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Facebook-owned WhatsApp launches new WhatsApp Business app
Facebook-owned WhatsApp launches new WhatsApp Business app
WhatsApp is king of the messenger apps, with over a billion daily users. Now, the Facebook-owned company looks to better expand its reach to businesses.
WhatsApp Business is a free Android app released Thursday in the US, UK, Mexico, Italy and Indonesia, with more countries coming soon. WhatsApp did not state when or if an iOS version would be available.
The app is for businesses to download -- the customer side will be integrated into the existing WhatsApp app. Business has a suite of features that makes it easier for small businesses to communicate with customers, including the ability to get verified business profiles, set up frequently asked questions, a quick reply feature and more. It'll also have desktop support.
WhatsApp Business could be a big boon in developing nations, where more informal platforms, like WhatsApp, are used by small businesses to advertise, liaise and sell to customers. WhatsApp, pointing to a study done by Morning Consult, said over 80 percent of small businesses in India and Brazil use the app to help them grow their businesses.
WhatsApp is the second biggest messanging app in the world -- second only to Facebook Messenger, which had 1.2 billion users as of late April.
WhatsApp has been contacted for information on when an iOS app will be released.
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WhatsApp update boosts video calling to allow 8 people at once
WhatsApp update boosts video calling to allow 8 people at once
Want to video or voice chat with more people over WhatsApp? Now you can.
In a new update released Monday, the popular messaging app is bumping up the number of people who can be on a video or voice call at once to eight, double its previous limit of four, the company said in an update note on the iPhone App Store.
As it was before, the calls are end-to-end encrypted with Facebook writing in a blog post that "no one else can view or listen to your private conversation, not even WhatsApp."
The Android version of the app does not yet appear to be updated in the Google Play store but, as MSPowerUser notes, an updated version with support for eight callers can be downloaded directly from WhatsApp's website.
The new update is rolling out worldwide starting today, and WhatsApp says that it should arrive on the Play store this week.
To have a call with more people, everyone on the call needs to be on the latest version of the app on either platform.
The Facebook-owned messaging app is the latest to bump up its calling capabilities as people look to stay connected while stuck at home. Last week Facebook introduced a new Messenger Rooms feature that allows up to 50 people to video chat at once with no time limit for how long the chat lasts.
Read more: 10 free Zoom alternatives for video chat
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WhatsApp fights fake news with Indian newspaper ads
WhatsApp fights fake news with Indian newspaper ads
WhatsApp took out newspaper ads to combat fake news in India on Tuesday, after rumors sparked the lynching of five men.
WhatsApp
The full-page ads, which ran in English, Hindi and other languages in daily papers, include tips for spotting fake news messages on WhatsApp.
Readers are advised to check if a message has been forwarded -- WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature to help people identify forwarded messages. Beyond that, the ad urges readers to double check facts, links and photos. There's also a warning about viral messages.
"Do not pay attention to the number of times you receive the message," it reads. "Just because a message is shared many times, does not make it true."
"This morning we are starting an education campaign in India on how to spot fake news and rumors. Our first step is placing newspaper advertisements across the country in English, Hindi, and several regional languages. We will build on these efforts going forward," a spokesperson for WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, said a statement.
India is WhatsApp's largest market, with more than 200 million users sending a billion encrypted messages each day.
Five people were lynched in the western city of Dhule on July 1, after WhatsApp was used to spread a rumor that they were child kidnappers.
Last week, India's justice and information technology minister of India, Ravi Shankar Prasad, tweeted that WhatsApp must focus on "security related aspects" of its operations in the country.
Updated Tuesday 11 July at 00:28 a.m. PST: Adds WhatsApp comment.
WhatsApp, fake news and gadgets : 5 interesting trends in digital news.
Fake news on WhatsApp provokes lynchings in India : Five men murdered when a village thinks a video warning against child abduction shows a real kidnapping.
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WhatsApp fights fake news with Indian newspaper ads
WhatsApp fights fake news with Indian newspaper ads
WhatsApp took out newspaper ads to combat fake news in India on Tuesday, after rumors sparked the lynching of five men.
