27-year-old Anthony Novak was arrested in March after he created a fake Facebook page spoofing the local police department in Parma, Ohio. According to Novak, the police raided his apartment while his roommate was home and took all of his electronics, and Novak himself spent three days in jail. However, late last week, Novak was…

Facebook announced in a blog post this week that it will prevent ad blockers from working on the site’s desktop version, and it will show ads to users who are running ad blocker software anyway. In return, the company is giving users more control over what kinds of ads they see, including the choice to…

In July, the creators of several so-called “Weird Facebook” meme pages claimed that the site was shutting down their pages and blocking content without warning. Now, the admins and followers of these creative, slightly off-kilter pages are preparing to take the fight to Facebook itself. The loose collection of Facebook pages that make up the…

Two weeks ago, Facebook temporarily deactivated the account of a black woman named Korryn Gaines who was involved in a police standoff. She was posting videos of the encounter to her Facebook profile while it was happening, and both the site and police said they removed her content to help the negotiation process. However, the…

According to a report in the Houston Press this week, someone has created over 60 Facebook pages for fake Houston-area restaurants — and it’s unclear what they’re doing with them. The addresses of real restaurants are being used for the fake pages, as are images from restaurants all over the country. Most of the fake…

Police in Iowa warned parents this week of a scam that involves strangers soliciting nude photos from teenage girls on Facebook. Officials say they are investigating five cases in Johnston, Iowa, Ankeny, and several other communities. Officials say the victims in each instance accept a Facebook friend request from a stranger claiming to be a…

Facebook found itself at the center of yet another controversy involving race, police shootings and live video this week when 23-year-old black woman Korryn Gaines was shot and killed by Baltimore County police. During the standoff preceding the woman’s death, police asked Facebook to deactivate the woman’s profile and the social media giant complied. The…

Right now, your Facebook news feed is likely full of content with misleading or downright false headlines designed to get you to click them. Often these clickbait links only lead to trashy tabloid-like stories, but they can also be used to drive traffic to malicious, malware-spreading sites. Thankfully, Facebook is altering its news feed formula…

Facebook launched its “Safety Check” feature in fall 2014 that allowed users to check in with friends and family in the wake of natural disasters, shootings or other dangerous incidents that occur in the same geographic area as them. The tool has come under some scrutiny for the kinds of calamities it does and does…

Perhaps no website in the history of the Internet has faced more criticism for its privacy practices than Facebook. With well over one billion users and all of the personal data that comes with it, perhaps that’s no surprise — though as The Daily Dot pointed out in an interview with Facebook’s chief privacy officer…