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Tag: Social Media

Social Media

  • I was assaulted, brutalized by men of SARS-Nigerian cries out

    I was assaulted, brutalized by men of SARS-Nigerian cries out

    A certain social media user has narrated the ordeal he claimed to have had from the men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force.

    Vaughn E. Itemuagbor reveals that 2018 alone, he has had two horrifying encounters with SARS officers, one of them resulting in some bodily harm they inflicted on him.

     

    Itemuagbor, who says he works between 18 and 20 hours daily, affirms that though he studied Plant Science in school, he took up computer programming in order to make a reasonable living.

     

     

    Labelling himself as “one of the most sought-after computer programmers in Nigeria,” Itemuagbor says that SARS officials seem to have chosen him for “torture on a monthly basis.”

     

    He claims to have reported the issue to the Police “multiple times,” but that “nothing has ever been done.”

     

    He even took his case to the “Public Complaint Rapid Response Unit – PCRRU, Nigeria Police Force,” but he didn’t get a reprieve.

     

    “You are a young man, you drive a car and stay in Port Harcourt. You must be guilty of some crime,” he claims the SARS men told him during his last Sunday exeprience with them, sequel to which they proceeded to beat him up, allegedly unprovoked.

     

    “Admit you are a Yahoo boy and write it down here, else, I go continue (the brutality),” Itemuagbor says a SARS official told him.

     

    “Those are the words he repeated continuously as he raised his hands and landed multiple blows on my body,” Itemuagbor recalls

     

    As if that wasn’t ruthless enough, Itemuagbor says, his oppressors forced him to pay N150,000 for his freedom, while they also allegedly pressured him to implicate himself in a statement.

     

    “At the end of the day, they took 150k from me, and asked me to write that I offered them a bribe to facilitate my release. All this happened in under three hours on Sunday,” Itemuagbor says.

     

    The bitter experience has left him “very sad and depressed”.

     

    Over 20 students injured, hospitalized as police invade Osun Poly

    Check out the pictures below

     

     

     

     

  • Man ends up in prison for Facebook posts

    Man ends up in prison for Facebook posts

    A Ho Chi Minh City court has sentenced a man to four and half years in prison for writing anti-state social media posts, Vietnam’s state media reported on Thursday.

    Bui Vo, 56, was found guilty on Wednesday of “conducting propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’’ in his Facebook posts, criticising the ruling Communist Party and government officials, according to Vietnam News (VNS).

    The posts, which date back to 2016, included complaints over land rights compensation, as well as government’s response to chemical spill in 2016 off the Vietnamese coast from a Taiwanese steel plant that killed hundreds of tonnes of fish.

    During a police raid in March 2017, Ho Chi Minh City police discovered 70 documents in his computer, with 49 containing anti-government “false information,’’ in the words of the indictment.

    Prosecutors said Vo transferred the account to a U.S.-based activist with the Viet Tan, a political party in exile that Vietnam classified as `terrorist group,’’ although the group had denied using violence, the Vnexpress news site reported.

    Vietnam is a single party communist state that outlaws dissent.

    Under Vietnamese law, “propagating’’ against the state is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment.

    Another social media activist, Ho Hai, 54, was sentenced to four years in prison in February for his anti-government posts.

     

  • Facebook rejigs after data privacy scandal

    Facebook on Tuesday announced that Jeff Zients, the CEO of Cranemere, has been appointed to the company’s board of directors and audit committee, effective May 31, 2018, immediately following Facebook’s annual meeting of stockholders.

    Following Zients’s appointment the board will consist of seven independent, non-employee directors out of nine total directors.

    “I am proud to join the Facebook Board and I look forward to working with Mark and the other directors as the company builds for the future. This is an exciting time for the company, and I am delighted to be part of the Board as the company works to face the opportunities and challenges of trying to bring the world closer together,” said Zients.

    Zients currently serves as the CEO of the Cranemere Group Limited, a diversified holding company. From March 2014 to January 2017, Zients served as Director of the National Economic Council for President Obama and served as Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget from January 2012 to April 2013.