WhatsApp
The full-page ads, which ran in English, Hindi and other languages in daily papers, include tips for spotting fake news messages on WhatsApp.
Readers are advised to check if a message has been forwarded -- WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature to help people identify forwarded messages. Beyond that, the ad urges readers to double check facts, links and photos. There's also a warning about viral messages.
"Do not pay attention to the number of times you receive the message," it reads. "Just because a message is shared many times, does not make it true."
"This morning we are starting an education campaign in India on how to spot fake news and rumors. Our first step is placing newspaper advertisements across the country in English, Hindi, and several regional languages. We will build on these efforts going forward," a spokesperson for WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, said a statement.
India is WhatsApp's largest market, with more than 200 million users sending a billion encrypted messages each day.
Five people were lynched in the western city of Dhule on July 1, after WhatsApp was used to spread a rumor that they were child kidnappers.
Last week, India's justice and information technology minister of India, Ravi Shankar Prasad, tweeted that WhatsApp must focus on "security related aspects" of its operations in the country.
Updated Tuesday 11 July at 00:28 a.m. PST: Adds WhatsApp comment.
WhatsApp, fake news and gadgets : 5 interesting trends in digital news.
Fake news on WhatsApp provokes lynchings in India : Five men murdered when a village thinks a video warning against child abduction shows a real kidnapping.
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WhatsApp tops 2 billion users worldwide
WhatsApp tops 2 billion users worldwide
Messaging app WhatsApp has hit 2 billion users, the company said in a blog post Wednesday.
The app, which is owned by Facebook, is end-to-end encrypted. It was founded in 2009 and bought by Facebook in 2014.
"We know that the more we connect, the more we have to protect," the post said. "As we conduct more of our lives online, protecting our conversations is more important than eve."
Facebook has been grappling with how to monetize the service and aims to bring ads to its Status feature.
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What is Signal? Everything you need to know about Elon Musk's app recommendation
What is Signal? Everything you need to know about Elon Musk's app recommendation
Tech mogul Elon Musk -- known as widely for slinging cars into the sun's orbit as he is for advocating against COVID-19 safety measures -- took to Twitter earlier this month to slam Facebook over its latest privacy policy updates for its supposedly secure encrypted messaging app WhatsApp. Musk instead recommended people choose encrypted messaging app Signal.
The tweet was then retweeted by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Shortly after, Signal tweeted that it was working to handle the surge of new users.
The Signal app was downloaded almost 1.3 million times on Jan. 11, according to data from Apptopia, a tracking firm. The app had been downloaded an average of 50,000 times a day prior to Musk's tweet. A Signal spokesperson said the report undercounted the number of downloads the service is experiencing.
Signal also attributed a temporary outage later that week to the surge in new users.
"While we have been working hard all week to keep up with all the new people switching over to Signal, today exceeded even our most optimistic projections. We are working hard to resolve [the issue]," the spokesman told CNET in an email.
Musk's Twitter endorsement also incidentally led shares in the biotechnology company Signal Advance to soar, despite the fact that it is completely unrelated to Signal, which is not a publicly traded company.
This isn't the first time Musk has publicly sparred with Facebook over privacy concerns. In 2018, he not only had his own personal Facebook page removed, but those of his companies Tesla and SpaceX. His take on the long-fought battle between Signal and WhatsApp isn't off-base, though.
Both of the encrypted messaging apps have been found to have security bugs over the years that have been resolved. For years, WhatsApp has openly collected certain user data to share with parent company Facebook. Its latest policy change just expands that. Signal, on the other hand, has a history of fighting any entity that asks for your data, and adds features to further anonymize you where possible.
Read more: Signal vs. WhatsApp vs. Telegram: What to know before you switch messaging apps
Soon after Musk's tweet, WhatsApp published an FAQ aimed at clarifying its data collection policy, emphasizing that neither it nor Facebook can see users' private messages or hear their calls. Following mounting privacy concerns, WhatsApp announced Friday it would delay the rollout of its new policy by three months.
