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Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. On a typical day, Alia Kirschner spends eight to 10 hours hunched over her phone, scrolling through the feed of a Facebook group from her home in Corpus Christi. Sometimes, her boyfriend gets irritated with her. He’ll say things like, “Can you get off your phone, Alia?” But she’s too focused. Her attention is on Texas Unemployment Updates, a private online forum with more than 24,000 members seeking information about navigating the state’s byzantine unemployment aid system in the age of the COVID-19 recession. Kirschner reviews dozens of new posts and member requests every day, offering guidance and tips to thousands of people struggling through a public health crisis and a weak economy. “I'm getting desperate!” one August post reads. “I have bills coming soon and no money. It's been 7 weeks without any change. I've called, requested a call back sent email etc and no luck. Can anyone help!!??” At 35 years old, Kirschner had no experience with the Texas Workforce Commission until her work as a personal shopper slowed down in April due to the coronavirus pandemic. Her…

Facebook is still failing to spot and flag false and misleading posts about elections, according to a new report published by Avaaz. The U.S.-based nonprofit analyzed a cross section of election misinformation on Facebook ahead of the pivotal U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia. Avaaz found that 60% of detected false and misleading posts on the platform reached thousands of voters without fact-check labels. The report comes as investigations suggest Facebook is failing to stem the overall spread of misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech on its platform. In January, Seattle University associate professor Caitlin Carlson published results of an experiment in which she and a colleague collected more than 300 posts that appeared to violate Facebook’s hate speech rules. (Only about half the posts were ultimately removed.) Separately, according to the Washington Post and others, allies of U.S. President Donald Trump have received few penalties under Facebook’s rules. Former employees told the publication that Trump-aligned accounts have been protected against strict enforcement because of concerns about the perception of anti-conservative bias. Avaaz documented and analyzed 204 Facebook posts between November 4 and November 23 that promoted 12 different false election-related claims about Georgia and were fact-checked by PolitiFact, Snopes, Reuters, USA…

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law during a hearing on "Online Platforms and Market Power", in the Rayburn House office Building on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., July 29, 2020.Mandel Ngan | Pool via ReutersA group of U.S. states led by New York is investigating Facebook for possible antitrust violations and plans to file a lawsuit against the social media giant next week, four sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.The complaint would be the second major lawsuit filed against a Big Tech company this year. The Justice Department sued Alphabet's Google in October.More than 40 states plan to sign on to the lawsuit, one source said, without naming them.Facebook declined to comment.The Federal Trade Commission, whose commissioners met on Wednesday, could file a related complaint with an administrative law judge or in district court.It is not known what the states plan to include in their complaint. One allegation often made against Facebook is that it has strategically sought to buy small potential rivals, often at a big premium. These include Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.

Facebook is expanding its already considerable footprint in Redmond, Washington, a Seattle suburb that is poised to become the main hub for the social media giant's growing virtual reality division. In the process, it's helping to build the region's reputation as a satellite Silicon Valley.

By Louise Carroll  |  For The Ledger My son Michael is friends with a movie star that he had a crush on when he was a young lad. He says he doesn't know how this happened. Sounds like a likely story, but he is friends with Pamelyn Ferdin.So, you don't recognize the name? Neither did I but you would recognize the face. Pamelyn was in a dozen movies and dozens of TV shows in the 1960s and '70s. I'll mention a few and it will take you on a fast trip down TV memory lane: "Andy Griffith Show," "My Three Sons," "The Flying Nun," "Star Trek," "Brady Bunch," "Night Gallery" and a whole bunch more.And because she has a distinctive voice, Pamelyn was the voice of Lucy Van Pelt in a couple of the "Peanuts" television specials and others.Pamelyn was considered for the role of Regan MacNeil, the demon-possessed girl in the 1973 William Friedkin film "The Exorcist," but casting directors decided she was too well-known and cast the less familiar actress Linda Blair. That gives you some idea of how familiar her face was to the public.In the 1990s after leaving her job as a public relations director, Pamelyn went to…

Facebook's market power leaves news organizations at its mercy, by Alan Fisco In its last second quarter financial report, Facebook reported it had more than 2.7 billion users worldwide, and 256 million users in the United States and Canada. Based on population statistics, the huge platform’s reach among users in the U.S. and Canada is almost 70% of the entire population.Facebook also reported average revenue of $7.05 per user, worldwide, and $36.49 each in the U.S. and Canada. This all added up to more than $18 billion in advertising revenue and a net income of more than $5 billion ... in one quarter! According to Statista, Facebook now controls 77% of all social network advertising.How did this happen? Antitrust experts and economists refer to it as “market power.”The U.S. House Judiciary subcommittee’s report on Big Tech, released recently, called it monopoly power. This power is wielded over users and advertisers with a devastating impact on news organizations that rely on both audience and advertising revenue to survive.There are three pillars of Facebook’s market power: high switching costs, strong network effects and access to data. Let’s briefly explore each before getting to some of the impacts.High switching costsOne key way to…

