone to tweet,&quot; Rosen and Ihara said in the blog post.</p>

<p>&quot;We understand since many of you have been Tweeting for years, there may be an emotional attachment to 140 characters... But we tried this, saw the power of what it will do, and fell in love with this new, still brief, constraint.&quot;</p>

<p>Twitter has been seeking to draw in users by offering more video including live streaming of sporting events, aiming to broaden its appeal.</p>

<p>The messaging platform reported a net loss of $116 million in the second quarter, slightly wider than its $107 million loss a year ago.</p>

<p>It remained an open question whether the new tweet limit would ignite the growth an engagement Twitter needs to compete in the fast-moving social media segment.</p>

<p>&quot;The more they expand, the more they start looking like Facebook,&quot; Enderle Group analyst Rob Enderle said of Twitter.</p>

<p>&quot;And if they start looking like Facebook, then Facebook will take them out and has the warchest for it.&quot;</p>

<p>The move by Twitter could also be rendered moot by lifestyle changes brought about by trends in voice-commanded digital assistants and looking at the world through mixed- reality glasses, said Gartner analyst Brian Blau.</p>

<p>&quot;What are tweets in those worlds?&quot; Blau said. &quot;We see Twitter sort of struggling to get this business right while everyone else is moving in an another direction.&quot;</p>


Twitter has announced a test project allowing tweets to be expanded to 280 characters, double the existing limit

Twitter has announced a test project allowing tweets to be expanded to 280 characters, double the existing limit, in the latest effort to boost flagging growth at the social network. San Francisco-based Twitter said the new limit, a major shift for the messaging platform known for its 140-character tweets, aims to address "a major cause of frustration" for many users. Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey fired off what may be one of the first expanded tweets. "This is a small change, but a big move for us," he wrote. "140 was an arbitrary choice... Proud of how thoughtful the team has been in solving a real problem people have when trying to tweet." A "small group" of users will see the new limits before Twitter decides on rolling out the changes more broadly, the company said. "Trying to cram your thoughts into a tweet, we've all been there, and it's a pain," product manager Aliza Rosen and software engineer Ikuhiro Ihara said in a blog post. "We're doing something new: we're going to try out a longer limit, 280 characters, in languages impacted by cramming." Twitter planned to leave the old limit in place for tweets in Japanese, Chinese, and Korean because internal data showed written characters in those languages packed plenty into the allotted space. "Our research shows us that the character limit is a major cause of frustration for people tweeting in English, but it is not for those tweeting in Japanese," Rosen and Ihara said. "Also, in all markets, when people don't have to cram their thoughts into 140 characters and actually have some to spare, we see more people tweeting." Twitter, which became a public company in 2013, has never reported a profit even though it has built a loyal base of celebrities, journalists, and political figures. In its most recent quarter, Twitter reported its base of monthly active users was unchanged at 328 million compared to the first three months of the year and up just five per cent from a year earlier. Its growth has failed to keep pace with the social network leader Facebook, which has some two billion users, and Facebook-owned Instagram, with 800 million. "We're hoping fewer tweets run into the character limit, which should make it easier for everyone to tweet," Rosen and Ihara said in the blog post. "We understand since many of you have been Tweeting for years, there may be an emotional attachment to 140 characters... But we tried this, saw the power of what it will do, and fell in love with this new, still brief, constraint." Twitter has been seeking to draw in users by offering more video including live streaming of sporting events, aiming to broaden its appeal. The messaging platform reported a net loss of $116 million in the second quarter, slightly wider than its $107 million loss a year ago. It remained an open question whether the new tweet limit would ignite the growth an engagement Twitter needs to compete in the fast-moving social media segment. "The more they expand, the more they start looking like Facebook," Enderle Group analyst Rob Enderle said of Twitter. "And if they start looking like Facebook, then Facebook will take them out and has the warchest for it." The move by Twitter could also be rendered moot by lifestyle changes brought about by trends in voice-commanded digital assistants and looking at the world through mixed- reality glasses, said Gartner analyst Brian Blau. "What are tweets in those worlds?" Blau said. "We see Twitter sort of struggling to get this business right while everyone else is moving in an another direction."

Twitter aims to boost appeal with new 280-character tweet limit

<p>Former US President&nbsp;Barack Obama&nbsp;personally urged Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to counter the rise of fake news on the social network during a meeting held shortly after last year&#39;s election, the Washington Post reported Sunday.</p>

<p>The encounter reportedly took place on the sidelines of a meeting of global leaders in Lima, Peru on November 19, two months before Trump&#39;s inauguration and days after Zuckerberg had dismissed as &quot;crazy&quot; the idea that misleading stories driven by Russian operatives had made a major impact on the outcome of the vote.</p>

<p>&quot;Zuckerberg acknowledged the problem posed by fake news. But he told&nbsp;Obama&nbsp;that those messages weren&#39;t widespread on Facebook and that there was no easy remedy,&quot; the newspaper said, quoting people it said had knowledge of the exchange.</p>

<p>The report comes days after Facebook announced it would be handing over to Congress advertisements it discovered were bought by Russia-linked fake accounts, aimed at inflaming political tensions ahead of and following the election.</p>

<p>The Kremlin has denied any involvement.</p>


Zuckerberg had acknowledged the problem posed by fake news, the report in Washington Post said

Former US President Barack Obama personally urged Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to counter the rise of fake news on the social network during a meeting held shortly after last year's election, the Washington Post reported Sunday. The encounter reportedly took place on the sidelines of a meeting of global leaders in Lima, Peru on November 19, two months before Trump's inauguration and days after Zuckerberg had dismissed as "crazy" the idea that misleading stories driven by Russian operatives had made a major impact on the outcome of the vote. "Zuckerberg acknowledged the problem posed by fake news. But he told Obama that those messages weren't widespread on Facebook and that there was no easy remedy," the newspaper said, quoting people it said had knowledge of the exchange. The report comes days after Facebook announced it would be handing over to Congress advertisements it discovered were bought by Russia-linked fake accounts, aimed at inflaming political tensions ahead of and following the election. The Kremlin has denied any involvement.

Obama warned Zuckerberg over fake news: Report

<p>As Facebook faces intense fake news scrutiny after disclosing the details about the presence of Russian political ads worth $100,000 on its platform during the 2016 US presidential election, it was none other than former President Barack Obama who had warned CEO Mark Zuckerberg about fake news on Facebook.<br />
<br />
According to a report in The Washington Post late on Sunday, in November last year, Obama made a personal appeal to Zuckerberg to take the threat of fake news and political disinformation seriously.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
&quot;Unless Facebook and the government did more to address the threat, Obama warned, it would only get worse in the next presidential race,&quot; the report added.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
However, Zuckerberg acknowledged the problem posed by fake news but &quot;told Obama that those messages weren`t widespread on Facebook and that there was no easy remedy&quot;.<br />
<br />
Now, after an extensive legal and policy review, the social media giant has announced it would now share those 3,000 Russian ads with Congressional investigators.<br />
<br />
Facebook announced it had found more than 3,000 ads addressing social and political issues that ran in the US between 2015 and 2017 and that appear to have come from accounts associated with a Russian entity known as the Internet Research Agency.<br />
<br />
Facebook earlier handed over the details to American Special Counsel Robert Mueller that included copies of the ads and details about the accounts that bought them and the targeting criteria they used.</p>

<p>Zuckerberg, who returned after taking parental leave after his second daughter was born, said in a post last week that he deeply cares about the democratic process and protecting its integrity.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
Zuckerberg said &quot;We will continue our investigation into what happened on Facebook in this election. We may find more, and if we do, we will continue to work with the government&quot;.<br />
<br />
The Facebook CEO noted that the social media company has already provided information regarding this issue with the special counsel and have also briefed Congress about it.<br />
<br />
He stressed the company would now make political advertising more transparent. When someone buys political ads on TV or other media, they are required by law to disclose who paid for them.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
The company would strengthen the ad review process for political ads. Facebook would now increase investment in security and specifically election integrity.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
&quot;In the next year, we will more than double the team working on election integrity. In total, we`ll add more than 250 people across all our teams focused on security and safety for our community,&quot; Zuckerberg said.</p>


According to a report in The Washington Post late on Sunday, in November last year, Obama made a personal appeal to Zuckerberg to take the threat of fake news and political disinformation seriously.?

As Facebook faces intense fake news scrutiny after disclosing the details about the presence of Russian political ads worth $100,000 on its platform during the 2016 US presidential election, it was none other than former President Barack Obama who had warned CEO Mark Zuckerberg about fake news on Facebook. According to a report in The Washington Post late on Sunday, in November last year, Obama made a personal appeal to Zuckerberg to take the threat of fake news and political disinformation seriously. "Unless Facebook and the government did more to address the threat, Obama warned, it would only get worse in the next presidential race," the report added. However, Zuckerberg acknowledged the problem posed by fake news but "told Obama that those messages weren`t widespread on Facebook and that there was no easy remedy". Now, after an extensive legal and policy review, the social media giant has announced it would now share those 3,000 Russian ads with Congressional investigators. Facebook announced it had found more than 3,000 ads addressing social and political issues that ran in the US between 2015 and 2017 and that appear to have come from accounts associated with a Russian entity known as the Internet Research Agency. Facebook earlier handed over the details to American Special Counsel Robert Mueller that included copies of the ads and details about the accounts that bought them and the targeting criteria they used. Zuckerberg, who returned after taking parental leave after his second daughter was born, said in a post last week that he deeply cares about the democratic process and protecting its integrity. Zuckerberg said "We will continue our investigation into what happened on Facebook in this election. We may find more, and if we do, we will continue to work with the government". The Facebook CEO noted that the social media company has already provided information regarding this issue with the special counsel and have also briefed Congress about it. He stressed the company would now make political advertising more transparent. When someone buys political ads on TV or other media, they are required by law to disclose who paid for them. The company would strengthen the ad review process for political ads. Facebook would now increase investment in security and specifically election integrity. "In the next year, we will more than double the team working on election integrity. In total, we`ll add more than 250 people across all our teams focused on security and safety for our community," Zuckerberg said.

