Wanderlust

Tag: Facebook

  • Ukrainian hunger striker Sentsov ‘near end’ in Russian jail

    Oleg Sentsov on trial in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Photo: July 2015 Image copyright AFP Symbol caption Russia’s jailing of Oleg Sentsov was a cause celebre in Ukraine

    A Ukrainian film-maker on hunger strike in a far flung Russian jail is in a “catastrophically bad” state, one in all his cousins says.

    Oleg Sentsov, 42, went on starvation strike on 14 May to press Russia to free 64 jailed Ukrainians whom he calls political prisoners.

    On Fb his cousin Natalya Kaplan quoted a letter from Sentsov. She wrote (in Russian): “He can rarely stand up. He wrote that the tip is near.”

    Russia jailed him on terror fees.

    Sentsov used to be found to blame of plotting terrorist acts, including arson assaults, in Crimea after Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula in March 2014.

    Symbol copyright AFP Image caption Ukrainians have held rallies in reinforce of Sentsov and other Ukrainians jailed in Russia

    There’s a top-profile marketing campaign in Ukraine difficult his release. he’s absolute best recognized for his 2011 film Gamer.

    His lawyer Dmitry Dinze visited Sentsov on Tuesday and later stated his shopper had misplaced 30kg (66 pounds) in weight and his heart fee had slowed.

    During the trial Sentsov denied the Russian charges, announcing that “a court of occupiers cannot be simply”.

    He stated members of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) had crushed him as much as extract a confession.

    Prosecutors say he used to be inquisitive about tried arson assaults within the city of Simferopol, ordered by extremist Ukrainian team Proper Sector.

    The Ukrainian govt says he is being punished for being a Crimea-based totally professional-Ukrainian activist.

    Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its fortify for rebels in eastern Ukraine ended in a chain of sanctions imposed by means of Western nations in opposition to Moscow.

    Ukrainians were staging protests near Russian embassies across the international, not easy the discharge of Sentsov and other Ukrainian prisoners in Russia.

  • Twitter won’t ban InfoWars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones

    Alex Jones speaking outside of a Trump campaign event Symbol copyright Reuters Image caption Mr Jones and his InfoWars Twitter bills have shared ONE HUNDRED,000 tweets on the platform

    The CEO of Twitter says it’ll no longer ban InfoWars or its founder Alex Jones as a result of their debts don’t violate the social media platform’s rules.

    A choice of tech giants, including YouTube and Fb, deleted the conspiracy theorist’s content this week, bringing up hate speech.

    Mr Jones has accused the platforms of unfair censorship of his debts.

    The radio host is best recognized for spreading unsubstantiated allegations approximately tragic occasions, together with NINE/11.

    He is recently being sued for defamation via three oldsters whose kids were killed in the Sandy Hook Fundamental school assault, which he has many times claimed was once a “large hoax”.

    Image copyright Reuters Symbol caption Mr Dorsey stated it was essential the service remained independent “irrespective of political viewpoints”

    A Few right-wing commentators have urged tech firms’ talent to dam a writer pose a problem to the free speech regulations within the US.

    On Monday, Donald Trump Jnr implied the actions against Jones were a part of a bigger censorship marketing campaign to purge conservative media outlets.

    This isn’t the primary time Twitter has confronted similar controversy.

    Last year it suspended its verification gadget after being accused of amplifying the content of a long way-proper debts with legitimate “blue ticks”.

    In Tuesday’s tweets Mr Dorsey admitted the platform were “negative at explaining our selections in the prior” but mentioned it was once committed to fixing itself.

    A collection of neatly-identified some distance-proper figures together with Tommy Robinson were banned from Twitter in latest months as a part of a much wider crackdown on hateful and abusive content on the platform.

    Earlier this year, the CEO requested for the public’s assist with tackling on-line abuse.

  • Facebook bans pages aimed at US election interference

    Facebook Symbol copyright Getty Pictures/Facebook

    Fb says it has removed 32 bills and pages believed to had been arrange to influence the mid-time period US elections in November.

