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You can’t just leave Facebook, if you’re Angela Merkel and Chancellor of Germany – Der Spiegel

Last week, at 11 a.m., the fan page of Germany's chancellor, a woman who has led the country for over 13 years and until recently had 2.5 million followers, disappeared…

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Facebook’s 15th anniversary clouded by data-sharing scandals

The world’s largest social media site, with more than 2 billion users worldwide, marks its 15th anniversary Monday beset by scandals and accusations that it has failed to prevent, and…

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Two fact checking agencies terminate agreement with Facebook

Two leading fact-checking agencies have ended their partnerships with Facebook, striking a significant blow to the network's efforts to fight fake news. The social network had paid the Associated Press…

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Apple bans Facebook from programme, accusing Facebook of improperly monitoring and handling teenagers usage patterns

Apple said on Wednesday it had banned Facebook Inc from a program designed to let businesses control iPhones used by their employees, saying the social networking company had improperly used…

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Social Media expected to be put under scrutiny – MEPs to discuss increase in verbal and physical violence against politicians across Europe

Faced with a climate of hatred that pervades Europe, MEPs in Brussels will discuss on Wednesday the increasing verbal and physical violence against politicians. This is a reality that Dutch…

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Facebook plans to link messenger service of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook

Facebook is planning to link the messaging services of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger into one encrypted system, in the first major push to integrate the services since the founders…

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Internal workings of Facebook released in UK parliament

The internal workings of Facebook have been revealed after the UK parliament released 250 pages of internal documents from the controversial company. The files show a range of discussions from…

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Facebook says there is no virus attached to the recent hoax message

A Facebook hoax message is going around that targets the user telling them someone cloned their account and to forward the message to other people in your friend list. The scam message…

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Facebook breach leaves thousands of other apps vulnerable

The breach affecting 50m accounts took advantage of ‘tokens’, a system used by third-party platforms such as Spotify. Last Friday, the social media company revealed a vulnerability that allowed attackers to…

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Ireland’s data protection commission opens case into Facebook cyber attack which affected 50m users

Ireland’s data regulator has opened a case into the cyber attack that allowed hackers to access up to 50m Facebook accounts. The Irish Data Protection Commission, which is responsible for regulating…

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Breaking News: Facebook says 50 million user accounts have been affected by a security breach

Facebook says 50 million user accounts have been affected by a security breach. The company said engineers discovered the incident took place on 25 September, and its investigation is still…

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Balkans – Disinformation age challenges in the new ‘battle’ for Macedonia

As Macedonians prepare for the most important vote in their nation’s history, scores of Facebook posts are urging voters to burn their ballots. Hundreds of new websites are calling for…

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A new bill to deal with increasing hate-speech in Britain

An MP in the UK is introducing a bill in parliament aimed to educate people to be more resilient and better able to spot fake news and recognise hate. At…

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Trump has warned Google, Twitter and Facebook they are “treading on troubled territory

US President Donald Trump has warned Google, Twitter and Facebook they are "treading on troubled territory" amid a row over perceived bias. He said they had to be "very careful",…

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Facebook removes 652 Russia and Iran linked pages for spreading misinformation ahead of US congress elections

Facebook says it has removed 652 accounts and web pages linked to Russia and Iran for spreading political misinformation ahead of the November U.S. congressional elections. The social network said…

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US government wants Facebook to break Messenger’s encryption

Reuters report that the U.S. government is trying to force Facebook to break the encryption in its popular Messenger app. The U.S. Government is saying that this needed so that law enforcement…

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Facebook discovers network of suspected Russian-linked accounts aimed at interfering in US mid-terms

Dozens of Facebook fake accounts are being used to try and change the result of November's U.S. midterm election, the company reported. But it is not clear what the secretive…

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Facebook – Why it lost $120 billion in one day?

It was one of the biggest one-day losses in US corporate history. At the start of the day, Facebook was valued at $630bn. By the end, it had dropped to…

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Facebook suspends another data firm on possible violations

CNBC/Euronews reports that Facebook, which is still dealing with fallout from the scandal over user data improperly obtained by consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, has suspended another data-analytics firm over possible policy…

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Saturday Morning Briefing

Good morning, From Malta to Kazakistan via Italy, to the UK and Brussels, from Libya to Singapore and our obvious stop in the US our morning briefing presents you how…

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Zuckerberg says that facebook should not filter Holocaust denying posts

Facebook found itself embroiled a new in controversy Thursday after chief executive Mark Zuckerberg argued the leading social network should not filter out posts denying the Holocaust. The comments by…

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UK: How political parties collect data and target you

Euronews: Elections are becoming “increasingly datafied” as political parties tap into big data to target their messaging and this could have a “significant impact” at the ballot box, Britain’s Information Commissioner’s…

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Friday Morning Briefing

Good morning, Our morning briefing for Friday 29th June follows: News about an agreement between European Leaders on migration during the European Council meeting broke at dawn. It was…

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Security failure in NameTests apps potentially left Facebook users unprotected

Politico: A security failure in a popular quiz app on Facebook left millions of people’s data exposed for almost two years, a cybersecurity activist revealed Thursday. The application, called Nametests.com, has run…

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Unilever won’t work with social media ‘influencers’ who buy ‘followers’ in an effort to curb artificial bots which create fake audiences

CNBC: Consumer-goods company Unilever will not work with social media stars, or "influencers," who buy followers on platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, it announced Monday. Chief Marketing Officer Keith…

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Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram accounted for almost three-quarters of the cases with sexual predators targeting children. A fifth of the cases involved children under 10.