"We're now moving back the date on which people will be asked to review and accept the terms. No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8. We're also going to do a lot more to clear up the misinformation around how privacy and security works on WhatsApp. We'll then go to people gradually to review the policy at their own pace before new business options are available on May 15," the company said in a blog post.
Here are the basics of Signal you should know if you're interested in using the secure messaging app. Plus, here are all of the differences between Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram.
Signal is a typical one-tap install app that can be found in your normal marketplaces like Google'sPlay Store and Apple'sApp Store, and works just like the usual text messaging app. It's an open source development provided free of charge by the non-profit Signal Foundation, and has been famously used for years by high-profile privacy icons like Edward Snowden.
Signal's main function is that it can send text, video, audio and picture messages protected by end-to-end encryption, after verifying your phone number and letting you independently verify other Signal users' identity. You can also use it to make voice and video calls, either one-to-one or with a group. For a deeper dive into the potential pitfalls and limitations of encrypted messaging apps, CNET's Laura Hautala's explainer is a life-saver. But for our purposes, the key to Signal is encryption.
Despite the buzz around the term, end-to-end encryption is simple: Unlike normal SMS messaging apps, it garbles up your messages before sending them, and only ungarbles them for the verified recipient. This prevents law enforcement, your mobile carrier and other snooping entities from being able to read the contents of your messages even when they intercept them (which happens more often than you might think).
When it comes to privacy it's hard to beat Signal's offer. It doesn't store your user data. And beyond its encryption prowess, it gives you extended, onscreen privacy options, including app-specific locks, blank notification pop-ups, face-blurring anti-surveillance tools, and disappearing messages. Occasional bugs have proven that the tech is far from bulletproof, of course, but the overall arc of Signal's reputation and results have kept it at the top of every privacy-savvy person's list of identity protection tools.
For years, the core privacy challenge for Signal lay not in its technology but in its wider adoption. Sending an encrypted Signal message is great, but if your recipient isn't using Signal, then your privacy may be nil. Think of it like the herd immunity created by vaccines, but for your messaging privacy.
Now that Musk and Dorsey's endorsements have sent a surge of users to get a privacy booster shot, however, that challenge may be a thing of the past.
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Facebook, YouTube to Restrict Some Russian State-Controlled Media Across Europe
Facebook, YouTube to Restrict Some Russian State-Controlled Media Across Europe
Facebook, YouTube and other social networks are restricting access to Russian state-controlled media outlets RT and Sputnik across Europe, amid calls to crack down on disinformation. The move will likely heighten tensions between some of the world's most popular social networks and the Russian government.
Facebook's parent company, Meta, said Monday that it will limit the accessibility of Sputnik and RT across the European Union.
"We have received requests from a number of governments and the EU to take further steps in relation to Russian state-controlled media. Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU at this time," Nick Clegg, who oversees global affairs at Meta and is a former UK deputy prime minister, said in a tweet.
Clegg didn't respond to questions on Twitter about what the restrictions entail, how many requests Meta has received and from which governments or how many Facebook users will be impacted by these restrictions. Clegg also didn't say when these restrictions would start. RT's Facebook page has 7.4 million followers and Sputnik's Facebook page has 1.4 million followers. The media outlets are also on Facebook-owned Instagram, a photo and video service. RT has 839,000 followers on Instagram and Sputnik has 116,000 followers.
On Tuesday, Google said in a post on Twitter that it would block YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe.
"Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, we're blocking YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately," reads a tweet from the official Google Europe account. "It'll take time for our systems to fully ramp up. Our teams continue to monitor the situation around the clock to take swift action."
Google, the video giant's parent company, didn't immediately respond to questions on how many YouTube channels would be blocked. RT's main channel on YouTube has more than 4.6 million subscribers, while Sputnik has over 300,000 subscribers.
