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Both Facebook and Google have told a House of Representatives Standing Committee that they have each respectively refused 20% of Australia's law enforcement requests for data held on their platforms.For the 2019 calendar year, Google received 4,363 requests from Australian law enforcement agencies to disclose account level data to assist them in their investigations and a further 23 requests under the search giant's emergency disclosure policy, which is used in cases where life is deemed to be imminently at risk. The approval rate for these requests, Google government affairs and public policy manager Samantha Yorke said, sat at around 80%.Facebook received 943 total requests and also disclosed data in 80% of the cases. "In the 20% where we didn't, it's typically because there was not enough either legal authority demonstrated or the request was too vague or broad for us to be able to comply," Facebook director of public policy in Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands Mia Garlick said.Similarly, Yorke said requests were denied due to a lack of information from relevant parties or because the accountholder was not an Australian resident or citizen and therefore local law enforcement did not have appropriate jurisdiction to request such information.See also: NZ Privacy Commissioner labels Facebook as 'morally bankrupt pathological liars'Yorke and Garlick were appearing before the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, with Tuesday's hearing focusing on family, domestic, and sexual violence. The committee took the opportunity to discuss Facebook's move into end-to-end encryption across its Messenger platform. "We did announce that we would be taking many years to make this transition because we do work globally with law enforcement in all parts of the world and with global security agencies," Garlick said.She said Facebook has been engaged in discussions with Australian law enforcement agencies, as well as…

Facebook has apologised to Nationals MP Anne Webster over months-long delays in responding to reports of abuse she received from an online conspiracy theorist that led to an $875,000 defamation payout order. In September, federal court justice Jacqueline Gleeson ordered the payout to the first-term Mildura MP over Facebook posts in April by Australian conspiracy theorist Karen Brewer. The posts were shared hundreds of times and falsely accused Webster of being “a member of a secretive paedophile network” who had been “parachuted into parliament to protect a past generation of paedophiles”. Webster’s husband and the not-for-profit they set up to help single mothers were also included in the payout. Gleeson in her decision said Brewer’s posts were “disgraceful and inexplicable”. Brewer’s account was not deleted by Facebook until Guardian Australia reported on the case in August. Webster installed security cameras at her home because she feared being physically attacked. In a parliamentary committee hearing on family, domestic and sexual violence, Webster questioned whether Facebook could support people subject to abuse online if it took around five months for Facebook to take action in her case. “It took till August until anything was done, after several court hearings and Facebook being reminded that they were part of the contempt of court if they continue to post it – if you continue to post it,” she told Facebook’s Australian director of public policy, Mia Garlick. “So I’m concerned that the responsiveness is actually not there. If it’s not there for me, then is it there for people who are abused in domestic relationships, or relationships that are over?” Garlick apologised for how Facebook had handled the case. Full StoryHow QAnon spread to Australia and spilled out into real life Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here…

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Eight African e-commerce startups have been invited to apply for a Facebook-run accelerator that will offer them access to mentorship and training as well as the company’s technologies and networks. Disrupt Africa reported in August on the launch of Facebook Accelerator: Commerce is a 12-week non-equity programme supporting innovative commerce startups who renew shopping experiences for buyers and sellers.  Throughout the virtual programme, the selected startups will have access to a dedicated Facebook mentor, comprehensive training, Facebook’s suite of products and technologies, and a valuable network of product experts and fellow founders to connect with. In all, 36 innovative commerce startups in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America have been selected to take part. They were chosen for having products focused on driving customer value, diverse and focused leadership teams, groundbreaking technology or research and evidence of business growth. Eight of those were from Africa, with Egypt the best represented country. Three Egyptian e-commerce companies will take place in the accelerator, namely commerce chatbot-building platforms Botme and WideBot, and Convertedin, an ad automation platform for retailers and e-commerce businesses. Two startups are from South Africa, in the shape of BoxCommerce , a platform for small and medium-sized businesses to create e-commerce websites, and ShoppingFeeder, a leading feed management and multi-channel marketing platform for online stores. Kenya is also represented by two startups, in the shape of Digiduka, which helps informal retailers get access to digital inventory, and next generation addressing system OkHi, while completing the list of African participants is Ghana’s FeedGeni, a product feed generator that helps online merchants increase product visibility and sales by listing their products on shopping engines. The programme officially kicked off last week, with startups connected with Facebook commerce experts and beginning their journey towards building solutions on commerce platforms that billions…

