meta

November 5, 2024 12:47 PM

South Korea fines Meta about $15 million over collection of user data.

South Korea has ordered Facebook owner Meta Platforms to pay 21.62 billion won ($15.67 million) in fines after finding it had collected sensitive user data and given it to advertisers without a legal basis, Seoul's data protection agency said. The U.S. tech giant obtained information from about 980,000 South Korean Facebook users on issues such as their religion, political views, and sexuality while failing to seek agreement from users, the Personal Information Protection Commission said in a s...

November 1, 2024 11:51 AM

Chinese researchers develop AI model for military use on back of Meta’s Llama

Top Chinese research institutions linked to the People's Liberation Army have used Meta's publicly available Llama model to develop an AI tool for potential military applications, according to academic papers and analysts. In a June paper reviewed by Reuters, six Chinese researchers from three institutions, including two under the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) leading research body, the Academy of Military Science (AMS), detailed how they had used an early version of Meta's Llama as a base f...

October 22, 2024 12:47 PM

Facebook owner Meta restarts facial recognition tech in ‘celeb-bait’ crackdown

Three years after Meta shut down facial recognition software on Facebook amid a groundswell of privacy and regulator pushback, the social media giant said on Tuesday it is testing the service again as part of a crackdown on "celeb bait" scams. Meta said it will enroll about 50,000 public figures in a trial which involves automatically comparing their Facebook profile photos with images used in suspected scam advertisements. If the images match and Meta believes the ads are scams, it will block ...

October 18, 2024 11:37 PM

Meta must face Massachusetts social media addiction lawsuit, judge rules

A Massachusetts judge rejected Meta Platforms' bid to dismiss a lawsuit by the state alleging the social media company purposely deployed features on its Instagram platform to addict young users and deceived the public about the dangers its product posed to the mental health of teenagers. Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Peter Krupp in Boston, in a decision made public on Friday, rejected Meta's request to dismiss claims by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell that it violated ...

October 17, 2024 2:31 PM

Meta’s oversight board seeks public comments on hate speech moderation

Facebook owner Meta's Oversight Board on Thursday invited comments from the public on the posting of immigration-related content that may be harmful to immigrants, and shared two cases that Facebook moderators decided to keep on the platform. The board plans to assess whether Meta’s decision to only protect refugees, migrants, immigrants and asylum seekers from the most severe attacks on its social media platforms under its hate speech policy is adequate. The board is funded by the social me...

October 16, 2024 4:12 PM

EU AI Act checker reveals Big Tech’s compliance pitfalls

Some of the most prominent artificial intelligence models are falling short of European regulations in key areas such as cybersecurity resilience and discriminatory output, according to a report by Reuters. The EU had long debated new AI regulations before OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public in late 2022. The record-breaking popularity and ensuing public debate over the supposed existential risks of such models spurred lawmakers to draw up specific rules around "general-purpose" AIs (GPAI). ...

October 9, 2024 11:35 AM

US considers breakup of Google in landmark search case

The U.S. said on Tuesday it may ask a judge to force Alphabet's Google to divest parts of its business, such as its Chrome browser and Android operating system, that it says are used to maintain an illegal monopoly in online search. In a landmark case, a judge found in August that Google, which processes 90% of U.S. internet searches, had built an illegal monopoly. The Justice Department's proposed remedies have the potential to reshape how Americans find information on the internet while shrin...

October 4, 2024 3:52 PM

Meta must limit data use for targeted advertising, top EU court rules

Meta Platforms must restrict the use of personal data harvested from Facebook for targeted advertising, Europe's top court ruled on Friday, backing privacy activist Max Schrems. Schrems took his grievance to an Austrian court, saying he had been targeted by advertisements as a result of Meta's personalised advertising based on processing personal data. The Austrian tribunal then sought guidance from the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which on Friday backed Schr...

September 17, 2024 5:44 PM

Meta bans RT and other Russian state media networks

Facebook owner Meta said on Monday it was banning RT, Rossiya Segodnya and other Russian state media networks from its platforms, claiming the outlets had used deceptive tactics to carry out covert influence operations online. The ban, strongly criticised by the Kremlin, marks a sharp escalation in measures by the world's biggest social media company against Russian state media, after years of more limited steps such as blocking the outlets from running ads and reducing the reach of their posts...

September 16, 2024 3:57 PM

Biden administration pressured Meta to censor Covid content, Zuckerberg tells House Committee

Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, in a letter to the House Judiciary Committee has alleged that the Biden-Harris administration "repeatedly pressurised" Meta's teams to censor posts related to Covid. He further said that the platform had to make some changes, that "with the benefit of hindsight and new information," they won't make today. Zuckerberg also said he 'regrets' not being "more outspoken" about it. "In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the Whi...