StrangeSights: 90,000 rubber ducks; pet comedy awards; and, billionaires to duke it out?…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Updated: Facebook ‘refriends’ Australia after changes to media laws
Updated 9pm (AEDT)Canberra, AustraliaReuters Facebook will restore Australian news pages after Canberra offered amendments to a proposed law designed to force tech giants to pay for media content displayed on their platforms, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Tuesday. Australia and the social media group have been locked in a standoff for more than a week […]
Undeterred by Facebook news blackout, Australia commits to content law
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison vowed on Friday to press ahead with laws to force Facebook Inc to pay news outlets for content, saying he had received support from world leaders after the social media giant blacked out all media. Facebook stripped the pages of domestic and foreign news outlets for Australians and […]
Facebook’s US election plan patches some holes, creates others
San Francisco, USReuters Facebook Inc’s final policy changes in the lead-up to US elections in November are unlikely to stem a flood of disinformation around the vote, which could suppress turnout and sow confusion about results, election experts said on Friday. Restrictions on paid messaging were a net positive, experts said, but warned such moves […]
Twitter bans political ads; Facebook’s Zuckerberg defends them
New York City, USReuters Twitter Inc will ban political advertising on its platform next month, the company’s chief executive said on Wednesday, a move that won praise from Democrats and scorn from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. “We’ve made the decision to stop all political advertising on Twitter globally,” said Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in a […]
ESSAY: FACEBOOK’S LIBRA REQUIRES TOO MUCH TRUST
MAL FLETCHER looks at Facebook’s proposed new cryptocurrency, Libra…
TECHNOLOGY: AS FACEBOOK REELS, SILICON VALLEY DABBLES IN ETHICS
JACK JENKINS, of Religion News Service, looks at how the tech industry is grappling with the issue of ethics…
ROBOTS: AS ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE GROWS, SO DO PERCEIVED THREATS TO HUMAN UNIQUENESS
ROSALIE CHEN, of Religion News Service, reports that the Elon Musk-Mark Zuckerberg tussle over artificial intelligence reflects broader questions about the centrality of God-given humanity…
ESSAY: CAN FACEBOOK REPLACE CHURCH?
Writing from the US, ANDREA SYVERSON, author of the upcoming book Alter Girl: Walking Away From Religion Into The Heart of Faith, says Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has recognised the “desperate yearning for community” among people – including those walking away from the church…
How Facebook is like church, according to founder Mark Zuckerberg
RNS Its members gather to comfort and encourage one another. They check in on the sick and struggling. They wish each other a happy birthday. But it’s not church. It’s Facebook. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last week in Chicago at the first Facebook Communities Summit that the two are similar in the way they […]