Ben & Jerry’s has joined a growing list of companies pulling advertising from Facebook platforms throughout July.
The move is part of the Stop Hate For Profit campaign, which calls on Facebook to have stricter measures against racist and hateful content.
Ben and Jerry’s tweeted: “We will pause all paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram in the US in support of the #StopHateForProfit campaign. Facebook, Inc. must take the clear and unequivocal actions to stop its platform from being used to spread and amplify racism and hate. >>>https://benjerrys.co/2CtB2WE”
Earlier this week outdoor brands The North Face, Patagonia and REI joined the campaign.
Ben & Jerry’s said it is standing with the campaign and “all those calling for Facebook to take stronger action to stop its platforms from being used to divide our nation, suppress voters, foment and fan the flames of racism and violence, and undermine our democracy.”
After the death of African-American George Floyd in police custody, Ben & Jerry’s chief executive Matthew McCarthy said “business should be held accountable” as he set out plans to increase diversity.
Earlier this week the freelance job listing platform Upwork and the open-source software developer Mozilla also joined the campaign.
Facebook has said it was committed to “advancing equity and racial justice”.
The social network said in a statement on June 21: “We’re taking steps to review our policies, ensure diversity and transparency when making decisions on how we apply our policies, and advance racial justice and voter engagement on our platform.”
Ben & Jerry’s statement also pointed to the company’s Community Standards, which include the recognition of the platform’s importance as a “place where people feel empowered to communicate, and we take seriously our role in keeping abuse off our service”.
The Stop Hate for Profit campaign was launched last week by advocacy groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Color Of Change.
The movement has said it is a “response to Facebook’s long history of allowing racist, violent and verifiably false content to run rampant on its platform”.
Stop Hate for Profit has called on advertisers to pressure Facebook to adopt stricter measures against racist and hateful content on its platforms by stopping all spending on advertising with it throughout July.
In 2019, Facebook attracted advertising revenue of almost $70 billion.
The company and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg have often been criticized for the handling of controversial subjects.
This month Facebook’s staff spoke out against the tech giant’s decision not to remove or flag a post by President Donald Trump.
The same message was shared on Twitter, where it was hidden behind a warning label on the grounds that it “glorified violence”.
Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger are both leaving the company.
CEO Kevin Systrom said they were departing to “explore our curiosity and creativity again”.
Instagram was purchased by Facebook in 2012 for $1 billion in cash and stock and has more than one billion users.
There had been reports of tension between the pair and Facebook, and the departures add to what has been a troubling year for the parent company.
Kevin Systrom, 34, and Mike Krieger, 32, the chief technical officer, started the image sharing site in 2010, and continued to run the service after it was acquired by Facebook.
They reportedly only told the Facebook leadership on September 24 so the departure appears pretty sudden.
Kevin Systrom said in a blog post: “We’re now ready for our next chapter.
“Building new things requires that we step back, understand what inspires us and match that with what the world needs; that’s what we plan to do.”
There was no animosity in the blog post. Kevin Systrom said the pair both remained “excited for the future of Instagram and Facebook”.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement that Instagram reflected the founders’ “combined creative talents”.
“I’ve learned a lot working with them for the past six years and have really enjoyed it,” he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing what they build next.”
There have been reports of tension with Facebook’s leadership. Instagram’s popularity has soared in a period where use of the core Facebook product has stagnated.
This has put increased pressure on Facebook to squeeze more and more money from its users by adding new features some felt went against the Instagram app’s original focus on simplicity.
The latest Instagram product, IGTV, which allows posting of longer videos, in part to compete with YouTube, has not had an auspicious start. It was criticized this month after suggestive videos of children were recommended to its users.
Facebook has also been under intense pressure this year over the issues of safeguarding customer data and the misuse of its platforms by those wishing to spread fake news, including for political ends.
This, along with increased pressure from competitor platforms, appears to have led Mark Zuckerberg and his core executives to exert more control.
It ran counter to the business model the pair had become used to. Kevin Systrom had earlier praised the “tremendous freedom” Mark Zuckerberg had allowed since the takeover.
Mark Zuckerberg has apologized to EU lawmakers for Facebook’s role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal and for allowing fake news to proliferate on its platform.
He apologized for Facebook’s tools being used “for harm”.
However, the Facebook founder’s testimony did not please all lawmakers at the meeting, some of whom felt he had dodged their questions.
Damian Collins, chair of the UK Parliament’s Digital Culture Media and Sport Committee later said the session at the European Parliament had been a “missed opportunity”.
He said: “Unfortunately the format of questioning allowed Mr. Zuckerberg to cherry-pick his responses and not respond to each individual point.”
The format was very different from that of Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony to US lawmakers last month.
While the US politicians took turns to cross-examine him in a series of back-and-forth exchanges, the leaders of the European Parliament’s various political groups each asked several questions apiece.
Mark Zuckerberg had to wait until they were all delivered before responding.
