Facebook shares dip after Kim Kardashian West announces boycott September 15, 2020 Shares in Facebook dipped this afternoon after Kim Kardashian West announced that she was freezing her account in protest against the sharing of misinformation on the social media platform. In a post on the site, she wrote: “I can’t sit by and stay silent while these platforms continue to allow the spreading of hate, propaganda [...]
Tech brands must embrace ethics to build trust with customers August 28, 2020 Have you ever read the entire terms and conditions from an online brand before clicking acceptance? My guess is the answer is no. But why do normal people abjectly hand over their most personal data, and their families and business relations to a business to profit from? The answer is trust. We trust these firms [...]
Facebook is a ‘major threat’ to public health, report warns August 19, 2020 Facebook’s failure to halt the spread of coronavirus misinformation makes it a “major threat” to public health, a damning new report has warned. Research by activist group Avaaz found health misinformation relating to the pandemic was viewed 3.8bn times on the social media site in the last year. Just 16 per cent of all misinformation [...]
Social media news consumption drops as trust declines August 13, 2020 The number of people accessing news through social media has fallen in the last year as trust in online platforms has slipped, new figures have revealed. The proportion of Brits using social media sites to stay up to date with the latest stories slipped to 45 per cent in 2020, down from 49 per cent [...]
Coronavirus: Facebook blames pandemic for fall in child abuse moderation August 12, 2020 Facebook has admitted that its efforts to remove child abuse and self-harm images from its platform have been hampered by the coronavirus outbreak. The tech giant said it took action against considerably less material on Facebook and Instagram in the second quarter because it had fewer content moderators working during the pandemic. Facebook removed just [...]
Government to crack down on online political campaigns August 12, 2020 The government has today outlined proposals for new laws designed to improve the transparency of political advertising on social media. The new measures would require political parties and campaigners to clearly state who they are when promoting campaign content online. Under the plans, all campaigners would be required to include a digital imprint containing their [...]
Whatsapp update to allow users to sync chats between devices August 10, 2020 Whatsapp is reportedly developing a new update that will allow users to sync chats between multiple devices at once. The Facebook-owned messaging app currently limits its service to one main device, meaning users can only be logged in on one device at a time and messages cannot be synced. Whatsapp Web also requires a phone [...]
Facebook smashes revenue expectations as more people login in lockdown July 30, 2020 Social media behemoth Facebook has smashed analyst expectations in the second quarter, beating predictions for advertising revenue, earnings per share and user numbers. Shares in the social network shot up 7.8 per cent in after hours trading. In total, revenue rose from $16.9bn last year to $18.7bn in the past three months, ahead of analyst [...]
Facebook announces $200m for businesses owned by black people June 18, 2020 Facebook today announced that it will commit $200m towards businesses owned by black people, the latest in a string of tech giants to announce such initiatives. In a post, chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg revealed the plan, saying that the firm needed to take action. She wrote; “The past few weeks have compelled us to [...]
Coronavirus: BBC calls for right to publish news directly on Whatsapp June 4, 2020 The BBC should be allowed to publish directly on chat platforms such as Whatsapp to help counter fake news about the Covid-19 crisis, one of the broadcaster’s top bosses has said. Jamie Angus, director of the BBC World Service Group, urged tech giants to open their platforms to trusted news providers as part of their [...]