Facebook's move came a day after Meta announced it had restricted access to several accounts, including from Russian state-controlled media, in Ukraine after a request from the government there. Meta has been facing more pressure to take action against these media outlets for spreading propaganda and false claims after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
On Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a tweet that the EU's executive branch is developing tools to ban "toxic and harmful disinformation" published by RT and Sputnik and their subsidiaries. The EU is an economic and political union of 27 countries, including France, Germany and Spain.
Following Facebook's move on Tuesday, RT took issue with unspecified comments from European government officials and actions by social media platforms, with its deputy editor-in-chief saying in a statement that no one had pointed to specific evidence of falsehoods appearing on its site during the Ukraine crisis. In its own statement, Sputnik's press arm characterized the restrictions as an "information war against the Russian media."
RT and Sputnik are on other social media sites, including Twitter and TikTok. A spokeswoman for TikTok said users in the EU won't see content from RT's and Sputnik's accounts. Twitter started labeling state-affiliated media, but a spokeswoman said the company had "nothing to share at this time" when asked if the company was also planning to restrict RT and Sputnik.
The rare move by Meta also raises questions about whether Russia will further restrict access to Facebook and Instagram. Ukrainians have put pressure on Facebook to remove access to the main social network and Instagram in Russia, but Clegg said Sunday those platforms are also being used by protesters and as a source of independent information. "The Russian Government is already throttling our platform to prevent these activities. We believe turning off our services would silence important expression at a crucial time," Clegg said in a tweet on Sunday.
Russia said last week that it's partly restricting access to Facebook after the social network refused to stop fact-checking and labeling content posted on Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations. Russia's telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, alleges Facebook violated "fundamental human rights" by restricting the country's state-controlled media.
Facebook and YouTube have also been barring ads from Russia state media. Twitter also said last week that it's temporarily pausing ads in Ukraine and Russia.
On Sunday, Meta also announced that it removed a network of about 40 fake accounts, Pages and Groups on Facebook and Instagram from Russia and Ukraine. Meta said some of these accounts pretended to be news editors and ran fake news websites and published stories that included "claims about the West betraying Ukraine and Ukraine being a failed state." Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, created a special operations center with experts who speak Ukrainian and Russian to help monitor its platform.
CNET's Carrie Mihalcik contributed to this report.
Facebook Suspends Rules to Allow Some Calls for Violence Against Russian Invaders
Facebook Suspends Rules to Allow Some Calls for Violence Against Russian Invaders
What's happening
Facebook's parent company Meta said it's temporarily allowing some violent content against Russian invaders, making an unusual exemption to its rules against hate speech.
Why it matters
The move is already escalating tensions between Meta and Russia. Roskomnadzor, the country's telecommunications agency, said Friday it's restricting Instagram, a photo-and-video service owned by Meta. Russia's Investigative Committee is opening a criminal investigation against Meta.
What's next
Russia might take more actions against Meta as it moves forward with the criminal case against the social media giant. The company also owns messaging app WhatsApp though no restrictions against that service have been announced.
Facebook parent company Meta is setting aside its rules and allowing some violent speech against Russian invaders, saying it views these remarks as political speech.
"As a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine we have temporarily made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally violate our rules like violent speech such as 'death to the Russian invaders.' We still won't allow credible calls for violence against Russian civilians," Meta spokesman Andy Stone said in a tweet Thursday.
The rare exemption to the company's rules against hate speech, which bars people from posting content targeting a group of people, including violent content, shows how the world's largest social network is moderating content about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The move, though, is already escalating tensions between Meta and the Russian government.
Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement Friday that it's opened a criminal case against Meta for allegedly violating the criminal code of the Russian Federation that bars public calls for extremist activities and assistance in terrorist activities.
"As part of the criminal case, the necessary investigative measures are being carried out to give a legal evaluation to actions of Andy Stone and other employees of the American corporation," the committee, which reports to Russia President Vladimir Putin, said in the statement.
Facebook has been facing a greater number of calls to crack down more heavily on propaganda and misinformation. Last week, Russia said it was blocking the social network after Facebook started to make content from Russian state-controlled media tougher to find on its platform and tapped third party fact-checkers to debunk false claims. On Friday, Russia's telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement that the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia demanded that the agency also restrict access to Meta-owned photo-and-video service Instagram. Roskomnadzor said the restrictions will take effect March 14 to allow users to transfer their photos and videos to other social networks and notify their followers and contacts.