He spent 22 minutes going through the huge number of questions put to him during the session and was able to pick and choose which to give answers to.
Several of the politicians expressed frustration at this, and one accused Mark Zuckerberg of having “asked for this format for a reason”.
In a follow-up press conference, the parliament’s president, Antonio Tajani, said that the lawmakers had been aware Mark Zuckerberg’s time was limited yet had decided to use up much of the allotted period speaking themselves.
Antonio Tajani also drew attention to the fact that Mark Zuckerberg had agreed to provide follow-up written answers.
Mark Zuckerberg did not address questions about whether Facebook was a monopoly and how it plans to use data from its WhatsApp division.
Nor did he directly answer questions about shadow profiles or whether non-Facebook users’ data should be collected.
Several of the EU lawmakers had also voiced skepticism about the business.
Guy Verhofstadt had asked Mark Zuckerberg if he wanted to be remembered as “the genius who created a digital monster”, which the Facebook boss did not answer.
Leading Brexiteer Nigel Farage expressed his view that Facebook was not a politically neutral platform, asking whether the social network “willfully discriminated” against right-of-centre commentators.
Mark Zuckerberg did respond to this point, saying Facebook had “never made a decision about what content was allowed on the basis of political orientation”.
Tackling other questions, Mark Zuckerberg also said he expected to find other apps that had misused customer data and pointed out that an internal investigation into thousands of third-party developers to see if there similar cases to the Cambridge Analytica scandal would take “many months”.
So far, Mark Zuckerberg said, Facebook had suspended more than 200 apps.
Mark Zuckerberg has rejected President Donald Trump’s comments that Facebook has always been against him.
President Trump accused Facebook of “collusion” on Twitter, branding it “anti-Trump”.
He made the same claim against the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Facebook will shortly hand over 3,000 political adverts to congressional investigators probing alleged Russian meddling in the US election.
The social network believes the ads were probably purchased by Russian entities during and after the 2016 presidential contest.
Facebook, Twitter and Google have been asked to testify before the US Senate Intelligence Committee on November 1 about the allegations of Russian interference.
Google and Facebook have confirmed they have received invitations to attend the committee hearing, but none of the social media giants have yet said they will be present.
In a Facebook post responding to President Trump’s criticism, the social network’s founder Mark Zuckerberg said he was striving to make “a platform for all ideas”. He said that aside from “problematic ads”, Facebook’s impact ranged from “giving people a voice, to enabling candidates to communicate directly, to helping millions of people vote”.
Mark Zuckerberg noted that both ends of the political spectrum were upset about content they disliked, and that liberals in the US had accused him of enabling President Trump’s victory.
The 33-year-old said the candidates’ campaigns had “spent hundreds of millions advertising online,” which he called “1000x more than any problematic ads we’ve found”.
Mark Zuckerberg said he regretted saying on the day Donald Trump was elected that it was “crazy” to say that misinformation on Facebook changed the election’s outcome, because it sounded dismissive.
He promised Facebook would “continue to build a community for all people” – and to “defend against nation states attempting to spread misinformation and subvert elections”.
Mark Zuckerberg’s response attracted 65,000 “likes” within two hours of being posted.
Russia has long denied any form of interference in the US election, and President Trump has railed against allegations that his staff had improper links to Russia.
However, US intelligence agencies have concluded Russia tried to sway the vote in favor of Donald Trump. Congressional committees and an FBI inquiry are currently probing the matter.
Mark Zuckerberg has returned to Harvard University to give a graduation speech and receive an honorary degree.
The Facebook founder and world’s fifth-richest person, worth $62.3 billion, famously dropped out of Harvard after launching the global social-networking website.
Mark Zuckerberg, 33, called for students to “not only create new jobs, but create a new sense of purpose”.
Political experts think he may be positioning himself to run for office.
During his remarks on May 25, Mark Zuckerberg told graduates that “we live in an unstable time”.
“There’s pressure to turn inwards,” he said about those that feel left behind by increased globalization.
Photo Facebook
“This is the struggle of our time. The forces of freedom, openness and global community against the forces of authoritarianism, isolationism and nationalism.”
Mark Zuckerberg pointed to the dormitory where he launched Facebook, and remarked that meeting his wife, Priscilla, there was the best thing to happen to him at the university.
Before giving remarks, Mark Zuckerberg received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree during Harvard’s 366th graduation ceremony.
On May 24, he did a Facebook Live broadcast from his old dorm room.
“This is literally where I sat,” Mark Zuckerberg says, pointing to a small wooden desk and chair inside Kirkland House, which is due to be renovated over the summer.
“I had my little laptop here. And this is where I programmed Facebook,” he tells the camera.
During his commencement address, Mark Zuckerberg told students: “There is something wrong with our system when I can leave here and make billions of dollars in ten years when millions of students can’t afford to pay off their loans, let alone start a business.”
“When you don’t have the freedom to take your idea and turn it into a historic enterprise we all lose,” he continued.
