Illinois users reach $550M settlement with Facebook over illegal collection and storage of biometric data

In a statement Facebook Inc said, it has in principle reached a $550 million settlement related to a lawsuit that claimed the social media giant had illegally collected and stored biometric data for millions of users without their consent. The lawsuit was filed in 2015 with Illinois users dragging Facebook to court for violating the…

HubSpot Inc ranked No. 1 in Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work in 2020

Midst heightened regulatory scrutiny over Facebook Inc, the social media giant has dropped to the 23rd spot in Glassdoor’s list of “Best Places to Work” in 2020, down from the seventh spot it secured last year. Employees have given Facebook’s senior leadership as well as its work-life balance a relatively lower rating in Glassdoor; The…

Australia probe foreign influence efforts through social media platforms

On Thursday, Australia started an investigation into the potential usage of foreign influence using social media platforms such as WeChat, Facebook, and Twitter. The development comes in the wake of heightened concerns in the country that China is seeking to cast its influence in Canberra’s affairs. In the past, Russia had used social media to…

Facebook ramps up its rules for U.S. political advertisers ahead of U.S. presidential elections

With social media increasingly playing a pivotal role during elections, Facebook is ramping up efforts to uncloak U.S. political advertisers. Ahead of the U.S. president elections in November 2020, Facebook Inc has begun tightening its political ad rules in the United States, said the social media giant on Wednesday. The new disclosures rules are applicable…

Third party contractors transcribed Facebook’s audio data

Tech companies are coming under increasing scrutiny over data privacy issues revolving around their voice assistants. According to a report from Bloomberg which cites sources familiar with the matter at hand, Facebook Inc has been paying outside contractors to transcribe audio clips from subscribers of its services. In a statement, Facebook confirmed that it had…

Germany’s Federal Office of Justice fines Facebook for $2.26 million

Facebook was fined since it had presented incorrect data on its transporency report on illegal content on its social media platform. In a significant development, German authorities have fined levied a fine of $2.26 million (2 million euros) on Facebook for providing a “distorted picture of the amount of illegal content on the social media…

China’s Great Firewall blocks news of Hong Kong protests

China’s firewall although broadly effective, is not 100% full proof, content posted on individual accounts were not immediately censored. In a significant development, Chinese censors are working hard to block and erase news of the Hong Kong protests on social media and search platforms. There has been a surge of interests from mainland Chinese users…