Obama personally warned Zuckerberg over fake news

<p><a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/facebook-bars-developers-from-using-data-for-surveillance-13345" target="_blank">Facebook&nbsp;Inc said on Thursday it was temporarily disabling the ability of advertisers</a> to target based on people&#39;s self-reported education and job information after a report that those&nbsp;features allowed targeting based on anti-semitic topics.</p>

<p>ProPublica, a non-profit news organization based in New York, reported hours earlier that Facebook&#39;s self-service ad-buying platform had allowed marketers to target&nbsp;ads&nbsp;at people who, on their&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;profile, had listed phrases such as &quot;Jew hater&quot; as their field of study or work.</p>

<p>Some 2,300 people had expressed interest in the topics &quot;Jew hater,&quot; &quot;how to burn Jews&quot; and &quot;History of &#39;why Jews ruin the world&#39;,&rdquo; according to ProPublica&#39;s investigation.</p>

<p>Facebook, the world&#39;s largest social network, confirmed the ProPublica investigation.</p>

<p>Once people put those phrases on their&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;profiles, the anti-Semitic topics automatically migrated onto the company&#39;s advertising platform, as if they were education or job data that would be useful to marketers,&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;said.</p>

<p>&quot;We are removing these self-reported targeting fields until we have the right processes in place to help prevent this issue,&quot;&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;said in a statement late on Thursday.</p>

<p>&quot;We want&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;to be a safe place for people and businesses, and we&#39;ll continue to do everything we can to keep hate off&nbsp;Facebook,&quot; it said.</p>

<p>Facebook&nbsp;initially responded to the ProPublica report by removing the topics in question from its ad system. However other news reports, including from Slate magazine, then discovered that hateful topics were more widespread in the ad system&#39;s targeting capabilities.</p>

<p>As&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;has given advertisers greater power to micro-target their messages using a self-service platform, the company has at times failed to ensure they comply with its terms and conditions.</p>

<p>Last year, ProPublica reported that&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;allowed advertisers to exclude users by race when running housing or other&nbsp;ads, despite a prohibition on such&nbsp;ads&nbsp;under the US&nbsp;Fair Housing Act 1969.</p>

<p>Facebook&nbsp;said last week an operation likely based in Russia spent $100,000 on thousands of U.S.&nbsp;ads&nbsp;promoting social and political messages over a two-year period through May, fueling concerns about foreign meddling in US&nbsp;elections.</p>

<p>The company said it shut down 470 &quot;inauthentic&quot; accounts as part of an internal investigation into those&nbsp;ads.</p>

<p>Facebook&nbsp;and rival Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, dominate the fast-growing market for online advertising, in part because they&nbsp;let&nbsp;marketers target their&nbsp;ads&nbsp;based on huge volumes of data.</p>

<p>Facebook&nbsp;reported $27.6 billion in 2016 revenue, the vast majority from advertising.</p>

<p>Ad campaigns that used the anti-Semitic categories on&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;were not widespread, the company said.</p>

<p>&quot;Given that the number of people in these segments was incredibly low, an extremely small number of people were targeted in these campaigns,&quot;&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;said.</p>

<p>One change&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;said it was considering was adding more thorough reviews of targeting categories before they show up in the self-service platform.</p>


Some 2,300 people had expressed interest in the topics "Jew hater," "how to burn Jews" and "History of 'why Jews ruin the world',? according to ProPublica's investigation

Facebook Inc said on Thursday it was temporarily disabling the ability of advertisers to target based on people's self-reported education and job information after a report that those features allowed targeting based on anti-semitic topics. ProPublica, a non-profit news organization based in New York, reported hours earlier that Facebook's self-service ad-buying platform had allowed marketers to target ads at people who, on their Facebook profile, had listed phrases such as "Jew hater" as their field of study or work. Some 2,300 people had expressed interest in the topics "Jew hater," "how to burn Jews" and "History of 'why Jews ruin the world',” according to ProPublica's investigation. Facebook, the world's largest social network, confirmed the ProPublica investigation. Once people put those phrases on their Facebook profiles, the anti-Semitic topics automatically migrated onto the company's advertising platform, as if they were education or job data that would be useful to marketers, Facebook said. "We are removing these self-reported targeting fields until we have the right processes in place to help prevent this issue," Facebook said in a statement late on Thursday. "We want Facebook to be a safe place for people and businesses, and we'll continue to do everything we can to keep hate off Facebook," it said. Facebook initially responded to the ProPublica report by removing the topics in question from its ad system. However other news reports, including from Slate magazine, then discovered that hateful topics were more widespread in the ad system's targeting capabilities. As Facebook has given advertisers greater power to micro-target their messages using a self-service platform, the company has at times failed to ensure they comply with its terms and conditions. Last year, ProPublica reported that Facebook allowed advertisers to exclude users by race when running housing or other ads, despite a prohibition on such ads under the US Fair Housing Act 1969. Facebook said last week an operation likely based in Russia spent $100,000 on thousands of U.S. ads promoting social and political messages over a two-year period through May, fueling concerns about foreign meddling in US elections. The company said it shut down 470 "inauthentic" accounts as part of an internal investigation into those ads. Facebook and rival Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, dominate the fast-growing market for online advertising, in part because they let marketers target their ads based on huge volumes of data. Facebook reported $27.6 billion in 2016 revenue, the vast majority from advertising. Ad campaigns that used the anti-Semitic categories on Facebook were not widespread, the company said. "Given that the number of people in these segments was incredibly low, an extremely small number of people were targeted in these campaigns," Facebook said. One change Facebook said it was considering was adding more thorough reviews of targeting categories before they show up in the self-service platform.

Facebook removes feature that let ads reach 'Jew haters'

<p>&nbsp;Facebook launched its <a href="http://www.wionews.com/videos/wion-focus-what-is-facebook-watch-4439">Watch video </a>service to US&nbsp;users on Thursday with plans to allow people to submit shows, as the No. 1 social media network vies with Alphabet&#39;s YouTube for advertising revenue.</p>

<p>Advertisers are shifting more of their budgets from television to online as viewers have migrated to watching shows on smartphones and tablets.</p>

<p>On Watch, which Facebook began testing earlier this month, users can see hundreds of shows from the likes of Vox, Buzzfeed, Discovery Communications Inc, A&amp;E Networks, Walt Disney ABC, as well as live sports like Major League Baseball.</p>

<p>Americans spend more than 73 minutes a day watching digital video, up more than 7 per cent from last year, according to eMarketer data. TV watching has dropped 2 per cent from last year to 244 minutes a day, a trend that is expected to continue.</p>

<p>Facebook is initially paying some content creators for shows to drive interest. The company is paying $10,000-$35,000 for shorter form shows and up to $250,000 for longer shows, sources told <em>Reuters</em> in May.</p>

<p>The company declined to comment on how much it was spending on shows.</p>

<p>Facebook does not intend to make buying content a core piece of its strategy, Dan Rose, vice president of partnerships at Facebook, told <em>Reuters.</em></p>

<p>&quot;We are not focused on acquiring exclusive rights,&quot; he said. &quot;The idea is to seed this with good content.&quot;</p>

<p>Facebook plans to eventually open the platform to everyone to submit shows for approval and share 55 per cent of ad revenue, Rose said.</p>

<p>The company is testing how ads will work within the shows, he added.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/now-connect-to-people-while-watching-videos-on-facebook-watch-18805">Watch</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/now-connect-to-people-while-watching-videos-on-facebook-watch-18805"> should help Facebook </a>solidify its position alongside YouTube, the leader in the digital video space, for advertisers, said Paul Verna, a senior analyst with eMarketer.</p>

<p>Facebook said Watch is more personal and community-oriented than competitors. For example, it can suggest shows based on a user&#39;s interests and friends can share their thoughts as they watch a video.</p>

<p>For example, fans of the exercise program &quot;CrossFit&quot; can watch and share commentary on live CrossFit events streamed on Facebook while chatting in groups, Rose said.</p>

<p>Similarly, fans of Spanish soccer can watch and chat online about &quot;Hala Madrid,&quot; a show about Real Madrid.</p>

<p>&quot;We think our unique opportunity is around a community and engaging with people on topics they love to talk about,&quot; said Rose.</p>


Advertisers are shifting more of their budgets from television to online as viewers have migrated to watching shows on smartphones and tablets

Facebook launched its Watch video service to US users on Thursday with plans to allow people to submit shows, as the No. 1 social media network vies with Alphabet's YouTube for advertising revenue. Advertisers are shifting more of their budgets from television to online as viewers have migrated to watching shows on smartphones and tablets. On Watch, which Facebook began testing earlier this month, users can see hundreds of shows from the likes of Vox, Buzzfeed, Discovery Communications Inc, A&E Networks, Walt Disney ABC, as well as live sports like Major League Baseball. Americans spend more than 73 minutes a day watching digital video, up more than 7 per cent from last year, according to eMarketer data. TV watching has dropped 2 per cent from last year to 244 minutes a day, a trend that is expected to continue. Facebook is initially paying some content creators for shows to drive interest. The company is paying $10,000-$35,000 for shorter form shows and up to $250,000 for longer shows, sources told Reuters in May. The company declined to comment on how much it was spending on shows. Facebook does not intend to make buying content a core piece of its strategy, Dan Rose, vice president of partnerships at Facebook, told Reuters. "We are not focused on acquiring exclusive rights," he said. "The idea is to seed this with good content." Facebook plans to eventually open the platform to everyone to submit shows for approval and share 55 per cent of ad revenue, Rose said. The company is testing how ads will work within the shows, he added. Watch should help Facebook solidify its position alongside YouTube, the leader in the digital video space, for advertisers, said Paul Verna, a senior analyst with eMarketer. Facebook said Watch is more personal and community-oriented than competitors. For example, it can suggest shows based on a user's interests and friends can share their thoughts as they watch a video. For example, fans of the exercise program "CrossFit" can watch and share commentary on live CrossFit events streamed on Facebook while chatting in groups, Rose said. Similarly, fans of Spanish soccer can watch and chat online about "Hala Madrid," a show about Real Madrid. "We think our unique opportunity is around a community and engaging with people on topics they love to talk about," said Rose.

