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☆ You have a month left to get your share of Facebook's $725 million settlement — here's how
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Facebook users have less than one month left to apply for their share of a $725 million settlement over the social network's privacy violations, part of the lengthy fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal that rocked the U.S. electoral process and Silicon Valley. In all, the Cambridge Analytica scandal cost Meta, Facebook's parent company, nearly $5.9 billion. Beyond the $725 million settlement, the company paid a record $5 billion settlement to the Federal Trade Commission, alongside a further $100 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission. In some ways, it's a much different company than it was during the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The $725 million settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Keller Rohrback, Donald Trump's, Facebookuserprivacysettlement.com, It's, We're, Zuckerberg Organizations: . House Financial, Capitol, Facebook, Cambridge, U.S, Federal Trade Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, People, Twitter Locations: Washington, Silicon Valley, Cambridge, U.S

☆ Australia fines Facebook owner Meta $14 mln for undisclosed data collection
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, July 26 (Reuters) - An Australian court ordered Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O) to pay fines totalling A$20 million ($14 million) for collecting user data through a smartphone application advertised as a way to protect privacy without disclosing its actions. Australia's Federal Court also ordered Meta, through its subsidiaries Facebook Israel and the now-discontinued app, Onavo, to pay A$400,000 in legal costs to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which brought the civil lawsuit. Meta still faces a civil court action by Australia's Office of the Information Commissioner over its dealings with Cambridge Analytica in Australia. However, Facebook used Onavo to collect users' location, time and frequency using other smartphone apps, and websites they visited for its own advertising purposes, the judge Wendy Abraham said in a written judgment. ($1 = 1.4736 Australian dollars)Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Tom Hogue and Lincoln FeastOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Meta, Wendy Abraham, Abraham, Byron Kaye, Tom Hogue Organizations: SYDNEY, Meta, Facebook Israel, Australian Competition, Consumer Commission, Cambridge, Australia's Office, Cambridge Analytica, Facebook, Thomson Locations: Australia, Lincoln

☆ Harvard psychologist: The 'common enemy effect' may explain why Elon Musk's declining popularity could benefit Mark Zuckerberg
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Ashton Jackson | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Zuckerberg's found early success luring dissatisfied Twitter users to his new competitor, Threads, which launched earlier this month and quickly amassed 100 million users within days. At the end of 2022, after he acquired Twitter, Musk's net favorability had dropped by 13 points among U.S. adults, according to a survey by Morning Consult. In this case, a common disdain for Musk's Twitter could be the cause for Thread's flood of new users. But Warren makes it clear that growing a business using the "common enemy effect" may not be sustainable. "[The common enemy effect] is often a slippery slope to build a business around, although it may be effective in getting people to buy into a common cause," Warren says.

Persons: Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg's, Zuckerberg, favorability, It's, Dr, Cortney Warren, Warren Organizations: Twitter, Morning, Meta, Cambridge, Harvard, CNBC

☆ Europe and the U.S. finally agree a landmark data-sharing pact — and it's already under threat
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

CNBC runs through all you need to know about the new EU-U.S. privacy framework, why it matters, and its chances of success. What's the new EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework? Schrems said that revelations from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden about U.S. surveillance meant that American data protection standards couldn't be trusted. Instead, individual U.S. states have come up with their own respective regulations for data privacy, with California leading the charge. The approval of a new data privacy framework means that businesses will now have certainty over how they can process data across borders going forward.

