Social Network

#ChicagoGirl: Can Social Networks Really Bring Down a Dictator?

From her childhood bedroom in the Chicago suburbs, Ala'a, an American teenage girl, uses social media to coordinate the revolution in Syria.

Facebook buys startup working on mind-control of machines

Vice president of augmented and virtual reality at Facebook explains how thought-commanded interactions might dramatically alter how people experience augmented or virtual reality scenarios, which currently feature hand-held controls.

FTC fines Facebook $5B, adds oversight for privacy mishaps

Three Republican commissioners voted for the fine while two Democrats opposed it, a clear sign that the restrictions on Facebook don't go as far as critics and privacy advocates had hoped for.

A recent history of Facebook scandals

The social media firm set aside $3bn to deal with an expected US Federal Trade Commission fine, which could eventually amount to $5bn. But the controversies have had little impact on the tech behemoth’s bottom line.

Facebook anticipates up to $5 billion fine for privacy violation

The one-time charge slashed Facebook's first-quarter net income considerably, although revenue grew by 25 percent in the period. The FTC has been looking into whether Facebook broke its own 2011 agreement promising to protect user privacy.

Facebook extends ban on hate speech to 'white nationalists'

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern welcomes the social media giant's ban that comes in the wake of a deadly terrorist attack on two mosques that killed 50 people people and was carried out by a self-confessed white supremacist.

As TikTok videos take hold with teens, parents scramble to keep up

The social network became the most downloaded on Apple's App Store in the first half of this year according to market analysis firm Sensor Tower, beating out titans like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

Facebook, Twitter link Bangladesh government to fake accounts

Facebook and Twitter have shuttered fake pages and accounts they say are linked to the government. The move comes ahead of December 30 elections, in a nation where the political divide between the two major parties has widened and become more bitter.

Facebook boots 115 accounts after FBI tip on eve of US election

The social network said it needed to do further analysis to decide if the accounts are linked to Russia's Internet Research Agency or another group.

Facebook blocks Iran-linked bid to sway US, British politics

The house-cleaning is part of the counter-measures that Facebook put in place in an attempt to prevent abuses similar to those Russian agents used two years ago to sway public opinion ahead of the 2016 US presidential election.

Facebook says hackers accessed data of 29 million users

The company had originally said up to 50 million accounts were affected in a cyberattack that exploited a trio of software flaws to steal "access tokens" that enable people to automatically log back onto the platform.

Google+ to close after bug exposes users’ data

Google decided to shut down social network website, Google+ after a bug exposed the personal information of up to 500,000 people.