Facebook's Watch goes up against YouTube for ad dollars

<p>Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife welcomed their second daughter -- August -- to the world on Monday with a post on the leading social network.<br />
<br />
As they did with after the birth of their first daughter, Maxima, in late 2015, the couple wrote the girl a letter, but this one spoke of reveling in the wonder of childhood instead of visions of a better world on the horizon.<br />
<br />
&quot;You only get to be a child once, so don`t spend it worrying too much about the future,&quot; said the letter signed by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan.<br />
<br />
&quot;You`ve got us for that, and we`ll do everything we possibly can to make sure the world is a better place for you and all children in your generation.&quot;<br />
<br />
A Zuckerberg Chan Initiative established by the couple has pledged billions of dollars to improving life for their children`s generation with goals such as eliminating disease.<br />
<br />
The Facebook co-founder is among billionaires who have vowed to donate most of their wealth to charitable causes.<br />
<br />
&quot;With all the advances in science and technology, your generation should live dramatically better lives than ours, and we have a responsibility to do our part to make that happen,&quot; the couple wrote, referring back to a letter written to their first daughter after her birth.<br />
<br />
&quot;But rather than write about growing up, we want to talk about childhood. The world can be a serious place. That`s why it`s important to make time to go outside and play.&quot;<br />
<br />
And, like many parents, they expressed hope their new baby would sleep soundly and take frequent naps.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="741" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F4%2Fposts%2F10103996712572761%2F&amp;width=500" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="500"></iframe></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


As they did with after the birth of their first daughter, Maxima, in late 2015, the couple wrote the girl a letter, but this one spoke of reveling in the wonder of childhood instead of visions of a better world on the horizon

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife welcomed their second daughter -- August -- to the world on Monday with a post on the leading social network. As they did with after the birth of their first daughter, Maxima, in late 2015, the couple wrote the girl a letter, but this one spoke of reveling in the wonder of childhood instead of visions of a better world on the horizon. "You only get to be a child once, so don`t spend it worrying too much about the future," said the letter signed by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan. "You`ve got us for that, and we`ll do everything we possibly can to make sure the world is a better place for you and all children in your generation." A Zuckerberg Chan Initiative established by the couple has pledged billions of dollars to improving life for their children`s generation with goals such as eliminating disease. The Facebook co-founder is among billionaires who have vowed to donate most of their wealth to charitable causes. "With all the advances in science and technology, your generation should live dramatically better lives than ours, and we have a responsibility to do our part to make that happen," the couple wrote, referring back to a letter written to their first daughter after her birth. "But rather than write about growing up, we want to talk about childhood. The world can be a serious place. That`s why it`s important to make time to go outside and play." And, like many parents, they expressed hope their new baby would sleep soundly and take frequent naps. ×

Mark Zuckerberg welcomes second daughter in Facebook post

<p><a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/facebook-adds-tips-for-spotting-fake-news-14267">Facebook </a>on Wednesday named one of its veteran executives Andrew Bosworth to lead all of its consumer hardware efforts, including its Building 8 division, the <em>Business Insider </em>reported.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/facebook-changes-algorithm-to-curb-tiny-group-of-spammers-17547">Facebook </a>launched the research shop, called Building 8, last year to conduct long-term work that might lead to hardware products.</p>

<p>Bosworth will oversee Building 8 and <a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/to-boost-the-sale-of-immersive-games-facebooks-oculus-cuts-price-of-its-hardware-17782">Oculus</a>, Facebook&#39;s virtual reality arm, according to the report.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Building 8 unit is currently developing a video chat device called project Aloha.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/facebook-to-welcome-its-first-ever-facebook-tv-18323">Facebook</a> was not immediately available for comment.</p>


Facebook launched the research shop, called Building 8, last year to conduct long-term work that might lead to hardware products

Facebook on Wednesday named one of its veteran executives Andrew Bosworth to lead all of its consumer hardware efforts, including its Building 8 division, the Business Insider reported. Facebook launched the research shop, called Building 8, last year to conduct long-term work that might lead to hardware products. Bosworth will oversee Building 8 and Oculus, Facebook's virtual reality arm, according to the report. The Building 8 unit is currently developing a video chat device called project Aloha. Facebook was not immediately available for comment.

Facebook picks veteran executive to lead hardware efforts: Reports

<p>Facebook&nbsp;founder Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday he would be taking two months of paternity leave after the birth of his second daughter.</p>

<p>Zuckerberg said he would be taking advantage of Facebook&#39;s option to take leaves in parts.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&quot;I&#39;ll take a month off to be with Priscilla (Chan) and the girls at the beginning, and then we&#39;ll spend the whole month of December together as well,&quot; Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false"><iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="809" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fzuck%2Fposts%2F10103974027783261&amp;width=500" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="500"></iframe></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>Zuckerberg had also taken a two-month paternity leave following the birth of his first child, Maxima Chan Zuckerberg, in 2015.</p>

<p>The billionaire internet mogul said in March that the couple was expecting a second child.</p>


Zuckerberg said he would be taking advantage of Facebook's option to take leaves in parts

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said on Friday he would be taking two months of paternity leave after the birth of his second daughter. Zuckerberg said he would be taking advantage of Facebook's option to take leaves in parts. "I'll take a month off to be with Priscilla (Chan) and the girls at the beginning, and then we'll spend the whole month of December together as well," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post. × Zuckerberg had also taken a two-month paternity leave following the birth of his first child, Maxima Chan Zuckerberg, in 2015. The billionaire internet mogul said in March that the couple was expecting a second child.

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to take two months paternity leave

<p>Sarahah is the new pandemic on Facebook. As a self-confessed frequent Facebook user, I was intrigued by the number of messages on Sarahah that were posted by my Facebook friends on their wall. Ranging from compliments to insults to crushes, these Sarahah messages introduced intimacy, through its paradoxical mirror, anonymity. The result is the pandemic I was privy too.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Saraha?src=hash">#Saraha</a> lol I paid half of the price. And that was 2years ago. They already got another buyer I think. Never went back for my money <a href="https://t.co/XaVgc01mXr">pic.twitter.com/XaVgc01mXr</a></p>
&mdash; Abaye? (@Malkia__) <a href="https://twitter.com/Malkia__/status/897421807040573441">August 15, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>Lest I sound judgemental, I was tempted to use this app as well. After all, which man wouldn&rsquo;t want some praise, admiration and even flirtatious messages coming his way? Yet, like Luke Skywalker&rsquo;s dilemma with Darth Vader, I remained conflicted as to whether or not I should contribute to the pandemic by indulging my vanity and my dark side in general. I haven&rsquo;t still decided. But that is not the point.</p>

<p>I will be the first to confess that my social skills are evolving and in this process, I have affected men and women negatively. I learned from my mistakes and my successes and remain steadfast in my journey to understand what, arguably, is a complicated element of human existence - communication. The embarrassment and guilt from the mistakes were no doubt worthy of being avoided. But I put myself out there, I took a risk and did the unthinkable, I expressed myself. I tempered that selfish instinct with an effort at sensitivity and intuition, paying careful attention to the reactions. I remained ever so ready to atone and apologise in the event I did impact someone adversely. The confidence to express myself and the willingness to apologise when I cause discomfort to my audience came from two things - faith in my good intentions and lack of shame as to what I felt for the other person.</p>

<p>Expressing and even negotiating intimacy in the framework of anonymity (which is the essence of Sarahah) reflects just how insecure and ashamed we have become about our most natural need to express ourselves. Even before the other person has branded our expression as rot, we have condemned ourselves; preferring sabotage over failed efforts. But what is so wrong about this, you may ask?</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/untitled%20design%20(90)-20170816104119.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
<p>An anonymous Sarahah post (Others)</p>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>Turn a few years back and art, poetry, lyrics, drama, cinema and literature were all unabashed expressions of their author&rsquo;s feelings and ideas. If Shakespeare felt ashamed of the love he saw between Romeo and Juliet, I shudder to think of the loss humankind would never be aware of. At the heart of the utility of civilisation lies expression and today apps like Sarahah are validating the culture of shame that is slowly but surely infecting our ability to talk to each other.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="row">
<div class="article-blockquote">
<div class="col-sm-10 col-sm-offset-1 blockquote-content quoteshare">
<blockquote>
<h5>I have realised that if one&rsquo;s words, even if intended to express something as vulnerable and volatile as affection, is premised on sincerity, sensitivity and honesty, it cannot inflict discomfort or pain.</h5>
</blockquote>
</div>

<div class="col-sm-1 blockquote-content">
<div class="share-blockquote"><a class="twitter popup" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=I have realised that if one?s words, even if intended to express something as vulnerable and volatile as affection, is premised on sincerity, sensitivity and honesty, it cannot inflict discomfort or pain." target="_blank"><i class="fa fa-share">&nbsp;</i></a></div>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqquoteclosemark">&times;</a></div>
</div>
</div>

<p>Not too long back, as I was speaking to a former crush of mine who is now a great friend, she happened to mention how she has a pattern of loving workaholics. Uncharacteristically enough, I replied that some workaholics were silly enough to not pursue the worthwhile and the priceless. I also expressed the hope&nbsp;that the present man in her life wouldn&rsquo;t become guilty of the same mistake. Had it been now, I would have used Sarahah to express this.</p>

<p>But now I have realised that if one&rsquo;s words, even if intended to express something as vulnerable and volatile as affection, is premised on sincerity, sensitivity and honesty, it cannot inflict discomfort or pain. If only we could help more people understand this, we wouldn&rsquo;t then need a Sarahah.</p>


Sarahah reflects just how insecure and ashamed we have become about our most natural need to express ourselves.

