SCIENCE BOND

The function for members to read messages by accessing the social network on a mobile phone web browser is being disabled.  A message  currently appears informing users of the coming change. On some handsets the Play Store then launches.  Facebook said the move is an extension of its 2014 Messenger policy.  Using the Messenger app is faster and enables richer interactions. We're continuing to bring the best experiences we can to the 900 million people on Messenger," it said in a statement. Messages are already inaccessible via the official Facebook app.  However, Devin Coldewey at technology news website Tech Crunch described it as "a hostile move".  Surely the mobile site is much used by people who have good reason not to download the app," he wrote. Some users have complained that they do not wish to use the app, citing battery life and privacy concerns."This move underlines what an important platform messaging is becoming for Facebook,"...

There can be a lot of coaching for workers and therefore the feed will not believe an inventory of reports organisations, as well as the BBC, Washington Post and Buzzfeed News, to validate subjects.  The feed, that lists common headlines together with a short description, has been suspect of political bias.  However, Facebook's report found no proof of this.  Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch same the investigation analysed three,000 reviewer selections following allegations that conservative problems were being suppressed.The site was suspect by anonymous former workers of change of state with its Trending Topics feature, promoting "progressive" views and websites over content presenting views from the yank right. Current and former workers were additionally interviewed by the firm.  The findings were unconcealed in an exceedingly 12-page letter, addressed to North American nation legislator John Thune however additionally printed on-line, in resp...

The social network told it had made a mistake and has currently approved the image.  Australian feminist group Cherchez La Femme had expressed fury once Facebook rejected their advert for associate event designed to market body positivism. Originally the social network told them the advert "depicts a body... in an undesirable manner".  While the event page was not taken down, the advert to promote it absolutely was not approved.  "Ads like these are not allowed since they create viewers feel dangerous regarding themselves," read the original response from Facebook's Ads Team, which the organisers shared as screenshots on their page.  It also recommended that associate various image of somebody "running or riding a bike" would be a lot of acceptable. "Our team processes millions of advertising images weekly, so we have a tendency to often create mistakes," said a interpreter.  "To be clear, the image complies with our adver...

Three French anti-racism associations said on Sunday they would file legal complaints against social networks Facebook , Twitter ( and Google's Youtube for failing to remove "hateful" content posted on their platforms.  French law requires websites to take down racist, homophobic or anti-semitic material and tell authorities about it.  But French Jewish students union UEJF and anti-racism and anti-homophobia campaigners SOS Racisme and SOS Homophobie said the three firms had removed only a fraction of 586 examples of hateful content the anti-racism groups had counted on their platforms between the end of March and May 10. Twitter removed only four percent, Youtube seven percent and Facebook 34 percent, according to the associations. "In light of Youtube, Twitter and Facebook's profits and how little taxes they pay, their refusal to invest in the fight against hate is unacceptable," UEJF president Sacha Reingewirtz said in a statement.  Germany g...

Sun Microsystems was a Silicon Valley giant Founded in the 80s, the company sold hardware and software to thousands of companies, and during the dot.com boom it was bringing in $5bn (£3.4bn) in revenue each quarter. But then the bubble burst, and the firm went into a catastrophic downward spiral. Its share price plummeted and, in 2010, the scraps of Sun Microsystems were bought up by Oracle — and that was that.  Six years on, I'm driving towards San Jose, past the Menlo Park headquarters of Facebook. On the side of the road, there's a big "Like" billboard, and you'll often find a bevvy of techy tourists waiting to have their picture taken in front of it - like some kind of social media Taj Mahal.  But most striking about the Facebook sign is what's on the reverse side: a logo for Sun Microsystems, the previous tenants at this location. It looks dirty and worn out, but it's very deliberate.  Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg apparently demand...

