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New York, Aug 16 (IANS): Struggling to tame the spread of misinformation on its platform, Facebook can better reduce the extent to which their users fall for and spread fake news articles by deploying a better designed fake news flag. Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin found that although Facebook users may be too quick to believe or share misinformation, flagging fake news can also make a significant difference. The new paper published in Information Systems Research, studied what tools would help Facebook users spot fake news. Lead author Tricia Moravec, an assistant professor in the McCombs School of Business, and co-authors, Antino Kim and Alan R Dennis of Indiana University, found that two simple interventions, especially when combined, had a strong effect on helping people discern reality from fake news. The first intervention the researchers tested was a stop sign icon. The second was a strong statement, "Declared Fake by 3rd Party Fact-Checkers". Each intervention was effective, but when combined, they were almost twice as powerful. "Ideally, we would see Twitter and especially Facebook use some type of flag for misinformation with a brief statement to nudge people to think more critically," Moravec said. Twitter has begun using labels and warning messages. Facebook uses technology and fact-checkers to identify false information and moves the information lower in the News Feed so it's less likely to be seen. Facebook says that people who repeatedly share false news will see their distribution reduced and their ability to advertise removed. "Twitter has been doing a much better job than Facebook at managing misinformation, since they actively flag misleading information," Moravec said. "It is a good step that Facebook is taking to at least demote misinformation and punish repeat offenders, but based on the misinformation I have seen about COVID-19 on…

How realistic are hopes that agriculture will revive demandin a pandemic-hit economy? Himanshu crunches the numbers in Mint. A senior Facebook executive opposed the idea of removing contentious posts by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, warning that this could hurt the company’s business prospects in India, reports the Wall Street Journal.   Having Kamal Harris in the White House would mean someone with a strong understanding of India might speak thoughtfully and criticallyabout Kashmir, or the Indian nationalism that has marginalised the country’s Muslim community and led to a controversial citizenship law that excludes Muslim immigrants – issues President Trump has failed to meaningfully address, says Akanksha Singh in CNN.   It was expected that the introduction of Goods and Services Tax would increase India’s Gross Domestic Product of the country because the simplified tax structure would eliminate the cascading effect of taxes and increase the government’s revenue. This has not happened, says Vinay K Srivastava in the Hindustan Times. Was there any dharma in flaunting the bhoomi puja for the Ram temple, making a national spectacle of it, knowing full well that an entire section of the population, not just Muslims, was feeling excluded, deprived and diminished? TM Krishna writes about Modi’s visit to Ayodhya in The Indian Express. When your name is Osama and you’re living in post-9/11 America, you always know “The Question” is coming. Osama Shehzad, a Pakistan national, on the travails of traveling with a dreaded name.   Scarred by trauma and devoted to Donald Trump, a man began mailing explosives to the president’s critics on the eve of an election. Garrett M Graff in Wired describes the race to catch the man.   Danielle Tcholakian in Longreads puts together a reading list on Kamala Harris.   Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu’s quest to open relations with Arab countries without settling the Palestinian conflict long seemed quixotic. External events…

With TikTok potentially facing a US ban, depending on whether or not a Microsoft acquisition goes through, a Facebook short videos feature has been spotted in testing. TikTok is of course based on short, user-created videos. As a highly popular app in the US, its withdrawal from the country would leave a huge vacuum … Among kids, TikTok is a big hit in the US. A major study of app usage has found that TikTok is almost as popular with kids as YouTube. The analysis of 60,000 families across the US, UK, and Spain found that kids age 4-15 spend 80 minutes a day watching TikTok videos, just five minutes less than they spend watching YouTube. Instagram wasted no time in seeking to capitalize on this, cloning TikTok’s functionality with a new short-form video feature called Reels. Reels invites you to create fun videos to share with your friends or anyone on Instagram. Record and edit 15-second multi-clip videos with audio, effects, and new creative tools. You can share reels with your followers on Feed, and, if you have a public account, make them available to the wider Instagram community through a new space in Explore. Reels in Explore offers anyone the chance to become a creator on Instagram and reach new audiences on a global stage. Software engineer Roneet Michael tipped off Matt Navarra that the company now appears to be aiming to do something similar in its main app. TikTok may survive in the US if a sale to a US company successfully completes. Apple was briefly mentioned as a possible buyer, though the company quickly dispelled the notion. Twitter is also reported to have expressed an interest, though Microsoft remains the front-runner. The Chinese company is also threatening a legal challenge to Trump’s executive order. Either way,…

