India today reacted on reports of social media giant Facebook&#39;s alleged involvement in the misuse of users&#39; private data. Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad broke his silence on the issue stating that India will not permit or tolerate any attempt to misuse social media.&nbsp;

&quot;Any covert or overt attempt to misuse social media including Facebook to influence India&#39;s electoral process through undesirable means will neither be tolerated nor be permitted,&quot; the minister noted.&nbsp;

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Any covert or overt attempt to misuse Social Media including Facebook to influence India&#39;s electoral process through undesirable means will neither be tolerated, nor be permitted : Shri <a href="https://twitter.com/rsprasad?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rsprasad</a>
&mdash; BJP (@BJP4India) <a href="https://twitter.com/BJP4India/status/976368875653627904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Prasad further added that &quot;abuse of social media including Facebook cannot be allowed to impact the fairness of elections.&quot;

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Abuse of Social Media including Facebook cannot be allowed to impact the fairness of elections. In the wake of recent data theft from Facebook, let my stern warning be heard across the Atlantic, far away in California : Shri <a href="https://twitter.com/rsprasad?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rsprasad</a>
&mdash; BJP (@BJP4India) <a href="https://twitter.com/BJP4India/status/976371847443881984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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&quot;In the wake of recent data theft from Facebook, let my stern warning be heard across the Atlantic, far away in California,&quot; the minister exclaimed.&nbsp;

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We uphold the use of social media and it has empowered every citizen who can ask us questions directly now. But abuse of social media that too by using foreign firms will not be acceptable: <a href="https://twitter.com/rsprasad?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rsprasad</a>
&mdash; RSPrasad Office (@OfficeOfRSP) <a href="https://twitter.com/OfficeOfRSP/status/976367706185322496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Prasad also accused the Congress Party of having ties with data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica. &nbsp;&nbsp;

&quot;What link does Cambridge Analytica have with social media management of Rahul Gandhi and Congress Party? Will the Congress Party now depend upon data manipulation and data theft to win elections?&quot; Prasad lashed out.&nbsp;

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There were news reports about use of bots to artificially increase the social media following of Rahul Gandhi in recent time: <a href="https://twitter.com/rsprasad?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rsprasad</a>
&mdash; RSPrasad Office (@OfficeOfRSP) <a href="https://twitter.com/OfficeOfRSP/status/976365846737178624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The minister also claimed that there were reports of use of bots to artificially increase the social media following of Rahul Gandhi in recent time.&nbsp;

Ravi Shankar Prasad cited media reports about the opposition party&#39;s plan to use the firm&#39;s services for the next Lok Sabha elections and to boost its president Rahul Gandhi&#39;s profile. He asked Rahul Gandhi to explain the company&#39;s role in his social media outreach.

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What link does Cambridge Analytica have with social media management of Rahul Gandhi and Congress Party? Asks <a href="https://twitter.com/rsprasad?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rsprasad</a>
&mdash; RSPrasad Office (@OfficeOfRSP) <a href="https://twitter.com/OfficeOfRSP/status/976365265524011008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The firm, the Union minister said, has been accused of using &quot;sex, sleaze and fake news&quot; to influence elections and asked if the Congress too plans to walk the same path.

&quot;The Congress must explain if it has engaged in data trade with Cambridge Analytica,&quot; he said, questioning the opposition party&#39;s &quot;silence&quot; despite numerous reports of its link with the company.

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Cambridge Analytica, the agency roped in by Congress to run their 2019 campaign and termed as their &#39;Brahmastra&#39; in certain section of media, is accused of using bribes, sex workers to entrap politicians and stealing data from Facebook : Shri <a href="https://twitter.com/rsprasad?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rsprasad</a>
&mdash; BJP (@BJP4India) <a href="https://twitter.com/BJP4India/status/976368962547081217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Targeting the Congress, he said the number of Gandhi&#39;s Twitter followers had shot up recently and wondered if it was due to the services of the firm that he achieved this &quot;fake popularity&quot;.

Prasad also accused the Congress Party of having ties with data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica

India today reacted on reports of social media giant Facebook's alleged involvement in the misuse of users' private data. Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad broke his silence on the issue stating that India will not permit or tolerate any attempt to misuse social media. "Any covert or overt attempt to misuse social media including Facebook to influence India's electoral process through undesirable means will neither be tolerated nor be permitted," the minister noted. Any covert or overt attempt to misuse Social Media including Facebook to influence India's electoral process through undesirable means will neither be tolerated, nor be permitted : Shri @rsprasad — BJP (@BJP4India) March 21, 2018 × Prasad further added that "abuse of social media including Facebook cannot be allowed to impact the fairness of elections." Abuse of Social Media including Facebook cannot be allowed to impact the fairness of elections. In the wake of recent data theft from Facebook, let my stern warning be heard across the Atlantic, far away in California : Shri @rsprasad — BJP (@BJP4India) March 21, 2018 × "In the wake of recent data theft from Facebook, let my stern warning be heard across the Atlantic, far away in California," the minister exclaimed. We uphold the use of social media and it has empowered every citizen who can ask us questions directly now. But abuse of social media that too by using foreign firms will not be acceptable: @rsprasad — RSPrasad Office (@OfficeOfRSP) March 21, 2018 × Prasad also accused the Congress Party of having ties with data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica. "What link does Cambridge Analytica have with social media management of Rahul Gandhi and Congress Party? Will the Congress Party now depend upon data manipulation and data theft to win elections?" Prasad lashed out. There were news reports about use of bots to artificially increase the social media following of Rahul Gandhi in recent time: @rsprasad — RSPrasad Office (@OfficeOfRSP) March 21, 2018 × The minister also claimed that there were reports of use of bots to artificially increase the social media following of Rahul Gandhi in recent time. Ravi Shankar Prasad cited media reports about the opposition party's plan to use the firm's services for the next Lok Sabha elections and to boost its president Rahul Gandhi's profile. He asked Rahul Gandhi to explain the company's role in his social media outreach. What link does Cambridge Analytica have with social media management of Rahul Gandhi and Congress Party? Asks @rsprasad — RSPrasad Office (@OfficeOfRSP) March 21, 2018 × The firm, the Union minister said, has been accused of using "sex, sleaze and fake news" to influence elections and asked if the Congress too plans to walk the same path. "The Congress must explain if it has engaged in data trade with Cambridge Analytica," he said, questioning the opposition party's "silence" despite numerous reports of its link with the company. Cambridge Analytica, the agency roped in by Congress to run their 2019 campaign and termed as their 'Brahmastra' in certain section of media, is accused of using bribes, sex workers to entrap politicians and stealing data from Facebook : Shri @rsprasad — BJP (@BJP4India) March 21, 2018 × Targeting the Congress, he said the number of Gandhi's Twitter followers had shot up recently and wondered if it was due to the services of the firm that he achieved this "fake popularity".

Let my stern warning be heard across the Atlantic: Ravi Shankar Prasad on Facebook data breach

A British parliamentary committee on Tuesday summoned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to answer questions on the fake news as authorities step up efforts to determine whether data has been improperly used to influence elections, reports said.

The European Parliament also invited Zuckerberg to speak following revelations that a firm working for Donald Trump&#39;s US presidential campaign harvested data on 50 million users.&nbsp;

The parliament and the European Commission, the 28-nation EU executive, have already called for an urgent probe into the scandal.

Data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica harvested private information from more than 50 million Facebook users in developing techniques to support President Donald Trump&#39;s 2016 election campaign, the New York Times and London&#39;s Observer reported on Saturday.

The newspapers, which cited former Cambridge Analytica employees, associates and documents, said the data breach was one of the largest in the history of Facebook Inc.

Facebook on Friday said it was suspending Cambridge Analytica after finding data privacy policies had been violated.

The European Parliament also invited Zuckerberg to speak following revelations that a firm working for Donald Trump's US presidential campaign harvested data on 50 million users.

A British parliamentary committee on Tuesday summoned Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to answer questions on the fake news as authorities step up efforts to determine whether data has been improperly used to influence elections, reports said. The European Parliament also invited Zuckerberg to speak following revelations that a firm working for Donald Trump's US presidential campaign harvested data on 50 million users. The parliament and the European Commission, the 28-nation EU executive, have already called for an urgent probe into the scandal. Data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica harvested private information from more than 50 million Facebook users in developing techniques to support President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign, the New York Times and London's Observer reported on Saturday. The newspapers, which cited former Cambridge Analytica employees, associates and documents, said the data breach was one of the largest in the history of Facebook Inc. Facebook on Friday said it was suspending Cambridge Analytica after finding data privacy policies had been violated.

Mark Zuckerberg Summoned by House Panel in UK; stock slides

Amid the row of data theft by the UK based company, Cambridge Analytica in collusion with social media platform Facebook, Information and Technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad warned of strong actions against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday.

Ravi Shankar Prasad said &quot;Mr Mark Zuckerberg you better know the observation of IT Minister of India, if any data theft of Indians is done with the collusion of FB systems, it will not be tolerated&quot;, adding, &quot;we have got stringent powers in the IT Act including summoning you in India&quot;.

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Mr. Mark Zuckerberg you better know the observation of IT Minister of India, if any data theft of Indians is done with the collusion of FB systems, it will not be tolerated. We have got stringent powers in the IT Act including summoning you in India : Ravi Shankar Prasad <a href="https://t.co/tACPLs755F">pic.twitter.com/tACPLs755F</a>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/976389079146336257?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Ravi Shankar Prasad held a press conference in Delhi on Wednesday during which he also alleged that Congress has also hired Cambridge&nbsp;Analytica for 2019&nbsp;elections and asked about the role of of the data analysis company&#39;s role in Rahul Gandhi&#39;s social media profile.

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Will Congress Party depend on data theft and manipulation to win elections? What is the role of Cambridge Analytica in social media profile of Rahul Gandhi? : Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology <a href="https://t.co/OgCfg7O91N">pic.twitter.com/OgCfg7O91N</a>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/976380775846248449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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He also warned Mark Zuckerberg against trying to &quot;influence India&#39;s electoral process through undesirable means.&quot;

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We support free exchange of ideas on social media but any attempt by social media including FB of trying to influence India&#39;s electoral process through undesirable means will not be tolerated. Let Facebook note it very clearly: Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister <a href="https://t.co/6ryszflHhR">pic.twitter.com/6ryszflHhR</a>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/976383428248653826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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He also asked Congress of &quot;how much data of Indians was shared with Cambridge Analytica&#39;s CEO. As there are serious allegations of data theft against this company in USA, England. The company boasts of having influenced elections in Nigeria, Kenya, Brazil, also in India&quot;.

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We ask Congress that how much data of Indians was shared with Cambridge Analytica&#39;s CEO. As there are serious allegations of data theft against this company in USA, England. Company boasts of having influenced elections in Nigeria, Kenya, Brazil, also in India:Union Min RS Prasad
&mdash; ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/976387976430260224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Earlier in the day Ravi Shankar Prasad also made a series of tweets in which alleged citing media reports that Rahul Gandhi&#39;s social media profile popularity was increased by using bots.

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There were news reports about use of bots to artificially increase the social media following of Rahul Gandhi in recent time: <a href="https://twitter.com/rsprasad?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@rsprasad</a>
&mdash; RSPrasad Office (@OfficeOfRSP) <a href="https://twitter.com/OfficeOfRSP/status/976365846737178624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Meanwhile, the Congress has denied&nbsp;all allegations regarding the issue.

Social media and digital communication head, Divya Spandana clarified on Twitter that &quot;news about Congress engaged/engaging with Cambridge Analytica is absolutely false.&quot;

Cambridge Analytica has been accused of harvesting private information from more than 50 million Facebook users in developing techniques to support President Donald Trump&#39;s 2016 election campaign, the New York Times and London&#39;s Observer reported on Saturday (March 18). 
&nbsp;

Ravi Shankar Prasad said 'Mr Mark Zuckerberg you better know the observation of IT Minister of India, if any data theft of Indians is done with the collusion of FB systems, it will not be tolerated'

Amid the row of data theft by the UK based company, Cambridge Analytica in collusion with social media platform Facebook, Information and Technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad warned of strong actions against Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday. Ravi Shankar Prasad said "Mr Mark Zuckerberg you better know the observation of IT Minister of India, if any data theft of Indians is done with the collusion of FB systems, it will not be tolerated", adding, "we have got stringent powers in the IT Act including summoning you in India". Mr. Mark Zuckerberg you better know the observation of IT Minister of India, if any data theft of Indians is done with the collusion of FB systems, it will not be tolerated. We have got stringent powers in the IT Act including summoning you in India : Ravi Shankar Prasad pic.twitter.com/tACPLs755F — ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2018 × Ravi Shankar Prasad held a press conference in Delhi on Wednesday during which he also alleged that Congress has also hired Cambridge Analytica for 2019 elections and asked about the role of of the data analysis company's role in Rahul Gandhi's social media profile. Will Congress Party depend on data theft and manipulation to win elections? What is the role of Cambridge Analytica in social media profile of Rahul Gandhi? : Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology pic.twitter.com/OgCfg7O91N — ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2018 × He also warned Mark Zuckerberg against trying to "influence India's electoral process through undesirable means." We support free exchange of ideas on social media but any attempt by social media including FB of trying to influence India's electoral process through undesirable means will not be tolerated. Let Facebook note it very clearly: Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister pic.twitter.com/6ryszflHhR — ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2018 × He also asked Congress of "how much data of Indians was shared with Cambridge Analytica's CEO. As there are serious allegations of data theft against this company in USA, England. The company boasts of having influenced elections in Nigeria, Kenya, Brazil, also in India". We ask Congress that how much data of Indians was shared with Cambridge Analytica's CEO. As there are serious allegations of data theft against this company in USA, England. Company boasts of having influenced elections in Nigeria, Kenya, Brazil, also in India:Union Min RS Prasad — ANI (@ANI) March 21, 2018 × Earlier in the day Ravi Shankar Prasad also made a series of tweets in which alleged citing media reports that Rahul Gandhi's social media profile popularity was increased by using bots. There were news reports about use of bots to artificially increase the social media following of Rahul Gandhi in recent time: @rsprasad — RSPrasad Office (@OfficeOfRSP) March 21, 2018 × Meanwhile, the Congress has denied all allegations regarding the issue. Social media and digital communication head, Divya Spandana clarified on Twitter that "news about Congress engaged/engaging with Cambridge Analytica is absolutely false." Cambridge Analytica has been accused of harvesting private information from more than 50 million Facebook users in developing techniques to support President Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign, the New York Times and London's Observer reported on Saturday (March 18).

