Twitter’s Abuse Outsourcing and Other Social Media Updates

A review of social media news this week - Twitter trying to end abuse, Facebook caught up with issues.

Social Media has a lot going on today. And, as your tech news reporters, we bring you the best of social media today.

Twitter Hiring Experts to Counter Abuse

Abuse on social networks is not a new thing. Technology brings with it power to do more bad than good. This is the reason people use social networks for purposes other than, well, socializing.

To counter this, Twitter is going to hire experts and organizations from all parts of the country. The company also asks users to help fight bad behavior on the microblogging platform with the launch of this coalition on Safer Internet Day.

"With hundreds of millions of Tweets sent per day, the volume of content on Twitter is massive, which makes it extraordinarily complex to strike the right balance between fighting abuse and speaking truth to power. It requires a multi-layered approach where each of our 320 million users has a part to play, as do the community of experts working for safety and free expression,” says Patricia Cartes, Head of Global Policy Outreach for Twitter.

“We are taking a global and inclusive approach so that we can hear a diversity of voices. We are thrilled to work with these organizations to ensure that we are enabling everyone, everywhere to express themselves with confidence on Twitter,” Cartes adds.

The experts and organizations to join the initiative will work together to shape the company’s future products and policies in a bid to cut down on abuse and increase user growth & engagement. The company has named the coalition ‘Twitter Trust and Safely Council’, and will have more than 40 entities of experts, researchers, organizations and safety experts from 13 different regions.

Some prominent names include EU Kids Online, Anti-Bullying Pro, Family Online Safety Institute, National Domestic Violence Hotline, Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Anti-Defamation League.

France Asks Facebook to Stop Tracking Users and Sending Data to the U.S.

Apparently, Facebook is breaching privacy laws in the eyes of the European Union. The French Data Protection Authority, CNIL, has told Facebook to stop user activity tracking without consent, and to stop transferring certain types of personal data to the United States.

CNIL asserts that Facebook doesn’t warn users before placing a cookie in their browser to track their activity, even when visiting a Facebook page without signing up for an account. They also stated that Facebook collects personal information like political, religious and sexual preference information. In Europe, all websites are required to state that a cookie will be placed in the browser to track user activity.

Facebook is given a period of 3 months to make the changes in accordance with the notice, or be fined heavily.

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