Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label Cambridge Analytica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cambridge Analytica. Show all posts

Friday, September 21, 2018

Facebook dating service rolling out in Colombia


by Renee Celeste and Biodun Iginla, France24 Technology reporters, BOGOTA 


    © AFP/File | Facebook is test-driving a dating service in Colombia

    BOGOTA  - 
    Facebook said Friday a dating service it teased early this year is being rolled out in Colombia.
    The social media giant chose the Latin American country as its test lab because Colombians are particularly avid fans of using social networks and websites to find partners.
    The new feature, rolled out in Colombia this week, allows users to create a separate "dating" profile not visible to their network of friends, with potential matches recommended based on preferences and common interests.
    The service is programmed not to link up people who are already connected as family or friends, and users of Facebook Dating will also be able to block people if they wish.
    A basic chat service will be available, and the site will bar strangers from sending photos, videos or links.
    Some 21 million people log in to Facebook every day in Colombia, a country of 50 million people, according to the company.
    "We view this as an incredible opportunity to continue helping people build relationships in meaningful ways on Facebook," said Facebook Dating product manager Nathan Sharp.
    Facebook's chief Mark Zuckerberg in May announced plans for the new dating feature at the world's leading online social network -- while vowing to make privacy protection its top priority in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
    Zuckerberg was emphatic that the focus would be on helping people find partners, not flings.
    "This is going to be for building real, long-term relationships, not just hookups," Zuckerberg said in presenting the new feature.
    He said the dating offer was built with privacy and safety in mind.
    Facebook faced intense global scrutiny over the mass harvesting of personal data by Cambridge Analytica, a British political consultancy that worked for Donald Trump's 2016 election campaign.
    The company has admitted up to 87 million users may have had their data hijacked in the scandal.

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    Thursday, July 26, 2018

    Analysis: Zuckerberg loses $16 billion in record Facebook fall

    July 26, 2018  18H:32  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME
    Facebook Inc Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg’s fortune took an almost $16 billion hit on Thursday, as the social media giant headed for the biggest one-day wipeout in U.S. stock market history, a day after executives forecast years of lower profit margins.
    At least 16 brokerages cut their price targets on Facebook after managers said the cost of improving privacy safeguards, as well as slowing usage in the biggest advertising markets, would hit the company’s profit margins for more than two years.
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    Facebook shares were down as much as 19.6 percent at $174.78 in early trading, a decline that would wipe about $124 billion off the company’s value - or nearly four times the entire market capitalization of Twitter Inc.
    Facebook’s second-quarter results were the first sign that a new European privacy law and a string of privacy scandals involving Cambridge Analytica and other app developers are hitting the company’s business.
    Facebook also warned that the toll would not be offset by revenue growth from emerging markets and the company’s Instagram app, which has been less affected by privacy concerns.
    The logo of Facebook is pictured during the Viva Tech start-up and technology summit in Paris, France, May 25, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
    Describing the announcements as “bombshells”, Baird analysts said the issues were to a large degree “self-inflicted” as Facebook sacrifices its core app monetization to drive usage.
    Of 47 analysts covering Facebook, 43 rate the stock as “buy”, two rate it “hold” and two rate it “sell”. Their median target price is $219.30.
    MoffettNathanson analysts called the company’s forecast “either the new economic reality of their business model or a very public act of self-immolation to stave off further regulatory pressure”.
    The $15.8 billion in net worth that Zuckerberg stands to lose in the move is equal to the wealth of the world’s 81st-richest person, currently Japanese businessman Takemitsu Takizaki, according to Forbes real time data.
    Some analysts said Facebook’s issues would not be easily resolved.
    “Unlike Netflix, whose quarterly shortfall we saw as temporary, here we see an evolution of the story, albeit a portion of which we expected,” said Daniel Salmon, analyst at BMO Capital Markets.
    FILE PHOTO: Facebook's founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg reacts as he speaks at the Viva Tech start-up and technology summit in Paris, France, May 24, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
    Others, however, saw a silver lining in Facebook’s emphasis on more engaging content and its promotion of stories on its News Feed, which would support revenue over the longer term.
    "Bears win this quarter ... but not the war," said Brent Thill, an analyst with Jefferies.(Click tmsnrt.rs/2JV9APu for a graphic on Facebook's slowing revenue growth)
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    Sunday, May 6, 2018

    Facebook privacy: Survey suggests continuing US loyalty


    • 06H:32  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME  7 May 2018
    Stock image of a woman with a smart phone showing the Facebook appImage copyrightGETTY IMAGES
    by Tamara Kachelmeier and Biodun Iginla, BBC News Technology reporters, San Francisco
    Most Facebook users in the US remain loyal, despite the recent data sharing scandal involving a political consultancy firm, a poll suggests.
    Facebook admitted last month that the data of 87 million users had been improperly shared with the UK-based firm, Cambridge Analytica.
    The Reuters/Ipsos survey found no clear loss or gain in use since then.
    A quarter of Facebook users said they used it less or had left it but another quarter said they used it even more.
    The remaining half said their use of the network had not changed.
    However, the survey was limited to the US and analysts are waiting to see how the social media giant's sales perform in the second quarter, when the scandal was at its height.
    In the first quarter, its sales rose by nearly 50%, with profits reaching $4.9bn (£3.6bn) compared to $3bn last year.
    Conducted online, the Reuters/Ipsos survey questioned 2,194 American adultsbetween 26 and 30 April. The poll has a margin of error of three percentage points.
    How was Facebook users' data misused?
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    Some 64% percent said they used Facebook at least once a day, down slightly from the 68% recorded in a similar poll in late March, soon after the Cambridge Analytica story broke.
    Asked if they were aware of their current privacy settings, 74% of Facebook users said they were, and 78% said they knew how to change them. Among Twitter users, this was 55% and 58%, while for Instagram users, it was 60% and 65%.
    Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, told Reuters that Facebook had been lucky the data was apparently used only for political adverts and not anything more sinister.
    "I have yet to read an article that says a single person has been harmed by the breach," he said.
    There was no immediate comment from Facebook, which apologised for the data scandal and acted to rein in third-party apps using its data.
    Accused of using Facebook users' personal data to sway the outcome of the US 2016 presidential election and the UK Brexit referendum, Cambridge Analytica announced this week it was closing down
    Facebook said its own investigation into the company's use of its data would continue.

    More on this story

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