Selena Gomez Shares Private Message to Facebook Leadership on Hate, Racism: ‘We Have a Serious Problem’
Selena Gomez, one of the most influential stars on social media, went public Friday night (Sept. 18) with a private message she sent to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg. Gomez, who counts 193 million followers on Facebook-owned Instagram and more than 77 million on Facebook, posted the message on Instagram Stories, calling out the Facebook founder and CEO and Sandberg, chief operating officer, with a plea to start a dialogue on the hot button issues of misinformation and hate speech. “We have a serious problem. Facebook and Instagram are being used to spread hate, misinformation, racism, and bigotry,” she wrote, two days after a significant push by stars like Kim Kardashian, Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Ruffalo, Dwyane Wade Katy Perr...
Man lands in jail for posing as female
Justice Sikiru Oyinloye of the Kwara State High Court has sentenced a 29-year-old man, Usman Muhammed, to jail for posing as a lady and using nude pictures to dupe men. Muhammed was arrested at his residence in Abeokuta, Ogun state, according to an operative of the EFCC. EFCC’s counsel, Adenike Ayoku stated that the defendant is an internet fraudster, who pretended to be female and used female nude photographs to fraudulently obtain money from unsuspecting internet users as evidenced in his Facebook and WhatsApp accounts. He was then prosecuted by the Ilorin zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a one-count charge of impersonation. The charge read, “That you, Usman Muhammed (a.k.a Adepeju Omolara and Guns Omolara Valle), sometime in February 2020 or thereab...
Facebook Explains Comments About “Creating Listening Experiences” In Unwelcome News for DJs
As the live music circuit has been brought to a halt this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, artists—and dance music artists especially—have gravitated toward the livestream medium to stay in touch with their fans. However, musical artists were quite dismayed with a recent update shared by Facebook regarding the platform’s music guidelines. In the update, Facebook states that effective October 1st, their platform and products may not be used to create a “music listening experience.” It was the use of that phrase that caused quite a stir. With the threat of having an account banned or a business page deleted for potentially violating the terms, the news has left many on edge. Facebook has since added color to the original statement highlighting that most of the g...
Police drag Kogi commissioner to court for ‘rape, battery’
Senior Police sources at the Force Intelligence Bureau, Force headquarters, under which the Police Gender Unit operates, on Tuesday affirmed that the Nigerian Police Force has charged the Kogi State Commissioner for Water Resources, Abdulmumuni Danga, to court for allegedly raping and assaulting a lady, among other charges, over a Facebook post. The lady, one Elizabeth Onyeniyi had petitioned the Police Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB) on her ordeal in the hands of the Kogi Commissioner and other accomplices alleging that she was not only raped, but beaten mercilessly and threatened, prompting the FIB to invite Mr. Danga to appear before the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Gender Unit, for questioning on the 2nd of June 2020, after which the Commissioner was released. It was gathered that di...
83 stranded migrants rescued in Sahara desert
Reuters Eighty-three migrants were saved last week after their smugglers abandoned them in the Sahara desert in northern Niger, the International Organisation for Migration said on Tuesday. A team from the IOM and Niger’s Civil Protection service found the group 230 kilometers (140 miles) from the crossroads town of Dirkou on September 3, the agency said on Facebook. The 83 comprised 75 Nigerians, 41 of them women, including twin four-year-old girls, as well as four Togolese, three Ghanaians, and a Malian. They had left the Nigerien town of Agadez, the main stepping-off point for African migrants trying to cross into Europe via Libya, a week earlier. On September 1, the migrants were abandoned by their four drivers, after first taking all their belongings, when they spotted military vehicl...
Facebook Moves to Prevent Election Interference, Bans New Political Ads Beginning October 27th
Despite what Donald Trump or Mark Zuckerberg say, it’s pretty clear at this point that foreign interference on Facebook helped sway the 2016 presidential election. While Zuck has been slow to take responsibility or hold users on the platform accountable, Facebook has started initiating some changes to prevent further manipulation in 2020. Today, the company’s founder/CEO announced new steps Facebook and Instagram are taking to combat election tampering — including banning new political ads beginning one week before November 3rd. In his post announcing the changes, Zuckerberg explained barring ads beginning October 27th ensures Facebook has enough time to investigate any claims of misinformation. Trump has already been routinely criticized for pushing ads with false claims about his opponen...
