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Facebook to Release Dark Mode For Desktop Version

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Facebook has been in the news for a plethora of reasons in the last few weeks. What started as a reaction to claims of promoting hate speech, has now become news regarding a technology update. The social media platform has been receiving flak for its policies, advertisements, and views on freedom of speech. However, bucking the usual trend, the company has released a statement regarding a new update for the app. Here’s a look at what Facebook has been up to in the last few months.

Facebook Goes Dark

Facebook recently launched a dark mode version of its desktop application. The company also stated that it is working on a similar dark mode version for its mobile application. The testing for the same is underway, and the tech giant expects the update to be out soon. As reported by the SocialMedia Today, as of now, the dark mode capability has been opened to only very few users. Since the update is still in testing, the company is exposing few people to it, and adapting the interface as per their feedback. While the desktop-dark-mode came out last month, the mobile version does not have a timeline attached to it yet. The update came to help people cut down on glare, and help them view the website in low-light environments. 

Dark Mode
Image Source: DailyExpress

Slow to The Starting Line

However, fans were surprised that the tech giant took this long to come out with such an update. All of Facebook’s contemporaries have already come out with their versions much earlier. Notably, their own subsidiaries, Instagram and Whatsapp, went dark months ago, followed by the Facebook Messenger. Meanwhile, Facebook’s biggest adversary, Twitter has had a Night Version for both Android and iOS for quite some time. Google seemed to be the last to enter the arena, coming out with their dark mode, earlier this year. These updates, which allow users to change all background colors to black, have become quite popular with users. This setting makes things more comfortable for the eyes, is aesthetically pleasing, and consumes less power, allowing the battery to last longer. 

Difficult Times Ahead

However, as per photos put up by users with access to the feature, Facebook’s Dark Mode will not be pitch black. Instead, the functionality will have a grayscale design that uses white accents for icons and logos. Furthermore, along with introducing the Dark mode, Facebook also revamped its website design. The new navigation makes it easier to find videos and Groups, and help in faster page transitions. However, these updates come during troubling times for the technology giant. Over the past week, several major advertisement companies have stated they will not be working with Facebook any longer. This could lead to the company losing out on millions in the form of advertising revenue for the Zuckerberg-led company.

Mark Zuckerberg

Early Facebook Employees Slam the Company On Its Stance On Inflammatory Posts

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Facebook recently sent shockwaves by refusing to take action against inflammatory posts put up by President Trump. As the US continues to burn following the shameful murder of a black man by a police officer, the government has taken a very strong-handed tactic. While other social media platforms have cornered and called out Trump for his callous statements, Facebook has remained mum. Trump’s tweet, which stated, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” was met with rage from almost everyone. After a walk-out protest by existing employees, Facebook now comes under fire from old employees. Read on to find out more about what happened, and how it can affect the company’s policy guidelines.

Employees Slam Facebook

The pressure seems to be mounting from all sides on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. His refusal to take stringent action against inflammatory posts put up by President Donald Trump has been met with much criticism. The latest backlash came from 33 previous early-stage employees, including those who drafted the company’s original community guidelines. Their open letter was published by The New York Times, as the group slammed Facebook for its current stance.

Call For Action

Several arguments that the letter makes have been made before by various fringe groups, media houses, and activists. However, the letter is a strong case against Zuckerberg’s stand on the issue. The group argues that Facebook’s position concerning moderating the President is inconsistent. The letter also calls out the company for exposing the dangers of free speech, while also having a double-standard when it comes to freedom of speech. 

Zuckerberg has stated that the company will not be an “arbiter of truth” and that this stand comes after many conversations, introspection, and research. While he reprimands the President for his racist language, he stated that the post does not serve as a “dog whistle for vigilantes.” However, after mounting dissent from both employees and the online community, he has promised to re-examine company policy regarding posts that mention the use of force.

