Facebook

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Man looking at the window behind curtains

No, Facebook is not telling you everything

Facebook "Download Your Information" feature only gives you part of the picture. Information about advertisers uploading lists with your personal information is limited in time and prevents users from exercising their rights

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Map of the reach of Facebook's transparency

Op-ed: The Unequal Application of Advertising Transparency

Most users around the world still don't have meaningful insight into how ads are being targeted at them on Twitter, Facebook, and Google.

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Twitter Headquarters - Christinatt (photo by Troy Holden)

Use of 2FA information for commercial purposes is unacceptable

The latest news of Twitter “inadvertently” sharing email addresses or phone numbers provided for safety or security purposes (for example, two-factor authentication) for advertising purposes is extremely concerning for several reasons. First of all, it is not the first time for Twitter 's used

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Who, what, why? A guide to understanding the Facebook encryption debate if you have lost the plot

Photo by Daniel Jensen on Unsplash Everyone is talking about Facebook's end-to-end encryption plans and the US, UK and Australian government's response. Feeling lost? Here is what you need to know. What's Facebook trying to do? First let's be clear: Facebook has many faults when it comes to privacy

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Social media companies have failed to provide adequate advertising transparency to users globally

An analysis of what Facebook, Google, and Twitter have done to provide users with political ad transparency as of September 2019. Our full analysis is linked below. Recently the role of social media and search platforms in political campaigning and elections has come under scrutiny. Concerns range

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No Body's Business But Mine - What You Can Do If You Are A Menstruation App User

Photo by Jake Hills on Unsplash Our research has shown how some apps like Maya by Plackal Tech and MIA by Mobbap Development Limited were – at the time of the research – sharing your most intimate data about your sexual life and medical history with Facebook. Other apps like Mi Calendario, Ovulation

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No Body's Business But Mine: How Menstruation Apps Are Sharing Your Data

PI undertook dynamic analysis of various menstrution apps using its own data interception environment to look at the data they share with Facebook.

Tracking soldiers

In 2018, to prove how easily soldiers' real-world actions can be manipulated via social media, researchers at NATO's Strategic Communications Center of Excellence (StratCom) conducted a red-team exercise in which they "catfished" members of the armed forces. Using information collected from Facebook

Facebook's first civil rights audit

In December 2018, Facebook provided an update on the civil rights audit it asked civil rights leader Laura Murphy to undertake in May. Based on advice Murphy culled from 90 civil society organisations, Facebook said it had expanded its policy prohibiting voter suppression, updated its policy to ban

Explainer

Why is advertising transparency important?

Companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter are not doing enough to provide their users with ads transparency.

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Review of 'The Great Hack' documentary

Image: The Great Hack publicity still, courtesy of Netflix. This is a review of the documentary 'The Great Hack' originally published on IMDb. This documentary is a fascinating account of The Facebook/Cambridge Analytica data scandal. In early 2018, Cambridge Analytica became a household name. The

Anti-abortion advertising on Facebook exposed as part of a broader campaign

Le Monde exposed anti-IVG (anti-abortion) advertising on Facebook as part of a borader campaign led by anti-abortion website IVG.net. The advertisement relied on stock photos and fake testimonies posted in public Facebook groups and promoted to young women. Most of the posts attempt to promote the

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Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency Libra: Not to be Confused with Libre

The white paper that outlines the rationale for the new currency makes a number of heady statements, some which anyone who cares about rights should commend -- and some which should be challenged.

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Join our campaign: tell social media companies to draw a line at the border!

When you go abroad, you expect to show your passport right? But what if immigration authorities wanted access to your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts before they let you enter a country? What if they wanted to vet you based on your updates, photos, likes, retweets and even your DMs? We

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Ghosts in Your Machine: Spooks Want Secret Access to Encrypted Messages

Privacy International has joined a global coalition of privacy campaigners, tech companies, and technology experts to respond to proposals by British intelligence chiefs aimed at allowing them access to encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp or Signal. If implemented, the proposals would allow

Facebook’s failing efforts in Hungary

18 May 2019

As a part of Facebook’s efforts to curb disinformation and misinformation on its platform, the company introduced new rules over how political content is marked. This has resulted in content that is educational, news articles, and otherwise seemingly non-political being marked incorrectly and taken