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Facebook Rejects Onion Ad for Very Unexpected Reason

Algorithm deemed innocent ad 'overtly sexual'

(Newser) - A Canadian company trying to sell onion seeds was surprised to find that Facebook rejected its ad. The bigger surprise came over the reason: Facebook declared that the accompanying image was "overtly sexual," reports the BBC . However, no scantily clad model was involved. Instead the ad showed whole...

Facebook Braces for Voter Intimidation

The social media giant will ban 'militarized language' in calls for poll watchers

(Newser) - Facebook said it's readied new safeguards for the 2020 US elections that have it better prepared to deal with candidates who prematurely declare victory or contest official results and the possibility of voter intimidation by alleged—and potentially armed—"poll watchers," the AP reports. In the former...

Facebook Makes Big Move on QAnon
Facebook Makes
Big Move on
QAnon
Oct 7, 2020 12:03 AM CDT

Facebook Makes Big Move on QAnon

Bans it on all the company's platforms

(Newser) - In what NBC News refers to as a "significant escalation" of previous actions taken against QAnon, Facebook is banning all accounts linked to the far-right conspiracy theory. The action applies to all of Facebook's platforms, including Instagram. A company spokesperson says the social media giant wants to limit...

Trump's COVID Comparison Is Deleted by Facebook

He again likens coronavirus to the flu; Twitter flags the post

(Newser) - President Trump returned to an old theme of his on Tuesday morning, one in which he compared COVID-19 to the flu. Facebook, however, soon deleted the post and accused Trump of violating its misinformation policy, reports CNN . Twitter flagged the post and also said it violated rules against "spreading...

FarmVille Is Being Fallowed
Final Harvest
Looms for FarmVille
Sep 28, 2020 1:43 PM CDT

Final Harvest Looms for FarmVille

Zynga says game will be gone at end of 2020

(Newser) - The original FarmVille is about to become a dust bowl, 11 years after it first became a social media gaming sensation. Zynga announced Monday that the original FarmVille game will be officially kaput as of the end of 2020, Ars Technica reports. "Adobe will stop distributing and updating Flash...

Suicide Video Prompts a TikTok Move
Suicide Video
Prompts a TikTok Move
Sep 23, 2020 2:41 PM CDT

Suicide Video Prompts a TikTok Move

Company suggests tech 'partnership' could help tamp down on harmful content

(Newser) - TikTok says "groups operating on the dark web" engaged in a "coordinated effort" to share a graphic suicide video across its platform. Now it's asking other social media giants for help. The video of a US man shooting himself was live-streamed on Facebook in late August before...

Kim Kardashian Joins Facebook, Instagram Boycott

She says she's freezing accounts for 24 hours

(Newser) - One of the Kardashians is going to be harder to keep up with than usual on Wednesday. Kim Kardashian West says she is freezing her Facebook and Instagram accounts for 24 hours as part of the #StopHateForProfit campaign to protest misinformation and hate speech, the Guardian reports. "I can’...

Facebook to Pull Posts Blaming Fires on Antifa

Sheriff's deputy who spread false information is put on leave

(Newser) - Facebook is heeding the pleas of law enforcement and taking down posts that falsely say antifa started the wildfires now raging in the West. One sheriff's department in Oregon said its staff and 911 dispatchers have been swamped with requests for information after a rumor circulated that it had...

Facebook to Employees: Here's Time Off, Go Work Those Polls

Company joins in efforts to alleviate shortage of poll workers for Election 2020

(Newser) - With shortages of poll workers looming before the election, one big tech company is stepping up to help fill that gap. Facebook executives told Axios this week that it will be offering its employees additional paid time off so they can become poll workers if they so choose, which would...

Facebook Workers Who Aren't Parents See Unfairness

Expanded leave to help care for children leaves other employees feeling left out

(Newser) - When Sheryl Sandberg held a videoconference with employees last month, more than 2,000 workers wanted to ask the Facebook boss where the help was for people who aren't parents. In keeping with the industry's reputation for top benefits, Facebook had stepped in quickly when the pandemic shutdown...