Ravi Shankar Prasad warns Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg of 'strict actions'

The suspended chief executive of Cambridge Analytica said in a secretly recorded video broadcast on Tuesday that his UK-based political consultancy&rsquo;s online campaign played a decisive role in US President Donald Trump&rsquo;s 2016 election victory.&nbsp;

Also read: <a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/facebook-data-row-uk-mps-ask-mark-zuckerberg-to-give-evidence-36531" target="_blank">Facebook data row &mdash; UK MPs ask Mark Zuckerberg to give evidence</a>

His comments, which could not be verified, are potentially a further problem for Facebook Inc as it faces lawmakers&rsquo; scrutiny in the United States and Europe over Cambridge Analytica&rsquo;s improper use of 50 million Facebook users&rsquo; personal data to target voters.

The social media network&rsquo;s shares fell for a second day, closing down 2.5 percent, as investors worried that its dealings with Cambridge Analytica might damage its reputation, deter advertisers and invite restrictive regulation. The company has lost $60 billion (&pound;42.9 billion) of its stock market value over the last two days.

Cambridge Analytica&rsquo;s board of directors suspended CEO Alexander Nix on Tuesday, shortly before the second part of British broadcaster Channel 4&rsquo;s expose of the firm&rsquo;s methods.

In the program, Nix describes questionable practices used to influence foreign elections and said his firm did all the research, analytics and targeting of voters for Trump&rsquo;s digital and TV campaigns. He also boasts he met Trump when he was the Republican presidential candidate &ldquo;many times.&rdquo;

Nix&rsquo;s comments &ldquo;do not represent the values or operations of the firm and his suspension reflects the seriousness with which we view this violation,&rdquo; Cambridge Analytica said in a statement on Tuesday.

Brad Parscale, the 2016 Trump campaign&rsquo;s main digital adviser who dealt regularly with Cambridge Analytica, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Nix&rsquo;s claims.&nbsp;

Jared Kushner, Trump&rsquo;s son-in-law and now a senior adviser, oversaw the Trump campaign&rsquo;s digital operations. One former Trump adviser said Kushner brought Cambridge Analytica into the 2016 campaign effort. Kushner&rsquo;s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. law bans foreigners from making contributions or spending money on behalf of a U.S. election campaign but it was not illegal for the Trump campaign to retain Cambridge Analytica&rsquo;s services, according to Bradley Smith, a former Republican member of the U.S. Federal Election Commission.

&ldquo;The fact that they are a British company doesn&rsquo;t add anything to the analysis unless they were giving their services away for free or charging below-market rates,&rdquo; said Smith, now a professor at the Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio.&nbsp;

FTC REVIEW, LAWSUIT

US&nbsp;and European lawmakers have demanded an explanation of how Cambridge Analytica gained access to user data in 2014 and why Facebook failed to inform its users, raising broader industry questions about consumer privacy.

Facebook said it had been told by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the leading U.S. consumer regulator, that it would receive a letter this week with questions about the data acquired by Cambridge Analytica. It said it had no indication of a formal investigation.

&ldquo;The entire company is outraged we were deceived,&rdquo; Facebook said in a statement on Tuesday. &ldquo;We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people&rsquo;s information and will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens.&rdquo;

The FTC is reviewing whether Facebook violated a 2011 consent decree it reached with the authority over its privacy practices, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters.

If the FTC finds Facebook violated terms of the consent decree, it has the power to fine the company thousands of dollars a day per violation, which could add up to billions of dollars.&nbsp;

Facebook was also hit on Tuesday in a San Francisco court by the first of what could be many lawsuits by shareholders claiming to suffer losses because the company misled them about its ability to protect user data. The company could also soon face lawsuits on behalf of users whose personal information was exposed.

Facebook and its peers Alphabet Inc&rsquo;s Google and Twitter already face a backlash from users and lawmakers over their role during the U.S. presidential election by allowing the spread of false information that might have swayed voters toward Trump.

Fear of increased regulation hurt other social media firms on Tuesday. Shares of Snap Inc fell 2.5 percent and Twitter Inc fell more than 10 percent.

FOREIGN INFLUENCE

US&nbsp;Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, called on Tuesday for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify in Congress. Congressional staff said the company would brief U.S. Senate and House aides on Wednesday.&nbsp;

A Congressional official said House Intelligence Committee Democrats plan to interview Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie. The committee interviewed Nix by video teleconference, according to the Congressional official, but a transcript of that interview has not yet been made public.

The Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting a long-term investigation of alleged Russian interference in U.S. politics and a detailed examination of U.S. election security precautions, would carry out its own inquiry of Cambridge Analytica, a Congressional official with direct knowledge of the investigation said.

The White House said it welcomed inquiries, and that the President believes that Americans&rsquo; privacy should be protected.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

In Britain, the Information Commissioner&rsquo;s Office, an independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, was seeking a warrant from a judge to search the offices of London-based Cambridge Analytica. It was unclear late on Tuesday whether it had obtained it.&nbsp;

Created in 2013, Cambridge Analytica markets itself as a source of consumer research, targeted advertising and other data-related services to both political and corporate clients.

According to the New York Times, it was launched with $15 million in backing from billionaire Republican donor Robert Mercer and a name chosen by the-then future Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon.

Facebook says the data were harvested by a British academic, Aleksandr Kogan, who created an app on the platform that was downloaded by 270,000 people, providing access not only to their own personal data but also their friends&rsquo;.

Facebook said Kogan then violated its policies by passing the data to Cambridge Analytica. Facebook has since suspended both the consulting firm and SCL (Strategic Communication Laboratories), a government and military contractor.

Facebook said it had been told that the data were destroyed. Kogan was not immediately reachable for comment.

Cambridge Analytica has denied all the media claims and said it deleted the data after learning the information did not adhere to data protection rules.&nbsp;

Cambridge Analytica’s board of directors suspended CEO Alexander Nix on Tuesday, shortly before the second part of British broadcaster Channel 4’s expose of the firm’s methods

The suspended chief executive of Cambridge Analytica said in a secretly recorded video broadcast on Tuesday that his UK-based political consultancy’s online campaign played a decisive role in US President Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory. Also read: Facebook data row — UK MPs ask Mark Zuckerberg to give evidence His comments, which could not be verified, are potentially a further problem for Facebook Inc as it faces lawmakers’ scrutiny in the United States and Europe over Cambridge Analytica’s improper use of 50 million Facebook users’ personal data to target voters. The social media network’s shares fell for a second day, closing down 2.5 percent, as investors worried that its dealings with Cambridge Analytica might damage its reputation, deter advertisers and invite restrictive regulation. The company has lost $60 billion (£42.9 billion) of its stock market value over the last two days. Cambridge Analytica’s board of directors suspended CEO Alexander Nix on Tuesday, shortly before the second part of British broadcaster Channel 4’s expose of the firm’s methods. In the program, Nix describes questionable practices used to influence foreign elections and said his firm did all the research, analytics and targeting of voters for Trump’s digital and TV campaigns. He also boasts he met Trump when he was the Republican presidential candidate “many times.” Nix’s comments “do not represent the values or operations of the firm and his suspension reflects the seriousness with which we view this violation,” Cambridge Analytica said in a statement on Tuesday. Brad Parscale, the 2016 Trump campaign’s main digital adviser who dealt regularly with Cambridge Analytica, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Nix’s claims. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and now a senior adviser, oversaw the Trump campaign’s digital operations. One former Trump adviser said Kushner brought Cambridge Analytica into the 2016 campaign effort. Kushner’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. U.S. law bans foreigners from making contributions or spending money on behalf of a U.S. election campaign but it was not illegal for the Trump campaign to retain Cambridge Analytica’s services, according to Bradley Smith, a former Republican member of the U.S. Federal Election Commission. “The fact that they are a British company doesn’t add anything to the analysis unless they were giving their services away for free or charging below-market rates,” said Smith, now a professor at the Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio. FTC REVIEW, LAWSUIT US and European lawmakers have demanded an explanation of how Cambridge Analytica gained access to user data in 2014 and why Facebook failed to inform its users, raising broader industry questions about consumer privacy. Facebook said it had been told by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the leading U.S. consumer regulator, that it would receive a letter this week with questions about the data acquired by Cambridge Analytica. It said it had no indication of a formal investigation. “The entire company is outraged we were deceived,” Facebook said in a statement on Tuesday. “We are committed to vigorously enforcing our policies to protect people’s information and will take whatever steps are required to see that this happens.” The FTC is reviewing whether Facebook violated a 2011 consent decree it reached with the authority over its privacy practices, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters. If the FTC finds Facebook violated terms of the consent decree, it has the power to fine the company thousands of dollars a day per violation, which could add up to billions of dollars. Facebook was also hit on Tuesday in a San Francisco court by the first of what could be many lawsuits by shareholders claiming to suffer losses because the company misled them about its ability to protect user data. The company could also soon face lawsuits on behalf of users whose personal information was exposed. Facebook and its peers Alphabet Inc’s Google and Twitter already face a backlash from users and lawmakers over their role during the U.S. presidential election by allowing the spread of false information that might have swayed voters toward Trump. Fear of increased regulation hurt other social media firms on Tuesday. Shares of Snap Inc fell 2.5 percent and Twitter Inc fell more than 10 percent. FOREIGN INFLUENCE US Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, called on Tuesday for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify in Congress. Congressional staff said the company would brief U.S. Senate and House aides on Wednesday. A Congressional official said House Intelligence Committee Democrats plan to interview Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie. The committee interviewed Nix by video teleconference, according to the Congressional official, but a transcript of that interview has not yet been made public. The Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting a long-term investigation of alleged Russian interference in U.S. politics and a detailed examination of U.S. election security precautions, would carry out its own inquiry of Cambridge Analytica, a Congressional official with direct knowledge of the investigation said. The White House said it welcomed inquiries, and that the President believes that Americans’ privacy should be protected. PERSONAL INFORMATION In Britain, the Information Commissioner’s Office, an independent authority set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, was seeking a warrant from a judge to search the offices of London-based Cambridge Analytica. It was unclear late on Tuesday whether it had obtained it. Created in 2013, Cambridge Analytica markets itself as a source of consumer research, targeted advertising and other data-related services to both political and corporate clients. According to the New York Times, it was launched with $15 million in backing from billionaire Republican donor Robert Mercer and a name chosen by the-then future Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon. Facebook says the data were harvested by a British academic, Aleksandr Kogan, who created an app on the platform that was downloaded by 270,000 people, providing access not only to their own personal data but also their friends’. Facebook said Kogan then violated its policies by passing the data to Cambridge Analytica. Facebook has since suspended both the consulting firm and SCL (Strategic Communication Laboratories), a government and military contractor. Facebook said it had been told that the data were destroyed. Kogan was not immediately reachable for comment. Cambridge Analytica has denied all the media claims and said it deleted the data after learning the information did not adhere to data protection rules.

Suspended Cambridge Analytica CEO claims influence on US election, Facebook questioned

Mark Zuckerberg- led Facebook has been slammed on various occasions in the past for failing to maintain user privacy, but this time social media giant finds itself amid a scandal of much bigger proportion.

The company has come under fire over revelations that UK-based data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica&nbsp;harvested and misused data of 50 million users to help US President Donald Trump win the 2016 election.&nbsp;

According to reports, US, UK regulators and authorities have initiated a probe into the case; a judgment is likely to be out once the investigation is done.&nbsp;

Not just this, the controversy underlines grave concerns and consequences for users. The controversy has brought to light the fact that Facebook does collect a large amount of data from its users.&nbsp;

It must be kept in mind that any data analytics firm can use that data to create personality profiles to determine users&rsquo; preferences and behaviour, and change audience behaviour.

Also, Facebook has been failing to handle user data. The company expects users to trust that the data is not misused and is protected with utmost care, but Facebook has been failing to gain that confidence, time and again. Case in point, the access of user data by Cambridge Analytica underscores how easy it is for third-parties to harvest facebook user data.

Facebook talks of tightening control on such practices since it discovered the allegations by Cambridge Analytica in 2015, but the fact of the matter is that it lost control over data and wasn&#39;t adequately monitoring third-party activities. And, this is not the first incident; Facebook has been failing to maintain user privacy for a long time.

The trouble for Facebook doesn&#39;t end here; there is another side to the company&rsquo;s problems that will be more evident after the European Union privacy rules come into effect in May.

Complying with the rules would require Facebook to allow the European users to opt out of the highly targeted online advertisements that have made Facebook a money-minting machine.&nbsp;

Plus, in the wake of any violations, the company could be slapped with up to 4 per cent of its annual revenues.