Facebook is launching its News tab in the UK in January in a move that’s expected to see the company pay news publishers tens of millions of pounds annually to license their articles, The Guardian reports. In an article announcing the launch, Facebook says it also aims to help publishers expand their audience, potentially benefiting both their subscriber numbers and ad revenue. For news publishers, the most important aspect of the service will likely be the payments Facebook says it will make to include their content. Although Facebook is declining to say how much money it’s expecting to pay as part of the scheme, The Guardian reports that some publishers are expecting to make millions of pounds a year from the service, at a cost to tens of millions of pounds to Facebook overall. The social media giant says it’s already partnered with over a dozen publishers for the service including Guardian Media Group, Reach (who’s titles include the Daily Mirror, Daily Express, and local publications like the Manchester Evening News and the Liverpool Echo), The Economist, and Wired and GQ publisher Conde Nast. Notably absent from its list is Daily Mail owner DMGT and Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, The…

RED BANK, NJ: The Red Bank Department of Parks and Recreation will be hosting the annual Tree Lighting on Friday, December 4, 6:00pm. The tree is located at Johnny Jazz Park, 270 Shrewsbury Ave. and can be watched live via Facebook by clicking HERE. Local students will provide musical performances and Mayor Pat Menna, with help from the North Pole's Red Bank office, will count down to the lighting.  Sign Up for Red Bank Newsletter Our newsletter delivers the local news that you can trust. Due to the pandemic restrictions, no in-person attendees will be permitted. “Despite our safety limitations, we are excited about the virtual Westside Tree Lighting.  Mayor Menna always does a great job we are looking forward to hearing great Holiday music from the talented Middle School students!” said Charlie Hoffmann, Director of Parks and Recreation. Be sure to read the poster on the picture carousel to see where to drop off your letters to Santa! If you enjoyed this article please “Like” and “Follow” us on the TAPinto Red Bank Facebook page, and sign up for our daily e-news so you’ll never miss what’s happening in Red Bank! And please share this article with your friends…

Krista S. Kano   | Akron Beacon Journal What's one thing you need but can't afford right now? That's the question Danielle Morgan posed to members of the Stow/Munroe Falls, Ohio Talk of the Towns Facebook page in the middle of November that has now received close to 700 responses of people asking for help — and strangers freely offering what they can."Honestly I'm not surprised because people are genuinely good — and if you give them a platform to do good, they usually do," said Morgan, who moved to the area three months ago.Morgan copied her post from a similar Facebook page for people in her West Virginia hometown, and the post also has popped up across the country, including in Columbus, Texas, and Pennsylvania as well as on other social media platforms, including Reddit. The post has a similar philosophy to the Buy Nothing Project, which has over 2,000 associated Facebook groups — including ones in Hudson and Cuyahoga Falls. "2020's been awful for everyone. It's ugliness and chaos and people are feeling alone," Morgan said. "I think they're afraid to come out and say 'I need help,' but when you give them a platform they're more comfortable and people are willing to step…

SEVILLE, Spain, Nov. 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Galgus, a Spanish startup specializing in Wi-Fi solutions development, today announced it has been chosen to join Facebook Accelerator: Connectivity. The 12-week virtual program will help startups scale their business through industry-oriented training and workshops and access to industry experts, potential strategic partners and investors. For Galgus, this is an opportunity to grow with the help and guidance from successful entrepreneurs and industry experts. Galgus will also have the opportunity to attend training sessions and workshops to discover best practices for product and team development, business strategy and financing within the industry. The company will leverage networking sessions with ecosystem players across the telecommunications industry with the potential to form strategic partnerships. "Having the opportunity to learn from organizations like Facebook and Mass Challenge is priceless," said Jose Gonzalez, CEO and Co-Founder of Galgus."We share in the same vision to close the digital divide and connect the unconnected. We look forward to building on our projects like Wi-Fi4EU, in which we have deployed our technology in various rural areas to serve 250,000 people." The pandemic and the obligation it entails to maintain social distancing, implies working, studying, and interacting must be done remotely,…