Mark Zuckerberg faces a tense grilling in Washington DC next week over Facebook’s handling of election misinformation and its sanctions against Donald Trump during and after the 2020 US election. The 36-year-old chief executive will testify alongside Twitter boss Jack Dorsey on Tuesday in a virtual Senate hearing on “censorship, suppression and the 2020 election”, chaired by one of President Trump’s biggest allies. Lindsey Graham, who leads the Senate’s judiciary committee, scheduled the meeting after Twitter and Facebook imposed warning labels on posts by Mr Trump and other Republicans that falsely claimed he had won the election.  The two chief executives had originally been summoned in order to explain why they squelched a negative New York Post story about Joe Biden and his son last month, sparking widespread accusations of anti-conservative censorship. It comes after a fateful seven days for both companies, in which the President's all-in bet on largely unsubstantiated allegations of mass vote ­rigging pressed them to effectively ­designate his main campaign message as dangerous misinformation. As broadcasters such as Fox News turned their back on Mr Trump, cutting away from footage in which his campaign continued to claim victory, Facebook deleted groups and pages representing hundreds of thousands of his supporters, while Twitter repeatedly blocked users from sharing his tweets. Thomas Kadri, a law professor at the University of Georgia who studies how social networks enforce their rules, said that this year had been a “game changer” in finally forcing tech giants to accept their role as what Mr Zuckerberg has called “arbiters of truth”.  Mr Kadri said: “It’s become a lot harder for the platforms to say, with a straight face, ‘we just can’t do this’. Mainly through the pandemic, but also now the election, they have undercut their own ability to make those kinds of…

Roger McNamee, an early investor in Facebook who is now a fierce critic, speaks with Maria Teresa Kumar about how the social media giant is addressing criticism of its role in threatening American democracy and elections. When asked whether he would consider working within the Biden administration, he replied: “I would love to help.”Nov. 15, 2020

By Allisa Miller | November 13, 2020 at 9:37 PM CST - Updated November 13 at 10:38 PM AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - Back in October, Laura Flores started the Facebook group ‘Gifts of Gratitude’, after she had seen several posts from friends who work at BSA. “I actually spoke to my friend that works in spiritual care at BSA and said I want to do something. What can I do? And she said, we just need prayers,” said Laura Flores, creator of Gifts of Gratitude. Prayer was already something Laura was doing. She was looking for something to help encourage and support employees working in the ICU. “What could I possibly do by myself for 500 workers, so I thought I’ll just reach out to some friends and I bet we can get this together,” said Flores. So, she created the ‘Gifts of Gratitude’ page on Facebook in hopes to provide hand written notes and five dollar gift cards to every Amarillo ICU employee. “We are asking people to write out a card, thanking these health care workers. Adding scriptures in there. Praying over them, even praying for the cards and the receiver of the cards,” said Flores. The Facebook group has even inspired businesses looking for ways to help. “When I saw gifts of gratitude I thought ok, there’s a start at least, we could be a drop off donation,” said Janine Messenger, owner of Relief Massage Therapy and Wellness. Now Relief Massage is pulling their trips and matching donations to give massages away to health care workers. “We’ll match a massage for every donation of a massage we get and be able to put that in the cards and let the folks over at the hospitals know that we’re here for you,” said Messenger. And the group isn’t…

