TheNewsGuru

Tag: Facebook

  • Facebook, MainOne to accelerate broadband penetration in Edo, Ogun

    Facebook says it has collaborated with MainOne on metro fiber infrastructure project, toward accelerating broadband penetration in Edo and Ogun.

    Ibrahima Ba, Network Investments Lead for Emerging Markets at Facebook, made this known on Tuesday in Lagos.

    He said that the infrastructure collaboration was part of Facebook’s efforts to connect more people to broadband internet.

    Ba said that as part of the project, MainOne was building and operating approximately 750 km terrestrial fiber infrastructure in Edo and Ogun.

    He said that these open-access transport networks would provide metro fiber connectivity to reach more than one million people in Benin City, Abeokuta, Sagamu and 10 other towns.

    According to him, the metro fiber connectivity will connect mobile operators’ base stations, Internet Service providers (ISP), Points of Presence (POPs) and public locations including schools and hospitals.

    “This partnership will leverage MainOne’s strength as a wholesale telecommunications infrastructure service provider with investment from Facebook and support from local regulatory and state authorities to further deepen broadband penetration in Nigeria.

    “We are working closely with MainOne and other partners to accelerate broadband deployment.

    “In Nigeria, we are bringing together Facebook’s learnings from scaling our global infrastructure with MainOne’s knowledge of the local environment to develop and test new working models for multiple operators to access common infrastructure,’’ he said in a statement.

    MainOne’s Chief Executive Officer, Funke Opeke commended the collaboration and the commitment of Facebook and authorities in Nigeria to improving broadband penetration across the country.

    “MainOne has always been committed to broadband innovation, job creation, as well as growing the digital economy of West Africa.

    “We believe that this partnership and the open-access network we have developed will be beneficial to improving the quality of access and accelerating the digital transformation in Ogun and Edo,’’ Opeke said.

     

  • EU countries endorse copyright reforms targeted at Google, Facebook

    European Union countries on Wednesday supported an overhaul of the Union’s copyright rules which would force Facebook and Google to pay publishers for news snippets.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports the copyright reforms would also force the two internet giants to filter out copyright-protected content on YouTube or Instagram.

    A majority of EU diplomats agreed to the revamp while Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Poland refused to back the deal and two other EU countries abstained.

    Negotiators from the EU countries, the European Parliament and the European Commission sealed a deal last week, two years after the EU executive proposed changes to protect the bloc’s cultural heritage and ensure that publishers, broadcasters and artists are remunerated fairly.

    Romania, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said in a tweet that the copyright agreement had been approved by the EU Council.

    The dissenting countries said the proposed changes could hinder innovation and hurt the bloc’s competitiveness in the digital market.

    “We regret that the Directive does not strike the right balance between the protection of right holders and the interests of EU citizens and companies,” they said in a joint statement.

    The next step in the process is a vote by a committee of lawmakers next week followed by a parliamentary vote either next month or early April before the changes can become law.

    The revamp would require Google and other online platforms to sign licensing agreements with rights holders such as musicians, performers, authors, news publishers and journalists to use their work online.

    Google’s YouTube and Facebook’s Instagram and other sharing platforms will have to install upload filters to prevent users from uploading copyrighted materials.

    Google, which has lobbied against both features and has even suggested that it might pull Google News from Europe, said last week it would study the text before deciding on its next steps.

     

  • Facebook broke rules, should be regulated, say UK lawmakers

    Facebook broke rules, should be regulated, say UK lawmakers

    Facebook intentionally breached data privacy and competition law and should, along with other big tech companies, be subjected to a new regulator to protect democracy and citizens’ rights, British lawmakers said on Monday.

    In a damning report that singled out Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for what it said was a failure of leadership and personal responsibility, the British Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee said tech firms had proved ineffective in stopping harmful content on their platforms.

    This included disinformation, attempts by foreign countries to influence elections, and risks to personal data.

    “We need a radical shift in the balance of power between the platforms and the people,” Committee Chairman, Damian Collins, said.

    Collins said the age of inadequate self-regulation must end, following an 18-month investigation that concluded Facebook had “intentionally and knowingly violated both data privacy and anti-competition laws.”

    “The rights of the citizen need to be established in statute, by requiring the tech companies to adhere to a code of conduct written into law by Parliament, and overseen by an independent regulator,” he said.