Zuckerberg’s Stance

However, the authors of the letter argue that President Trump’s post threatens violence and sends a signal to take cues from him. As we now live in the age of live-streaming atrocities like mass shootings, they believe that Facebook should take a better stand on the issue. Trump’s post has a history stemmed in racism and targets people who are easily persuaded. The group believes Facebook should not allow his words to have such a far-reaching influence, which could prove fatal and dangerous.

Demands in the Letter

The letter also asks the company’s leadership to reconsider their policies and fact-check politicians. They also believe that like Twitter, Facebook, too, should start explicitly labeling posts that violate their policies on political speech. The group consists of people who had drafted Facebook’s first Community Standards and helped create its connection to free speech. The authors state that the Facebook they joined and worked for tried to empower and protect people. It aimed to allow freedom of expression, up to an extent where it did not explicitly harm anyone. While there were disagreements, all the employees agreed that keeping people safe was the most important thing. However, the letter states that they fear those guidelines have now changed. 

Though they no longer work at Facebook, they remain proud of what they built together and feel sad not being able to recognize it anymore. The group also believes that they have a responsibility to raise their voice, as they helped build the company, and gave it the power it enjoys now. As it checks the speech of non-politicians, the group believes that this brings out a double-standard in the company. The letter blasts the company for not taking a noble stand against hate speech and for freedom. The group even calls the company’s stand “cowardly” for it should hold the opinions of politicians to a higher standard than the ordinary people.

It will be interesting to see how the company retaliates. For now, Facebook and its CEO have remained mum and have not commented on this letter. With pressure mounting, Facebook might have to rethink its policies and adopt something that is more acceptable to the public.

mark zuckerberg

Even after the virtual walkout, Zuckerberg adheres to defending Trump saying Facebook gives voice to people

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The recent brutal death of the African American George Floyd on the hands of a police officer has caused civil unrest in the U.S. Every citizen of the nation and other parts of the world has raised voice against the concrete racism that seems to continue even in the 21st century. The situation was triggered after Donald Trump’s inflammatory comment and tweets saying, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”. The city is burning with the rage of seeking vengeance and in the meantime, Facebook got caught in the situation. While the tweets of Trump was marked misleading by Twitter, Facebook chose to defend the president. This brought a lot of criticism and also internal instability questioning the principles of Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook VS Twitter

Media and press have raised a lot of questions on how Facebook and Twitter handled the comments and tweets of Donald Trump. While Twitter decided to label Trump’s tweet, Facebook wants to keep a wide view on political grounds. Many people raised questions about Zuckerberg’s integrity and defending the president. But, Zuckerberg said that both Facebook and Twitter have similar regulations regarding election misinformation.

According to Zuckerberg, the political posts and comments are one of the most sensitive topics on social media platforms. And, the company scrutinizes every post related to the matter. But, this time Facebook decided to not take such action as it is important for people to be aware of what their president says. He lastly said that, while Twitter has always been messy, Facebook is trying to maintain a balance and give voice to as many people as possible.

Zuckerberg’s defending ground

Facebook’s decision to not label or remove the misleading information about the election has also upset the employees. Apart from being criticized by the external sources, many employees of Facebook protested against the company’s policies. Several Facebook employees chose to conduct a virtual walkout and two of them already resigned from the company.

In response to all the internal disputes, Zuckerberg conducted an extended conference with his employees. He said that Trump’s posts have upset him as well and it was difficult to take a decision of not removing it. Keeping aside the personal opinion, Facebook CEO said it was the right thing to do. He further said that though Trump’s posts were upsetting, they are valuable to the people of the country.

Facebook has always tried to give voice and free expression to as many people as possible. But, many people still believe that this is a desperate move to avoid the rage of Trump. Regarding the voter misinformation, Zuckerberg said that it will be the top priority for the next few months and it might launch a “voter hub” as well.

What if the unrest continues?