Apple Reportedly Rejects Plans for New Facebook Feature
Facebook has revealed that Apple has rejected its plan to tell app users that “the iPhone maker would take a 30% cut of sales in a new online events feature, forcing Facebook to remove the message,” reports Reuters. Apple claims that such a message within the new feature, which would allow users to purchase buy tickets to online events, violates an App Store rule that prevents developers from showing users irrelevant information. Image sourced from The Verge In an official statement, Facebook says “Now more than ever, we should have the option to help people understand where the money they intend for small businesses actually goes. Unfortunately, Apple rejected our transparency notice around their 30 per cent tax but we are still working to make that information available inside the app ex...
Facebook Adds New Shopping Tab to App
As part of Facebook’s plan to create a place for users to discover businesses and shop for products, it is testing a dedicated shopping tab within the main app. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, the shift to online shopping has rapidly accelerated, with an estimated 85% of people worldwide now shopping online,” says the social platform in an official blog post. “We want to make shopping easier for people and empower anyone, from an entrepreneur to the largest brand, to use our apps to connect with customers and grow their business. That’s why we’re creating new ways for people to shop on our apps and providing tools to help businesses sell online.” The new tab is currently only available in the US. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_ee0.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_ee0.td-a-rec-img img{ margi...
Court ruling paves the way for Facebook to settle its facial recognition lawsuit
Facebook won preliminary approval late on Wednesday from a federal court for settlement of a lawsuit that claimed it illegally collected and stored biometric data of millions of users without their consent. The social media company had in July raised its settlement offer by $100 million to $650 million in relation to the lawsuit, in which Illinois users accused it of violating the U.S. state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act. The revised settlement agreement resolved the court’s concerns, leading to the preliminary approval of the class action settlement, Judge James Donato wrote in an order filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. “Preliminary approval of the amended stipulation of class action settlement, Dkt. No. 468, is granted, and a final approval h...
Reelz v. Reels: Network Sues Instagram, Facebook for Trademark Infringement
Instagram last week launched a new short-video feature called Reels — capitalizing on demand in the market amid privacy concerns surrounding TikTok and a looming ban of the ByteDance-owned app — and it’s already facing troubles of its own. ReelzChannel says the feature’s name infringes on its longstanding trademark. The network, which launched in 2006, says it reaches more than 50 million homes in the U.S. The suit, which was filed Tuesday in Minnesota federal court, where the network’s parent company Hubbard Broadcasting is based, claims Reels usurps Reelz’ goodwill and is likely to confuse consumers. {“nid”:”9429589″,”type”:”post”,”title”:”Instagram Launches TikTok Competitor Reels”...
Instagram Accused of Collecting Users Private Biometric Data
Facebook-owned Instagram is being sued over allegations that it “illegally harvests the biometric data of users”, according to Bloomberg. “In [a] new lawsuit, filed Monday in state court in Redwood City, California, the company is accused of collecting, storing and profiting from the biometric data of more than 100 million Instagram users, without their knowledge or consent.” The report goes on to say that if found guilty of privacy violations, the company could be expected to pay $1000 per violation — “or $5000 if it’s found to have acted recklessly or intentionally”. Instagram Debuts Reels to Rival TikTok Instagram has rolled out a new way to create and share videos – Reels – to rival popular Chinese app, TikTok. The social media platform says that use...
GZA Sparks Flat Earth and Anti-Vax Debate on Social Media
Source: Sakura/WENN.com / WENN Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA hit up social media with a single question that has left fans wondering if he traded the famous “W” for a tin-foil hat. In a Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram post dated August 7, the legend recorded a panoramic view from an upper-level balcony examining the beach’s horizon. The caption: “Round or flat?” Round or flat? pic.twitter.com/XOsIQaivOT — GZA (@TheRealGZA) August 7, 2020 Over 500 comments from fans flooded each of GZA’s platforms with responses varying from scientific facts to inquiries of his sanity. “GZA wtf are you talking about?,” a user quipped on Instagram. “It’s round.” “I only asked a question. I don’t support flat earth,” the lyricist repled. This follows a controversial post shared the day bef...