    It said it used to be in the “very early” degrees of the research and didn’t yet recognise who was once behind the pages.

    It mentioned the account creators had gone to larger lengths to cover their identities than a Russia-based marketing campaign to disrupt the us presidential vote.

    It described makes an attempt to erase election interference as an “hands race.”

    What did Fb uncover?

    The social community stated in a weblog that it had identified 17 suspect profiles on Facebook and seven Instagram debts.

    Image copyright Facebook Symbol caption Facebook has shared a few of the images posted by the money owed

    In general greater than 290,000 debts followed a minimum of certainly one of the pages involved, it introduced.

    Fb said the suspect debts had additionally run about A HUNDRED AND FIFTY advertisements on Fb and Instagram, costing a total of $ELEVEN,000 (£8,THREE HUNDRED).

    The most popular fake bills had been:

    Aztlan WarriorsBlack ElevationMindful BeingResisters

    Why can’t Fb be certain that who’s responsible?

    The “dangerous actors” went to a ways higher lengths to cover their tracks than the Russian-based totally Internet Research Agency (IRA) had in the previous, Facebook mentioned.

    This integrated the usage of virtual personal networks (VPNs) to hide their area, and using 3rd events to run advertisements on their behalf.

    Furthermore, the social network stated it had no longer discovered proof of Russian IP (web protocol) addresses.

    But it did find one link between the IRA and the brand new bills. one in all disabled IRA money owed shared a Fb experience hosted by the Resisters page. The web page additionally in short indexed an IRA account as certainly one of its administrators.

    Symbol copyright Facebook Image caption a lot of the posts included anti-Trump messages

    It brought that it “might never be able to spot the source” for the faux bills.

    “The set of actors we see now may well be the IRA with stepped forward features, or it would be a separate team,” explained Facebook’s chief security officer Alex Stamos.

    “This Is considered one of the elemental obstacles of attribution: offensive organisations beef up their techniques after they were exposed, and it is wishful considering to imagine that we can always give you the chance to identify power actors with prime confidence.”

    Faux information ‘crowding out’ actual news, MPs say Facebook halts InfoWars founder’s posts Facebook is in ‘palms race’ with Russia

    What’s the corporate doing about it?

    Fb has removed the suspect debts, however says other authentic web page administrators unwittingly interacted with them.

    For instance, after the Resisters account created a Facebook experience for a protest on 10 to 12 August referred to as “No Unite The Right 2”, 5 other page owners presented to co-host the demonstration and posted information about transportation and locations.

    Fb stated it had contacted the admins involved and might alert the two,SIX HUNDRED users who had expressed hobby within the event.

    Symbol copyright Facebook Image caption some of the flagged posts could had been tough for the public to identify as election interference

    The firm stated it will additionally proceed efforts to hit upon further misuses of its platform and paintings more intently with law enforcement and different tech companies to understand the threats faced.

    How have US politicians reacted?

    Democratic congressman Adam Schiff stated: “Modern Day declaration from Facebook demonstrates what we have lengthy feared: that malicious international actors bearing the hallmarks of prior to now-identified Russian affect campaigns continue to abuse and weaponise social media systems to influence the u.s. electorate.”

    “International affect actors stay without difficulty able to manipulating uncooked emotion and societal divisions to prey on unsuspecting American Citizens who use these related social media gear for legit political expression, agency, and advocacy.”

    Democratic Senator Mark Warner, who is vice-chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, additionally pointed his finger at Moscow.

    “Ultra-Modern disclosure is additional proof that the Kremlin continues to take advantage of platforms like Facebook to sow division and unfold disinformation, and that i am satisfied that Facebook is taking some steps to pinpoint and address this task,” he said.

    “I also expect Fb, at the side of other platform corporations, will continue to spot Russian troll job and to work with Congress on updating our laws to better protect our democracy within the future.”

    Republican Senator Lindsey Graham delivered that he meant to pursue retaliatory measures.

    “i can be introducing Thursday a sanctions invoice towards Russia that has the whole thing however the kitchen sink in it,” he declared.

