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Meta removes 63,000 Instagram accounts associated with extortion schemes

Meta has removed a large number of Instagram accounts from Nigeria in an effort to combat sextortion scams. The accounts mainly focused on adult men in the US, but some also targeted minors, according to Meta. The removals are part of Meta’s larger effort to crack down on sextortion on its platform in recent months. Earlier this year, the company added a security feature to Instagram posts that automatically detects nudity and alerts users to potential extortion scams. The company also provides in-app resources and safety tips about such scams.…

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Pragya Mishra's arrival at OpenAI underscores the company's commitment to navigating the evolving regulatory landscape in India, harnessing her expertise to advance responsible AI development. (unsplash) News 

OpenAI, creator of ChatGPT, appoints Pragya Mishra as first employee in India: Here’s everything you should know

OpenAI, a prominent artificial intelligence research lab, has made its first hire in India by appointing Pragya Misra, an experienced executive with a wide-ranging background in technology, communications, and public affairs. Misra, who currently holds the position of Director of Public Affairs at Truecaller, will now be responsible for overseeing government relations at OpenAI, with a focus on public policy matters and forming partnerships within the country. Pragya Mishra – Background and Experience Pragya Misra brings a wealth of experience to her new role at OpenAI. With a career marked…

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Meta has set up an oversight board to help with strategic decisions which does not conflict with its ideology and help give clear solutions. News 

Meta’s Oversight Board Lifts Ban on Arabic Word: Learn More

Meta’s supervisory board has asked the company to end its ban on the Arabic word “Shaheed,” which roughly translates to martyr in English. The commission’s extensive year-long review revealed that Meta’s current blanket ban on the word “shaheed,” which it had said could glorify or condone terrorism, “has led to widespread and unnecessary censorship that affects the free speech of millions of users.” “Meta should end the blanket ban on ‘shaheed’ because it has had a discriminatory and disproportionate impact on free speech and information sharing, which has heightened concerns…

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Facebook and Instagram suffer global outage. (REUTERS) News 

Facebook and Instagram, owned by Meta, experiencing outages for hundreds of thousands of users worldwide

On Tuesday, Facebook and Instagram, both owned by Meta Platforms, experienced a global outage affecting hundreds of thousands of users, as reported by Downdetector.com. The outage began around 10 a.m. ET, with more than 300,000 reports of outages on Facebook and about 40,000 on Instagram, according to the site. “We know people are having trouble accessing our services. We’re working on that now,” Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a post on X’s social media. Meta’s status dashboard showed that there were also problems with the API of WhatsApp Business.…

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Bad content is removed from these platforms as they don't meet the policies that Meta has for these apps in India. News 

Over 22 Million Pieces of Harmful Content Removed from Facebook and Instagram in India

Meta said it removed more than 17.8 million bad content from 13 Facebook policies and more than 4.8 million inappropriate content from 12 Instagram policies in India in January. In January, Facebook received 29,548 complaints through India’s complaint mechanism and said it provided tools for users to resolve issues in 21,060 cases. These include, for example, pre-defined channels for reporting content for certain violations, self-remediation streams where they can download their data, ways to resolve hacked accounts, etc., Meta said in its monthly report under IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital…

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had been skiing in Japan with his family and was due to meet with Facebook developers in Tokyo on Monday and Tuesday. (AFP) Gadgets 

Mark Zuckerberg’s Asia tour includes AI, swords, headsets, and an Indian wedding

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited Japan on Monday as part of a brief tour of Asia, which included activities such as sword-making and trying out mixed-reality headsets in Seoul. Additionally, he reportedly attended extravagant pre-wedding festivities for the son of an Indian billionaire. Zuckerberg shared videos on social media showcasing his experience learning about crafting katanas with a sword master, demonstrating his skills in hammering molten metal and wielding a blade. Bloomberg News reported that the 39-year-old had been skiing in Japan with his family and was scheduled to meet…

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Facebook is in trouble! The company may face a 3 billion pounds lawsuit. (unsplash) News 

Tribunal rules that Facebook must confront $3.7 billion UK mass action regarding market dominance.