Persons: Pavlo Gonchar, Max Schrems, Schrems, Edward Snowden, Cambridge Analytica, Holger Lutz, Clifford Chance, Meta Organizations: Getty, European Union, CNBC, EU, U.S, European Commission, Protection, European Court of Justice, Facebook, Irish Data Protection, Data, Meta, Google, Cambridge, General Data Locations: America, EU, Europe, U.S, California, Austrian

☆ Elon Musk is the gift that keeps on giving to Mark Zuckerberg
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

New York CNN —At the start of last year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in the hot seat. But then, the attention of lawmakers, media and the tech world writ large abruptly shifted to another tech billionaire: Elon Musk. While Twitter users have lamented what Musk’s ownership has meant for the platform, it may be the best thing that could have happened for Zuckerberg. A billion-user opportunityThe distraction and chaos of Musk’s Twitter takeover could hardly have come at a better time for Zuckerberg and Meta. The Twitter-Threads battle has raised the stakes for another fight: a cage fight that Musk and Zuckerberg have spent the past several weeks planning.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Elon, Twitter, Musk, Zuckerberg, “, ”, Herbert Hovenkamp, —, he’s, Meta, Musk’s, “ Elon, Meta —, Donald Trump, Instagram, Adam Mosseri, Zuckerberg’s Organizations: New, New York CNN, Facebook, Apple, Meta, Twitter, University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School, Instagram, SpaceX, YouTube Locations: New York, Cambridge

☆ Mark Zuckerberg has been accused of hypocrisy by some on social media after hiding his daughters' faces with emojis in a July 4 Instagram post
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Mark Zuckerberg shared a family photo with his daughters' faces hidden by emojis. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg provoked accusations of hypocrisy from users on his platforms by censoring his childrens' faces in a family photo. It is a common practice among parents to obscure the faces of their children in social media posts for privacy reasons. On Instagram, one user got 2,800 likes commenting under Zuckerberg's post: "Even Zuck doesn't trust his platforms to put his kids faces up." Much of the ire focused on accusing Zuckerberg of hypocrisy, since Meta has been embroiled in controversies relating to its users' data.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan, Maxima, August Chan Zuckerberg, Aurelia —, Meta Organizations: Morning, Facebook, Meta, Cambridge, European Union Locations: America

☆ 'Obama,' 'Trump gets impeached twice' and the other top political references in Fall Out Boy's new cover of the Billy Joel classic 'We Didn't Start the Fire'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Fall Out Boy's new cover of the 1989 Billy Joel classic covers a lot of the bases the original touch. "Cambridge Analytica" (2018): The British consulting firm had been around for years, but bombshell reporting by The New York Times and The Guardian in 2018 sparked a scandal. Obama went on to defeat Republican presidential nominee John McCain en route to becoming the nation's first Black president. "Trump gets impeached twice" (2021): President Donald Trump became the first president to be impeached twice in the wake of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Video later showed that Rice, who was 12 years old, was killed within two seconds of officers arriving, The New York Times reported.

Persons: Billy Joel, Obama, Trump, —, Billy Joel's, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Dwight D, Eisenhower, It's, Egypitan Hosni Mubarak, Muammar Gaddafi, Rodney King, King, Vladimir Putin, Putin, Viktor Yanukovych, Russia's, Donald Trump's, Alexander Nix, Cambridge Analytica, Osama bin Laden's, Illinois Sen, Barack Obama, New York Sen, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Donald Trump, acquit Trump, Roberto Schmidt, Timothy McVeigh, Alfred P, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Bland, Rice, George Floyd, Derek Chauvin, Chauvin, Kerem Yucel, Gore, George W, Bush, Al Gore, Sandra Day O'Connor, Tom Delonge Organizations: Service, Cubs, Israel, NPR, National Guard, Russia, Cambridge, The New York Times, Guardian, London Thomson Reuters, US, New York, Democratic, Affordable, Republican, AFP, Getty, Murrah Federal Building, Georgia Republican, Minneapolis Police, Civil, Hennepin County Government Center, Texas Gov, Electoral College, Washington Post, CNN, Fox News, The Washington Post, New York Times Locations: Suez, Israel, Egypt, United Kingdom, France, British, Tunisia, North Africa, California's, Crimea, Ukraine, Azov, Kerch, Moscow, Russian, London, Afghanistan, Illinois, Iowa, Washington, Oklahoma, Georgia, The, Hennepin County, Minneapolis , Minnesota, AFP, Florida

