The government then decided to stop the spread of false news reports on various social media routes like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Viber, and Snapchat.

However, the government did not announce the date or time when the ban will be lifted.

Moreover, it appears at a time when social media firms are striving to rein in the measure of misinformation.

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What was the reason for its ban?

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, ordered the people to hold the unverified reports and speculation about the uncertainty.

Thereby 300 people have died in a series of bombings at churches and hotels during the Sunday service, as per the reports.

All these factors resulted in an out-and-out ban on the most popular social media sites.

The government said the block would be temporary but complete in place “until investigations were settled.

Twitter seems to be unaffected by the ban- not many in Sri Lanka follow Twitter when compared to other mediums as per some experts.

The shutdown is not without a rule. Facebook was briefly blocked a year ago in Sri Lanka after it was blamed for allowing posts that incited anti-Muslim violence.

It is reasonably not surprising that the Sri Lankan government has taken such drastic measures given that the social network Facebook acknowledged in November that its service had been used to increase violence in Myanmar.

Is the ban a great idea?

Many from the public think that the ban is an inevitable response to the emerging tech firms to play safely on the spread of wrong information.
However, other sets of the group are concerned about the government taking quick action on blocking the flow of free information online worldwide. Sri Lanka’s history shows it can control the media.

Social media continues an active source for a piece of finding information and for eluding government restrictions.

Factors that affect the issue

When there is no questioning the fact that social media networks are used to mislead information, eventually, they are crucial communication platforms for people who are desperate to check about their beloved ones.

Facebook

Most people rely on our services to communicate with their loved ones.

With this, we are committed to maintaining our services and helping the community and the country during this tragic time…

Meanwhile, WhatsApp is widely used in Sri Lanka.

Moreover, platforms like Facebook are not just part of the Internet but are the Internet for many.

This means their only form of communication, to be specific when they need it most, is suddenly cut off.

Is the ban going?

A certain group of people is using virtual private networks to circumvent the ban.

As VPNs can hide someone’s location by funneling data through a server in another country.
As per Netblocks, an organization that tracks internet outages, of these – TunnelBear has also been blocked.

Dr. Claire Wardle [An academic who founded First Draft, a non-profit organization that researches misinformation]  told:

The confirmation of the influence of social media cessations in other connections points out that they don’t have the influence people demand. While there aren’t strong channels for quality information, this can backfire.

Additionally, social media can be an aid for those who attempt to connect with people.

Mr. Sajid Javid, home secretary of the UK will be taking measures to restrict the users of the UK from accessing Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter also if the social media platform fails to remove the content that is spreading terrorism, fake news, child abuse, sexual abuse will face removal from the search engines like google, bing, and Yahoo.

The UK government is taking these steps because of the terrorist attack that took place in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacker name Brenton Tarrant went live on Facebook while shooting the locals and the people inside the mosque killed almost 50 Muslims, more than 4000 people watched it before it was taken down by Facebook millions of people around the world saw it on different social media sites like Twitter and Instagram.

The suicide case of Molly Russell who was just 14 years old was found watching self-harm and depressive content on social media before ending her life, as stated by her father in 2017 has also focused minds.

Online messaging services, file-hosting sites, and streaming sites for kids like youtube kids will also have to follow the new guidelines and block content which promotes violence, sexual activities, and pornographic material.

The new laws that are yet to be unveiled will also tackle the spread of fake news on social media and interference in election campaigns.

The company said it has decided to stop the awful experience of getting suggestions to invite dead people to events, or to wish them a happy birthday.

With the current change, on profiles, tributes to a person will appear separately, keeping the deceased’s timeline as they left it.

Sheryl Sandberg [Facebook’s chief operating officer]

“We wish Facebook happens to be a place where the memory and spirit of our loved ones can be celebrated and live on”,
Some of the users have complained after being shocked and upset when Facebook pushes them to interact with a deceased loved one.

After which, from the year 2009, Facebook has given users the ability to memorialize profiles; a status which adds Remembering to the person’s name and allows friends to post messages (more than 30 million people do this every month, said Facebook).
Furthermore, once a page has been memorialized, it no longer appears within notifications as if that person were still alive. However, for profiles of deceased users that have not yet been memorialized, Facebook carefully traces the issue using AI to stop those accounts from appearing in unexpected places as well.

