Russian news agency banned by Facebook says it doesn’t peddle fake news

as mentioned in Facebook is allegedly stifling the free speech rights of a Russian news outlet that's been banned from the social media platform, a new lawsuit claims — even though the outlet has been linked to Russians accused of election interference. Federal Agency of News and its sole shareholder, Evgeniy Zubarev, insist the news site is the genuine article, not an outlet intentionally peddling misinformation, the agency claimed in a lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California. See also: For the first time, researchers say Facebook can cause depression"Facebook, while claiming to protect the public from 'fake news' is actually engaging in censorship and denying [Federal Agency of News] subscribers of access to a legitimate news organization," the lawsuit said. Federal Agency of News called itself "an independent, authentic and legitimate news agency," and distanced itself from its founder and first general director, Aleksandra Krylova and its chief accountant Elena Khusyaynova. The lawsuit, however, said Khusyaynova had no role in the Federal Agency of News' editorial content "and is not aware of what stories are going to be published or not published."A lawyer for Federal Agency of News and Zubarev declined to comment.

Former FTC official says Facebook VP misled international leaders

A former Federal Trade Commission official claimed a Facebook official mislead and international committee of parliamentarians Tuesday in a hearing about the company's privacy policies. The allegation centers around whether third-party developers had access to information on private Facebook profiles in the early days of the platform. Facebook was transitioning developers onto the newer platform with more limited information, Allan said. In version one it included some access to friends' data where they'd given permission, in version two, that access was removed." "This is false," former Obama-era FTC Chief Technologist Ashkan Soltani told the committee later in the day.

Boston police head Gross says he was defending officers in Facebook post in wake of ACLU lawsuit

As it stated in Boston police Commissioner William G. Gross on Tuesday defended his weekend Facebook post in which he criticized the ACLU of Massachusetts as a band of "paper warriors" more concerned with filing lawsuits than helping police combat crime. "You know my passion," Gross told reporters. Get Metro Headlines in your inbox: The 10 top local news stories from metro Boston and around New England delivered daily. When Gross spoke to reporters on Tuesday, he was joined by Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who said he supports the work of the ACLU but also backs Gross and his police officers. "NO ACLU when Officers are shot, No ACLU when we help citizens, no ACLU present when we have to explain to a mother that her son or daughter was horribly murdered by gang violence," Gross wrote.

Former Facebook employee says it's failing its black workers, users

Another former Facebook employee is giving the public a peek into the company's culture, and once again, it doesn't look pretty. While Luckie gave Facebook credit for its efforts to diversify its workplace, he said black representation at the company is not proportionate to the number of the social network's black users. "Although incremental changes are being made, the fact remains that the population of Facebook employees doesn't reflect its most engaged user base," he wrote. Color of Change, a racial justice organization that has worked with Facebook for years, said it is scheduled to meet Thursday with Facebook executives, including Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg. According to a recent New York Times article, Facebook hired a Republican-led firm to target critics of the company, including Color of Change.

collected by :Roy Mark