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Duterte Aide Accused Of 'Malicious' Online Posts

The Philippines' Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa filed a complaint on Tuesday against a top member of President Rodrigo Duterte's media team over alleged "malicious and defamatory" posts on Facebook.Ressa has been a vocal critic of Duterte and the deadly drug war he launched in 2016, triggering what media advocates say is a grinding series of criminal charges, probes and online attacks against her and Rappler – the news site she co-founded.In the complaint

20 April 2022
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What The Truck Is Going On In Canada?

No offence to Ottawa, but it’s not the most exciting place in the world. Over the past couple of weeks, however, the Canadian capital has been embroiled in drama: hundreds of truckers, ostensibly protesting against vaccine mandates, have brought the city to a standstill. Members of the so-called “Freedom Truck Convoy” have been blaring horns, desecrating war memorials and setting off fireworks. Residents are being driven to distraction.

10 February 2022
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How Facebook Became The Drug Of The People

In the war on disinformation, the enemy can be hard to determine. Journalists, politicians, governments, and even grandparents have been accused of enabling the spread of online falsehoods. While none of these groups is entirely innocent, the real adversary is more mundane.

21 January 2022
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Rohingya Refugees Sue Facebook For US$150 Billion

Rohingya refugees sued Facebook on Monday for US$150 billion over claims the social network is failing to stem hate speech on its platform, exacerbating violence against the vulnerable minority.The complaint, lodged in a California court, says the algorithms that power the United States-based company promote disinformation and extremist thought that translates to real-world violence."Facebook is like a robot programmed with a singular mission: to grow," the court document states.&qu

7 December 2021
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Instagram Investigated Over Impact On Kids

A bipartisan coalition of United States (US) state attorneys general said on Thursday it has opened a probe into Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms, for promoting its subsidiary Instagram to children despite potential harms.The investigation, involving at least nine states, comes at a time when Facebook is under scrutiny over its approach to children and young adults.The attorneys general are investigating whether the company violated consumer protection laws and put young people at risk,

19 November 2021
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Facebook's Foreign Disasters

“The Ugly American,” the title of a novel published in 1958 by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer, entered the language to refer to boorish American officials abroad who sought to improve the lives of natives without taking the trouble to learn their language, culture, or needs. A long line of ugly Americans, mostly politicians and government officials from both parties, have believed that applying simple formulas based on idealised versions of US institutions – democracy, markets, a

8 November 2021
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Social Media Giants Grapple With Taliban Dilemma

The last time the Taliban were in power, social networks were a thing of the future -- but this time around, the militants' takeover of Afghanistan poses tricky questions for the likes of Facebook and Twitter.As their arrival in Kabul sparked worldwide panic, Taliban officials took to Twitter to project a message of calm beyond Afghanistan's borders.Claims that the Taliban forces young girls to marry fighters are "poisonous propaganda", the group's international media

20 August 2021
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How Anti-Vaxxers Live In A COVID World

During the pandemic, an international movement opposed to COVID-19 vaccines and restrictions has grown on social media, often muddled with conspiracy theories and dangerous falsehoods. Now some committed activists are pursuing a new direction - organising online dating, house shares and possibly even blood banks just for the unvaccinated."I mean, I'm not at that stage yet.

13 August 2021
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Facebook Should Ban More World Leaders

I’ve been a professional free-expression advocate for more than a decade. That is why I support the Facebook Oversight Board’s recent decision to uphold former President Donald Trump’s suspension from the platform and Facebook’s new protocol whereby public figures may be banned for up to two years during times of civil unrest.

28 July 2021
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Google, Facebook, Twitter May Quit Hong Kong

Hong Kong's leader on Tuesday brushed off a warning by major tech companies including Google, Facebook and Twitter that they may quit the financial hub if authorities push ahead with a new privacy law.City authorities have unveiled plans to pass a new law targeting "doxxing" – the act of publishing someone's private details online so they can be harassed by others.But the broad wording of the proposed legislation has spooked major tech companies who fear they could be held

6 July 2021
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Facebook U-Turn: Won't Ban Lab Virus Theory

Facebook has reversed its policy banning posts suggesting COVID-19 emerged from a laboratory amid renewed debate over the origins of the virus, raising fresh questions about social media's role in policing misinformation.The latest move by Facebook, announced late Wednesday on its website, highlights the challenge for the world's largest social network of rooting out false and potentially harmful content while remaining open for discourse."In light of ongoing investigations int

28 May 2021
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Tech Titan Shake-Up

A big quake may be headed towards California. No, it is not the 7.5 magnitude earthquake that Californians have been worried about. This has only a 31 percent chance of happening. And that too from now to 30 years. Of a higher probability is the quake-causing reforms United States (US) President Joe Biden is sending the way of Big Tech in northern California.The tech giants are surely going to feel the earth move under their feet.

14 April 2021
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