The company has been facing mounting pressure from lawmakers on both sides on the Atlantic. Is it beginning of gloomy days for facebook?&nbsp;

The company has come under fire over revelations that UK-based data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica harvested and misused data of 50 million users to help US President Donald Trump win the 2016 election

Mark Zuckerberg- led Facebook has been slammed on various occasions in the past for failing to maintain user privacy, but this time social media giant finds itself amid a scandal of much bigger proportion. The company has come under fire over revelations that UK-based data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica harvested and misused data of 50 million users to help US President Donald Trump win the 2016 election. According to reports, US, UK regulators and authorities have initiated a probe into the case; a judgment is likely to be out once the investigation is done. Not just this, the controversy underlines grave concerns and consequences for users. The controversy has brought to light the fact that Facebook does collect a large amount of data from its users. It must be kept in mind that any data analytics firm can use that data to create personality profiles to determine users’ preferences and behaviour, and change audience behaviour. Also, Facebook has been failing to handle user data. The company expects users to trust that the data is not misused and is protected with utmost care, but Facebook has been failing to gain that confidence, time and again. Case in point, the access of user data by Cambridge Analytica underscores how easy it is for third-parties to harvest facebook user data. Facebook talks of tightening control on such practices since it discovered the allegations by Cambridge Analytica in 2015, but the fact of the matter is that it lost control over data and wasn't adequately monitoring third-party activities. And, this is not the first incident; Facebook has been failing to maintain user privacy for a long time. The trouble for Facebook doesn't end here; there is another side to the company’s problems that will be more evident after the European Union privacy rules come into effect in May. Complying with the rules would require Facebook to allow the European users to opt out of the highly targeted online advertisements that have made Facebook a money-minting machine. Plus, in the wake of any violations, the company could be slapped with up to 4 per cent of its annual revenues. The company has been facing mounting pressure from lawmakers on both sides on the Atlantic. Is it beginning of gloomy days for facebook?

Beginning of gloom? Why Facebook is in huge mess

Facebook&#39;s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been asked to appear before a British parliamentary committee. Zuckerberg has been asked to clarify claims that suggest that millions of users&#39; data was harvested for use in political campaigns.

Damian Collins, chairman of the House of Commons digital, culture, media and sports committee, wrote to Zuckerberg asking for his own account of &quot;this catastrophic failure of process&quot;.&nbsp;

Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook has been slammed on various occasions in the past for failing to maintain user privacy, but this time social media giant finds itself amid a scandal of much bigger proportion.

The company has come under fire over revelations that UK-based data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica harvested and misused data of 50 million users to help US President Donald Trump win the 2016 election.&nbsp;

According to reports, US, UK regulators and authorities have initiated a probe into the case; a judgment is likely to be out once the investigation is done.&nbsp;

Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook has been slammed on various occasions in the past for failing to maintain user privacy

Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been asked to appear before a British parliamentary committee. Zuckerberg has been asked to clarify claims that suggest that millions of users' data was harvested for use in political campaigns. Damian Collins, chairman of the House of Commons digital, culture, media and sports committee, wrote to Zuckerberg asking for his own account of "this catastrophic failure of process". Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook has been slammed on various occasions in the past for failing to maintain user privacy, but this time social media giant finds itself amid a scandal of much bigger proportion. The company has come under fire over revelations that UK-based data analysis firm Cambridge Analytica harvested and misused data of 50 million users to help US President Donald Trump win the 2016 election. According to reports, US, UK regulators and authorities have initiated a probe into the case; a judgment is likely to be out once the investigation is done.

Facebook data row: UK MPs ask Mark Zuckerberg to give evidence

Facebook remains the most popular social network among Americans but faces a growing challenge from Snapchat for young audiences, a survey showed Thursday.

The Pew Research Center survey showed Facebook holding the dominant platform with 68 per cent of Americans using the world&#39;s biggest social network.

While Facebook leads the other social networks in all age groups, the gap has narrowed in the key 18-24 segment, where 78 per cent use Snapchat compared with 80 per cent for Facebook, Pew researchers found.

Facebook-owned Instagram, which emphasises pictures and video, is also popular with some 71 per cent of that age segment, Pew found.

The study is the latest highlighting Facebook&#39;s challenge of keeping its core youth audience, while adding older users, amid growth in newer social networks like Snapchat, known for its disappearing messages and media snippets.

&quot;As was true in previous years, Facebook remains the entry point to the world of social media for a majority of Americans,&quot; said Pew research associate director Aaron Smith.

&quot;At the same time, Americans today utilize a diverse range of online social platforms in addition to Facebook. And this is especially true of the youngest adults, many of whom have fully incorporated platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram into their social media diets.&quot;

Pew found the median American uses three social platforms with considerable overlap among Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

Twitter, meanwhile, continues to lag other platforms with 24 per cent of Americans using the short messaging service.

Twitter recently reported its first-ever quarterly profit even though its global user base remained unchanged at 330 million compared with more than two billion for Facebook.

Pew said YouTube, which it does not consider a social network even though it has &quot;social elements,&quot; is used by 73 per cent of US adults.

The report is based on a survey via mobile or landline telephone of 2,002 US adults from January 3-10 with a margin of error estimated a 2.4 percentage points for the full sample.

Two weeks ago, a report by eMarketer said Facebook is losing youths at a faster-than-expected pace and that many are turning to Snapchat.

Facebook has launched a Messenger Kids application for users under 12, with parental controls, saying many children already use messaging applications on their own.

Snapchat has faced problems of its own recently amid complaints about an application redesign which separates friends and media content, with a tweet from reality star Kylie Jenner causing a stock plunge.

While Facebook leads the other social networks in all age groups, the gap has narrowed in the key 18-24 segment, where 78 per cent use Snapchat compared with 80 per cent for Facebook, Pew researchers found

Facebook remains the most popular social network among Americans but faces a growing challenge from Snapchat for young audiences, a survey showed Thursday. The Pew Research Center survey showed Facebook holding the dominant platform with 68 per cent of Americans using the world's biggest social network. While Facebook leads the other social networks in all age groups, the gap has narrowed in the key 18-24 segment, where 78 per cent use Snapchat compared with 80 per cent for Facebook, Pew researchers found. Facebook-owned Instagram, which emphasises pictures and video, is also popular with some 71 per cent of that age segment, Pew found. The study is the latest highlighting Facebook's challenge of keeping its core youth audience, while adding older users, amid growth in newer social networks like Snapchat, known for its disappearing messages and media snippets. "As was true in previous years, Facebook remains the entry point to the world of social media for a majority of Americans," said Pew research associate director Aaron Smith. "At the same time, Americans today utilize a diverse range of online social platforms in addition to Facebook. And this is especially true of the youngest adults, many of whom have fully incorporated platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram into their social media diets." Pew found the median American uses three social platforms with considerable overlap among Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Twitter, meanwhile, continues to lag other platforms with 24 per cent of Americans using the short messaging service. Twitter recently reported its first-ever quarterly profit even though its global user base remained unchanged at 330 million compared with more than two billion for Facebook. Pew said YouTube, which it does not consider a social network even though it has "social elements," is used by 73 per cent of US adults. The report is based on a survey via mobile or landline telephone of 2,002 US adults from January 3-10 with a margin of error estimated a 2.4 percentage points for the full sample. Two weeks ago, a report by eMarketer said Facebook is losing youths at a faster-than-expected pace and that many are turning to Snapchat. Facebook has launched a Messenger Kids application for users under 12, with parental controls, saying many children already use messaging applications on their own. Snapchat has faced problems of its own recently amid complaints about an application redesign which separates friends and media content, with a tweet from reality star Kylie Jenner causing a stock plunge.

Snapchat challenging Facebook among US youth: Survey

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg&#39;s sister Randi Zuckerberg has accused a fellow passenger on an Alaska Airlines flight of sexually harassing her.&nbsp;

The businesswoman and best-selling author of DotComplicated claimed that she felt disgusted and degraded and posted a copy of the letter she sent to the airlines, on Twitter.&nbsp;

Zuckerberg tweeted: &quot;Feeling disgusted &amp; degraded after an @AlaskaAir flight where the passenger next to me made repeated lewd sexual remarks. The flight attendants told me he was a frequent flier, brushed off his behaviour &amp; kept giving him drinks. I guess his $ means more than our safety? My letter:&quot;

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Feeling disgusted &amp; degraded after an <a href="https://twitter.com/AlaskaAir?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AlaskaAir</a> flight where the passenger next to me made repeated lewd sexual remarks. The flight attendants told me he was a frequent flier, brushed off his behavior &amp; kept giving him drinks. I guess his $ means more than our safety? My letter: <a href="https://t.co/xOkDpb0dYU">pic.twitter.com/xOkDpb0dYU</a>
&mdash; Randi Zuckerberg (@randizuckerberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/randizuckerberg/status/936062601561116672?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2017</a></blockquote>
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She mentioned in the letter that she was in a &#39;very uncomfortable situation&#39; after the fellow passenger made &#39;explicit, lewd and highly offensive sexual comments&#39; to her immediately after boarding the flight.&#39;&nbsp;

She described how the man talked about &#39;touching himself, kept asking her if she fantasized about female business colleagues she was travelling with, rated and commented on women&#39;s bodies boarding the aircraft as they walked by and other such horrifying and offensive comments.&#39;

What was shocking was how the airline staff reacted to Zuckerberg&#39;s complaint.&nbsp;

According to her letter, the flight attendant said that &#39;the guy was a frequent Alaska Airlines traveller on the exact route and that they have talked to him about his behaviour in the past. &#39; 
They further told her to &#39;not take it personally as the guy does not have a filter&#39;.&nbsp;

According to the letter, the flight attendant came to their seat multiple times and sweetly asked the passenger with a giggle &quot;Are you behaving today?&quot;&nbsp;

Upon telling the flight attendant that she was uncomfortable, they suggested her to move her seat at the back of the plane.

She furiously lashed out &quot;Why should I have to move?&quot; she said. &quot;I am the one that is being harassed! Why is it the woman that needs to switch seats in this situation? Shouldn&#39;t he have been thrown off the plane?!&quot;

The letter further mentions how Alaska Airlines knowingly and willingly provided the man with a platform to harass women.&nbsp;

Since sharing the letter on twitter it has been retweeted over 12,000 times.

After the letter was sent, the Airline got in touch with her. Zuckerberg tweeted later that day &quot;UPDATE: I just got off the phone with two executives from @AlaskaAir who informed me that they are conducting an investigation and have temporarily suspended this passenger&rsquo;s travel privileges. Thank you for taking this seriously.&quot;

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UPDATE: I just got off the phone with two executives from <a href="https://twitter.com/AlaskaAir?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AlaskaAir</a> who informed me that they are conducting an investigation and have temporarily suspended this passenger&rsquo;s travel privileges. Thank you for taking this seriously.
&mdash; Randi Zuckerberg (@randizuckerberg) <a href="https://twitter.com/randizuckerberg/status/936089081913548800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 30, 2017</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

The businesswoman and best-selling author of DotComplicated claimed that she felt disgusted and degraded and posted a copy of the letter she sent to the airlines

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's sister Randi Zuckerberg has accused a fellow passenger on an Alaska Airlines flight of sexually harassing her. The businesswoman and best-selling author of DotComplicated claimed that she felt disgusted and degraded and posted a copy of the letter she sent to the airlines, on Twitter. Zuckerberg tweeted: "Feeling disgusted & degraded after an @AlaskaAir flight where the passenger next to me made repeated lewd sexual remarks. The flight attendants told me he was a frequent flier, brushed off his behaviour & kept giving him drinks. I guess his $ means more than our safety? My letter:" Feeling disgusted & degraded after an @AlaskaAir flight where the passenger next to me made repeated lewd sexual remarks. The flight attendants told me he was a frequent flier, brushed off his behavior & kept giving him drinks. I guess his $ means more than our safety? My letter: pic.twitter.com/xOkDpb0dYU — Randi Zuckerberg (@randizuckerberg) November 30, 2017 × She mentioned in the letter that she was in a 'very uncomfortable situation' after the fellow passenger made 'explicit, lewd and highly offensive sexual comments' to her immediately after boarding the flight.' She described how the man talked about 'touching himself, kept asking her if she fantasized about female business colleagues she was travelling with, rated and commented on women's bodies boarding the aircraft as they walked by and other such horrifying and offensive comments.' What was shocking was how the airline staff reacted to Zuckerberg's complaint. According to her letter, the flight attendant said that 'the guy was a frequent Alaska Airlines traveller on the exact route and that they have talked to him about his behaviour in the past. ' They further told her to 'not take it personally as the guy does not have a filter'. According to the letter, the flight attendant came to their seat multiple times and sweetly asked the passenger with a giggle "Are you behaving today?" Upon telling the flight attendant that she was uncomfortable, they suggested her to move her seat at the back of the plane. She furiously lashed out "Why should I have to move?" she said. "I am the one that is being harassed! Why is it the woman that needs to switch seats in this situation? Shouldn't he have been thrown off the plane?!" The letter further mentions how Alaska Airlines knowingly and willingly provided the man with a platform to harass women. Since sharing the letter on twitter it has been retweeted over 12,000 times. After the letter was sent, the Airline got in touch with her. Zuckerberg tweeted later that day "UPDATE: I just got off the phone with two executives from @AlaskaAir who informed me that they are conducting an investigation and have temporarily suspended this passenger’s travel privileges. Thank you for taking this seriously." UPDATE: I just got off the phone with two executives from @AlaskaAir who informed me that they are conducting an investigation and have temporarily suspended this passenger’s travel privileges. Thank you for taking this seriously. — Randi Zuckerberg (@randizuckerberg) November 30, 2017 ×

Mark Zuckerberg's sister alleges sexual assault on Alaska Airlines flight

Facebook on Monday said it was stepping up the use of artificial intelligence to identify members of the leading social network who may be thinking of suicide.