Kelly Fisher, Nashville Tennessean Published 7:35 a.m. CT Aug. 13, 2020 | Updated 10:48 a.m. CT Aug. 13, 2020CLOSEState and local officials confirmed Wednesday that the multi-million-dollar data center in Gallatin, previously known as Project Woolhawk, is the social media behemoth Facebook, a project years in the making.Facebook will invest $800 million to construct the new state-of-the-art center that’ll cover nearly 1 million square feet and run entirely on renewable energy, Gov. Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe and Facebook announced.Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said the Gallatin center — the 13th Facebook location in the U.S. and 17th in the world — will create 100 high-paying positions, excluding construction jobs. She also noted Facebook’s responsibility to the community as a priority.More: Facebook is building an $800M data center in GallatinUntil Wednesday morning, there had only been widespread speculation and some media reports without confirmation from officials that Facebook was the company eyeing Gallatin to construct its latest data center. However, local officials previously hailed it as a significant potential revenue source for Gallatin and Sumner County.James Fenton, executive director of economic development in Gallatin, previously said the development would be “very equitable for both parties,” and noted the “extremely competitive process.” Local officials have been in talks with Facebook representatives for about three years.“Our community made the decision three years ago to pursue technology jobs as part of our economic development strategy," Gallatin Mayor Paige Brown said in the release Wednesday. "We are pleased to welcome Facebook to Gallatin, and we look forward to the positive impact they will have on our city.”Fenton and others have often emphasized job opportunities the project would create. He also highlighted that Gallatin facilitated a partnership with Vol State Community College to help cultivate necessary skills.Local officials previously referred to…

Facebook Lite, the social network's slimmed down app for low speed connections and low-spec phones, is being deactivated, reports MacMagazine. Facebook Lite was designed to work on poor internet connections like 2G networks or in rural areas with a bad signal, mainly by not downloading high resolution images or autoplaying videos, and the app could be used on older phones at the expense of excluding some features. The streamlined app appeared alongside a Lite version of Messenger in 2018, first launching in Turkey, before rolling out to more regions and territories. However, users in Brazil who opened the Lite variant of the app on Tuesday were met with the following message (translation). Facebook Lite for iOS will be disabled. You can use the original Facebook app to keep in touch with friends and family. Image credit: Twitter user @DalvaVeronicaMacMagazine confirmed that the Facebook Lite app is no longer on the App Store, unlike Messenger Lite, which is still available. "Due to the limited adoption and improvements we are making to improve the experience for people in our apps, we will no longer support Facebook Lite for iOS," said a Facebook spokesperson. Facebook has long been regarded by some users as a unnecessarily bloated app. The full-fat Facebook app for iPhone 11 is a not-insubstantial 244.7MB, whereas Facebook Lite was a relatively paltry 8.7MB in comparison. Top StoriesApple Takes Legal Action Against Small Company With Pear LogoApple is taking legal action against the developers of the app "Prepear" due to its logo, according to iPhone in Canada. Prepear is an app that helps users discover recipes, plan meals, make lists, and arrange grocery deliveries. The app is a spinoff of "Super Healthy Kids," and the founders claim that they are facing litigation from Apple. Apple reportedly takes issue with Prepear's logo,…

Facebook reacted to demands from Jewish NGOs, by extending its ban on antisemitic and racist hate speech. Typical antisemitic statements such as “Jews are controlling the world” are now violations of Facebook’s Community Standards. Facebook has replied to an open letter sent to its Board of Directors by a large number of mostly Jewish organizations, including some from Germany. The authors had asked the company to fully adopt the working definition of antisemitism by the IHRA. Deligitimization of Israel A total of 128 organizations are behind the letter which asked Facebook to implement a hate speech policy on antisemitism with the IHRA’s working definition “at its core”. Today’s antisemitism “undoubtedly includes the delegitimization of Israel’s right to exist”, the letter reads. “This bigotry is expressed in various ways”, it says, “such as the rejection of Jewish self-determination, Holocaust revisionism and denial, and the application of double standards toward the Jewish state and people.” Community Standards “Will Facebook join the ranks of historians, advocates, activists, lawmakers and leaders who compiled the IHRA’s working definition?”, the authors asked. “Will Facebook take responsibility and move against the scourge of antisemitism from today’s most important public square?” The background of the letter was Facebook’s reluctance to remove some reported antisemitic posts, stating they did not violate its Community Standards. In some cases, posts reported by a large number of users were removed later. Then, those who had reported them were told Facebook had reviewed the case again and come to the conclusion that it did indeed violated the Community Standards. Countless Signatories ‘WerteInitiative’, a Berlin-based NGO, co-signed the letter, along with countless other organizations, including the Am Yisrael Foundation, the Canadian Centre of Israel and Jewish Affairs, the European Jewish Association, the German organization Honestly Concerned and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. The…

