Tag Archives: Facebook

Meta Plans To Ask Facebook And Instagram Users In Europe If They Want Ads

Meta

Meta Platforms plans to give European users of Instagram and Facebook the option of receiving what it says are “less personalized ads,” a concession to regulators that risks hitting the company’s revenue in one of its largest markets, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The social-media company plans in coming days to begin prompting users in Europe with the choice of the new ad format, without paying a fee, according to people briefed on the plans.

The less-personalized format will show European users what Meta calls contextual ads based on content that a user sees during a given browsing session, rather than a user’s broader activity history, like the ads most users now see peppered into their feeds and stories on Meta’s apps. 

Some of the new ads — which will also be targeted based on age, gender and location — will cover the whole screen and be unskippable for a few seconds.

Meta’s new ad option comes amid pressure from European Union regulators who say users should have access to a free version of the company’s apps with less-personalized ads. It is unclear if the new concessions will satisfy EU regulators.

Meta posted: Facebook and Instagram to Offer Subscription for No Ads In Europe

Today, we are announcing important changes to Facebook and Instagram in the EU, including reducing the price of subscription for no ads by 40%. Going forward, people based in the EU will still have the option to chose between subscribing for an ad-free experience or continuing to access our services for free.

For those people who choose to continue using our services for free, they’ll now also be able to choose to see less personalized ads. However, we remain committed to personalized advertising, which will also way be the cornerstone of a free and inclusive internet.

Significantly lowering the price of Subscriptions for no ads

From tomorrow, we will reduce the price of the monthly subscription from €9.99 to €5.99/month on the web, or from €12.99 to €7.99/month on iOS and Android. Each additional Facebook or Instagram account will be charged at €4/month on the web and €5/month on iOS and Android.

While our previous price was fairly in line with peers, this lower pricing means that our subscription service will be one of the cheapest across our peers. Existing subscribers do not need to take any action – the price they pay will be automatically reduced…

Reuters reported Meta Platforms plans to offer Instagram and Facebook users in Europe the option to receive “less personalized ads,” the tech giant announced on Tuesday, in an effort to allay regulators’ mounting concerns.

Over the coming week, people in the EU who use the company’s social media platforms for free with ads will be able to choose to see ads based on what Meta calls “context” – content that a user sees during a particular session on the platforms.

In my opinion, I think that people in the EU who currently use Facebook and/or Instagram are not going to be happy about having ads pop up while they are trying to have a conversation with their loved ones.

Meta To Pay $1.4 Billion To Settle Texas Facial Recognition Data Lawsuit

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Meta Platforms has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to Texas to resolve the state’s lawsuit accusing the Facebook parent of illegally using facial-recognition technology to collect biometric data of millions of Texans without their consent, Reuters  reported.

The terms of the settlement, disclosed on Tuesday, mark the largest accord of any single state, according to the lawyers for Texas, whose legal team included the plaintiffs firm Keller Postman.

The lawsuit, filed in 2022, was the first major case to be brought under Texas’ 2009 biometric privacy law, according to law firms tracking the litigation. A provision the law provides damages of up to $25,000 per violation.

Texas accused Facebook of capturing biometric information “billions of times” from photos and videos users uploaded to the social media platform as part of a free, discontinued feature called “Tag Suggestions.”

A spokesperson for Meta said the company is pleased to resolve the matter and looks forward to “exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas, including potentially developing data centers.

It has continued to deny any wrongdoing.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton posted a press release that includes the following:

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has secured a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta (formerly known as Facebook) to stop the company’s practice of capturing and using the personal biometric data of millions of Texans without the authorization required by law.

This settlement is the largest ever obtained from an action brought by a single State. Further, this is the largest privacy settlement an Attorney General has ever obtained, dwarfing the $390 million settlement a group of 40 states obtained in late 2022 from Google. This is the first settlement obtained under Texas’s “Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier” Act and serves as a warning to any companies engaged in practices that violate Texans’ privacy rights…

CNBC reported Meta agreed to pay a record $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit by the state of Texas over the Facebook owner’s unauthorized use of biometric data by users, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Tuesday.

“Unbeknownst to most Texans, for more than a decade, Meta ran facial recognition software on virtually every face contained in the photographs uploaded to Facebook, capturing records of the facial geometry of the people depicted,” Paxton’s office said. 

The office said that Meta did this despite knowing that Texas’ Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act bars companies from capturing biometric identifiers of Texans without first informing them and obtaining their consent.