A London tribunal has ruled that Facebook will have to confront a collective lawsuit worth approximately 3 billion pounds ($3.77 billion). The lawsuit accuses the social media giant of exploiting its dominant position to profit from users’ personal data. Legal academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who is bringing the case on behalf of around 45 million Facebook users in the UK, says users were not properly compensated for the value of the personal data they provided. The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) initially refused to accept the case against Facebook’s parent company…

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According to Meta’s India monthly reports under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the period from January 2023 to December 2023 saw action against 1,21,80,300 crore such content pieces News 

Meta’s Facebook and Instagram took action against more than 100 million pieces of ‘Child Endangerment’ content in 2023.

In 2023, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, Meta, rejected more than a million content related to child endangerment caused by nudity, physical abuse and sexual abuse. According to Meta India’s monthly reports, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, from January 2023 to December 2023 targeted 1,21,80,300 million such content. The company said: “We measure the number of pieces of content (such as posts, photos, videos or comments) and take action to ensure that they are against our standards. This metric shows the…

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An oversight board is criticizing Facebook owner Meta's policies. (Unsplash) News 

Meta Platforms, owner of Facebook, urged by oversight board to reconsider its stance on manipulated media

The policies of Meta, the owner of Facebook, regarding manipulated media are being criticized by an oversight board for being “incoherent” and inadequate in tackling the growing issue of online disinformation, which has already started to impact elections worldwide this year. The quasi-independent government said Monday that its review of an altered video of President Joe Biden that went viral on Facebook revealed flaws in the policy. The government said Meta should expand its policy to focus not only on AI-generated videos, but media regardless of how it was created.…

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WhatsApp offers a convenient solution by allowing users to automatically share their Status directly to Facebook Stories. News 

WhatsApp now allows users to share their status as a Facebook Story.

Many users like to share their stories on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Some people like to use WhatsApp status. While Facebook is a space for sharing life experiences, opinions, pictures and videos with a wider audience, WhatsApp is primarily used for one-on-one or group communication, which also allows for sharing pictures, links and videos. Despite their unique purposes, both platforms share a feature that allows you to share text, photos or videos with your audience for 24 hours, known as Status on WhatsApp and Story on Facebook. Interestingly, many…

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Recent findings indicate that YouTube and Meta's Facebook enjoy significant popularity among American adults. Here are the details. News 

Report: US Adults Prefer YouTube and Facebook as the Top Social Platforms

Social media platforms YouTube and Facebook are the most used online platforms by US adults, according to Thursday’s report. Findings from the Pew Research Center showed that about eight out of ten US adults (83 percent) report using YouTube. Facebook, with a user base of 68 percent, is also a dominant player in the online world, while 47 percent of US adults said they use Instagram. Recent findings from the center also show that YouTube also dominates social media among US teenagers. “YouTube and Facebook are the only platforms used…

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologized to parents of children exploited on social media, while highlighting Meta's investments in protecting children. (AFP) News 

A concise overview of Mark Zuckerberg’s extensive apology tour

The appearance of Mark Zuckerberg at a Senate hearing, where he spoke about the parents of children who have been exploited, bullied, or driven to self-harm through social media, seemed like a revival of a long-standing tradition. “I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through,” Meta’s CEO said Wednesday. “No one should have to go through what you and your family have gone through.” He then returned to corporate mode, noting Meta’s continued investment in “sector-wide” efforts to protect children. Zuckerberg has amassed a long history of public apologies, often issued…

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Facebook was launched by Mark Zuckerberg and three friends on February 4, 2004. (Unsplash) News 

Facebook, the veteran social network, celebrates its 20th anniversary

Facebook, which was established two decades ago as a casual meeting place for youngsters, has transformed into a formidable giant that defies the notion of being solely for older generations and parents. Despite this misconception, the platform shows no signs of slowing down as it consistently expands its user base. “I’ll never forget the day I ran into my high school’s Mac lab and logged into Facebook,” Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg told AFP. “At the same time, you felt like you were part of this small, exclusive community where…

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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg backs Harvard graduate Sam Lessin in his campaign for a seat on the university's Board of Overseer (AP) News 

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg supports a non-traditional candidate for a university position, who happens to be a Harvard dropout.

