by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Networking, Social Media, Technology, World
London : The European Union’s data regulator group has rapped WhatsApp for the “take it or leave it approach” it has taken regarding sharing of user data with the parent company Facebook.
The EU data regulator has launched a taskforce to implement “a clear, comprehensive resolution” to comply with EU law, the Guardian reported on Thursday.
The taskforce has been set up by the pan-European data regulator, the Article 29 Working Party (WP29), a year after it first issued a warning to the chat app over its sharing of user data with the wider group of Facebook companies, forcing it to pause data transfer.
WhatsApp changed its privacy policy last year to start sharing users’ phone numbers and other information with Facebook.
The change drew widespread regulatory scrutiny across Europe.
The scrutiny focused on the requirement for users to consent to the sharing of data and the level of information provided for them to make an informed choice.
In a letter sent to WhatsApp this week, WP29 said the company had still not resolved its concerns about getting user consent for the data sharing.
The regulators said that the information given to users about the privacy policy update was “seriously deficient as a means to inform their consent”.
The group said the “take it or leave it approach”, which mandated users who disagreed should simply stop using the service did not constitute freely given consent, while pre-ticked boxes did not constitute unambiguous consent, the Guardian report said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Media, Social Media, Technology
San Francisco : Facebook is finally testing a paywall in its Instant Articles feature — beginning with Android and not iOS devices — in partnership with a small group of publishers across the US and Europe.
Facebook will support the subscription-based news product in Instant Articles for both metered models (starting with a uniform meter at 10 articles) and “freemium” models (the publisher controls which articles are locked).
“This is a direct result of the work we’re doing through the Facebook Journalism Project. We’re listening to news publishers all over the world to better understand their needs and goals,” the social media giant said in a blog post late on Thursday.
In July, Campbell Brown, the head of the company’s news partnerships, said Facebook will launch a subscription-based news product with initial tests beginning in October.
To begin with, publishers like Bild, The Boston Globe, The Economist, Hearst (The Houston Chronicle and The San Francisco Chronicle), La Repubblica, Le Parisien, Spiegel, The Telegraph, tronc (The Baltimore Sun, The Los Angeles Times, and The San Diego Union-Tribune), and The Washington Post will participate.
According to Facebook, when someone who isn’t yet a subscriber to a publication encounters a paywall within Instant Articles, they will be prompted to subscribe for full access to that publisher’s content.
“If that person subscribes, the transaction will take place on the publisher’s website. The publisher will process the payment directly and keep 100 per cent of the revenue,” the company added.
The publisher and subscriber relationship will work the same way it does on their own sites today where the publisher has direct access and full control, including setting pricing and owning subscriber data.
These subscriptions include full access to a publisher’s site and apps.
“Similarly, someone who is already a subscriber to a publication in the test can authenticate that subscription within Instant Articles in order to get full access to that publisher’s articles,” Facebook explained.
In 2017 alone, the average revenue per page view has increased over 50 per cent, and Instant Articles pays out more than $1 million per day to publishers via Audience Network.
For Apple, said a ReCode report, the new Facebook subscription model violates the company’s rules about subscriptions sold inside apps.
Currently, Apple gets up to 30 per cent of all subscriptions sold inside third-party iOS apps and Facebook’s current subscription-based product would strip them of this revenue.
“This initial test will roll out on Android devices first, and we hope to expand it soon,” Facebook said, adding that the tool will roll out over the next few weeks.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, News, Politics, Social Media
Sharad Pawar
Mumbai : Coming out in support of young victims of social media trolls, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar on Saturday exhorted them to speak out against the wrong policies of the government and oppose growing incidents of intolerance and fascism across India.
In an unique initiative, Pawar met around 35 youngsters who have been threatened on social media and/or booked by police for speaking out their minds against the government and its policies on WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook or other public and community fora in the past few weeks.
Seeking to create the right atmosphere to put the youngsters at ease, Pawar made it clear at the start of the three-hour interactive session: “You can bluntly criticize me — Say anything you want freely. Tell me honestly where my party or I am going wrong.”
Many of them displayed courage and gave an earful, mainly on NCP politics, to the 76-year-old Pawar who listened intently without interruption while some aides made notings of the suggestions expressed.