Software will look for clues in posts or even in videos being streamed at Facebook Live, then fire off reports to human reviewers and speed up alerts to responders trained to help, according to the social network.

&quot;This approach uses pattern recognition technology to help identify posts and live streams as likely to be expressing thoughts of suicide,&quot; Facebook vice president of product management Guy Rosen said in a blog post.

Signs watched for were said to include texts by people or comments to them, such as someone asking if they are troubled.

Facebook already has tools in place for people to report concerns about friend&#39;s who may be considering self-harm, but the software can speed the process and even detect signs people may overlook.

&quot;There have been terribly tragic events -- like suicides, some live-streamed -- that perhaps could have been prevented if someone had realized what was happening and reported them sooner,&quot; Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said early this year in a post at the social network focused on building global community.

&quot;Artificial intelligence can help provide a better approach.&quot;

Facebook is rolling out the artificial intelligence tool outside the US and planned to make it eventually available everywhere except the European Union, where data usage is restricted by privacy regulations.

Facebook has been collaborating with mental health organizations for about a decade on ways to spot signs users may be suicidal and get them help.

Software will look for clues in posts or even in videos being streamed at Facebook Live, then fire off reports to human reviewers and speed up alerts to responders trained to help

Facebook on Monday said it was stepping up the use of artificial intelligence to identify members of the leading social network who may be thinking of suicide. Software will look for clues in posts or even in videos being streamed at Facebook Live, then fire off reports to human reviewers and speed up alerts to responders trained to help, according to the social network. "This approach uses pattern recognition technology to help identify posts and live streams as likely to be expressing thoughts of suicide," Facebook vice president of product management Guy Rosen said in a blog post. Signs watched for were said to include texts by people or comments to them, such as someone asking if they are troubled. Facebook already has tools in place for people to report concerns about friend's who may be considering self-harm, but the software can speed the process and even detect signs people may overlook. "There have been terribly tragic events -- like suicides, some live-streamed -- that perhaps could have been prevented if someone had realized what was happening and reported them sooner," Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said early this year in a post at the social network focused on building global community. "Artificial intelligence can help provide a better approach." Facebook is rolling out the artificial intelligence tool outside the US and planned to make it eventually available everywhere except the European Union, where data usage is restricted by privacy regulations. Facebook has been collaborating with mental health organizations for about a decade on ways to spot signs users may be suicidal and get them help.

Facebook using artificial intelligence to spot signs of suicide

In the past week, Silicon Valley has faced renewed calls for greater regulation of social media platforms amid the growing scandal of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

Given rising awareness of the serious problems inherent within U.S. internet giants&rsquo; business models, it&rsquo;s an opportune time to discuss how best to regulate these companies.

I&rsquo;m a researcher who studies regulation on the internet. For my book, Chokepoints: Global Private Regulation on the Internet, I&rsquo;ve interviewed representatives from internet firms and their trade associations, along with policymakers in Canada and the U.S. in regards to what responsibility intermediaries should have for content on their platforms.

Internet intermediaries typically frame their opposition to legislation as protecting freedom of expression, but no right of speech is absolute. This debate is a battle over the control over information: What data should be collected and sold, what content should be permitted online, and who should decide?

Last week the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee grilled senior legal counsel for Facebook, Google and Twitter about their roles in Russian efforts to influence the U.S. election.

In a startling development, after months of denying and downplaying their responsibility, executives from each of the three companies grudgingly admitted that they had not yet determined the full extent of Russian activities on their platforms.

The executives&rsquo; testimony starkly reveals that the companies have few controls on the advertisements and so-called &ldquo;fake news&rdquo; that they accept on their platforms.

These candid admissions from the social media giants focus much-needed attention on the serious problems inherent in big intermediaries&rsquo; data-intensive business models.

Few safeguards, financial interest in status quo

As the U.S. election scandal shows, big social media platforms not only have few safeguards to prevent the deliberate manipulation of information, but they also have financial interests in maintaining the status quo. Unfettered flows of information and unconstrained advertising revenue are key to their business models. And this model is tremendously profitable.

Facebook&rsquo;s third-quarter profit was an astounding US$4.7 billion, the vast majority coming from advertisements relating to its 1.3 billion average daily users. Viral stories, whether factual or false, attract clicks and advertising revenue.

Given the seemingly intractable challenges of regulating social media platforms, what can be done? In the United States, three members of Congress have proposed a bipartisan response, the Honest Ads Act, that would require platforms to publish information about their advertisers and maintain a public archive of political advertisements.

This is a step in the right direction, and the Canadian government should consider similar measures in advance of the 2019 federal election. Facebook has already announced a program, the Canadian Election Integrity Initiative, to counter the spread of misinformation that focuses on media literacy and training.

Deliberate misinformation

While these projects appear useful, they likely will do little to address the underlying problem: The bad-faith spread of online misinformation. That&rsquo;s because the fundamental problem lies with Facebook&rsquo;s business model. Efforts to constrain the flow of information, especially information that generates advertising revenue, are contrary to their business model.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who initially dismissed claims of Russian interference as &ldquo;crazy&rdquo; just after the 2016 U.S. election, said on Nov. 1 that Facebook&rsquo;s new security features to counter so-called fake news will have a &ldquo;significant impact our profitability.&rdquo;

While the big platforms can afford to take a financial hit to restore their reputations and work to get rid of the worst offenders, they can&rsquo;t fully solve the problem without fundamentally changing how &mdash; and with whom &mdash; they do business.

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Facebook ads linked to a Russian effort to stir tensions on divisive social issues during the U.S. election campaign. (AP)
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In response to what has become a fundamental challenge to the survival of liberal democracy, Facebook, Twitter and Google have all committed to voluntarily implementing measures to address the spread of misinformation and targeting accounts that troll other users with often bigoted, racist content.

Google, for example, is creating a public database of election advertising content that appears on its services. These companies prefer self-regulation to legislation and they&rsquo;ve lobbied the U.S Federal Election Commission in the past to have online political advertising exempt from disclosure. It&rsquo;s only the political pressure from the Senate inquiry that is forcing these platforms into action.

Internet companies, algorithms are black boxes

While these developments may seem like attempts by these major companies to be responsible, they amount to Google et al saying: &ldquo;Trust us to fix the problem we created.&rdquo;

However, while Google, Facebook and Twitter are all creating algorithms to, in the words of Zuckerberg, &ldquo;detect bad content and bad actors,&rdquo; these algorithms operate as so-called &ldquo;black boxes.&rdquo; This means that the criteria the algorithms use to make decisions are off-limits to public scrutiny.

Is &ldquo;trust us&rdquo; a good enough response, given the problem? With so much at stake, it may be time for a fundamental rethink of how these indispensable 21st-century companies are regulated and what they&rsquo;re allowed to do.

At the very minimum, governments and citizens should reconsider whether the lack of oversight into how these companies shape our speech rights is really in the public interest.

Social media platforms &ldquo;are an enabler of democracy,&rdquo; says Margrethe Vestager, the European Union&rsquo;s Commissioner for Competition, but we&rsquo;re seeing that &ldquo;they can also be used against our very basic beliefs in democracy.&rdquo;

It&rsquo;s time to start taking that threat to democracy seriously.

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" rel="nofollow" target="blank">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/regulate-social-media-platforms-before-its-too-late-86984" rel="nofollow" target="blank">original article</a>.

In a fight for the global flow of information, social media firms must be regulated. Their billions of dollars in revenue put their financial interests in conflict with truth and democracy

In the past week, Silicon Valley has faced renewed calls for greater regulation of social media platforms amid the growing scandal of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. Given rising awareness of the serious problems inherent within U.S. internet giants’ business models, it’s an opportune time to discuss how best to regulate these companies. I’m a researcher who studies regulation on the internet. For my book, Chokepoints: Global Private Regulation on the Internet, I’ve interviewed representatives from internet firms and their trade associations, along with policymakers in Canada and the U.S. in regards to what responsibility intermediaries should have for content on their platforms. Internet intermediaries typically frame their opposition to legislation as protecting freedom of expression, but no right of speech is absolute. This debate is a battle over the control over information: What data should be collected and sold, what content should be permitted online, and who should decide? Last week the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee grilled senior legal counsel for Facebook, Google and Twitter about their roles in Russian efforts to influence the U.S. election. In a startling development, after months of denying and downplaying their responsibility, executives from each of the three companies grudgingly admitted that they had not yet determined the full extent of Russian activities on their platforms. The executives’ testimony starkly reveals that the companies have few controls on the advertisements and so-called “fake news” that they accept on their platforms. These candid admissions from the social media giants focus much-needed attention on the serious problems inherent in big intermediaries’ data-intensive business models. Few safeguards, financial interest in status quo As the U.S. election scandal shows, big social media platforms not only have few safeguards to prevent the deliberate manipulation of information, but they also have financial interests in maintaining the status quo. Unfettered flows of information and unconstrained advertising revenue are key to their business models. And this model is tremendously profitable. Facebook’s third-quarter profit was an astounding US$4.7 billion, the vast majority coming from advertisements relating to its 1.3 billion average daily users. Viral stories, whether factual or false, attract clicks and advertising revenue. Given the seemingly intractable challenges of regulating social media platforms, what can be done? In the United States, three members of Congress have proposed a bipartisan response, the Honest Ads Act, that would require platforms to publish information about their advertisers and maintain a public archive of political advertisements. This is a step in the right direction, and the Canadian government should consider similar measures in advance of the 2019 federal election. Facebook has already announced a program, the Canadian Election Integrity Initiative, to counter the spread of misinformation that focuses on media literacy and training. Deliberate misinformation While these projects appear useful, they likely will do little to address the underlying problem: The bad-faith spread of online misinformation. That’s because the fundamental problem lies with Facebook’s business model. Efforts to constrain the flow of information, especially information that generates advertising revenue, are contrary to their business model. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who initially dismissed claims of Russian interference as “crazy” just after the 2016 U.S. election, said on Nov. 1 that Facebook’s new security features to counter so-called fake news will have a “significant impact our profitability.” While the big platforms can afford to take a financial hit to restore their reputations and work to get rid of the worst offenders, they can’t fully solve the problem without fundamentally changing how — and with whom — they do business. Facebook ads linked to a Russian effort to stir tensions on divisive social issues during the U.S. election campaign. (AP) × In response to what has become a fundamental challenge to the survival of liberal democracy, Facebook, Twitter and Google have all committed to voluntarily implementing measures to address the spread of misinformation and targeting accounts that troll other users with often bigoted, racist content. Google, for example, is creating a public database of election advertising content that appears on its services. These companies prefer self-regulation to legislation and they’ve lobbied the U.S Federal Election Commission in the past to have online political advertising exempt from disclosure. It’s only the political pressure from the Senate inquiry that is forcing these platforms into action. Internet companies, algorithms are black boxes While these developments may seem like attempts by these major companies to be responsible, they amount to Google et al saying: “Trust us to fix the problem we created.” However, while Google, Facebook and Twitter are all creating algorithms to, in the words of Zuckerberg, “detect bad content and bad actors,” these algorithms operate as so-called “black boxes.” This means that the criteria the algorithms use to make decisions are off-limits to public scrutiny. Is “trust us” a good enough response, given the problem? With so much at stake, it may be time for a fundamental rethink of how these indispensable 21st-century companies are regulated and what they’re allowed to do. At the very minimum, governments and citizens should reconsider whether the lack of oversight into how these companies shape our speech rights is really in the public interest. Social media platforms “are an enabler of democracy,” says Margrethe Vestager, the European Union’s Commissioner for Competition, but we’re seeing that “they can also be used against our very basic beliefs in democracy.” It’s time to start taking that threat to democracy seriously. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Why social media needs to be regulated urgently

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.

&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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

&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.

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.

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

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.&nbsp; 
 
&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; 
 
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;. 
 
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.&nbsp; 
 
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;. 
 
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.&nbsp; 
 
The company would strengthen the ad review process for political ads. Facebook would now increase investment in security and specifically election integrity.&nbsp; 
 
&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.

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

&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.

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&amp;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.

&quot;We are not focused on acquiring exclusive rights,&quot; he said. &quot;The idea is to seed this with good content.&quot;

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.

<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.

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.

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.

Similarly, fans of Spanish soccer can watch and chat online about &quot;Hala Madrid,&quot; a show about Real Madrid.

&quot;We think our unique opportunity is around a community and engaging with people on topics they love to talk about,&quot; said Rose.

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

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. 
 
&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. 
 
&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; 
 
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. 
 
&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. 
 
&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; 
 
And, like many parents, they expressed hope their new baby would sleep soundly and take frequent naps.

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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

Facebook&nbsp;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&#39;s option to take leaves in parts.&nbsp;

&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.

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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.

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

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.

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.

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.

&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 .

&quot;Our focus right now is on helping Chinese businesses and developers expand to new markets outside China by using our ad platform.&quot;

It was unclear if China&#39;s various internet regulators were aware of the app&#39;s existence, the Times said.

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> 
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;

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

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.

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.

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.

Reuters 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.

&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.

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;

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&nbsp;

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.

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.

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&nbsp;and YouTube as well as Twitter and Snap.

&nbsp;

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Facebook &#39;Watch&#39; will let users discover videos outside their own feeds more easily. WION explores. (WION)
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&nbsp;

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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'

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;

The new addition to the social media giant is a streaming&nbsp;service that will telecast a 5-10 minute show, reports said.&nbsp;

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;

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.

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;

The company has asked its partners for the first episode of the spotlight shows.&nbsp;

Facebook plans to launch its streaming service&nbsp;next month in mid-August.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

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'

Visionary entrepreneur Elon Musk and Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg were trading jabs on social media over artificial intelligence this week in a debate that has turned personal between the two technology luminaries.