Nick Clegg, who leads global affairs at Meta, said in a statement Friday that the company's policies are "focused on protecting people's rights to speech as an expression of self-defense in reaction to a military invasion of their country." He added that Meta is applying the exemption only in Ukraine and that it made the decision because of "extraordinary and unprecedented circumstances."
"We have no quarrel with the Russian people. There is no change at all in our policies on hate speech as far as the Russian people are concerned. We will not tolerate Russophobia or any kind of discrimination, harassment or violence towards Russians on our platform," Clegg said.
The Russian Embassy in the US also responded to Thursday's decision, saying Meta's actions were equivalent to a declaration of information war against Russia, according to a report by Russian state-operated news agency Novosti. In a post on Twitter, the embassy called on US authorities to "stop the extremist activities of Meta."
For years, Facebook has also grappled with criticism that its rules are enforced unevenly. The company created a semi-independent oversight board to weigh in on its toughest content moderation decisions.
Reuters, which first reported the policy change, said that in certain countries, including Russia, Ukraine and Poland, the social media giant is also allowing some posts that call for death to Russian President Vladimir Putin or Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. The changes also apply to Instagram.
Citing internal emails, Reuters said that calls for death won't be allowed if they contain other targets or include "two indicators of credibility" such as the location or method of death. The posts must also be about the invasion of Ukraine. Calls for violence against Russian soldiers will also be allowed in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Also Thursday, Facebook and Twitter removed posts from Russia's embassy in the UK over false claims surrounding the bombing of a maternity hospital in the Ukraine city of Mariupol on Wednesday.
At least one child and two adults were killed at the hospital and another 17 were injured, Ukraine officials have said.
Meta didn't immediately answer questions about how long it expects the exemption will be in place or the number of posts that may be impacted.
Meta hasn't released data about how many Facebook and Instagram users are in Russia. App analytics firm Sensor Tower estimates that since 2014 Instagram has been installed 166 million times from Google Play and the Apple App Store in Russia. Facebook in Russia has an estimated 56.2 million installs. Sensor Tower says that based on that data, Russia is the fifth largest market for Instagram and the 20th largest market for Facebook.
WhatsApp testing new fact-checking feature for messages, report says
WhatsApp testing new fact-checking feature for messages, report says
WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new fact-checking feature for messages. In the beta version of the Android app, users have been able to select an option to check the web for more context after receiving a message, according to a report from TechCrunch on Saturday. Previously users could only fact-check images sent on the app.
WhatsApp is an instant messaging and calling service owned by Facebook.
"We are working on new features to help empower users to find out more information about the messages they receive that have been forwarded many times. This feature is currently in testing, and we look forward to rolling it out in the near future," a WhatsApp spokesperson told TechCrunch in a statement.
CNET has reached out to WhatsApp, and we'll update when we hear back. Features in testing are not always a guarantee that they'll be launched to the public.
Hackers Target Ukrainian Military, Journalists on Facebook
Hackers Target Ukrainian Military, Journalists on Facebook
Facebook's parent company Meta said late Sunday that hackers are increasingly targeting Ukrainian military officials and journalists to spread disinformation. Hackers tied to an operation known as "Ghostwriter" compromised some Ukrainian Facebook accounts, but Meta said it wasn't naming the victims to protect their privacy.
"We detected attempts to target people on Facebook and post YouTube videos portraying Ukrainian troops as weak and surrendering to Russia," said David Agranovich, director of global threat disruption at Meta, at a virtual press conference.
The threats underscores the variety of challenges social media companies face as they try to combat false claims about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Meta added features in Ukraine meant to keep users safe such as the ability to lock their Facebook profile and remove the ability to view and search friends lists. The company, like Twitter, is encouraging users to enable two-factor authentication, an extra layer of security that makes it tougher for hackers to break into accounts.