    “it will likely be the sanctions invoice from hell. And another united states of america that may be looking to intervene with our election will have to undergo the similar fate.”

    Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr, a Republican, mentioned that the operation’s obvious purpose were to “sow discord, mistrust, and department in an attempt to undermine public religion in our institutions and our political system”.

    “Russians want a susceptible The United States,” he brought.

    Analysis: Dave Lee, North The United States generation reporter

    Image copyright Getty Photographs

    This May Occasionally seem like another disastrous headline for Fb, but it isn’t.

    Earlier in the yr it promised to improve its so-a ways shambolic efforts at disposing of incorrect information. It promised to rent more other folks, enlist outside help and paintings on new automated detection strategies.

    Lately it used to be able to share a tangible, flesh presser-pleasant instance of ways the ones efforts came together, to quash a misinformation campaign prior to it it seems that led to so much harm.

    But the future is troubling and predictable. This up to date campaign was extra refined than anything that got here earlier than it – the use of 3rd parties to buy advertising in the US is a troublesome downside for Facebook to tackle without snarling up its commercials operation.

    And to state the obvious, while Fb was once capable of hit upon this particular operation, none people actually know the way big this downside is.

    What took place with the 2016 elections?

    Shortly after the vote, Facebook’s leader Mark Zuckerberg derided ideas that fake information published to the platform had motivated the presidential election, announcing it used to be a “lovely loopy idea”.

    But he has considering the fact that apologised for being so dismissive.

    In September 2017, Facebook stated that Russians had indeed used pretend identities to take a look at to influence the us electorate prior to and after the election, and had posted feedback, commercials and information about boulevard protests to achieve this.

    US intelligence companies have also concluded that Russian state operators used pretend social media accounts in an try to intervene with the marketing campaign.

    President Putin has, however, denied that Russian meddled.

  • Fb stocks slump 20% after growth warning

    Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Facebook logo in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. Image copyright Reuters

    Fb shares opened sharply lower on Thursday, after the social media network warned traders of slowing revenue profits and increased spending.

    The firm’s shares opened 20% down, a drop that wiped more than $100bn (£76bn) off Facebook’s market value.

    The fall also dragged down the tech-rich Nasdaq share index, which used to be virtually 1% lower.

    Fb’s forecast got here as the company faces a backlash over its handling of fake information and user data.

    The corporate mentioned it anticipated to boost spending by way of 50% or extra, as it tries to improve the best way it displays content, tracks advertisers and treats user data – areas where it has confronted regulator scrutiny.

    Symbol copyright Reuters Image caption Fb boss Mark Zuckerberg has seemed sooner than regulators this 12 months

    Alphabet, which owns Google and YouTube, and likewise depends on virtual promoting, used to be down less than 1%, whilst song streaming provider Spotify gained almost 1%, after reporting stronger than expected user enlargement.

    Many of the criteria affecting Facebook are distinctive to the corporate, said Daniel Ives, chief era officer at GBH Insights.

    The company has been in the spotlight for its involvement with knowledge firm Cambridge Analytica.

    Fb has additionally modified the inside track feed to emphasize posts from family and friends, tweaks that chief executive Mark Zuckerberg had up to now counseled could have an effect on profitability.

    Analyst Richard Greenfield of BTIG Research wrote in a observe that buyers were “overreacting”.

    He said Fb remained a wealthy chance for advertisers, and the investments it is making must drive long run enlargement.

    “We had been pretty stressed out right through Fb’s Q2 2018 conference name and will feel the fear/panic in buyers voices afterwards,” he wrote.

    However, he delivered: “Cell is consuming the sector and Fb is a center maintaining to profit from that shift.”

  • Zuckerberg in Holocaust denial row

    Auschwitz train track and Mark Zuckerberg Image caption Mark Zuckerberg has said Holocaust deniers have to be given a voice on Facebook

    Mark Zuckerberg has again found himself at the centre of a row, after pronouncing posts from Holocaust deniers need to be allowed on Facebook.

    In an interview with generation website online Recode, Mr Zuckerberg stated that he didn’t imagine such other people must be removed from the website.

