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Tech NewsFacebook
Facebook May Soon Demand a Selfie if It Detects Suspicious Activity on Your Account
Facebook appears to be preparing to launch a new kind of captcha which asks users to prove their identities by uploading photos of their faces, Wired reported on Tuesday. At least some users reported encountering a prompt asking them to “upload a photo of yourself that clearly shows your face,” accompanied by a guarantee that … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsFacebook
No, Facebook Didn’t Remove the Ability to Delete Posts—But It Did Hide It From Some Users
There’s a popular conception that whatever you post online lives eternal—and while it’s probably true, the reality is that for most people hitting that delete button is usually sufficient to at least hide an embarrassing post from prying family, friends, and potential employers. Anyone who’s ever been on Facebook or sent a tweet knows the … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNews
Bloomberg Is Starting a ’24-Hour Social News Network’ Based on Twitter
Twitter has not exactly survived the last few months with a sterling reputation, in between continued controversy over its failure to adequately address rampant harassment, allegations it sold political ads to Russian foreign agents, and most recently news it had verified the account of neo-Nazi Charlottesville organizer Jason Kessler. Then there’s Twitter’s, uh, presidential problem, … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNews
Alabama Robocalls Are Allegedly Spreading Twitter-Fueled Roy Moore Conspiracy Theories
Over the course of the past week, Republican candidate Roy Moore’s already contentious campaign to win the Alabama senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Session went full garbage fire over allegations he molested children decades ago. Moore refused to back down, endorsing a Twitter-fueled conspiracy theory the Washington Post paid women to fabricate the … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNews
Suspicious Account Behind Viral Roy Moore Conspiracy Theory Deletes All of Its Tweets
Republican Roy Moore, the homophobic bigot and former state Supreme Court justice running for Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ vacated Alabama Senate seat, has seen his campaign begin to crash and burn after the Washington Post produced well-evidenced allegations that decades ago, Moore molested teenagers. Moore has refused to end his campaign despite numerous calls from … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNews
Angry Sean Hannity Fans Are Smashing Keurigs on Twitter Because 2017 Is Dumb as Heck
Numerous advertisers pulled out from Sean Hannity’s Fox News show this week after Hannity urged his viewers to treat claims Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore sexually molested minors decades ago with entirely too much skepticism. Among them were Realtor.com, 23andMe, and ELOQUII, but most notable was Keurig, which makes an eponymous brand of single-serving coffee … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNews
Very Tired-Sounding John Kelly: Yeah, I Just Ignore Donald Trump’s Tweets
Hey! You know that that awful Twitter account run by the president? Yeah, the incredibly ominous one that’s managed to overshadow even the day-to-day chaos of his administration and might one day lead us to nuclear war? The one he used to thirstily neg North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un this weekend, for some reason? … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNews
Here’s What Snapchat’s Desperate Gamble on a Redesign Allegedly Looks Like
Snapchat, which desperately needs to attract more users as its parent company Snap finds itself swirling the drain just eight months post-IPO (it’s fucked), announced in an earnings report earlier this week it is planning a major redesign in an attempt to attract a new demographic (the olds). According to Business Insider, the launch date … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsFacebook
Instagram Is Trying to Get More ‘Influencers’ to Disclose Their Obvious Product Plugs Are Sponsored
Facebook subsidiary Instagram, the Twitter for people who only want to tweet about how hot and rich they are, has long been overrun with paid product endorsements from both genuine celebrities and nebulously influential “influencers”—and so many of them have openly flaunted Federal Trade Commission rules requiring disclosures of paid endorsement deals that the FTC … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech News
Twitter Goes Through With It: You’re All Getting 280 Damn Characters
After several weeks of Twitter users tweeting about how much they hate the idea of expanded character limits, Twitter has officially announced that it’s doubling the previous 140-character limit for all users. Twitter has been considering increasing the limit since at least last year. In September, the company finally announced the plan and started giving … Continued
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Tech NewsGoogle
Once Again, Google Promoted Disinformation and Propaganda After a Mass Shooting [Updated]
As authorities named Devin Patrick Kelley as the shooter in a horrifying massacre in Sutherland Springs, Texas which resulted in at least 26 deaths on Sunday, Google once again served up misinformation and posts from conspiracy theorists at the top of search results for his name. On Sunday evening, Googling “Devin Patrick Kelley” delivered results … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech News
Search for ‘Bisexual’ on Twitter Right Now, and No News, Photos, or Videos Show Up [Updated]
What’s going on here? Numerous Twitter users have noticed that searching for the terms bisexual or bisexuality (with or without a hashtag) and clicking on the fields for photo, video, or news results returns nothing but a message stating, “The term you entered did not bring up any results. You may have mistyped your term … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
Mitch McConnell: Tech Companies Should Help Us Weaponize the Internet Against Russia
Google, Facebook and Twitter, three of the country’s most prominent tech companies, all testified before Congress this week that they had unintentionally been part of an alleged Russian operation to spread misinformation and propaganda during the 2016 presidential elections. On Saturday, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell suggested that the companies involved could make good … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsSploid
Wrap Up Your Halloween by Reading This Twitter Bot’s Weird Reddit-Generated Horror Stories
This year’s Tuesday-night Halloween means that most of the nation’s serial killers, monsters, and various stabby creatures have to turn in early for a bright and early hump day. But in lieu of being chased around by a low-budget demon, it’s not too late to wrap up your night by dimming the lights and reading … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNews
How to Watch Facebook, Google, and Twitter Testify Before Congress This Week
Three of Silicon Valley’s biggest tech companies will speak to three different congressional subcommittees on Tuesday and Wednesday to finally get to the bottom of, well, a lot of issues. Top priority is to discuss Russia’s use of online ads and social media to influence the 2016 US election. Here’s how you can watch it … Continued
By Rhett Jones -
How To
Who Actually Owns Your Content When You Post It to the Web
Thanks to the wonders of the web, you can get your content up and in front of an audience of millions in seconds—but that doesn’t necessarily mean you still own that photo of your dog once it is live. Signing the terms and conditions on your favorite social networks could mean signing away the rights … Continued
By David Nield -
Tech News
Twitter Admits It Accidentally Inflated User Growth for Three Years
Today Twitter revealed that while it’s actually growing now—it added four million monthly Tweeters over the last three months—the company has made a crucial error: It accidentally inflated user growth in its reports for the previous three years. On Thursday morning, Twitter released its quarterly earnings in a letter to shareholders. In the report, the … Continued
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Tech News
US Air Force Tweets Santa Isn’t Real
2017 has been what some might call a “real doozy” of a year, but it’s still got some brutal surprises up its sleeve. On Wednesday, the United States Air Force publicly denied the existence of Santa Claus, who in exactly two months was ostensibly scheduled to deliver presents to the nation’s children. After Whiteman Air … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsFacebook
Facebook: Hey, Nice Media You Got There, Shame if Some Kind of News Feed Change Happened to It
Facebook tests of a major change to the way its News Feed works in at least six countries have once again raised fears the social media giant—a powerful gatekeeper between publishers and audiences—could be preparing to doom parts of the media, the Guardian reported. Per the Guardian, Facebook has tested a new layout in which … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
China Blocks WeChat Features Ahead of 19th National Congress
In the lead up to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China this month—a major changing of the guard which will see widespread retirements among senior leaders—the country’s censors have been cracking down on everything from an unnerving sex doll-sharing company to even milquetoast criticism of the government in the media. Now, … Continued
By Tom McKay