Digital world

  Meta’s Oversight Board has  just announced  an expansion plan to include Threads in its purview. The announcement was recently made about how Threads users would be given the chance to make appeals against Facebook’s parent firm’s decisions having to do with moderating content online. This would provide this independent group the chance to impact policies for the new app that comes under Meta’s ownership. It’s a serious expansion for Meta’s Oversight Board. The latter has now weighed up against any issues linked to Facebook and Instagram’s content published online. This change would give users the chance to have greater accountability that was independent, early on. As per statements mentioned by the Oversight Board, users making appeals across Threads are going to see it work very much like how it is on Meta’s other two apps, Instagram and Facebook. After exhausting the whole internal system on Meta, they can see a small glimmer of hope through reviews requested by Met...

  The rise in deepfake images continues to go strong and that’s one reason why tech giants are concerned as the election period is set to take center stage in the US and around the globe. Plenty of people were seen expressing serious concern on this front and that’s probably why Google, Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI have united on this front. The news is even more concerning now than ever as AI-generated images of the leading star Taylor Swift started to flood across the popular X social media network. Some reports went on to delineate how pictures produced on this front were done through Microsoft’s popular AI picture generator called Designer. Remember, this year is the year where the US is set to get a new head of the nation and there happens to be even more concern linked to AI deepfake pictures being used negatively to influence voters throughout the election period. This is why tech giants feel it’s better now than ever to make use of the best resources to combat using AI techn...

  Tech giant Meta is facing great scrutiny from watchdogs located in the EU. The news comes after the rollout of ad-free subscriptions took center stage in 2023 but EU regulators feel the thought of the ‘pay or ok’ initiative is just worrisome and they’re making sure Meta knows how they feel about this. In the recently   published joint letter , several watchdogs from that part of the globe had people talking more on this front and speaking against the model for ad-free subscriptions. The leading concern is that there is a $14 monthly fee attached which Meta would take to ensure user data was secure and privacy was maintained at all times. The firms who are expressing concern include those hailing from Norway, Germany, and the Netherlands. There were plenty of concerned parties who felt Meta’s Pay or Okay policy might be too expensive and therefore they would find it hard to say no to the option that allows them to reject the offer. The document similarly goes on to point out ...

  Tech giant Meta is gearing up for the upcoming US Elections phase as well as crucial voting polls all set to take center around the globe very soon. The company  just mentioned  how the goal was to provide a greater number of data to the masses for the sake of academics and to ensure people stayed well aware of what was taking place in their surroundings. As days go by, this would be designed to ensure voters remain well aware of what’s taking place in terms of remaining aware of happening in the world of politics so they can be more informed and make better decisions along the way. Remember, Meta has already been criticized multiple times for enabling misinformation to spread across its apps for a while now, and it seems to peak, each time the elections take place. The goal is to ensure the best understanding of any political shifts arising as we speak because things keep on fluctuating and people need to be aware of what’s taking place. After this new initiative was r...

  A hacker has just raised the alarm amongst Facebook users after confirming that 200,000 personal data record entries were reportedly stolen from the firm’s database. The news is alarming for obvious reasons as the claims further went on to delineate how the cybercriminal dubbed ‘alogoatson breached contractors’ efforts that are in charge of Facebook’s cloud services. They stole part of the user database that featured a significant number of entries. The information was rolled out by a leading threat actor dubbed ‘IntelBroker’ which is notorious for a long list of leaks that entailed data stolen through General Electric and a long list of high-profile attacks taking place. This sample entails lists featuring full names, profile image links, and hashed passwords. Other than that, profile ratings, settings, and plenty of reviews were on display. The hacker explained how the data that was compromised included the likes of Physical IDs. This database was first rolled out in February a...

  Tech giant Meta is under pressure after greater  concern grew  surrounding its respective hate speech policy. Many users were wary about the terminology linked to zionists and how it was being used for posts linked to the Arab and Jewish communities.  The policy currently enables the use of the term in a political discourse. Still, it was removed when it had to do with Jews or Israelis directly, especially when it was in the context of a violent or dehumanizing manner. This was just confirmed through an email generated by a Meta rep who mentioned that it planned to invite others to discuss the matter in the future, as first spotted by  TheIntercept . Meanwhile, the email further mentioned how the firm considered reviewing this in context to posts and concerns of users who were the real stakeholders on this front. This means we might soon be witnessing a possible change in policy while advocacy groups (including  MPower Change  and  7amleh )...