    He also founded and managed Portfolio Logic LLC, an investment firm, from 2003 to 2009. From 1992 to 2004, Zients served in various roles at the Advisory Board Company, a research and consulting firm, including as Chairman from 2001 to 2004 and Chief Executive Officer from 1998 to 2000.

    He also served as Chairman of the Corporate Executive Board, a business research firm, from 2000 to 2001. Zients holds a B.A. in political science from Duke University.

    Zients serves on the board of Cranemere Group Limited and Timbuk2 Design. He is also a director of the Biden Cancer Initiative.

    Facebook also announced the following changes to the membership of its board committees: in addition to Zients, Kenneth I. Chenault will join the Audit Committee. Susan D. Desmond-Hellmann will move from the Audit Committee to the Compensation & Governance Committee, and Marc L. Andreessen will remain on the Audit Committee but step off the Compensation & Governance Committee.

    Aside from Zients, Facebook’s current board members are: Mark Zuckerberg; Marc L. Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz; Erskine B. Bowles, President Emeritus, University of North Carolina; Kenneth I. Chenault, Chairman and Managing Director, General Catalyst; Susan D. Desmond-Hellmann, CEO, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Reed Hastings, Chairman and CEO, Netflix; Jan Koum, Founder, WhatsApp; Sheryl K. Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook; and Peter A. Thiel, Founders Fund.

    TheNewsGuru reports the board shuffling is coming after the social media giant survived a recent data privacy scandal.

     

  • Facebook says to curb foreign Ads related to abortion referendum in Ireland

    Facebook says to curb foreign Ads related to abortion referendum in Ireland

    The Facebook social network said on Tuesday that it would not accept foreign ads related to the referendum of abortions that would be held in Ireland on May 25.

    The eighth amendment to the Irish constitution recognises the equal right to life of the mother and the unborn.

    It prohibits abortion unless the life of a pregnant woman is at risk.

    The May 25, referendum would reveal whether the Irish people want to remove the eighth amendment.

    “Facebook will no longer be accepting ads related to the forthcoming referendum if they are from advertisers based outside of Ireland,’’ the network said in a statement.

    It pointed out that the company was concerned over foreign attempts to influence the outcome of the referendum.

    “Concerns have been raised about organisations and individuals based outside of Ireland trying to influence the outcome of the referendum on the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of Ireland by buying ads on Facebook.

    “This is an issue we have been thinking about for some time,’’ the statement said.

    Facebook said the move was in line with the company’s strategy aimed at increasing transparency during political campaigns.

    The move is announced amid the scandal around Facebook and the Cambridge Analytica company, which cooperated with the social network.

    In April, media reported that the personal information of about 50 million Facebook users had been harvested without their permission by Cambridge Analytica.

    The firm reportedly worked for multiple political campaigns and gathered data from social media accounts to develop a mechanism that would predict and influence the behaviour of voters.

    In late March, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologised for the situation with Cambridge Analytica and admitted that he should not have trusted the firm.

    In early April, he said that there were several mistakes that had led to the situation, adding that most of the actions needed to prevent this from happening again had already been taken years ago.

     

  • Delta PDP warns aspirants, loyalists not to heat up polity on social media

    The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State has issued a warning barring aspirants and loyalists of the party not to unnecessarily heat up the political space of the State on the social media.

    This is contained in a press release signed and made available to TheNewsGuru by Ifeanyi Michael Osuoza, the party’s State Publicity Secretary.

    Read full press release:

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Delta State is one big, united and happy family. We are proud to say it and claim it with full authority, absolute confidence and unshakable conviction.

    Those who are conversant with party politics are only too aware of the doctrine and truism that ‘Party is Supreme’ and the party is the home of all who aspire, subscribe and engage in the electioneering processes of seeking public office.

    It is also a political fact that every party has a leader who serves as the rallying fulcrum from whom party essence, branding, ideology and strategic mandate implementation devolves.

