Facebook was heavily criticized following the 2016 U.S. presidential election for the role it played in the spread of fake news and malicious content. That’s why the social media giant has been extra vigilant in the run up to the next election for bad actors abusing the platform — especially if they’re operating abroad. And…

Facebook gets a lot of well-deserved flak for its data and privacy failings. However, its bug bounty program — which pays independent researchers to discover flaws in the platform — has always been a bright spot. And in 2019, it was more successful than ever, with the largest number of accepted bugs since the program…

In September 2018, nearly 50 million Facebook users had their accounts exposed in a data breach. It was the largest such attack in Facebook’s history, and the company is still dealing with the blow that its public perception took as a result. Now, according to an explosive report in the Telegraph this week, Facebook employees…

In recent years, Facebook has worked to strengthen its security measures — or at least to appear as though it’s doing a better job. However, that public relations campaign may have taken a hit late last week when the official Twitter accounts for both Facebook and Messenger were seemingly hacked by the group OurMine. The…

Facebook was recently applauded when it changed its policies to crack down on the anti-vaccine content that had been spreading like wildfire across its platform. However, according to a report from Buzzfeed News, the social media giant hasn’t exactly eradicated the problem. Reporters for Buzzfeed conducted a search and easily found ads that explicitly question…

The New York Times published an expose on a data firm called Clearview AI that scrapes pictures from across the Internet in order to help law enforcement quickly identify suspects. Many of these photos come from Facebook. Now, Facebook has demanded that the company stop gathering user data for its facial recognition database. Facebook isn’t…

Facebook has long touted its messaging encryption plan as the wave of the future for user privacy. However, child safety advocacy groups have begun to raise concerns that this feature will actually offer predators a place to hide. This week, a group of 129 child protection organizations, led by the National Society for the Prevention…

When Facebook launched Messenger Kids in 2017, many privacy experts immediately raised concerns. After all, precious few adults trust Facebook with their private information — why on earth would they trust it with their children’s? Thankfully, Facebook announced new tools and features for the app this week that will give parents more oversight and control…

Last week, Facebook announced that it would begin rolling out its long-promised “Clear History” tool that allows users to see how the company is tracking them across the Internet. However, many journalists and privacy advocates have already slammed the feature for doing little to actually help or protect users. In a column for Fortune magazine,…

Without a doubt, the spread of fake news is one of the biggest problems Facebook must grapple with on a daily basis. Some of the worst examples of this are what happens when fake medical info goes viral — including posts about the recent coronavirus outbreak. Thankfully, the social media giant announced this week that…