Renren, which was once heralded as the ‘Facebook of China’ and later became China’s answer to MySpace after falling out of fashion among its core young users, is selling its social networking business. Renren’s parent company Beijing Qianxiang Wangjing has agreed to sell all tangible and intangible assets of renren.com to Beijing Infinities Interactive Media, […]
View More The forgotten ‘Facebook of China’ is sold for $20MCategory: Social Network
Facebook’s election interference problem exponentially worse on eve of midterms, study suggests
An analysis of political advertisers running extensive campaigns on Facebook targeting users in the United States over the past six months has flagged a raft of fresh concerns about its efforts to tackle election interference — suggesting the social network’s self regulation is offering little more than a sham veneer of accountability. Dig down and […]
View More Facebook’s election interference problem exponentially worse on eve of midterms, study suggestsCampaign tool supplied to UK’s governing party by Trump-Pence app dev quietly taken out of service — thanks to GDPR
An app that the UK’s governing party launched last year — for Conservative Party activists to gamify, ‘socialize’ and co-ordinate their campaigning activity — has been quietly pulled from app stores. Its vanishing was flagged to us earlier today, by Twitter user Sarah Parks, who noticed that, when loaded, the Campaigner app now displays a message informing users […]
View More Campaign tool supplied to UK’s governing party by Trump-Pence app dev quietly taken out of service — thanks to GDPRBig tech must not reframe digital ethics in its image
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s visage loomed large over the European parliament this week, both literally and figuratively, as global privacy regulators gathered in Brussels to interrogate the human impacts of technologies that derive their power and persuasiveness from our data. The eponymous social network has been at the center of a privacy storm this year. And […]
View More Big tech must not reframe digital ethics in its imageWhatsApp is finally adding stickers
WhatsApp is finally adding stickers to its hugely popular messaging app. The company said today that support for stickers will roll out to Android and iOS users over “the coming weeks.” Initially, the app’s 1.5 billion users will have a seemingly limited selection with the first packs provided by WhatsApp’s own design team and some “other […]
View More WhatsApp is finally adding stickersUK watchdog hands Facebook maximum $500K fine over Cambridge Analytica data breach
The U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has confirmed that it has hit Facebook with a maximum $500,000 ($645,000) fine around the way it mishandled user data following the Cambridge Analytica scandal earlier this year. The ICO announced its intention to hand Facebook the fine back in July and it said today that it had not changed […]
View More UK watchdog hands Facebook maximum $500K fine over Cambridge Analytica data breachMinds, the blockchain-based social network, grabs a $6M Series A
Minds, a decentralized social network, has raised $6 million in Series A funding from Medici Ventures, Overstock.com’s venture arm. Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne will join the Minds Board of Directors. What is a decentralized social network? The creators, who originally crowdfunded their product, see it as an anti-surveillance, anti-censorship, and anti-“big tech” platform that ensures […]
View More Minds, the blockchain-based social network, grabs a $6M Series A6D.ai opens up its beta
After wrestling for more than a decade with the development of a technology that would create a three-dimensional map of the physical world, the team at 6D.ai is finally ready to open up to developers its toolkit that the company says has done exactly that. When company chief executive Matt Miesnieks announced the launch of […]
View More 6D.ai opens up its betaTumblr says it’s fixed a security bug, but says ‘no evidence’ any user data was exposed
Tumblr has disclosed a security vulnerability on its site that in some cases could have exposed account information. The bug was found in the part of the site that recommends other Tumblr blogs to users, according to a blog post. The blogging site said the “recommended blogs” module — only visible to logged-in users — […]
View More Tumblr says it’s fixed a security bug, but says ‘no evidence’ any user data was exposedFacebook finds ‘no evidence’ hackers accessed connected apps
Facebook has said it’s found “no evidence” that third-party apps were affected by the data breach it revealed last week. Hackers stole account access tokens on at least 50 million users by exploiting a chain of three vulnerabilities inadvertently introduced by Facebook last year. Another 40 million may have been also been affected by the attack. […]
View More Facebook finds ‘no evidence’ hackers accessed connected appsFacebook says at least 50 million users affected by account takeover bug
Facebook has said at least 50 million user accounts may be at risk after hackers exploited a security vulnerability on the site. The company said in a blog post Friday that it discovered the bug earlier in the week. The bug is part of the site’s “View As” feature that lets a user see their […]
View More Facebook says at least 50 million users affected by account takeover bugFacebook bans Myanmar military accounts for ‘enabling human rights abuses’
Facebook is cracking down on the military leadership in Myanmar, the Southeast Asian country where the social network has been identified as a factor contributing to ethnic tension and violence. The U.S. company said today that it removed accounts belonging to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who is commander-in-chief of the armed forces, and the military-owned Myawady […]
View More Facebook bans Myanmar military accounts for ‘enabling human rights abuses’