Facebook

Facebook has been working on ways to prevent the posting of so-called “revenge porn” – aka non-consensual sharing of explicit photos by former partners and others – and sextortion attempts, especially those against teenagers.

Its first tool, back in 2017, was so scary that few were willing to use it: You had to upload nudes to Facebook in order to have them tagged for blocking! But a new tool, geared initially to teenagers, will allow them to create digital fingerprints, right on their own device …

A data scientist formerly working for Meta says that Facebook apps can deliberately drain the batteries of both iPhones and Android smartphones, in order to examine the effect of low battery power on app performance …

The long-running Cambridge Analytica lawsuit against Facebook parent company Meta has finally been settled. The social media company agreed to pay Facebook users a combined total of $725M for sharing their personal data with the now-bankrupt political consultancy.

The lawyers behind the case described the victory as a “historic” one, saying that it was the largest ever payout in a US privacy case …

Meta on Wednesday announced new features coming soon to Facebook and Instagram that will enhance the experience for creators using both platforms. This includes updates on NFT, Instagram subscriptions, and Facebook Stars. The news comes as the company holds its Creator Week conference with in-person events around the world.

Facebook and Instagram boosts are a popular way for creators to give their posts extra reach by paying Meta to show them to more people. Apple has updated its App Store rules to say that any boosts purchased through the iOS apps must use in-app purchases (IAP), giving the iPhone maker a 30% cut.

Meta has called this an Apple tax on ads, and says that the Cupertino company is growing its own ad business while undercutting competitors …

Update: The names of the apps are now known. Apple has removed them from the App Store, but the apps also need to be removed from devices – see the list added to the end of the piece.

Meta has issued a Facebook security warning to around one million users that their login credentials may have been stolen by scam apps. While most of the apps were Android ones, 47 of them were iOS apps found in Apple’s App Store …

Facebook on Wednesday announced an update to its platform that will make it easier for users to decide what content they want to see in their feeds. With today’s changes, the social network offers new ways to help users discover posts that are relevant to them.

Meta is facing a class action lawsuit after both Facebook and Instagram were found to be using an App Tracking Transparency workaround to track users on the web, even after they were denied permission to do so.

The company is accused not just of breaking Apple’s privacy rules, but also violating both state and federal laws …

The Meta Quest Pro headset is set to launch next month, and it’s believed to have many features in common with the upcoming Apple headset expected to be launched early next year. We already knew the name, and it now appears we know what both the device and its packaging look like, thanks to a careless employee.

A sample of the headset, its controllers, and retail packaging were left in a hotel room, bringing back memories of the time an Apple engineer left an iPhone 4 prototype in a bar …

Fears about midterm election disinformation have led both Meta and TikTok to outline the defensive measures they plan to deploy. It follows a disastrous experience in 2016, when Facebook unwittingly sold political ad space to disinformation agents working on behalf of Russia.

Meta subsequently put in place protections for the 2020 elections, and says that it will maintain the strategies shown to be effective, as well as improving on them …

Meta on Tuesday announced some new features coming to Facebook and Instagram users as the company is focused on competing with TikTok. In addition to a new way to create Reels using previously shared Stories, Instagram users can now cross-post Reels to Facebook.

Apple and Facebook have a long-running public feud, based primarily on the latter’s collection and use of personal information. A new report from The Wall Street Journal today goes in-depth on this battle, with the interesting tidbit that Apple once proposed a deal with Facebook to get a cut of its revenue.

One of the more annoying things some apps do is incorporate their own in-app browser, opening that for web links instead of respecting your chosen default browser.

This has long been a nuisance, but a developer has now explained the security risks of doing so, especially when dealing with companies not noted for their privacy standards – like Facebook …