Social media giant Facebook ran into determined opposition after describing a St Augustine quote as “hate speech” and removing it from its site. Domenico Bettinelli, a pro-life activist from Massachusetts, immediately wrote a blog post about Facebook taking down the Divine Office passage. Facebook had said it took it down because it violated Facebook’s “Community Read more
NZ Privacy Commissioner John Edwards has delivered Facebook another serve as his relations with the social network remain heated. On Monday, Edwards shared an email with the Ne Zealand Herald that he sent to a number of Facebook executives on Friday. Read more
Facebook is growing in both users and regional relevance in the Pacific. Analysts and human rights groups in the region are pointing to a rise in online abuse, as Pacific communities grapple with translating their culture to the digital meeting house. Online abuse is not easily detected when local languages are used. Facebook would not Read more
Discriminatory ads will soon be a thing of the past with Facebook. Facebook said it has removed more than 5,000 ad-targeting categories to limit the ability of advertisers to exclude users based on ethnicity or religion. Until now, when an advertiser created an ad for Facebook, a tab “to exclude persons who correspond more or Read more
A ‘Say Nope to the Pope’ Facebook page is encouraging people to protest against Pope Francis’s visit to Ireland in August. The campaign aims to ensure a low turnout at planned events at the triennial World Meeting of Families. So far over 1,000 people have clicked “attending” the protest and another 4,000 say they are Read more
Technology giants Google and Facebook have suspended all advertising about Ireland’s abortion referendum. At present voters are being asked to decide whether to repeal Ireland’s constitutional ban on most abortions. Google says protecting “election integrity” is behind their decision. Advertisements on Google-owned companies AdWords and YouTube are included in the ban. Facebook says its decision Read more
A video on homophobia posted in Facebook that parodies the Eucharist and says it tastes “like cardboard” and smells “like hate” has drawn criticism from Bishop John Keenan of Paisley. He said the video posted by BBC Scotland “is ridiculing and demeaning the faith of ordinary Catholics, especially at a time when Catholics are experiencing Read more
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has apologised and said Facebook “made a mistake” in blocking a Catholic theology degree advertisement by Franciscan University of Steubenville. He said the ad had been blocked erroneously and did not violate terms of service. The ad, which featured a crucifix, was rejected over Easter on the grounds that its content Read more
Privacy: When something is free, we are the product. Mark Zuckerberg might believe the world is better without privacy. He’s wrong. It will be fantastically satisfying to see the boy genius flayed. All the politicians—ironically, in search of a viral moment—will lash Mark Zuckerberg from across the hearing room. They will corner Facebook’s founding bro, Read more
Global “titans of technology” are forcing workers into a form of slavery, says Britain’s trade union leader Frances O’Grady. Speaking to a two-day summit of Catholic and labour movement leaders at the Vatican last Friday, O’Grady said the world needs a new figure like Cardinal Manning. (Manning was influential in setting the modern-day Catholic Church Read more