Though the political posts are the ones that undergo several cross-examinations, policies might change it the dispute continues. Mark Zuckerberg said that if the nation of U.S. witnesses prolonged civil unrest, the company will make some changes to its policy thus labeling similar kinds of posts. Stricter rules will be applied to any information that can cause or promote violence. But, these regulations might not be applied for every nation because Facebook handles the nations with ongoing conflicts differently.

Facebook’s controversial policies and harmful polarization

In response to the regulation of its policy regarding political affairs, Facebook addressed and criticized an article from The Wall Street Journal. The article suggested that Facebook is ignoring its own research algorithm about harmful polarization. Facebook was accused of contributing to any kind of polarization which has a tremendous negative impact on our society.

In response to this, a Facebook spokesperson said that the company is trying its best to limit the post of any harmful content. Since 2016, the company has applied strict rules and strengthened its policy. So, this kind of remarks that can harm the reputation of the platform can be strongly disagreeable. Moreover, the company has donated $2 million in funding to support independent research ideas on polarization.

Conclusion

With the degree of unrest increasing among U.S citizens, Facebook is likely to receive more criticism, both internal and external. Though Mark Zuckerberg has assured that the platform has an overall positive impact on the world, it might have to bend some rules when the time comes.

Donald Trump

Facebook Employees Protest Over Company’s Handling of Trump’s Inflammatory Posts

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The U.S. has been set ablaze by protests concerning the brutal killing of African American George Floyd. The country has been burning due to these protests for almost a week now, and several celebrities and companies have come out in support of the movement. The protests stand in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter campaign, calling for more action against systemic racism. Amidst all this, President Trump has been admonished for posting inflammatory tweets and comments. AS per a New York Times report, dozens of Facebook employees are protesting to challenge the company’s response to these posts by the President. Read on to know more about what’s happening and why it is important.

People Against Trump

Several Facebook employees decided to do a virtual walkout to show their disagreement with how the company is handling Trump’s posts. These employees asked for time-offs and even signed out with out-of-office responses to work emails as a sign of protest. They also notified senders that they were protesting against the company’s stand toward the President’s posts. Facebook acknowledged the walkout and said that it will not ask employees to apply their paid time off.

Trump’s Inflammatory Posts

The issue began to build when after last week’s killing of an unarmed black man, Floyd, Trump stated, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” He posted the same on both Twitter and Facebook, through his official handles. The statement has a very racially prominent history, as in the 1960s, it was used by white policemen during the civil unrest in Miami. The President later stated that he did not know about the history of the phrase. Twitter was quick in reporting the tweet by stating that it went against the platform’s guidelines. As the tweet glorified violence, it was tagged as being offensive and then reported.

Donald Trump
Image Source – Techcrunch.com

Facebook’s Stand

Unlike Twitter, however, Facebook took a different stand by doing nothing! CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that their policy allowed discussion regarding the use of force. He went on to state that the situation calls for a questioning of the limits of such discussions. He justified not taking action against the Donald J. Trump post by stating that people had to know that the government would use force. Just last week, the White House announced that it would try to punish social media platforms for curtailing the right to freedom of expression. This came as a direct result of Twitter fact-checking the President’s tweets. Soon after, Zuckerberg contrasted and compared the policies of Twitter and Facebook. On a Fox News interview, Zuckerberg spoke out against platforms that acted as the “arbiter of truth” for things individuals said online.

Trump
Image Source – Techcrunch.com

Further Moves

Employees have also created and shared petitions that request Facebook to add more diversity to their positions. Some have even gone far enough to threaten the CEO with their resignation unless he rethinks his stance. A handful even spoke out against Facebook on Twitter, including Head of Portal Design Andrew Crow. He stated that allowing the platform to incite violence is unacceptable, whoever the individual who posts is. Surprisingly, the company has permitted internal unrest to spew into the open, something that has rarely happened in the past. While other tech platforms have faced the ire of employees for their political opinions, Facebook seemed to keep grievances within their walls. However, with this move, the company has alienated even top brass, such as Director of Product Management, Jason Toff. He, too, took to Twitter to say that he was “not proud” of how the company was behaving. An Instagram employee, Katie Zhu, said that she was “ashamed” at how the company is acting. 

