A number of prominent figures have called for some sort of regulation of Facebook – including one of the company’s co-founders and a venture capitalist who was one of Facebook’s early backers. Much of the criticism of Facebook relates to how the company’s algorithms target users with advertising, and the “echo chambers” that show users ideologically slanted content.
That didn’t take long. Facebook’s new plan to be more secure lasted just two months since Zuckerberg’s pronouncement in early March about this shift after 2018’s annus horribilis.
The Facebook CEO “controls three core communications platforms… that billions of people use every day” namely Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp and has control of 60% of the voting stock. “I’m worried that Mark has surrounded himself with a team that reinforces his beliefs instead of challenging them.”
Governments and advocates in the U.S. and Europe, as well as elsewhere around the globe, have been pushing Facebook to make the inner workings of its advertising system clearer to the public.
Facebook has been battered from all sides for failing to do enough about misuse of its systems. It’s not surprising, what with many recent data breaches, misuse of user information, and abuse of its live-streaming functions leaving black marks all over the company. It’s hoping to change the way that users see it, with a new one-strike policy for Facebook Live being a major change for the company.
This will be published after South Africa’s election, which we certainly hope has only been manipulated by the usual political forces and not online trolls using Facebook, as happened in the Great Brexit Scandal and the US presidential elections of 2016
Facebook started rolling out a new tool in April 2019. Under updated procedures, the social media website would request ID verification for people who wish to advertise or promote political posts or ads. The announcement received very little publicity, but it can be interpreted as Facebook’s latest attempt to curb Russia’s anticipated interference in EU elections and prepare to manage any meddling in the 2020 US presidential elections.
This week at the F8 developer conference, we saw Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg announce updates to the company’s three core platforms, AI developments and VR.
Even in the wake of a recent mixed earning report and volatile stock prices, Netflix remains the media success story of the decade. The company, whose user base has grown rapidly, now boasts almost 150 million global subscribers.
‘Tis the time to be vigilant, because many a foe on the interwebs will try to spoil each weekly instalment of the last season of Game of Thrones.