James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Homeland Security won’t be able to use reported fake accounts, says Facebook
During Facebook Inc.’s continuing crackdown on fake accounts, its latest victim is the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The social media giant told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the department is no different from anyone else when it comes to violating its terms of service. The announcement follows news that Citizenship and Immigration Services ...
Facebook might do away with the ‘Like’ count
In an effort to reduce the pressure of using social media, Facebook Inc. could get rid of its ‘Like’ count on the news feed. The possibility was first raised today by app researcher Jane Manchun Wong, who noticed that in the Android app Facebook was hiding the number of ‘Likes’ on some posts from everyone ...
Facebook strengthens rules for political ads ahead of 2020 election
Facebook Inc. will make its rules on political advertising stricter to prevent the spread of disinformation on the run-up to the 2020 U.S. elections, the company announced Wednesday. The social media giant was heavily criticized for allowing Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and can’t afford to allow that to happen again this time ...
Google Maps now lets users plan mixed modes of travel
Now you can select multiple modes of travel options on Google Maps to make door-to-destination easier, the company announced Tuesday. Maps has always offered various modes of travel, but until now the app hasn’t combined all of them into one itinerary. Now users can select a destination and the app will give directions and the ...
BBC to launch ‘Beeb,’ its own voice assistant
The BBC is planning to introduce its own voice assistant to rival Amazon.com’s Alexa, according to report Monday in the Guardian. This will be a voice with a difference, though, since it’s being trained to understand British accents. For some time now, various British comedy TV shows have featured sketches in which artificial intelligent voice assistants fail ...
Google shuts down 210 YouTube channels linked to Chinese disinformation campaign
Some 210 YouTube accounts were just disabled by Google LLC for involvement in a coordinated effort to spread disinformation relating to the Hong Kong protests. Google said Thursday it has identified threats after sharing information with industry partners and law enforcement, following an internal investigation found a propaganda campaign on YouTube similar to the campaigns recently ...
Contractors working for Microsoft’s Xbox claim to have listened to audio recordings
Microsoft Corp. has found itself in hot water again after contractors working for the company said they have listened to Xbox One users in their homes via voice recordings. According to an article published by Motherboard Wednesday, several contractors claimed to have listened to those recordings. The practice goes back to when Xbox One could be ...
Facebook makes policy changes to gives users more control over data
Facebook Inc. users will soon have more control over their data and there will more transparency as to what data is collected via their browsing habits, the company announced Tuesday. In a blog post penned by Erin Egan, chief privacy officer for policy, and Product Management Director David Baser, the pair stated the obvious in that ...
Twitter and Facebook purge Chinese trolls sowing disinformation
Both Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. reported Monday that they have removed a number of Chinese government-backed accounts engaging in inauthentic behavior. In a post Twitter announced that it had taken down a total of 936 accounts originating in the People’s Republic of China. The company said these accounts were “deliberately and specifically attempting to ...
YouTube sued by LGBTQ creators for discrimination
LGBTQ creators are suing Google LLC because they say their content has not been fairly treated on the company’s video website YouTube. According to a story in the Washington Post Thursday, there are eight plaintiffs in total, who each say that their content was suppressed, their advertising opportunities were restricted and even their subscriber lists ...