Technologies
Facebook butts heads with Instagram researchers studying photo site’s algorithm
AlgorithmWatch says it shut down its Instagram project because Facebook threatened legal action. Facebook says it didn’t threaten the group and that AlgorithmWatch was breaking its rules.
AlgorithmWatch, a German research and advocacy group, shut down its Instagram monitoring project after what it says was a “thinly veiled threat” from Facebook. But the social network says it made no such threat and that the group’s project ran afoul of Facebook policies around data collection.
The advocacy group says it’s “committed to evaluating and shedding light on … algorithmic decision-making processes that have social relevance” and that its project found that Instagram prioritizes posts that feature people who are “scantily clad” and that politicians’ posts were seen by more people when those posts showed a politico’s face instead of text.
In a blog post Friday, the researchers said they shut down the Instagram project on July 13, after a May meeting with Facebook, which owns Instagram. At that meeting, they said, Facebook told AlgorithmWatch it had violated Facebook’s terms of service, which prohibit the automated collection of data. According to the group, Facebook said it would “mov[e] to more formal engagement” if the issue wasn’t resolved, which the researchers took as a threat of legal action.
Facebook says it didn’t threaten any legal action against AlgorithmWatch and wanted to work with the organization to find a way to continue the research.
“We had concerns with their practices,” a Facebook spokesperson said in an email Friday, “which is why we contacted them multiple times so they could come into compliance with our terms and continue their research, as we routinely do with other research groups when we identify similar concerns.”
As part of the Instagram project, AlgorithmWatch developed an add-on that scraped volunteers’ Instagram newsfeeds to study how the social network “prioritizes pictures and videos in a user’s timeline.” The researchers contend that the add-on’s users volunteered their feed data to the project and that since the project’s launch, in March 2020, about 1,500 volunteers had installed the add-on.
Earlier this month, Facebook disabled a similar research project at New York University, saying it violated the social network’s terms around data gathering The NYU Ad Observatory used an add-on to collect data regarding what political ads were shown in a user’s Facebook feed.
News about the shutdown of AlgorithmWatch comes as there’s been intense scrutiny on social networks, the misinformation found on them and the effect they have on individuals and society.
For its part, Facebook has had to be careful with how it manages the data of its users, particularly following 2018’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which an outside firm harvested information from 50 million Facebook accounts without their permission. That scandal led to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg being called before Congress to testify about the social network’s data privacy policies. And it played a part in Facebook agreeing, in 2019, to pay a $5 billion fine to the US Federal Trade Commission over privacy violations. Under that settlement, Facebook must certify that it’s taking steps to protect user privacy.
The Facebook spokesperson said Friday that the company makes it a point to cooperate with researchers. “We collaborate with hundreds of research groups to enable the study of important topics, including by providing data sets and access to APIs, and recently published information explaining how our systems work and why you see what you see on our platform.”
AlgorithmWatch, on the other hand, accused Facebook of “weaponizing” its terms of service. “Given that Facebook’s terms of service can be updated at their discretion (with 30 days’ notice), the company could forbid any ongoing analysis that aims at increasing transparency, simply by changing its terms,” the group said in its blog post.
Technologies
Chinese authorities reportedly in possession of F-35 components in Hong Kong
Shipping giant UPS was sending a cockpit canopy and weapons bay door to the U.S. from Australia in late May when it was diverted to Hong Kong.
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Technologies
Family First CEO departs after posting ‘Lake America’ sweatshirt photo
Family First CEO Jane Smith has left the credit union after posting a photo of her family in “Lake America” sweatshirts, prompting an apology and an interim CEO appointment. The departure follows a controversial post that mocked a recent U.S. proposal to rename Lake Ontario.
The chief executive of the Michigan‑based credit union Family First has left the organization, just days after she shared a photo that appeared to show her family wearing “Lake America” sweatshirts. A statement posted on the credit union’s website on Wednesday announced that Jane Smith was no longer employed by Family First “effective immediately,” with Chief Operations Officer Jason Acosta stepping in as interim CEO. The announcement was signed by Maurice Patterson, chairman of the Family First Credit Union board, and by Acosta.
Family First did not explicitly say that the public reaction to the post was the reason for Smith’s departure, though the credit union issued a Thursday apology, stating, “We sincerely apologize for the concern, disappointment and pain this situation has caused our members and community.” The credit union is headquartered in Michigan, a state that shares a border with Canada.
On September 11, Smith posted the picture on Facebook with the caption: “Like our sweatshirts? Not sure Canada will. Lol lol.” The post has since been removed from Facebook, according to CBC News.
U.S. President Donald Trump declared last month that Lake Ontario, which lies on the U.S.–Canadian border, would be renamed “Lake America.” The decision sparked widespread criticism from Canadians, Prime Minister Mark Carney and even the animated series “South Park,” which temporarily changed its name to “South America” as a satirical response to the president’s order.
In a September 17 interview with ABC12 News in Michigan, Smith said the image originally contained an artificial‑intelligence marker but was later reposted by her sister without that marker. “We weren’t trying to make a political statement,” Smith reportedly explained, “but we were kind of poking fun at the fact that one of the Great Lakes’ names was being changed.”
Family First had earlier released a statement to ABC12 News saying it “unequivocally disapproves and rejects the content of the social media post involving our CEO, Jane Smith.” Meanwhile, U.S. Representative Timothy Kennedy of New York has introduced legislation aimed at blocking Trump’s effort to rename Lake Ontario and preventing any future renaming of the five Great Lakes.
Technologies
Oil prices fall after Iran asks U.S. to return to failed memorandum of understanding from June
Iran has asked the U.S. to meet the same conditions laid out in the June 17 memorandum of understanding, Iran’s foreign minister said.
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