James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
The chief executives of Facebook Inc., Google LLC, and Twitter Inc. will be grilled in front of Congress Wednesday, with Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg the only one expected to embrace reform regarding the controversial Section 230 law. Section 230 is a statute in …
Twitter launches preemptive messages to warn of election misinformation
Twitter Inc. announced today that users in the U.S. will start seeing messages on their timeline that “preemptively debunk” misinformation relating to the election. The messages will appear in the form of banners when people search for election information, such as claims …
US officials say emails threatening people to vote for Trump came from Iran
Emails that told voters in Florida to vote for Donald Trump were part of an Iranian intelligence campaign, the FBI announced today. “We are in possession of all your information,” said the email. “You are currently registered as a Democrat, and we …
Thousands of deepfake images of naked women shared online
More than 100,000 women have fallen prey to an artificial intelligence that used their social media photos to create new images of them appearing naked, it was reported today. According to Sensity, a visual threat intelligence company based in the Netherlands, there is …
Irish regulator is looking into Instagram’s handling of children’s data
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission is investigating how Facebook Inc.-owned Instagram handles the data of children, it was first reported by The Telegraph Monday. The probe comes a year after David Stier, a U.S. data scientist, published a report that suggested Instagram was …
Facebook rejected 2M+ ads for attempting to obstruct US voting
Facebook Inc. rejected 2.2 million ads designed to obstruct voting in the U.S., the company announced over the weekend. Nick Clegg, the social network’s vice president for global affairs, said 120,000 posts were also taken down and warnings were posted on about …
After complaints about handling of news story, FCC moves to regulate social media
The Federal Communications Commission today said it’s in the process of regulating social media platforms such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. The move comes a day after President Trump aired his disdain for the platforms for their handling of a dubious …
Facebook and Twitter limit reach of controversial Hunter Biden story
Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. are under the spotlight today after it was revealed that both companies have limited the distribution of a New York Post article that claims to have obtained scandalous information. The article claims to have obtained leaked emails …
Facebook announces a zero-tolerance stance on anti-vaccination ads
Ads that discourage people from receiving vaccinations will now be banned globally, Facebook Inc. announced today. After facing widespread criticism last year, Facebook said it would start taking down content relating to vaccination misinformation. At the time the World Health Organization said …
Facebook bans content denying Holocaust, but rules don’t apply to Armenian or Rwandan genocide denials
Content that “denies or distorts the Holocaust” will be banned from the Facebook Inc. platform, but other genocide denials won’t. The move, announced today, is an about-face for Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg (pictured), who has been criticized in the past for not …