Tag Archives: social media

The Verge reports: Tumblr is permanently banning adult content from its platform as of December 17th in a move that will eradicate porn-related communities on the platform and fundamentally alter how the service is used. The ban includes explicit sexual content and nudity with a few exceptions, the company tells The Verge. Its announcement comes just days after Tumblr was …

The New York Times reports: Sheryl Sandberg asked Facebook’s communications staff to research George Soros’s financial interests in the wake of his high-profile attacks on tech companies, according to three people with knowledge of her request, indicating that Facebook’s second in command was directly involved in the social network’s response to the liberal billionaire. Ms. Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, …

The Verge reports: Tumblr says that child pornography was the reason for its app’s sudden disappearance from the iOS App Store. The app has been missing from the store since November 16th, but until now the reason for its absence was unclear — initially Tumblr simply said it was “working to resolve the issue with the iOS app.” However, after …

Market Watch reports: Spending too much time on “social media” sites like Facebook is making people more than just miserable. It may also be making them depressed. A new study conducted by psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania has shown — for the first time — a causal link between time spent on social media and depression and loneliness, the …

STAT News reports: For years, so-called influencers — celebrities, former reality television contestants and sometimes, former lawyers or other professionals — have hawked diet teas and hair products everywhere from Facebook to Snapchat. And now, pharma is catching on. An entire industry has cropped up to link drug makers with the industry’s own version of an influencer — people, usually …

Reuters reports: Twitter deleted more than 10,000 automated accounts posting messages that discouraged people from voting in Tuesday’s U.S. election and wrongly appeared to be from Democrats, after the party flagged the misleading tweets to the social media company. The number is modest, considering that Twitter has previously deleted millions of accounts it determined were responsible for spreading misinformation in …

USA Today reports: Gab, the social network scrutinized following the shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue that left 11 dead, went offline as service providers suspended accounts and threatened to shut the website down. A message on Gab.com said the website would not be accessible for a period of time as the site shifts to a new hosting provider. In a …

The New York Times reports: Gab’s affiliation with Mr. Bowers has already cost the company dearly. On Saturday, the company’s web hosting provider, Joyent, moved to shut the site down, according to an email posted by Gab on Twitter. The payment processing platform Stripe, which Gab has used to receive fees for its paid Gab Pro membership level, and which …

Business Insider reports: Twitter said it is “deeply sorry” for failing to act on threatening tweets made by Cesar Sayoc, Jr., the 56-year-old Florida man who is suspected of sending improvised explosive devices to Democratic leaders and critics of President Donald Trump. On October 11, Sayoc published a threatening tweet to former congressional press secretary Rochelle Ritchie by telling her …

The Guardian reports: Facebook is promoting a new “war room” as a part of its solution to election interference, unveiling a team of specialists working to stop the spread of misinformation and propaganda. It’s unclear how well it’s working. The Silicon Valley company, which has faced intensifying scrutiny over its role in amplifying malicious political content, opened its doors to …

Reuters reports: Facebook Inc said on Friday attackers stole names and contact details of 29 million users in the mass security breach disclosed by the social media network late last month. The breach, Facebook’s worst ever, has exacerbated concerns among users, lawmakers and investors that the company is not doing enough to safeguard data, particularly in the wake of the …

CNBC reports: Facebook on Thursday announced the removal of 559 Pages and 251 accounts that it says broke the company’s rules against spam and “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” The company said it chose to disclose the removal of these accounts and pages due to the “timing ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.” Facebook said many of the Pages in question were …

The Hill reports: Most Americans say they tune out President Trump’s tweets, according to a new survey from the nonpartisan Public Affairs Council and Morning Consult. Nearly 6 in 10 respondents – 59 percent – said that they rarely or never read the president’s tweets, with only 15 percent of people saying they read them very often. Democrats tend to …

Via press release from Twitter Rules: Distribution of hacked materials: Our rules prohibit the distribution of hacked material that contains private information or trade secrets, or could put people in harm’s way. We are also expanding the criteria for when we will take action on accounts which claim responsibility for a hack, which includes threats and public incentives to hack …

The New York Times reports: Facebook on Friday said an attack on its computer network led to the exposure of information from nearly 50 million of its users. The company discovered the breach earlier this week, finding that attackers had exploited a feature in Facebook’s code that allowed them to take over user accounts. Facebook fixed the vulnerability and notified …

Wired reports: Twitter on Tuesday announced a new policy addressing “dehumanizing speech,” which will take effect later this year, and for the first time the public will be able to formally provide the company with feedback on the proposed rule. The policy will prohibit “content that dehumanizes others based on their membership in an identifiable group, even when the material …

The Associated Press reports: The co-founders of Instagram are resigning their positions with the social media company without explanation. Chief Executive Kevin Systrom said in a statement late Monday that he and Mike Krieger, Instagram’s chief technical officer, plan to leave the company in the next few weeks and take time off “to explore our curiosity and creativity again.” “Mike …

Reuters reports: Facebook Inc said on Thursday that it would no longer dispatch employees to the offices of political campaigns to offer support ahead of elections, as it did with U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2016 race. The company and other major online ad sellers including Alphabet Inc’s Google and Twitter Inc have long offered free dedicated assistance to …

Pew Research reports: Significant shares of Facebook users have taken steps in the past year to reframe their relationship with the social media platform. 42% of Facebook users have taken a break from the site in the past year. Just over half of Facebook users ages 18 and older (54%) say they have adjusted their privacy settings in the past …

Already underway. The Washington Post reports: Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey tried to convince skeptical lawmakers Wednesday they are better prepared to combat foreign interference on their platforms than during the 2016 election. Sandberg and Dorsey delivered their message at a congressional hearing about countries such as Russia that seek to spread divisive political messages online using inauthentic …