27-year-old Anthony Novak of Parma, Ohio, was arrested last week for creating a fake Facebook page for the Parma Police Department. Before the page was removed, it was reported that it featured posts indicating that it was illegal to help the homeless, that the city of Parma discouraged minorities from applying for work, and that…

Police in Granite Shoals, Texas, decided to have a little fun with their Facebook page, sharing a fake post about methamphetamine laced with the Ebola virus as a joke. However, it was a joke that nonetheless achieved real crime-fighting results. “If you have recently purchased meth or heroin in Central Texas, please take it to…

On Sunday, a suicide bombing rocked Lahore, Pakistan, and Facebook activated its Safety Check feature for users in the area. However, the emergency alert system experienced a bug, and users in the U.S. and UK also received the terrifying warning. “We hope the people in the area of the bombing find Safety Check a useful…

Facebook makes it pretty easy for users to control what groups of people can see their content. For instance, simply switching your privacy settings from “Public” to “Friends” can dramatically improve your account’s security. But what about taking your privacy to the next level and controlling what each and every one of your friends can…

Two teenaged girls in England admitted in court last week to setting up fake Facebook accounts that pretended to sell baby clothes to new mothers in order to get their information — and then use that info to kidnap the mothers’ newborn children. Though police still aren’t certain of the motive behind the bizarre crime,…

According to police in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a man robbed his former high school classmate mere hours after adding him as a friend on Facebook. 33-year-old Euclides Semedo received a friend request from his former classmate, 31-year-old Steve Gomes, asking him how he was doing and if he wanted to get together and catch up.…

Representatives from movie studio Universal spoke at South by Southwest (SXSW) this weekend about how the company used customized Facebook ads based on users’ race to advertise the film “Straight Outa Compton” about the rap group N.W.A. Doug Neil, Universal’s executive vice president of marketing, noted that the “general population” (non-ethnic people) saw a trailer…

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Facebook and seven cancer institutes that claims the social media giant spied on users who divulged private health information on cancer institute websites and then used that data for advertising purposes. Lead plaintiff Winston Smith claims that the websites features a secret “Facebook code” that “commandeers” users’…

While Facebook is increasingly being used by law enforcement as a tool to track down major criminals, it can help catch small ones, too. That was the case this week when a man received a traffic ticket for posting a video to Facebook of himself taking an illegal shortcut. Michael Dalton recorded a short video…

In the midst of Apple’s ongoing battle with the FBI over private data in the San Bernardino terrorist shooting investigation, The Guardian reported that Facebook and several other tech companies are increasing their own privacy technology. The New York Times also reported last week that Facebook could soon face its own legal pressures from the…