Month: October 2021

Much of the blame for the world’s increasingly polarised politics lies with social networks and the radicalising effects of their services, the whistleblower Frances Haugen told MPs as she called for external regulation to reduce social harm. The company’s internal culture prioritised profitability over its impact on the wider world, said Haugen, a former product manager on …

Facebook ‘unquestionably’ exacerbating hate, whistleblower tells MPs – video Read More »

The company reported a 6% increase of daily active users and a revenue that grew to $29.01bn thanks to online advertising Facebook’s profits topped $9bn during its most recent financial quarter, clearing investor predictions even as the company faces an onslaught of negative publicity over a major release of whistleblower documents. The company revealed in …

Facebook profits top $9bn despite facing recent whistleblower revelations Read More »

Roundup of what we have learned after release of papers and whistleblower’s testimony to MPs Facebook has been at the centre of a wave of damaging revelations after a whistleblower released tens of thousands of internal documents and testified about the company’s inner workings to US senators. Frances Haugen left Facebook in May with a …

Facebook revelations: what is in cache of internal documents? Read More »

Ex-employee tells UK MPs Mark Zuckerberg ‘has unilateral control over 3bn people’ due to his position Mark Zuckerberg “has unilateral control over 3 billion people” due to his unassailable position at the top of Facebook, the whistleblower Frances Haugen told MPs as she called for urgent external regulation to rein in the tech company’s management …

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen calls for urgent external regulation Read More »

My father, John Owen, who has died aged 90, was among the electrical engineers who developed the electron microscope and later became a British and international standards officer. John was born in Liverpool and grew up in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, the son of Ethel (nee Grain), a teacher, and John Owen, a tailor’s cutter …

John Owen obituary Read More »

Threatening online messages to politicians should be taken seriously – but this move is misguided The aftermath of the horrific killing of Conservative MP David Amess should have been a moment for politicians and the public to unite in an effort to protect democracy. Instead, the discussion has been derailed by a push to ban …

Banning anonymous social media accounts would only stifle free speech and democracy | Owen Jones Read More »

Jeremy Fleming says ransomware is proliferating as it is ‘largely uncontested’ and highly profitable The head of the UK spy agency GCHQ has disclosed that the number of ransomware attacks on British institutions has doubled in the past year. Jeremy Fleming, the director of GCHQ, said locking files and data on a user’s computer and …

Ransomware attacks in UK have doubled in a year, says GCHQ boss Read More »

Envision’s Sunderland plant produces batteries for the Nissan Leaf and other electric vehicles The Chinese owner of the UK’s only large-scale battery factory has revealed plans for a big expansion that will put the plant in Sunderland among the biggest electric vehicle facilities in Europe. Envision said annual capacity at the plant would eventually rise …

UK battery ‘gigafactory’ plans huge expansion as electric car demand soars Read More »

Papers reveal struggle to tackle hate speech and reluctance to censor rightwing US news organisations Facebook has admitted that core parts of its platform appear hardwired for spreading misinformation and divisive content, according to a fresh wave of internal documents that showed the social media company struggled to contain hate speech in the developing world …

Facebook admits site appears hardwired for misinformation, memo reveals Read More »

US company sold 24,600 of the vehicles in September to outperform Renault’s Clio and Volkswagen’s Golf UK battery ‘gigafactory’ plans huge expansion as EV demand soars The Tesla Model 3 was the bestselling car across Europe in September, the first time a battery electric vehicle has topped the monthly sales charts in the region. Tesla …

Tesla Model 3 is first battery electric car to top Europe’s monthly sales chart Read More »