The Facebook news thread

Facebook allowing Cambridge Analytica to access personal information of as many as 87 million users led to a £500,000 fine in the UK. With a lawsuit filed today, Facebook is facing a huge fine in the US as well -- and now we learn Facebook has been sharing personal data with Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix and other tech companies. How is Mark Zuckerberg able to sleep at night?

Facebook's data-sharing deals exposed

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46618582

DC attorney general sues Facebook for failing to protect user data

https://www.politico.com/story/2018/...cebook-1069172

Hackers and data thieves never bother with Sirius Buzz. I don't know if we should feel relieved.....or slighted.

Don't send sensitive info on Facebook Messenger, cybersecurity experts warn
CBS News, Dec 20 2018 3:53 PM

Cybersecurity experts are advising users against using Facebook Messenger to send sensitive information after revelations by The New York Times that Facebook allowed large tech companies to access personal user data. One security expert told CBS News the report exposed Facebook's "systematic failures to protect customer data." Experts warn that by exposing user information, including private messages, Facebook might have exposed users to security vulnerabilities such as phishing, harassment, hacking and identity theft.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/faceboo...tive-messages/

A CEO admitted to posting fake news but said he did it so he could understand what effect fake news has. Well, yeah, that makes sense -- kinda like a narc shooting heroin to understand how heroin affects other users. Sheesh!

Facebook suspended five accounts for spreading misleading information during an Alabama election, including a lead social media researcher who helped the government discover fake news

https://www.businessinsider.com/face...ge-ceo-2018-12

Zuckerberg says he's "proud" of Facebook's progress in building "some of the most advanced systems in the world for identifying and resolving" misinformation and election interference. His pride probably isn't much comfort to investors. Facebook closed today at $133.20. At the beginning of 2018 it was $181.42.

Despite problems, Mark Zuckerberg is proud of Facebook's 2018

https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/28/tech/...018/index.html

"Big Brother is watching you!" was the ominous warning of George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Facebook seems to be the "Big Brother" of 2019. If Facebook's artificial intelligence determines you might be suicidal, law enforcement will be alerted so they can perform a "wellness check." Such sneakiness surely seems somewhat scary.

Inside Facebook's suicide algorithm: Here's how the company uses artificial intelligence to predict your mental state from your posts

https://www.businessinsider.com/face...icidal-2018-12

Facebook wants to help struggling newspapers -- which, when you think about it, is somewhat strange considering how many millions of people now prefer to get their news from Facebook and seldom look at a newspaper. Maybe Mark Zuckerberg feels guilty about that and wants to atone.

Facebook, fighting off skeptics, plans to invest $300 million in journalism programs

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/15/media...ams/index.html

If you Facebook users think you get inundated by targeted ads now, just wait until this little project is completed:

Facebook plans to integrate Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. What that means for users.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/25/tech/...ger/index.html

Amid all the ongoing security problems and data thefts, Facebook was targeted by a #DeleteFacebook campaign encouraging users to cancel their accounts. Guess what -- it didn't work.

Facebook posts record $6.9 billion profit despite privacy scandals
CNN, Jan 30 2019 6:36 PM ET

Facebook's endless PR crises don't appear to be hurting its bottom line. The company posted a record $6.9 billion profit for the final three months of 2018 -- a jump of 61% from the same period a year earlier and well ahead of Wall Street estimates. Facebook's revenue for the quarter rose 30% to $16.9 billion, according to its latest earnings report released today. Its user numbers remain impressive as well. Facebook now has 1.52 billion people who use the social network every day and 2.32 billion who use it every month, both of which are up 9% from the year prior.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/30/tech/...-q4/index.html

Memo to the researchers at Stanford and New York University: After this study was completed, you could have informed your "less informed" subjects that there are hundreds of other news sources besides Facebook. Maybe they don't know.

Leaving Facebook makes people happier but less informed, study says

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/31/tech/...med/index.html

Believe me, Mark, when there are positive news stories about Facebook, I post them here. There just aren't many.

A defiant Mark Zuckerberg says people are focusing on the 'negative' aspects of Facebook's impact on the world

https://www.businessinsider.com/mark...-impact-2019-2

I have not the slightest doubt that Mark Zuckerberg would much rather be getting Valentine's Day cards today instead of a multi-billion-dollar fine.

FTC and Facebook are negotiating a record fine for the company's privacy lapses

https://www.latimes.com/business/la-...214-story.html

I picture Mark Zuckerberg striking a defiant pose akin to Steve Urkel of Family Matters and asking, "Did I do that?"

UK lawmakers: Facebook 'intentionally and knowingly' violated data privacy laws and competition laws

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/17/tech/...ort/index.html

This sounds scary. Instead of writing "LOL" and "OMG" and posting pictures of what they're eating for lunch, Facebook users could start concocting evil plans in secret that we wouldn't know about until it's too late. Zuckerberg should rethink this.

Mark Zuckerberg to shift Facebook to a 'privacy-focused' platform
The social network's CEO said that in a few years, encrypted messages would surpass public messaging on services such as Instagram and Facebook.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne...-media-n980146

Kurt Wagner, former tech reporter for Fortune and Mashable and now senior editor of Vox Media's tech business site Recode, finds a few faults with Facebook's future focus:

This could be the beginning of the end for Facebook's social network

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techn...ork/ar-BBUvv3E

As Chico Marx said in Duck Soup, "Shhh! This is spy stuff."

Zuckerberg's encryption plan could put Facebook on collision course with law enforcement
Every six minutes, on average, Facebook gets a request from a US government body looking to get information about gangs, drug trafficking or other suspected crimes.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...cement-n981246

Many millions of Facebook users have been unable to access the site today. Millions more have been able to access the site but unable to post anything. Outages of 12 hours and longer have affected users in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Facebook management has said very little other than "Sorry -- we're working to fix it." Could things get any worse for Facebook today? Ummm.....yes.

Facebook's data deals are under criminal investigation

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techn...ion/ar-BBUK1BA

When teenagers' only interaction with other people is via cell phones and computers, this is to be expected:

Social media linked to rise in mental health disorders in teens, survey finds

https://www.today.com/video/social-m...-1458667587795

Kogan's lawyer says Facebook is using Kogan as a "scapegoat." A Facebook spokesman calls the lawsuit "frivolous." Whichever side is right, this is just more bad news for Facebook.

Academic in Cambridge Analytica data mining sues Facebook for defamation
Aleksandr Kogan mined the social network for Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked on Donald Trump's Presidential campaign.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...mation-n984076

A Facebook executive says there is no evidence any employees accessed or abused these passwords. Should we believe him? After all, this is the same company that shared 87,000,000 users' personal information with a political polling firm; shared personal information with Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix and other companies; and has been hit with huge fines in Europe and the UK for violating privacy regulations and is facing huge fines in the US.

Facebook staff had access to hundreds of millions of users' passwords

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/21/tech/...ase/index.html

This is a good start. Now if we can just keep Donald Trump off Twitter.......

Facebook bans white nationalism from platform after pressure from civil rights groups
The social media giant said in a blog post today that conversations with academics and civil rights groups convinced the company to expand its policies around hate groups.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-ne...groups-n987991