Zuckerberg responded by declaring that the company would donate $10 million for fighting racial injustice in the U.S. The post regarding the same said that the company allowed employees to show their dissent. It also claimed that Facebook would always seek their feedback and try to grow in the process. It will be interesting to see whether the company now rethink their stands and make amends, or continue with the same principles.

Facebook Profile

Facebook Private Profile Viewer Software

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Everyone has these days Facebook private profile and people always seem busy on the messenger to update their profile like they are making money out of it. Yeah, it sounds funny, but it really seems quite confusing that what makes users spend all day long on the Facebook instant messaging app.

Facebook

On the other hand, the young generation that has opened their eyes in the presence of modern technology they are the ones who are obsessed with the use of Facebook and their exciting features for the sake of communication with the friend’s online, family members and with the people they don’t know in their real –life.

Young kids and teens make photos and cover photos and even share their photos in terms of selfies to get appreciation from their online Facebook community. They also share videos on the social messaging app and further do many other activates in the name of socializing that really make a concern to the parents to the fullest.

Also Read: Mark Zuckerberg: The Founder & CEO of World’s Biggest Social Network

Facebook could be dangerous for teens

Using Facebook is not the bad thing at all, but when it comes to using the messenger for negative purposes really put teens into real trouble. The use of state of the art tools of the social messaging app Facebook would be vulnerable for the safety of the teens.

Young kids and teens mostly share their compromised videos and photos on the Facebook profile and when this shared multimedia went viral, then a number of online monsters try to approach them online.

Young kids and teens send and receive text messages, chat conversations, audio and video calls, shared media as photos and videos, and Facebook Voice messages.

Also Read: Randall L. Stephenson – A Dazzling Star In The World Of Telecommunication

 Moreover, cyber predators such as stalkers, and sexual predators pretend as they want to be their lovers or friends and then ask them for real-life meetings. So, young kids and teens often rapped online and reportedly been raped and molested.

However, cyberbullying factor is one of the most threatening and teens number of times bullied online and got depression and anxiety. Furthermore, young teens are also getting involved willingly into sexting, blind dates, and become obsessed with the social media app.

That’s why parents have to realize what they should do to monitor the Facebook profile to the fullest to get to know what kids and teens are doing on the messenger and to whom they are having conversations and what sort of social media app privacy options they have used. So, they can use Facebook private profile viewer in terms of Facebook spy app. Therefore, Parents have to get services of a cell phone monitoring apps to spy on the Facebook instant messaging app.

Installation of app on smartphones

You just need to subscribe for the phone spy software and you will receive an email that gives you the credentials. Then you just need to get physical access to the target device and then install the cell phone spy app and when you have done it successfully then activate it on the target device.

Moreover, you just need to use the credentials and get access to the online control panel of the mobile phone spy app and then visit the Facebook spy app features that will give you complete access to monitoring tools to view the complete profile and activities of teens on Facebook with a complete time stamp.

IM’s social media

You can monitor and view Facebook instant messenger logs such as text messages, chat conversations, audio, and video conversations, shared media files such as photos and videos, and last but not least Facebook Voice calls.

Live Facebook screen recording

You can do the live screen recording of the target cell phone screen when the messenger is being used by the target person and you can make short videos that you can view by getting access to the online control panel and get to know the details.

Also Read: Eric S. Yuan : CEO & Founder of Zoom Video Communications, ‘A Service That Connects People’

Keylogger

You can view Keystrokes applied to the target device such as password keystrokes, messenger keystrokes, messages keystrokes and others. Once you have got it you can get access to the target Facebook account on the target phone and can view the information on the Facebook profile.