Mark Zuckerberg told stories of meeting “children in juvenile detention and opioid addicts, who told me their lives could have turned out differently if they just had something to do”.
He appeared to get choked up at one point during a story about an high school student who feared he would not be able to enroll in university because he was an undocumented immigrant.
More than 1.9 billion people log onto Facebook every day.
Since its launch in 2004, Facebook has inspired many other social media competitors, including Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram.
In 2007, another Harvard drop-out, Bill Gates, returned for an honorary degree.
Bill Gates addressed students shortly after stepping down from the world’s largest software company, Microsoft, to launch to focus on his charity.
While most people around the world have been using social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn and the like for fun, communication, and relationship-building over the years, it’s important not to forget just how useful the networks can also be for your career, whether you’re actively searching for a new position right now or not.
In fact, the various online platforms where people go to share data, exchange ideas, make comments, and meet new connections can be the ideal place for you to increase your network of contacts and raise your professional profile. In turn, this can help you to land an exciting new role when you need to (or even when you least expect it), or to expand your customer base for your own venture.
To make your profiles more effective though, you will first need to make sure that your information is as complete as possible and always up to date, with full descriptions and quality, professional photographs used at all times. You must maintain a professional manner on each site (no pictures of you looking drunk or taking part in illegal or otherwise frowned-upon activities!) and you need to be careful about only ever posting accurate, truthful information.
If you’re ready to take the next step in your career today, read on for three handy ways in which you can take advantage of social media.
Networking
One of the first things you should start doing if you want to boost your career is network online. Social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook are fantastic for this, and will help you to “meet,” and develop connections with, other professionals in your industry.
To do this well, it is important to firstly ensure you have put up a comprehensive profile on LinkedIn, as this is one of the most popular and beneficial social networking spots for people who want to find a new job or make good contacts.
On the site, you need to post your resume in an online format. It must not only be accurate and up-to-date, but also well written and properly formatted. As such, it pays to organize a resume evaluation service to check out your information so that you can be sure that you’re not making any mistakes.
Your LinkedIn profile should include things such as:
Your relevant skills and achievements
Recommendations from people you have worked with or consulted to in the past
A business-appropriate photograph of yourself (no social pics here!)
Some relevant examples of your work where possible
Keywords that relate to your industry and job area
Once you have all the necessary info posted online, it’s time to start working on building more connections. There are multiple ways to do this. It is a good idea to post regular updates about your career successes, new skills you’ve gained, training you’ve completed, events you’ve attended, or any other relevant news that will help to generate interest in your profile.
As well, make sure you join some of the LinkedIn groups which are relevant to your position or sector. Once this is done, take part in online discussions whenever you feel you can add a unique view on the topic or some useful information. This will help you to chat and engage with potential and current contacts and to develop relationships further.
Build Your Brand
Next, keep in mind that, no matter the industry you’re in, it is always a good idea to work hard on building your brand. Branding is not just for businesses, as many people think, but rather is also important for individuals too.
Most social media sites, but particularly Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, are fantastic avenues to help people promote themselves by consistently demonstrating their brand. The updates you post online and the profiles you set up for yourself can go a long way to create an image that will help to stand you in good stead throughout your career.
Recruiters, employers, and clients typically check out social media sites when conducting research, and can use the information they see to determine if you will be a good fit for a company or position.
On your online profiles, make sure that you are always consistent when it comes to branding elements such as the images, logos, font, and language you use. This will help you to develop your own particular “voice” that can set you apart from your competition. The image and summary details that you put on one social media platform should be used across them all, so that your style becomes easily and quickly identified and gives people an accurate idea of who you are and what you represent.
You can also further your brand by using social media sites to become an industry expert. Your posts are the perfect platform for promoting your skills, knowledge, and experience, as well as a variety of content that you write or collate, such as blog posts and articles, quotes, infographics, e-books, pictures, and the like. By regularly posting information that helps others in your industry and demonstrates your expertise, you will see your standing as an industry expert rise.
According to a recent research, spending too long on Facebook at Christmas time – and seeing all those “perfect” families and holiday photos – is more likely to make you miserable than festive.
The University of Copenhagen study suggests excessive use of social media can create feelings of envy.
Researchers particularly warn about the negative impact of “lurking” on social media without connecting with anyone.
It suggests taking a break from using social media during Christmas time.
Image source Flickr
The study of more than 1,300 participants, mostly women, says that “regular use of social networking such as Facebook can negatively affect your emotional well-being and satisfaction with life”.
Researchers warn of envy and a “deterioration of mood” from spending too long looking at other people’s social media stories, induced by “unrealistic social comparisons”.
If this suggests a picture of long irritable hours over a screen, depressed by the boasts and posts of others, then the researchers say that it does not need to be this way.
The study, published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking suggests that actively engaging in conversation and connecting with people on social media seems to be a much more positive experience.
This seems to be much less gloomy than “passive” users who spend too long “lurking” on social networking websites without getting involved.