Meta will pay out the $1.4 billion to Texas over five years, the office said.

In my opinion, it is never good to secretly collect biometric data from users without the person’s full consent. Meta (formerly Facebook) should not have done this.

Meta Pauses AI Models Launch In Europe Due To Irish Request

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Meta Platforms will not launch its Meta AI models in Europe for now after the Irish privacy regulator told it to delay its plan to harness data from Facebook and Instagram users, the U.S. social media company said on Friday, Reuters reported.

The move by Meta came after complaints and a call by advocacy group NYOB to data protection authorities in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Spain to act against the company.

At issue is Meta’s plan to use personal data to train its artificial intelligence (AI) models without seeking consent, although the company has said it would use publicly available and licensed online information.

Meta on Friday said the Irish privacy watchdog had asked it to delay training its large language models (LLM’s) using public content shared by Facebook and Instagram adult users.

“We’re disappointed by the request from the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), our lead regulator, on behalf of the European DPAs … particularly since we incorporated regulatory feedback and the European DPAs have been informed since March,” the company said in an updated blogpost.

The Irish Data Protection Commission wrote:

The DPC’s Engagement with Meta On AI

The DPC welcomes the decision by Meta to pause its plans to train its large language model using public content shared by adults on Facebook and Instagram across the EU/EEA. This decision followed intensive engagement between the DPC and Meta. The DPC, in co-operation with its fellow EU data protection authorities, will continue to engage with Meta on the issue.

The Verge reported Meta is putting plans for its AI assistant on hold in Europe after receiving objections from Ireland’s privacy regulator, the company announced on Friday.

In a blog post, Meta said the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) asked the company to delay training its large language models on content that had been publicly posted to Facebook and Instagram profiles.

Meta said it is “disappointed” by the request, “particularly since we incorporated regulatory feedback and the European [Data Protection Authorities] have been informed since March,” Per the Irish Independent. Meta had recently begun notifying European users that it would collect their data and offered an opt-out option in an attempt to comply with European privacy laws.

According to The Verge, Meta said it will “continue to work collaboratively with the DCP.” But its blog post says that Google and OpenAI have “already used data from Europeans to train AI” and claims that if regulators don’t let it use users’ information to train its models, Meta can only deliver an inferior product.

“Put simply, without including local information we’d only be able to offer people a second-rate experience. This means we aren’t able to launch Meta AI in Europe at the moment.”

In my opinion, I don’t think it should be legal for companies (like Meta and others) to scrape data off of social media platforms and feed it to their AI. It will never be ok to scrape other people’s posts – unless Meta pays a significant amount of money to the users they are stealing from.

EU Launches Probe Into Meta Over Social Media Addiction In Children

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Brussels has opened an in-depth probe into Meta over concerns it is failing to do enough to protect children from becoming addicted to social media platforms such as Instagram, Financial Times reported.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, announced on Thursday it would look into whether the Silicon Valley giant’s apps were reinforcing “rabbit hole” effects, where the users get drawn ever deeper into online feeds and topics.

EU investigators will also look into whether Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is complying with legal obligations to provide appropriate age-verification tools to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content. 

The probe is the second into the company under the EU’s Digital Services Act. The landmark legislation is designed to police content online, with sweeping new rules on the protection of minors. 

European Commission wrote: Today, the Commission has opened formal proceedings to assess whether Meta, the provider of Facebook and Instagram, may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas linked to the protection of minors.

The Commission is concerned that the systems of both Facebook and Instagram, including their algorithms, may stimulate behavioural addictions in children, as well as create so-called ‘rabbit-hole effects.’ In addition, the Commission is also concerned about age-assurance and verification methods put in place by Meta.

The current proceedings address the following areas:

  • Meta’s compliance with DSA obligations on assessment and mitigation of risks caused by the design of Facebook’s and Instagram’s online interfaces, which may exploit the weaknesses and inexperience of minors and cause addictive behaviour and/or reinforce so-called ‘rabbit hole effect. Such an assessment is required to counter potential risks for the exercise of the fundamental right to the physical and mental well-being of children as well as to the respect of their rights.
  • Meta’s compliance with DSA requirements in relation to the mitigation measures to prevent access by minors to inappropriate content, notably age-verification tools used by Meta, which may not be reasonable, appropriate, proportionate and effective.
  • Meta’s compliance with DSA obligations to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety, and security for minors, particularly with regard to default privacy settings for minors as part of the design and functioning of their recommended systems.

