Archives: News

Facebook fixes security issue over passwords in 'readable' format

Date Published: March 30, 2019 Last Modified: March 30, 2019

Facebook has fixed a security issue wherein around 200 million passwords in plain texts were saved in its database which was in 'readable' format and could be searched by thousands of its employees. According to a report by KrebsOnSecurity, around 200–300 million Facebook users might have their account passwords stored in plain texts, which allowed it to be searchable to around 20,000 Facebook employees. Facebook later claimed in a blog post that as a part of their routine security review in January, they found that some user passwords were stored in readable format within their internal data system. However, the company maintained that these 'readable' passwords were never visible to anyone outside of Facebook.

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WhatsApp refuses to comply with govt on misinformation

Date Published: March 30, 2019 Last Modified: March 30, 2019

WhatsAppp has refused to comply with the Indian government over its privacy policy of end-to-end encryption, which, WhatsApp said, is not ready to compromise with. The government wants WhatsApp to track any person suspected of spreading fake news or misinformation. WhatsApp, however, has declined to comply because the company is not ready to break the promise of privacy and freedom of speech it offers. The company might have to re-think its policies because the consequences out of this disagreement could turn out to be against the company's policies.

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FB restores Page after banning it over fascism warning

Date Published: March 30, 2019 Last Modified: March 30, 2019

Facebook has restored the page of Dhruv Rathee followingpublic outcry over briefly banning for drawing implicit parallels between fascism and rise of right-wing politics in India. Rathee is an Indian YouTuber and has one of the most active Facebook pages in India. He had highlighted in a post how Hitler remained unmarried, was more popular than the Nazi party, used propaganda, and received support from industrialists. Facebook first determined the post to be against its community standards even though it was criticism and not an endorsement of fascism. For this, the social media platform drew criticism from public figures. Facebook, subsequently, restored the Page.

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District Election Department issues advisory to WhatsApp admins

Date Published: March 29, 2019 Last Modified: March 29, 2019

The district election department in Noida has sent an advisory to all administrators of WhatsApp groups to check the content of their groups. The advisory will also be applicable to pages on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. According to district magistrate BN Singh, the Election Commission has enforced this code of conduct. The Election Commission has also asked State Election Commissions to check the degree of social media usage and ensure level-playing field for all political parties.

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Facebook to flag false information ahead of elections

Date Published: March 28, 2019 Last Modified: March 28, 2019

Facebook is taking steps to check the spread of false information ahead of India's general elections, company officials have claimed. With polling scheduled to take place in phases between April 11 and May 19, Facebook has listed down a number of measures which ranged from blocking fake accounts to employing third-party fact-checking organisations through camping and voting. The Election Commission of India is reifying assurance of its users by rein in social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to prevent the spread of politically motivated manipulative information and protection of user data.

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WhatsApp will not trace the origin of messages

Date Published: March 29, 2019 Last Modified: March 29, 2019

Despite a lot of pressure from Indian authorities, WhatsApp has asserted that it will not trace the origin of messages. WhatsApp is not keen on doing so because it would require the company to redesign its platform. Indian authorities have been asking WhatsApp to introduce a feature that would enable the authorities to trace the origin of a message that could possibly spread misinformation. However, the company stated that introducing such a feature would mean redesigning the app in a way that the messages would not be private.

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Facebook claims to limit false stories for India elections

Date Published: March 27, 2019 Last Modified: March 27, 2019

Facebook has listed a variety of measures it's taking to curb the spread of false information ahead of the Indian general elections. It has partnered with several Indian media organisations to fact-check and reduce the visibility of posts containing false information by 80 per cent. These measures have been taken after the organisation faced a backlash after failing to prevent the spread of false information during the 2016 US elections.

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Facebook sets up 24/7 election response centre

Date Published: March 27, 2019 Last Modified: March 27, 2019

Facebook is in the process of establishing an election response team to monitor and track objectionable content in real time round the clock. The team will be Singapore-based and will work closely with the Election Commission of India. Samidh Chakrabarti, global director of product management for civic integrity at Facebook, emphasised on the importance of the work and said that while unusual, the organisation had staffed a product team dedicated to the Indian elections over a year ago in the US.

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FB launches India-specific tools to boost engagement ahead of elections

Date Published: March 27, 2019 Last Modified: March 27, 2019

Facebook has launched two new India-specific tools "Candidate Connect" and "Share You Voted", to boost civic engagement on its platform during the Lok Sabha elections in April. The "Candidate Connect" tool will help people learn more about their candidates and the "Share You Voted" tool will provide people with polling information while enabling them to announce and celebrate their vote.

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Election Commission warns against online voting rumour

Date Published: March 27, 2019 Last Modified: March 27, 2019

The Election Commission has urged voters to not believe messages received on Whatsapp which claim that people can vote online. ECI spokesperson Sheyphali Sharan took to Twitter to alert citizens about the spread of a 'fake message' which claimed that Indian passport holders can vote online in 2019. She clarified that one can only apply for voter registration online.

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