Musk, the founder of Tesla, SpaceX and other ventures, on Tuesday claimed Zuckerberg&#39;s knowledge of artificial intelligence was &quot;limited,&quot; two days after the Facebook founder described &quot;naysayers&quot; as &quot;irresponsible.&quot;

The debate underscored the rift in the tech community on whether new technologies capable of creating intelligent machines like robots and self-driving cars would be a blessing or a curse for humanity.

Musk has long warned of the potential for machines to get so smart that humans become tantamount to pets, while Zuckerberg has touted the potential for artificial intelligence to improve lives.

Facebook is among the Silicon Valley&#39;s largest investors in artificial intelligence.

While live streaming on the leading social network from his yard on Sunday, Zuckerberg touched on the topic while answering questions from viewers.

&quot;With AI especially, I am really optimistic,&quot; Zuckerberg said.

&quot;And I think people who are naysayers and try to drum up these doomsday scenarios -- &nbsp;I just, I don&#39;t understand it. It&#39;s really negative and in some ways I actually think it is pretty irresponsible.&quot;

When asked about Zuckerberg&#39;s comment early Tuesday during an exchange on Twitter, Musk wrote that he has discussed the topic with Zuckerberg and that &quot;his understanding of the subject is limited.&quot;

Musk more than a year ago took part in creating a nonprofit research company devoted to developing artificial intelligence that will help people and not hurt them.

People pets

&quot;If we create some digital super-intelligence that exceeds us in every way by a lot, it is very important that it be benign,&quot; Musk said a while back at a conference in California.

He reasoned that even a benign situation with ultra-intelligent AI would put people so far beneath the machine they would be &quot;like a house cat.&quot;

&quot;I don&#39;t love the idea of being a house cat,&quot; Musk said, envisioning the creation of neural lacing that magnifies people&#39;s brain power by linking them directly to computing capabilities.

At a gathering of US governors this month, Musk contended that artificial intelligence &nbsp;is a terrifying problem and a threat to human civilization.

He argued for the technology to be regulated sooner rather than later for risk of safeguards being put in place too late.

Smart machines could start wars or kill people in streets, Musk has warned.

Musk is also behind a startup devoted to neural lace that would enable brains to interface directly with computers.

Such a &quot;Neuralink&quot; would have the potential to level the playing field a bit by enabling people to directly access processing power and perhaps even download memories for storage.

Zuckerberg last year created his own personal &quot;butler&quot; imbued with artificial intelligence, named Jarvis, which plays with his family.

This comes two days after the Facebook founder described 'naysayers' as 'irresponsible'

Visionary entrepreneur Elon Musk and Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg were trading jabs on social media over artificial intelligence this week in a debate that has turned personal between the two technology luminaries. Musk, the founder of Tesla, SpaceX and other ventures, on Tuesday claimed Zuckerberg's knowledge of artificial intelligence was "limited," two days after the Facebook founder described "naysayers" as "irresponsible." The debate underscored the rift in the tech community on whether new technologies capable of creating intelligent machines like robots and self-driving cars would be a blessing or a curse for humanity. Musk has long warned of the potential for machines to get so smart that humans become tantamount to pets, while Zuckerberg has touted the potential for artificial intelligence to improve lives. Facebook is among the Silicon Valley's largest investors in artificial intelligence. While live streaming on the leading social network from his yard on Sunday, Zuckerberg touched on the topic while answering questions from viewers. "With AI especially, I am really optimistic," Zuckerberg said. "And I think people who are naysayers and try to drum up these doomsday scenarios -- I just, I don't understand it. It's really negative and in some ways I actually think it is pretty irresponsible." When asked about Zuckerberg's comment early Tuesday during an exchange on Twitter, Musk wrote that he has discussed the topic with Zuckerberg and that "his understanding of the subject is limited." Musk more than a year ago took part in creating a nonprofit research company devoted to developing artificial intelligence that will help people and not hurt them. People pets "If we create some digital super-intelligence that exceeds us in every way by a lot, it is very important that it be benign," Musk said a while back at a conference in California. He reasoned that even a benign situation with ultra-intelligent AI would put people so far beneath the machine they would be "like a house cat." "I don't love the idea of being a house cat," Musk said, envisioning the creation of neural lacing that magnifies people's brain power by linking them directly to computing capabilities. At a gathering of US governors this month, Musk contended that artificial intelligence is a terrifying problem and a threat to human civilization. He argued for the technology to be regulated sooner rather than later for risk of safeguards being put in place too late. Smart machines could start wars or kill people in streets, Musk has warned. Musk is also behind a startup devoted to neural lace that would enable brains to interface directly with computers. Such a "Neuralink" would have the potential to level the playing field a bit by enabling people to directly access processing power and perhaps even download memories for storage. Zuckerberg last year created his own personal "butler" imbued with artificial intelligence, named Jarvis, which plays with his family.

Mark Zuckeberg's knowledge of artificial intelligence 'limited': Elon Musk

Facebook, Twitter, Alphabet and dozens of other major technology companies protested online against proposed changes to US net neutrality rules that prohibit broadband providers from giving or selling access to certain Internet services over others.

In support of the &quot;Internet-Wide Day of Action to Save Net Neutrality,&quot; more than 80,000 websites from big social media platforms like Facebook to streaming services like Netflix and matchmaking website OkCupid are displaying banners, alerts, ads and short videos to urge the public to oppose the overturn of the landmark 2015 net neutrality rules.

Net neutrality is a broad principle that prohibits broadband providers from giving or selling access to the speedy internet, essentially a &quot;fast lane,&quot; to certain Internet services over others. The rule was implemented by the Obama administration in 2015.

Changes to the rule are being proposed by the head of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Ajit Pai, appointed by President Donald Trump in January.

Pai wants the commission to repeal the rules that reclassified Internet service providers as if they were utilities, saying the open Internet rules adopted under former President Barack Obama harm jobs and investment. The FCC voted 2-1 in May to advance a Republican plan to reverse the &quot;net neutrality&quot; order.

During a speech in April, Pai asked: &quot;Do we want the government to control the internet? Or do we want to embrace the light-touch approach&quot; in place since 1996 until it was revised in 2015.

At a Capitol Hill press conference, Democrats and internet companies vowed to fight the changes and suggested internet companies could slow internet speeds. Senator Edward Markey said the internet &quot;is under attack.&quot; &quot;We will not let this takeover happen,&quot; Markey said. &quot;A free and open internet is our right and we will fight to defend it.&quot;

Major broadband providers, including AT&amp;T and Verizon Communications, acknowledged the public support for net neutrality. They emphasized they are in favour of an &ldquo;open internet&rdquo; but made clear they oppose the 2015 net neutrality reclassification order that they say could lead to government rate regulation.

FCC spokesman Brian Hart declined to comment.

FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, the sole Democrat on a commission with two current vacancies, said in a statement she supports &quot;those who believe that a free and open internet is a foundational principle of our democracy.&quot;

The public will have until mid-August to send comments to the FCC before the final vote.

More than 550,000 comments have been filed in the last day with the FCC and more than 6.3 million filed to date and thousands of people called Capitol Hill offices to express concerns.

&nbsp;Online Protest

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on the social media platform, &quot;Right now, the FCC has rules in place to make sure the internet continues to be an open platform for everyone. At Facebook, we strongly support those rules.&quot;

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Twitter expressed support for the existing rules, encouraging users to protest while promoting the hashtag #NetNeutrality.

&quot;Net Neutrality is foundational to competitive, free enterprise, entrepreneurial market entry and reaching global customers. You don&rsquo;t have to be a big shot to compete. Anyone with a great idea, a unique perspective to share, and a compelling vision can get in the game,&quot; Twitter said in a blog.

Online forum Reddit displayed a pop-up message that slowly loads the text, &quot;The internet&#39;s less fun when your favourite sites load slowly, isn&#39;t it?&quot;

Netflix displayed banners on top of the home page while Amazon.com posted a short video explaining net neutrality, urging consumers to send comments to the FCC.

A pop-up banner on The American Civil Liberties Union&#39;s website read &quot;Trump&rsquo;s FCC wants to kill net neutrality. This would let the cable and phone companies slow down any site they don&rsquo;t like or that won&rsquo;t pay extra.&quot;

Major broadband providers, including AT&T and Verizon Communications, acknowledged the public support for net neutrality

Facebook, Twitter, Alphabet and dozens of other major technology companies protested online against proposed changes to US net neutrality rules that prohibit broadband providers from giving or selling access to certain Internet services over others. In support of the "Internet-Wide Day of Action to Save Net Neutrality," more than 80,000 websites from big social media platforms like Facebook to streaming services like Netflix and matchmaking website OkCupid are displaying banners, alerts, ads and short videos to urge the public to oppose the overturn of the landmark 2015 net neutrality rules. Net neutrality is a broad principle that prohibits broadband providers from giving or selling access to the speedy internet, essentially a "fast lane," to certain Internet services over others. The rule was implemented by the Obama administration in 2015. Changes to the rule are being proposed by the head of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Ajit Pai, appointed by President Donald Trump in January. Pai wants the commission to repeal the rules that reclassified Internet service providers as if they were utilities, saying the open Internet rules adopted under former President Barack Obama harm jobs and investment. The FCC voted 2-1 in May to advance a Republican plan to reverse the "net neutrality" order. During a speech in April, Pai asked: "Do we want the government to control the internet? Or do we want to embrace the light-touch approach" in place since 1996 until it was revised in 2015. At a Capitol Hill press conference, Democrats and internet companies vowed to fight the changes and suggested internet companies could slow internet speeds. Senator Edward Markey said the internet "is under attack." "We will not let this takeover happen," Markey said. "A free and open internet is our right and we will fight to defend it." Major broadband providers, including AT&T and Verizon Communications, acknowledged the public support for net neutrality. They emphasized they are in favour of an “open internet” but made clear they oppose the 2015 net neutrality reclassification order that they say could lead to government rate regulation. FCC spokesman Brian Hart declined to comment. FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, the sole Democrat on a commission with two current vacancies, said in a statement she supports "those who believe that a free and open internet is a foundational principle of our democracy." The public will have until mid-August to send comments to the FCC before the final vote. More than 550,000 comments have been filed in the last day with the FCC and more than 6.3 million filed to date and thousands of people called Capitol Hill offices to express concerns. Online Protest Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on the social media platform, "Right now, the FCC has rules in place to make sure the internet continues to be an open platform for everyone. At Facebook, we strongly support those rules." Twitter expressed support for the existing rules, encouraging users to protest while promoting the hashtag #NetNeutrality. "Net Neutrality is foundational to competitive, free enterprise, entrepreneurial market entry and reaching global customers. You don’t have to be a big shot to compete. Anyone with a great idea, a unique perspective to share, and a compelling vision can get in the game," Twitter said in a blog. Online forum Reddit displayed a pop-up message that slowly loads the text, "The internet's less fun when your favourite sites load slowly, isn't it?" Netflix displayed banners on top of the home page while Amazon.com posted a short video explaining net neutrality, urging consumers to send comments to the FCC. A pop-up banner on The American Civil Liberties Union's website read "Trump’s FCC wants to kill net neutrality. This would let the cable and phone companies slow down any site they don’t like or that won’t pay extra."

Net Neutrality: Tech companies propagate the message of fair internet - once again

Facebook claimed that 2 billion people are regularly using its flagship service, marching past another milestone in its growth from a college curiosity in the United States to the world&#39;s largest social media network.

Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg disclosed the number to his followers in a Facebook post. &quot;It&#39;s an honour to be on this journey with you,&quot; he wrote.

The user base is bigger than the population of any single country, and of six of the seven continents. It represents more than a quarter of the world&#39;s 7.5 billion people.

Facebook defines a monthly active user as a registered Facebook user who logged in and visited Facebook through its website or a mobile device or used its Messenger app, in the past 30 days. It does not include people who use the Instagram or WhatsApp networks but not Facebook.

The company said in May that duplicate accounts, according to an estimate from last year, may have represented some 6 percent of its worldwide user base.

The social network&#39;s user population dwarfs that of similar companies. Twitter reported in April monthly active users of 328 million, while Snapchat had 166 million daily users at the end of the first quarter. WeChat, a unit of Tencent Holdings and a widely used service in China, said in May that it had 938 million monthly active users in the first quarter.

Facebook had 1.94 billion people using its service monthly as of March 31, an increase of 17 percent from a year earlier. It reached 1 billion in October 2012.

The company, which Zuckerberg started in 2004 in his college dorm room, uses its huge size advantage to lure advertisers, offering them highly targeted marketing capabilities based on its data about users.

The number of advertisers topped 5 million in April, the company said.

Facebook&#39;s growth has increasingly come from outside the United States, Canada, and Europe. Three years ago, those regions accounted for some 38 percent of users, compared with about 30 percent in the first quarter of this year.

To increase penetration rates in developing nations, Facebook has rolled out pared-down versions of its apps that use less data, and it has been developing solar-powered drones to extend internet connectivity around the planet.