Researchers say another approach to improve well-being is to stop using social media altogether for a week.
Donald Trump has praised tech giants’ “incredible innovation” during a summit at Trump Tower.
Hosting with three of his children – Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka – the president-elect told the executives he would make trading across borders “a lot easier”.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, Apple’s Tim Cook and Tesla’s Elon Musk attended the meeting.
Paypal founder Peter Thiel, a member of Donald Trump’s team, was also at the December 14 meeting.
Peterr Thiel, who has been a vocal Trump ally and spoke about his nomination at the Republican National Convention this summer, is expected to act as the bridge between the new administration and tech leaders.
Throughout his campaign to be elected president, Donald Trump put technology companies and their executives in the firing line, with calls for boycotts and accusations of tax-dodging.
Donald Trump told his guests he was “here to help you folks to do well”.
The president-elect said: “We want you to keep going with the incredible innovation. There’s nobody like you in the world.
“You’ll call my people, you’ll call me, it doesn’t make any difference. We have no formal chain of command around here.”
Donald Trump also told the group that technology companies benefited from a “bounce” after his election, adding “everybody in this room has to like me at least a little bit”.
He struck a positive tone with industry leaders despite bashing companies like Apple and Amazon throughout his campaign for sending jobs offshore and their stance on encryption.
Earlier this year, more than 140 tech leaders from Silicon Valley signed an open letter arguing against Donald Trump’s candidacy, warning the Republican “would be a disaster for innovation”.
Notably absent from this meeting was Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
A controversial Facebook post about First Lady Michelle Obama has sparked outrage after involving a town mayor in West Virginia.
Pamela Ramsey Taylor, who runs a local non-profit group in Clay County, wrote on Facebook: “It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified first lady in the White House. I’m tired of seeing a Ape in heels.”
Clay Mayor Beverly Whaling responded with “just made my day Pam”.
Beverly Whaling is mayor of the town of Clay, which has a population of just 491.
Clay has no African American residents, according to the 2010 census. In Clay County as a whole, more than 98% of its 9,000 residents are white.
Despite the small population in the region, the controversial Facebook post spread across US and international media outlets.
A petition calling for both women to be sacked has collected more than 85,000 signatures.
According to the Washington Post and New York Daily News, Pamela Ramsey Taylor was removed from her position on November 14.
Pamela Ramsey Taylor told local news outlet WSAZ, which first carried the story, that she acknowledged her Facebook post could be “interpreted as racist, but in no way was intended to be”, and that she was expressing a personal opinion on attractiveness, not the color of a person’s skin.
She told the news station she was considering legal action for slander against unnamed individuals.
The Clay County Development group, of which Pamela Ramsey Taylor is the director, is partly funded through state and federal grants, and the group provides services to elderly and low-income residents.
In a statement given to the Washington Post, Mayor Beverly Whaling said: “My comment was not intended to be racist at all” and apologized for the comment “getting out of hand.”
“I was referring to my day being made for change in the White House! I am truly sorry for any hard feeling this may have caused! Those who know me know that I’m not of any way racist!” the mayor said.
Owens Brown, director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People West Virginia chapter, said it was “unfortunate that people still have these racist undertones”.
West Virginia Democratic Party Chairwoman Belinda Biafore issued an apology to Michelle Obama “on behalf of my fellow Mountaineers”, referring to a nickname for inhabitants of the state.
“West Virginia truly is better than this. These radical, hateful, and racist ideals are exactly what we at the West Virginia Democratic Party will continue to fight against,” she said in a statement.
West Virginia voted for Donald Trump in the presidential election with 68.7% of the vote.
Facebook is changing to the way it runs its Trending Topics feed, following an internal investigation.
The social network has announced more training for staff and that the feed will no longer rely on a list of news organizations, including the Washington Post, the BBC and Buzzfeed News, to validate subjects.
The feed, which lists popular headlines along with a brief description, has been accused of political bias.
However, Facebook’s report found no evidence of this.
The investigation analyzed 3,000 reviewer decisions following allegations that conservative issues were being suppressed, Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch said.
Facebook was accused by anonymous former employees of tampering with its Trending Topics feature, promoting “progressive” views and websites over content presenting views from the American right.
Current and former staff were also interviewed by the company.
The findings were revealed in a 12-page letter, addressed to Senator John Thune but also published online, in response to Senator Thune’s questions about the workings of Trending.
The Trending Topics feed currently works as a mixture of AI and human input, with potential subjects being suggested via algorithm and then reviewed by staff.
They are a mixture of popular subjects discussed on the social network and sourced from 1,000 media organizations. There was also a list of 10 organizations used to determine importance.
However, “as much as half” of the topics suggested algorithmically are rejected “because they do not make sense at the time or are duplicative”, Colin Stretch said.
So-called “stale topics” – events still popular in discussions after two days but with no new developments – and “junk hashtags” – popular topics not related to actual events – are also sidelined, he added.
Colin Stretch added that topics with sources in foreign languages may also not be included on the grounds that the team may be unable to identify them.