Sarahah is the new pandemic on Facebook. As a self-confessed frequent Facebook user, I was intrigued by the number of messages on Sarahah that were posted by my Facebook friends on their wall. Ranging from compliments to insults to crushes, these Sarahah messages introduced intimacy, through its paradoxical mirror, anonymity. The result is the pandemic I was privy too. #Saraha lol I paid half of the price. And that was 2years ago. They already got another buyer I think. Never went back for my money pic.twitter.com/XaVgc01mXr — Abaye? (@Malkia__) August 15, 2017 × Lest I sound judgemental, I was tempted to use this app as well. After all, which man wouldn’t want some praise, admiration and even flirtatious messages coming his way? Yet, like Luke Skywalker’s dilemma with Darth Vader, I remained conflicted as to whether or not I should contribute to the pandemic by indulging my vanity and my dark side in general. I haven’t still decided. But that is not the point. I will be the first to confess that my social skills are evolving and in this process, I have affected men and women negatively. I learned from my mistakes and my successes and remain steadfast in my journey to understand what, arguably, is a complicated element of human existence - communication. The embarrassment and guilt from the mistakes were no doubt worthy of being avoided. But I put myself out there, I took a risk and did the unthinkable, I expressed myself. I tempered that selfish instinct with an effort at sensitivity and intuition, paying careful attention to the reactions. I remained ever so ready to atone and apologise in the event I did impact someone adversely. The confidence to express myself and the willingness to apologise when I cause discomfort to my audience came from two things - faith in my good intentions and lack of shame as to what I felt for the other person. Expressing and even negotiating intimacy in the framework of anonymity (which is the essence of Sarahah) reflects just how insecure and ashamed we have become about our most natural need to express ourselves. Even before the other person has branded our expression as rot, we have condemned ourselves; preferring sabotage over failed efforts. But what is so wrong about this, you may ask? An anonymous Sarahah post (Others) × Turn a few years back and art, poetry, lyrics, drama, cinema and literature were all unabashed expressions of their author’s feelings and ideas. If Shakespeare felt ashamed of the love he saw between Romeo and Juliet, I shudder to think of the loss humankind would never be aware of. At the heart of the utility of civilisation lies expression and today apps like Sarahah are validating the culture of shame that is slowly but surely infecting our ability to talk to each other. I have realised that if one’s words, even if intended to express something as vulnerable and volatile as affection, is premised on sincerity, sensitivity and honesty, it cannot inflict discomfort or pain. × Not too long back, as I was speaking to a former crush of mine who is now a great friend, she happened to mention how she has a pattern of loving workaholics. Uncharacteristically enough, I replied that some workaholics were silly enough to not pursue the worthwhile and the priceless. I also expressed the hope that the present man in her life wouldn’t become guilty of the same mistake. Had it been now, I would have used Sarahah to express this. But now I have realised that if one’s words, even if intended to express something as vulnerable and volatile as affection, is premised on sincerity, sensitivity and honesty, it cannot inflict discomfort or pain. If only we could help more people understand this, we wouldn’t then need a Sarahah.

Sarahah is validating a culture of shame

<p>The Indian&nbsp;government has directed internet majors - Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Microsoft and Yahoo - to immediately remove the links of the dangerous online game Blue Whale Challenge, which led children in India and other countries to commit suicide.</p>

<p>&quot;Instances of children committing suicide while Blue Whale Challenge have been reported in India...You are hereby requested to ensure that any such link of this deadly game in its own name or similar game is immediately removed from your platform,&quot; Ministry of Electronics and IT(Meity) said in a letter dated August 11 to the internet majors.</p>

<p>The letter was issued following instructions from Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, an official source said.</p>

<p>The Blue Whale challenge is reportedly a suicide game in which the player is given certain tasks to complete for a period of 50 days and the final task leads to suicide. The player is also asked to share photos after finishing the challenge.</p>

<p>Expressing concern over the availability of such a deadly game on the internet, Meity said, &quot;It is understood that an administrator of the game uses the social media platform to invite/incite children to play this game, which may eventually lead them to take extreme steps for self-inflicting injuries including suicide&quot;.</p>

<p>Mumbai and West Midnapore district have reported deaths linked to this game. Meity said the proponent of Blue Whale Challenge should be reported to law enforcement agencies.</p>


The government has directed social media giants - Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Microsoft and Yahoo - to immediately remove the links to the dangerous online game

The Indian government has directed internet majors - Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, Microsoft and Yahoo - to immediately remove the links of the dangerous online game Blue Whale Challenge, which led children in India and other countries to commit suicide. "Instances of children committing suicide while Blue Whale Challenge have been reported in India...You are hereby requested to ensure that any such link of this deadly game in its own name or similar game is immediately removed from your platform," Ministry of Electronics and IT(Meity) said in a letter dated August 11 to the internet majors. The letter was issued following instructions from Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, an official source said. The Blue Whale challenge is reportedly a suicide game in which the player is given certain tasks to complete for a period of 50 days and the final task leads to suicide. The player is also asked to share photos after finishing the challenge. Expressing concern over the availability of such a deadly game on the internet, Meity said, "It is understood that an administrator of the game uses the social media platform to invite/incite children to play this game, which may eventually lead them to take extreme steps for self-inflicting injuries including suicide". Mumbai and West Midnapore district have reported deaths linked to this game. Meity said the proponent of Blue Whale Challenge should be reported to law enforcement agencies.

Govt asks Google, Facebook to remove links to Blue Whale Challenge

<p>Mark Zuckerberg&#39;s Facebook, whose social media platform is blocked in China, authorised a local company to launch a photo-sharing application in the country in May, the New York Times reported, citing a person with knowledge of the company&#39;s plans.</p>

<p>The app, called Colorful Balloons, is similar to Facebook&#39;s Moments application in function and feel, but does not carry the Facebook name, the Times said.</p>

<p>The app was released in China by a company called Youge Internet Technology and without any hint that Facebook is affiliated with the company, the Times said, citing a post in Apple&#39;s app store.</p>

<p>&quot;We have long said that we are interested in China, and are spending time understanding and learning more about the country in different ways,&quot; a Facebook spokesperson said .</p>

<p>&quot;Our focus right now is on helping Chinese businesses and developers expand to new markets outside China by using our ad platform.&quot;</p>

<p>It was unclear if China&#39;s various internet regulators were aware of the app&#39;s existence, the Times said.</p>

<p>Western social media websites like Facebook and Twitter are blocked by China&#39;s censors, which has helped<a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/now-china-to-control-local-social-media-content-18957"> drive up the popularity of home-grown messaging app WeChat, owned by Tencent and microblogging service Weibo.</a><br />
Zuckerberg in February all but ruled out an expansion in the world&#39;s most populous country, saying there would be &quot;no news at all in the near term.&quot;</p>


Facebook authorised a local company to launch a photo-sharing application in the country in May

Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook, whose social media platform is blocked in China, authorised a local company to launch a photo-sharing application in the country in May, the New York Times reported, citing a person with knowledge of the company's plans. The app, called Colorful Balloons, is similar to Facebook's Moments application in function and feel, but does not carry the Facebook name, the Times said. The app was released in China by a company called Youge Internet Technology and without any hint that Facebook is affiliated with the company, the Times said, citing a post in Apple's app store. "We have long said that we are interested in China, and are spending time understanding and learning more about the country in different ways," a Facebook spokesperson said . "Our focus right now is on helping Chinese businesses and developers expand to new markets outside China by using our ad platform." It was unclear if China's various internet regulators were aware of the app's existence, the Times said. Western social media websites like Facebook and Twitter are blocked by China's censors, which has helped drive up the popularity of home-grown messaging app WeChat, owned by Tencent and microblogging service Weibo. Zuckerberg in February all but ruled out an expansion in the world's most populous country, saying there would be "no news at all in the near term."

