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Despite pressure to make police report, he wanted to avoid harming man's reputation When spice shop owner Jeya Seelan saw security camera footage of a man stealing $800 from the till, he decided that he was not going to tarnish the culprit's reputation. That is why he used a blurry photo that obscured the man's face when he posted on his Facebook account asking the thief to return the money, even though he was upset and angry. In a phone interview with The Straits Times, Mr Jeya said: "It was just heartbreaking and shocking. If you think about all the hard work that went into earning that money, and one guy suddenly comes in to steal it in a flash, it's devastating." Mr Jeya also opted not to make a police report for the same reason - to avoid harming the man's reputation. The decision was not a popular one. He said: "I was under a lot of pressure. Many people, including my wife, said making a police report was the right thing to do.  » Read More

CLOSE Soldiers of the Old Guard conduct Flags in at for Memorial Day. The decades-old tradition may look different, but the thoughts and feelings for remembering the fallen are the same. USA TODAYThe claim: Military aircraft honor fallen with an angel-like flare saluteAn old misconception about how the military honors fallen service members has resurfaced on Facebook.A short video reposted May 30 shows a plane shooting flares in the shape of an angel. The clip was originally published in 2018.Similar to older versions of the post, the most recent caption shares misinformation about the plane, its mission and its flares."The Angel flight. This is an awesome sight of a C-130 transporting a fallen hero back home for a military funeral. These are flares coming out of the plane that look like angel's wings,'' the caption reads.The original video has more than 49,000 views. Leading up to Memorial Day on May 31, similar versions of the post appeared on Facebook.  » Read More

Photo: Carl Court (Getty Images)The past few years have taught us that our faces, voices, and lips can be copied and replicated with artificial intelligence. Now, an AI model created by Facebook researchers can imitate, edit, and replace handwritten and scene text using just a single word in an image.Facebook unveiled TextStyleBrush, an AI research project, on Friday. The company points out that while most AI systems can replicate and replace text for well-defined and specialized tasks, TextStyleBrush is different because it can reproduce text in both handwriting and real-world scenes. Doing this is a lot more difficult for an AI model because of the different text options and nuances involved.“It means understanding unlimited text styles for not just different typography and calligraphy, but also for different transformations, like rotations, curved text, and deformations that happen between paper and pen when handwriting; background clutter; and image noise,” Facebook explained in a news announcement.TextStyleBrush is the first self-supervised AI model that can replicate and replace text in handwritten and real-world scenes by using just a single example word from an image,  » Read More

Facebook vice-president Nick Clegg has admitted the company's fact-checkers – employed to root out alleged 'fake news' from its social-media platforms – could be biased and pursuing their own political agendas, according to a European Commission document obtained by The Mail on Sunday.The former Deputy Prime Minister made the admission to EU officials in November during talks about how the tech giant was tackling misinformation flooding its site.Facebook announced fact-checking measures in 2016 amid claims that its failure to remove misleading content helped to swing that year's US Presidential election in favour of Donald Trump.The measures, which allow users to alert Facebook to content they believed to be fake, was applauded by many.  Facebook vice-president Nick Clegg has admitted the company's fact-checkers – employed to root out alleged 'fake news' from its social-media platforms – could be biased and pursuing their own political agendas, according to a European Commission document obtained by The Mail on Sunday The former Deputy Prime Minister made the admission to EU officials in November during talks about how the tech giant was tackling misinformation flooding its site.  » Read More

Gustavo Banda spends one to three hours every day on Facebook trying to warn migrants desperate to enter the United States not to waste their money on human smugglers advertising their services on the social media platform. Banda is a pastor who runs a shelter in a church in Tijuana, Mexico, where migrants end up after being deported from the U.S. Many of them gave their life savings to human smugglers, known as coyotes, whom they met on Facebook and its encrypted messaging app WhatsApp, and who promised them safe passage to America. When people arrive at his shelter, they’ve often spent all the money they have, and many have experienced rape, violence and further extortion along the way. “I’m telling everyone that this is a complete lie,” he said, gesturing at a Facebook group in which migrants and coyotes appear to be interacting with one another on the laptop in front of him. “If they need help trying to cross, they should get a lawyer and do it the legal way and that I can help them.” U.S.  » Read More