The report did find that historically some topics that were discussed over a long period of time did not show up algorithmically.
For example, hashtags relating to the Black Lives Matter campaign failed to appear in December 2014 and were not manually inserted by the Trending Topics review team either.
However, the topic “Ferguson”, which related to the police shooting of Michael Brown in Missouri, was added to compensate for this, wrote Colin Stretch.
Facebook has posted a 195% jump in profit in Q1 of 2016 as the company continued to generate new advertising income.
The social network reported $1.5 billion in earnings for Q1 2016, compared to $512 million in Q1 2015.
As well as enticing advertisers to new products like live video, Facebook boosted sales on existing services.
The company also proposed a new class of shares, which will allow founder Mark Zuckergerg to sell his shares without losing control of Facebook.
It said the move will “encourage Mr. Zuckerberg to remain in an active leadership role at Facebook”.
Photo Facebook
Facebook shares rose over 9% in after-hours trading.
Sales for Q1 2016 reached $5.3 billion up from $3.5 billion in Q1 of 2015.
Mobile advertising made up 82% of Facebook’s overall advertising revenue, up from 73% at the same time last year.
Total monthly active users (MAU) increased 15% from a year earlier to 1.65 billion, which was ahead of analysts expectations.
On a call with investors, the social network said it intended to continue buying other companies, but only those offering services that could be “ubiquitous”.
Facebook has invested heavily in other companies – in 2012 it paid $1 billion for the photo-sharing site Instagram.
However, it is hard for investors to judge the success of such deals, as Facebook has not detailed earnings from acquired companies.
The announcement of the new share structure comes four months after Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan announced they would give away 99% of their wealth.
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan made the announcement after the birth of their daughter Max in December.
WhatsApp has reached the milestone of one billion active users every month, Facebook has reported.
That’s nearly one in seven people on Earth now use WhatsApp.
The mobile messaging service now outperforms Facebook’s own Messenger mobile app, which has 800 million monthly users.
Facebook said 42 billion messages and 250 million videos were sent over WhatsApp daily.
Whatsapp was founded in 2009, and it was acquired by Facebook in February 2014, for approximately $19 billion.
The WhatsApp community has more than doubled since joining Facebook. The app waived its annual subscription fee because it has not worked well.
There are only a few services that connect more than a billion people. Google’s Gmail, Android, Chrome, YouTube, Maps, Search and Google Play each have more than a billion monthly active users.
Mark Zuckerberg has announced he is planning to build artificial intelligence (AI) to help him around the house and with his work.
In a Fecebook post, the social media site founder said his personal challenge in 2016 would be to build a “simple AI” similar to the butler Jarvis from Iron Man.
Mark Zuckerberg says he plans to share his progress over the course of the year.
In December 2015, he made headlines for plans to give away 99% of his Facebook stake.
Mark Zuckerberg had to defend his philanthropic venture – launched to celebrate the birth of his daughter Maxima Chan Zuckerberg – after critics argued that it could provide a way for the founder to avoid paying tax on the sale of his shares.
On January 4, Mark Zuckerberg said he would start to build the AI with technology that is already out there and teach it to understand his voice to control everything in his home from music and lights to temperature.
Photo Facebook
“This should be a fun intellectual challenge to code this for myself,” he said.
“I’ll teach it to let friends in by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell,” Mark Zuckerberg added.
“I’ll teach it to let me know if anything is going on in Max’s room that I need to check on when I’m not with her.”
For Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg added that the system would help him visualize data in virtual reality and help him build better services, as well as lead his company.
His announcement comes as Facebook is in the midst of AI initiatives such as building an assistant through its Messenger app for users.
The Facebook founder said a part of the motivation behind 2016 challenge was the reward of building things yourself.
Mark Zuckerberg’s previous personal challenges have included learning Mandarin, reading two books a month and meeting a new person every day.
A Brazil court has ordered local mobile phone companies to impose a block of the popular WhatsApp smartphone application for two days.
The court in Sao Paulo state made the order because it said WhatsApp had repeatedly failed to co-operate in a criminal investigation.
It is not clear if mobile companies will fully comply with the order.
Facebook owns the app. Mark Zuckerberg said he was “stunned” by the “extreme” ruling.
WhatsApp is reported to be the most used application in Brazil, with about 93 million users.
According to the TechCrunch website, WhatsApp is used by 93% of Brazil’s internet population and is especially popular among young people and the poor who take advantage of its free text message and internet telephone service.
It says Brazilians spend almost twice as much time on social media as Americans.
Brazilians have taken to Twitter to express their anger at the suspension but also to joke about how dependent they have become on WhatsApp.
WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum said he was “disappointed in the short-sighted decision to cut off access to WhatsApp, a communication tool that so many Brazilians have come to depend on, and sad to see Brazil isolate itself from the rest of the world”.
Mark Zuckerberg was also highly critical of the ruling.