Legacy control

Meanwhile, Facebook also announced other tweaks to how dead people are notified or represented on the network.
The Memorialized accounts will now have a separate tributes tab for people to leave condolences and memories, a move that would leave the deceased’s timeline straightforward.

And the content posted as tributes can be managed by a person’s legacy contacts. These are other Facebook users whom they have designated as a trusted group of individuals, to take over in the event of their death.

As per Facebook,  the legacy contacts can now moderate the posts shared to the new tributes section by changing tagging settings, removing tags and editing who can post and see posts.

“This would help them manage content that might be hard for friends and family to see if they’re not ready”
In the case of under-18, they cannot nominate a legacy contract, but parents or guardians of children who have died can contact Facebook to request access.
Well, such moves have come in response to abuses of its systems, such as a prank in which users would falsely tell Facebook someone had died, locking that user out of their account, and causing friends to grieve.

Fact-checking partnerships: Platforms like Facebook often collaborate with independent fact-checking organizations to assess the accuracy of shared content. If a piece of content is flagged as misinformation by fact-checkers, its reach may be reduced, and warning labels or contextual information can be added to provide users with accurate information.

“This involves removing content that violates our policies, reducing the spread of problematic content that does not violate our policies, and informing people with additional information so they can choose what to click, read or share,” said Rosen.

The array of updates focuses on taking down groups that are spreading misinformation to the masses and misguiding the users of Facebook. So it will be hard for inappropriate content to float on Facebook.

The authorities at Facebook will scrutinize the post that is being approved by the admins and mods of the group to determine whether the rules are being violated or not. Also adding up a group quality feature that will give an overview of the group and the number of flagged, removed, and misleading content.

According to Rosen said, If false and misleading information is continuously being shared in the group, Facebook will reduce the group’s news feed share. They are also taking help from other experts outside to control the situation. Facebook has been working on this idea since 2017. “Over the last two years, we’ve focused heavily on reducing misinformation on Facebook,” Rosen said.

The tool trust indicator that is to be added to Facebook’s news feed is developed by an association of news organizations known as the Trust Project.

Facebook is also working on a verified batch for the messenger to stop impersonations. “This tool will help people avoid scammers that pretend to be high-profile people by providing a visible indicator of a verified account,” Rosen said.

The chances of the chat feature returning to the Facebook app are uncertain, as it depends on various factors and the strategic decisions made by Facebook. However, I can provide you with a brief overview of the topic in approximately 1000 words.

In the early days of Facebook, the chat feature was an integral part of the platform, allowing users to communicate with their friends and connections in real time. It provided a convenient and immediate way to exchange messages, share updates, and engage in conversations. However, over time, Facebook made significant changes to its messaging ecosystem, leading to the introduction of standalone messaging apps like Facebook Messenger.

As per Jane, the new update for the chat section would contain only basic functionalities and in order to react to the texts received and make calls, you will have to open Messenger separately.

Facebook made a strategic decision to separate its messaging functionality from the main Facebook app and introduced Messenger as a standalone application in 2011. This move was aimed at providing a more focused and streamlined experience for messaging, while also enabling Facebook to experiment with additional features and monetization options specific to messaging.

The feature is still in test mode and available to very few numbers of people as of now. So in view of the integration of Whatsapp, Instagram, and Messenger, Facebook’s new step is to return to its origin and bring a huge number of users within the app.

This decision of Facebook is beneficial for its users as they would get a choice to remove Messenger and save them a lot of storage space. But users will have to wait for a few months to get this feature available for everyone.

There’s also a hint that Facebook might roll out the new changed UI that they have been working on since January, for everyone soon.

However, it’s important to note that Facebook’s strategy and priorities can change over time. The company continuously evaluates user feedback, market trends, and competitive dynamics, which may influence its decisions regarding the chat feature. If there is a significant demand from users to reintroduce the chat feature within the Facebook app or if market conditions shift, Facebook might consider revisiting its approach.

In conclusion,

the chances of the chat feature returning to the Facebook app are uncertain. Facebook’s strategic focus has been on developing Messenger as a standalone messaging platform and integrating messaging services across its platforms. While the chat feature may have been a fundamental aspect of the early Facebook experience, the company’s current direction suggests a preference for a dedicated messaging app rather than integrating chat back into the main Facebook app. However, as with any technology company, Facebook’s decisions are subject to change based on user feedback, market trends, and competitive dynamics.

