Author: Barbara Ortutay
-
Facebook auto-generates videos celebrating extremist images
WASHINGTON — The animated video begins with a photo of the black flags of jihad. Seconds later, it flashes highlights of a year of social media posts: plaques of anti-Semitic verses, talk of retribution and a photo of two men carrying more jihadi flags while they burn the stars and stripes. It wasn’t produced by…
-
Facebook bans Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones for hate speech
SAN FRANCISCO • After years of pressure to crack down on extremist content, Facebook has banned Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones and other extremists, saying they violated its ban against hate and violence. The company also banned right-wing leaders Paul Nehlen, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer, along with Jones’ site, Infowars. The latest…
-
Bug may have exposed photos from 7M Facebook users
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook’s privacy controls have broken down yet again, this time through a software flaw affecting nearly 7 million users who had photos exposed to a much wider audience than intended. The bug disclosed Friday gave hundreds of apps unauthorized access to photos that could in theory include images that would embarrass…
-
Purging long-forgotten online accounts: worth the trouble?
NEW YORK • The internet is riddled with long-forgotten accounts on social media, dating apps and various shopping sites used once or twice. Sure, you should delete all those unused logins and passwords. And eat your vegetables. And go to the gym. But is it even possible to delete your zombie online footprints — or worth…
-
Explainer: What is shadow banning?
NEW YORK • The sinister-sounding term “shadow banning” has been in play recently, mostly thanks to conservatives — including President Donald Trump — accusing Twitter and other technology companies of political bias. “Twitter ‘SHADOW BANNING’ prominent Republicans. Not good. We will look into this discriminatory and illegal practice at once! Many complaints,” the president tweeted…
-
Trump accuses Google of bias, warns: ‘Be careful’
WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused Google and other U.S. tech companies of rigging search results about him “so that almost all stories & news is BAD.” He offered no evidence of bias, but a top adviser said the White House is “taking a look” at whether Google should face federal regulation. Google…
-
Facebook made some private posts public for as many as 14M
NEW YORK — Facebook said Thursday that a software bug made some private posts public for as many as 14 million users over several days in May. The problem, which Facebook said it has fixed, is the latest privacy scandal for the world’s largest social media company. It said the bug automatically suggested that users make new…
-
Poll shows privacy debacle is prompting social-media changes
NEW YORK — If you’ve made changes to how you use social media since Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica privacy debacle, you’re not alone. A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 7 out of 10 of online adults who’ve heard of the scandal — revelations that a data mining firm…
-
Zuckerberg says company working with Mueller probe
WASHINGTON — Apologetic Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told senators Tuesday it had been “clearly a mistake” to believe the Trump-linked data-mining company Cambridge Analytica had discarded data that it had harvested from social media users in an attempt to sway 2016 elections. Zuckerberg told members of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees that Facebook considered…
-
Facebook scandal affected more users than thought: up to 87M
NEW YORK — Facebook revealed Wednesday that tens of millions more people might have been exposed in the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal than previously thought and said it will restrict the user data that outsiders can access. Those developments came as congressional officials said CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify next week, while Facebook unveiled a…