  Meta is  changing  the way Instagram and Threads show political content. The company wants to avoid making Threads like Twitter, where political debates can get very heated. Now, Instagram and Threads won't "proactively" show users political posts. This is similar to what Meta already does on Facebook. It has cut down on political content in different places like the News Feed and video suggestions. Image: Digital Information World Meta plans to bring these changes to Instagram and Threads as the 2024 U.S. elections get closer. This means less political content in Instagram Reels and the Explore section, as well as in the main feed of both Instagram and Threads. Threads is trying to be different from Twitter, avoiding news and political debates. Even though Threads delayed adding a trends feature, Meta doesn't want to push news content there. Meta's new rules affect how Instagram suggests posts to users. But, if someone follows an account that shares political c...

  Tech giant Meta is on the rise to roll out a greater sense of transparency surrounding its platforms. Facebook’s parent firm  says  it hopes to implement a greater number of rules that give rise to more transparency as we speak while others would be linked to detecting AI usage through technical measures. We agree that it won’t always be possible as there are plenty of options up for grabs and a lot of options available today for subverting digital watermarks can be done with ease. But tech giant Meta says it hopes to generate the latest industry standards on this front that has to do with AI detection. Facebook’s parent firm hopes to collaborate with a series of other providers in the industry to ensure AI transparency and create the right working rules that highlight such ordeals taking place online. Tech giant Meta says it’s on the rise to creating several tools that can identify which markers are invisible and which are not. This means labeling pictures from all kin...

  Mark Zuckerberg, the Chief Executive Officer of Meta, expressed his heartfelt apologies during a Senate session on online child safety topic, acknowledging the distress experienced by parents who attributed their children's tragic outcomes to Instagram. Senator Josh Hawley's inquiry prompted Zuckerberg's candid response, "I’m sorry for everything you’ve all gone through. It’s a terrible ordeal, and no family should endure the hardships yours have faced." The Senate Judiciary Committee convened the hearing, titled “ Big Tech and the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Crisis ,” where Zuckerberg, alongside the CEOs of TikTok, Discord, X, and Snap, faced a barrage of queries from lawmakers. Holding snapshots of their children, parents confronted the tech leaders, donning blue ribbons advocating the "STOP Online Harms! Pass KOSA!" initiative, urging the enactment of the Kids Online Safety Act. Upon Zuckerberg's entrance, audible disapproval emanated from ...

  Threads has been making a lot of waves recently, with many saying that it is the platform that is most likely to supplant Twitter, now known as X, as the most popular microblogging platform out there. One of the many things that the social media platform is trying to  incorporate  is trending topics, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, CEO Adam Mosseri doesn’t think that this should be all that big of a priority. According to him , trending is just one of many features that won't really help the platform grow as much in the long run with all things having been considered and taken into account. Hashtags, following feeds, edit buttons and like lists were also mentioned in his statement. You might think that trending topics in particular would be excellent for engagement, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, Mosseri doesn’t seem to think that they would have all that measurable of an impact. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, ...

  Meta filed a lawsuit against the Israeli tech firm Bright Data last year, claiming that it was illegally scraping data from Facebook as well as Instagram. The suit alleged that the data harvesting practices that Bright Data was taking part in were a violation of Meta’s terms of service, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, a court has  ended up  ruling in the Israeli firm’s favor. This ruling stated that Meta has failed to provide the appropriate amount of evidence to back up the claims that it is making at this current point in time. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Meta itself has utilized Bright Data’s services in the past. It hired the firm to scrape e-commerce data from various websites, and this practice continued right up until the lawsuit ended up being filed. It bears mentioning that the firm might be collecting data from minors which would constitute a legal violation, although this isn’t part of...

  Using automated moderation means to handle a wide array of controversial decisions across Meta’s apps is being questioned by its own Oversight Board. The news comes after the tech giant  was slammed  for leaving a post regarding the Holocaust denial on Instagram that many found shocking, including the board itself. As per the firm’s policies, such acts of denial are considered hate speech. This questionable post showed a SpongeBob rolling out ‘true facts’ about the Holocaust and many were appalled at how it was still there, despite being so untrue or misrepresenting the real facts from history. So many users mentioned that over the past several years, the post keeps popping up, and the fact that we’re seeing this since 2020 and Meta doing nothing about it has raised questions. The system keeps claiming that it did not violate any rules of the company so they closed such cases through automated means. Last year in May, we saw one person generate an appeal about how Meta’...