Today Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. As it's been with the past couple of Presidents of the United States, this peaceful transition of power includes not only the metaphorical keys to the White House, but the admin powers to "official" social media accounts and webpages.
One of the most common types of content shared on Facebook, and other social media platforms are photographs. While most social media users can look at an image and see what it represents, it's not so easy for those who are blind or visually impaired. Facebook says screen readers can describe the contents of these images using a synthetic voice allowing blind or visually impaired users to understand images in the Facebook feed.
In light of safety concerns surrounding the upcoming US presidential inauguration, Facebook has decided to ban events on its platform that would take place near the US Capitol building and White House. As well, the platform has also banned new events that would take place near state capitols until after Inauguration Day.
WhatsApp is pushing back its controversial privacy policy change, delaying the date by which users must agree to the new terms over what the Facebook-owned messaging platform described as "misinformation" about how it shares data. Concerns began earlier in January, after an upcoming policy update seemingly required WhatsApp users consent to some of their data being passed over to Facebook.
Oculus fans' fears finally came true when Facebook announced that the Oculus Quest 2 would require a Facebook account to even use. That hard requirement had very significant and mostly negative implications and it seems that those will continue despite the mounting criticism and backlash. That said, the Oculus Quest 2 also came with limitations not directly related to Facebook accounts and while some of those will soon be removed, the implementation might leave users, especially families, scratching their heads in confusion.
2021 isn't starting out well for Facebook but, then again, 2020 didn't end well for it either. Now it's dragging one of its remaining "clean" properties down with it, thanks to a controversial change in WhatsApp's privacy policies. The popular instant messaging platform, contrary to its promise back when it was acquired by Facebook, is mandating some data sharing with its parent company. Responding to both backlash and rumors, WhatsApp is publishing a simplified version of what it won't be sharing with Facebook but still leaves plenty of questions and doubts unanswered.
Popular messaging platform WhatsApp owned by Facebook with a userbase of more than 2 billion, in a surprise move, has updated its privacy policy. Users are receiving this notice via a pop-up alert in the app, narrowing down on the new set of policies that are in place. This has stirred a huge debate about Facebook’s promise of privacy and keeping the user interest at stake.
Following yesterday's events on Capitol Hill, during which a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol Building, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that President Trump has been banned from both Facebook and Instagram indefinitely. While there's no indication of when Trump's accounts may be reinstated - if they are at all - Zuckerberg has said that he will remain blocked on both platforms at least through the end of his term on January 20th.
Apple has initiated rather big changes to its privacy policies and, unsurprisingly, there are a few that are not so happy about it. Also unsurprisingly, Facebook has been the loudest voice opposing changes to user data tracking across sites and apps but it has also accepted the reality that Apple isn't going to give in, no matter how loud it cries. Now it's telling businesses and partners that it has no choice but to comply with Apple's requirements that will have a negative impact on those businesses in the long run, at least according to Facebook.
It isn't exactly that much of a shock, considering it is Facebook we're talking about here, but it's still a disappointment at the very least, given the current context. At a time when people around the world have become more dependent on messaging services and a time when Facebook is being scrutinized for its privacy practices and monopoly, the social networking giant is making what many are pretty much considering to be an asinine move that will practically throw WhatsApp users out if they don't agree to let Facebook get a hold of their data.
Amid the chaos at the US Capitol Building today, President Trump made a highly criticized video calling for the rioters to go home, but also validating the ideas that spurred their actions. In a tweet soon after, Facebook's VP of Integrity Guy Rosen said that Facebook made the decision to take down Trump's video.
Facebook today announced some sweeping changes to the way Pages work. Pages have been around for years and years at Facebook, and with these changes, they're losing some features that have been present since the beginning. For instance, Likes will be going away, with Facebook deciding to shift the focus to Followers for Pages.