Last week, hackers took over the Twitter account of that company’s chief executive Jack Dorsey, using SIM-swapping, a technique that lets hackers access social media, email, financial accounts and other sensitive data. SIM-swapping, by which hackers take over the target’s phone, is being used to steal money and take over the “online personae” of celebrities, politicians and other notable people. In response, Twitter temporarily turned off the feature that allows users to send tweets via text message. Continue reading Hackers Increasingly Use SIM-Swapping to Hijack Accounts

As the 2020 U.S. presidential election nears, government officials met in Silicon Valley with Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter to discuss how to prevent the foreign interference that took place during the 2016 election. The companies’ security teams and representatives from the FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security attended the daylong meeting at Facebook’s headquarters. The group talked about detecting potential threats and methods of strategic collaboration. Continue reading Tech Firms, U.S. Officials Strategize 2020 Election Security

Beginning in 2007, the Las Vegas, Nevada-based Jetflicks debuted a streaming service that provided commercial-free popular TV shows the day after they aired, most recently charging $9.99 per month. That’s until an undercover FBI agent helped make a bust of the streaming service that enabled piracy. Last week, a grand jury indicted eight people for allegedly operating two of the biggest illegal streaming sites in the country. Jetflicks claims it had 37,000+ subscribers and hosted 183,000 TV episodes. Continue reading Grand Jury Indicts Two Streaming Sites for Pirated Content

Twitter has purchased Lightwell, an app creation engine originally debuted two years ago by Hullabalu, an interactive storytelling startup. In its Twitter account, Lightwell said its work would focus on conversations and that its toolset, which has required a subscription, will be available for free this week as part of the purchase. Without the need to create an account, Lightwell users will be able to “layout, prototype, and export to iOS.” Lightwell also announced that it would no longer support or add new features to the toolset. Financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed. Continue reading Twitter Plans to Improve Conversations, Acquires Lightwell

To avoid having their ads appear next to offensive online material, companies now stipulate the type of web content — or even specific websites — they want to avoid. Blacklists have always existed but are getting longer and more specific for many advertisers. That’s a problem for numerous large and small news publishers, who find their outlets avoided by advertisers in favor of less controversial lifestyle publications. Colgate-Palmolive, Subway and McDonald’s are among many companies blocking digital ads in hard news. Continue reading Advertisers Blacklist Hard News, Migrate to Lifestyle Pubs

According to sources, the White House drafted an executive order that would give the Federal Communications Commission the power to determine how Facebook, Twitter and other large tech companies curate their websites. The FCC would be tasked with developing regulations on how (and when) the law protects social media platforms when they remove or suppress content, and also charges the Federal Trade Commission with taking the new regulations into account when investigating or suing these companies. Continue reading Draft Executive Order Gives FCC, FTC Sway Over Internet

Facebook, which has been under scrutiny for its privacy policies, just settled with the U.S. government for a record $5 billion fine. But the FBI has now complicated that picture by more aggressively monitoring potential threats on all social media platforms. Last month, the FBI asked for third party vendors to submit proposals by August 27 for examining public data to “proactively identify and reactively monitor threats to the United States and its interests” on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. Continue reading Facebook, FBI Face Brewing Conflict Over Data Collection

In a subtle swipe against Netflix’s algorithm-based TV/movie recommendations, HBO unveiled “Recommended by Humans,” a new marketing site featuring 36 video and 150 Twitter recommendations from HBO fans enthusing over new series “Chernobyl,” “Game of Thrones” and “Succession,” as well as older shows such as “Sex and the City,” “The Sopranos,” “The Wire” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” HBO put out a call for viewers willing to go on camera to recommend their favorite shows. “The best recommendations come from real people,” said HBO. Continue reading New HBO Campaign Offers Recommendations by Humans

Twitter has inked a deal with Olympics rights holder NBCUniversal to show coverage of the Olympic Games in Tokyo next summer. While most of the Olympic coverage will still be exclusive to NBC’s TV networks and streaming platforms, Twitter will offer limited live event coverage, regular highlights and a daily 20-minute studio show produced from Tokyo by NBC. According to Twitter, some social platforms experience a drop in activity during major sporting events, while Twitter can commonly tout a double-digit jump in traffic as users actively tweet about what they are watching. Continue reading Twitter Signs a Deal with NBC For Live Olympic Coverage

Adware is the flavor of malware that the ordinary person is most likely to encounter on a smartphone or browser. Aimed at generating profits, adware sneaks ads into apps and browsers, with advertisers paying developers based on the number of people who load them. The smartphone is the ideal environment for this version of malware, via apps sold in Apple’s App Store or Google Play Store. Ad malware largely goes unnoticed because its main impact (besides relentlessly serving ads) is to slow down the device. Continue reading Why Adware Is the Most Intrusive Malware on Our Devices

In its push for more video content, Twitter is launching a new tool named LiveCut to replace its SnappyTV third-party live video-editing tool. LiveCut, two years in development and now integrated within content management platform Twitter Media Studio, is designed to help marketers and brands easily create video clips of live broadcasts, distribute them via Twitter, and monetize them through Twitter Amplify, the platform’s video ad product. SnappyTV, which Twitter acquired in 2014, will shut down December 31. Continue reading Twitter LiveCut Helps Publishers Create, Share Video Clips

Facebook’s Instagram began testing a new approach with users in Canada two months ago and this week expanded its efforts to include users in Australia, Brazil, Ireland, Italy, Japan and New Zealand. The experiment removes emphasis on the “Like” feature to minimize the pressure to compete, while hopefully creating a more personal and enjoyable experience. Users are still able to see who liked other people’s posts or watched their videos, but there is no longer a running tally of the number of likes and views (however, users can still privately see the counts for their own posts). Continue reading Instagram Expands Tests of Hiding Likes to Reduce Anxiety

Twitter’s desktop interface hadn’t been tweaked in seven years and its technology was woefully out of date. The company began working on a redesign of the site in 2017 and started beta-testing it in September 2018. After showing it to more users in January, Twitter finally released it widely this week. The new three-column design is faster, but other changes are subtle. According to Twitter senior director of product design Mike Kruzeniski, much of the design changes focus on “simplification.” Continue reading Twitter Releases Web Redesign That Highlights Community

President Trump convened a Social Media Summit without Facebook, Twitter, Alphabet or YouTube, which he has accused of stifling conservative voices. Instead, he invited supporters such as former White House advisor Sebastian Gorka, James O’Keefe from Project Veritas, and activist Ali Alexander. Speakers included Trump supporters Lynnette Hardaway and Rochelle Richardson, known as Diamond & Silk, who have a large Facebook following, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) and Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri). Continue reading Social Media Summit Excludes Top Social Media Platforms

Almost a year ago, two of Twitter’s top executives decided that banning all speech considered “dehumanizing” would be a solution to making its site safer. This week Twitter unveiled its official guidelines of what constitutes dehumanizing speech — and they now solely focus on religious groups, representing a retreat from some of Twitter’s first unofficial rules. The company said the narrowing of its scope is due to unexpected obstacles in defining speech for its 350 million users who speak 43-plus languages. Continue reading Twitter Guidelines Narrow Scope of Dehumanizing Speech