Facebook and other services by Meta Platforms (doing business as Meta) have faced a number of privacy concerns. These stem partly from the company's revenue model that involves selling information collected about its users for many things including advertisement targeting. Meta has also been a part of many data breaches that have occurred within the company. These issues and others are further described including user data concerns, vulnerabilities in the company's platform, investigations by pressure groups and government agencies, and even issues with students. In addition, employers and other organizations/individuals have been known to use Meta for their own purposes. As a result, individuals' identities and private information have sometimes been compromised without their permission. In response to these growing privacy concerns, some pressure groups and government agencies have increasingly asserted the users' right to privacy and to be able to control their personal data.
Mad at Meta? Don't Let Them Collect and Monetize Your Personal Data
If you’re fed up with Meta right now, you’re not alone. Meta tracks you across millions of websites and apps and its business model relies on your data. If you want to limit Meta’s ability to collect
Meta Ramps Up Efforts to Disrupt Industrialized Scamming
Meta removed 10.9 million Facebook and Instagram accounts linked to “criminal scam centers” last year, the company announced on Wednesday.
Cleaning Up the Streets: Understanding Motivations, Mental Models, and Concerns of Users Flagging Social Media Content
Social media platforms offer flagging, a technical feature that empowers users to report inappropriate posts or bad actors to reduce online harm. The deceptively simple flagging interfaces on nearly all major social media platforms disguise complex underlying interactions among users, algorithms, and moderators. Through interviewing 25 social media users with prior flagging experience, most of whom belong to marginalized groups, we examine end-users’ understanding of flagging procedures, explore the factors that motivate them to flag, and surface their cognitive and privacy concerns. We found that a lack of procedural transparency in flagging mechanisms creates gaps in users’ mental models, yet they strongly believe that platforms must provide flagging options. Our findings highlight how flags raise critical questions about distributing labor and responsibility between platforms and users for addressing online harm. We recommend innovations in the flagging design space that enhance user comprehension, ensure privacy, and reduce cognitive burdens.
Meta Is Sued Over Scam Ads on Facebook and Instagram
A lawsuit from the Consumer Federation of America accuses Meta of misleading consumers about its efforts to combat scams advertisements on its platforms.
2021 Facebook leak
In 2021, an internal document leak from Facebook (now Meta Platforms, or Meta) showed it was aware of harmful societal effects from its platforms, yet persisted in prioritizing profit over addressing these harms. The leak, released by whistleblower Frances Haugen, resulted in reporting from The Wall Street Journal in September, as The Facebook Files series from journalist Jeff Horwitz, as well as the Facebook Papers, by a consortium of news outlets the next months.
One Response to the Cambridge Analytica Scandal: Block Facebook's
With Facebook in a dominant position in hosting a huge portion of the world’s social conversation, we’ve been worried about the incredible power the company has accumulated and the risks that poses
Meta Faces Lawsuit Over Gambling Scam Ads on Facebook, Instagram - iGamingToday.com - News, insights and Slots review
The Consumer Federation of America has taken Meta to court, accusing the company of misleading users about how it tackles fraudulent advertising on Facebook and Instagram. Filed in Washington, DC, the lawsuit claims Meta’s handling of scam ads, including scam gambling sites, violates local consumer protection laws. Unlike scams that rely on direct contact with […]
Why Big Tech's Privacy Promises Are Lies
Facebook’s Attack on Research is Everyone's Problem
Facebook recently banned the accounts of several New York University (NYU) researchers who run Ad Observer, an accountability project that tracks paid disinformation, from its platform. This has
553,000,000 Reasons Not to Let Facebook Make Decisions About Your
Another day, another horrific Facebook privacy scandal. We know what comes next: Facebook will argue that losing a lot of our data means bad third-party actors are the real problem that we should
Once Again, Facebook Is Using Privacy As A Sword To Kill Independent
Facebook claims that their role as guardian of users’ privacy gives them the power to shut down apps that give users more control over their own social media experience. Facebook is wrong. The latest
Why Meta is retreating from encryption
In 2019, Mark Zuckerberg called privacy the future of social networking. Not anymore
Reddit User Uncovers Who Is Behind Meta’s $2B Lobbying for Invasive Age Verification Tech
Meta funneled $2B through nonprofit shells to push age verification laws targeting Apple and Google while exempting its own platforms from surveillance requirements.
Meta failed to protect social media users from scam ads, lawsuit alleges
The Consumer Federation of America accused Meta of allowing scam advertisements to "proliferate on its platforms."
A Duty of Loyalty for Privacy Law
Data privacy law fails to stop companies from engaging in self-serving, opportunistic behavior at the expense of those who trust them with their data. This is a
Custodians of the Internet
A revealing and gripping investigation into how social media platforms police what we post online—and the large societal impact of these decisions Most use...