    Facebook rejected the suggestion it had breached data protection and competition laws, and said it shared the committee’s concerns about false news and election integrity.

    “We are open to meaningful regulation and support the committee’s recommendation for electoral law reform,” Facebook’s UK public policy manager Karim Palant said.

    “We also support effective privacy legislation that holds companies to high standards in their use of data and transparency for users.”

    Lawmakers in Europe and the U.S. are scrambling to get to grips with the risks posed by big tech companies regulating the platforms used by billions of people.

    Germany has been at the forefront of the backlash against Facebook, fueled by last year’s Cambridge Analytica scandal in which tens of millions of Facebook profiles were harvested without their users’ consent.

    Earlier this month, it ordered Facebook to curb its data collection practices in the country.

    U.S senator Marco Rubio introduced a bill last month aimed at giving Americans more control over data collected by online companies like Facebook and Alphabet’s Google.

    The British committee does not propose legislation, but does have the power to summon witnesses for its investigations.

    Facebook became the focus of its inquiry after whistleblower Christopher Wylie alleged that political consultancy Cambridge Analytica had obtained the data of millions of users of the social network.

    Zuckerberg apologised in 2018 for a “breach of trust” over the scandal.
    But he refused to appear three times before British lawmakers, a stance that showed “contempt” toward parliament and the members of nine legislatures from around the world, the committee said.

    “We believe that in its evidence to the committee Facebook has often deliberately sought to frustrate our work, by giving incomplete, disingenuous and at times misleading answers to our questions,” Collins said.

    “Mark Zuckerberg continually fails to show the levels of leadership and personal responsibility that should be expected from someone, who sits at the top of one of the world’s biggest companies.”

    Facebook, however, said it had cooperated with the investigation by answering more than 700 questions and putting forward four senior executives to give evidence.

    It said it had made substantial changes, including the authorisation of every political advert, and it was investing heavily in identifying abusive content.

    “While we still have more to do, we are not the same company we were a year ago,” Palant said.

    The committee said it had identified major threats to society from the dominance of companies such as Facebook – which also owns WhatsApp and Instagram – Google and Twitter.

    Democracy was at risk from the malicious and relentless targeting of citizens with disinformation and personalised adverts from unidentifiable sources, they said, and social media platforms were failing to act against harmful content and respect the privacy of users.

    Companies like Facebook were also using their size to bully smaller firms that relied on social media platforms to reach customers, it added.

     

  • Facebook ‘knowingly’ violated data privacy laws – British lawmakers

    Facebook ‘knowingly’ violated data privacy laws – British lawmakers

    British lawmakers on Monday accused Facebook of “intentionally and knowingly” violating data privacy and anti-competition laws as they called for social media companies to assume clear legal liabilities for content shared on their platforms.

    Facebook, Inc. is an American online social media and social networking service company.

    “Social media companies cannot hide behind the claim of being merely a platform.

    “It cannot maintain that they have no responsibility themselves in regulating the content of their sites,’’ a major report by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee released on Monday.

    The committee, which reviewed a trove of internal Facebook emails, accused the tech giant of being “willing to override its users’ privacy settings in order to transfer data to some app developers.’’

    The lawmakers also accused chief executive Mark Zuckerberg of showing “contempt” of the British parliament by choosing not to appear before the committee nor “respond personally to any of our invitations.”

    The committee called for the establishment of a compulsory code of ethics overseen by an independent regulator to draw a rulebook of acceptable and unacceptable behaviours on social media.

    “The process should establish clear, legal liability for tech companies to act against agreed harmful and illegal content on their platform,’’ the report said.

    The regulator should have the ability to launch legal proceedings “with the prospect of large fines being administered” for non-complying companies.

    The committee also called for electoral law to be changed “to reflect changes in campaigning techniques” and for “absolute transparency of online political campaigning.”

     

  • Personal data: Governor proposes digital dividend for citizens

    Personal data: Governor proposes digital dividend for citizens

    Gavin Newsom, Governor of California on Tuesday proposed a new kind of digital dividend that will ensure users share in the billions being generated by technology firms from the use of their personal data.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Gavin, who made the proposal in his annual State of the State speech, said technology firms “collecting, curating and monetizing our personal data have a duty to protect it”.

    If the proposal scales through, it means California’s users of Facebook and Google that raked in over $22 billion and $30 billion respectively last year, and other Internet services that collect users data, will benefit from the use of their personal data.