    The Delta State PDP is blessed and eternally grateful to have His Excellency, Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa as our undisputed party leader and the beacon of governance excellence, who has given our party a sense of identity and restored our national relevance and importance in the political space.

    Those who know the origin and meaning of the title Ekwueme, (literally translated to mean he who does as he says and metaphorically interpreted as he who fulfils his promises) will confirm that Governor Okowa was not bestowed with the title on a mere whimsicality but earned it as a mark of recognition and appreciation from his kinsmen for being a man of his words, who fulfils his promises and delivers as he has pledged.

    We are truly blessed in Delta PDP, that Ekwueme, as our party leader, is neither a dictator nor an autocrat, but a true democrat who believes and strongly advocates that power belongs to the people and must be freely given by the people to the persons of their choice to lead and represent them. He is a true partyman who believes in bidding his time and moderating his ambition and has remained faithful to the party, unlike some others who quickly abandoned the party when they could not get what they wanted.

    Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as our party leader, has displayed a magnanimity, humility and benevolence in the party that has accommodated and carried everybody along. As a party leader he understands his responsibility as the father of the party and has ensured that the party operates in harmony and all conflict situations are resolved before they become crisis situations. He does not and has never discriminated against anybody but has rather exhibited a warm, humane and fatherly mien towards all irrespective of the circumstance, even to the point of consistently extending the olive branch and warm hand of fellowship to one and all including decampees whom he would dearly love to welcome back to the fold of the party. Governor Okowa has no enemies. He is indeed a good man.

    We in Delta PDP are extremely happy with the robustness, creative energy and journalistic exuberance with which the conventional and new media sectors in our State have blossomed, particularly in the social media teams that have sprung up in support of the objectives, manifestoes and pledges of our numerous aspirants and candidate.

    Our social media handles and handlers have not only defended our party stoutly and promoted the personalities, programmes and ideologies of our members excellently, they have also taken on the opposition courageously and matched them syllable for syllable, dishing out solid facts in debunking mischievous and misleading propaganda and churning out stories to capture and celebrate the achievements of our party, delivered brilliantly by the dedicated administration of His Excellency, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa.

    However, while we hail the good works of our media teams in their committed effort to showcase and elevate our party, we are also mindful of the very succinct admonition of our leader Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, who at every fora and party gathering has constantly re-echoed the caution that our members should not engage or support any action, activity or strategy that would heat up the polity and cause disharmony and disunity within and amongst the party and our members.

    We recall this auspicious advise by our leader Governor Okowa to our members against the backdrop of some recent media activities, which may have been inspired by momentous exuberance but which nevertheless qualifies as quite distasteful and detestable, in its attempt to portray a disagreement amongst the very top leadership of our party.

    We also note, with a twinge of sadness, the unchecked latitude of some social media commentators, who have invoked their affinity to certain party leaders as an authority to malign, insult and peddle untruths and propaganda materials just to satisfy their whims, for mischief making and circulate falsehood and disinformation. In addition, there are also those, who, in this political times also see the social media as an instrument to propagate the interest of these political lords, and so devote hours of their time on the social media attacking opponents of their political masters and interests.

    On a final note, it is equally imperative to counsel our political leaders seeking to fly the party flags during the forthcoming elections to warn their supporters and social media aides against misinformation and disinformation that is capable of creating a wedge between the governor and leaders of the party and their supporters but should rather focus on the things that will promote the excellent achievements of our governor and leader through the SMART Agenda, foster party harmony and unite our members into one indivisible force ahead of the 2019 elections.

    We in Delta PDP are not unmindful of the fact that our unparalleled successes in all Delta elections has not only unnevered our opponents but has the potential of creating a situation where we will be facing a formidable ‘enemy’ as opposition and now is the time for all hands to be on deck to build, sustain and ensure that the current team spirit and unity in PDP in Delta State is enhanced. We should stop throwing stones at each other, primaries are internal family issue. Whomsoever emerges as candidate needs the collaboration of every party member to face the opposition during the general elections. Therefore, all campaigns MUST be issues-based.