    They weren’t, he mentioned, “intentionally” getting their data flawed.

    The feedback caused a backlash and Mr Zuckerberg later issued a explanation.

    The unique feedback, given in a large-ranging interview with Recode, have been made in reaction to questions about what Fb was once doing to battle fake information and web sites, corresponding to InfoWars, that promoted conspiracy theories.

    In Myanmar, also known as Burma, Facebook has been accused by way of UN investigators of facilitating violence towards Rohingya Muslims by way of permitting anti-Muslim hate speech and pretend information.

    The social network has now mentioned that it will start disposing of incorrect information that could lead to other folks being physically harmed.

    When requested about its coverage on faux information, Mr Zuckerberg introduced, with out prompting, the instance of Holocaust deniers.

    “I Am Jewish and there’s a set of individuals who deny that the Holocaust happened,” he told reporter Kara Swisher.

    “I Find it deeply offensive. But on the finish of the day, i don’t consider that our platform must take that down as a result of i feel there are issues that other people get flawed. i do not assume that they are intentionally getting it fallacious.

    “Everybody will get things wrong and if we were taking down other people’s debts once they got a few things wrong, then that may be a hard world for giving other people a voice and saying that you simply care about that.”

    The comments brought about a hurricane of protest.

    Editor of anti-fascist magazine Searchlight Gerry Gable told the BBC: “Zuckerberg may just kill a lot of this unhealthy subject material getting worldwide distribution – however he’s a like a spoilt teenager.”

    “because of his monetary powers, he simply does a bit of of tinkering without working out how this subject matter could inspire loopy folks to firebomb synagogues, mosques or church buildings.”

    NBC News reporter Benjy Sarlin tweeted asking whether Mr Zuckerberg concept the controversy over whether the Holocaust had happened was once in “just right religion”.

    Skip Twitter publish by way of @BenjySarlin

    So apparently Mark Zuckerberg is underneath the impact there is a few excellent religion debate occurring over whether the Holocaust happened? https://t.co/Qdn4E7n2jl pic.twitter.com/ClLngQqesS

    — Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) July 18, 2018

    File

    Finish of Twitter post by @BenjySarlin

    And Matt Ford, a reporter on the Atlantic, talked about that Mr Zuckerberg had not even been requested concerning the Holocaust – “he just mentioned he’d keep it on Facebook on his personal”.

    Skip Twitter put up by way of @fordm

    the second-wildest factor in regards to the Zuckerberg interview is that he wasn’t even requested approximately Holocaust denial, he simply said he’d keep it on Fb on his own https://t.co/4mI8k4pssE pic.twitter.com/pPUc4Tn23v

    — Matt Ford (@fordm) July 18, 2018

    File

    End of Twitter publish by way of @fordm

    After the comments drew fire from many, Mr Zuckerberg issued a clarification.

    “I enjoyed our dialog the day before today,” he said in an e mail to the reporter, published at the Recode web site.

    “But there may be something i want to clear up. i personally find Holocaust denial deeply offensive and that i absolutely did not intend to shield the reason of people who deny that.”

    Fb has confronted complaint over the way in which the platform can amplify fake reports and has been engaged in an promoting campaign both on- and offline stating: “Faux new is not your loved one.”

    but it surely has faced questions about why it maintains to permit websites reminiscent of InfoWars – which has referred to as the Sandy Hook bloodbath a hoax – to stay on the platform.

  • British watchdog to positive Fb for Cambridge data breach

    July ELEVEN (UPI) — A British watchdog stated it plans to high quality Fb $663,000 for its data breach related to Cambridge Analytica over failure to protected users information.

    The Ideas Commissioner’s Place Of Job, Nice Britain’s impartial body to give protection to data rights, mentioned Tuesday the wonderful would be the maximum penalty for 2 breaches of the data Coverage Act 1998.

    Its research decided Fb violated the regulation by means of “failing to protect people’s knowledge,” and “failing to be transparent about how people’s information was harvested by others,” the ICO unlock said.

