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The call from 20 state officials adds to the rising pressure facing Mark Zuckerberg and his company.The state officials also called on Facebook to provide supportive services for people harassed on its social network.Credit...Jim Wilson/The New York TimesAug. 5, 2020, 2:06 p.m. ETTwenty state attorneys general on Wednesday called on Facebook to better prevent messages of hate, bias and disinformation from spreading, and said the company needed to provide more help to users facing online abuse.In a letter to the social media giant, the officials said they regularly encountered people facing online intimidation and harassment on Facebook. They outlined seven steps the company should take, including allowing third-party audits of hate content and offering real-time assistance to users.“We hope to work with you to ensure that fewer individuals suffer online harassment and discrimination, and that it is quickly and effectively addressed when they do,” said the letter, which was addressed to Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, and its chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg. The officials who signed the letter, all of them Democrats, represent states including New York, New Jersey, Illinois and California, as well as the District of Columbia.The letter adds to the rising pressure facing Mr. Zuckerberg and his company to stop disinformation and harassment on Facebook. Civil rights leaders, advertisers and some of the company’s own employees have criticized Facebook for failing to curtail the spread of noxious content. Extremists and conspiracists have turned to social media — most often Facebook, Twitter and YouTube — to circulate falsehoods about the coronavirus pandemic, the coming presidential election and Black Lives Matter protests.ImageFacebook and other social media companies have made some changes to dismantle misinformation and hate on their services. Last month, Twitter announced that it would remove thousands of accounts associated with the fringe conspiracy movement QAnon, saying…

Published: Aug. 5, 2020 at 1:59 p.m. ET Instagram Reels includes a video distribution algorithm similar to TikTok’s that lets consumers see the most popular videos at the moment. Facebook Inc. Facebook Inc. on Wednesday announced its alternative to popular social-media app TikTok at a time when the future of its Chinese corporate owner is in limbo. The unveiling of Instagram Reels continues a long Facebook FB, -0.18% tradition of rolling out features that have been popularized by competing platforms like Snap Inc. SNAP, +0.43% and making them available to Facebook’s billions of users worldwide to grab market share. In the case of Reels, it includes a video distribution algorithm similar to TikTok’s that lets consumers see the most popular videos at the moment. The key, killer feature is the ability to create 15-second videos with editing tools embedded in Instagram’s camera. “Facebook has a mixed track record when it comes to copying other companies’ features. Many of its attempts over the years have failed,” eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson said. “Instagram did it extremely well with Stories, which it copied from Snapchat. I believe Instagram has a similar opportunity with Reels, but it’s not a guaranteed success.” In ordinary times, the prospect of Facebook diving into the shallow end of the pool would be daunting but the social-networking behemoth is the least of worries for ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok. It not only is navigating a possible sale to Microsoft Corp. MSFT, -0.23% but enduring the wrath of the Trump Administration. Read more: Opinion: Trump has no right to demand money from Microsoft-TikTok deal President Donald Trump on Monday said he was ready to approve a deal but only if the U.S. government gets a cut of the sale price. This led to howls of protest from…

News Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Hunton Andrews Kurth are among the law firms that Facebook has hired for a Texas Supreme Court appeal seeking to toss out lawsuits by three sex trafficking victims who have sued over sex trafficking on Facebook and Instagram. Photo: PK Studio/Shutterstock.com Some of Texas’ largest Big Law firms are behind Facebook Inc. in a Texas Supreme Court appeal of rulings that are allowing victims to sue over sex trafficking that happened on Facebook and Instagram. Want to continue reading?Become a Free ALM Digital Reader. Benefits of a Digital Membership: Free access to 3 articles* every 30 days Access to the entire ALM network of websites Unlimited access to the ALM suite of newsletters Build custom alerts on any search topic of your choosing Search by a wide range of topics *May exclude premium content Already have an account? Sign In Now Angela Morris is ALM Media's Texas litigation reporter. She covers lawsuits in all levels of Texas state and federal courts. Based in Austin, Morris earned journalism and government degrees from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006, and since then, has worked primarily as a reporter and writer, but also has skills in videography, photography and podcasts. Follow her on Twitter at @AMorrisReports. More from this author