He wrote on his Facebook page: “Tonight, a Brazilian judge blocked WhatsApp for more than 100 million people who rely on it in her country.
We are working hard to get this block reversed. Until then, Facebook Messenger is still active and you can use it to communicate instead.
This is a sad day for Brazil. Until today, Brazil has been an ally in creating an open internet. Brazilians have always been among the most passionate in sharing their voice online.
I am stunned that our efforts to protect people’s data would result in such an extreme decision by a single judge to punish every person in Brazil who uses WhatsApp.
We hope the Brazilian courts quickly reverse course. If you’re Brazilian, please make your voice heard and help your government reflect the will of its people.”
Brazilian media said the order to suspend the services was related to a drug trafficking trial in Sao Paulo State.
The court tried to get access to a suspect’s WhatsApp messages but the company refused to share them, Folha newspaper reported.
The court says WhatsApp failed to comply with judicial orders in July and in August.
Judge Sandra Regina Nostre Marques finally ordered the 48-hour shut-down on December 16, after finding out that WhatsApp had persisted in ignoring its rulings.
She said the suspension order was being made under terms of Brazil’s internet legislation.
The move against WhatsApp comes as Brazilian phone companies have urged the government to restrict the use of free voice-over-internet services offered through WhatsApp.
The phone companies argue that the rise of WhatsApp has damaged their businesses.
Meanwhile other messaging services say they are benefiting from the temporary absence of WhatsApp.
One such company, Telegram, said on Twitter that more than 1.5 million Brazilian users had joined up since the court order was handed down.
Facebook has announced it is to amend its controversial “real name” policy after protests from various communities.
On December 15, Facebook said it was to test new tools that allowed people to share any special circumstances they felt meant they could not use their real name.
The tool is intended to help people who may have suffered domestic abuse, or in cases where their s**uality could put them in danger.
However, Facebook stood firm on insisting people use “real names” in all but the most unusual situations.
“We require people to use the name their friends and family know them by,” the company said.
Photo Facebook
“When people use the names they are known by, their actions and words carry more weight because they are more accountable for what they say.
“We’re firmly committed to this policy, and it is not changing.
“However, after hearing feedback from our community, we recognize that it’s also important that this policy works for everyone, especially for communities who are marginalized or face discrimination.”
Facebook is also adding a new tool for reporting fake names, requiring anyone who is reporting another user to provide more context for their complaint.
The social network said it received hundreds of thousands of reports of fake names every week.
“In the past, people were able to simply report a <<fake name>> but now they will be required to go through several new steps that provide us more specifics about the report,” the company said.
“This additional context will help our review teams better understand why someone is reporting a name, giving them more information about a specific situation.”
Facebook had faced intense pressure from rights groups over its hard-line stance on real names.
Mark Zuckerberg was heavily criticised after he suggested that people that use two names, or have an alias, showed a “lack of integrity”.
In 2014, prominent drag queens in San Francisco had their Facebook accounts deleted as they were deemed to be violating the real name policy.
After considerable uproar, including a planned protest outside Facebook’s headquarters, the company acknowledged that it had been a mistake to delete the accounts, but said it faced a challenge in verifying people on the network.
It argued that insisting on real names played a role in preventing bad actors on the site has it made people more accountable for what they posted.
“The stories of mass impersonation, trolling, domestic abuse, and higher rates of bullying and intolerance are oftentimes the result of people hiding behind fake names, and it’s both terrifying and sad,” the site said.
“Our ability to successfully protect against them with this policy has borne out the reality that this policy, on balance, and when applied carefully, is a very powerful force for good.”
A group of civil liberties organizations and rights groups formed the Nameless Coalition which has been leaning on Facebook to change its policies.
The new tools announced on December 15 fall short of the group’s complete suggestions, but representatives from Facebook are met members of the Nameless Coalition at a public event in San Francisco.
Mark Zuckerberg has defended the unusual company structure chosen for the eye-catching philanthropic venture launched to celebrate the birth of his daughter, Max.
He will give away 99% of his stake in Facebook, worth $45 billion, to fund the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Rather than set up a simple charity, the Facebook founder formed a limited liability company (LLC) to administer the money.
An LLC brings certain tax exemptions but also allows investment for profit.
Photo Facebook
Critics have said the structure of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative could provide a way for Mark Zuckerberg to avoid paying tax on the sale of his shares. They have also questioned why he did not set up a not-for-profit charity instead.
An LLC allows Mark Zuckerberg to keep hold of the voting and allocation of the shares he puts into it.
In a Facebook post on December 3, Mark Zuckerberg explained his reasons for creating an LLC instead of a not-for-profit organization and said he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, will pay capital gains taxes when their shares are sold by the company.
“By using an LLC instead of a traditional foundation, we receive no tax benefit from transferring our shares to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, but we gain flexibility to execute our mission more effectively,” he said.
“In fact, if we transferred our shares to a traditional foundation, then we would have received an immediate tax benefit, but by using an LLC we do not.