Ghostwriter typically targets people through email first through tactics such as trying to trick people into clicking on a malicious link to steal their login credentials, Agranovich said. After compromising a target's email, they will then break into people's social media accounts and use those accounts to post disinformation.
Nathaniel Gleicher, who heads Meta's security policy, said as social media users take steps to protect their accounts, they should also think about how their information could get compromised on other apps and devices. Gleicher said Ghostwriter targeted a "small number" of Facebook users but the group is going after valuable targets such as public figures.
Mandiant Threat Intelligence, which has done research on Ghostwriter, said in a report published last year that it found evidence that suggests the operation has ties to a suspected state-sponsored cyber espionage actor called UNC1151. In November, Mandiant Threat Intelligence linked UNC1151 to the Belarusian government.
"We cannot rule out Russian contributions to either UNC1151 or Ghostwriter. However, at this time, we have not uncovered direct evidence of such contributions," Mandiant Threat Intelligence said in a blog post.
The European Union said in a press release in September that some EU member states have associated Ghostwriter with the Russian state.
Meta also pulled down a network of about 40 fake accounts, Pages and Groups on Facebook and Instagram from Russia and Ukraine. The accounts targeted Ukrainians across multiple social networks including on Twitter, YouTube, Telegram, Odnoklassniki and VK. These fake accounts pretended to be news editors, a former aviation engineer and an author of a scientific publication on hydrography (the science of mapping water). They ran fake news websites and published stories that included "claims about the West betraying Ukraine and Ukraine being a failed state," Meta said.
The company said the network of fake accounts didn't have a wide reach. Fewer than 4,000 Facebook accounts followed one of more of these Pages and fewer than 500 accounts followed one or more of the Instagram accounts.
The social media giant shared information about the operation with other tech platforms, researchers and governments.
Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok are being flooded with misinformation and disinformation, including misleading videos that use old footage to create a false image of what's happening in real-time.
Meta said it's expanding its third-party fact checking capacity in Russia and Ukrainian, labeling state-controlled media publishers and barring ads from Russia state media. The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, said it created a special operations center with experts who speak Ukrainian and Russian to help monitor its platform.
Russia has partly restricted access to Facebook after the social network refused to stop fact-checking and label content posted on Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations. Russia's telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor alleges Facebook violated "fundamental human rights" by restricting the country's state-controlled media.
Gleicher said he doesn't have any more information about what restrictions Russia put into place but Meta's teams continue to monitor the situation and "do believe that we're still accessible in [the] country."
On Sunday, Meta said it restricted some accounts, including several run by Russia state media, because the Ukrainian government requested the company do so. The company is reviewing other government requests to do the same in their countries.
Hackers Target Ukrainian Military, Journalists on Facebook
Hackers Target Ukrainian Military, Journalists on Facebook
Facebook's parent company Meta said late Sunday that hackers are increasingly targeting Ukrainian military officials and journalists to spread disinformation. Hackers tied to an operation known as "Ghostwriter" compromised some Ukrainian Facebook accounts, but Meta said it wasn't naming the victims to protect their privacy.
"We detected attempts to target people on Facebook and post YouTube videos portraying Ukrainian troops as weak and surrendering to Russia," said David Agranovich, director of global threat disruption at Meta, at a virtual press conference.
The threats underscores the variety of challenges social media companies face as they try to combat false claims about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Meta added features in Ukraine meant to keep users safe such as the ability to lock their Facebook profile and remove the ability to view and search friends lists. The company, like Twitter, is encouraging users to enable two-factor authentication, an extra layer of security that makes it tougher for hackers to break into accounts.
Ghostwriter typically targets people through email first through tactics such as trying to trick people into clicking on a malicious link to steal their login credentials, Agranovich said. After compromising a target's email, they will then break into people's social media accounts and use those accounts to post disinformation.
Nathaniel Gleicher, who heads Meta's security policy, said as social media users take steps to protect their accounts, they should also think about how their information could get compromised on other apps and devices. Gleicher said Ghostwriter targeted a "small number" of Facebook users but the group is going after valuable targets such as public figures.
