Facebook announced this week that, beginning later this summer, it will no longer allow state-controlled media outlets to run ads on its platform. The move, which will affect publishers in Russia, China, Iran, and more, is intended to prevent hostile foreign actors from interfering in the 2020 U.S. election. Until this ban comes into effect,…

In the United States, Facebook is a valuable platform for sharing and spreading information. However, in many countries around the world, the social media giant is the absolute lifeblood of the Internet, serving as a vital tool for news and communication. That’s the case in Tunisia, where over the weekend Facebook deactivated about 60 accounts…

Anyone who has used Facebook for an extended period of time likely has posts or photos way back in their Timeline that they would like to disappear. But up until now, that has entailed a painstaking process of scrolling back and deleting them one by one. Thankfully, Facebook has addressed this issue with its new…

Last week, Facebook announced that it will begin verifying the identities of individuals who create viral content. In other words, the company is trying to detect potentially hidden spreaders of misinformation and propaganda, while stopping coordinated “patterns of inauthentic behavior.” “We want people to feel confident that they understand who’s behind the content they’re seeing…

Earlier this week, president Trump passed an executive order seeking to limit Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act — a law that protects tech companies like Facebook from being held liable for what its users say on the platform. The move has been widely seen as an act of payback after Twitter began attaching…

Facebook often lands in hot water for the content it chooses to censor on its platform — and the content it allows to remain. The company’s decision-making process isn’t always transparent, and its treatment of misinformation has wavered over time. However, according to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the company wants to remove itself…

Facebook has announced plans to make end-to-end encryption the norm across its messaging features. While this will bolster its security and give users a greater degree of privacy, experts and advocates warn that this measure could also provide inadvertent cover to child predators and other cybercriminals. And this week, several of Facebook’s shareholders pushed back…

Facebook is under increasing pressure around the world to get its act together and protect user privacy. That has proven especially true in Europe, where the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has held the company to a high standard for data security. However, according to Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems, European regulators have fallen short…

Video chat platforms have exploded in popularity in recent months due to COVID-19. In an attempt to get in on the rush and compete with Zoom, Facebook recently introduced its own feature — Messenger Rooms. But while the social media giant has vaguely promised that it “built Rooms with privacy in mind,” it has offered…

Facebook has agreed to pay a $6.5 million (U.S.) fine after an investigation by the Canadian government found that the social media giant had made “misleading claims” about the privacy of its users’ information. According to regulators from the Competition Bureau, Facebook made false representations about the “disclosure of personal information,” including how much users…