The user base is bigger than the population of any single country, and of six of the seven continents. It represents more than a quarter of the world's 7.5 billion people

Facebook claimed that 2 billion people are regularly using its flagship service, marching past another milestone in its growth from a college curiosity in the United States to the world's largest social media network. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg disclosed the number to his followers in a Facebook post. "It's an honour to be on this journey with you," he wrote. The user base is bigger than the population of any single country, and of six of the seven continents. It represents more than a quarter of the world's 7.5 billion people. Facebook defines a monthly active user as a registered Facebook user who logged in and visited Facebook through its website or a mobile device or used its Messenger app, in the past 30 days. It does not include people who use the Instagram or WhatsApp networks but not Facebook. The company said in May that duplicate accounts, according to an estimate from last year, may have represented some 6 percent of its worldwide user base. The social network's user population dwarfs that of similar companies. Twitter reported in April monthly active users of 328 million, while Snapchat had 166 million daily users at the end of the first quarter. WeChat, a unit of Tencent Holdings and a widely used service in China, said in May that it had 938 million monthly active users in the first quarter. Facebook had 1.94 billion people using its service monthly as of March 31, an increase of 17 percent from a year earlier. It reached 1 billion in October 2012. The company, which Zuckerberg started in 2004 in his college dorm room, uses its huge size advantage to lure advertisers, offering them highly targeted marketing capabilities based on its data about users. The number of advertisers topped 5 million in April, the company said. Facebook's growth has increasingly come from outside the United States, Canada, and Europe. Three years ago, those regions accounted for some 38 percent of users, compared with about 30 percent in the first quarter of this year. To increase penetration rates in developing nations, Facebook has rolled out pared-down versions of its apps that use less data, and it has been developing solar-powered drones to extend internet connectivity around the planet.

Facebook hits 2 billion-user mark, doubling in size since 2012

Facebook is launching a UK program to train and fund local organisations to combat extremist material online, as Internet companies attempt to clamp down on hate speech and violent content on their services.

Facebook, which outlined new efforts to remove extremist and terrorist content from its social media platform will launch the Online Civil Courage Initiative in the UK.

The new initiative will train non-governmental organisations to help them monitor and respond to extremist content and create a dedicated support desk so they can communicate directly with Facebook.

&quot;There is no place for hate or violence on Facebook,&quot; said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook&#39;s chief operating officer. &quot;We use technology like AI to find and remove terrorist propaganda, and we have teams of counterterrorism experts and reviewers around the world working to keep extremist content off our platform.&quot;

The British government has stepped up attacks on Silicon Valley Internet companies for not acting quickly enough to take down extremist online propaganda and fostering &quot;safe places&quot; where extremists can breed following a string of attacks in recent months in London and Manchester.

Facebook, Alphabet Google and Twitter have responded by saying they have made heavy investments and employed thousands of people to take down hate speech and violent content over the past two years. Security analysts say the efforts have dramatically reduced the use of these platforms for jihadist recruitment efforts, although more work needs to be done.

Prime Minister Theresa May has sought to enlist British public opinion to force the U.S. internet players to work more closely with the government rather than proposing new legislation or policies to assert greater control over the web. Earlier this week, May urged fellow European Union leaders at a meeting in Brussels to join her in putting pressure on tech companies to &#39;rid terrorist material from the internet in all our languages&#39;. 
She called for the internet companies to shift from reactively removing content when they are notified of it, towards greater use of automatic detection and removal tools and ultimately preventing it from appearing on their platforms in the first place.

Theresa May urged fellow European Union leaders to join her in putting pressure on tech companies to 'rid terrorist material from the internet in all our languages'

Facebook is launching a UK program to train and fund local organisations to combat extremist material online, as Internet companies attempt to clamp down on hate speech and violent content on their services. Facebook, which outlined new efforts to remove extremist and terrorist content from its social media platform will launch the Online Civil Courage Initiative in the UK. The new initiative will train non-governmental organisations to help them monitor and respond to extremist content and create a dedicated support desk so they can communicate directly with Facebook. "There is no place for hate or violence on Facebook," said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer. "We use technology like AI to find and remove terrorist propaganda, and we have teams of counterterrorism experts and reviewers around the world working to keep extremist content off our platform." The British government has stepped up attacks on Silicon Valley Internet companies for not acting quickly enough to take down extremist online propaganda and fostering "safe places" where extremists can breed following a string of attacks in recent months in London and Manchester. Facebook, Alphabet Google and Twitter have responded by saying they have made heavy investments and employed thousands of people to take down hate speech and violent content over the past two years. Security analysts say the efforts have dramatically reduced the use of these platforms for jihadist recruitment efforts, although more work needs to be done. Prime Minister Theresa May has sought to enlist British public opinion to force the U.S. internet players to work more closely with the government rather than proposing new legislation or policies to assert greater control over the web. Earlier this week, May urged fellow European Union leaders at a meeting in Brussels to join her in putting pressure on tech companies to 'rid terrorist material from the internet in all our languages'. She called for the internet companies to shift from reactively removing content when they are notified of it, towards greater use of automatic detection and removal tools and ultimately preventing it from appearing on their platforms in the first place.

Facebook launches UK initiative to counter online extremist material

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg revised the world&#39;s largest online social network&#39;s mission statement to emphasise support for hobby clubs, civil society organizations and other community groups.

The move comes as Facebook faces pressure from smaller rivals such as Nextdoor and Meetup, whose online networks bring together neighbours and people in the same area with shared interests.

Zuckerberg said on his Facebook page that his company&#39;s new mission is to &quot;give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.&quot;&nbsp;

The previous mission was to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Facebook&#39;s pursuit of that mission has been criticised in the past 12 months after the network became one of the main distribution points for so-called fake news, which many think influenced the 2016 US presidential election.

Zuckerberg said in February he wanted to boost the number of Facebook users who are members of what they called &quot;very meaningful&quot; groups. He added that only about 5 percent were members of such groups.

The head of Facebook, with 1.9 billion users and $27.6 billion&nbsp;revenue last year,&nbsp;met with&nbsp;people in Chicago who run group pages on Facebook.

&quot;If what you&#39;re trying to do is run a group that has thousands of people, you need tools to help manage that,&quot; he told CNN in an interview. &quot;Facebook wants to build those tools&quot;.

Alphabet&#39;s Google also hosts community groups, as do Nextdoor and Meetup. Nextdoor, a site for neighbours to meet one another and share news and advice, said on Monday it was expanding into Germany after rapid growth elsewhere.

Zuckerberg told CNN that supporting organizations built around neighbours, churches, pets and the like has a larger purpose. 
 
&quot;Once people are coming together in these smaller groups, that actually grows and it ends up with much bigger changes in the world,&quot; he said.

The move comes as Facebook faces pressure from smaller rivals

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg revised the world's largest online social network's mission statement to emphasise support for hobby clubs, civil society organizations and other community groups. The move comes as Facebook faces pressure from smaller rivals such as Nextdoor and Meetup, whose online networks bring together neighbours and people in the same area with shared interests. Zuckerberg said on his Facebook page that his company's new mission is to "give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together." The previous mission was to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. Facebook's pursuit of that mission has been criticised in the past 12 months after the network became one of the main distribution points for so-called fake news, which many think influenced the 2016 US presidential election. Zuckerberg said in February he wanted to boost the number of Facebook users who are members of what they called "very meaningful" groups. He added that only about 5 percent were members of such groups. The head of Facebook, with 1.9 billion users and $27.6 billion revenue last year, met with people in Chicago who run group pages on Facebook. "If what you're trying to do is run a group that has thousands of people, you need tools to help manage that," he told CNN in an interview. "Facebook wants to build those tools". Alphabet's Google also hosts community groups, as do Nextdoor and Meetup. Nextdoor, a site for neighbours to meet one another and share news and advice, said on Monday it was expanding into Germany after rapid growth elsewhere. Zuckerberg told CNN that supporting organizations built around neighbours, churches, pets and the like has a larger purpose. "Once people are coming together in these smaller groups, that actually grows and it ends up with much bigger changes in the world," he said.

CEO Zuckerberg has a new mission for Facebook

Facebook has introduced new security features for women using the social media platform in India, including the ability to prevent strangers from downloading their profile pictures.

Research by the social media giant found that some Indian women were reluctant to show their faces in their profile pictures, fearing the images could be misused.

&quot;Based on preliminary tests, we&rsquo;ve learned that when someone adds an extra design layer to their profile picture, other people are at least 75 per cent less likely to copy that picture,&quot; said Facebook.

In response, Facebook teamed up with local activists to develop two tools that offer women greater control over their profiles and &quot;help keep them safe online,&quot; wrote product manager Aarati Soman on the company&#39;s blog.

The first safeguard - identified by a small shield and blue border on the image - prevents strangers from downloading, sharing or tagging themselves in someone else&#39;s profile picture, or taking a screen shot of the image.

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&quot;People in India will start seeing a step-by-step guide to add an optional profile picture guard,&quot; said Facebook in the blog post.

The second overlays an additional design on the image that research shows dissuades people from making a copy of the image, Soman added.

Facebook plans to offer these tools in other countries based on what it learns in India.

&quot;These tools will be available to both men and women as they continue to roll out more broadly,&quot; a Facebook spokesman told AFP.

Facebook has 184 million active monthly users in India, its second-largest market after the United States.

&nbsp;

Facebook has teamed up with local activists to develop two tools that offer women greater control over their profiles

Facebook has introduced new security features for women using the social media platform in India, including the ability to prevent strangers from downloading their profile pictures. Research by the social media giant found that some Indian women were reluctant to show their faces in their profile pictures, fearing the images could be misused. "Based on preliminary tests, we’ve learned that when someone adds an extra design layer to their profile picture, other people are at least 75 per cent less likely to copy that picture," said Facebook. In response, Facebook teamed up with local activists to develop two tools that offer women greater control over their profiles and "help keep them safe online," wrote product manager Aarati Soman on the company's blog. The first safeguard - identified by a small shield and blue border on the image - prevents strangers from downloading, sharing or tagging themselves in someone else's profile picture, or taking a screen shot of the image. "People in India will start seeing a step-by-step guide to add an optional profile picture guard," said Facebook in the blog post. The second overlays an additional design on the image that research shows dissuades people from making a copy of the image, Soman added. Facebook plans to offer these tools in other countries based on what it learns in India. "These tools will be available to both men and women as they continue to roll out more broadly," a Facebook spokesman told AFP. Facebook has 184 million active monthly users in India, its second-largest market after the United States.

You can now prevent strangers from downloading your Facebook profile pictures

Facebook announced a pilot program in India to regulate the access to its user&#39;s profile picture. The new feature called &#39;Photo Guard&#39; comes with a range of safety measures.&nbsp;

It restricts users from downloading a person&rsquo;s profile pic or sharing it with others.Preventing users from tagging other people in a person&#39;s profile pic, it also abstains users from taking screenshots of a person&#39;s profile pic, however, this feature is initially available for Android phones only.

 
When activated, the optional guard is visible through a blue border and shield around a user&rsquo;s profile pic.

The company partnered with an Indian illustrator to research make these safety controls more compelling with attractively designed options. In a blog post, Facebook explained that it found that &ldquo;some women choose not to share profile pictures that include their faces anywhere on the internet because they&rsquo;re concerned about what may happen to their photos.&rdquo; It believed that early tests indicate that people are 75 percent less likely to copy a photo when the guard option is enabled.

 
The rollout that is initially happening in India, is soon expected to expand to other countries, Facebook said.

The rollout that is initially happening in India, is soon expected to expand to other countries

Facebook announced a pilot program in India to regulate the access to its user's profile picture. The new feature called 'Photo Guard' comes with a range of safety measures. It restricts users from downloading a person’s profile pic or sharing it with others.Preventing users from tagging other people in a person's profile pic, it also abstains users from taking screenshots of a person's profile pic, however, this feature is initially available for Android phones only. When activated, the optional guard is visible through a blue border and shield around a user’s profile pic. The company partnered with an Indian illustrator to research make these safety controls more compelling with attractively designed options. In a blog post, Facebook explained that it found that “some women choose not to share profile pictures that include their faces anywhere on the internet because they’re concerned about what may happen to their photos.” It believed that early tests indicate that people are 75 percent less likely to copy a photo when the guard option is enabled. The rollout that is initially happening in India, is soon expected to expand to other countries, Facebook said.

Photo Guard: Facebook's new feature to guard your FB profile pic

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, returned&nbsp;to Harvard University, the school he dropped out of to start the pioneering social network. In his speech to the graduating class,&nbsp;he&nbsp;urged&nbsp;them to help create a new social safety net to allow creative risk-taking.

The thirty-three-year-old tech founder of the world&#39;s largest social networking company said he would never have been able to risk leaving the elite ivy league school if he had not known that his family would have been able to support him if he failed.

&quot;There is something wrong with our system when I can leave here and make billions of dollars in 10 years when millions of students can&#39;t afford to pay off their loans, let alone start a business,&quot; Zuckerberg told the graduates.

&quot;When you don&#39;t have the freedom to take your idea and turn it into a historic enterprise we all lose,&quot; said Zuckerberg, who was also named an honorary doctor of laws.

He offered no specific solutions to the problems he highlighted, but urged graduates to contemplate them.

Since its launch in 2004, Facebook has inspired a host of competitors, including Twitter Inc and Snapchat.

Today some 1.9 billion people use Facebook each month. Its broad reach has made the company a lightning rod for controversy, most recently for the ways that producers of fake news stories used it to influence public opinion during the 2016 US&nbsp;presidential election, and for a pair of incidents last month in which users posted videos of two murders, one of them live.

The Menlo Park, California-based company has vowed to tackle both problems and this month said it will hire 3,000 new workers to speed up the removal of videos depicting murder, suicide, and other violent acts. 
Earlier in the day the website of the school&#39;s student newspaper, The Crimson&nbsp;was briefly filled with satirical headlines about Zuckerberg. The newspaper on Twitter apologised to its readers for the incident.

Zuckerberg&#39;s speech was not the first time a successful dropout returned to the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to address graduates. Microsoft Corp&nbsp;co-founder Bill Gates spoke to graduates in 2007.