Facebook to launch Moments-like app in China: Report

<p>Facebook made its biggest move to date to compete in the television market by expanding its video offerings with programming ranging from professional women&#39;s basketball to a safari show and a parenting program.</p>

<p>The redesigned product, called &quot;Watch,&quot; will be available initially to a limited group in the United States on <a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/individuals-can-delete-their-online-past-britains-digital-minister-18674">Facebook</a>&#39;s mobile app, website and television apps, the company said.</p>

<p>The world&#39;s largest social network added a video tab last year, and it has been dropping hints for months that it wanted to become a source of original and well-produced videos, rather than just shows made by users.</p>

<p><em>Reuters</em> reported in May that <a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/facebooks-ambitious-modular-project-18154">Facebook</a> had signed deals with millennial-focused news and entertainment creators Vox Media, BuzzFeed, ATTN, Group Nine Media and others to produce shows, both scripted and unscripted.</p>

<p>&quot;We&#39;ve learned that people like the serendipity of discovering videos in News Feed, but they also want a dedicated place they can go to watch videos,&quot; Daniel Danker, Facebook&#39;s product director, said in a statement on Wednesday.</p>

<p>Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a <a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/facebook-changes-algorithm-to-curb-tiny-group-of-spammers-17547">Facebook </a>post that Watch would allow users to &quot;chat and connect with people during an episode, and join groups with people who like the same shows afterwards to build community.&quot;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fzuck%2Fvideos%2F10103953494202721%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="560"></iframe></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Facebook said the shows would include videos of the Women&#39;s National Basketball Association, a parenting show from Time&nbsp;and a safari show from National Geographic. Facebook is already broadcasting some Major League Baseball games and that would continue, the company said.</p>

<p>ATTN said on Wednesday it had two original series coming to<a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/facebook-to-welcome-its-first-ever-facebook-tv-18323"> Facebook</a> Watch: a health program with actress Jessica Alba and a relationship advice show.</p>

<p>Eventually, the platform would be open to any show creator as a place to distribute video, Facebook said.</p>

<p>The company, based in Menlo Park, California, faces a crowded market with not only traditional television networks but newer producers such as Netflix&nbsp;and YouTube as well as Twitter and Snap.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="videos-block">
<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9"><iframe class="embed-responsive-item" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EF5pZ1ZlTXU"></iframe></div>
</div>

<div class="media-description">
<p>Facebook &#39;Watch&#39; will let users discover videos outside their own feeds more easily. WION explores. (WION)</p>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


The redesigned product, called 'Watch', will be available initially to a limited group in the United States on Facebook's mobile app, website and television apps

Facebook made its biggest move to date to compete in the television market by expanding its video offerings with programming ranging from professional women's basketball to a safari show and a parenting program. The redesigned product, called "Watch," will be available initially to a limited group in the United States on Facebook's mobile app, website and television apps, the company said. The world's largest social network added a video tab last year, and it has been dropping hints for months that it wanted to become a source of original and well-produced videos, rather than just shows made by users. Reuters reported in May that Facebook had signed deals with millennial-focused news and entertainment creators Vox Media, BuzzFeed, ATTN, Group Nine Media and others to produce shows, both scripted and unscripted. "We've learned that people like the serendipity of discovering videos in News Feed, but they also want a dedicated place they can go to watch videos," Daniel Danker, Facebook's product director, said in a statement on Wednesday. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post that Watch would allow users to "chat and connect with people during an episode, and join groups with people who like the same shows afterwards to build community." × Facebook said the shows would include videos of the Women's National Basketball Association, a parenting show from Time and a safari show from National Geographic. Facebook is already broadcasting some Major League Baseball games and that would continue, the company said. ATTN said on Wednesday it had two original series coming to Facebook Watch: a health program with actress Jessica Alba and a relationship advice show. Eventually, the platform would be open to any show creator as a place to distribute video, Facebook said. The company, based in Menlo Park, California, faces a crowded market with not only traditional television networks but newer producers such as Netflix and YouTube as well as Twitter and Snap. Facebook 'Watch' will let users discover videos outside their own feeds more easily. WION explores. (WION) ×

Now connect with people while watching videos on Facebook 'Watch'

<p>The world&#39;s biggest social network Facebook has decided to launch a television service - &#39;Facebook TV&#39;&nbsp;which will be displayed in Facebook&#39;s video tab outside the news feed.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The new addition to the social media giant is a streaming&nbsp;service that will telecast a 5-10 minute show, reports said.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The shows will be owned by media companies partnering with Facebook. Some of these partners include&nbsp;Group Nine Media, BuzzFeed, ATTN and Vox Media.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Facebook will be entitled to 45 per cent revenue from these shows.&nbsp;The company is also planning to launch shows which would be owned by &quot;Facebook&nbsp;TV&quot;, the social network proposes to run 20-30 minute shows on its network.</p>

<p>Facebook will not compete with Netflix or HBO, but will instead offer content that aims to make something higher-end than Google&#39;s YouTube, Bloomberg reported.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The company has asked its partners for the first episode of the spotlight shows.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Facebook plans to launch its streaming service&nbsp;next month in mid-August.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Facebook is launching a streaming service?which will be displayed in Facebook's video tab outside the news feed

The world's biggest social network Facebook has decided to launch a television service - 'Facebook TV' which will be displayed in Facebook's video tab outside the news feed. The new addition to the social media giant is a streaming service that will telecast a 5-10 minute show, reports said. The shows will be owned by media companies partnering with Facebook. Some of these partners include Group Nine Media, BuzzFeed, ATTN and Vox Media. Facebook will be entitled to 45 per cent revenue from these shows. The company is also planning to launch shows which would be owned by "Facebook TV", the social network proposes to run 20-30 minute shows on its network. Facebook will not compete with Netflix or HBO, but will instead offer content that aims to make something higher-end than Google's YouTube, Bloomberg reported. The company has asked its partners for the first episode of the spotlight shows. Facebook plans to launch its streaming service next month in mid-August.

Facebook to launch its first ever 'Facebook TV'

<p>If a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Facebook-is-exploring-creating-a-mysterious-modular-hardware-device/articleshow/59691825.cms">new report</a> is to be believed, Facebook is trying its hand&nbsp;at a modular phone.</p>

<p>A patent application filed by the company incorporates the term &quot;modular electromechanical device&quot;, which, as described, would not only work as a standalone phone, but would also have the capabilities to accommodate a speaker, GPS, and a touch display.</p>

<p>For the uninitiated, the modular phone allows users to snap different modules onto a handset to increase its functionality. The flexibility in the design is what makes it promising.</p>

<p>Facebook&#39;s secretive research unit Building 8, which is led by former DARPA director Regina Dugan, is looking into this project, claims the report.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/untitled%20design%20(5)-20170721105307.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
<p>An image illustrated in the patent published by Facebook (Others)</p>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&quot;It&#39;s unclear what exact device the modular system will be used for, although people familiar with the matter have told us that Building 8 is heavily focused on developing cutting-edge camera and machine learning technology. A Facebook spokesperson didn&#39;t respond to a request for comment,&quot; reports <em>Business Insider</em>.</p>

<p>While some companies like Lenovo and LG have already introduced their versions of a modular phone, it&#39;s time for Facebook to give us a taste of a modular device with its iteration.</p>

<p>While the modular approach has genereated great enthusiasm in the tech community, it&#39;s still in nascent stages and would take some years to become mainstream.</p>


The phone would allow users to snap different modules -- a different camera, a different speaker etc -- onto a handset to increase its functionality

If a new report is to be believed, Facebook is trying its hand at a modular phone. A patent application filed by the company incorporates the term "modular electromechanical device", which, as described, would not only work as a standalone phone, but would also have the capabilities to accommodate a speaker, GPS, and a touch display. For the uninitiated, the modular phone allows users to snap different modules onto a handset to increase its functionality. The flexibility in the design is what makes it promising. Facebook's secretive research unit Building 8, which is led by former DARPA director Regina Dugan, is looking into this project, claims the report. An image illustrated in the patent published by Facebook (Others) × "It's unclear what exact device the modular system will be used for, although people familiar with the matter have told us that Building 8 is heavily focused on developing cutting-edge camera and machine learning technology. A Facebook spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment," reports Business Insider. While some companies like Lenovo and LG have already introduced their versions of a modular phone, it's time for Facebook to give us a taste of a modular device with its iteration. While the modular approach has genereated great enthusiasm in the tech community, it's still in nascent stages and would take some years to become mainstream.

Is Facebook secretly working on a modular smartphone?

<p>Contradicting itself, the government has told the Supreme Court that the privacy of personal data is integral to the right to life.&nbsp;</p>

<p>On Friday, additional solicitor general PS Narasimha told the court: &quot;Personal data is an extension of an individual&#39;s personality. Data of a personality is integral to right to life guaranteed under Article 21.&quot;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The court was hearing a petition against WhatsApp sharing user data with its new parent company Facebook.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The stand though is contradictory to the one the government has taken in the Aadhar case.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Arguing a petition against Aadhar, attorney general KK Venugopal had told the court -- while referring to two earlier judgements by it -- that privacy is a common law right and that the&nbsp;petitioners therefore cannot complain about breach of privacy because of the collection of biometric data. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Common law is the part of law&nbsp;derived from custom and judicial precedent rather than statutes.</p>

<p><br />
&nbsp;</p>


Additional solicitor general PS Narasimha told the court: 'Personal data is an extension of an individual's personality. Data of a personality is integral to right to life guaranteed under Article 21'

Contradicting itself, the government has told the Supreme Court that the privacy of personal data is integral to the right to life. On Friday, additional solicitor general PS Narasimha told the court: "Personal data is an extension of an individual's personality. Data of a personality is integral to right to life guaranteed under Article 21." The court was hearing a petition against WhatsApp sharing user data with its new parent company Facebook. The stand though is contradictory to the one the government has taken in the Aadhar case. Arguing a petition against Aadhar, attorney general KK Venugopal had told the court -- while referring to two earlier judgements by it -- that privacy is a common law right and that the petitioners therefore cannot complain about breach of privacy because of the collection of biometric data. Common law is the part of law derived from custom and judicial precedent rather than statutes.