“And just like everyone else, we will pay capital gains taxes when our shares are sold by the LLC,” Mark Zuckerberg added.
The new charitable organization is aimed at “advancing human potential and promoting equality for all children in the next generation”.
Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan’s shares will be donated over the course of their lives. They have already committed $1.6 billion to philanthropic causes according to a Facebook statement.
Mark Zuckerberg has announced he will take two months of paternity leave after the birth of his daughter.
The Facebook chief executive made the announcement on his timeline, calling it “a very personal decision”.
Photo Facebook
Mark Zuckerberg wrote: “Priscilla and I are starting to get ready for our daughter’s arrival. We’ve been picking out our favorite childhood books and toys. We’ve also been thinking about how we’re going to take time off during the first months of her life. This is a very personal decision, and I’ve decided to take 2 months of paternity leave when our daughter arrives.”
Photo Facebook
Facebook allows its US employees to take up to 4 months of paid parental leave – time which can be used at once or throughout the child’s first year.
Mark Zuckerberg, 31, announced in July that he was expecting a baby girl with his wife, Priscilla Chan.
The Facebook founder did not say who would be replacing him at the company.
In his statement, accompanied by a picture of a pushchair and his dog, Mark Zuckerberg said: “Studies show that when working parents take time to be with their newborns, outcomes are better for the children and families.”
Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Facebook is adding a “Dislike” button to its social network.
In a Q&A session held at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California, Mark Zuckerberg, 31, said the button would be a way for people to express empathy.
The Facebook founder said the social network was “very close” to having it ready for user testing.
A “Dislike” button has been constantly requested by some users since the introduction of the now-iconic “Like” button in 2009.
“People have asked about the <<Dislike>> button for many years,” Mark Zuckerberg told the audience on September 15.
“Probably hundreds of people have asked about this, and today is a special day because today is the day that I actually get to say we are working on it, and are very close to shipping a test of it.”
However, Mark Zuckerberg went on to say he did not want the “Dislike” button to be a mechanism with which people could “down vote” others’ posts.
Instead, it will be for times when clicking “Like” on “Sad” posts felt insensitive.
Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have announced via Facebook that they are expecting a baby girl.
Facebook founder wrote on his page: “Priscilla and I have some exciting news: we’re expecting a baby girl!”
In his post, Mark Zuckerberg, 31, revealed that they had suffered three miscarriages previously, but added that the risk of miscarrying at this stage of the pregnancy was low.
Photo Facebook
He said that they had decided to share the experience to help others in a similar situation.
“We hope that sharing our experience will give more people the same hope we felt and will help more people feel comfortable sharing their stories.
“Most people don’t discuss miscarriages because you worry your problems will distance you or reflect upon you – as if you’re defective or did something to cause this. So you struggle on your own.”
Mark Zuckerberg also referenced the popular “Like” feature on the social network.
“In our ultrasound, she even gave me a thumbs up <<like>> with her hand, so I’m already convinced she takes after me,” he wrote.
Mark Zuckerberg did not say when the baby was due.
Facebook posted a slower revenue growth in the first quarter of 2015 with a profit of $512 million, down 20% on a year earlier.
Revenue rose 42% to $3.5 billion, a figure slightly below analysts’ forecasts.
A bright spot was the rise in monthly active users, up 13% from a year earlier to 1.44 billion.
Notably, for those investors concerned about the company’s efforts to appeal to younger users who access Facebook on their smartphones, monthly mobile users increased by 24% to 1.25 billion, a majority of the site’s users.
Facebook has been particularly adept at channeling that growing mobile user base into advertising dollars. The company said that during the quarter, revenue from mobile ad sales made up nearly three-quarters of total ad sales.
Investors have been worried about slowing revenue growth, as well as increasing costs at the company. Facebook has been spending more on research and development as it moves beyond its original social networking operation.
Spending on research and development jumped to $566 million from $181 million a year earlier.
Facebook has warned that those costs are set to increase, as it looks to expand some of its acquisitions including photo-sharing site Instagram, messaging service WhatsApp, and virtual reality company Oculus Rift.
Turkish net companies have been ordered to block access to social media sites to stop the sharing of photos of Mehmet Selim Kiraz, who was taken hostage during last week’s armed siege in Istanbul.
A Turkish court has told Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more than 150 other sites to remove images taken during the siege.
The block on Facebook and Twitter was lifted after the two social networks complied with the court order.
Currently, YouTube remains blocked in Turkey.
Before imposing the blocks on the websites, Turkish authorities had moved to stop newspapers printing the images.
The newspapers were accused by the government of disseminating “terrorist propaganda” for the DHKP-C group that was reportedly behind the attack on the courthouse. The DHKP-C is considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the EU and US.
The siege ended with the gunmen and their hostage being killed when police stormed the building in a rescue bid.
Mehmet Selim Kiraz was apparently taken hostage because he headed an investigation into the death of a boy during anti-government protests that took place in 2013.