    Former Cambridge Analytica worker Christopher Wylie blew the whistle in February that a Facebook app developed by way of Cambridge College lecturers, including Dr. Aleksandr Kogan, used to be used to harvest knowledge from thousands and thousands of Facebook users and their pals. the total collection of customers breached might be as top as 87 million, together with 1 million in the United Kingdom.

    The ICO opened its research more than a yr ago to probe whether political campaigns misused private knowledge associated with Nice Britain’s 2016 referendum on whether it will stay in the European Union. Considering The Fact That this iciness, the investigation’s focal point has shifted to the Cambridge Analytica breach.

    British Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham advised BBC News “the magnitude of the breach” resulted within the large advantageous, and despite the fact that Facebook has since modified its platform, it “did not practice through on their obligations even when they discovered out that knowledge set was out there.”

    Fb is also facing a category-action lawsuit from advocacy workforce Truthful Vote over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. the crowd, which has EIGHTY FOUR claimants to this point, stated round 1 million British citizens suffering from the breach may just join the go well with for reimbursement.

    the gang said the ICO’s decision to superb Facebook supported its claim.

  • Google and Fb accused of breaking GDPR laws

    Web giant logos Symbol caption Four web giants are accused of breaking the law

    Proceedings were filed against Fb, Google, Instagram and WhatsApp inside hours of the brand new GDPR information protection law taking effect.

    The firms are accused of forcing users to consent to centered promoting to make use of the products and services.

    Privacy staff noyb.eu led by means of activist Max Schrems said other people were not being given a “unfastened selection”.

    If the lawsuits are upheld, the internet sites is also pressured to change how they operate, and they might be fined.

    What’s the issue?

    The General Knowledge Coverage Legislation (GDPR) is a new ECU regulation that changes how personal information will also be amassed and used. Even companies primarily based outside the eu will have to apply the new laws if offering their services in the european.

    Symbol copyright Reuters Image caption Lawyer Max Schrems is a privateness suggest

    The proceedings have been filed by way of 4 EUROPEAN voters with native regulators in Austria, Belgium, France and Germany.

    Analysts and regulators had anticipated court cases to be filed shortly after the advent of the law, as organizations and privacy advocates argue over how the regulation should be interpreted.

    ‘Huge fines’

    Some firms primarily based out of doors the ecu have briefly blocked their services throughout Europe to circumvent falling foul of the brand new legislation.

    However, others similar to Twitter have offered granular controls that permit other people decide out of targeted promoting.

    Companies that fall foul of GDPR may also be – in extreme instances – fined greater than £17m.

    Facebook said in a press release that it had spent 18 months preparing to make certain it met the requirements of GDPR.

    Google instructed the BBC: “We build privacy and safety into our products from the very earliest ranges and are committed to complying with the ecu Common Knowledge Coverage Law.”

    WhatsApp has now not yet spoke back to the BBC’s request for remark.

    (more…)

  • My Kashmir newspaper has been shut down, and i ’m no longer surprised

    Kashmiri media persons hold placard during a stage a sit-in protest at Press Enclave in Srinagar summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 16 July 2016. Image copyright EPA Symbol caption Kashmir editors have protested against the suspension of their guides

    Government have close down newspapers in Indian-administered Kashmir seeking to end violent protests sparked via the killing of a prominent separatist militant. Shujaat Bukhari, editor of the Emerging Kashmir, writes on why the news blackout does not wonder him.

    A friend referred to as me on Saturday morning and used to be nervous to grasp whether all was once neatly with our newspaper.

    “Has your printing press also been raided?” he requested.

    I informed him i might have to take a look at. He said other newspapers were updating their web pages saying their presses were raided.

    i assumed exhausting about whether or not we had revealed anything “inflammatory” after the protests began, but may think of not anything.

    Image caption front web page of Rising Kashmir newspaper that was once seized through police at the weekend

    Imposing a data blockade have been a part of the state “strategy” in 2010 as well and the scene is rewinding this time.

    mobile phone services and products – together with knowledge – aside from that of a government owned service provider were barred, cable TV is the off the air and some 70 newspapers – in English, Urdu and Kashmiri languages – have officially been requested to stop publication for a couple of days.

    only a handful of broadband connections are serving to us stay in touch with the remainder of the world.

