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As footage of a pro-Trump mob ransacking the U.S. Capitol streamed from Washington, D.C., last Wednesday, Facebook Inc.’s data scientists and executives saw warning signs of further trouble. User reports of violent content jumped more than 10-fold from the morning, according to documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal. A tracker for user reports of false news surged to nearly 40,000 reports an hour, about four times recent daily peaks. On Instagram, the company’s popular photo-sharing platform, views skyrocketed for content from authors in “zero trust” countries, reflecting potential efforts at platform manipulation by entities overseas. Facebook’s platforms were aflame, the documents show. One Instagram presentation, circulated internally and seen by the Journal, was subtitled “Why business as usual isn’t working.” Company leaders feared a feedback loop, according to people familiar with the matter, in which the incendiary events in Washington riled up already on-edge social-media users—potentially leading to more strife in real life. Facebook ultimately decided on a series of actions over the past week that, taken together, amount to its most aggressive interventions against President Trump and his supporters. And they show the company continuing to grapple with how best to police its platforms while still allowing for…

CRESTWOOD, Ky. (WDRB) -- During lunchtime at El Nopal in Crestwood, Brianna Johnson would normally be delivering the chips and tacos. But Wednesday, she was doing the ordering.It was a rare treat for her family after a tough year."COVID really just kicked our butt," Johnson said.The COVID-19 shutdown halted her restaurant from doing much business and her paycheck from coming in. Then, Johnson found out she was pregnant. A baby boy comes in three weeks. It's a blessing, for sure, but also making it impossible for her to work recently."I am considered a high-risk pregnancy," she said.The hits kept coming when her husband separated his shoulder, keeping him off the job."I was terrified, honestly," Johnson said.She knows bills don't care about the trials and tribulations of life. They keep coming, and that reality came dangerously close to costing her everything."I'm going to lose my car," she thought a couple months ago. "I'm going to lose my home."Hope came in the form of a Facebook page Johnson heard about called Adopt-A-Server. Hannah Koller and her mom started the online community that connects people struggling with those that want to help."They can post what they need," Koller said. "I mean, we've had…

DETROIT – A new private Facebook group emerged a few days ago aimed at conservatives in Michigan.Among the first to join were State Rep. Matt Maddock and his wife Meshawn Maddock who is in line to become co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party.Some of the posts in the group have people concerned.The Maddocks have become well known supporters of President Donald Trump for months, but much of that success has been built on conspiracies about the election and COVID-19.Both were found in a new Facebook group called Milford Conservatives Matter.The page is filled with conspiracies, far-right memes and open discussions of martial law and civil war.One post praised the siege on the US Capitol saying people will sleep well knowing members of Congress were scared for their lives.In another post Matt Maddock told the group he joined CloutHub, a social media site popular with conservative and far right groups.Meshawn Maddock in one post wrote about the page, “Lord thank you for this.”Last week she helped charter 19 buses to bring Trump supporters to Washington, DC.Since the attack on the US Capitol calls have been made from Democratic members of the state legislature for Matt Maddock to resign and there has…

With many businesses set to re-align their processes around remote working, even in the wake of the pandemic, Facebook Workplace has seen a significant boost in growth, with millions of paid users now signed on to use the Facebook-for-business model in order to maintain connection with colleagues. And today, Facebook has announced some new enhancements for its professional platform, including an updated Safety Check feature to keep tabs on employee safety, and live video enhancements to facilitate more presenters in a stream. First off, on Safety Check - as explained by Facebook's Alexandru Voica: "Safety Center is an evolution of Safety Check that will provide increased functionality and a new UX to help organizations check on employee safety, manage communications during incidents or issue Travel Advisories to employees during the pandemic." As you can see in these examples, the new Safety Check will provide a quick, easy way for employees to check in during a crisis - which could become increasingly important when you have various staff working in different locations. The responses are then displayed on the Workplace platform, providing more transparency over the impacts. That could also make it easier to track employee availability in different regions as…

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - A new social media group encourages people to call out businesses that don’t enforce Springfield’s face-mask ordinance and to praise those that do.“Some businesses are enforcing it and others are not. That creates the problem,” said former Springfield mayor Robert Stephens. Stephens said he wants to see his Springfield neighbors overcome the coronavirus. He helped start a Facebook group called, Springfield Supports Masks: Businesses Who Do and Don’t. He said the goal was primarily to applaud the businesses that do abide by city ordinances with masking and capacity limits. Sometimes, he said those who don’t comply are called out.“Actions have consequences. If you’re not wearing the mask when you should be, and somebody takes your picture, that’s not our issue. That’s your issue,” he said. Stephens said he was hoping the group would help customers decide where they felt safe to do business. That’s when a spreadsheet came along, keeping track of complaints.“If I look at them and they’ve got three positive and one negative, I can use that information as to whether I want to go there for lunch, dinner or whatever,” he said. When Stephens and his friend Bob Horton first started the group just earlier…