The pictures showing attackers holding a gun to Mehmet Selim Kiraz’s head were being widely shared on social media, leading authorities to act, reported Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.
“The wife and children of prosecutor Kiraz have been deeply upset. The images are everywhere,” a senior Turkish official told the Reuters news agency.
In total, 166 websites which shared the images were blocked by the court order.
YouTube published the text of the court ruling on its website saying an “administration measure” had been enacted by Turkey’s telecoms authority. It said it was seeking ways to restore access.
Facebook was also subject to the same block but it is believed the restrictions on it were lifted because it removed the images before the expiration of a deadline imposed by the court. Twitter reacted more slowly and access to the messaging system was blocked for several hours on April 6.
Miley Cyrus’ death rumors became viral in the Facebook world and everyone was wondering when a rumor started swirling online that the twerker was in fact dead.
“(SHOCKING) Miley Cyrus Found Dead in Her Los Angeles Home! Country singer Miley Cyrus found overdosed this afternoon in her Los Angeles home,” the messages on Facebook read.
It was all a viral Facebook scam.
The scammers behind the hoax tried to convince people to click on their link by saying Miley Cyrus died in her Los Angeles home due to a drug overdose. The hoax is designed to spread bogus surveys that make money for the scammers behind it.
Apparently when users click on the post, they’re redirected to a website designed to look like Facebook. It then prompts them to share the page before going further. This ensures that the scam spreads even further.
Miley Cyrus is reportedly aware of the whole death hoax, and supposedly thinks it’s kind of entertaining.
This is not the first time Miley Cyrus’ name has been used as a part of an online hoax.
Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Facebook may add a way to “dislike” posts on the social network.
Speaking at a Q&A session in California, Mark Zuckerberg said it was one of the most requested features the social network receives from its users.
The social network’s co-founder said the site would need to find a way to make sure it did not become a way to demean people’s posts.
According to Facebook’s own figures, 4.5 billion “likes” are generated every day.
“One of things we’ve thought about for quite a while is what’s the right way to make it so that people can easily express a broader range of emotions,” Mark Zuckerberg told an audience at Facebook’s headquarters.
“A lot of times people share things on Facebook that are sad moments in their lives. Often people tell us that they don’t feel comfortable pressing <<Like>> because <<Like>> isn’t the appropriate sentiment.
“Some people have asked for a dislike button because they want to say, <<That thing isn’t good.>> That’s not something that we think is good for the world.
“The thing that I think is very valuable is that there are more sentiments that people want to express.”
Facebook’s “Like” button has been criticized as being a method by which the social network collects data on its users’ browsing habits.
The system has also come under fire due to a high volume of “fake Likes” – when the popularity of a brand or piece of content is inflated artificially.
Facebook has moved to combat the trade of so-called “Like farming” – businesses that, for a price, will provide a huge number of likes quickly. This will be via automated robots, or by a network of humans paid a tiny sum for each click.
Facebook has initiated legal action against companies offering “fake Likes” or other bogus business practices on the social network.
June Shannon’s child molester boyfriend, Mark McDaniel, has been unfriended by Facebook.
Mark McDaniel, who spent 10 years behind bars for child assault, has been kicked off by Facebook per its policy toward s** offenders.
His account was active until November 18 when his profile was removed by Facebook, multiple media outlets confirmed. Prior to being booted off Facebook, Mark McDaniel had posts from friends welcoming him back home after being prison. His profile photo was of him holding his baby granddaughter.
Mark McDaniel recently completed his prison sentence, which reportedly stemmed from a child assault. Mama June’s daughter Anna Cardwell has made allegations that Mark McDaniel molested her.
For her part, Honey Boo Boo’s mother has said that her relationship with Mark McDaniel is blown out of proportion, but she understands why people are upset that they are seen together.
Facebook has reported revenues of $3.2 billion in Q3 2014, comfortably ahead of analysts’ forecasts and 59% higher than the same period last year.
The social network also reported an $806 million profit, a 90% increase on the same quarter a year ago.
The increased profits were driven by another formidable three months for Facebook’s advertising business.
Ad revenues for July to September were sharply higher than a year ago.
Perhaps most telling as an indicator of its future profitability was Facebook’s performance in mobile advertising.
Mobile ads now make up 66% of its total advertising revenue.
Facebook has reported revenues of $3.2 billion in Q3 2014
A year ago they accounted for less than half of it, and at the time of its stock market debut in 2012 Facebook’s mobile ads barely brought in any money at all.
Just as important to social networks as their earnings, are their user numbers, which in Facebook’s case were also better than many expected.
As of the end of September, Facebook had 1.35 billion active users every month, 14% more than in 2013.
And the number of people checking their Facebook page at least once a day jumped 19% to 864 million.
“This has been a good quarter with strong results,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and chief executive.
Nevertheless investors seemed disappointed that Facebook hadn’t beaten Wall Street analysts’ forecasts by an even greater margin.
Facebook shares fell as much as 8% in after-hours trading in New York.
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