(Reuters)

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gave a speech at Harvard University urging graduates to help create a new social safety net

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, returned to Harvard University, the school he dropped out of to start the pioneering social network. In his speech to the graduating class, he urged them to help create a new social safety net to allow creative risk-taking. The thirty-three-year-old tech founder of the world's largest social networking company said he would never have been able to risk leaving the elite ivy league school if he had not known that his family would have been able to support him if he failed. "There is something wrong with our system when I can leave here and make billions of dollars in 10 years when millions of students can't afford to pay off their loans, let alone start a business," Zuckerberg told the graduates. "When you don't have the freedom to take your idea and turn it into a historic enterprise we all lose," said Zuckerberg, who was also named an honorary doctor of laws. He offered no specific solutions to the problems he highlighted, but urged graduates to contemplate them. Since its launch in 2004, Facebook has inspired a host of competitors, including Twitter Inc and Snapchat. Today some 1.9 billion people use Facebook each month. Its broad reach has made the company a lightning rod for controversy, most recently for the ways that producers of fake news stories used it to influence public opinion during the 2016 US presidential election, and for a pair of incidents last month in which users posted videos of two murders, one of them live. The Menlo Park, California-based company has vowed to tackle both problems and this month said it will hire 3,000 new workers to speed up the removal of videos depicting murder, suicide, and other violent acts. Earlier in the day the website of the school's student newspaper, The Crimson was briefly filled with satirical headlines about Zuckerberg. The newspaper on Twitter apologised to its readers for the incident. Zuckerberg's speech was not the first time a successful dropout returned to the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to address graduates. Microsoft Corp co-founder Bill Gates spoke to graduates in 2007. (Reuters)

Mark Zuckerberg urges Harvard grads to contemplate risk

Google&#39;s India-born CEO Sundar Pichai has criticised President Donald Trump&#39;s controversial immigration order against people from seven Muslim-majority countries, saying it will create &quot;barriers&quot; to bringing great talent to the US, as the Internet search giant ordered its travelling staff to return to America.

Pichai in an email to staff said the US ban on foreign nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries will hit at least 187 Google employees.

&quot;We&#39;re upset about the impact of this order and any proposals that could impose restrictions on Googlers and their families, or that could create barriers to bringing great talent to the US,&quot; the Wall Street Journal quoted Pichai as saying in the email.

&quot;It is painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our colleagues,&quot; he said.

Google has recalled around 100 of its affected staff from overseas, the BBC reported.

President Trump ordered &quot;extreme vetting&quot; of people entering the US from seven Muslim-majority countries and banned the entry of Syrian refugees until further notice, as part of new measures to &quot;keep radical Islamic terrorists&quot; out of America.&nbsp;The countries impacted are Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia.

The controversial move, signed a week after he was sworn in as the president, fulfills the vow Trump made on the campaign trail to limit Muslim immigration to the US.

In his message to employees, 44-year-old Pichai, who grew up in India, suggested that at least 187 employees hailed from countries included in the ban.

&quot;Our first order of business is to help Googlers who are affected,&quot; he said. &quot;If you&#39;re abroad and need help please reach out to our global security team.&quot; &nbsp;&quot;We wouldn&#39;t wish this fear and uncertainty on anyone and especially not our fellow Googlers,&quot; Pichai wrote:&nbsp;&quot;In times of uncertainty, our values remain the best guide.&quot;

Immigrants make up much of the workforce in Silicon Valley, including many executive roles, and the tech industry has long advocated for more open immigration laws in the US, saying they need more skilled foreigners to fill technical jobs.&nbsp;The new restrictions will have a major impact on American technology companies that hire skilled staff from all over the world on special H1-B visas, mostly used by Indian IT firms.

&quot;There have already been reports of green card holders, who are allowed to work in the US, being prevented from getting on flights. However, green cards are not specifically mentioned in the executive order,&quot; the Wall Street Journal said.

Microsoft has also warned its shareholders that curbs on immigration could have a material impact on its business.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also criticised Trump&#39;s decision to severely limit immigrants and refugees from certain Muslim-majority countries, saying America is a nation of immigrants and should be proud of it.

&quot;Like many of you, I&#39;m concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump,&quot; Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page. &nbsp;&quot;Like many of you, I&#39;m concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump,&quot; Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page. &quot;We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat ... We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help. That&#39;s who we are. Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla&#39;s family wouldn&#39;t be here today,&quot; he wrote of his wife, Priscilla Chan, whose family were refugees from China and Vietnam.

&quot;These issues are personal for me even beyond my family. A few years ago, I taught a class at a local middle school where some of my best students were undocumented. They are our future too. We are a nation of immigrants, and we all benefit when the best and brightest from around the world can live, work and contribute here. I hope we find the courage and compassion to bring people together and make this world a better place for everyone,&quot; he said.

&quot;Expanding the focus of law enforcement beyond people who are real threats would make all Americans less safe by diverting resources, while millions of undocumented folks who don&#39;t pose a threat will live in fear of deportation,&quot; he said.

Zuckerberg also prodded Trump to stand by earlier statements regarding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) and H1-B visas, which are of particular concern to tech companies that use the visas to hire talent from overseas. 
&nbsp;

(PTI)

Google has reportedly recalled 100 of its affected staff from overseas, according to the BBC

Google's India-born CEO Sundar Pichai has criticised President Donald Trump's controversial immigration order against people from seven Muslim-majority countries, saying it will create "barriers" to bringing great talent to the US, as the Internet search giant ordered its travelling staff to return to America. Pichai in an email to staff said the US ban on foreign nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries will hit at least 187 Google employees. "We're upset about the impact of this order and any proposals that could impose restrictions on Googlers and their families, or that could create barriers to bringing great talent to the US," the Wall Street Journal quoted Pichai as saying in the email. "It is painful to see the personal cost of this executive order on our colleagues," he said. Google has recalled around 100 of its affected staff from overseas, the BBC reported. President Trump ordered "extreme vetting" of people entering the US from seven Muslim-majority countries and banned the entry of Syrian refugees until further notice, as part of new measures to "keep radical Islamic terrorists" out of America. The countries impacted are Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia. The controversial move, signed a week after he was sworn in as the president, fulfills the vow Trump made on the campaign trail to limit Muslim immigration to the US. In his message to employees, 44-year-old Pichai, who grew up in India, suggested that at least 187 employees hailed from countries included in the ban. "Our first order of business is to help Googlers who are affected," he said. "If you're abroad and need help please reach out to our global security team." "We wouldn't wish this fear and uncertainty on anyone and especially not our fellow Googlers," Pichai wrote: "In times of uncertainty, our values remain the best guide." Immigrants make up much of the workforce in Silicon Valley, including many executive roles, and the tech industry has long advocated for more open immigration laws in the US, saying they need more skilled foreigners to fill technical jobs. The new restrictions will have a major impact on American technology companies that hire skilled staff from all over the world on special H1-B visas, mostly used by Indian IT firms. "There have already been reports of green card holders, who are allowed to work in the US, being prevented from getting on flights. However, green cards are not specifically mentioned in the executive order," the Wall Street Journal said. Microsoft has also warned its shareholders that curbs on immigration could have a material impact on its business. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has also criticised Trump's decision to severely limit immigrants and refugees from certain Muslim-majority countries, saying America is a nation of immigrants and should be proud of it. "Like many of you, I'm concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump," Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page. "Like many of you, I'm concerned about the impact of the recent executive orders signed by President Trump," Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page. "We need to keep this country safe, but we should do that by focusing on people who actually pose a threat ... We should also keep our doors open to refugees and those who need help. That's who we are. Had we turned away refugees a few decades ago, Priscilla's family wouldn't be here today," he wrote of his wife, Priscilla Chan, whose family were refugees from China and Vietnam. "These issues are personal for me even beyond my family. A few years ago, I taught a class at a local middle school where some of my best students were undocumented. They are our future too. We are a nation of immigrants, and we all benefit when the best and brightest from around the world can live, work and contribute here. I hope we find the courage and compassion to bring people together and make this world a better place for everyone," he said. "Expanding the focus of law enforcement beyond people who are real threats would make all Americans less safe by diverting resources, while millions of undocumented folks who don't pose a threat will live in fear of deportation," he said. Zuckerberg also prodded Trump to stand by earlier statements regarding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) and H1-B visas, which are of particular concern to tech companies that use the visas to hire talent from overseas. (PTI)

Google's Pichai, Facebook founder Zuckerberg criticise Trump's immigration order

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the witness stand in Dallas federal court and denied an allegation by a rival company that the virtual-reality technology of Facebook&#39;s Oculus unit was stolen.

Zuckerberg, the founder of one of the world&#39;s largest companies, faced hours of tough, public questioning about where Oculus obtained its ideas and how much he knew about the startup when Facebook bought it for $2 billion.

A jury is hearing evidence in a civil lawsuit brought by videogame publisher ZeniMax Media against Oculus in 2014, in the middle of the Facebook-Oculus deal. ZeniMax said that Oculus unlawfully used its intellectual property to develop the virtual-reality system that includes the Rift headset.

During one heated exchange with ZeniMax lawyer Tony Sammi, Zuckerberg told a jury in the crowded courtroom that the technology was not even fully formed when Facebook bought it.

&quot;Improving on that technology doesn&#39;t make it yours,&quot; Sammi countered. &quot;If you steal my bike, paint it and put a bell on it, does that make it your bike?&quot;

Zuckerberg, wearing a dark suit and striped tie rather than his typical T-shirt and jeans, answered&nbsp;&quot;no&quot;, but then added: &quot;The idea that Oculus technology is based on someone else&#39;s is just wrong.&quot;

The 32-year-old Facebook founder has spoken about virtual reality as an important part of the company&#39;s future business, especially as the technology becomes less expensive and its uses clearer.

The Oculus acquisition was more expensive than the $2 billion price tag indicated, Zuckerberg said in court, describing $700 million spent to retain employees and $300 million in payouts for reaching milestones. Oculus originally wanted $4 billion, he said.

Sammi questioned whether Facebook knew what it was doing when it made the acquisition. Zuckerberg said the Oculus deal was done over a weekend in 2014, which Sammi said did not show sufficient due diligence. Zuckerberg said, though, in later testimony that Facebook researched Oculus for months.

At the time, Zuckerberg testified, he was not aware of any theft claims against Oculus.

&quot;It&#39;s pretty common when you announce a big deal that people just come out of the woodwork and claim they own some part of the deal,&quot; Zuckerberg said.

On the stand, he also gave details about Facebook&#39;s $22 billion purchase of messaging service WhatsApp in 2014. While the deal was in progress, another company he did not identify made a last-minute bid that was higher, Zuckerberg said, but WhatsApp declined because of its good relationship with Facebook.

The Oculus lawsuit, in the sixth day of a jury trial, relates in part to programmer John Carmack.

Well-known for helping to conceive games such as &quot;Quake&quot; and &quot;Doom&quot;, Carmack worked for id Software LLC before that company was acquired by ZeniMax. He is now the chief technology officer at Oculus.

Zuckerberg denied that Carmack has unfairly used computer code from his previous position. &quot;There is no shared code in what we do,&quot; he said.

Zuckerberg said he has been interested in virtual reality since he was a student, but thought it was decades away from happening before he encountered Oculus. He told jurors how he used virtual reality to capture his daughter&#39;s first steps, so her grandparents could experience it later.

&quot;We want to get closer to this kind of perfect representation, so you can capture a moment you had,&quot; he said.

(Reuters)

Zuckerberg testified that he was not aware of any theft claims against Oculus at the time of acquisition

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the witness stand in Dallas federal court and denied an allegation by a rival company that the virtual-reality technology of Facebook's Oculus unit was stolen. Zuckerberg, the founder of one of the world's largest companies, faced hours of tough, public questioning about where Oculus obtained its ideas and how much he knew about the startup when Facebook bought it for $2 billion. A jury is hearing evidence in a civil lawsuit brought by videogame publisher ZeniMax Media against Oculus in 2014, in the middle of the Facebook-Oculus deal. ZeniMax said that Oculus unlawfully used its intellectual property to develop the virtual-reality system that includes the Rift headset. During one heated exchange with ZeniMax lawyer Tony Sammi, Zuckerberg told a jury in the crowded courtroom that the technology was not even fully formed when Facebook bought it. "Improving on that technology doesn't make it yours," Sammi countered. "If you steal my bike, paint it and put a bell on it, does that make it your bike?" Zuckerberg, wearing a dark suit and striped tie rather than his typical T-shirt and jeans, answered "no", but then added: "The idea that Oculus technology is based on someone else's is just wrong." The 32-year-old Facebook founder has spoken about virtual reality as an important part of the company's future business, especially as the technology becomes less expensive and its uses clearer. The Oculus acquisition was more expensive than the $2 billion price tag indicated, Zuckerberg said in court, describing $700 million spent to retain employees and $300 million in payouts for reaching milestones. Oculus originally wanted $4 billion, he said. Sammi questioned whether Facebook knew what it was doing when it made the acquisition. Zuckerberg said the Oculus deal was done over a weekend in 2014, which Sammi said did not show sufficient due diligence. Zuckerberg said, though, in later testimony that Facebook researched Oculus for months. At the time, Zuckerberg testified, he was not aware of any theft claims against Oculus. "It's pretty common when you announce a big deal that people just come out of the woodwork and claim they own some part of the deal," Zuckerberg said. On the stand, he also gave details about Facebook's $22 billion purchase of messaging service WhatsApp in 2014. While the deal was in progress, another company he did not identify made a last-minute bid that was higher, Zuckerberg said, but WhatsApp declined because of its good relationship with Facebook. The Oculus lawsuit, in the sixth day of a jury trial, relates in part to programmer John Carmack. Well-known for helping to conceive games such as "Quake" and "Doom", Carmack worked for id Software LLC before that company was acquired by ZeniMax. He is now the chief technology officer at Oculus. Zuckerberg denied that Carmack has unfairly used computer code from his previous position. "There is no shared code in what we do," he said. Zuckerberg said he has been interested in virtual reality since he was a student, but thought it was decades away from happening before he encountered Oculus. He told jurors how he used virtual reality to capture his daughter's first steps, so her grandparents could experience it later. "We want to get closer to this kind of perfect representation, so you can capture a moment you had," he said. (Reuters)

Facebook's Zuckerberg questioned at trial over 'stolen' Oculus VR technology

Mark Zuckerberg introduced the world to &quot;Jarvis&quot;, an artificial intelligence system the Facebook chief created in his spare time, which can choose and play music, turn on lights, and recognise visitors, deciding whether to open the front door.