What does Nerlens Noel's cryptic post about Sixers mean? originally appeared on NBC Sports PhiladelphiaThe NBA's free agency window is scheduled to open Nov. 20, and rumors are already flying left and right.And an intriguing - and maybe far-fetched - rumbling entered the fray on Friday involving the Sixers, and a former Process-era player.One enterprising Sixers fan connected a couple of head-scratching dots from former Sixers big man Nerlens Noel, who posted a curious photo/caption combination on Facebook this week:Thanks to Ricky listener Ian who points out that Nerlens Noel may have leaked that he's coming back this season on his Facebook page pic.twitter.com/xwJSgg3ltO— Rights To Ricky Sanchez Podcast (@RTRSPodcast) November 14, 2020Now, when Noel says "can't wait to be back", does he mean in Philadelphia? Or just playing basketball? It's pretty hard to tell. There doesn't seem to be much of a reason for Noel to go back years in the photo archive for a picture of him playing ball; he's played 168 NBA games since being traded away in 2017.So is he trying to send a message about where he'll play next year?I have some doubts. The main reason this connection was drawn is because an unreliable Twitter account started drumming up the possibility of Noel returning to Philly this offseason, and NBA Twitter, desperate for any rumors as we approach free agency, ran with it. Otherwise, we wouldn't be bending over backwards to connect Noel to the Sixers.But I'll admit it's not impossible, either. Last month, ESPN's Tim McMahon reported that the Houston Rockets nearly traded for Noel under then-GM Daryl Morey's watch. With Morey now in Philadelphia, there's a chance he still likes Noel as a player, and sees a fit with the Sixers, particularly if Morey is able to move Al Horford and the team needs…

Scripps College is one of 30 colleges around the country test running Facebook Campus, a new Facebook feature for college students. (HuxleyAnnHuefner • The Student Life) A social media service designed for college students to connect with one another. Sound familiar? From its humble origins, Facebook has grown into the world’s largest social media platform, with 2.7 billion users — and now it’s going back to its roots. Scripps College joined 29 other universities in the United States to test run Facebook Campus, a new Facebook feature specifically for college students, before it’s widely released. It occupies its own tab in Facebook’s navigation bar and includes a campus feed, groups and events, just like the regular Facebook interface. To join, users must have a valid university email address. In early September, Facebook Campus was released to 30 colleges, including Northwestern University, California Institute of Technology, Brown University, Tufts University and Wellesley College.  “ selected a broad range of schools to really see how Facebook Campus can have a broad range of feedback on different kinds of schools,” Trinity Walker SC ’24, a Facebook Campus ambassador, said. Walker became a Facebook Campus ambassador after someone from Facebook direct messaged her on Instagram, asking her to sign up. Walker did not disclose if she is receiving compensation for her position. Within the broad range of schools, the general purpose of Facebook Campus remains the same: to connect university students with each other. Students can input their college major and graduation year to individually connect with people through groups and events.  Some of the groups are extensions or modulations of already existing 7C and Scripps Facebook groups: Free and For Sale @ Scripps, Scripps meme page, Class of 2024 and Café con Leche.  “ can help you make more organic connections with…

WILKES-BARRE — A city man faces charges after he assaulted a woman after becoming angry at a Facebook post, police said. Jordan Crutchfield, 21, allegedly choked the woman late Wednesday night at a residence on East Northampton Street, police said. Police filed charges of strangulation, simple assault, harassment and criminal mischief against Crutchfield. According to a Wilkes-Barre police affidavit: At 11:44 p.m. police were dispatched to Pershing Street for a report of a man choking a woman in the street. Police met the woman and saw that she had bruises and scratches on her neck, chest and arms. The woman told an officer Crutchfield became angry at her over a post she made on Facebook. The affidavit did not detail the post’s contents. The woman relayed that Crutchfield began yelling at her and striking her. He smashed a television and threw dresser drawers all over the bedroom, damaging the dresser and walls. He then choked her out by squeezing her neck until she could not breathe and became unconscious. When the woman regained consciousness and asked Crutchfield why he choked her he began beating her again. She was in fear of her life and ran onto the porch where she yelled for help. She said Crutchfield followed her outside and continued to strike her. He drove away before police arrived. Crutchfield has family in Tobyhanna and it was believed that’s where he was heading. Emergency medical personnel who aided the woman at the scene said she might have a broken thumb, but she refused to go to the hospital. City police contacted Pocono Mountain Regional Police and requested they check a Tobyhanna address for Crutchfield. Police obtained an arrest warrant for Crutchfield. He was arraigned Thursday and released on $10,000 unsecured bail.