☆ Election campaigns are already using AI with some degree of success. Experts are concerned it will usher in a new era of disinformation.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Political campaigns are using AI to create election material, attack ads, and donation requests. —DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) June 5, 2023Campaigns, ranging from mayoral races to the 2024 presidential election, have already been using artificial intelligence to create election ads or outreach emails — with some reportedly seeing benefits in the tool. Beyond fake images, West wrote that artificial intelligence could also be used for "very precise audience targeting" to reach swing voters. During his first appearance before Congress in May, the CEO of OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, admitted his concerns about the use of artificial intelligence in elections as the tool advances. "This is a remarkable time to be working on artificial intelligence," he said.

Persons: —, Ron DeSantis's, Donald Trump, Anthony Fauci, ike, ake, ould Organizations: Service, National Institute of Allergy Locations: Florida

☆ 'We've entered the Twilight Zone': Behind the beef that led to Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg's 'cage match'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Nicolas Vega | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk say they are ready to face off in a "Vegas Octagon." Elon Musk is apparently ready to find out, with the world's richest man having challenged Mark Zuckerberg to a "cage match" — an offer that the martial arts-loving Facebook co-founder quickly agreed to. "I think we've entered the Twilight Zone," Ives added. I think we've entered the Twilight Zone. "I don't use FB and never have," Musk tweeted at the time, adding: "Just don't like Facebook.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Dan Ives, It's, we've, Ives, Zuckerberg, Musk, I'm Organizations: Facebook, Wedbush Securities, CNBC, Bloomberg, —, SpaceX, Meta Locations: Cambridge, tweeting

The lawyers said in the filing that the $725 million settlement is the largest data-privacy recovery in history and the largest private settlement Facebook has ever agreed to. Meta and an outside lawyer for the company from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the fee request on Thursday. While a 25% fee amounts to $181,250,000, the fees paid from the settlement fund would be about $180,449,782, the lawyers wrote. The company and its outside law firm, Gibson Dunn, already paid about $800,217 in sanctions, which can be deducted from the total fees, they wrote. The company did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement, which the judge granted preliminary approval of in March.

Persons: Keller Rohrback, Fonti, Auld, Derek Loeser, Lesley Weaver, Bleichmar Fonti, Dunn, Crutcher, Gibson Dunn, Vince Chhabria, Meta, Read, Sara Merken, Leigh Jones Organizations: San, Facebook, Meta, Gibson, U.S, Cambridge, Thomson Locations: San Francisco federal

Companies Meta Platforms Inc FollowWASHINGTON, June 1 (Reuters) - A 2018 privacy lawsuit brought by Washington, D.C., against Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) was dismissed on Thursday by a Superior Court judge, who ruled the firm did not mislead consumers over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The social media firm drew global scrutiny in 2018 after disclosing that a third-party personality quiz distributed on Facebook gathered profile information on 87 million users worldwide and sold the data to British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. "Facebook did not materially mislead consumers as to their response to Cambridge Analytica," the judge said on Thursday. The District of Columbia attorney general's office said it disagreed with the court's decision and was considering options. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler)Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Maurice Ross of, general's, Kanishka Singh, Leslie Adler Organizations: WASHINGTON, D.C, Facebook, Meta, Inc, Cambridge, Superior Court, District of Columbia, of Columbia, Thomson Locations: Washington, Cambridge

☆ Judge Dismisses D.C.’s Privacy Lawsuit Against Meta
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Cecilia Kang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The NewsA Superior Court judge on Thursday dismissed a privacy lawsuit against Meta by the District of Columbia, which had accused the company of deceiving consumers by improperly sharing their data with third parties, including the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. The decision was a rare victory for Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, as it battles lawsuits filed by the federal government, states, foreign regulators and consumers in privacy, antitrust and consumer protection disputes. But Judge Ross said Facebook not only had adequately informed users of how data could be shared with third parties but had provided instructions on how to limit data sharing. He added that Facebook had taken adequate steps to investigate Cambridge Analytica and inform users after press reports about the activity emerged. “While the district may disagree with Facebook’s approach to the situation, there is no legal basis that required Facebook to act differently,” Judge Ross said.