The Guardian reported that a Meta spokesperson said: “We want young people to have safe, age-appropriate experiences online and have spent a decade developing more than 50 tools and policies designed to protect them. This is a challenge the whole industry is facing, and we look forward to sharing the details of our work with the European Commission.”

If the commission is not satisfied with Meta’s response, it can impose a fine equating to 6% of its global turnover. More immediately, it can carry out on-site investigations and interview company executives, with no deadline publicly fixed to complete the investigation.

In my opinion, parents with young children, who want to view Instagram, should sit down with them and act as a filter for content that is inappropriate for their kids. Clearly, Meta isn’t trying hard enough to keep children safe on their platform.

Fake Facebook MidJourney AI Page Promoted Malware To 1.2 Million People

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Hackers are using Facebook advertisements and hijacked pages to promote fake Artificial Intelligence services, such as MidJourney, OpenAI’s SORA and ChatGPT-5, and DALL-E, to infect unsuspecting users with password-stealing malware, Bleeping Computer reported.

The malvertising campaigns are created by hijacked Facebook profiles that impersonate popular AI services, pretending to offer a sneak peak of new features.

Users tricked by the ads become members of fraudulent Facebook communities, where the threat actors post news, AI-generated images, and other related info to make pages look legitimate.

However, the community posts often promote limited-time access to upcoming and eagerly anticipated AI-services, tricking the users into the download malicious executables that infect Windows computers with information-stealing malware like Rilide, Vidar, IceRAT, and Nova.

Information-stealing malware focuses on stealing data form a victim’s browser, including stored credentials, cookies, cryptocurrency wallet information, autocomplete data, and credit card information.

The Record reported cybercriminals are taking over Facebook pages and using them to advertise fake generative artificial intelligence software loaded with malware.

According to researchers at the cybersecurity company Bitdefender, the cybercrooks are taking advantage of the popularity of new generative AI tools and using “malvertising” to impersonate legitimate products like Midjourney, Sora AI, ChatGPT-5, and others.

The campaigns follow a certain blueprint. Cybercriminals take over a Facebook account and begin to make changes to the page’s descriptions, cover and profile photo. According to Bitdefender, they make “the page seem as if it is run by well-known AI-based image and video generators.”

They then populate the pages with purported product news and advertisements for software, which are themselves generated with AI software.

The downloads contain various types of info steeling malware – like Riide, Vidar, IceRAT, and Nova Stealers — which are available for purchase on the dark web, allowing unsophisticated cybercriminals to launch attacks.

According to The Record, the most notable Facebook page hijack involved the application Midjourney, a popular tool for creating AI-generated images. Its hijacked page had 1.2 million followers and was active for nearly a year before it was shut down earlier this month.

Tom’s Guide reported once an account is compromised, the hackers then give it an AI-themed makeover with a new cover and profile photos as well as descriptions to make it appear as if it is run by one of the well-known AI-generated photos and advertisements to further impersonate whichever AI image generator of video generate service they want to leverage in their attacks.

During their investigation, Bitedefender’s security researchers found that the hackers responsible used a much different approach with MidJourney. For other AI tools, they urged visitors to download the latest versions from Dropbox or Google Drive, but with Midjourney, they created more than a dozen malicious sites that impersonated the tool’s actual landing page. These sites then tried to trick visitors into downloading the latest version of the took via a GoFile link.

In my opinion, the cybercriminals are obviously terrible people who want to take advantage of others. I’m hoping that Facebook has taken swift action against the crooks who likely caused harm to several Facebook users.

Threads Users Can Keep Their Posts Off Instagram and Facebook

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Many Threads users are now saying they have the ability to opt out of having their posts shown on Instagram and Facebook. To keep Threads posts from showing up on Meta’s other platforms, tap the two lines in the top right of the Threads app > Privacy > Suggesting pots on other apps – two switches let users turn off suggestions on Instagram or Facebook, The Verge reported.

According to The Verge, Meta tends to roll out Threads features slowly, so if you don’t see the new toggles yet, give it time.

Instagram and Facebook each got a “For you on Threads” carousel in the last few months. Responding to user grumpiness, Threads said in October it was “listening to feedback” shortly before testing the opt-out switch that’s rolling out now.