Contradicting itself, govt tells SC privacy of personal data integral to right to life

<p>It first happened in 2009, again&nbsp;in 2012 and then it repeated itself in 2016. Three times in a span of seven years, Shah Rukh Khan, the Indian films actor was detained at the US airport and no form of wealth, success or fame could help him evade this situation.</p>

<p>Have you ever wondered what went wrong with a man who has achieved globally acknowledged stardom? Do you buy into the logic of it just being plain and regular protocol? &nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">I fully understand &amp; respect security with the way the world is, but to be detained at US immigration every damn time really really sucks.</p>
&mdash; Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) <a href="https://twitter.com/iamsrk/status/763894690093473793">August 12, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p><br />
&nbsp;Well, what happened to Shah Rukh Khan was not just an unfortunate incident but also a part of a larger mesh of issues concerning privacy, security and safety, both online and offline. It is the outcome of surveillance in the digital age where data points &nbsp;are fed to&nbsp;the system, while grossly ignoring everything about the personality and character of an individual. &nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
In Khan&rsquo;s case, every other factor of him being a superstar, who travels in a business class, is loved by people all around the world was superseded by the data points that matched to someone who has a criminal history or can trigger false alarms. The data points that were picked up were: male, Muslim name, Indian, and from a certain age.&nbsp;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="row">
<div class="article-blockquote">
<div class="col-sm-10 col-sm-offset-1 blockquote-content quoteshare">
<blockquote>
<h5>Imagine Brad Pitt coming to India and being taken aside as a potential terrorist. This is how dangerous our world is today.</h5>
</blockquote>
</div>

<div class="col-sm-1 blockquote-content">
<div class="share-blockquote"><a class="twitter popup" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Imagine Brad Pitt coming to India and being taken aside as a potential terrorist. This is how dangerous our world is today." target="_blank"><i class="fa fa-share">&nbsp;</i></a></div>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqquoteclosemark">&times;</a></div>
</div>
</div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Now imagine Brad Pitt coming to India and being taken aside as a potential terrorist. This is how dangerous our world is today. The image that these systems have of us is warped and is just based on these data points that are monitored by intelligence agencies. According to this, all of us can fall into one category or another and be framed for something we have not committed.</p>

<p><strong>The Constant Gaze</strong><br />
&nbsp;<br />
Anja Kovacs who directs The Internet Democracy Project in India focuses on the Internet and human rights issues. The movement discusses the interplay of issues that most of us choose to ignore, of a state of constant surveillance, <a href="http://www.wionews.com/south-asia/data-privacy-in-modern-day-context-11906">data privacy issues&nbsp;</a>and government control of access and usage of the Internet.</p>

<p>She says, &quot;India is not an exceptional situation but because it&rsquo;s a diverse country--contradictions and inequalities are visible here. Challenges are more in your face here. Context is more visible.&quot;&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
In this context, she talks about how surveillance functions. She says, &ldquo;The way it actually works is that somebody is watching you but what it essentially aims to do, is to police norms. Those who set these norms are often the ones who are watching and they decide how those who are being watched should behave. The thing about norms is that people say that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear but all of this would be on the wrong side of the norm at some point. In the case of Shahrukh Khan, the information about him was denuded in such a way that the data points that did show up flagged him as a potential threat, even if he had not done anything.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="row">
<div class="article-blockquote">
<div class="col-sm-10 col-sm-offset-1 blockquote-content quoteshare">
<blockquote>
<h5>It&#39;s not just about someone watching you but policing norms. Those who set these norms are the ones watching and they decide how those who are being watched should behave.</h5>
</blockquote>
</div>

<div class="col-sm-1 blockquote-content">
<div class="share-blockquote"><a class="twitter popup" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=It's not just about someone watching you but policing norms. Those who set these norms are the ones watching and they decide how those who are being watched should behave." target="_blank"><i class="fa fa-share">&nbsp;</i></a></div>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqquoteclosemark">&times;</a></div>
</div>
</div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Discussing the nitty-gritty and compulsions of living in the digital age, we came to the conclusion that surveillance is more rampant now as more cameras are being put in place everywhere and more number of companies are tracking us online--and that makes us all very uncomfortable.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
What&rsquo;s dangerous for a democracy to sustain, is that the government has access to all our data and whether they have a good reason or not, they continue to watch us.</p>

<p><strong>Game of Algorithms</strong><br />
&nbsp;<br />
Anja adds, &ldquo;They won&rsquo;t go and check what I am talking about but if I talk about terrorism too often, and I am connected to other people who are talking about terrorism then at some point they might start looking into my profile. For example, there has been a case in New York where a family found the US government joint terrorism task force at its doorstep because they had been googling the phrases &#39;pressure cooker bomb&#39; and &#39;backpack&#39;. The law enforcement agencies picked up on a white middle-class American family of parents and one small kid for googling those phrases. For the agencies, this flashed as an indication that they were likely to be making a bomb. Imagine the US police force wearing black suits entering a private property only to find nothing.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&ldquo;This happens in a corporate scenario as well but the consequences aren&rsquo;t the same. Facebook cannot throw you in jail but they along with other corporations are trying to shape your behaviour in insidious ways, to try and get us to do certain things. That&#39;s why at one point last year; Facebook had announced that they are tweaking their algorithms, as people are not sharing enough personal updates. We don&#39;t know whether they were successful in getting people to share but we do know that Facebook wanted people to share more, as they wanted to do something.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="row">
<div class="article-blockquote">
<div class="col-sm-10 col-sm-offset-1 blockquote-content quoteshare">
<blockquote>
<h5>Facebook cannot throw you in jail but they along with other corporations are trying to shape your behaviour in insidious ways</h5>
</blockquote>
</div>

<div class="col-sm-1 blockquote-content">
<div class="share-blockquote"><a class="twitter popup" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text= Facebook cannot throw you in jail but they along with other corporations are trying to shape your behaviour in insidious ways" target="_blank"><i class="fa fa-share">&nbsp;</i></a></div>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqquoteclosemark">&times;</a></div>
</div>
</div>

<p>&nbsp;&ldquo;It&#39;s dangerous to see what they can do with the algorithms, like how they use it to drive political campaigns during elections and move towards targeted campaigns. In America for example, in this year&rsquo;s elections, if we were seen as potential Trump supporters and possible voters, the messages we would get would be different because our profiles are different, unlike the earlier times when potential voters of a single party would receive same messaging.&rdquo;</p>

<h3>Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wionews.com/edge/humour-to-the-rescue-memes-flood-internet-post-us-election-8595">Humour to the rescue: Memes flood Internet post-US election</a><br />
&nbsp;</h3>

<p>But not all is negative in this forever connected world. Surveillance vests power in the watcher and using this, the dynamics can change with different actors at play. She narrates how some slum colonies in Delhi where riots happened used surveillance as a tool for their benefit. The community itself bought CCTV cameras because they got fed up with the police arresting boys from the neighbourhood and blaming them for riots while according to the locals, the actual violence was committed by people outside of the community. She says, &ldquo;They wanted to be in a situation where they can provide proof in future instances, so they reversed the gaze.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>

<p>While surveillance continues at every level, be it in the workplace or public spaces; the kind that government indulges in online, is always riskier. The government of any country has the right to keep a check but it &ldquo;ideally should happen only after the State has a suspicion on a person of a crime or any such affiliation&rdquo;. In earlier times, the system didn&rsquo;t necessarily work but &ldquo;at least in theory there were some checks and balances that didn&rsquo;t give enormous power to those doing the watching&rdquo;.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Anja adds, &ldquo;It means that as a society we have less and less control over setting the norms because somebody has set the norm and if we behave out of it, we will be penalised. We are not only just expecting it to happen but are more conscious and aware of our surroundings--how to behave in public spaces, what to say on social media, what data to pull out and etc.&rdquo;</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="row">
<div class="article-blockquote">
<div class="col-sm-10 col-sm-offset-1 blockquote-content quoteshare">
<blockquote>
<h5>As a society we have less and less control over setting the norms because somebody has set the norm and if we behave out of it, we will be penalised.</h5>
</blockquote>
</div>

<div class="col-sm-1 blockquote-content">
<div class="share-blockquote"><a class="twitter popup" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=As a society we have less and less control over setting the norms because somebody has set the norm and if we behave out of it, we will be penalised." target="_blank"><i class="fa fa-share">&nbsp;</i></a></div>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqquoteclosemark">&times;</a></div>
</div>
</div>

<p><strong>How Open is the Internet?</strong><br />
&nbsp;<br />
A part of a movement that aims to make the<a href="http://www.wionews.com/science-tech/curb-on-online-speech-threat-to-open-internet-says-international-report-892">&nbsp;Internet free and a democratic space for all</a>, Anja explains that there is also something called nudging in public policy. Facebook also does nudging through tweaks to the algorithms so that they can incentivise you to do particular things.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Similarly, the Planning Commission of India, Niti Aayog also has a nudging unit now. She says, &ldquo;What they want to do is to use data of popular government schemes and tweak them slightly so that more&nbsp;people can benefit from the policies. So nudging can be used for positive means as well but you can easily use it for negative purposes.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&quot;There is no idea of what is being done with our data and who keeps a check. So it&rsquo;s not just the traditional form of surveillance where they are watching people to catch them when they do something wrong but it&rsquo;s really also about the insidious ways in which they are shaping the society, shaping people to do stuff without them knowing. As citizens, that&rsquo;s a problem.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
While surveillance is an issue that needs urgent attention and scope for active and open discussions, there is also a big question around how open the Internet really is?<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Anja simply answers that it depends on ways on how you use the Internet. She says, &ldquo;There are still some ways of using the Internet that is much more decentralised where you have more control on your data but it&rsquo;s a little bit more complex. There&rsquo;s a reason why so many of us ended up on platforms like Facebook and Twitter as they made sharing of content so easy. But it&rsquo;s true that there has been a shift to more and more centralisation on the Internet even though the technology remains decentralised.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;&nbsp;<br />
She emphasises on focusing on how these big companies are trying to escape regulations everywhere and how they are able to become so big without anybody questioning them. She adds, &ldquo;Even Microsoft was put into antitrust regulations in the late 90&rsquo;s because they had bundled Explorer in every system. Explorer is still installed in every Windows system but we now have the choice of using or not using it. Managing a very strong presence in browsers they had left users with no option. People complained that Microsoft was forcing them to use their own ecosystems in too many ways. The reason&nbsp;as to why many use Firefox or Chrome&nbsp;instead of Explorer is as a result of that.&rdquo;</p>

