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Showing posts with the label Facebook

Coronavirus Updates

How to place a video call on Facebook Messenger: A step-by-step guide

Facebook  Messenger allows you to make one-on-one video calls and group video calls with up to 50 people using Messenger Rooms. Facebook Messenger is free and offers several ways that you can use to communicate, including placing one-to-one video calls and creating a room. The platform supports various video calling features, and it’s available across the globe with support for a wide variety of devices. You can install the Messenger app on your  Android  device or iPhone from the  Google  Play or App Store respectively. There’s also a Messenger app for macOS and Windows desktops. You can also access Messenger from Facebook on the web or from the dedicated Messenger web app. Installing or using the latest version of Messenger ensures you will have access to the latest features. One interesting thing to note is that in case you deactivate your Facebook account, you can still use Messenger and can even share photos, videos, start group chats, and more – all wi...

WhatsApp to restrict features if you refuse Facebook data sharing

WhatsApp says that it will not delete or deactivate the accounts of users who oppose its latest privacy policy update that requires sharing data with Facebook companies. The company backtracks on a previous decision that gave its users a harsh ultimatum to accept sharing their data with Facebook if they want to continue using their account or, as an alternative, to delete their accounts. The policy updates pushed by WhatsApp since the start of 2021 show a 180-degree shift compared to last year's privacy policy that allowed users to choose not to have their account info shared with Facebook. Facebook companies that can access WhatsApp users' data after this year's privacy changes include Facebook, Facebook Payments, Onavo, Facebook Technologies, and CrowdTangle. "We may use the information we receive from them, and they may use the information we share with them, to help operate, provide, improve, understand, customize, support, and market our Services and their offe...

How to check DMs on Instagram without being “seen”

Many of us interact with people who are not our friends on Instagram, and sometimes you might want to check a message that they have sent but not be “seen”. When you check any DM on Instagram, it is immediately marked as “seen” for both you and the other person who has sent it. WhatsApp has the option of turning off read receipts (the blue ticks) but Instagram has no such feature. Whether you follow the person or not, if you have seen a message sent by them, it will be marked as “seen” and the person on the other side will know. So for whatever reason you might have not wanted to be “seen” having read that message, maybe you don't have time or inclination to engage in the conversation further, or you just don't want to talk, it makes the situation a little awkward. However, there are two ways how you can check DMs on Instagram without it being marked as “seen”. One is a temporary solution, the other is more permanent. Depending on why you want to not be “seen” reading the DMs, ...

YouTube TV is now available on PS5

Sony PlayStation 5 now fully supports YouTube TV live streaming with a dedicated app from the PlayStation Store. If you are in the elite group of YouTube TV subscribers and PS5 owner, you can now enjoy all of your favourite shows and channels without having to cast an envious glance at Xbox owners, 9To5Google reported. The PS5’s YouTube TV app is ready for download from the PlayStation Store. For those lucky enough to have their hands on the router-looking entertainment system, the addition of YouTube TV live-streaming support is another big bonus, the report said. Sony’s latest gaming system was recently added to Google’s official device support list. Microsoft’s latest consoles have been able to use YouTube TV since launch day. Part of this is owed to the OS and compatibility of existing Xbox One apps, which is one of the reasons the Series S and X have had one core advantage over the PS5. Recently, the company announced that it managed to sell 7.8 million PlayStation 5 consoles till...

WhatsApp to become increasingly less useful if you don't accept its new terms

WhatsApp has clarified how it will be treating the accounts of users who won't be accepting its updated terms and policy. The information was posted on the company's official website For those who choose not to accept the company's updated terms, the app will continue to show a notification asking to accept. After a period of several weeks, the users will see a persistent reminder. Once users see a persistent reminder, the WhatsApp app will switch to a limited functionality mode. In this mode, users won't be able to access their chat list. If they receive a chat, they will be able to open it through their notifications and also respond to them. Any incoming audio and video calls can also be received. A few weeks later, the user will stop receiving all calls and messages. WhatsApp doesn't put an exact date on any of these events, giving a nebulous period for each state that will seemingly vary based on users. Also, it's not clear what relevance the previously men...