“It was an absolutely free and candid exchange of views between the NCP chief and the youngsters who gave their frank opinions on a wide range of issues confronting the country, especially on the reduced tolerance levels, the attacks on freedom of thought, speech and expression,” senior NCP legislator Jitendra Awhad told IANS.
Another party leader who was present on the sidelines said the exercise was part of a long-term strategy to attract the liberal-minded youths to the NCP fold, infuse fresh thinking of GenNext vis-a-vis traditional politics and rejuvenate the party before the 2019 elections.
The youth recounted the harassment they have faced in recent weeks at the hands of the law-enforcing agencies who allegedly ‘snoop’ on writings and views posted on various social media, the notices sent by the police department in Mumbai and other parts of the state.
Besides, they gave examples of how they are systematically trolled on social media for airing their opinions against the government policies and the rulers, being ridiculed, threatened and abused, and efforts made to silence them.
Several of them expressed concerns over the growing levels of intolerance that have gripped various sections of society which have even manifested in the killings of people with liberal views, the most recent being journalist Gauri Lankesh.
Some others voiced distress over what they termed “a grim economic scenario”, with “salaries getting slashed or jobs lost”, the “misplaced priorities of the government” which focused more on issues not concerned with public welfare activities, and the general situation that has created an uncertain future for the youth.
“Continue expressing yourself against anything you feel is going wronga I am solidly behind you and you have nothing to worry,” advised Pawar, who later hosted lunch for the invitees at the Y.B. Chavan Centre.
“When the youth of Maharashtra are speaking up for protecting democracy, it is wrong to target them and suppress their voice. The people of the state will not tolerate any attempts to curb the freedom of expression,” Pawar remarked at the end of the discussions.
The meeting came against the backdrop of notices sent to over two dozen youths, including journalists, by the Cyber Cell of Mumbai Police in connection with some fake accounts on Facebook and probing what has been touted as “objectionable content against Prime Minister Narendra Modi” among others.
After an account under the fictitious name of ‘Dev Gaikwad’ was detected a few weeks ago, police got into action by arresting one persons and slapping notices on several persons summoning them for investigations in the matter.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Networking, Social Media, Technology
London : The services of Facebook and Instagram were restored after the social media platforms went down reportedly due to a global connection problem with Europe and North America, the worst affected by the fault.
As per a report in The Guardian, users of both social media sites began reporting problems late Wednesday afternoon. By evening, the number of reported problems had dropped to normal levels.
“Earlier today, a networking issue caused some people to have trouble accessing Facebook services.
“We quickly investigated and started restoring access within about an hour and we have nearly fixed the issue for everyone. We’re sorry for the inconvenience,” a Facebook spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The report said the services on both website and apps were affected. Some users were able to access their accounts, with others suggesting only certain parts of the websites were functioning.
However, Facebook’s instant messaging service Messenger was unaffected.
The social media giant said it was “aware that some people are currently having trouble accessing Facebook and Instagram”.
The problems led to the hashtag #FacebookDown trending globally on Twitter.
Some users were greeted by a message when they tried to log into their accounts.
“Facebook is down for required maintenance right now, but you should be able to get back on within a few minutes. In the meantime, read more about why you’re seeing this message. Thanks for your patience…,” the message read.
Facebook, which acquired Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, has over two billion monthly active users. Instagram, meanwhile, has 800 million monthly and 500 million daily active users — 200 million of whom use ‘Stories’ feature.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Networking, Social Media, Technology
San Francisco : After testing in Portugal last month, the option to syndicate Instagram Stories to Facebook Stories has now also appeared for US users.
Facebook has also confirmed that the feature is being officially rolled out for everyone around the world, TechCrunch reported on Friday.
“You now have the option to share your Instagram Stories to your Facebook Stories. We are always working to make it easier to share any moment with the people who matter to you,” a Facebook spokesperson was quoted as saying.
While the option to post Facebook Stories to Instagram Stories has not come yet, the company said it might bring it in near future.
The new option would cut down the trouble of manually uploading Stories on each platform separately.
Last month, Instagram had enabled the feature for users to view Stories on both mobile web and desktop.
Instagram Stories has garnered over 250 million monthly active users and the application has nearly 700 million users globally.
—IANS