This helped Facebook to build Facebook’s web of social connection and recommend other users to add them as friends, Facebook has been doing this since May 2016 and it was unintentionally uploaded and they are now deleting the data, confirmed by A Facebook spokesperson.

Here’s the full statement of Facebook’s Spokesperson:

“Last month we stopped offering email password verification as an option for people verifying their account when signing up for Facebook for the first time. When we looked into the steps people were going through to verify their accounts we found that in some cases people’s email contacts were also unintentionally uploaded to Facebook when they created their account. We estimate that up to 1.5 million people’s email contacts may have been uploaded. These contacts were not shared with anyone and we’re deleting them. We’ve fixed the underlying issue and are notifying people whose contacts were imported. People can also review and manage the contacts they share with Facebook in their settings.”

This is once again a privacy misstep by Facebook which is getting into a data breaches scandal for the last two years, though this is still a small data breach than Cambridge Analytica during which the personal data of more than 87 million users was leaked.

The new tool by Facebook could increase the risk of potential privacy concerns and in reference to that Steve Satterfield who works as Facebook‘s Director of Privacy and Public Policy, says, “We’ve kept privacy and security as top priorities, so all data transferred will be encrypted and people will be asked to enter their password before a transfer is initiated.”

Photo Credits: The Next Web

The Data Transfer Project by Facebook is made in collaboration with big brands that include names like Apple, Microsoft, Google. Firstly they are initiating this project with Google Photos and the progress will be carried gradually and they will later focus on other companies. The project was first introduced in Ireland and now it is going to be launched worldwide. It will be launched worldwide in the first half of 2020

“It seems clear that people should be able to transfer data such as the photos they upload to a service. We’ve learned from our conversations with policymakers, regulators, academics, advocates, and others that real-world use cases and tools will help drive policy discussions forward,” he added further.

As tweeted by the Investigative reporter Campbell on Twitter: “I am putting the full leaked documents into the public domain so that regulators, litigants can have fullest possible information. Last week, I arranged for copies to go to US Congress, to help the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law.”

Photo Credit: Business Insider

However, Facebook tried to defend itself by saying that these documents have been taken out of context. In an emailed statement a spokesperson from Facebook said, “These old documents have been taken out of context by someone with an agenda against Facebook, and have been distributed publicly with a total disregard for US Law”.

The company has denied the Six4Three’s allegations by saying that, “Facebook’s Platform terms, which all developers must agree to when registering for Facebook, make clear that Facebook may update its APIs from time to time and that Facebook will provide reasonable notice (90 days) when an update might make an app or feature inoperable.” Well, let’s see how this situation turns out for Facebook and how the company copes up with the damages it made.

Current is also into financial services but for a totally different reason. It was launched in 2017 and it is designed for kids. The children can control their debit card with the help of an app. Just last year they have also introduced a regular checking account. The company noticed the uncanny resemblance in the logos and taunted Calibra on Twitter. They used the picture of both the logos in their tweet and compared them by saying, “This is what happens when you only have one crayon left”.

Photo Credit: The Verge

The logos of both companies consist of a tilde mark within a circle, but the difference arises when it comes to color. The circle of Current’s logo consists of multiple colors and the tilde mark is also segmented. While on the other hand, Calibra’s logo consists of a simple purple color. It is entirely possible that this resemblance in the logo can be an accident because the cryptocurrency of Facebook named Libra has also used the same kind of tilde marks in their logo as well.

WhatsApp is owned by Facebook and now the company is trying ways to connect both. Now the question arises how will you make use of this latest feature? Well, the process is very simple. Right where you share your story you will find three dots kind of symbol. When you tap on it a tap will open automatically and you will get various options like Forward, share, etc. In these options, you will find one option of ‘Share to Facebook’, as soon as you tap on the option it will take you to Facebook and you will just have to confirm in order to share your WhatsApp story on Instagram.

Photo Credit: Mashable India

The users of application are having interesting reviews about the launch of this latest feature. People are posting publicly about their views and it looks like they are quite impressed with it.

“So WhatsApp has a new feature, you can share your story on WhatsApp to Facebook. For me, this is quite interesting, a centralized mode of communicating to various platforms,” posted one user.

“The New #WhatsApp update allows you to share your statuses on to your #FacebookStory as well,” wrote another.