James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Israeli company’s Pegasus spyware allegedly used to hack journalists, politicians, activists worldwide
Israeli cybersurveillance firm NSO Group is currently under the gun for allegedly selling spying software to shady governments around the world, although it’s not certain just how many people were hacked. NSO has been accused of selling the malware, named “Pegasus,” to authoritarian governments, which in turn used it to spy on journalists, lawyers, opposition ...
Facebook shelves its brain-reading interface project to move in a different direction
Facebook Inc. proclaimed in 2017 that it was developing noninvasive technology that would measure thought signals, but today the company announced that the dream is no more. When the company announced it was working on a Brain-Computer Interface or BCI that would allow people to “type just by imagining the words,” there were of course ...
Twitter says it’s getting more requests from governments to remove media content
Twitter Inc.’s latest transparency report published today shows the company has received a significant increase in the number of requests from global governments demanding that content from journalists and media companies be taken off the platform. Twitter said through the first half of 202o, it saw an increase of 26% in governments asking to remove ...
Facebook introduces ‘Experts’ to cut down on misinformation in Groups
In an effort to reduce the amount of dubious information appearing in Facebook Inc.’s Group pages, the company said today it will now let experts decide what is true. The feature, called “Group Experts,” will allow administrators to choose certain people they feel are knowledgeable on a given subject. When those people post something or ...
Twitter and Facebook criticized for racist abuse on their platforms after England Euro final loss
Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. have come under fire after abuse was hurled via social media at the England team’s Black players, with some critics saying Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. did not act fast enough to take down the abuse. The ugly comments were directed mainly at players Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo ...
Trump files lawsuits against social media companies over their alleged conservative bias
Former President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he has filed lawsuits against Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc., Google LCC and their respective chief executives Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai. “We’re asking the U.S. district court for the southern district of Florida to order an immediate halt to social media companies’ illegal, shameful censorship ...
India says Twitter no longer has liability agreement after flouting new internet law
Twitter Inc. will now be held responsible for content posted by users in India after a court ruled that the country failed to comply with the country’s new information technology law. The Delhi High Court said in a legal filing published on July 5 that now the government will be “free to take any action” ...
Hacker meddled with pro-Trump social media platform GETTR on its launch day
A Twitteresque social media platform, GETTR, was hacked on Sunday shortly after it was launched, with its founder, Jason Miller, saying the invasion was brief and harmless. Miller, who was a senior adviser to former U.S. President Donald Trump, said the issue has now been fixed. “The problem was detected and sealed in a matter ...
FTC vote to revoke antitrust policy could have big impact on big tech
The Federal Trade Commission today voted to revoke a 2015 policy statement that limited regulators from challenging companies for anticompetitive practices. The Democratic-majority commission voted 3-2 in favor of scrapping the “Statement of Enforcement Principles,” which limited what the agency could do. For the most part, it prevented regulators from challenging companies with regard to ...
Instagram spreads wings with plans to add paying subscribers and focus on video
Facebook Inc.-owned Instagram said today it’s planning to add a paid subscription model to the platform so fans can see exclusive content from those they follow. Similar to what Twitter Inc. recently announced in its own “Super Follow” option, Instagram will give creators the option to add “Exclusive Stories” to some of their content. To ...