Facebook's seemingly never-ending string of privacy and security scandals continues today. The company has announced a security flaw in its photo API that has affected as many as 6.8 million users. This bug potentially exposed user photos to apps that use the photo API, even in some cases impacting photos that were never posted.
Facebook's Portal video chat smart display is getting a big software update, adding a web browser, new games, and extra content. The pair of touchscreen-fronted video calling hubs launched earlier this year to mixed reviews, with concerns about functionality combined with lingering suspicion about Facebook's privacy credentials.
As it stands, high-profile Instagram users have an experience that's pretty much the same as an average user's. That may not be the case for much longer, as Instagram has revealed that it's testing new "creator accounts" for celebrities, influencers, or pretty much anyone with a substantial following on the platform. These new account will give those creators more insight into how their content performs on the social media site.
Instagram is rolling out voice messaging support to all users across the globe, the company has confirmed. With the new feature, which was first tipped earlier this year, users are able to easily send brief voice messages to another user privately, a feature already available on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
Facebook may have successfully overthrown Google as one of the most reviled and distrusted tech companies today. Although it certainly had its fair share of controversy, it wasn’t until the Cambridge Analytica fiasco this year that it became the target of intensified scrutiny and, of course, internal leaks. The latest comes from leaked emails published by a UK Parliament committee that reveals, among other things, discussion on what may be interpreted as misuse of Android’s app permissions system.
Facebook has updated Messenger Lite to provide a "richer" experience while retaining the same <10MB size that makes it so appealing. Among the changes is improved support for GIFs, which were previously supported but not animated. This time around, Facebook has enabled Messenger Lite users to send and play animated GIFs, an arguably vital part of the modern chat experience.
Facebook has announced that its Stories feature is now available to all Groups on its platform across the globe. The new availability is an expansion of the support Facebook launched in a limited fashion earlier this year. With it, any Group member can create stories to share with the community and react to other users' group stories.
Today F8 2019, the Facebook developer conference for the year 2019, was revealed in basic detail. We know now that the event will indeed proceed as previously suggested, and that it'll take place in San Jose, California. This event will take place on April 30th and on May 1st, 2019.
Facebook has packed in a lot of features over the years, and many of them seem to have been forgotten just as quickly as they appeared. Today, the company is announcing that it's dusting off once of its older features, Collections, and updating it for the gift giving season. If you previously didn't know what Collections were, you certainly aren't alone, so you can consider this your official introduction to the feature.
MIT and Facebook have teamed up on a new potential way to give addresses to people who currently don't have one. Approximately four billion people around the globe lack a physical address, a problem that impacts everything from registering to vote to something as seemingly basic as receiving mail. Machine learning may be the solution to this problem, the two entities revealed in a recent study.
Today a bit more clarification of recent events at Facebook puts COO Sheryl Sandberg back in the limelight. Not that she was ever out - Zuckerberg, Sandberg, and Facebook head of communications and policy Elliot Schrage have been at the center of recent controversy since well before Thanksgiving. Todays news has to do with George Soros and a speech he made at Davos in January of 2018.
Facebook will soon allow users to block certain phrases, words, and emoji from their news feed, a new leak claims. The move would better equip users with the ability to eliminate abuse and negativity from their online social experience, and may help brands address spam comments. The system is allegedly designed so that impacted commenters wouldn't know their comment was blocked.