Following last week's U.S. Capitol riot, Facebook says it will continue to remove content and disable accounts if they constitute a risk to public safety. Facebook says it's deploying the measures it used to curb disinformation ahead of the presidential election to stop content that could lead to more violence in and around President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. That includes removing all content with the phrase "stop the steal." "We’ve been allowing robust conversations related to the election outcome and that will continue," read a statement from Guy Rosen, Facebook's vice president of integrity, and Monika Bickert, vice president of global policy Management. "But with continued attempts to organize events against the outcome of the US presidential election that can lead to violence, and use of the term by those involved in Wednesday’s violence in DC, we’re taking this additional step in the lead up to the inauguration." Facebook says it will continue to remove content and disable accounts if they constitute a risk to public safety. Big tech companies have been clamping down on posts that may incite violence following last Wednesday's riot at the U.S. Capitol. A mob of Pro-Trump supporters stormed the building, encouraged by President Donald Trump's…

The spotlight for the week was on Elon Musk’s Tesla. Shares of the electric car manufacturer surged 22% during the last 5 trading sessions to sit at $880.02 per share.While NASDAQ index gained 1.8% during the last five trading sessions, most of the FAANG stocks witnessed losses in the same time period.In what was a controversial week in the United States of America on the political front, Wall Street was also in for something that has been rare for equity markets. The top five big tech companies on Wall Street, collectively known as FAANG, underperformed the benchmark index — NASDAQ. While the equity index gained 1.8% during the last five trading sessions, most of the FAANG stocks witnessed losses in the same time period. On the other hand, leading electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla’s stock price jumped over 20%, helping Elon Musk become the world’s richest person beating Amazon’s Jeff Bezos.Facebook share price dropped 2.62% in the last five trading sessions to end at $267.57 per share. The company is under the spotlight for its updated privacy policy for its messaging software WhatsApp. The firm is seeking user approval to share user data with the parent firm Facebook. Whatsapp has chosen…

NewsA Hamilton County teacher has issued an apology for a private Facebook message she sent to a former student, criticizing her same-sex relationship.Sunday, January 10th 2021, 8:42 PM EST by WRCB StaffA Hamilton County teacher has issued an apology for a private Facebook message she sent to a former student, criticizing her same-sex relationship.Hannah Kelley shared on Facebook about the message she received from her former teacher about her relationship with her fiance, Casey.The message said in part, "I know you want love but woman to woman should only be a friendly love and not a sexual one." Kelley says it was shocking to receive the message from her former teacher, who taught her four years ago and she was not close to."Immediately I felt the heat on my cheeks," said Kelley, recounting reading the message. "I was just so upset and baffled by the message, it was just shocking."Kelley's post on Facebook about the message prompted complaints to the Hamilton County Department of Education, which issued a statement late Sunday."We are aware of a message circulating on social media from a teacher to a former student and do not condone it as a public entity operating under the separation of church…

It appears Facebook is cracking down on local hate sites with group administrators reportedly being removed. A New Zealand far-right Facebook page posted that they do not know how much longer they will be able to operate on the social media platform. "We are well and truly caught up in the great purge with most of the admins being removed from the pages." A similar Facebook page which appears to be linked to the group is also reportedly losing administrators. The pages have about 2500 likes and 3600 followers between them. A Trade Me link is included in the "about" section of the pages where MAGA (Make Ardern Go Away) hats are being sold. Both have posted links to back-up accounts they intend on using instead. It follows a week of action from social media giants after the riot in the US Capitol Building on Thursday. Twitter and Facebook both temporarily blocked Donald Trump. Facebook subsequently extended its ban until the end of the US president's term in 12 days. Twitter followed suit with a lifetime ban. Other services have made similar moves over the past 48 hours, including Facebook-owned Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest and Reddit, while popular e-commerce platform Shopify…

Federal Liberal MP Craig Kelly has accused social media companies of attempting to “purge” comments about unproven Covid-19 treatments after he received a warning from Facebook over his claims regarding the anti-parasitic drug Ivermectin.Labor’s health spokesman, Chris Bowen, seized on the controversy, arguing the social media giant had “called out ‘Conspiracy Craig’s’ medical disinformation campaign” after the prime minister, Scott Morrison, and federal health minister, Greg Hunt, failed to do so.The stoush between Kelly and Facebook comes as Australia approaches the rollout phase of voluntary vaccinations from mid-February, with the government’s leaders appearing unwilling to contradict misleading claims from within its ranks.On Sunday, Hunt released market research suggesting four in five Australians are likely to be willing to get a Covid vaccine. He also revealed details of a $24m advertising campaign to boost take-up.Migrants, Indigenous Australians and young women will be targeted after a Quantum Market Research survey of 1,000 people found women aged 30 to 39 were the most likely to hold concerns about the vaccine’s safety.According to the Sun Herald, Quantum found that 27% of respondents had concerns about the vaccine’s safety, rising to 42% for women in their 30s. The results suggested there was “a need to…