Congress turns up heat on Facebook after allegations of data harvesting

Congress is ratcheting up political pressure on Facebook after reports that a political data analytics firm employed by President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign received personal data and information from up to 50 million profiles on the popular social networking site. Lawmakers involved in congressional investigations into Russian election interference have renewed interest in the platform, calling for top company leaders to testify on Capitol Hill and more scrutiny of safeguards meant to protect user data.

Breitbart News Sees Big Drop In Readership

Breitbart, the alt-right news site whose executive chairman Steve Bannon was pushed out in January after feuding with President Donald Trump, has lost about half its readership according to comScore, raising questions about its future. The site dropped from 15 million unique visitors in October, per comScore, to 13.7 million in November, 9.9 million in December, 8.5 million in January and 7.8 million in February.

Facebook backlash: Failure to disclose political firm’s profile access draws scrutiny

The episode marks another blow to Facebook's reputation during a period of growing scrutiny over Russian use of the platform to interfere in American politics. Facebook critics are questioning the social media giant's commitment to transparency and digital ethics after a political intelligence firm under scrutiny from federal investigators allegedly exploited access to up to 50 million personal profiles .

The Wall Street Journal: Facebook sparks international furor over third-party access to user data

Facebook Inc. ignited a firestorm over how it manages third-party access to its users' information, after the social network said a firm with ties to the 2016 Trump campaign improperly kept data for years despite saying it had destroyed those records. over the weekend for not providing more information about how the data firm, Cambridge Analytica, came to access information about potentially tens of millions of the social network's members without their explicit permission.

3/17/2018

Well, lookee here. Facebook has banned the Trump affiliated data crunching outfit Cambridge Analytica from using its platform after the New York Times published this expose today, much of it based upon the evidence provided by a whistleblower: As the upstart voter-profiling company Cambridge Analytica prepared to wade into the 2014 American midterm elections, it had a problem.

Facebook, Twitter, Google CEOs face calls to testify to Congress

Social media giants that have acknowledged Russians exploited their platforms ahead of the 2016 election face renewed bipartisan demands to explain to Congress what they're doing to counter abuse of their networks ahead of this year's congressional midterms. Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said that the chief executives from companies like Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet's Google should testify as to how they can tackle ongoing interference by Russia, as well as abuse of their networks by others.

Peter Thiel is totally over Silicon Valley, people – CNET

During a talk at Stanford University more than a decade ago, Peter Thiel said there was a 50 percent chance the next major tech firm would come up within a 5-mile radius of the school. That company was Facebook, and it was well within that distance.

CRISPR helps find new genetic suspects behind ALS/FTD

Researchers used the gene editing tool CRISPR to rapidly search the entire human genome for genetic suspects behind hereditary versions of ALS and FTD. NIH-funded researchers at Stanford University used the gene editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to rapidly identify genes in the human genome that might modify the severity of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia caused by mutations in a gene called C9orf72.

Christopher Liddell, ex-Microsoft and GM executive, is strong…

Christopher Liddell, ex-Microsoft and GM executive, is strong candidate to become Trump's new economic guru Christopher Liddell, an ex-Microsoft and General Motors executive, is currently the White House's director of strategic initiatives. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: https://usat.ly/2GiTFL2 Christopher Liddell is under strong consideration to become President Trump's next economic adviser, replacing Gary Cohn, who announced his resignation last week.

Mark Warner: The country is ‘woefully unprepared’ for cyber threats

Whether it's an attack on the banking infrastructure or disinformation campaigns on social media, the United States is "woefully unprepared" to combat cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns, Senator Mark Warner said on Saturday. Speaking at the SXSW festival, Warner said it's time to consider the liability of tech platforms and software makers.

The Latest: Hong Kong ‘regrets and disapproves’ US tariffs

President Donald Trump, center, speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 8, 2018, before signing two proclamations, one on steel imports and the other on aluminum imports. Standing with Trum... .

Republican Jewish Coalition demands resignation of Democratic leaders with ties to Farrakhan

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has answered those who denounced as anti-Semitic his recent "Jews are my enemy" quote with another broadside, this time tweeting a video clip where he says "The Jews have control over those areas of government" - in referring to the FBI.