Facebook

It was reported in February that Facebook is working on a Clubhouse competitor, the new fully audio-based social network that has been getting a lot of attention recently. Now, we can finally get a first look at what is internally called “Live Audio,” Facebook’s new feature that is basically a copy of Clubhouse.

Facebook has been complaining against Apple since the company announced major changes to its privacy policies, which will affect apps that collect user data without their knowledge. However, Mark Zuckerberg has now said that Facebook will be “in a good position” regarding the changes announced by Apple.

Facebook announced today that the social network is now supporting two-factor authentication on the iPhone using a security key. This gives users an additional way to protect their Facebook account.

Facebook today is announcing changes to keep the Groups feature a safe place and stop harmful content, like hate speech and misinformation.

iPhone app privacy labels have been a real eye-opener in showing just how much of our personal data is accessed by certain apps. If you’ve ever wondered which apps collect and share the most data, cloud storage company pCloud did the legwork.

The company examined app privacy labels in the App Store, and compiled a ranking of apps by the percentage of personal data collected, as well as the amount of it passed to third parties…

A survey of 1,500 tech employees found that 77% of them think that Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook have too much power. Only 8% disagreed.

Tech workers were also asked about a wide range of other tech issues, including working with law enforcement, China, and legislating AI…

Apple has become even more aggressive with its privacy policy since the introduction of iOS 14, which added multiple new features to let users control how third-party apps use their data. Facebook has been criticizing these changes, and now some former employees explained how the iOS privacy features are affecting the company.

Facebook is out today with a big move for its Stories feature – ads for creators. While the platform is kicking off the new ad placements with a “very small” test, it’s hoping to expand it quickly and this could also mean Instagram Stories gets the same treatment before long.

As rumors of Apple’s plans to create AR and VR products intensify, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg joins The Information 411 podcast this week to talk about Facebook’s own interest in AR and VR. Zuckerberg made it through the interview without mentioning Apple by name — but the icy relationship between the two companies was clear in multiple comments from the Facebook CEO.

A new report from The Wall Street Journal today says that India’s movement has “threatened to jail employees” of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Twitter. This comes as the rift between India officials and social media companies continues to grow.

Users who have an iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Mac can interact with Siri without even touching the device by using the voice command “Hey Siri,” which invokes Apple’s virtual assistant. As other assistants like Amazon’s Alexa also have similar commands, Facebook is now introducing a new, “Hey Facebook” wake word for its own smart devices.

Facebook continues to play defense against Apple’s upcoming App Tracking Transparency feature. The company has today launched a new digital ad campaign called “Good Ideas Deserve to be Found,” with the purpose of explaining the importance of personalized advertisements.

The world is full of good ideas. Now, thanks to personalized ads, small businesses can get theirs found. Good ideas deserve to be found.

As the battle between Facebook and Apple intensifies, The Wall Street Journal is out with a new report this morning detailing Facebook’s anger at Apple. The report explains that one of the turning points in the battle was an interview Tim Cook did in 2018 amid Facebook’s Cambridge Analytics scandal.

A new scoop from The Information this afternoon shares details about Facebook developing an Apple Watch competitor with a focus on health and messaging. The possible smartwatch launch from the social media giant could happen as soon as 2022.

We’ve seen an increasingly heated Apple versus Facebook battle over the upcoming App Tracking Transparency feature, which will require apps to seek permission to capture data that can be used to deliver personalized ads.

Facebook has claimed that the change will hurt small businesses by making their ads much less effective. But a piece in the Harvard Business Review says that this is misleading …

The battle between Facebook and Apple over the upcoming iOS 14 ad tracking transparency (ATT) feature is ramping up. Starting today, Facebook will begin testing its own prompts asking users to allow app and website tracking. That comes ahead of Apple officially rolling the feature out in “early spring” that will give highlight what apps and websites are tracking them and the ability to easily opt-out.