Rakuten’s Viber chat app plans to charge to operate chatbots in controversial move

Viber, the messaging app down by Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten, is poised to implement a controversial new strategy that will see it charge companies that run chatbots on its platform. The conventional wisdom is to work with content companies to help bring users to messaging platforms and keep them engaged but Viber, which has struggled […]

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Fabula AI is using social spread to spot ‘fake news’

UK startup Fabula AI reckons it’s devised a way for artificial intelligence to help user generated content platforms get on top of the disinformation crisis that keeps rocking the world of social media with antisocial scandals. Even Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has sounded a cautious note about AI technology’s capability to meet the complex, contextual, messy […]

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Facebook bans four armed rebel groups in Myanmar

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Facebook is continuing to clamp down on users in Myanmar who are using the service to further ethnic violence in the country.

In a blog post on Tuesday, Facebook announced that it has banned four rebel groups in Myanmar from the service. The groups, which Facebook designates as “dangerous organizations,” are the Arakan Army (AA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Kachin Independence Army (KIA)  and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA).

In addition to the groups being banned from the social network, Facebook says it will also remove any and all related praise, support, and representation of any of the four groups on its platform. Read more…

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Facebook removes hundreds of accounts linked to fake news group in Indonesia

Facebook said today it has removed hundreds of Facebook and Instagram counts with links to an organization that peddled fake news. The world’s fourth largest country with a population of over 260 million, Indonesia is in election year alongside Southeast Asia neighbors Thailand and the Philippines. Facebook said this week it has set up an ‘election […]

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Mark Zuckerberg is “proud” of how Facebook handled its scandals this year

After the year Mark Zuckerberg’s had, you’d think he’d struggle to appear so chipper. “I’m proud of the progress we’ve made,” he said in an end-of-year note posted on his Facebook page for everyone to see. Acknowledging that the social network played its part in the spread of hate speech, election interference, and misinformation, Zuckerberg’s […]

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Facebook is not equipped to stop the spread of authoritarianism

Facebook isn’t responsible for government decisions to clamp down on free expression. But the question remains: How can companies stop assisting authoritarian governments, inadvertently or otherwise?

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TikTok parent ByteDance sues Chinese news site that exposed fake news problem

There’s worrying news from China’s online media world as ByteDance, the $75 billion company behind popular video app TikTok is taking a news site to court for alleged defamation after it published a story about ByteDance’s fake news problem in India. U.S. tech firms have come to rely on media to help uncover issues, but Chinese […]

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Facebook removes hundreds more pages linked to the Myanmar military

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Facebook is still grappling with its very big problem in Myanmar.

Since the UN determined the spread of fake news on the social network played a role in the genocide of the Rohingya Muslims living in Myanmar, Facebook has made attempts to deal with the issue. The company has performed three major purges of bad actors on its platform that it believes were contributing to the genocide. Its most recent action was announced on Tuesday night.

Facebook removed 425 Facebook Pages, 17 Facebook Groups, 135 Facebook accounts, and 15 Instagram accounts in Myanmar for engaging in what the company calls “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”  Read more…

More about Facebook, Myanmar, Ban, Facebook Pages, and Rohingya

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Facebook purges more ‘bad actors’ in Myanmar but it still won’t commit to a local office

As Facebook continues to grasp the severity of the situation in Myanmar, where the UN has concluded that its social network plays “determining role” in inciting genocide, the U.S. tech giant has completed a third sweep in recent months to remove bad actors from its platform. Facebook said late Tuesday U.S. time that it has […]

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Jack Dorsey and Twitter ignored opportunity to meet with civic group on Myanmar issues

Responding to criticism from his recent trip to Myanmar, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said he’s keen to learn about the country’s racial tension and human rights atrocities, but it has emerged that both he and Twitter’s public policy team ignored an opportunity to connect with a key civic group in the country. A loose group […]

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Jack non-apologizes for his tone deaf Myanmar vacation tweets

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Add Jack Dorsey’s name to the running list of white men who have issued non-apologies in 2018.

On December 8, the Twitter CEO shared reflections on his recent meditation retreat to Myanmar, a country whose army is killing and raping Rohingya Muslims “with genocidal intent.”

Some criticized the blind-eyed and tone deaf seeming thread in the days that followed. Now, Dorsey has issued what he called “more color” on his trip to Myanmar “given the resulting conversation.”

I’m aware of the human rights atrocities and suffering in Myanmar. I don’t view visiting, practicing, or talking with the people, as endorsement. I didn’t intend to diminish by not raising the issue, but could have acknowledged that I don’t know enough and need to learn more.

— jack (@jack) December 11, 2018 Read more…

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Time’s ‘Person of the Year’ honors ‘The Guardians’: imprisoned or murdered journalists of 2018

In a time when the president of the United States calls journalists “the enemy of the people,” Time magazine honored fallen and imprisoned journalists, calling them “The Guardians,” as their “Person of the Year” for 2018. 
SEE ALSO: Sarah Huckab…

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