Persons: Maurice A . Ross of, Karl Racine, Cambridge Analytica, Racine, Judge Ross, ”, Gabriel Shoglow, Rubenstein, “, ” Meta Organizations: Meta, District of Columbia, Cambridge, Maurice A . Ross of Superior Court, Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, ” Locations: District

For now, tech companies seem to view both trust and safety and AI ethics as cost centers. That included all but one member of the company's 17-person AI ethics team, according to Rumman Chowdhury, who served as director of Twitter's machine learning ethics, transparency and accountability team. Chowdhury referenced an initiative in July 2021, when Twitter's AI ethics team led what was billed as the industry's first-ever algorithmic bias bounty competition. Still, sources familiar with the matter said that following the layoffs, the company has fewer people working on misinformation issues. watch nowFor those who've gained expertise in AI ethics, trust and safety and related content moderation, the employment picture looks grim.

☆ Elon Musk is escalating his beef with Mark Zuckerberg, claiming WhatsApp 'cannot be trusted' and saying the Meta CEO seems 'extremely partisan'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk slammed Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, saying he seemed "extremely partisan." Elon Musk is amping up his beef with Mark Zuckerberg this week, saying the Meta CEO seems "extremely partisan," and blasting WhatsApp over privacy concerns. And on Tuesday, Musk moved on to criticizing WhatsApp, which is owned by Meta. And when Zuckerberg questioned Musk's negativity toward AI as "irresponsible" in 2017, Musk tweeted that the Meta CEO's "understanding of the subject is limited." Musk and Meta did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.

☆ TikTok had a 'list' of users who viewed LGBTQ posts — raising alarm as the company faces scrutiny over ties to China
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

TikTok users watching posts under LGBTQ categories were visible to employees, WSJ reports. A TikTok representative told the Journal the company cut off access to that kind of data last year. The employees had access to "a list" of users, or "a dashboard" which let them learn about users who watched certain types of posts, the Wall Street journal reported. The rise of generative AI chatbots, for instance, has sparked questions about whether company employees can view users' conversation histories, and how long they're stored. There's already some appetite in the US to curb users' access to the app.

☆ FTC says Meta should be barred from monetizing data from younger users
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The FTC said Meta should be banned from monetizing data it collects from younger users. In a statement on Wednesday, Meta spokesman Andy Stone called the FTC proposal “a political stunt” and vowed to contest the effort. Meta had allowed personal information to leak to apps that users of the platform were no longer using, the FTC alleged. That data sharing, the FTC claimed, contrasted with Meta’s public statements about how it cuts off a third-party app’s access to Facebook users’ information if the users stop using the third-party app for 90 days. In a statement, Bedoya said he was skeptical whether there was enough of a connection between Meta’s alleged harms and the proposed remedies to legally sustain a complete ban on monetizing the data of young users.

☆ FTC proposes barring Meta from monetizing kids' data
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Federal Trade Commission proposed on Wednesday barring Facebook parent company Meta from monetizing kids' data after it says the company violated a 2020 privacy order. The FTC alleges Facebook also violated an earlier 2012 order by continuing to allow app developers access to private user information. The FTC is also accusing Meta of violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule by misrepresenting parental controls on its Messenger Kids app. Compliance with the 2020 order would also extend to any companies Meta acquires or merges with. After Meta responds, the Commission will decide whether updating the 2020 order "is in the public interest or justified by changed conditions of fact or law."

