KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Meta Platforms apologised on Tuesday for erroneously removing Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s social media posts in which he expressed condolences to a Hamas official about the assassination of the group’s leader Ismail Haniyeh. Meta was sorry for “an operational error”, adding that the content had been restored with “the correct newsworthy label,” a Meta spokesperson told Reuters. The U.S. social media giant designates Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that governs Gaza, […]
Tag: Facebook
Meta suffers global Facebook, Instagram outage
WASHINGTON, March 5, 2024 (AFP) – Meta suffered a highly unusual outage of all its social media platforms on Tuesday with users of Facebook, Instagram and Threads locked out of their accounts. At about 12:00 US east coast time (1700 GMT), the sites seemed to be returning to normal, about two hours after the outage reports first emerged. “Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have difficulty accessing some of our services,” Meta spokesman […]
Facebook, the social network old-timer, turns 20
By Julie JAMMOT Founded 20 years ago as a simple hangout spot for young people, Facebook has since become a battle-hardened behemoth that — despite perceptions of being for boomers and parents — continues growing and growing. “I will never forget the day that I ran up to my high school’s Mac lab and signed up for Facebook,” Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg told AFP. “You simultaneously felt that you were part of this small, […]
US states accuse Meta of profiting ‘from children’s pain’
By Glenn CHAPMAN SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 24, 2023 (AFP) – Dozens of US states on Tuesday accused Facebook and Instagram owner Meta of profiting “from children’s pain,” damaging their mental health and misleading people about the safety of its platforms. “In seeking to maximize its financial gains, Meta has repeatedly misled the public about the substantial dangers of its Social Media Platforms,” argued a joint lawsuit filed in federal court in California. In total more […]
Meta says Trump to be allowed back on Facebook, Instagram
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) – Social networking giant Meta announced Tuesday it would soon reinstate former president Donald Trump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram with “new guardrails,” two years after he was banned over the 2021 US Capitol insurrection. “We will be reinstating Mr. Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts in the coming weeks,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, said in a statement, adding that the move would come with “new guardrails in place […]
Facebook agrees to pay $725 million to settle privacy suit
San Francisco, United States (AFP) Facebook parent Meta has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a long-running lawsuit that accused the social network of allowing third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, to access users’ private data. The amount was disclosed in a court filing late on Thursday. “The proposed settlement of $725,000,000 is the largest recovery ever achieved in a data privacy class action and the most Facebook has ever paid to resolve a […]
Meta to freeze hiring to tighten budget: report
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) – Facebook-parent Meta put out word to employees on Thursday that it will freeze hiring to cut costs as it endures tough economic times, The Wall Street Journal reported. Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg revealed a planned pause in hiring during a weekly all-hands meeting, the Journal reported, saying the move came as the social media titan planned to cut expenses by at least 10 percent. Meta declined to comment on […]
Facebook’s Meta takes on bond debt, in a first
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) – Facebook-owner Meta is ending a run as one of the few major firms without debt, launching its first bond sale as the company battles uncertainty and bets heavily on its metaverse vision. Worries over the social media giant’s future and fierce competition from TikTok have sent its stock plummeting, while the firm spends billions on its plan for the internet’s next iteration. Meta reported to the US markets watchdog […]
Facebook tweaks app with eye on rival TikTok
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook has split the news feed in two on its app, a significant change that mimics the experience on its fiercest competitor, hugely-popular TikTok. One of the feeds unveiled Thursday is a chronological flow from the user’s connections and the other option includes algorithm-driven recommendations on anything that might interest them. The recommendations focus makes Facebook more similar to TikTok’s “For You” feed, where the booming video app’s algorithm […]
Key Facebook force Sheryl Sandberg steps down
by Glenn Chapman Agence France-Presse SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Meta’s second most powerful executive Sheryl Sandberg made the shock announcement Wednesday she will leave after a 14-year tenure that included helping steer scandal-prone Facebook to advertising dominance. Sandberg, 52, has been one of the most influential women in Silicon Valley and her departure comes as the social media juggernaut faces an uncertain future and fierce competition. Her exit from Facebook parent Meta will […]
Internal bug promoted problematic content on Facebook
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Content identified as misleading or problematic were mistakenly prioritized in users’ Facebook feeds recently, thanks to a software bug that took six months to fix, according to tech site The Verge. Facebook disputed the report, which was published Thursday, saying that it “vastly overstated what this bug was because ultimately it had no meaningful, long-term impact on problematic content,” according to Joe Osborne, a spokesman for parent company Meta. […]
Russia bans Instagram and Facebook as ‘extremist’
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) – A Russian court on Monday banned Facebook and Instagram as “extremist”, part of sweeping efforts by Moscow to crack down on social media during the conflict in Ukraine. The Russian authorities have accused US tech giant Meta — the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — of tolerating “Russophobia” since President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24. Facebook and Twitter have been inaccessible in Russia since early […]