<p><strong>Cyber Security&nbsp;</strong><br />
&nbsp;<br />
When online we are usually privy to the eyes of many, even after checks and balances have been put in place. This concern gives fodder to cyber security, a term that is often used when talking about online safety for the weak and vulnerable.</p>

<h3>Also Read:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.wionews.com/edge/are-we-going-to-lose-our-jobs-to-robots-11850">Are we going to lose our jobs to robots?</a></h3>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Anja, however, is not pleased with the existing discourse on cyber security. She says, &ldquo;The way it is present now--don&rsquo;t do this, don&rsquo;t do that is not helpful and it starts to become more like what we see in the offline space. Don&rsquo;t wear this when you are out, don&rsquo;t be out in the night etc., whereas if we want to make the Internet a safe place this is not the right approach. It&rsquo;s good to be conscious of what you are sharing, who you are sharing it with. You have to be smart. But there is no one-size-fits-all approach and currently, that is what it sounds like. We have to learn basics of risk assessment, to think about what are the threats in my life, actors that I should be worried about.</p>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false"><img alt="" draggable="false" src="http://s.wionews.com/photos/image%20tweeted%20out%20by%20alyssa%20(1)-20170608072750.jpg" />
<div class="media-description">
<p>National Cyber Security Policy 2013 (Source: Internet Democracy Project) (WION)</p>
</div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="javascript:void(0)" id="jqclosemark">&times;</a></div>

<p>&nbsp;&ldquo;We have seen in many accounts that parents are complaining about how their children have no sense of privacy and they also complain about children not sharing enough with them. So, clearly the children have a sense of privacy but who they see as threat actors while who their parents think are threat actors are completely different. As children, they see their parents as threat actors and stop sharing information with them. Parents think random strangers are threat actors.&rdquo;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
This also emboldens the fact that people must understand the consequences of what they do online and take informed decisions. Lurking dangers of the new-age technology are glaring and it is upon us to make informed choices, to completely avoid or at least diminish the loss value attached to any attack via the Internet.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
Starting in 2011, The Internet Democracy Project has been focusing on the Internet and human rights issues. Their focus is on bringing together the domain of technology with ideas of democracy and social justice. However, in a world where authoritarian tendencies trump democratic values and promises of social justice are yet to be realised, it is a still a long road before misuses&nbsp;of technology can be stopped by brining in more accountability in the surveillance system.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;(WION)</p>


We need to find out who decides who is watching whom in online surveillance and what they are doing with all the data collected?

It first happened in 2009, again in 2012 and then it repeated itself in 2016. Three times in a span of seven years, Shah Rukh Khan, the Indian films actor was detained at the US airport and no form of wealth, success or fame could help him evade this situation. Have you ever wondered what went wrong with a man who has achieved globally acknowledged stardom? Do you buy into the logic of it just being plain and regular protocol? I fully understand & respect security with the way the world is, but to be detained at US immigration every damn time really really sucks. — Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) August 12, 2016 × Well, what happened to Shah Rukh Khan was not just an unfortunate incident but also a part of a larger mesh of issues concerning privacy, security and safety, both online and offline. It is the outcome of surveillance in the digital age where data points are fed to the system, while grossly ignoring everything about the personality and character of an individual. In Khan’s case, every other factor of him being a superstar, who travels in a business class, is loved by people all around the world was superseded by the data points that matched to someone who has a criminal history or can trigger false alarms. The data points that were picked up were: male, Muslim name, Indian, and from a certain age. Imagine Brad Pitt coming to India and being taken aside as a potential terrorist. This is how dangerous our world is today. × Now imagine Brad Pitt coming to India and being taken aside as a potential terrorist. This is how dangerous our world is today. The image that these systems have of us is warped and is just based on these data points that are monitored by intelligence agencies. According to this, all of us can fall into one category or another and be framed for something we have not committed. The Constant Gaze Anja Kovacs who directs The Internet Democracy Project in India focuses on the Internet and human rights issues. The movement discusses the interplay of issues that most of us choose to ignore, of a state of constant surveillance, data privacy issues and government control of access and usage of the Internet. She says, "India is not an exceptional situation but because it’s a diverse country--contradictions and inequalities are visible here. Challenges are more in your face here. Context is more visible." In this context, she talks about how surveillance functions. She says, “The way it actually works is that somebody is watching you but what it essentially aims to do, is to police norms. Those who set these norms are often the ones who are watching and they decide how those who are being watched should behave. The thing about norms is that people say that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear but all of this would be on the wrong side of the norm at some point. In the case of Shahrukh Khan, the information about him was denuded in such a way that the data points that did show up flagged him as a potential threat, even if he had not done anything.” It's not just about someone watching you but policing norms. Those who set these norms are the ones watching and they decide how those who are being watched should behave. × Discussing the nitty-gritty and compulsions of living in the digital age, we came to the conclusion that surveillance is more rampant now as more cameras are being put in place everywhere and more number of companies are tracking us online--and that makes us all very uncomfortable. What’s dangerous for a democracy to sustain, is that the government has access to all our data and whether they have a good reason or not, they continue to watch us. Game of Algorithms Anja adds, “They won’t go and check what I am talking about but if I talk about terrorism too often, and I am connected to other people who are talking about terrorism then at some point they might start looking into my profile. For example, there has been a case in New York where a family found the US government joint terrorism task force at its doorstep because they had been googling the phrases 'pressure cooker bomb' and 'backpack'. The law enforcement agencies picked up on a white middle-class American family of parents and one small kid for googling those phrases. For the agencies, this flashed as an indication that they were likely to be making a bomb. Imagine the US police force wearing black suits entering a private property only to find nothing. “This happens in a corporate scenario as well but the consequences aren’t the same. Facebook cannot throw you in jail but they along with other corporations are trying to shape your behaviour in insidious ways, to try and get us to do certain things. That's why at one point last year; Facebook had announced that they are tweaking their algorithms, as people are not sharing enough personal updates. We don't know whether they were successful in getting people to share but we do know that Facebook wanted people to share more, as they wanted to do something. Facebook cannot throw you in jail but they along with other corporations are trying to shape your behaviour in insidious ways × “It's dangerous to see what they can do with the algorithms, like how they use it to drive political campaigns during elections and move towards targeted campaigns. In America for example, in this year’s elections, if we were seen as potential Trump supporters and possible voters, the messages we would get would be different because our profiles are different, unlike the earlier times when potential voters of a single party would receive same messaging.” Also Read: Humour to the rescue: Memes flood Internet post-US election But not all is negative in this forever connected world. Surveillance vests power in the watcher and using this, the dynamics can change with different actors at play. She narrates how some slum colonies in Delhi where riots happened used surveillance as a tool for their benefit. The community itself bought CCTV cameras because they got fed up with the police arresting boys from the neighbourhood and blaming them for riots while according to the locals, the actual violence was committed by people outside of the community. She says, “They wanted to be in a situation where they can provide proof in future instances, so they reversed the gaze.” While surveillance continues at every level, be it in the workplace or public spaces; the kind that government indulges in online, is always riskier. The government of any country has the right to keep a check but it “ideally should happen only after the State has a suspicion on a person of a crime or any such affiliation”. In earlier times, the system didn’t necessarily work but “at least in theory there were some checks and balances that didn’t give enormous power to those doing the watching”. Anja adds, “It means that as a society we have less and less control over setting the norms because somebody has set the norm and if we behave out of it, we will be penalised. We are not only just expecting it to happen but are more conscious and aware of our surroundings--how to behave in public spaces, what to say on social media, what data to pull out and etc.” As a society we have less and less control over setting the norms because somebody has set the norm and if we behave out of it, we will be penalised. × How Open is the Internet? A part of a movement that aims to make the Internet free and a democratic space for all, Anja explains that there is also something called nudging in public policy. Facebook also does nudging through tweaks to the algorithms so that they can incentivise you to do particular things. Similarly, the Planning Commission of India, Niti Aayog also has a nudging unit now. She says, “What they want to do is to use data of popular government schemes and tweak them slightly so that more people can benefit from the policies. So nudging can be used for positive means as well but you can easily use it for negative purposes. "There is no idea of what is being done with our data and who keeps a check. So it’s not just the traditional form of surveillance where they are watching people to catch them when they do something wrong but it’s really also about the insidious ways in which they are shaping the society, shaping people to do stuff without them knowing. As citizens, that’s a problem.” While surveillance is an issue that needs urgent attention and scope for active and open discussions, there is also a big question around how open the Internet really is? Anja simply answers that it depends on ways on how you use the Internet. She says, “There are still some ways of using the Internet that is much more decentralised where you have more control on your data but it’s a little bit more complex. There’s a reason why so many of us ended up on platforms like Facebook and Twitter as they made sharing of content so easy. But it’s true that there has been a shift to more and more centralisation on the Internet even though the technology remains decentralised.” She emphasises on focusing on how these big companies are trying to escape regulations everywhere and how they are able to become so big without anybody questioning them. She adds, “Even Microsoft was put into antitrust regulations in the late 90’s because they had bundled Explorer in every system. Explorer is still installed in every Windows system but we now have the choice of using or not using it. Managing a very strong presence in browsers they had left users with no option. People complained that Microsoft was forcing them to use their own ecosystems in too many ways. The reason as to why many use Firefox or Chrome instead of Explorer is as a result of that.” Cyber Security When online we are usually privy to the eyes of many, even after checks and balances have been put in place. This concern gives fodder to cyber security, a term that is often used when talking about online safety for the weak and vulnerable. Also Read: Are we going to lose our jobs to robots? Anja, however, is not pleased with the existing discourse on cyber security. She says, “The way it is present now--don’t do this, don’t do that is not helpful and it starts to become more like what we see in the offline space. Don’t wear this when you are out, don’t be out in the night etc., whereas if we want to make the Internet a safe place this is not the right approach. It’s good to be conscious of what you are sharing, who you are sharing it with. You have to be smart. But there is no one-size-fits-all approach and currently, that is what it sounds like. We have to learn basics of risk assessment, to think about what are the threats in my life, actors that I should be worried about. National Cyber Security Policy 2013 (Source: Internet Democracy Project) (WION) × “We have seen in many accounts that parents are complaining about how their children have no sense of privacy and they also complain about children not sharing enough with them. So, clearly the children have a sense of privacy but who they see as threat actors while who their parents think are threat actors are completely different. As children, they see their parents as threat actors and stop sharing information with them. Parents think random strangers are threat actors.” This also emboldens the fact that people must understand the consequences of what they do online and take informed decisions. Lurking dangers of the new-age technology are glaring and it is upon us to make informed choices, to completely avoid or at least diminish the loss value attached to any attack via the Internet. Starting in 2011, The Internet Democracy Project has been focusing on the Internet and human rights issues. Their focus is on bringing together the domain of technology with ideas of democracy and social justice. However, in a world where authoritarian tendencies trump democratic values and promises of social justice are yet to be realised, it is a still a long road before misuses of technology can be stopped by brining in more accountability in the surveillance system. (WION)