Sam Lessin, a Harvard College graduate vying for a position on the esteemed alumni council, received support from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who famously dropped out of the university. Lessin, a venture capitalist who previously worked at Zuckerberg’s social media empire, commenced his campaign last month to join the Board of Overseers, a committee that advises university leadership on various matters. Lessin announced that Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, would participate in a Zoom call on Friday to discuss his endeavor to become a write-in candidate for the overseers…

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Sheryl Sandberg had served as COO of Facebook, and then Meta, for 14 and a half years and as a board member for 12 years. (AP) News 

Sheryl Sandberg, instrumental in transforming Facebook into a dominant force in digital advertising, announces departure from company board.

Sheryl Sandberg, the individual who played a crucial role in Facebook’s evolution from a tech startup to a dominant force in digital advertising, has announced her departure from Meta’s board, the parent company of Facebook. “With a heart full of gratitude and a mind full of memories, I informed the Meta board that I will not run for office in May,” Sandberg wrote on Facebook. Sandberg left Google to join Facebook in 2008, four years before the company went public. As Meta’s No. 2 under CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Sandberg also…

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Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has decided to block news sharing in Canada to avoid making payments, (REUTERS) News 

Justin Trudeau insists on maintaining pressure on Facebook to pay for news, despite Meta’s resistance.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated on Friday that Ottawa will continue to urge Meta to adhere to a recent law that mandates prominent internet companies to remunerate Canadian news publishers for their content. However, despite the government’s efforts, the parent company of Facebook remains steadfast in its choice to prohibit news sharing instead of making payments. The final regulations for the Online News Act were released by the government on Friday, with enforcement scheduled to commence on December 19. According to the law, technology firms with over 20 million unique…

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The minister highlighted the magnitude of government interventions aimed at ensuring national security, safeguarding public order, and maintaining sovereignty and integrity News 

Chandrasekhar reveals that Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter received numerous content directives under IT Act in the last 5 years.

Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar revealed during the ongoing session of Parliament the startling figures of government directives to major social media platforms to remove, edit or block content under the Information Technology Act, 2000. Released by Chandrasekhar in the last five years, it highlighted the extent of the government’s efforts to ensure national security, safeguard public order and preserve sovereignty and integrity. The statistics revealed by the minister outlined a significant number of guidelines that are specifically targeted at platforms such as Facebook, Instagram,…

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Meta's long-awaited privacy feature with default end-to-end encryption has now been rolled out on Facebook Messenger to enhance user confidentiality. (Meta) News 

Facebook Messenger now has default end-to-end encryption for enhanced security.

Meta Platforms has finally delivered on its commitment to implement default end-to-end encryption for private conversations and calls on Facebook Messenger. The company claims that this encryption ensures that only the sender and receiver can view the message’s content. Originally introduced as an optional feature in 2016, end-to-end encryption for personal chats and calls will now be the norm, signifying a major achievement following a lengthy development period. Comprehensive renovation Loredana Crisan, vice president of Messenger, said, “This has been years in the making because we’ve taken our time to…

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Meta is tracking thousands of fake accounts that can trigger political tension and removing them has to be the only option. News 

Facebook Closing Accounts: Why Now? Will India Be Affected?

Facebook and its parent company Meta are struggling with many problems as the prevailing disinformation is becoming a serious threat. But another big issue that needs to be addressed is the occurrence of fake accounts. Meta had recently shut down thousands of fake accounts that were created in China but pretended to be American. It is mentioned that fake accounts were used as tools to spread hate content in the US presidential election next year. Catching fake accounts has been a challenge, but it looks like Meta managed to catch…

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