Internet Safety & Privacy

Lawmaker Demands Facebook To Explain How It Protects Girls From Predators

Lawmaker Demands Facebook To Explain How It Protects Girls From Predators

Last month, The New York Times published a bombshell report detailing how some parents are building Facebook and Instagram followings for their children, mostly girls, by posting suggestive images that often attract predators. Now, a US senator is blasting Facebook for failing to keep children safe while pressing the company to explain what it will…

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41 States Call On Facebook To Take “Immediate Action” To Help Hacking Victims

41 States Call On Facebook To Take “Immediate Action” To Help Hacking Victims

Over the past year, US states have banded together to bring legal action against Facebook for allegedly causing harm to young users. Now, another coalition of attorneys general have blasted the social media giant in an open letter calling for “immediate action” to help Facebook users who have had their accounts hacked. According to the…

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Facebook and Other Meta Owned Properties Suffer Mass Outage

Facebook and Other Meta Owned Properties Suffer Mass Outage

Many users feared the worst when they were automatically logged out and subsequently locked out of their Facebook accounts. It was easy to assume that accounts had been hacked. Attempts to log back in and reset user passwords were unsuccessful. Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Meta, took to X and posted the following: “Earlier today,…

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Facebook Allows Ads For Illegal Drugs Like LSD And Mushrooms

Facebook Allows Ads For Illegal Drugs Like LSD And Mushrooms

Facebook relies heavily on artificial intelligence to detect and remove content that violates its policies, including the advertising it allows on its platforms. However, those systems don’t always work as well as they should — and Facebook may have a financial incentive to keep it that way. According to experts, many ads for illegal drugs…

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Facebook Wins Big Victory Against Spyware Firm

Facebook Wins Big Victory Against Spyware Firm

Facebook is well-known for collecting troves of sensitive user information. However, the company can get fiercely protective when other parties try to use its platforms to do the same thing. In 2019, the social media giant sued an Israeli spyware firm called NSO Group, alleging that it illegally exploited a loophole in WhatsApp to install…

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Consumer Groups Accuse Facebook Of “Massive, Illegal” Data Collection

Consumer Groups Accuse Facebook Of “Massive, Illegal” Data Collection

Last year, Facebook introduced a subscription model for European users that allowed them to either consent to data tracking or pay a monthly fee to protect their privacy. The move was widely criticized at the time, and many wondered if this controversial business plan would hold up to legal challenges. And now, it seems, we’ll…

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Facebook Subscription Feature Reportedly Allows For Child Exploitation

Facebook Subscription Feature Reportedly Allows For Child Exploitation

The Facebook-owned platform Instagram has long been the main tool influencers have used to carve out a career online. Many parents even use it to promote their children’s modeling careers when the kids are too young to join the platform themselves. However, there is a dark and dangerous underbelly to this practice that was exposed…

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Hackers Are Using Fake Oculus Accounts To Get Facebook Users Suspended

Hackers Are Using Fake Oculus Accounts To Get Facebook Users Suspended

Hackers are always searching for ways to compromise users’ Facebook accounts, and it seems like they’ve found an alarming new shortcut. According to multiple reports this week, a Vietnamese hacking ring has figured out how to create fake Oculus VR profiles and link them to real Facebook accounts. While this account linking is easily accomplished…

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Facebook Creates Team To Stop AI Disinformation In Elections

Facebook Creates Team To Stop AI Disinformation In Elections

Ever since the controversial 2016 US presidential election, Facebook has been heavily criticized for not doing enough to stop the spread of damaging political misinformation. While the company has introduced new measures in the intervening years to crack down on these bad actors, there was still undoubtedly room for improvement. And this week, the social…

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New York City Sues Facebook For Allegedly Harming Kids

New York City Sues Facebook For Allegedly Harming Kids

Over the past year, dozens of US states have brought devastating lawsuits against Facebook, claiming that the company has intentionally created addictive products and ignored concerns about potential risks to the mental health of young users. And this week, New York City got in on the act, suing Facebook and several other tech giants and…

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