The Telegraph: More than 3,000 offences of grooming children online for sex have been committed by paedophiles in only the first year since a new law on sexual communication was…

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Google and Facebook should take more responsibility to protect children from mental ill health epidemic, abuse and addictive behaviour – NHS

The Telegraph: NHS is “picking up the pieces” of an epidemic of mental illness among children, fuelled by social media, the head of the service has warned. Simon Stevens urged companies…

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Saturday’s Morning Briefing

Good morning, Today's newspapers report that Malta will no longer get away with not accept- ing migrants rescued in the Mediterranean, Italy’s new Home Affairs Minister Matteo Salvini warned yesterday. UNHCR…

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Facebook bug changed default sharing setting to public for 14 million users

CNN reports that for a period of four days in May, about 14 million Facebook users around the world had their default sharing setting for all new posts set to…

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UK: Children aged 4 – 5 are live streaming their content as those aged 14 – 16

Research by Internet Matters, which educates parents about their children's online behaviour, found that nearly as many children aged four to five are live-streaming their own content as those aged…

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Facebook had data-sharing partnerships with four Chinese electronics companies

The New York Times report that Facebook has data-sharing partnerships with at least four Chinese electronics companies, including a manufacturing giant that has a close relationship with China’s government, the social…

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Papua New Guinea to ban facebook

Papua New Guinea's communications minister has said the government will ban Facebook for a month to weigh its impact on the population. The government is also evaluating the creation of…

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First complaints against Social Media platforms following GDPR law changes

The Financial Times report that Facebook and Google became the first large tech groups to be accused of breaking the EU’s far-reaching new privacy rules that came into force on Friday…

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Facebook’s Zuckerberg and his European Parliament grilling

At the end the much anticipated grilling ended up with more questions than answers. The pertinent points raised by various MEPs, were not all answered by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.…

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Tajani announces that Zuckerberg is to be grilled at European Parliament

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will face MEPs’ questions following the Cambridge Analytica scandal in the European Parliament, its president said on Wednesday. "The founder and CEO of Facebook has accepted…

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FBI investigating Cambridge Analytica

The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI are investigating Cambridge Analytica, over its handling of Facebook Inc user information, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. Prosecutors have sought to question former…

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Over 583 million fake Facebook profiles deactivated

In the first quarter of 2018, Facebook deactivated about 583 million fake profiles and 837 million spam content. Still in the same period, 1.9 million of content related to the ISIS terrorist propaganda and affiliated…

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Foreign groups banned from buying Facebook ads in Irish referendum on abortion

Facebook is banning foreign groups from buying advertisements related to Ireland's abortion referendum, the company announced Tuesday. The May 25 referendum will decide whether abortion should be legalised in Ireland.…

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USA: Facebook to require extra checks from people buying ads on politics

The Financial Times reports that Facebook will require extra checks from people buying advertisements on political issues ranging from abortion and guns, to education and foreign policy, as the social network tries…

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Facebook to introduce the dislike button

Ever felt the need to express the dislike towards someone's post or comment, but you just couldn't? At a time where the digital media platform is experiencing itself a period…

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EU proposes measures to tackle online disinformation

The European Commission is proposing measures to tackle disinformation online, including an EU-wide Code of Practice on Disinformation, support for an independent network of fact-checkers, and a series of actions…

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Political adverts to be clearly labelled as such on Facebook

Reuters reports that Micke Schroepfer, the Facebook's chief technical officer announced that the company will introduce new measures with the aim of improving transparency around adverts in Britain by June…

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The Big Data Boom

With one of the top spots retained for the request of Facebook personal data per capita by the Maltese government, it is becoming more evident that Malta is adjusting to…

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Facebook – Redefining the arms race

Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, warned on Tuesday of an online propaganda “arms race” with Russia and vowed that fighting interference in elections around the world is now his…

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CNN : The evolution of Zuckerberg from a techie to a world leader overseeing a nation of two billion people he created

CNN's Mark Zuckerberg's growing up moment. CNN's Laurie Segall meets Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg before he addresses the US Congress and gives account of how the techie geek evolved into a world leader,…

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Facebook is sharing…and its wrong!

Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has said the social network "didn't do enough" to protect user data in a written statement to the US Congress. Ahead of appearances before US Congress…

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87 million people’s data improperly shared by Facebook.

Reuters report that Facebook said on Wednesday that the personal information of up to 87 million users may have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, up from a…

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Selfie: it is not a novelty in the human desire for (self-)expression

Nowadays, for most people everyday life comprises a comprehensive use of modern technologies, communications in the digital world as well as sharing information and content in real time via a…

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