☆ Can you delete your ChatGPT conversation history? Here's what OpenAI says happens if you disable it.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In April, OpenAI said it's also giving users the choice to disable their conversation record with ChatGPT, seeking to offer more visibility and control over data. The company offers a "privacy dashboard" where users can get a sense of how their search history is used, and explore options to clear that history. The dashboard essentially allows users to "view, export, and delete stored conversation history," according to a recently updated Microsoft document entitled, "The new Bing: Our approach to Responsible AI." A note on the page says Bing uses "web search history to improve your search experience by showing you suggestions as you type, providing personalized results, and more." "We also provide users with transparency and control over their search data via the Microsoft Privacy Dashboard," the representative said.

☆ Your Share of the $725 Million Facebook Settlement Will Be Tiny
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Cordilia James | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Facebook parent Meta Platforms agreed to the settlement. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesPeople who used Facebook in the U.S. during the past 15 or so years can expect free money from its parent company—but not a lot, and not anytime soon. In December, Meta Platforms Inc. agreed to pay $725 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the social-media company of allowing data firm Cambridge Analytica and other third parties to access private information about millions of users. Cambridge Analytica was a top vendor for former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.

☆ Your Share of the $725M Facebook Settlement Will Be Tiny
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Cordilia James | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ How to Claim Your Share of Facebook’s $725 Million Privacy Settlement
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Jenny Gross | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If you used Facebook in the United States between May 2007 and December 2022, you can apply to claim your share of a $725 million settlement that Facebook’s parent company agreed to pay to settle a class-action lawsuit, according to a claims website set up by a settlement administrator. Users can enter their information on facebookuserprivacysettlement.com to get their payment through their bank account, Venmo or other methods. The payout will be divided among claimants, with more given to those who have used the site longer. Facebook’s parent company, Meta, agreed last year to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the company of sharing user data or making it accessible to third parties, including the data and political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, without users’ permission. The long-running lawsuit was filed after revelations in 2018 that Cambridge Analytica used private information from the Facebook profiles of millions of users without their permission in one of the largest data leaks in Facebook’s history.

☆ Claim your piece of the $725 million Facebook settlement if you used the platform during the last 15 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Current or former Facebook users can now submit a claim to a $725 million class action settlement. Facebook agreed to the settlement for allegedly sharing user data with Cambridge Analytica. Current or former Facebook users can submit claims through a website for the lawsuit by the August 25 deadline. A screenshot of some of the questions for current or former Facebook users to answer to receive part of a $725 million settlement. The firm used a personality quiz to obtain information about users and the people with whom they associated on Facebook.

☆ Here's how to claim your piece of a $725 million settlement if you used Facebook during the last 15 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

☆ How to apply for your share of Facebook's $725 million settlement in privacy suit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Facebook users complained of an issue that saw random comments made to celebrity Pages appear in their own Feed. Facebook users have until August to claim their share of a $725 million class-action settlement of a lawsuit alleging privacy violations by the social media company, a new website reveals. The lawsuit was prompted in 2018 after Facebook disclosed information of 87 million users was improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica. "We pursued a settlement as it's in the best interest of our community and shareholders," a company spokesperson said at the time. Facebook users can make a claim by visiting Facebookuserprivacysettlement.com and entering their name, address, email address and confirming they lived in the U.S. and were active on Facebook between the aforementioned dates.

☆ You can now apply for your share of a $725 million Facebook data privacy settlement. Here’s how
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Facebook users who had an active account at any point between May 2007 and December 2022 can now apply to receive a piece of parent company Meta’s $725 million settlement related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The California judge overseeing the case granted preliminary approval of the settlement late last month, and Facebook users can now apply for a cash payment as part of a settlement. The claim form — which requires a few personal details and information about a user’s Facebook account — can be filled out online or printed and submitted by mail. It’s not yet clear how much each settlement payment will be. “Over the last three years we revamped our approach to privacy and implemented a comprehensive privacy program.

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