Facebook Makes Move to Avoid Post-Election Chaos

'There could be a period of intense claims and counter-claims as the final results are counted'

(Newser) - Facebook says it is worried about civil unrest following a potentially disputed election. And so it is taking steps to help "protect our democracy." In a lengthy Facebook post Thursday, Mark Zuckerberg says the company will ban new "political and issue" ads during the final week before...

How a US Journalist Became a Tool of Russian Trolls

News website Peace Data sought to divide liberal voters with disinformation

(Newser) - Actors linked to Russia's Internet Research Agency recruited US journalists to contribute to a news website that was critical of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in an attempt to sow division among liberal voters, Facebook said Tuesday. Tipped off by the FBI, Facebook removed 13 accounts and two pages...

Zuckerberg, Chan Just Gave Huge Boost to Election Setup

Goal of $300M donation: 'to preserve the integrity of our elections'

(Newser) - Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are donating $300 million to help secure the November election. The majority of that—some $250 million—will go to the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a nonprofit that seeks to modernize US elections, according to a Tuesday announcement, per Axios . The remaining $50...

Broken Drilling Gear Has Facebook in Hot Water
Broken Drilling Gear
Has Facebook in Hot Water
in case you missed it
Aug 22, 2020 3:00 PM CDT

Broken Drilling Gear Has Facebook in Hot Water

Company left behind equipment off coast of Oregon after mishap

(Newser) - A drill bit ran into trouble and the drill pipe broke. And in this case, the drill bit was being used by Facebook to drill a hole off the coast of Oregon to hook up a transcontinental fiber-optic cable, reports the Oregonian . Now the controversial project in the small seaside...

Facebook's Election Plans Include False Claim of Victory

Scenarios include president claiming election interference means he won a second term

(Newser) - Facebook is working on contingency plans to deal with a potential threat to American democracy from one of its most famous symbols: the White House. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and top aides are meeting daily to decide what to do if President Trump loses the November election and then tries—...

Tech Giant Cracks Down on QAnon
Tech Giant
Cracks Down
on QAnon
Aug 19, 2020 3:22 PM CDT

Tech Giant Cracks Down on QAnon

Groups and accounts are getting banned

(Newser) - Facebook says it will restrict the right-wing conspiracy movement QAnon and will no longer recommend that users join groups supporting it, although the company isn't banning it outright, the AP reports. Facebook said Wednesday it is banning groups and accounts associated with QAnon and a variety of US-based militia...

Facebook Is Adding Labels to Posts About Voting

Users will be directed to the 'Voting Information Center'

(Newser) - Beginning Thursday, US Facebook users who post about voting may start seeing an addendum to their messages—labels directing readers to authoritative information about the upcoming presidential election. It's the social network's latest step to to combat election-related misinformation on its platform as the Nov. 3 election nears—...

After Video Yanked, Trump Sees Bias at Facebook, Twitter

'Any conservative Republican is censored,' he says

(Newser) - A day after Twitter and Facebook removed a Trump campaign video from their platforms, the president renewed his accusations of bias at social media companies. In an interview with Geraldo Rivera on Rivera's radio show, Trump said that "of course" he was being censored, reports Bloomberg . “They’...

Facebook, Twitter Remove Trump Coronavirus Post
Facebook, Twitter
Remove Trump Post
Aug 6, 2020 12:28 AM CDT

Facebook, Twitter Remove Trump Post

President posted a video in which he claimed children are 'virtually immune' to COVID-19

(Newser) - One of President Trump's social media posts has been removed by both Facebook and Twitter after the social media giants declared it misinformation. The Trump campaign posted video from a Fox News interview in which Trump, while urging schools to resume in-person classes in the fall, declared that kids...

Instagram Launches 'Uncannily Similar' TikTok Rival

Reels also allows users to share 15-second videos

(Newser) - Instagram has launched its own rival to TikTok—days after President Trump gave TikTok's owners a deadline either sell its US operations to a US firm or have the app shut down. The new feature, Reels, is part of Instagram instead of a standalone app, but it strongly resembles...

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