Facebook Will Allow Users to Turn Off Political Ads

Bruce Haring pmc-editorial-managerA Congressional antitrust investigation will have some star power testifying at hearings later this month, as the CEOs of Amazon, Apple.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorBig Tech’s four biggest executives may soon be in the congressional hot seat, with the CEOs of Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google set to appear before a House Judiciary Committee hearing as part of its antitrust investigation.Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, and Google’s Sundar Pichai (who also is chief exec of parent Alphabet), are scheduled to testify at the hearing.

Facebook said Friday that it will flag all "newsworthy" posts from politicians that break its rules, including those from President Donald Trump. CEO Mark Zuckerberg had previously refused to take action against Trump posts suggesting that mail-in ballots will lead to voter fraud, saying that people deserved to hear unfiltered statements from political leaders.

Amid speculations that Brad Pitt has found love again with Arrested Development star Alia Shawkat, the actress is making it very clear that there is nothing romantic going on between them! In fact, they are not even hooking up! During a new interview for Vulture, Alia insisted that she and Brad are nothing more than just friends! That’s right! No matter how much some people may be shipping them, the fellow Hollywood celebs are in a platonic relationship.

Ted Johnson Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the platform will start to label posts from politicians and other public figures that may violate its policies, while removing posts that incite violence or suppress voting.“Even if a politician or government official says it, if we determine that content may lead to violence or deprive people of their right to vote, we will take that content down,” Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post.The new policies bring Facebook in closer alignment with Twitter,

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorFacebook is following in Twitter’s footsteps in dealing with controversial and inflammatory statements from high-profile figures — like Donald Trump.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in an employee town hall meeting Friday, said the company will start adding warning labels to content posted by politicians that would otherwise violate its policies if it’s deemed to be in the “public interest.”“Often, seeing speech from politicians is in the public interest, and in the

July ad boycott, dubbed the #StopHateForProfit campaign.The movement is driven by civil rights groups like the NAACP and the Anti-Defamation League. Last week, the groups accused CEO Mark Zuckerberg of allowing extremists to promote violence, thanks to Facebook’s laissez-faire moderation policies in comparison to other tech companies.

Ted Johnson Facebook said that is has removed an ad from President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign that featured an upside down red triangle, a symbol that was once used by Nazis to identify political prisoners.“We removed these posts and ads for violating our policy against organized hate,” said Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesman.

Facebook’s advertising settings. The video below should help out:Facebook and Zuckerberg have both been heavily criticized over the last year for the tech giant’s decision to not moderate political ads.

Facebook removed a picture of her breastfeeding baby daughter Birdie. The mum-of-five was up in arms after being told her sweet snap breached policies for being too "sexual" and decided to take her complaint straight to the top.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAmid criticism over Facebook’s policy to not fact-check political ads, the social giant is giving users a new option: They can choose to disable political advertising.Facebook announced the new feature as it touted the launch of a new U.S. voter-registration drive — under which it hopes to sign up 4 million voters this year using Facebook, Instagram and Messenger.

Jake Kanter International TV EditorApple TV+ has come aboard Israel-Iran espionage thriller Tehran, taking the international rights to the series outside of Israel, where it is being broadcast by Kan 11.Distributed by Cineflix Rights, the eight-part series features young Israeli actress Niv Sultan as Tamar Rabinyan, a Mossad computer hacker-agent undertaking her very first mission in Iran’s capital, which is also her place of birth.Tasked with disabling an Iranian nuclear reactor, her mission

Joe Otterson TV ReporterApple has signed on to co-produce the upcoming espionage thriller series “Tehran.”The show tells the story of a Mossad agent who goes deep undercover on a dangerous mission in Tehran that places her and everyone around her in dire jeopardy.

Ted Johnson Joe Biden’s presidential campaign launched an online petition and open letter targeting Facebook’s policies, telling CEO Mark Zuckerberg that the platform has taken “no meaningful action” to root out misinformation.In the letter, the Biden campaign writes that Facebook “continues to allow Donald Trump to say anything — and to pay to ensure that his wild claims reach millions of voters.  SuperPACs and other dark money groups are following his example.