Systemic Lapses: A missed opportunity for technology majors in India

As the country is hit with the world’s worst coronavirus crisis, Indians are using Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and shared online documents to crowdsource medical help and hold their elected leaders accountable for their mistakes.   But the technology companies are mostly leaving Indians to fend for themselves. That’s the message from Mishi Choudhary, a lawyer who works to defend digital rights in India and the United States. Choudhary told me that she is furious about what she believes are failures of both Indian officials and the mostly American internet companies that are dominant in the country.    Tech companies, she said, should be doing far more to fact-check coronavirus information that is spreading like wildfire on their sites and stand up to Indian officials who are trying to silence or intimidate people for speaking out online. A consistent theme in this newsletter has been that a handful of technology companies have power on par with those of governments. C...

Signal tries to highlight how Facebook collects data from users, gets banned by Facebook

HIGHLIGHTS Signal posted a series of ads on Instagram to depict how Facebook collects information from users The encrypted messaging platform alleged that the Facebook-owned platforms collect everything they can to sell visibility into people and their lives. Signal in a blogpost revealed that Facebook had rejected the ads that Signal tried to buy on Instagram.     Signal posted a series of ads on Instagram to depict how Facebook collects information from users and then displays ads on the basis of that. Signal through the ads informed users that Facebook and its photo-sharing platform Instagram uses its own ad tech tools to gather information from users. The encrypted messaging platform alleged that the Facebook-owned platforms collect everything they can to sell visibility into people and their lives. However, this did not go down well Facebook. The social media giant booted Signal from its platform. Signal in a blogpost revealed that Facebook had rejected the ads that ...

Facebook, Google, Twitter caution Australia against a blanket terrorism content ban

Representatives from Google, Facebook, and Twitter on Friday appeared before an Australian security committee as a united front, spruiking the idea that they're all working together to thwart nefarious activity, such as violent extremist material, from proliferating their respective platforms. The trio told the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security as part of its inquiry into extremist movements and radicalism in Australia that the effort is a joint one and that the best way forward was to not actually legislate a ban of all mentions of content deemed inappropriate. "We all know combating terrorism and extremism is a continuous challenge. And unless we can completely eliminate hate and intolerance from society, there's going to be hate and intolerance online," Facebook Australia's head of policy Josh Machin said. "It's also a shared challenge between governments, industry experts, academia, civil society, and the media." As...

End-to-End Encryption not coming to Facebook Messenger and Instagram soon

Facebook has been working on adding End-to-End Encryption (EEE) to its services since 2019, but in a recent blog post, the company revealed that the privacy feature will not be arriving any time soon. In a blog post talking about Facebook’s Safety and Security plans , the company revealed support for EEE will not arrive until 2022 at the earliest. While we expect to make more progress on default end-to-end encryption for Messenger and Instagram Direct this year, it’s a long-term project and we won’t be fully end-to-end encrypted until sometime in 2022 at the earliest. Moreover, the safety features we’ve already introduced are designed to work with end-to-end encryption, and we plan to continue building strong safety features into our services. This is somewhat worrying since Facebook is intent on unifying their WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct messaging service, and WhatsApp already offers EEE by default. Hopefully, this means Facebook will delay the integration rather...

Facebook and Google 'failing to take action against scam adverts' - study

Google and Facebook fail to remove scam adverts Google  and Facebook are failing to remove scam online adverts even after fraud victims report them, a new investigation reveals.   Consumer group Which? found 34 per cent of victims who reported an advert that led to a scam on Google said the advert was not taken down by the search engine. Twenty six per cent of victims who reported an advert on Facebook that resulted in them being scammed said the advert was not removed by the social network.  A 'reactive' rather than proactive approach taken by the tech companies towards fraudulent content taken is 'not fit for purpose', Which? claims.  The firms spend millions on detection technology but are falling short when it comes to taking down dodgy ads before they dupe victims, it claims. Even if fake and fraudulent adverts are successfully taken down they often pop up again under different names, Which? found.  Tech giants like Google and Facebook...