Facebook donates £1m to Bletchley Park after Covid-19 hit October 13, 2020 Facebook has donated £1m to Bletchley Park to help the World War Two code-breaking hub survive the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The social media platform described Bletchley Park as “one of the UK’s national treasures” and said its donation aimed to help keep it open to the world. During the Second World War Bletchley [...]
EU regulators draw up ‘hit list’ of tech giants to share data with smaller rivals October 12, 2020 European Union regulators have reportedly drawn up a “hit list” of around 20 tech giants, potentially including Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google, to reduce their market power. The internet platforms will be hit with tougher regulations than their smaller rivals under the new rules. They will be forced to share data with competitors and be [...]
Facebook issues temporary ban on political ads after US election October 8, 2020 Facebook will stop running political ads in the US after polls close on 3 November in a bid to prevent “confusion or abuse” in the aftermath of the presidential election. The social media giant said the temporary ban marked its efforts to “protect the integrity of the election by fighting foreign interference, misinformation and voter [...]
Big tech faces break-up as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google accused of ‘monopoly power’ October 7, 2020 Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google have all abused their market power and could face a potential break-up, according to a damning new report backed by US Democratic politicians. In a 449-page recommendation released yesterday, the US House Antitrust Committee set out a roadmap for cracking down on the tech giants. The report follows a 16-month [...]
Citigroup fires employee who ran QAnon conspiracy website October 7, 2020 Citigroup has sacked an employee in its technology department after it emerged he ran a popular website dedicated to the QAnon conspiracy theory. Jason Gelinas, who worked as an information technology specialist, was identified by fact checking website Logically.ai as the operator of the website QMap.pub. He was initially placed on leave from the investment [...]
Facebook removes Trump post claiming flu is more deadly than Covid-19 October 6, 2020 Facebook today removed a post by US President Donald Trump in which he falsely claimed that seasonal flu was more deadly than coronavirus. The social media site removed the post as it breached its policies on misinformation related to Covid-19. In the post Trump falsely claimed that the flu sometimes killed more than 100,000 Americans [...]
US senate votes to subpoena tech bosses to testify October 1, 2020 US tech bosses will be hauled in front of congress after a senate committee voted to compel them to testify. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai and Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey will be questioned on reforming Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The act shields social media firms from [...]
Facebook to launch oversight board just before US election September 24, 2020 Facebook is planning to launch its long-delayed oversight board in mid- to late October, just ahead of the US presidential election, following mounting criticism over its handling of hate speech and other divisive content. The social media giant’s independent oversight board will initially have the power to review decisions to remove content from Facebook and [...]
Facebook, Youtube and Twitter strike deal with advertisers over harmful content September 23, 2020 Facebook, Youtube and Twitter have struck a deal with advertising giants over harmful content, as the Silicon Valley firms attempt to restore relations hammered by this year’s advertising boycott of social media sites. The tech giants will next year launch a new system for overseeing advertising on their sites, based on common definitions of hate [...]
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 [...]