As recently as last week, Facebook was touting the growth of its Internet.org app Free Basics, but the program isn’t working out everywhere. As the Outline originally reported and TechCrunch confirmed, the Free Basics program has ended in Myanmar, perhaps Facebook’s most controversial non-Western market at the moment. Its mission statement pledging to “bring more people […]
View More Facebook’s Free Basics program ended quietly in Myanmar last yearCategory: Myanmar
Facebook expands downvote tests on comments
Mark Twain had it right: There’s no such thing as a new idea. To wit: Facebook is currently testing arrows to let users ‘up’ vote or ‘down’ vote individual comments in some of its international markets. Digg eat your heart out. Reddit roll over. This particular trial of upvoting/downvoting buttons is limited to New Zealand […]
View More Facebook expands downvote tests on commentsFacebook’s dark ads problem is systemic
Facebook’s admission to the UK parliament this week that it had unearthed unquantified thousands of dark fake ads after investigating fakes bearing the face and name of well-known consumer advice personality, Martin Lewis, underscores the massive challenge for its platform on this front. Lewis is suing the company for defamation over its failure to stop bogus […]
View More Facebook’s dark ads problem is systemicTwitter doesn’t care that someone is building a bot army in Southeast Asia
Facebook’s lack of attention to how third parties are using its service to reach users ended up with CEO Mark Zuckerberg taking questions from Congressional committees. With that in mind, you’d think that others in the social media space might be more attentive than usual to potentially malicious actors on their platforms. Twitter, however, is turning […]
View More Twitter doesn’t care that someone is building a bot army in Southeast AsiaIn Senate hearing, Zuckerberg faces blame over violence in Myanmar
While the recent Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal is the main focus for American lawmakers questioning Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg today, the company’s record beyond the U.S. raises even more alarms. During the hearing, Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy brought up the company’s role in the ongoing ethnic violence in Myanmar, citing one incident where death threats […]
View More In Senate hearing, Zuckerberg faces blame over violence in MyanmarFacebook is again criticized for failing to prevent religious conflict in Myanmar
Today marks the start of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s much-anticipated trip to Washington as he attends a hearing with the Senate, before moving on to a Congressional hearing tomorrow. Away from the U.S. political capital, Zuckerberg is engaged in serious discussions about Myanmar with a group of six civil society organizations in the country who […]
View More Facebook is again criticized for failing to prevent religious conflict in MyanmarMyanmar activists still maintain Facebook isn’t doing enough on hate speech
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Last week, a group of Myanmar civil society organisations made their voice heard about the impact Facebook had on the country.
The open letter to Mark Zuckerberg criticised “the inadequate response of the Facebook team” when it came to the spread of hate speech on the platform.
SEE ALSO: Sheryl Sandberg desperately tries to soften Facebook’s image before Congressional hearings
The letter came following the Facebook CEO’s interview with Vox, in which he gave a local example of the social network’s systems stopping a harmful, sensational message from being sent through Messenger.
“People were trying to use our tools in order to incite real harm,” he told Vox’s Ezra Klein. “Now, in that case, our systems detect that that’s going on. We stop those messages from going through. But this is certainly something that we’re paying a lot of attention to.” Read more…
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View More Myanmar activists still maintain Facebook isn’t doing enough on hate speechMyanmar group blasts Zuckerberg’s claim on Facebook hate speech prevention
It’s becoming common to say that Mark Zuckerberg is coming under fire, but the Facebook CEO is again being questioned, this time over a recent claim that Facebook’s internal monitoring system is able to thwart attempts to use its services to incite hatred. Speaking to Vox, Zuckerberg used the example of Myanmar, where he claimed […]
View More Myanmar group blasts Zuckerberg’s claim on Facebook hate speech preventionUN says Facebook is accelerating ethnic violence in Myanmar
The United Nations has warned that Facebook’s platform is contributing to the spread of hate speech and ethnic violence in crisis hit Myanmar. Read More
UN officials blast Facebook over spread of Rohingya hate speech
Facebook has long been criticised for its role in the Rohingya crisis, an assessment now underscored by comments by United Nations investigators.
Marzuki Darusman, chairman of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission in Myanmar told repo…
Salman Rushdie, Mindy Kaling, Aziz Ansari and others call for end to ethnic cleansing of Rohingya
World leaders will do a lot of talking while they’re gathered in the Philippines this week for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, but a group of notable writers, actors and others would like them to take a brief moment and listen.
Sal…