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - The wife in a rape case that implicates both her and her husband lured the victims to their home using social media, according to the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office.Shana Philpot, 23, allegedly used Facebook to contact and befriend girls in their teens and 20s. Shana then convinced the girls to come to the home she shared with her older husband, 35-year-old Anthony Philpot.Shana is also accused of plying the girls with alcohol, after which Anthony allegedly raped them.Anthony was indicted this week on three counts of rape, two counts of gross sexual imposition, and one count of kidnapping, court records show.Shana is charged with complicity to rape and complicity to kidnapping.The charges relate to the rape of three women, court documents show.Anthony and Shana each received $250,000 cash bonds in court on Friday. Should they make bond, they must wear electronic monitoring devices.The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office has been investigating the rapes of women in multiple jurisdictions throughout the county between 2016 and 2019,  » Read More

Gustavo Banda spends one to three hours every day on Facebook trying to warn migrants desperate to enter the United States not to waste their money on human smugglers advertising their services on the social media platform.Banda is a pastor who runs a shelter in a church in Tijuana, Mexico, where migrants end up after being deported from the U.S. Many of them gave their life savings to human smugglers, known as coyotes, whom they met on Facebook and its encrypted messaging app WhatsApp, and who promised them safe passage to America. When people arrive at his shelter, they’ve often spent all the money they have, and many have experienced rape, violence and further extortion along the way.“I’m telling everyone that this is a complete lie,” he said, gesturing at a Facebook group in which migrants and coyotes appear to be interacting with one another on the laptop in front of him. “If they need help trying to cross, they should get a lawyer and do it the legal way and that I can help them.”Banda’s alarm about human smugglers promoting their services on social media is echoed by the Tech Transparency Project,  » Read More

By Laurel Mallory | June 10, 2021 at 3:54 PM EDT - Updated June 10 at 4:44 PM BRANCHVILLE, S.C. (WIS) - A 17-year-old is charged with murder in the death of a man killed during a Facebook Marketplace transaction in rural Orangeburg County, officials said. It happened around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday on Saddle Ridge Road in Branchville. The wife of the victim called 911 saying her husband was shot during an armed robbery as they were trying to buy an ATV. Her husband, 34-year-old Alexander Presley, died at the scene. She told deputies she and her husband took their two children to meet up with someone selling the four wheeler Wednesday afternoon. When they got there, they met 17-year-old Edward Stokes, who also had a younger child with him, deputies said. After Presley gave Stokes money for the ATV, they loaded it onto a trailer attached to the couple’s vehicle. That’s when the victim’s wife told deputies she “had a feeling something bad was about to happen.” She said Stokes attacked her husband,  » Read More

With Fast & Furious 9 coming out on June 25th, Facebook and Universal Pictures are releasing a new second-screen experience called Movie Mate to give both longtime fans and newcomers a new way to experience the series.As you stream the previous eight films in the franchise, the Facebook Messenger chatbot will chime in to share images and clips, as well as facts about their production. As you can see in one of the screenshots, it can go into a lot of detail, especially when cars are involved. You can access the chatbot by visiting the Fast & Furious Facebook page and tapping the Messenger icon. When you first launch the chatbot, it will ask you about your familiarity with the franchise to tailor the experience. Citing Nielsen's Annual Internet Trend Report, Facebook and Universal say they're releasing Movie Mate because most Americans already use a second device while at the TV to look up information on the show or movie they're watching. Of course, second-screen experiences aren't anything new.  » Read More

Facebook is doubling down on its flexible-work policies and announced to employees Wednesday that beginning June 15, workers at all levels across the company can request to work remotely full-time after the pandemic.Previously, only employees at certain levels of seniority were eligible to request a remote arrangement, and the policy varied between departments, a spokesperson tells CNBC Make It.Employees who convert to a permanently remote role and end up moving to a different location can expect a pay adjustment based on market rates, in line with CEO Mark Zuckerberg's announcement on remote work last summer.For employees whose work requires them to be in an office, the company is recommending they be onsite at least half of the time and they will be allowed to work on a hybrid schedule for the foreseeable future. The company plans to open its U.S. offices at 50% capacity by September, with a full return for those who wish to do so tentatively scheduled for October.The company also announced that for the remainder of 2021,  » Read More