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Friend requests were automatically sent to any Facebook profiles people had viewed due to the bug, so panicked users scrambled to cancel them as quickly as possibleSocial media users were staggered after a bug made some embarrassing snooping public (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)Facebook users were caught out last week by an "embarrassing" glitch which led to friend requests automatically being sent to any profiles people had viewed. Users scrambled to cancel the requests as quickly as possible after the bug happened recently following an app update. The social media giant, led by Mark Zuckerberg, has apologised and urged users to review pending friend requests in their activity log. But some users have rejoiced at the gaffe, calling the "funniest thing Facebook has ever done", because it may allow people to see who has been snooping their profiles - whether it's exes, colleagues or distant relatives. Facebook users received strange friend requests last week ( Image: Getty Images) Others called the technical glitch "embarrassing" and "awkward".  » Read More

Analytics data shows how Facebook referral traffic to publisher sites has fallen Press Gazette is reporting that Facebook referral traffic has ‘plummeted’ on the back of Meta’s continued turn away from the news industry. The scale of the fall is highlighted by data shared with the industry title by publisher analytics firm Chartbeat and digital intelligence platform Similarweb. 5-year drop The data shared by Chartbeat is drawn from 1,350 global publishers. It shows that in January 2018, of the page views coming from external, search and social, 27% or 2 billion page views came from Facebook. By April 2023, this had dropped to 11% or 1.5 billion. The analysis echoes a recent complaint from the UK’s biggest local and national news publisher Reach. Seeing a 14.5% digital revenue drop for the first four months of 2023 compared with the same period in 2022, Reach blamed a page-view slowdown on “recent changes to the way Facebook presents news content”. The closing of Buzzfeed News also spotlights the plight of publishing strategies that rely on social media referrals.  » Read More

Skip to content House GOP, Democrats ready blame game for debt ceiling failure FILE – House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., speaks to reporters outside his office at the Capitol Building in Washington, Tuesday, May 9, 2023, after meeting about the debt limit with President Joe Biden at the White House. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File) As debt limit talks drag on behind closed doors, lawmakers on both sides are preparing for Washington’s favorite pastime: the partisan blame game if everything falls apart. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has accused President Biden and the Democrats of not taking the negotiations seriously, flaunting that Republicans have already passed a bill that paired a debt limit increase with spending cuts and calling for a deal by the end of the week. “The House is the only body that has passed a bill to raise the debt limit,” McCarthy said Tuesday after meeting with Biden at the White House. Democrats have rejected that argument, accusing Republicans of holding the economy “hostage” in their refusal to pass a stand-alone debt ceiling hike to avoid a default and put the talks over deficit reduction on a separate track.     » Read More

The People’s Republic of China and the Islamic Republics of Iran and Pakistan are bringing in new playbooks to undermine their enemies within and outside their borders – low-cost cyber-enabled influence operations. Microsoft and Facebook’s latest threat assessment underlines the evolution of threats posed by state-sanctioned tactics like creating fake personas, honey trapping, creating a phony media company in the West, hiring freelance writers around the world, offering to recruit protesters, and co-opting an NGO in Africa. While the Microsoft report talks about only Iranian operations, Facebook talks about the sophistry in cyber operations conducted by China, Iran, and Pakistan. While Iran’s target remains its arch nemesis Israel and the US, China has expanded the geographical limits of its operations to target its enemies within the border and other countries in Asia-Pacific and South Asia. Pakistan was found to be carrying out an elaborate cyber-espionage operation against its arch nemesis – India, to target people across the internet to collect intelligence and manipulate them into revealing compromising information. The Rise Of China-Origin Cyber Influence Ops There has been a change in threat actors,  » Read More