The Verge reported that the feature was clearly intended to drive engagement on Threads, as the platform seemed to be foundering after its impressive initial launch. But things look a lot better now. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on an earnings call last month that Threads now has almost 100 million monthly users. That’s still short of the “over half a billion monthly users” that Elon Musk recently claimed that X has, but its a good sign for Threads, just over four months into life.

9to5Mac reported that Meta first started showing these Threads suggestions on Facebook and Instagram in August. The carousels show Threads posts from people you’re associated with on Facebook or Instagram, with a quick link to open (or download) the Threads app and join the conversation.

“If your profile is public, your posts may be suggested on other apps so people can discover and follow you,” Meta explains.

However, this week Meta is now giving Threads users the option to opt out of having their posts appear as suggested content in Meta and Instagram.

PCMag reported that Meta undoubtedly made the decision to share posts by default on other platforms in order to drive engagement and interest in Threads while the service was new and gaining traction.

The idea being a friend of yours might see on Instagram that you’ve posted on Threads, then visit Threads for more. Testing for the feature began in August with Instagram showing Threads posts.

According to PCMag, last month, the company said its was “listening to feedback” from users who didn’t want their posts shared on Instagram and Twitter as well. The company offers a similar option on Instagram allowing you to opt in or our of sharing your posts on Facebook as well.

Personally, I find it interesting that Meta didn’t take into account that there will always be some people who join a social media app and immediately make their accounts private. This is super important for the company to recognize, and it makes sense that Meta is now allowing Threads users to opt-out of having their posts appear on Instagram and Facebook.

Meta Is Bringing Its Telegram-Like Broadcast Channels To Facebook And Messenger

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Meta is bringing Telegram-like “broadcast channels” to Facebook and Messenger after rolling it out on Instagram and WhatsApp earlier this year, TechCrunch reported. The company announced today that the feature is coming to the two platforms in the coming weeks.

The feature lets creators and public figures share one-to-many messages to directly engage with their followers. Channels support text, images, polls, reactions, and more. With broadcast channels, only the creator of the channel can send messages, but viewers can react to messages and vote in polls.

According to TechCrunch, creators and public figures can use the broadcast channels to share updates with their followers and also share behind-the-scenes moments. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other executives at the company have been using broadcast channels to share updates about feature and product releases.

Meta posted on its Newsroom a post titled: “Introducing Broadcast Channels on Facebook and Messenger” From the Newsroom:

Today, Mark Zuckerberg announced we’re bringing broadcast channels to Facebook and Messenger. Broadcast channels are a public, one-to-many messaging tool for Pages on Facebook and are the latest addition to Facebook’s robust set of tools that Page admins such as creators and public figures can use to directly reach and further engage with their communities.

Broadcast channels also give a place for followers to feel even more connected and dive deeper on the things that matter most to them. Admins of Pages can use broadcast channel features like polls to get instant feedback from their community, send behind the scenes photos or videos, and use voice notes for more authentic expression.

We’re currently testing the ability for Pages to create broadcast channels and expect to roll this out in the coming weeks. Anyone on Facebook can join these broadcast channels to stay up to date on the latest from their favorite Pages…

…Safety and Privacy

Broadcast channels are subject to Facebook’s and Messenger’s Community Standards so people can feel safe being part of them. People can report both a broadcast channel itself or specific content shared in the channel, which can be removed if it goes against our policies.

Broadcast channels are also public and discoverable chat experiences, so they’re treated differently than private messaging on Facebook and Messenger. We have tools and reviewers to help us identify, review and remove content in broadcast channels that may violate our Community Standards – often before anyone sees it.

The Verge reported that Meta’s “broadcast channels,” previously available for Instagram and WhatsApp, will be coming to Facebook and Messenger “in the coming weeks”. CEO Mark Zuckerberg also shared the news in a post from his personal Facebook account.

Broadcast channels function a bit like giant but limited group chats. A creator can invite their followers and then blast things like voice notes, polls, text posts, videos, and photos to anyone who joins. Channel members receive notifications whenever the creator drops content.

Specifically, these channels will be available for Pages on Facebook, and they’re in testing now. Those who manage the official page for a celebrity or company, for example, will be able to start a channel directly from the page. Those who wish to join a broadcast channel will be able to do so directly from any specific page.

In my opinion, this new feature (whenever it rolls out) could be interesting to people who use Facebook or Messenger to keep in touch with celebrities and public figures. I wonder how many politicians will start a broadcast channel.