Conclusion:

The Facebook private profile can be viewed via android spy software and you can use it as a Facebook private profile viewer, and get to know the activities.

giphy

Facebook to Acquire GIF-giant Giphy in A Major Tech Buy-Out

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There have not been major acquisitions in the tech space in recent times due to the impact of the COVID-19. However, that seems to be changing, with a significant announcement coming from Facebook yesterday. Facebook has decided to acquire the GIF-giant Giphy in a bid to control the GIF industry. Here’s a look at what the acquisition will mean for Facebook and its competitors.

Facebook Buys Giphy

Facebook’s acquisition of Giphy can change the way we send and receive GIFs forever. Studies have shown that over 700 million people use Giphy to send and receive short video content daily. Most of this happens over popular social media apps such as Twitter, TikTok, WhatsApp, and iMessage. All these applications make use of Giphy’s API to send others GIFs and other such content. An issue will arise because of these companies will not want to integrate with a Facebook platform. Since Facebook has had notorious privacy issues, they would prefer not to utilise Facebook-owned platforms for their content. Also, Facebook’s reliability has taken a big hit due to frequent bugs, crashes, and upgrade issues. 

Moving Forward

However, Facebook has made it clear that developers will be able to utilise Giphy even after the acquisition. Instagram VP for product, Vishal Shah remarked that users will still be able to use Giphy to send and receive content. Further, Giphy’s in-house team will also continue to create and upload new GIFs. Furthermore, the GIFs do not contain any cookies or tracking mechanisms, meaning people do not have to worry about privacy. Giphy has also confirmed that the app can view only search terms, and not any of the data stored on your phone. However, many experts worry that after the acquisition, Facebook can change how the company works. Therefore, a lot of applications that now use Giphy could drop the service after the big buy-out. 

Major Applications Which Use Giphy

Here’s a look at some of the world’s most popular apps that make use of Giphy. 

iMessage: The #images application, which is pre-built into the iOS, allows users to send GIFs via the iMessage. However, the integration with Facebook could lead to some tension between Apple and the social media giant. Apple has strong privacy norms, which they will not like to dilute, which can lead to them stopping their collaboration with the GIF company. 

MailChimp: MailChimp, which is one of the world’s most used email marketing, and mailing list software, allows users to add GIFs into emails. Reports state that the company will continue offering this service, even after the buy-out. This does not come as a surprise as the company already had some Facebook integration built into their software.

Signal: Signal sources a lot of their GIFs from Giphy, and also allows users to add GIFs to their messages. Since it is a privacy-focused messaging application that provides end-to-end encryption, we are unsure whether they will continue this service post-acquisition. Even if they do, due to their high-security measures, Facebook might not be able to access any data. 

Slack: Slack also allowed users to add GIFs into their messages and chats while using the messaging app. Their VP, Brian Elliot, released a statement that Giphy had information only about GIF searches, and hence, privacy would not become a pressing concern. 

Snapchat: Snapchat added a Giphy integration in 2018, and has not yet decided whether it will continue to allow the union to function. 

Telegram: Telegram, coupled with Giphy to allow users to add GIFs to their messages. The application also confirmed that Giphy receives no information regarding the users who utilise Telegram. Therefore, they were not concerned with privacy issues. However, they are in plans to transition away from their dependence on Giphy. 

TikTok and Tinder: TikTok allows you to send GIFs and stickers through Giphy. However, they have not released any comment regarding the future of this partnership after the acquisition. Tinder, too, has refused to comment on the issue. However, since both these apps allow users to log in using their Facebook account, in most likelihood, the union will continue. 

Twitter: Twitter makes use of both Tenor and Giphy to source their GIFs. Since Twitter and Facebook have a running feud, it is highly likely that the company will now depend entirely on Tenor for their GIFs. 

The deal is reportedly said to cost somewhere around $400 million, and once in place can have a lot of implications to the way we send and receive GIFs. We will have, however, have to wait and see how the deal plays through, and how these companies react to the acquisition.