Facebook Sets Its Sights on Washington, D.C.
Facebook is on a hiring spree in the nation’s capital and it appears to be directly geared to fighting off privacy legislation, and possible fines and antitrust actions against the company. Facebook is hiring Beltway insiders with deep knowledge of and influence within the nation’s capital.
A bug in iOS 12.1 allows people to hear and possibly even see the people they call on Facetime even if the recipient doesn’t accept the call. The recipient has no indication that the caller can hear or see them. The bug affects both iPhones and iPads running iOS 12.1 and Apple computers running macOS Mojave.
The bug was found by 9to5Mac and replicated by everyone using iOS 12.1, including several CNN Business staff members. Apple said it has a fix or the problem and will release a software update later this week to address it. In the meantime, Apple has disabled Group FaceTime for all users.
A New York Times investigation shows that Facebook gave other tech giants access to users’ personal data, exempting them from Facebook’s publicly disclosed privacy policy. The special arrangements gave companies access to data without the users’ knowledge and even, in some cases, allowed the companies to delete users’ private messages.
The New York Times report is based on hundreds of pages of Facebook documents that show its system for tracking partnerships.
A U.S. Senate report exposing the wide reach of the Russian disinformation campaign to influence the 2016 election said that its reach was far beyond Facebook, Google, search results and Twitter. The Senate’s report, which was put together by the University of Oxford’s Computational Propaganda Project and the social media analysis firm, Graphika, indicate that YouTube, Tumblr, Instagram, Google+ and PayPal were also used to spread propaganda and encourage divisiveness.
Pinterest has named Andréa Mallard as its first Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Mallard was hired away from the Gap-owned Athleta, a line of athleisure clothing, where she also served as CMO. Mallard will report to COO Francoise Brougher, who joined Pinterest in February himself. Pinterest is filling out its C-suite roles in preparation for a possible initial public offering (IPO) in 2019. Learn more about Mallard and her new role by reviewing Pinterest’s official press release.