A pro-Trump ad was removed from Facebook after claims that it contained false information, Fox News has learned.America First Action PAC on Tuesday told Fox News that Facebook removed one of its ads, titled "On Hold," which was placed in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on July 24. The ad was flagged by Politifact on July 29, according to the PAC."Facebook's decision to take down this ad shows its anti-conservative bias," America First Communications Director Kelly Sadler told Fox News. "America First Action has logged an appeal, but the threat of anti-conservative bias, targeting, and censorship remains ahead of Election Day in November and we must be vigilant in holding big tech, like Facebook accountable."TWITTER EXEC IN CHARGE OF FACT-CHECKING MOCKED TRUMP SUPPORTERS, CALLED MCCONNELL 'BAG OF FARTS'Sadler, during an interview on Fox Business on Tuesday, added that this "is just more bias from these social media companies.""We're going to file an appeal, but there's really little we can do about it," she told host Stuart Varney. "These social media giants are monopolies, and ultimately they make the decision of what runs on their platform."Facebook confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday that the ad had, in fact, been fact-checked. A Facebook spokesperson told Fox News that ads that are fact-checked and found to contain false information are not eligible to run as a paid ad on the social media platform.The spokesman added that the videos can, instead, run as original content on the group's page.America First Action, though, said certain versions of the ad were removed in particular states, but the Facebook spokesman said that once the ad was fact-checked as false, all versions would be removed from the platform.The Facebook spokesperson said that if any version of the ad was still running on the platform, it would be due to a lag in Facebook's fact-checking system.The ad…

FACEBOOK IS IN: Facebook has jumped into the music video game. The social media giant has announced it will now license content from Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group for Facebook Watch and via individual artists’ pages. They can be shared, reacted to, or commented on like any other video on Facebook. The move is a step up for Facebook, which previously was able to only share short previews of major label content. The target is industry leader YouTube, which are one of the most popular attractions on that site. TAYLOR SWIFTIES JUSTICE: The word “fan” is short for “fanatic.” Submitted for your approval: the reaction of certain fans of Taylor Swift this week to a relatively good album review. Related Story Coronavirus Continues to Ravage Los Angeles County: 50 New Deaths, 2,303 New Cases Pitchfork senior editor Jillian Mapes gave Swift’s new record folklore a review that called it “a sweater-weather record filled with cinematic love songs and rich fictional details.” Pitchfork uses ratings of multiple staffers to determine a final score, and granted the album and 8 out of 10. Apparently, that wasn’t good enough for ultra-fans, who doxxed Mapes by posting her personal information and taking to social media to wage jihad. Swift has yet to comment on the actions, perhaps because she’s celebrating the overwhelming sales of the album, which topped the 2 million mark in its first week JAPAN IS GOING MUSERK: Music and video rights management firm Muserk has partnered with Video Research of Japan to launch MUSERK V.I.D. The joint venture will service, manage and protect the online rights of the major broadcasters, networks, and production companies of Japan around the world. Japan is the second-largest music market in the world and third-largest YouTube market in the world. Muserk was founded…

Major advertisers on Facebook reduced their spending by millions of dollars in July, but not enough to significantly damage the platform’s revenue. July Boycotters Reduced Spenders Other Top Advertisers 10 5 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUNE JULY July Boycotters Reduced Spenders 5 MAR MAY JULY JAN Aug. 1, 2020Updated 5:08 p.m. ETThe advertiser boycott of Facebook took a toll on the social media giant, but it may have caused more damage to the company’s reputation than to its bottom line.The boycott, called #StopHateForProfit by the civil rights groups that organized it, urged companies to stop paying for ads on Facebook in July to protest the platform’s handling of hate speech and misinformation. More than 1,000 advertisers publicly joined, out of a total pool of more than 9 million, while others quietly scaled back their spending.The 100 advertisers that spent the most on Facebook in the first half of the year spent $221.4 million from July 1 through July 29, 12 percent less than the $251.4 million spent by the top 100 advertisers a year earlier, according to estimates from the advertising analytics platform Pathmatics. Of those 100, nine companies formally announced a pullback in paid advertising, cutting their spending to $507,500 from $26.2 million.Many of the companies that stayed away from Facebook said they planned to return, and many are mom-and-pop enterprises and individuals that depend on the platform for promotion. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, has emphasized the importance of small business, saying during an earnings call on Thursday that “some seem to wrongly assume that our business is dependent on a few large advertisers.”Facebook said that the top 100 spenders contributed 16 percent of its $18.7 billion in revenue in the second quarter, which ended on June 30. During the first three weeks of July, Facebook said,…

A screenshot from a video from a Facebook group devoted to looting and selling antiquities. A narrator speaking Syrian-accented Arabic describes an elaborate, Roman-era mosaic depicting mythological figures and animals believed to be in northwestern Syria – a conflict zone where there has been extensive looting of illegally excavated antiquities. ATHAR Project/Screenshot by NPR hide caption toggle caption ATHAR Project/Screenshot by NPR A screenshot from a video from a Facebook group devoted to looting and selling antiquities. A narrator speaking Syrian-accented Arabic describes an elaborate, Roman-era mosaic depicting mythological figures and animals believed to be in northwestern Syria – a conflict zone where there has been extensive looting of illegally excavated antiquities. ATHAR Project/Screenshot by NPR In a video shared in a Facebook group, a narrator speaking Syrian-accented Arabic describes an elaborate, Roman-era mosaic depicting mythological figures and animals. The colored glass and stone in the mosaic are still vivid some 2,000 years after it was created. A brief glimpse of sweatpants worn by the narrator is the only indication of who is speaking. Then the camera pans out to show that the mosaic still lies in the ground, uncovered in a field of dirt and rocks. The Facebook group is one of more than 100 that archaeologists have identified as offering looted and illicit antiquities for sale. To counter this online trade, Facebook announced new rules in June that, for the first time, specifically ban the exchange, sale and purchase of all "historical artifacts" on its site and on Instagram, which it owns. Previously, the company could invoke its general policy against the sale of stolen goods to remove pages selling artifacts that were clearly looted. But critics say it rarely did so. And they warn that Facebook's new policy won't have an impact unless it's enforced. They say…

