Facebook must change and policymakers must act on data, warns UK watchdog – TechCrunch

The UK’s data watchdog has warned that Facebook must overhaul its privacy-hostile business model or risk burning user trust for good. Comments she made today have also raised questions over the legality of so-called lookalike audiences to target political ads at users of its platform. Information commissioner Elizabeth Denham was giving evidence to the Digital,…

Study of political junk on Facebook raises fresh questions about its metrics – TechCrunch

A midterms election study of political disinformation being fenced by Facebook’s platform supports the company’s assertion that a clutch of mostly right-leaning and politically fringe Pages it removed in October for sharing “inauthentic activity” were pulled for gaming its engagement metrics. Though it remains unclear why it took Facebook so long to act against such prolific…

Facebook removes 115 suspicious accounts ahead of US mid-term elections

Just before the US mid-term elections, Facebook removed a total of 115 accounts it thought that ‘engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior’. The company said US Law enforcement contacted it on Sunday to report suspicious online activity, which they believed was possibly linked to foreign entities. Today, the social network removed 30 accounts from Facebook and 85 accounts…

Hours before U.S. election day, Facebook pulls dozens of accounts for ‘coordinated inauthentic behavior’ – TechCrunch

Facebook has pulled the plug on 30 accounts and 85 Instagram accounts that the company says were engaged in “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy Nathaniel Gleicher revealed the latest batch of findings in a late-night blog post Monday. “On Sunday evening, U.S. law enforcement contacted us about online activity that they recently…