Germany Acts to Tame Facebook, Learning From Its Own History of Hate

Trump Jr. and Other Aides Met With Gulf Emissary Offering Help to Win Election - WASHINGTON - Three months before the 2016 election, a small group gathered at Trump Tower to meet with Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son. One was an Israeli specialist in social media manipulation.

Cambridge Analytica under federal investigation: Report

The Justice Department and FBI are investigating Cambridge Analytica, the now-shuttered political data firm that was once used by the Trump campaign and came under scrutiny for harvesting data of millions of users, The New York Times reported Tuesday . The Times, citing a U.S. official and people familiar with the inquiry, reported federal investigators have looked to question former employees and banks connected to the firm.

Facebook Suspends 200 Apps Suspected Of Collecting Data

Facebook has suspended roughly 200 apps suspected of misusing data they have gathered on the social media site, a vice president at the company said on Monday. The company has investigated "thousands of apps" and "around 200 have been suspended," Ime Archibong, vice president of Product Partnerships at Facebook, wrote in a blog post .

Crawford cites abuses, cuts ties with Facebook

U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford has dropped the world's most widely used social media platform, but he's adding another way for people to reach out and speak up. The Jonesboro Republican now invites constituents to contact his office by text at 292-6747.

We read every one of the 3,517 Facebook ads bought by Russians. Their …

The Russian company charged with orchestrating a wide-ranging effort to meddle in the 2016 presidential election overwhelmingly focused its barrage of social media advertising on what is arguably America's rawest political division: race. The roughly 3,500 Facebook ads were created by the Russian-based Internet Research Agency, which is at the center of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's February indictment of 13 Russians and three companies seeking to influence the election.

Facebook Faces Class-Action Lawsuit For Collecting Texts, Phone Call Data

Facebook is facing a class-action lawsuit following revelations it collects text messages and phone calls via its smartphone apps on Android devices. The social network giant's actions "presents several wrongs, including a consumer bait-and-switch, an invasion of privacy, wrongful monitoring of minors and potential attacks on privileged communications" such as those between attorneys and clients or doctors and patients, the lawsuit alleges.

Lawmakers release thousands of Russian Facebook ads

Democrats on the House intelligence committee have released more than 3,500 Facebook ads that were created or promoted by a Russian internet agency, providing the fullest picture yet of Russia's attempt to sow racial and political division in the United States before and after the 2016 election. Most of the ads are issue-based, pushing arguments for and against immigration, LGBT issues and gun rights, among other issues.

Next change for Facebook: New board director, executives reshuffled

Facebook will undergo major organizational changes inside its Menlo Park-based headquarters and with its board of directors, including having a new director fill the board seat left open by WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum. Jeff Zients, the CEO of the multinational holding company Cranemere, will join Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, venture capitalists Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen and four others on Facebook's board effective May 31, the day of Facebook's shareholder meeting, the company announced Tuesday.

Why Am I Getting All These Terms of Service Update Emails?

"These are the kind of user-empowering features that some companies would rather you didn't know too much about, so don't be surprised if the only news you hear about them comes from poring over these changes to long documents." Anyone looking at their inbox in the last few months might think that the Internet companies have collectively returned from a term-of-service writers' retreat.

Is Facebook biased again conservatives? It pledges to investigate

During his testimony on Capitol Hill last month, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg batted down charges the giant social network has a liberal bent. But this week, Facebook said it would bring in advisers to probe whether it suppresses conservative voices, the latest in a post-Cambridge Analytica goodwill campaign to rebuild trust with its 2.2 billion users.

DC Newsjunkie | Blumenthal, Murphy Seek Relief For Crumbling Concrete

Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy introduced legislation this week aimed at providing up to $100 million in federal assistance to help homeowners and businesses whose homes and buildings suffer from crumbling foundations. The Connecticut tandem put two bills into the hopper that provide two separate ways for the $100 million to be authorized over a five year period.

Cambridge Analytica whistleblower: Steve Bannon used data to discourage Democratic turnout

Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie told House Democrats that former Trump campaign strategist Steve Bannon used the firm's research to discourage Democrats from voting in the 2016 election, according to testimony released Wednesday. Former Cambridge Analytica employee Christopher Wylie arrives at the U.S. Capitol for a meeting with Democratic members of the House Intelligence Committee April 25, 2018, in Washington, D.C. Democrats from the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee asked Wylie in a closed-door session on Tuesday whether Bannon had specifically talked about voter disenfranchisement or disengagement.

Facebook will not testify at U.S. House hearing on social media

Facebook Inc said on Wednesday it has declined an invitation to testify at a U.S. House of Representatives hearing Thursday on filtering practices by social media companies, a company spokesman said. A man poses with a magnifier in front of a Facebook logo on display in this illustration taken in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, December 16, 2015.

What’s next for Facebook?

Now that the cameras have gone, the booster cushion has been removed from the witness chair, and Mark Zuckerberg is comfortably back in in Palo Alto, having survived his marathon two-days of testimony in front of a somewhat confused Congress, what's next? Following the revelations that a political marketing firm, Cambridge Analytica, improperly obtained personal information from approximately 87 million Facebook user profiles , Congress has more support than ever to regulate Facebook and other social media tech. On his 'apology tour,' and in congressional testimony, Zuckerberg has said he is open to some form of oversight.

House Democrats talk to Cambridge Analytica whistleblower

WASHINGTON>> House Democrats, frustrated by what they see as GOP inaction and with an eye on midterm elections, held the first of what they hope to be several interviews today with witnesses who have not been interrogated in the Republican-led Russia investigations. Democrats on the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees interviewed former Cambridge Analytica employee Christopher Wylie, who revealed that a data-mining firm affiliated with President Donald Trump's campaign gathered millions of Facebook profiles to influence elections.

FDA cracks down on sales of Juul, other e-cigarettes to youth

Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, has announced a nationwide crackdown on the sale of e-cigarettes to minors. Scott Gottlieb, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, has announced a nationwide crackdown on the sale of e-cigarettes to minors.