    Delta PDP is one united family under one undisputed leader in our great State.

    God Bless PDP.

     

  • NNPC denies social media recruitment advert

    NNPC denies social media recruitment advert

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says the recruitment advertisement by the corporation currently trending on social media is false.

    In a statement in Abuja on Sunday, the NNPC spokesman, Mr Ndu Ughamadu, said that the advertisement was intended to mislead innocent members of the public.

    According to him, the advertisement is set in NNPC’s corporate colour with its logo.

    He said that it invited candidates with background in Sciences, Engineering, Business/Finance, Social Sciences, Arts/Humanities as well as Medical/Health Sciences to apply.

    ”It gave required educational attainments of prospects to include: Master’s degree, Bachelor’s degree, Higher National Diploma (HND) and National Diploma.

    ”The advertisement is phantom. The corporation calls on unsuspecting members of the public to be wary of the scam.

    ”NNPC advises members of the public to disregard any announcement of recruitment or invitation to recruitment interview appearing in the social media.

    “The corporation is not carrying out any recruitment exercise now,” he said.

    Ughamadu urged job seekers to be alert on the antics of scammers who deploy such communication strategies as text messages and vacancy announcements on social media platforms.

    He said that the scammers also use forged letters inviting job seekers for non-existing job interviews with a view to extorting money from them.

    The spokesman called on those that had already fallen victims to volunteer information to the law enforcement agencies for appropriate actions.

    ”As an equal opportunities employer, NNPC will, as usual, advertise vacancies in the corporation through the national dailies,” Ughamadu said.

     

  • Facebook announces dating feature, to engage ‘army’ on security

    Facebook announces dating feature, to engage ‘army’ on security

    Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday announced a new dating feature for the Facebook app and revealed before the year 2018 ends, the social media platform will engage an army of 20,000 people to work on security and content review.

    The Facebook founder and chief executive officer made this known in his keynote at the platform’s F8 conference, an annual two-day event where developers come together to explore the future of technology.

    Zuckerberg kicked off the day talking on how the platform is taking a broader view of responsibility by not only giving people powerful tools, but also making sure those tools are used for good.

    “By the end of this year, we will have 20,000 people working on security and content review on Facebook,” he said while also stressing responsibility to keep building new services that will bring people together in meaningful new ways across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Oculus.

    TheNewsGuru reports the over 20,000 people that would be commissioned to work on security and content review will oversee spam, fake accounts and hoaxes on the social media platform.

    Zuckerberg made some other big announcements for the platform that include a feature for users to Clear History.

    “In your web browser, you have a simple way to clear your cookies and history. The idea is a lot of sites need cookies to work, but you should still be able to flush your history whenever you want.

    “We’re building a version of this for Facebook too. It will be a simple control to clear your browsing history on Facebook — what you’ve clicked on, websites you’ve visited, and so on.

    “To be clear, when you clear your cookies in your browser, it can make parts of your experience worse. You may have to sign back in to every website, and you may have to reconfigure things. The same will be true here. Your Facebook won’t be as good while it relearns your preferences.

    “But after going through our systems, this is an example of the kind of control we think you should have. It’s something privacy advocates have been asking for — and we will work with them to make sure we get it right,” he stated.

    Another huge announcement the founder made for the platform is a feature for dating and relationships within the Facebook app.

    “People already use Facebook to meet new people, and we want to make that experience better.

    “People will be able to create a dating profile that is separate from their Facebook profile — and potential matches will be recommended based on dating preferences, things in common, and mutual friends.

    “They’ll have the option to discover others with similar interests through their Groups or Events.

    “However, what people do within the dating feature will not be shown to their friends. We’ll share more information when this begins testing later this year,” Zuckerberg said.

    https://www.facebook.com/zuck/videos/10104900382520941/

     

  • Instagram sets for 5 new mind-blowing features

    The world’s most popular image-sharing social network, Instagram is reportedly planning to add several new functional features to its interface as it looks to up the ante against Snapchat.

