KATHMANDU:  Facebook on Monday deleted as many as 687 Facebook pages and accounts of main opposition Indian National Congress (Congress I) of India.

With the general election just around the corner, social networking giant deleted accounts saying that the the party violated cyber law.

Facebook said it deleted  Facebook accounts of Congress I for insulting the rival party leaders by creating fake accounts and disseminating misleading information.

India is holding general elections from April 11 to 19.

NEW DELHI:  Facebook Inc has removed 687 pages and accounts linked to India’s Congress party. The pages have been removed citing “coordinated inauthentic behavior” on the social media platform.

The announcement marks a rare action from Facebook against a prominent political party in a country where it has more than 300 million users, the highest in the world.

Facebook said its investigation found that individuals used fake accounts and joined various groups to disseminate their content and increase engagement. Their posts included local news and criticism of political opponents such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Facebook said.

The social media giant also said it was removing 103 pages, groups and accounts, also for inauthentic behavior, as part of a network which originated in Pakistan and was linked to employees of the Inter-Service Public Relations department of the Pakistani military.

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SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook has removed 200 pages, groups and accounts linked to Nic Gabunada, the former social media manager of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, for misleading people.

Facebook took down the accounts for “coordinated inauthentic behavior,” the term it uses to describe accounts that work together to mask who is behind them and what their purpose is. In the past, Facebook has removed accounts linked to Russia , Iran and other countries for trying to wreak political havoc or influence elections in the U.S. and elsewhere.

The accounts and posts in question posted about elections, alleged misconduct by political candidates and local news. Facebook says they tried to hide their identity but were linked to a network organized by Gabunada.

MUMBAI: Indian film production house and music label T-Series has become the most subscribed YouTube channel. The channel won the close battle with Swedish YouTuber PewDiePie’s channel.

At the time by the news was prepared, T-Series is leading by more than 96,000 subscribers now as currently it has garnered over 91,888,171 subscribers while PewDiePie has subscribers with a count of 91,788,329.

The battle between the two channels was going on for long.

WASHINGTON: Trump administration accused Facebook of selling targeted advertising that discriminated on the basis of race, in violation of the U.S. Fair Housing Act.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said here in its civil charge that Facebook also restricted who could see housing-related ads based on national origin, religion, familial status, sex and disability, seeking damages and unspecified relief for harm caused,

Facebook said it had been working with the department to address the concerns and was surprised by the decision to issue the charge, having taken “significant steps” to prevent ads that discriminate across its platforms.

The company also said the government had “insisted on access to sensitive information – like user data – without adequate safeguards,” adding that it was willing to provide aggregate reports but not user-level personal information.

The social media giant last week agreed to overhaul its paid advertising platform as part of a wide-ranging settlement with U.S. civil rights groups, which had filed five separate lawsuits accusing the company of enabling discrimination in advertising.

Under U.S. law, including the federal Fair Housing Act, it is illegal to publish certain types of ads – including online ads – if they indicate a preference based on race, religion, sex or other specified classifications.

HAVANA: Google has signed a deal with Cuban telecoms monopoly ETECSA on to work toward improving internet traffic exchange between their two networks and connectivity on the island.

Internet laggard Cuba has sought to increase web access in recent years, introducing cyber cafes, Wi-Fi hotspots and mobile internet, but users still complain of the cost, sluggish connection and spotty coverage.

Google and ETECSA signed a memorandum of understanding to begin the negotiation of a so-called “peering agreement” that would create a cost-free and direct connection between their two networks.

This would enable faster access to content hosted on the tech giant’s servers, in a country where information is tightly controlled, and reduce costs for Cuba which would no longer have to pay for an intermediary.

“The implementation of this internet traffic exchange service is part of the strategy of ETECSA for the development and computerization of the country,” Google and ETECSA said in a joint news release, read out at a news conference in Havana.

The peering would be implemented “when technical conditions allow it,” they said. That means the establishment of a physical connection between Cuba’s network and a Google “point of presence”, the closest ones being in South Florida, Mexico and Colombia.

The agreement creates a joint working group of engineers to figure out how to implement this.

Cuba is currently connected to the internet via a fibre-optic cable from Venezuela that went live in 2013, while much of its web infrastructure on the island is Chinese. Earlier this week, Cuba and Russia signed a memorandum of understanding on increasing cooperation in telecommunications.

Google has been working to expand its business in Cuba for years although analysts say it will have to work hard to gain the government’s trust.

“The signing of this memorandum evidences that the interest of U.S companies in developing businesses with ETECSA remains,” the Google, ETECSA news release read.

Google set up a small pilot display center in Havana and signed a deal in 2016 granting internet users quicker access to its branded content.

Former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt met Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel twice last year, in June in Havana and in Google’s New York office in September.

Google’s attempts to enter the Cuban market come as it faces blowback from employees and human rights activists over attempts to expand in another Communist-run state, China, amid concerns it could comply with that country’s internet censorship and surveillance policies.

Google has said it has not committed to any policies as it explores offering more services in China.

Whether due to the U.S. embargo, lack of cash or concerns over the free flow of information, the internet was largely available to the public in Cuba only at tourist hotels until 2013.

(Agencies)

KATHMANDU: Unidentified hackers have made attempts to hack the official website of Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA). The hacker has said that the website “may be hacked”. The site, however, can be opened.

“We are not aware of this,” Suresh Sah, IT expert at TIA told Khabarhub.

NEW YORK: Facebook has  announced to ban all “praise, support and representation of white nationalism and separatism” on Facebook and Instagram. The decision came less than two weeks after the suspect in the terror attack at two New Zealand mosques streamed the massacre live on the platform.

Facebook said while it had long prohibited hateful treatment of people based on race, it hadn’t applied the same rationale to white nationalism, “because we were thinking about broader concepts of nationalism and separatism — things like American pride and Basque separatism, which are an important part of people’s identity.”

It said it had reconsidered that after “conversations with members of civil society and academics who are experts in race relations around the world” who said, according to Facebook, “that white nationalism and separatism cannot be meaningfully separated from white supremacy and organized hate groups.”

Over the past three months, Facebook said, it had more than 20 conversations with civil rights groups and experts in race relations across the US, Europe, and Africa.

Among the groups Facebook consulted was the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

It will show users who search for terms it says are associated with white supremacy, a Facebook message reads.
Similarly,  it will show users who search for terms it says are associated with white supremacy.

SAN FRANCISCO: If you are a WhatsApp user, here is a good news for you. The messaging app owned by social media giant Facebook is testing the feature and will be soon available on Android platform.

However, the feature is yet to be available for all users, WABetaInfo reported.

Notably, according to the screenshots uploaded by the website, the dark mode on the app doesn’t use an absolute black It uses dark grey, which us easier on the eyes.

WASHINGTON:  Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd is planning to sell its Grindr LLC, the popular dating app, after a US government national security panel raised  safety concerns, media reports said.

 The United States has been increasingly scrutinizing app developers over the safety of personal data they handle, especially if some of it involves US military or intelligence personnel.

Grindr has hired investment bank Cowen Inc to handle the sale process, and is soliciting acquisition interest from U.S. investment firms, as well as Grindr’s competitors, according to the sources.

Kunlun is one of China’s largest mobile gaming companies. It was part of a buyout consortium that acquired Norwegian internet browser business Opera Ltd for $600 million in 2016.

Founded in 2008 by Tsinghua University graduate Zhou Yahui, Kunlun also owns Qudian Inc, a Chinese consumer credit provider, and Xianlai Huyu, a Chinese mobile gaming company.

(Agencies)