Facebook moves to remove ads that display controversial content

 Facebook is launching an aggressive strategy for better detecting violent, graphic, sexual, and otherwise controversial content across its site and for removing ads that appear alongside that content.

The changes follow other recent developments involving hate speech appearing on the site, which Facebook has vowed to better combat, though that has not stopped some marketers from pulling their ads in response.

The new detection-and-removal policy, which was announced Friday in a blog post, is designed to provide Facebook with a better mechanism for removing ads that appear alongside certain types of questionable content on Groups and Pages.

“While we already have rigorous review and removal policies for content against our terms, we recognize we need to do more to prevent situations where ads are displayed alongside controversial Pages and Groups,” the company said.

“So we are taking action,” Facebook added.
Details

The new review process, beginning Monday, “will expand the scope of Pages and Groups that should be ad-restricted,” the company said. Ads from all Pages and Groups that fall into this more comprehensive restricted list will be removed by the end of next week.

Previously, a Page selling adult products was eligible to have ads appear on its right-hand side but, going forward, those ads will not be displayed next to that type of content, Facebook said. The changes will be applied to Pages and Groups containing violent, graphic, and sexual content that does not otherwise violate the company’s community standards.

 The way Facebook classifies what is offensive content and what is not is complicated. In terms of graphic content, “we understand that graphic imagery is a regular component of current events, but must balance the needs of a diverse community,” the site says in its community standards.

For instance, “sharing any graphic content for sadistic pleasure is prohibited,” the site says.
Hate speech policies

Facebook introduced new policies to combat hate speech on the site last month, following the campaign of several high-profile women’s groups including Women, Action and the Media, and the Everyday Sexism Project.

Around the same time, some big-name brands like Nissan and Unilever’s Dove company pulled ads on the site.

The review process will be carried out manually by humans at first, “but in the coming weeks we will build a more scalable, automated way to prevent and/or remove ads” that appear next to controversial content, Facebook said.

“All this will improve detection of what qualifies as questionable content,” the site said, adding, “we will continue to work aggressively on this issue with advertisers.”

The changes will not impact Facebook’s business, the company said.

Facebook’s revenue is derived almost entirely—84 percent in 2012—from ads.

Other ad-dependent companies are also grappling with how to deal with questionable content. Google has recently made moves to remove adult-themed blogs on its Blogger platform that also have adult advertisements.

Source:http://www.techhive.com/article/2043271/facebook-moves-to-remove-ads-displayed-with-controversial-content.html

New Google Play Edition devices have a new camera app, drawer, and wallpaper

The new HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S 4 with stock Android have been released, and with their version of Android 4.2.2 comes a few unique touches to the UI. The camera app, which was rumored to get an update in 4.3, has a new stacked menu system for easier navigation. Another big change is that the app drawer has been switched from a 4×4 layout to a 4×5 layout to take advantage of the different screen sizes of the One and S4.

Other minor changes are the addition of a new red Phase Beam wallpaper to add to the purple and blue versions, and a new custom boot animation. The lockscreen clock on the S4 is a little different from Nexus devices, probably so that the phone correctly works with Samsung’s S-View flip covers.

Source: Computer World

Facebook security bug exposes 6 million users' contact info

Facebook accidentally exposed 6 million users’ contact information. Watch out for an email alert from the network to find out if you were affected by an apparent security bug.

The bug allowed the emails and phone numbers of some 6 million users to be accessed by contacts or friends of friends as part of the site’s friend recommendation algorithm, the social network’s security team said Friday.

If you upload your contacts or address book to Facebook in order to find friends, Facebook uses that information to determine if your friends are already on the network or if you should invite them to join. That contact information may have been included in account archive information that users can download. In other words, people who have some connection to you may have been able to view your contact information when they downloaded their archive. Facebook said it disabled the Download Your Information tool, fixed it, and turned it back on within a day.

Facebook’s security team said each affected user’s information was downloaded just once or twice, which is a small consolation. The company also noted that no financial information was included and only Facebook users have access to the download tool (so information was probably not sold to advertisers).

“Although the practical impact of this bug is likely to be minimal since any email address or phone number that was shared was shared with people who already had some of that contact information anyway, or who had some connection to one another, it's still something we're upset and embarrassed by, and we'll work doubly hard to make sure nothing like this happens again,” Facebook said in its Friday announcement.

This isn’t the first time Facebook users’ personal information has been exposed. Facebook in 2011 introduced a White Hat bug bounty program, where security experts can file reports about bugs and collect rewards. This most recent bug was discovered by one such researcher.