The internet is changing. From a medium based almost entirely on text, it is now becoming increasingly picture-led. An estimated 1.8 billion images are uploaded every day to social networks such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.  Good news for aspiring photographers, bad news for blind or partially sighted users who often have no way of telling what is in an image - despite the available modern assistive technologies.  But a new service from Facebook, being launched on Tuesday, is attempting to remedy that.Blind people use sophisticated navigation software called screenreaders to make computers usable. They turn the contents of the screen into speech output or braille. But they can only read text and can't "read" pictures. Using artificial intelligence (AI), Facebook's servers can now decode and describe images uploaded to the site and provide them in a form that can be read out by a screenreader.  Facebook says it has now trained its software to recognis...

According to reports, Facebook's vice-president for Latin America, Diego Dzodan, was held for questioning in Sao Paulo on Tuesday.  Court officials in the Brazilian state of Sergipe requested his arrest.  Facebook said it was an "extreme and disproportionate measure".  "Facebook has always been and will be available to address any questions Brazilian authorities may have," the company said. It added that the arrest stemmed from a case involving its messaging service WhatsApp, which operates separately from the Facebook platform.  Federal police in Sao Paulo said they carried out an arrest warrant issued by a criminal judge from the Lagarto district, in Brazil's smallest state, Sergipe. A statement released by the force said Facebook had been ordered by a court to provide evidence that would aid an investigation into "organised crime and drug trafficking" that was being heard in private. The Reuters news agency reported that court officials...

Speaking on stage in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress, the Facebook CEO said he doesn't think requiring back doors would be "the right thing to do" nor would it be an effective way to get data from the iPhone of deceased San Bernardino shooter, Syed Farook. "We've already shared our statement," said Zuckerberg. "We're pretty sympathetic with Tim and Apple on this one." Last Thursday, Facebook (FB, Tech30) joined other Silicon Valley companies in backing Apple, which has vigorously opposed an FBI demand to alter part of its iOS software so that authorities won't get locked out of the iPhone that Farook used. Such demands "create a chilling precedent and obstruct companies' efforts to secure their products," Facebook said in a statement at the time. Zuckerberg had stayed silent on the subject until Monday, while leaders from Google (GOOG) andTwitter (TWTR, Tech30) made public comments supporting Apple last week....

Facebook had already banned the sale of guns without identity checks, but the new rules aim to stop all gun trade between individuals on the sites.  Businesses can still advertise guns on Facebook and Instagram.  The move comes three weeks after US President Barack Obama unveiled new restrictions on gun purchases.  Mr Obama's executive actions included background checks for all gun sellers and the requirement that states provide information on people disqualified from buying guns due to mental illness or domestic violence. The rule change brings gun sales under the same restrictions placed by Facebook on illegal drugs and pharmaceuticals by Facebook. The site has 1.59bn users worldwide.Facebook "was unfortunately and unwittingly serving as an online platform for dangerous people to get guns", Shannon Watts, of the Everytown for Gun Safety campaign group, told Associated Press. The group said it had found evidence that guns had been bought on the site and used...

In a post on the social media site, he said his personal challenge this year would be to build a "simple AI" similar to the butler Jarvis from the film Iron Man.  Mr Zuckerberg plans to share his progress over the course of the year.  Last month, he made headlines for plans to give away 99% of his Facebook stake.  He had to defend his philanthropic venture - launched to celebrate the birth of his daughter- after critics argued that it could provide a way for the founder to avoid paying tax on the sale of his shares.On Monday, Mr Zuckerberg said he would start to build the AI with technology that is already out there and teach it to understand his voice to control everything in his home from music and lights to temperature.  "This should be a fun intellectual challenge to code this for myself," Mr Zuckerberg said. "I'll teach it to let friends in by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell," he said. "I'll teach it to let me ...

By the end of this week it could be illegal for any European child under 16 to use Facebook - or Snapchat or any messaging service - without the express consent of their parents. That, according to some interpretations, would be the result of a vote by an obscure committee to raise the digital age of consent from 13 to 16.  I certainly didn't but I am told it is built into the decisions that many online firms make about the age they will allow people to join. In the United States a law called Coppa (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) gives extra online protection to children under 13, and Europe has had a similar policy - which is why the likes of Facebook have not allowed children in until they become teenagers.  Now, though, the European Parliament's civil liberties and home affairs committee is considering a change which is opposed both by social media firms and many child protection experts. A last minute amendment to Europe's Data Protecti...

