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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Facebook’s algorithms are designed to help like-minded users find each another and connect. However, that mission can backfire in a big way when those users have bad intentions. According to one ex-Facebook employee, he repeatedly warned the company’s leadership that the platform’s “People You May Know” tool was fueling child exploitation. However, he says that…

Facebook has been accused in recent weeks of demoting or blocking content on both sides of the Israel-Hamas war, sparking outrage in both Israeli and Palestinian communities while drawing accusations of censorship. And now, Facebook’s own semi-independent Oversight Board has weighed in on the side of those concerned users. According to the Board, Facebook’s automated…

This week, Facebook introduced a new feature for Instagram and Threads users that will allow them to deprioritize fact-checked content in their feeds. And while this tool will let users choose what to do with controversial content, some critics say it could also serve as a fast-track to censorship. According to Facebook, it’s giving users…