Do you feel the gaze? We all are being watched

<p>Facebook recently celebrated the 30th birthday of GIF by introducing GIF option in the comment section. The users already had the option of sending GIFs on Messenger and Facebook-owned Whatsapp.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As part of its new introduction, Facebook is coming with a feature for its users where they can inscribe their creativity and create their own GIFs.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The social media network is looking forward to introducing a new GIF mode in Facebook Camera. The mode has yet not been rolled out.</p>

<p>&nbsp;It was noticed by The Next Web&#39;s Director of Social Media Matt Navarra. He discovered the new GIF option on the top of the Facebook camera. However, the feature was found only in iOS and was not seen in Android. &nbsp;</p>

<p>After the feature rolls out users will be able to access it by a right swipe to open the camera. According to TNW&#39;s report, the GIFs created will be short lasting for few seconds. The GIFs can be upgraded with the existing Facebook&#39;s effects and frames.</p>

<p>The GIF created can be stored in the phone or posted on the Facebook wall.&nbsp;</p>


As part of its new introduction, Facebook is coming with a feature for its users where they can inscribe their creativity and create their own GIFs

Facebook recently celebrated the 30th birthday of GIF by introducing GIF option in the comment section. The users already had the option of sending GIFs on Messenger and Facebook-owned Whatsapp. As part of its new introduction, Facebook is coming with a feature for its users where they can inscribe their creativity and create their own GIFs. The social media network is looking forward to introducing a new GIF mode in Facebook Camera. The mode has yet not been rolled out. It was noticed by The Next Web's Director of Social Media Matt Navarra. He discovered the new GIF option on the top of the Facebook camera. However, the feature was found only in iOS and was not seen in Android. After the feature rolls out users will be able to access it by a right swipe to open the camera. According to TNW's report, the GIFs created will be short lasting for few seconds. The GIFs can be upgraded with the existing Facebook's effects and frames. The GIF created can be stored in the phone or posted on the Facebook wall.

Now create your own GIF on Facebook

<p>Facebook has rejected Pakistan&#39;s request of linking the social media platform with the users&#39; mobile number. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Facebook spokesperson Christine Chen said the company did not approve of this move to protect the rights of its users, responding to an email by VOA. The spokesperson also said that Facebook was concerned about the ongoing government cases against some of its&nbsp;users in Pakistan.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Pakistan had asked facebook to link the social media&#39;s account with the users&#39; mobile number. According to Pakistan&#39;s Ministry of Information Technology, fake facebook accounts were used to circulate hate material.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) ensured the security of mobile phones saying that all mobile numbers in the country were protected through biometric verification system. It claimed that linking the facebook accounts with the users&#39; mobile number can prevent fake Facebook accounts from spreading hatred. It mentioned that Facebook accounts can simply be opened through an email.</p>

<p>Pakistan initiated the request after Facebook&#39;s efforts to remove foul and indecent content from its platform.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In the first ever visit by a senior member of Facebook management in Pakistan to deal with the growing misuse of social media platform, Vice president of Facebook Joel Kaplan met with interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and held talks to remove hateful, provocative and blasphemous content from the social media website.&nbsp;</p>

<p>At present Facebook has over 33 million users in Pakistan.</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>


Facebook spokesperson Christine Chen said the company did not approve of this move to protect the rights of its users

Facebook has rejected Pakistan's request of linking the social media platform with the users' mobile number. Facebook spokesperson Christine Chen said the company did not approve of this move to protect the rights of its users, responding to an email by VOA. The spokesperson also said that Facebook was concerned about the ongoing government cases against some of its users in Pakistan. Pakistan had asked facebook to link the social media's account with the users' mobile number. According to Pakistan's Ministry of Information Technology, fake facebook accounts were used to circulate hate material. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) ensured the security of mobile phones saying that all mobile numbers in the country were protected through biometric verification system. It claimed that linking the facebook accounts with the users' mobile number can prevent fake Facebook accounts from spreading hatred. It mentioned that Facebook accounts can simply be opened through an email. Pakistan initiated the request after Facebook's efforts to remove foul and indecent content from its platform. In the first ever visit by a senior member of Facebook management in Pakistan to deal with the growing misuse of social media platform, Vice president of Facebook Joel Kaplan met with interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and held talks to remove hateful, provocative and blasphemous content from the social media website. At present Facebook has over 33 million users in Pakistan.

Facebook rejects Pak's plea to link mobile phone numbers with Facebook account

<p>The latest reports that claim India topping the list of Countries using Facebook have been invalidated by company officials.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Some reports stated that India had emerged as the largest platform for facebook users. The reports claimed India shooting ahead of the United States, where the social media originated. It showed Facebook&#39;s total &quot;potential audience&quot; of 241 million active Indian users as compared to 240 million American users.&nbsp;</p>

<p>India has a low social media penetration as compared to that of United States. In India, where just 19 per cent of the population used Facebook last month, 73 per cent of US population has facebook connections. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Facebook recently announced an increase in its monthly users when the toll increased to over two billion active users around the world</p>


The latest reports that claim India topping the list of countries using Facebook have been invalidated by company officials

The latest reports that claim India topping the list of Countries using Facebook have been invalidated by company officials. Some reports stated that India had emerged as the largest platform for facebook users. The reports claimed India shooting ahead of the United States, where the social media originated. It showed Facebook's total "potential audience" of 241 million active Indian users as compared to 240 million American users. India has a low social media penetration as compared to that of United States. In India, where just 19 per cent of the population used Facebook last month, 73 per cent of US population has facebook connections. Facebook recently announced an increase in its monthly users when the toll increased to over two billion active users around the world

Indian facebook users still behind US-  confirms Facebook

<p>&nbsp;Facebook said that it was testing advertising on its Messenger app globally as the world&#39;s largest social media company looks to further monetize its popular chat service.</p>

<p>Ads will be displayed on the home tab of the Messenger app,&nbsp;Facebook&nbsp;said, adding that users clicking on the ads will either be taken to the advertiser&#39;s website or to a chat window.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The move follows&nbsp;Facebook&#39;s initial tests in Australia and Thailand in January.</p>

<p>The social media giant already allows businesses to have conversations with Messenger&#39;s 1.2 billion monthly users and send them sponsored content.</p>

<p>Facebook, which gets about 85 per cent of its ad revenue from mobile, has been trying to make money from the Messenger app to supplement its main revenue stream, which is expected to cool off this year.</p>


The world's largest social media company looks to further monetize its popular chat service

Facebook said that it was testing advertising on its Messenger app globally as the world's largest social media company looks to further monetize its popular chat service. Ads will be displayed on the home tab of the Messenger app, Facebook said, adding that users clicking on the ads will either be taken to the advertiser's website or to a chat window. The move follows Facebook's initial tests in Australia and Thailand in January. The social media giant already allows businesses to have conversations with Messenger's 1.2 billion monthly users and send them sponsored content. Facebook, which gets about 85 per cent of its ad revenue from mobile, has been trying to make money from the Messenger app to supplement its main revenue stream, which is expected to cool off this year.

Facebook to expand revenue from Messenger advertisement

facebook

Facebook, News on Facebook, stories on Facebook, articles on Facebook, Facebook stories at Wion, Facebook news, Facebook latest news