Social Networks

Pierluigi Paganini August 02, 2019
Facebook dismantled influence campaigns focused on Middle East and Northern Africa

Facebook announced it dismantled covert influence campaigns in some countries in the Middle East and Northern Africa, including one tied to the Saudi government. Facebook uncovered two separate influence campaigns, one originated in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, and another in Saudi Arabia. The campaigns appeared to be distinct and involved “coordinated inauthentic behavior” […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 29, 2019
Facebook deleted Russia-Linked efforts focusing on Ukraine ahead of the election

Facebook recently announced that it removed multiple pages, groups, and accounts tied to Russia involved in psyops ahead of the election in Ukraine. Facebook spotted four campaigns that appear independent, three of them associated with Russian threat actors. One of the operations involved 18 Facebook accounts, nine pages, and three groups. Threat actors attempted to […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 25, 2019
FTC fines Facebook $5B and obliges it to adopt a new privacy framework

The Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5 billion for privacy violations and is instituting new oversight and restrictions on its business. The Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5 billion for privacy violations over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The authorities are also instituting new oversight and restrictions on its business. In April 2018, Facebook revealed that […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 19, 2019
Israel surveillance firm NSO group can mine data from major social media

The Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group informed its clients that it is able to scoop user data by mining from major social media. The Financial Times reported that the Israeli surveillance firm NSO Group informed its clients that it is able to mine user data from major social media. NSO is based in Herzliya, near […]

Pierluigi Paganini July 13, 2019
FTC approves a record $5 billion settlement with Facebook over Cambridge Analytica scandal

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved a record $5 billion settlement with Facebook over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Facebook will be obliged to pay a $5 Billion fine to settle the investigation conducted by the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In April 2018, Facebook revealed that […]

Pierluigi Paganini June 28, 2019
Italian data protection watchdog fines Facebook over Cambridge Analytica scandal

The Italian data protection watchdog fined Facebook for one million euros ($1.1 million) for violating privacy laws over the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal. The Italian data protection watchdog, the DPA (“Garante per la protezione dei dati personali”), fined Facebook for one million euros ($1.1 million) for violating privacy laws over the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal. “The Italian […]

Pierluigi Paganini June 09, 2019
Facebook is going to stop Huawei pre-installing apps on mobile devices

Facebook announced it would stop Huawei from pre-installing social networking apps on its smartphones to comply with US sanctions. Facebook announced it will no longer allow pre-installation of its social networking apps on Huawei smartphones to comply with the US ban on the Chinese tech giant. “We are reviewing the Commerce Department’s final rule and […]

Pierluigi Paganini May 24, 2019
Facebook says it took down 2.19 billion accounts in Q1 2019

Social network giant Facebook revealed it recently disabled billions of accounts operated by “bad actors” and that five percent of active accounts are fake. The news is disconcerting, but sincerely not so surprising, Facebook announced it recently disabled billions of accounts operated by “bad actors” and that five percent of its active accounts are fake. […]

Pierluigi Paganini May 18, 2019
Facebook banned Archimedes Group, misinformation made in Israel

A new political misinformation campaign was uncovered and blocked by Facebook, this time it was not operated by Russia but Israel’s Archimedes Group Facebook uncovered and blocked a misinformation campaign powered by Israel’ Archimedes Group, the corporation used fake accounts to manipulated political campaigns. According to Facebook, the Archimedes Group used hundreds of pages, accounts, […]

Pierluigi Paganini May 15, 2019
Twitter inadvertently collected and shared iOS location data

Twitter confirmed revealed that a bug in its iOS app it the root cause for an inadvertent collection of location data and sharing it with a third-party. A new story of a violation of the user’s privacy made the lines, Twitter revealed that due to a bug is collected and shared iOS location data with […]