    “Consumers have a right to know and control how their data is being used. California’s consumers should… be able to share in the wealth that is created from their data.

    “And so I’ve asked my team to develop a proposal for a new data dividend for Californians, because we recognize that your data has value and it belongs to you, the Californian Governor stated.

     

  • Creative industries to benefit from EU online copyright reform

    The creative industries will benefit from online copyright reform as the European Union (EU) is set to rewrite its two-decades-old copyright rules.

    The online copyright reform will force Google and Facebook to share revenue with the creative industries and remove copyright-protected content on YouTube or Instagram.

    Negotiators from the EU countries, the European Parliament and the European Commission clinched a deal after day-long negotiations.

    The commission, the EU’s executive body, launched the debate two years ago, saying the rules needed to be overhauled to protect the bloc’s cultural heritage and make sure that publishers, broadcasters and artists are remunerated fairly.

    “Agreement reached on #copyright! Europeans will finally have modern copyright rules fit for digital age with real benefits for everyone: guaranteed rights for users, fair remuneration for creators, clarity of rules for platforms,” EU digital chief Andrus Ansip said in a tweet.

    Under the new rules, Google and other online platforms will have to sign licensing agreements with rights holders such as musicians, performers, authors, news publishers and journalists to use their work online.

    Google’s YouTube and Facebook’s Instagram and other sharing platforms will be required to install upload filters to prevent users from uploading copyrighted materials.

    Google, which has lobbied intensively against both features and even suggested that it may pull Google News from Europe, said it would study the text before deciding on its next steps.

    “Copyright reform needs to benefit everyone – including European creators and consumers, small publishers and platforms … The details will matter,” the company said in a tweet.

     

  • 2019: Facebook to show voting day reminder on Election Day

    2019: Facebook to show voting day reminder on Election Day

    As Nigeria counts hours to the 2019 general elections, Facebook has said it will show a voting day reminder at the top of Facebook’s News Feed on Election Day.

    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Ms Akua Gyekye, Facebook’s Public Policy Manager, Africa Elections made this known on Wednesday in Lagos.

    She said the firm had taken eight steps to protect election integrity in Nigeria and Africa.

    Gyekye said with the number of upcoming elections across Africa, Facebook was committed to reducing the spread of misinformation, protect election integrity and support civic engagement across the continent, including Nigeria.

    She said the social media giant had in recent times dedicated unprecedented resources to these efforts globally, especially in Africa where its efforts had been focused in eight key areas.

    According to her, the eight areas include fighting false news, boosting digital literacy to help people spot false news, promoting civic engagement, making political ads more transparent and proactive removal of impersonation accounts.

    She said it also included connecting with political parties about security, undertaking the training of journalists on practices for sharing content on its platforms and partnerships with NGOs and civil society groups on the continent.

    ”We want to stop the spread of false news on our platforms. That is why we have teamed up with local third-party fact-checkers across South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon and Senegal.

    ”They include Africa Check, Agence France-Presse (AFP), Pesa Check (a local Kenyan fact-checking organisation) and Dubawa (a local Nigerian fact-checking organisation).

    ”These independent groups help us assess the accuracy of news shared on Facebook, and when they determine content is false, we reduce its distribution in News Feed so fewer people see it.

    ”We also show related articles from fact-checkers for more contexts and notify users if a story they have shared is rated as false,” she said in a statement.

    Gyekye said that in Nigeria, WhatsApp had worked with Africa Check and CrossCheck Nigeria to let users send questions about potential rumours they have received through the platform.

    She said that these fact-checking expansions were part of a broader strategy to fight fake news that included extensive work to remove fake accounts and cut off incentives to the financially-motivated actors that spread misinformation.

    Gyekye said that Facebook had also intensified efforts to help people spot false news on their own and to flag it, rolling out educational tips on national and regional radio and in print media across Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

    She said that in Nigeria, WhatsApp had launched its ”Share Facts, Not Rumours” campaign, to help increase awareness about hoaxes.

    According to her, at the end of 2018, Facebook began a new online safety programme for students in Nigerian secondary schools.

    She said that the 12-week workshop was designed to help teenagers understand the fundamentals of online safety and digital literacy.

    Gyekye said that Facebook was also promoting civic engagement around the elections.

