Facebook’s reputation for privacy and data protection has taken some big hits in recent years. That’s why the social media giant has explored several initiatives to educate the public about how to better control their information. In the latest of these efforts, Facebook has created real-world, pop-up cafes where users can check their settings and…

Facebook users filed a lawsuit against the social media giant this week alleging that the company failed to properly inform users about a data breach that affected tens of millions of accounts — the largest ever in the history of Facebook. According to the suit, the flaw was linked with the site’s single sign-on feature…

Facebook announced this week that it will begin taking steps to ensure private groups cannot be used as safe havens for hate, violence or misinformation. The new settings are part of the social media giant’s Safe Communities initiative that it launched two years ago. “Being in a private group doesn’t mean that your actions should…

After a spate of recent hate-driven shootings in the U.S., law enforcement officials are searching for a way to gather vast amounts of data from social media companies including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more. The only problem is that this real-time surveillance goes directly against Facebook’s privacy policies — and many advocates are concerned that…

Earlier this month, security researchers presenting at a conference revealed how the Facebook-owned chat platform WhatsApp could be hacked to change both the text of a message and the name of the sender. To make matters worse, the researchers said they first reached out to Facebook last year, but the problem remains unaddressed. The researchers…

A federal appeals court this week rejected Facebook’s plea to throw out a privacy class action lawsuit regarding its facial recognition technology. The suit, filed in Illinois in 2015, accuses the social media giant of illegally collecting and storing users’ biometric data without their consent. Facebook was originally sued under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy…

Last month, privacy advocates were alarmed to discover that Facebook had been notifying parents of a design flaw in its Messenger Kids app that allowed children to enter group chats with unapproved strangers. Now some of the social media giant’s strongest critics on Capitol Hill are calling on the company to answer for this security…

Facebook makes the bulk of its revenue through targeted advertising, so it makes sense that the company would want to show users as many ads as possible. However, the social media giant may have overstepped its bounds this week. According to a newly-published patent, Facebook could place targeted advertising inside of private Messenger conversations. According…

Getting hacked is one of the worst possible things that can happen if you have a social media account. So it stands to reason that Facebook would do everything in its power to assist users who have had their privacy violated in this way. However, according to many affected users and advocates, the social media…

Last summer, a host of Silicon Valley tech giants — including Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter — launched the Data Transfer Project, an open source tool that makes it easier for users’ info to move from one service to another. Now Apple joined the project this week, ensuring that this conglomeration is the largest of…