Mandiant Threat Intelligence, which has done research on Ghostwriter, said in a report published last year that it found evidence that suggests the operation has ties to a suspected state-sponsored cyber espionage actor called UNC1151. In November, Mandiant Threat Intelligence linked UNC1151 to the Belarusian government.
"We cannot rule out Russian contributions to either UNC1151 or Ghostwriter. However, at this time, we have not uncovered direct evidence of such contributions," Mandiant Threat Intelligence said in a blog post.
The European Union said in a press release in September that some EU member states have associated Ghostwriter with the Russian state.
Meta also pulled down a network of about 40 fake accounts, Pages and Groups on Facebook and Instagram from Russia and Ukraine. The accounts targeted Ukrainians across multiple social networks including on Twitter, YouTube, Telegram, Odnoklassniki and VK. These fake accounts pretended to be news editors, a former aviation engineer and an author of a scientific publication on hydrography (the science of mapping water). They ran fake news websites and published stories that included "claims about the West betraying Ukraine and Ukraine being a failed state," Meta said.
The company said the network of fake accounts didn't have a wide reach. Fewer than 4,000 Facebook accounts followed one of more of these Pages and fewer than 500 accounts followed one or more of the Instagram accounts.
The social media giant shared information about the operation with other tech platforms, researchers and governments.
Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok are being flooded with misinformation and disinformation, including misleading videos that use old footage to create a false image of what's happening in real-time.
Meta said it's expanding its third-party fact checking capacity in Russia and Ukrainian, labeling state-controlled media publishers and barring ads from Russia state media. The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, said it created a special operations center with experts who speak Ukrainian and Russian to help monitor its platform.
Russia has partly restricted access to Facebook after the social network refused to stop fact-checking and label content posted on Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations. Russia's telecommunications regulator Roskomnadzor alleges Facebook violated "fundamental human rights" by restricting the country's state-controlled media.
Gleicher said he doesn't have any more information about what restrictions Russia put into place but Meta's teams continue to monitor the situation and "do believe that we're still accessible in [the] country."
On Sunday, Meta said it restricted some accounts, including several run by Russia state media, because the Ukrainian government requested the company do so. The company is reviewing other government requests to do the same in their countries.
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Facebook and Instagram Will Let You Post Your NFTs
Facebook and Instagram Will Let You Post Your NFTs
Facebook and Instagram users in the US will be able to post their NFTs (nonfungible tokens) from this week, Meta said in a blog post Monday.
The feature allows people to connect their digital wallets to either Facebook or Instagram so they can post their purchased or created digital collectibles. Linking on one app will allow cross-posting to the other. Meta clarified that no feels will be imposed when posting on Instagram or Facebook. Meta says this feature is set for a limited number of people in the US, but didn't clarify further.
Meta declined to comment, but linked to a tweet by its vice president of financial technologies, Stephane Kasriel.
NFTs are digital tokens that are applied to digital assets, such as videos, pictures, memes and even tweets. A digital token is a unique identifier telling people who owns a specific piece of digital media, even if everyone else can see it online. NFTs are related to cryptocurrency in that the tokens are recorded on a digital ledger. Snoop Dogg and Eminem used their Bored Ape NFTs in a music video shown off at Sunday's Video Music Awards. NFT art galleries have also been popping up.
The expansion by Meta into NFT posting comes as the company, formally known as Facebook, pivoted last year from being a social media company to a metaverse company. The metaverse is an online composite universe allowing multiple virtual environments and assets to interact simultaneously. An example of this in media is Ernest Cline's Ready Player One.
Meta believes the metaverse is the next digital frontier and has been investing heavily in its Quest VR headset division, with a new model expected to land in October. Earlier this year, Meta began allowing people to connect their Coinbase wallets and other accounts to Instagram allowing posts of NFTs minted on the Flow blockchain in 100 countries. Given the importance of interoperability of assets within the metaverse, expanding NFT posting to US users is a necessary step.
