Just like much of the content on the internet, fake news is funded largely by advertising.  Therefore, this week Facebook announced that pages that share “fake news,” or false stories masquerading as truth, will no longer be allowed to advertise on its platform.  The goal is straightforward:  to punish pages that link to stories that are marked as “false” by third-party fact-checkers from making money. 

Suicide is ranked as the third leading cause of death among people ages 10 to 14 and second among people ages 15 to 24 according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.  Obviously, suicide and depression are a serious problem facing society. People who are contemplating suicide often feel helpless and reach out, but hearing and acting on cries for help doesn’t always happen in time. Tragically, many people who have struggled with depression and/or suicidal thoughts have used social media to post notes about their intentions to take their own lives or even live stream their suicides. In response, Facebook announced a few months ago that it would be taking more initiative in using its platform for social good.  One of Facebook’s tools to aide with suicide prevention is artificial intelligence. Facebook has developed algorithms that recognize patterns in user’s posts to flag them in case they are at risk of committing suicide.  Critics hav ...

In a Washington Post Travel section story Sunday, the writer visiting Great Barrington, Mass., chose a restaurant by looking on TripAdvisor. At least weekly, someone in my Facebook network asks what to do and see in a place they're visiting. I have friends that look at Yelp for everything, from what vet to use to what road to take.

Last week, Google issued an important blog post about their Accelerated Mobile Pages Project (AMP for short). It comes at a time when Facebook also just issued an announcement that on April 12, Instant Articles will be more accessible for "all publishers—of any size, anywhere in the world."  

It has been about three months since Facebook's Instant Articles became a new platform for publishers to reach readers—first only those with iPhones but now Android users as well. There is a guide on Facebook on how to publish there—the easiest way to distribute Instant Articles is through a secure RSS feed. (Facebook is an SIIA member.)

On Monday, several of the largest and most popular IT service providers called for Global Government Surveillance Reform.  In a joint letter, AoL, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo called on the world’s governments to address the practices and laws regulating government surveillance of individuals and access to their information.