    She said that in Nigeria, the firm had rolled out new options in English and Hausa, so people could report posts that contain incorrect election information, encourage violence or otherwise violate its community standards.

    According to her, on Election Day, Facebook will show a voting day reminder in English and Hausa at the top of Facebook’s News Feed.

    ”Arguably one of its boldest moves to date, Facebook is also making political ads more transparent across the globe including Africa.

    ”Earlier this month, it began temporarily expanding enforcement and not accepting foreign election ads on Facebook in Nigeria to help prevent foreign interference.

    ”Another measure deployed has been the proactive removal of impersonation accounts, thanks to recent advancements in its detection technology, which has made it to become much more effective at identifying these accounts.

    ”We want Facebook and WhatsApp to be places where people feel safe, can access accurate information and make their voices heard.

    ”We are making significant investments, both in products and in people, and continue to improve in each of these areas,” Gyekye said.

     

  • Facebook promises to fight fake election news in Africa

    Facebook promises to fight fake election news in Africa

    With elections scheduled to be held in various African countries this year, Facebook has devised mechanisms to reduce the spread of fake news, the social media giant said on Wednesday.

    African countries, including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon and Senegal are scheduled to have elections this year.

    Nigeria is scheduled to hold Presidential and National Assembly elections on Feb. 16 while governorship and state house of assembly elections come up on March 2.

    In a statement released in Johannesburg, the American tech company said it had teamed up with local fact checkers including Kenya’s Pesa Check and Nigeria’s Dubawa, among others.

    “We want to stop the spread of false news on our platforms.

    “These independent groups help us assess the accuracy of news shared on Facebook.

    “When they determine content is false, we reduce its distribution in the news feed so fewer people see it,’’ said Akua Gyekye, Facebook’s Public Policy Manager of Africa Elections.

    Gyekye said they have boosted digital literacy to help people spot false news.

    “We want to make sure people can spot false news and know how to flag it.

    “That’s why we’ve rolled out educational tips on national and regional radio and in print media in many African countries,’’ he said.

    In order to help prevent external interference, Facebook said it would not accept foreign election advertisements on Facebook in Nigeria.

    Some African governments have complained that social media are used to spread fake news and instigate civil unrest.

    Governments like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Zimbabwe had temporarily blocked the social media platform during elections.

     

  • Japan Govt to tighten regulations against tech firms

    Japan Govt to tighten regulations against tech firms

    Amid concerns about monopoly and users personal data, Japan’s government is planning to set up a new regulatory system to watch over big tech firms such as Facebook and Google.

    According to a presentation made at a government advisory panel on Wednesday, the new regulator will examine competitive practices, the protection of personal data, and make anti-trust recommendations.

    The new body will also draw up new guidelines to evaluate whether mergers and acquisitions will lead to a monopoly on messaging data or personal data.

    The government hopes to finalize the plans for the new regulator by the soon, but it is still uncertain when it will become fully operational.

    At the meeting on Wednesday, bureaucrats gave a presentation to cabinet ministers showing how Facebook, Google, Amazon.com, China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holdings and China’s top search engine Baidu have increased influence by expanding into payment systems, retail shops, self-driving cars, drones, and interconnected devices.

    The growth of the digital economy does have some merits, such as making it easier to reach new customers and generate profits at lower costs, according to the presentation.

    But, it said some big technology companies could abuse their influence with arbitrary search results, high fees, sudden changes to terms of usage, and unfair contracts with suppliers.

     

  • Russia wants Facebook, Twitter to localize users database

    Roskomnadzor, the Russian telecom watchdog, has said it will punish Facebook and Twitter if they decline to move the database of Russian users to Russia.

    Roskomnadzor head, Alexander Zharov was quoted to have said this on Tuesday.

    “The companies will either have to localize the databases within a certain period of time, which I suppose will be about nine months, or they will be punished,” Zharov said.

    He expects Twitter and Facebook representatives to meet with Roskomnadzor officials in Moscow by the end of February to discuss the issue.

    Russian legislation requires Internet service providers to store and process personal data of Russians on the territory of Russia.

    Roskomnadzor has the right to impose fines on or even block Internet companies for their violations.

    In December, it fined Google around $7,625 for failing to remove search links to banned information.

    Last year, Roskomnadzor attempted to block instant messaging app Telegram in Russia due to its refusal to provide user data, but failed for technical reasons.