    Now Not new

    For us those restrictions aren’t new.

    for the reason that outbreak of armed rebellion in Kashmir in early 1990, media within the area has needed to work on a razor’s side in what’s effectively the arena’s most closely militarised zone.

    Thirteen newshounds had been killed through the struggle due to the fact that 1990. Threats to existence, intimidation, assault, arrest and censorship have been part of the life of a normal local journalist.

    Reporters had been targeted by security forces and militants alike. Publications had been denied federal executive ads -a key supply of income for smaller newspapers.

    If an area journalist experiences an atrocity by means of the protection forces, he risks being dubbed “anti-nationwide”. Highlighting any wrong doing by means of the militants or separatists may simply mean that he’s “anti-tehreek” (anti-motion) or a “collaborator”.

    Symbol copyright AFP Image caption Around 1,500 other people were injured in recent protests Symbol copyright EPA Image caption The violence has crippled standard existence within the Muslim-ruled valley

    Kashmir’s Training Minister Naeem Akhtar has stated the media ban was “reluctant determination”.

    “It Is a brief degree to address a rare situation… In our opinion, there may be an emotional lot, very young, out in the box, who get surcharged as a result of positive projections within the media, which results in multiplication of tragedies,” he instructed The Indian Categorical newspaper.

    By banning newspapers, a central authority that may be desperately grappling to normalise the placement, has spread out house for hearsay mills to flourish that could irritate the already surcharged surroundings.

    Media is not going to be noticed as an enemy in a democratic set up. Stifling the media does not help to reinforce the democracy that has been underneath risk in Kashmir for the sort of long time.

  • Cambridge Analytica files for bankruptcy following Facebook data scandal

    Cambridge Analytica LLC, the American branch of the embattled British-based data broker and political consultancy firm hired by President Trump’s 2016 election campaign, has filed for bankruptcy in th

    Cambridge Analytica LLC, the American branch of the embattled British-based data broker and political consultancy firm hired by President Trump’s 2016 election campaign, has filed for bankruptcy in the United States after coming under fire for collecting the personal information of millions of Facebook users without their knowledge.

    Along with a related company, SCL USA, Cambridge Analytica filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in federal court late Thursday, two months after news reports first revealed that the firm had quietly obtained the personal data of about 87 million Facebook users through a purported online personality quiz.

    Cambridge Analytica’s filing listed assets totally between $100,001 and $500,000, and debts ranging between $1 million and $10 million to dozens of different creditors, including Comcast, Verizon Wireless, the Federal Election Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. John Thune, South Dakota Republican, among others.

    “As one of multiple government investigators listed in the bankruptcy filing as a creditor (including the US Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Election Commission), the Senate Commerce Committee has an outstanding request for information from Cambridge Analytica,” a spokesman for Mr. Thune said in a statement.

    Cambridge Analytica has faced heightened scrutiny from regulators in the U.S. and abroad after it was reported in March that the company had quietly amassed the personal information of millions of Facebook users through “ThisIsYourDigitalLife,” an online quiz developed by data scientist Aleksandr Kogan, and subsequently exploited that information during the course while conducting business for political clients.

    The Federal Trade Commission previously announced it was investigating Facebook’s privacy policies as a result of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and the U.K.’s data watchdog raided the firm’s London office in March as part of a probe concerning “the use of personal data and analytics by political campaigns, parties, social media companies and other commercial actors.”

    Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign paid Cambridge Analytica at least $5.9 million between July and December 2016, and the president’s former chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, previously served as the firm’s vice president.

    Cambridge Analyrica’s filing was signed on behalf of the firm’s board by Rebekah and Jennifer Mercer, the daughters of Robert Mercer, a hedge fund manager and major contributor to Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

    The firm initiated bankruptcy proceedings in the U.K. earlier this month, citing a loss of business blamed on recently media coverage.