There's no feeling quite like the tightening of the stomach you get when you accidentally stumble across an old post involving you and a former loved one in happier times.  It's even more brutal when you notice that person's surname has since changed.   The world's biggest social network has just announced that it is trialing new tools to make it less painful when handling a relationship gone sour. R ight now, if you decide you don't want to be reminded of a certain someone's existence on planet Earth, you would need to unfriend or block them.  The problem is that they will most likely find out you've done that, which isn't exactly ideal - nothing says "playing it cool" like blocking someone on Facebook. Relationships on Facebook are a big deal - a judge in New York said using Facebook to send a divorce summons was completely legal.  Facebook's new break-up tool is about altering what an ex can see, but without them knowing y...

It is a staggering increase - double the views it had in April - which appears to dwarf the billion views YouTube clocks up daily.  Facebook's aggressive push into video will surely delight advertisers who can promote their products alongside popular clips.  But not everybody is convinced Facebook will eclipse rival YouTube.  How did Facebook video grow so quickly?Making clips play automatically, a new video tab in mobile, and suggesting more videos to keep people watching will all have contributed to Facebook's mammoth viewing figures.  Facebook also prioritises video in the news feed, or as its founder Mark Zuckerberg puts it: "Helping people discover content that they hadn't really asked for."  But the company has been criticised for registering a video as "viewed" if it plays for just three seconds. "It's counting you seeing the video, essentially no more than you scrolling past the video in your news feed, as a 'view',...

Facebook is to launch a satellite in 2016 In partnership with French-based provider Eutelsat, Facebook hope the first satellite will be launched in 2016.  "We're going to keep working to connect the entire world -- even if that means looking beyond our planet," Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.  The project is part of Facebook's Internet.org project, which has come under fierce criticism in some countries.  In some areas, particularly India, businesses reacted angrily to the plans saying it gave Facebook, and its partners, an unfair advantage in developing internet markets.  Internet.org is experimenting with different ways of providing internet to hard-to-reach places. Recently, the company told of how it was planning to use a custom-built drone to beam down connectivity. 'Optimised for community' This latest initiative looks to use existing satellite technology to  Add captionMark Zuckerberg provide affordable internet access.m.  ...

Facebook has announced measures to tackle video piracy on its website.  The company said new video matching technology would alert selected content creators if their videos were reposted to Facebook without permission.  In August, YouTube star Hank Green wrote a blog criticising the company over its slow response to video piracy.  Brady Haran, who runs a collection of YouTube channels, told the BBC he still had questions over Facebook's new approach.Facebook has been trying to grow its video business and in July it announced plans to share advertising revenue with content creators for the first time.  But the company has been criticised by prominent video creators such as Mr Green for failing to tackle video piracy. In June, research by advertising agency Ogilvy found that 73% of  the most popular videos on Facebook had been ripped from other websites.  Announcing its new approach, Facebook said: "Our matching tool will evaluate millions of v...

For the first time over a billion people used Facebook on a single day, according to company founder Mark Zuckerberg.  The "milestone" was reached on Monday, when "1 in 7 people on Earth used Facebook to connect with their friends and family", he said in a post.   Facebook has nearly 1.5 billion users who log in at least once a month, but this was the most in a single day.  The company gained its billionth user in October 2012.  It was founded in 2004 by Mr Zuckerberg while he was a Harvard student. In his post on Thursday, he predicted that Facebook's reach would  continue to grow.  "This was the first time we reached this milestone, and it's just the beginning of connecting the whole world," Mr Zuckerberg wrote.  In July, Facebook claimed that over half of the world's online users visited the site at least once a month.t was only back in October 2012 when Facebook first announced it had one billion users using the site at least onc...