Selena Larson

Twitter has changed its explanation as to why it did not delete three graphic anti-Muslim videos retweeted by President Donald Trump. "We mistakenly pointed to the wrong reason we didn't take action on the videos from earlier this week," Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said in a tweet on Dec 1. In response to questions on Nov 30 regarding why the tweets were still available, a Twitter spokesperson referenced the company's Help Center policy. It says Twitter may allow controversial content that might otherwise violate its rules if the company believes there is a legitimate public interest.

US lawmakers say Russia's use of social media in the 2016 presidential election amounts to cyberwarfare. Sens Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Angus King (I-ME) both used that term to describe Russian accounts and advertising that sowed division among Americans by promoting fake news and even protests. "This country has to have some kind of cyberwarfare deterrent capacity," Sen King said. "Right now, there's no price to be paid for meddling in our democracy." But there's no explicit definition or legal framework in the United States for what constitutes cyberwar.

Internet access brings all sorts of benefits: Education, jobs, and connection to friends and family. But youth in the criminal justice and foster care systems often don't have access to it. That's why some lawmakers in California want to make it their right.

Earlier in 2017, CA Democrat Assembly member Mike Gipson introduced legislation that would mandate "reasonable access to computer technology and the internet" for kids in juvenile detention programs and foster care. Access to the internet would be listed on the bills of rights for youth in these state programs. Existing rights include a safe environment, health care, freedom of religion and access to a lawyer.

It's clear that Facebook played a big role in mobilizing people to participate in the global Women's March in Jan. And now researchers have determined just how much of an impact the social network had. According to a study from researchers at the University of Maryland, almost 70 percent of people who attended the DC march heard about it on Facebook. Meanwhile, 61 percent from friends and family. "The take-home message here is clearly that Facebook matters more than friends and family to mobilization," said Dr. Dana R. Fisher, sociology professor and leader of the study. "Which is surprising and a really big deal."

The Internet is a vital tool for education, work, socializing -- and, in some countries, for stifling citizen discontent. An unprecedented Internet blackout in the Central African country of Gabon is the latest in a trend of communication censorship.

On August 31, President Ali Bongo was reelected for a second term, a contested result that was followed by protests in which several people died. The Internet shut down completely for four days, according to Internet performance management company Dyn. And even after it was restored, there has been an "internet curfew" with connectivity being nonexistent between 6 pm and 6 am every day. Social media services including Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp remain entirely blocked at all times of the day. The government of Gabon publicly denied that it had blocked Internet access after the election.

[Commentary] Almost any change Facebook makes to privacy controls triggers outcries and accusations that the social network is continuing to erode any remaining confidence people might have sharing their data with the social network -- and justifiably so.

Yet Facebook just can't stop trying to win over hearts and minds. If it really wants to succeed, though, it needs to become a lot more transparent, and more lenient, about how it vacuums up data, what sort of data it keeps and what it does with it. While it’s smart of Facebook to be proactive about educating users on privacy controls and anticipating backlash, these changes don't go nearly far enough.

The company is still missing some key features that would prove it really takes privacy seriously. When Facebook was still a small and growing social network, it made sense for your personal information to be public so new friends or family that signed up for the service would be able to find you. But now, with over one billion users, many people have established their small piece of the social experience and don’t need to field any additional friend requests, while others just don’t want to be found at all.

In order to feel completely secure on Facebook, it should give users the opportunity to opt-out of search, or choose what part, if any, of their data can be publicly visible. Restricting cover photo viewing is a step in the right direction, but restricting or eliminating all required public information would boost confidence in users that Facebook is taking concerns seriously.