Internet Safety & Privacy

Facebook Bans Ads For Board Game About Voting Over “Sensitive Social Issues”

Facebook Bans Ads For Board Game About Voting Over “Sensitive Social Issues”

Facebook loves to rely on artificial intelligence to detect and remove problematic content on its platform. The only problem is that sometimes this system bans content it shouldn’t. That’s what happened this week when Facebook banned ads for a critically acclaimed board game called “Votes for Women,” centered on the fight for women’s voting rights…

read more →
More Than 100 Deepfake Ads Featuring British Prime Minister Spread On Facebook

More Than 100 Deepfake Ads Featuring British Prime Minister Spread On Facebook

Facebook scammers are constantly seeking new ways to fool users, and deepfake videos are at the very cutting edge. But in addition to fraud, these fake doctored videos are increasingly being used to spread misinformation online. According to researchers in the UK, more than 100 deepfake videos of the British prime minister have been promoted…

read more →
Man Is Suing Facebook, 27 Women For “Are We Dating The Same Guy” Facebook Group

Man Is Suing Facebook, 27 Women For “Are We Dating The Same Guy” Facebook Group

This week, a man in Chicago filed a $75 million lawsuit against 27 women and Facebook for defamation, doxing, privacy violations and more after his image and alleged text messages were shared in a popular Facebook group called “Are We Dating the Same Guy?” These groups, which are hosted in several major cities across the…

read more →
Facebook Will Make It Harder For Teens To See Harmful Content

Facebook Will Make It Harder For Teens To See Harmful Content

This week, Facebook introduced a new feature that will hide certain types of harmful content and restrict specific search terms for users under 18. The move comes after the company was slapped with dozens of state lawsuits and increasing pressure from child safety groups to make Facebook and Instagram safer for young users. According to…

read more →
Privacy Expert Weighs In On If Users Should Delete Their Facebook Profiles

Privacy Expert Weighs In On If Users Should Delete Their Facebook Profiles

Facebook may be one of the world’s largest social media companies, but its policies and philosophy on privacy stems largely from one individual: founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. That’s why, for over a decade, professor and privacy expert Michael Zimmer has tracked every single public comment Zuckerberg has made in an attempt to analyze his…

read more →
Facebook Suspends Then Reinstates Popular Conservative Account

Facebook Suspends Then Reinstates Popular Conservative Account

In today’s increasingly polarized political environment, very few issues unite both sides of the spectrum. However, criticizing Facebook is the rare one that does. Both liberals and conservatives have voiced concerns with the social media giant for suppressing or even outright censoring political content by controlling what users’ see in their feeds. This week, another…

read more →
Facebook Introduces New Tool To Track The Websites You Visit

Facebook Introduces New Tool To Track The Websites You Visit

Facebook’s business model has come under increasing pressure in recent years as consumer privacy advocates and lawmakers have demanded the company stop collecting so much user data. However, despite the immense legal challenges Facebook faces for doing this, the company is actually going a step further. This week, Facebook quietly introduced yet another feature that…

read more →
Facebook Is Still Making Billions In Ad Revenue From Kids’ Data

Facebook Is Still Making Billions In Ad Revenue From Kids’ Data

Earlier this year, dozens of states sued Facebook for allegedly harming young users and putting profit above their safety. However, the extent to which companies like Facebook profit from young users wasn’t fully known — until now. According to a study released this week by the Harvard School of Public Health, social media companies made…

read more →
Man Sues Facebook For Not Deactivating Deceased Veteran’s Account Used In Crypto Scam

Man Sues Facebook For Not Deactivating Deceased Veteran’s Account Used In Crypto Scam

Scammers will do anything to make a quick buck on Facebook — even taking over the account of a deceased Army veteran. However, the veteran’s brother, a man named Scott Vreeland, is not taking the news sitting down. Instead, he’s suing Facebook for not deactivating his brother’s account after it was taken over in a…

read more →
Police Department Criticized For Disabling Facebook Comments After Violent Posts

Police Department Criticized For Disabling Facebook Comments After Violent Posts

When it comes to free speech and censorship, Facebook lives in a murky legal area. Earlier this week, the police department in Everett, Washington, disabled the comment section on its Facebook page after it received increasing amounts of violent and threatening posts over the past several months. While the police department said the move is…

read more →