    These new features might include a new video call feature, Stories reactions – similar to the ones on Facebook, a new Slow-Mo mode for Stories, a Mute button to remove certain profiles from your feed, and a new Calendar view for Instagram Stories’ archive.

    As per a series of tweets by user @wongmjane, Facebook-owned Instagram seems to be testing quite a handful of features in an attempt to take on competitors by offering as much functionality as possible.

    Instagram is also testing letting users tag Facebook friends in posts

     

  • Cambridge Analytica: Twitter involvement comes to light

    After the Facebook data scandal, it has now come to notice that Twitter had also sold data access to a Cambridge Analytica researcher who gathered the data of nearly 87 million Facebook users without their knowledge, The Sunday Telegraph reported.

    According to the report, Twitter sold public data access in 2015 to Aleksandr Kogan, then a psychology researcher with University of Cambridge and his company Global Science Research (GSR).

    The quiz app “This Is Your Digital Life” developed by Kogan and his firm, collected data from millions of Facebook users without their consent in 2014-2015.

    “GSR paid for one day of access in 2015, Twitter said, and scooped up a ‘random sample’ of public tweets covering a period between December 2014 and April 2015. Twitter added that it ‘did not find any access’ to private information,” the report noted.

    Kogan reportedly said the Twitter data had only been used to create “brand reports” and “survey extender tools” and that he had not violated Twitter’s policies.

    Twitter, however, said it had banned GSR and Cambridge Analytica from buying data or running adverts on the website and that no private data had been accessed.

    “Twitter has also made the policy decision to off-board advertising from all accounts owned and operated by Cambridge Analytica.

    “This decision is based on our determination that Cambridge Analytica operates using a business model that inherently conflicts with acceptable Twitter Ads business practices,” The Telegraph reported, citing a Twitter spokesperson.

    In a first interview after the Facebook data scandal broke out, Kogan told CBS News earlier this month that he was not sure whether he ever read Facebook’s developer policy.

    “The idea that we stole the data, I think, is technically incorrect. I mean, they created these great tools for developers to collect the data.

    “And they made it very easy. I mean, this was not a hack. This was, ‘Here’s the door. It’s open. We’re giving away the groceries. Please collect them’,” Kogan told the TV show host.

    Kogan said he believes his assumptions were misguided and that what he did in 2014 “was not right and was not wise”.

     

  • Facebook CEO, EU official discuss privacy protection

    Chief executive officer and founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and European Commission Vice President for the digital single market Andrus Ansip on Wednesday met and discussed issues bothering on privacy protection.

    The European Commission Vice President made this known on Wednesday tweeting about the meeting which also entails how to counter disinformation on the Internet, especially on social media.

    “Discussed with Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg the steps that Facebook has taken and plans to take to protect users privacy and tackle disinformation. There is a wider need to rebuild trust. GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) shows the way forward,” Ansip tweet read.

    Facebook has been under fire for allowing UK-based data analytic firm, Cambridge Analytica, to harvest personal details of more than 87 million users without their permission to target them during the 2015 Nigeria presidential election, the 2016 US presidential election and the Brexit referendum.

    Zuckerberg accepted responsibility for the whole brouhaha when he appeared before US Congress last week, especially for not preventing the social media platform from being used for harm, including fake news, foreign interference in elections and hate speech.

    However, the Facebook CEO pledged to limit the amount of users information apps on the platform can get access to, and said such apps must have to get users’ approval.

    European Parliament on Wednesday renewed its call to Zuckerberg to come before the Parliament to answer questions on the misuse of European citizens’ personal data.

    Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) emphasized that the General Data Protection Regulation that will apply as of May 26 will give citizens control over their personal data and set global standards.

    However, some MEPs pointed out that the new data protection rules will not prevent future scandals and called on the Council to proceed with the e-privacy regulation.