Facebook has signed a bevy of renewable energy contracts across the US and Ireland.The eight wind and solar power purchase agreements will total 806MW of additional power when they are completed. Back in 2018, the social media and advertising company pledged to be fully renewably powered by the end of 2020.Greening the gridThe new contracts cover four states - Utah, Ohio, Illinois, Tennessee - and numerous developers, including D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments and Apex Clean Energy.In Ireland, Facebook partnered with Brookfield Renewable Partners LP, a company it signed a 10-year deal with back in 2016. After Candian-fund Brookfield acquired local utility Bord Gáis's wind farm business, its Lisheen, Co Tipperary, turbines have powered Facebook's data centers in Clonee.But the facility and its needs are expanding, while Facebook also plans to expand its offices in the region. In late 2018, it agreed to lease the Bankcentre campus in Ballsbridge, giving it space for an additional 5,000 staff - although roughly 2,200 will be relocated from Dublin. The current pandemic has likely slowed such a move, with Facebook saying it expected some of its employees to remain working from home for years to come, but by July 2021 it expects at least half its staff to turn up.To cover all this, it is backing Brookfield's Lisheen III project, which is expected to generate 28.8MW when it launches in 2022.“We appreciate this strong collaboration with Brookfield Renewable and we are excited to be part of bringing this new wind project to the grid,” said Colin Spain, Facebook’s energy manager for EMEA. “We hope it will not only support our operations in Ireland and our goal of 100 percent renewable energy for all of our global operations, but will encourage all stakeholders to work together to bring additional renewables to the grid via corporate…

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Facebook is joining Microsoft in condemning Apple’s App Store policies today. The social media company is launching its Facebook Gaming app for iOS — primarily an app used to watch streamers play video games — but has had to remove the app’s mini games feature to pass Apple’s strict App Store approval process. Facebook isn’t happy about the compromise. “Unfortunately, we had to remove gameplay functionality entirely in order to get Apple’s approval on the standalone Facebook Gaming app — meaning iOS users have an inferior experience to those using Android,” said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer in a press statement given to The Verge. “We’re staying focused on building communities for the more than 380 million people who play games on Facebook every month — whether Apple allows it in a standalone app or not.” Facebook says it has had the Facebook Gaming app rejected multiple times by Apple in recent months. The company says Apple has cited App Store guideline 4.7 to justify the rejections, claiming the primary purpose of the Facebook Gaming app is to play games. Facebook says it shared usage data from its Android Facebook Gaming app that showed 95 percent of activity is watching streams, but this didn’t change Apple’s stance. Facebook Gaming on iOS lacks its Instant Games. Facebook Apple unveiled an appeal process for situations like this at WWDC back in June, but Facebook says it tried this and failed to convince Apple to overturn its decision. “We even appealed the guideline under the new app review process announced at WWDC,” says a Facebook spokesperson. “We did not receive a response.” Facebook has now been forced to give up and remove games entirely from the standalone app launching on iOS today. The Facebook Gaming app is primarily used to watch streams…

Saying Apple forced changes during months of rejection, the social network is releasing a version for iPhone and iPad users today.Facebook said it had made changes to its Gaming app to get Apple’s approval for its App Store.Credit...FacebookAug. 7, 2020, 6:00 a.m. ETFor six months, Facebook tried to get Apple to approve its new Facebook Gaming app so it could be available in Apple’s App Store. Each time, Apple said no.This week, Facebook said it had acceded to Apple’s demands to change its Gaming app so that it could be distributed to iPhone and iPad users starting on Friday. To comply with Apple’s rules, which prohibit apps if their “main purpose” is distributing software such as games, the social network said it had entirely removed playable games from its new app.Facebook said Apple had essentially used its power over the App Store to force its hand, turning the Gaming app into an inferior experience for iPhone and iPad owners. In addition to playable games, the original version of the app allows users to watch and create live gameplay streams and participate in gaming communities — functions that will still operate in the Apple version.The frustration with Apple extends to Facebook’s highest echelons. In a statement, Sheryl Sandberg, the company’s chief operating officer, said, “Unfortunately, we had to remove gameplay functionality entirely in order to get Apple’s approval on the stand-alone Facebook Gaming app.” She added that Facebook would continue to build communities for those who played games on Facebook, “whether Apple allows it in a stand-alone app or not.”Games are the largest source of revenue for Apple on the App Store, and many tech executives have concluded that Apple blocks game services that could compete with its own products and sales.Apple, without directly addressing Facebook Gaming, said its App Store…