A real estate agent has been suspended after making an 'arrogant' comment about renters in a social media post.Abhnit Kumar, 23, who is a real estate agent for Ray White, had been celebrating after closing a sale on a house in Ambervale, in Sydney's south-west, on April 28.He had sold the four-bedroom property for $958,000 and boasted about his sale on Facebook, writing: 'The market doesn't dictate your home's price, the agent does'.Social media users were angered by his choice of words, suggesting real estate agents were deliberately inflating house prices which has resulted in many more people being unable to afford their own homes.Mr Kumar defended the post before a war of words erupted with the comments taking a bizarre turn after the real estate agent called one of his critics a 'renter' and that he refused to 'deal with people like you'.The online debate prompted an internal investigation at Ray White and Mr Kumar was temporarily suspended while the real estate agency conducted it.   » Read More

Image source, Getty ImagesBy Shiona McCallum & Tom GerkenTechnology reportersFacebook parent company Meta has begun rolling out a paid verification service in the UK. Similar to Elon Musk's Twitter Blue, the service gives Facebook and Instagram users a blue tick from £9.99 per month.Subscribers must be at least 18 years old and submit a government ID to qualify.The feature is already available in the US, Australia and New Zealand. People who registered interest in Meta Verified will receive a notification when it becomes available to them. It is rolling out to others in the UK in the coming weeks.Those approved by Meta will get a verified badge, which the tech firm says will give them more protection from impersonation, in part because it will monitor their accounts to check for fakers.It says verified users will also get "access to a real person" if they have any issue with their account.Twitter verificationThe move comes after Mr Musk implemented the premium Twitter Blue subscription in November 2022.  » Read More

Image source, S Club 7 / InstagramImage caption, In an emotional message S Club confirmed they would be continuing with their October tourS Club 7 have confirmed they will be embarking on a planned tour after the death of Paul Cattermole - but without remaining member Hannah Spearritt. In a video posted to the group's official Instagram page, the other five members confirmed she would not be taking part in the 19-date tour. Cattermole died last month aged 46 at his home in Dorset, weeks after the 25th anniversary tour was announced.He and Spearritt had been in a relationship while in the band.The cause of the star's death has not been confirmed but police said there were "no suspicious circumstances".S Club 7 were one of the biggest pop acts of the late 1990s and early 2000s.Their hits included Reach, Don't Stop Movin' and S Club Party. In total, they had 11 UK top 10 singles,  » Read More

VIDEO: Suspect arrested after groping students in PLU dorms By KIRO 7 News StaffMay 14, 2023 at 3:58 pm PDTTACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma police arrested a man after he allegedly broke into dorms at Pacific Lutheran University and groped female students Sunday morning.According to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, the man entered two different dorm rooms and stood over the female students while they were sleeping. The man woke the students up by groping them and then ran away.After the groping incidents, one of the victims chased the man and pepper sprayed him, the sheriff’s department said. She was also able to take a picture of the man.Just before 6 p.m. Sunday, the sheriff’s department said that they had received a tip leading them to the man’s location, and Tacoma police took him into custody near Sixth Avenue and North Jackson Avenue.©2023 Cox Media Group  » Read More

Meta has apologized for an issue where users received unwarranted friend requests when secretly viewing other user profiles. The issue has been addressed according to Facebook. The social media giant confirmed a recent update as the cause for confusion. The said bug led to users of the app sending unprompted friend requests. Friend requests were sent mistakenly after users perused another user’s profile. Stalker or no stalker bug In reports, it seems those who perused another user’s profile had Facebook sending requests to them. The bug has been remedied but possibly highlighted a way to keep prying eyes at bay. While the Meta-owned company apologized for the mishap, its the possibility of a stalker less Facebook that has our curiosity. Imagine knowing when stalking someone’s profile that a friend request would be sent. The recent bug is not the first bug to cripple the social media platform. Last month, a different bug affected ads as the social media network halted advertising in response to the glitch.  » Read More

I no longer need a password to sign into Google. From now on, it’s “Adios, passwords…Hello, passkeys!”Sort of.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8  » Read More