Frances Haugen’s ‘testimony tour’ of revelations about the tech company makes good copy, but will its executives listen? If you wanted a paragon of astute, thoroughly modern whistleblowing, then Frances Haugen is your woman. She is the former Facebook employee who revealed that the company knew about the harm that some of its products, especially …
Materials provided by Frances Haugen to media outlets shine light on how company apparently stumbled into 6 January As extremist supporters of Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol on 6 January, battling police and forcing lawmakers into hiding, an insurrection of a different kind was taking place inside the world’s largest social media company. Thousands …
Facebook missed weeks of warning signs over Capitol attack, documents suggest Read More »
In October 2001, the music industry was riven by piracy and had no idea how to solve it. Enter Steve Jobs, whose new device created a digital music market – and made Apple into a titan In 2001, the record business was in freefall due to digital piracy, and the best way out of this …
20 years of the iPod: how it shuffled music and tech forever Read More »
‘The poverty I saw really shocked me, but also the people I saw were happy, they were friendly, they were sharing’ The trip Hossein Fatemi made to Somalia in 2011, on assignment for an Iranian organisation, marked a turning point in his career. The New York-based photojournalist had covered many serious situations, but what he …
Reflections in Kibera slum, Nairobi, Kenya: Hossein Fatemi’s best phone picture Read More »
Anonymous former employee tells Washington Post site let illegal activity occur on platform Another Facebook whistleblower has come forward with allegations against the company, claiming it knowingly allowed hate speech and illegal activity on its platforms, according to a new report. An anonymous former Facebook employee told the Washington Post that they had submitted a …
New Facebook whistleblower says company knowingly allowed hate speech – report Read More »
Company reveals figures, including 1,800 reports in 2019, as ride-hailing companies face growing safety scrutiny The ride-hailing app Lyft received more than 4,000 reports of sexual assaults during rides from 2017 to 2019, the company revealed in a new report, including 1,800 reports in 2019 alone. Lyft revealed the numbers on Thursday, after having pledged …
Lyft recorded 4,000 reports of sexual assault within three years Read More »
Donald Trump’s plans to launch a platform are good news for Mark Zuckerberg, who’ll be busy prebutting the next damning exposé of his company By rights, these should really be what we might euphemise as Donald Trump’s “hidden years”. Though he might not have been expected to descend immediately to full late-era Howard Hughes – …
Finally, Facebook can say it’s not the most toxic social network | Marina Hyde Read More »
Home feed promotes rightwing tweets over those from the left, internal research finds Twitter has admitted it amplifies more tweets from rightwing politicians and news outlets than content from leftwing sources. The social media platform examined tweets from elected officials in seven countries – the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and Japan. It also …
Twitter admits bias in algorithm for rightwing politicians and news outlets Read More »
Danny Robins returns to examine listeners’ freaky real-life tales. Plus: Radiolab pays homage to the cassette tape, and Home/Front tells the story of an unusual anti-war activist Uncanny “Are you Team Believer or Team Sceptic?” asks Danny Robins of The Battersea Poltergeist fame, as he launches his 15-part podcast about supernatural encounters. After appealing to …
23 October 1871: Babbage’s calculating machines are seen as the forerunners of modern programmable computers The death is announced of Mr Charles Babbage, who has long held high rank among the mathematicians of the day. He was born on 26 December 1792, and having been privately educated, proceeded to Trinity College, Cambridge where he took …
The death of Charles Babbage, mathematician and inventor – archive, 23 October 1871 Read More »
