Tag: facebook
ShinyShiny snippets: WhatsApp to let you leave group chats silently
Meta has announced new privacy features for WhatsApp users. Users will be able to leave group chats silently, control who can see their online status and block screenshots on View Once messages. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said this would help keep WhatsApp messaging "as private and secure as face-to-face conversations". It will begin rolling…
ShinyShiny snippets: Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg sued over Cambridge Analytica scandal
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg is being sued by the US District of Columbia which is seeking to hold him personally liable for the Cambridge Analytica scandal that breached millions of people's personal data. The political consultancy was accused in 2018 of illegally harvesting the personal data of as many as 87 million Facebook users. The data was…
ShinyShiny snippets: Zuckerberg reveals AI projects to power Metaverse
A basic virtual world created by Mark Zuckerberg in Builder Bot. Image: Meta Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg has unveiled several ambitious artificial-intelligence projects, describing AI as "the key to unlocking the Metaverse". In a live-streamed demonstration, he created a basic virtual world - including an island, trees and a beach -…
ShinyShiny snippets: Number of Facebook users falls for first time
Social media giant Facebook has seen its daily active users (DAUs) drop for the first time in its 18-year history. Facebook's parent company Meta Networks says DAUs fell to 1.929bn in the three months to the end of December, compared to 1.930bn in the previous quarter. The firm also warned of slowing revenue growth in…
ShinyShiny: Facebook pulls facial recognition system
Facebook's facial recognition system will be shut down and faceprints will be deleted for over a billion people, the social media giant has announced. The technology automatically identifies users in pictures and videos but Facebook has decided to remove it, citing increased concerns about its use. Jerome Pesenti, vice president of artificial intelligence at Facebook, wrote…
ShinyShiny tech roundup: Facebook name change, TikTok tic worry
Facebook has changed its corporate brand to Meta Facebook has changed its corporate name to Meta as part of a major rebrand. The company said it would better "encompass" what it does, as it broadens its reach beyond social media into areas like virtual reality (VR). The change does not apply…
ShinyShiny tech roundup: Facebook plans new name for ‘metaverse’ age
Facebook is planning to change its company name next week to reflect its focus on building the metaverse, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. The coming name change, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to talk about at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28th, but could unveil sooner, is meant…
ShinyShiny tech roundup: Facebook blames ‘faulty configuration change’ for outage
Facebook has blamed a "faulty configuration change" for an outage that prevented the company's 3.5 billion users from accessing its apps and services, including Whatsapp and Instagram, for nearly six hours. The platforms crashed on Monday afternoon, with users unable to send or receive messages or refresh their news feeds. In a Facebook post after…
ShinyShiny roundup: Facebook puts Instagram Kids on hold
Plans to make an "Instagram experience" for under-13s, dubbed Instagram Kids, have been paused. Facebook would use the time to listen to "parents, experts, policymakers and regulators", Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote. It follows leaked internal research the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said Instagram was "toxic for teen girls". But in a recent blog, Facebook head…
Shiny Shiny tech round up: Dating app Bumble gives staff a break to ‘destress’
Bumble boss Whitney Wolfe Herd has given staff a week off to tackle 'burn out' Bumble, the dating app where women make the first move, has closed its doors for a week to give its some 700 employees a "much-needed" break to destress. In a now-deleted tweet, the company's head of…