Jarvis, named after the virtual assistant in the Iron Man movies, could be a step toward a new product, Zuckerberg wrote, although he cautioned that the system he had created in 100 hours over the last year was customised for his house.

Zuckerberg announced results of the project, a personal challenge he set for himself this year, as digital home assistants by Google and Amazon.com compete for holiday sales and are expected to outsell popular emerging gadgets such as virtual reality headsets and drones.

Creating Jarvis proved humanity is &quot;both closer and farther off&quot; from an AI breakthrough than we imagine, Zuckerberg <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/building-jarvis/10154361492931634">wrote</a>.

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Diagram of the systems connected to build Jarvis. (Facebook)
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Computers are getting very good at pick out patterns, such as face recognition, but it is difficult to teach them new things, he <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-zuckerberg/building-jarvis/10154361492931634">wrote</a>.

&quot;Everything I did this year - natural language, face recognition, speech recognition and so on - are all variants of the same fundamental pattern recognition techniques,&quot; he wrote. &quot;But even if I spent 1,000 more hours, I probably wouldn&#39;t be able to build a system that could learn completely new skills on its own.&quot;

By the end of the year, Jarvis was able to respond to text and voice commands and it could run music, air conditioning, doors, and other systems. It could recognise visitors, start a toaster and even shoot t-shirts from a cannon in his closet. 
With more effort to broaden Jarvis&#39; use beyond Zuckerberg&#39;s own house, the experiment &quot;could be a great foundation to build a new product,&quot; he wrote.

A dearth of internet-connected devices, lack of common standards for connected devices to communicate and challenges related to speech recognition and machine learning were all obstacles, he said.

At the same time, he said challenges lead to eureka moments.

Adjustments made to help Jarvis recognise context in commands ultimately helped the system respond to less specific requests in a better fashion, such as asking the system to &quot;play me some music&quot;.

&quot;I&#39;ve found we use these more open-ended requests more frequently than more specific asks. No commercial products I know of do this today, and this seems like a big opportunity,&quot; he wrote.

(Reuters)

It's a result of a personal challenge he set for himself in the beginning of 2016

Mark Zuckerberg introduced the world to "Jarvis", an artificial intelligence system the Facebook chief created in his spare time, which can choose and play music, turn on lights, and recognise visitors, deciding whether to open the front door. Jarvis, named after the virtual assistant in the Iron Man movies, could be a step toward a new product, Zuckerberg wrote, although he cautioned that the system he had created in 100 hours over the last year was customised for his house. Zuckerberg announced results of the project, a personal challenge he set for himself this year, as digital home assistants by Google and Amazon.com compete for holiday sales and are expected to outsell popular emerging gadgets such as virtual reality headsets and drones. Creating Jarvis proved humanity is "both closer and farther off" from an AI breakthrough than we imagine, Zuckerberg wrote. Diagram of the systems connected to build Jarvis. (Facebook) × Computers are getting very good at pick out patterns, such as face recognition, but it is difficult to teach them new things, he wrote. "Everything I did this year - natural language, face recognition, speech recognition and so on - are all variants of the same fundamental pattern recognition techniques," he wrote. "But even if I spent 1,000 more hours, I probably wouldn't be able to build a system that could learn completely new skills on its own." By the end of the year, Jarvis was able to respond to text and voice commands and it could run music, air conditioning, doors, and other systems. It could recognise visitors, start a toaster and even shoot t-shirts from a cannon in his closet. With more effort to broaden Jarvis' use beyond Zuckerberg's own house, the experiment "could be a great foundation to build a new product," he wrote. A dearth of internet-connected devices, lack of common standards for connected devices to communicate and challenges related to speech recognition and machine learning were all obstacles, he said. At the same time, he said challenges lead to eureka moments. Adjustments made to help Jarvis recognise context in commands ultimately helped the system respond to less specific requests in a better fashion, such as asking the system to "play me some music". "I've found we use these more open-ended requests more frequently than more specific asks. No commercial products I know of do this today, and this seems like a big opportunity," he wrote. (Reuters)

This is what Mark Zuckerberg created in his spare time this year

Hillary Clinton was about to be indicted, Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump: the battle over fake news is heating up after a White House campaign in which the misinformation industry may have swung the outcome of the vote.

Last week, Google and Facebook moved to cut off ad revenue to bogus news sites. But media watchers say more is needed to stamp out a powerful phenomenon seen by some people as a threat to democracy itself.

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<h5>The fake news hoaxes of the 2016 election season were in many cases spectacular -- &#39;Did the Clintons Commit Murder?&#39; -- and created by groups purely out to make money from clicks and ads</h5>
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<div class="share-blockquote"><a class="twitter popup" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=The fake news hoaxes of the 2016 election season were in many cases spectacular -- 'Did the Clintons Commit Murder?' -- and created by groups purely out to make money from clicks and ads" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a></div>
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&nbsp;

One of those people is President Barack Obama, who has warned that fake news threatens the basic principle of freedom of speech.

&quot;If everything seems to be the same and no distinctions are made, then we won&#39;t know what to protect,&quot; Obama said during a visit to Germany.

The hoaxes of the 2016 election season were in many cases spectacular -- &quot;Did the Clintons Commit Murder?&quot; -- and created by groups purely out to make money from clicks and ads.

And since Trump&#39;s victory, reports have exposed the dark underbelly of operations -- run from Macedonia to California -- that boast of making easy money with wholly fabricated stories, under such headlines as &quot;Look At Sick Thing He Just Did To STAB Trump In The Back.&quot;

An analysis published by BuzzFeed News found that the 20 top-performing bogus stories from hoax websites and extremely partisan blogs generated slightly more than 8.7 million &quot;shares&quot; on Facebook to just 7.4 million from major news websites, in the three months before the election.

Now, the outcry over fake news and its apparent role in the election is prompting calls for Facebook to consider itself a media company, with editorial responsibilities, which the social network has repeatedly rejected.

Arbiters of truth?&nbsp;

Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan argued that Facebook &quot;should hire a top-flight executive editor and give that person the resources, power and staff to make sound editorial decisions.&quot;

For Gabriel Kahn, a former journalist who teaches at the University of Southern California, &quot;they&#39;re in the same business as pretty much every media company, which is aggregating audiences and using that to sell advertisements.&quot;

And Kahn believes that Facebook, by considering itself a &quot;neutral&quot; platform, &quot;allows the media ecosystem to be polluted&quot; with bogus news.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on Friday offered additional insight on plans to curb online misinformation while arguing for caution.

&quot;The problems here are complex, both technically and philosophically,&quot; Zuckerberg said in a posting.

&quot;We believe in giving people a voice... We do not want to be arbiters of truth ourselves, but instead rely on our community and trusted third parties.&quot;

Zuckerberg said nonetheless that Facebook would step up efforts to weed out fake news with &quot;stronger detection,&quot; an easier process to report hoaxes and &quot;third party verification&quot; from &quot;respected fact checking organizations.&quot;

Tech entrepreneur Elad Gil said it should not be too difficult for a company like Facebook to apply its technical expertise to determine when a news story is fake.&nbsp;

&quot;Intriguingly, a group of undergrads at Princeton were able to build a quick and dirty fake news classifier during a 36-hour hackathon,&quot; Gil said in a blog post.

&#39;Click farms&#39; vs ideology&nbsp;

Northeastern University journalism professor Dan Kennedy argued that it is important to differentiate between &quot;click farms&quot; which make money off entirely fake news and politically driven news sites.

&quot;I think Facebook could do a lot to crack down on fake news, and I think that&#39;s something everybody could agree on, but if they try to go against the ideologically motivated sites it will inevitably get caught up in the culture wars,&quot; Kennedy said.

The prevalence of ersatz news, analysts note, comes in a context of deep distrust of mainstream media, which is often accused of one-sidedness.

Any effort to filter out those voices could &quot;lead to the relitigation of ancient disputes over media bias,&quot; said Kennedy.

Reason magazine editor Scott Shackleford said it would be hard to draw a line between filtering bogus news and ideological censorship.

&quot;So a decision by Facebook to censor &#39;fake news&#39; would heavily weigh in favor of the more mainstream and &#39;powerful&#39; traditional media outlets,&quot; he wrote.

City University of New York journalism professor Jeff Jarvis and startup entrepreneur John Borthwick argued in a blog post that the media and technology industries should work together to help readers establish the credibility of news.

&quot;We do not believe that the platforms should be put in the position of judging what is fake or real, true or false as censors for all,&quot; they wrote.

&quot;The platforms need to give users better information and media need to help them.&quot;

Even if the online platforms do not turn into media firms, the two wrote in the blog, they should &quot;hire high-level journalists inside their organizations&quot; to &quot;bring a sense of public responsibility to their companies&quot; and &quot;to explain journalism to the technologists and technology to the journalists.&quot;

(AFP)

Google and FB moved last week to cut ad revenue to fake news sites but media watchers say more needs to be done

Hillary Clinton was about to be indicted, Pope Francis endorsed Donald Trump: the battle over fake news is heating up after a White House campaign in which the misinformation industry may have swung the outcome of the vote. Last week, Google and Facebook moved to cut off ad revenue to bogus news sites. But media watchers say more is needed to stamp out a powerful phenomenon seen by some people as a threat to democracy itself. The fake news hoaxes of the 2016 election season were in many cases spectacular -- 'Did the Clintons Commit Murder?' -- and created by groups purely out to make money from clicks and ads × One of those people is President Barack Obama, who has warned that fake news threatens the basic principle of freedom of speech. "If everything seems to be the same and no distinctions are made, then we won't know what to protect," Obama said during a visit to Germany. The hoaxes of the 2016 election season were in many cases spectacular -- "Did the Clintons Commit Murder?" -- and created by groups purely out to make money from clicks and ads. And since Trump's victory, reports have exposed the dark underbelly of operations -- run from Macedonia to California -- that boast of making easy money with wholly fabricated stories, under such headlines as "Look At Sick Thing He Just Did To STAB Trump In The Back." An analysis published by BuzzFeed News found that the 20 top-performing bogus stories from hoax websites and extremely partisan blogs generated slightly more than 8.7 million "shares" on Facebook to just 7.4 million from major news websites, in the three months before the election. Now, the outcry over fake news and its apparent role in the election is prompting calls for Facebook to consider itself a media company, with editorial responsibilities, which the social network has repeatedly rejected. Arbiters of truth? Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan argued that Facebook "should hire a top-flight executive editor and give that person the resources, power and staff to make sound editorial decisions." For Gabriel Kahn, a former journalist who teaches at the University of Southern California, "they're in the same business as pretty much every media company, which is aggregating audiences and using that to sell advertisements." And Kahn believes that Facebook, by considering itself a "neutral" platform, "allows the media ecosystem to be polluted" with bogus news. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on Friday offered additional insight on plans to curb online misinformation while arguing for caution. "The problems here are complex, both technically and philosophically," Zuckerberg said in a posting. "We believe in giving people a voice... We do not want to be arbiters of truth ourselves, but instead rely on our community and trusted third parties." Zuckerberg said nonetheless that Facebook would step up efforts to weed out fake news with "stronger detection," an easier process to report hoaxes and "third party verification" from "respected fact checking organizations." Tech entrepreneur Elad Gil said it should not be too difficult for a company like Facebook to apply its technical expertise to determine when a news story is fake. "Intriguingly, a group of undergrads at Princeton were able to build a quick and dirty fake news classifier during a 36-hour hackathon," Gil said in a blog post. 'Click farms' vs ideology Northeastern University journalism professor Dan Kennedy argued that it is important to differentiate between "click farms" which make money off entirely fake news and politically driven news sites. "I think Facebook could do a lot to crack down on fake news, and I think that's something everybody could agree on, but if they try to go against the ideologically motivated sites it will inevitably get caught up in the culture wars," Kennedy said. The prevalence of ersatz news, analysts note, comes in a context of deep distrust of mainstream media, which is often accused of one-sidedness. Any effort to filter out those voices could "lead to the relitigation of ancient disputes over media bias," said Kennedy. Reason magazine editor Scott Shackleford said it would be hard to draw a line between filtering bogus news and ideological censorship. "So a decision by Facebook to censor 'fake news' would heavily weigh in favor of the more mainstream and 'powerful' traditional media outlets," he wrote. City University of New York journalism professor Jeff Jarvis and startup entrepreneur John Borthwick argued in a blog post that the media and technology industries should work together to help readers establish the credibility of news. "We do not believe that the platforms should be put in the position of judging what is fake or real, true or false as censors for all," they wrote. "The platforms need to give users better information and media need to help them." Even if the online platforms do not turn into media firms, the two wrote in the blog, they should "hire high-level journalists inside their organizations" to "bring a sense of public responsibility to their companies" and "to explain journalism to the technologists and technology to the journalists." (AFP)

Facebook in crosshairs as fake news battle heats up

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