New York (CNN)Democratic campaigns were warned Thursday that hackers posing as Facebook could be targeting them in an effort to gain access to their Facebook account credentials, according to a copy of a security alert obtained by CNN.The Democratic National Committee's security team detailed in the alert how emails designed to look like they are coming from Facebook tell victims their Facebook page has been unpublished because it violates Facebook's terms."This means that you can still see the page, but other people won't be able to see it," the email reads. It then directs victims to a fake Facebook website where they are told they can appeal the page's deactivation. This fake website asks for some login credentials and other personal information which could be valuable for a hacker.This type of attempted cyberattack is known as phishing. It's the method that was used by Russian hackers to access Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's Gmail account in 2016.Speaking to CNN on Friday, Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook's head of security policy, said he was not familiar with the specific attempted attack the DNC warning referenced but that it was consistent with attempted phishing attacks generally. Gleicher warned that campaign staff at all levels need to be vigilant as often hackers can target less prominent members of a campaign. He said Facebook and other services are aware of sophisticated hacking groups targeting political campaigns and that Facebook offers additional security to campaign staff and government and elected officials through a program called Facebook Protect.Facebook, he said, can detect unusual login behavior such as an account being accessed from a location or a device that is not normally associated with an account.Thursday's warning from the DNC came amid heightened concerns about social media hacks following a Twitter breach that saw former Vice President Joe…

An online news media company has filed a lawsuit against Facebook over the social network labeling it "Russia state-controlled." Image: MLADEN ANTONOV / AFP via Getty Images By Matt Binder2020-07-30 16:06:10 UTC An online media company identified as “Russia state-controlled” on Facebook is now suing the social network over that very label. Maffick LLC has filed a lawsuit against Facebook over the foreign-controlled label that the social media giant puts on all of its pages and posts. Maffick runs popular Facebook Pages and Instagram accounts for online news media outlets such as In the NOW, Waste-Ed, and Soapbox.  You’ve probably come across Maffick’s Facebook page for “In the NOW.” With nearly 5 million followers on the social media platform, In the NOW’s video content is regularly shared on Facebook.  A screenshot of the label placed on Maffick LLC's Facebook content. Image: screenshot: matt binder / mashable However, one thing you may or may not have noticed is that all of In the NOW’s content comes packaged with a very unique label: “Russia state-controlled media.”  “This publisher is wholly or partially under the editorial control of a state,” reads the description accompanied by Facebook’s label. “This is determined by a range of factors, including but not limited to funding, structure, and journalistic standards.” Facebook previously suspended Maffick’s Facebook pages in 2019 after a CNN investigation reported on the company’s ties to RT, a Russia state-funded news organization. Maffick had received significant funding from Ruptly, a subsidiary of RT that provides video news content to publishers. CNN described Maffick’s properties as “Russian government" backed online video channels that are “designed to appeal to Millennials.” The outlet also reported how “unusual” it was for Facebook to suspend the pages. At the time, Facebook’s guidelines didn’t require media companies on the platform to disclose…

Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), who ended Wednesday's hearing by saying some Big Tech companies need to be broken up, told Axios that Facebook in particular lacks significant competitors and should not have been allowed to buy Instagram and WhatsApp.Why it matters: Cicilline chairs the antitrust subcommittee, which has been looking into competition issues in the digital space."Mr. Zuckerberg acknowledged in this hearing that his acquisition of WhatsApp and Instagram were part of a plan to both buy a competitor and also maintain his money, power, or his dominance. That's classic monopoly behavior."— Cicilline said on the "Axios Re:Cap" podcastCicilline's criticisms weren't limited to Facebook, pointing to the power Google and Amazon also hold in their respective markets."I think what we saw today was confirmation that these large technology platforms have enduring monopoly power," he said in the interview with Axios' Dan Primack.The big picture: A key issue remains whether existing antitrust law is broad enough to address the modern tech industry, especially companies that provide their products at no direct charge to consumers."Congress is going to have to 'think outside the box' in a comprehensive way about what antitrust laws should look like in the 21st century," Neguse told Axios’ Ashley Gold after the hearing.What's next: The committee plans to develop a set of recommendations and issue them in a final report as soon as late August, according to Cicilline.You can listen to the podcast here.