Kurt Wagner

Facebook users will soon be able to opt out of one of Facebook’s key data gathering practices: Its collection and use of people’s web browsing history, which the company uses to sell targeted ads. As part of an upcoming feature called “clear history,” users can delete their browsing data from Facebook‘s servers, or ask the company not to collect it to begin with. Your browsing data could still be retained in an anonymous, aggregated set for companies that use Facebook for analytics purposes, but it wouldn’t be tied to your profile or used for targeting, a spokesperson confirmed.

Facebook wants to make it easier for people to find local news from vetted sources. The social network is testing a new section inside its app called “Today In,” a feed made up entirely of local news, events and announcements. The test is running in just six cities for now: New Orleans (LA), Little Rock (AR), Billings (MT), Peoria (IL), Olympia (WA), and Binghamton (NY). Facebook users who self-identify as living in those areas will be able to visit the new section to see local information, like stories from local publishers or emergency updates from local authorities.

Facebook announced what it’s calling “Tether-tenna technology,” essentially a small, unmanned helicopter that will provide Wi-Fi access to crisis zones when existing Wi-Fi towers are down or damaged. The helicopter-drone, which is roughly the size of a Volkswagen Beetle, is literally tethered to a fiber line and a power source on the ground, which enables the chopper to stay airborne for days at a time. (Facebook says its goal is to keep it up for weeks or months.)

The Tether-tenna technology is still in early testing, which means it isn’t being deployed to actual disaster areas just yet, said Yael Maguire, head of Facebook’s connectivity lab. Maguire — whose team also built Facebook’s internet-beaming drone, Aquila, and is laying hundreds of miles of fiber cable in Africa to increase access to the internet there — estimates that one helicopter could connect “in the neighborhood of thousands to tens of thousands of people.” The Aquila drone hasn’t been deployed yet either; the aircraft was damaged after it crashed upon landing during a test flight last summer.

Facebook has a new plan to get more of Africa online: Fiber optic cables.

The company announced plans to lay nearly 500 miles of fiber cable in Uganda by the end of the year, infrastructure that Facebook believes will provide internet access for more than 3 million people. Facebook is not, however, providing its own wireless network. The company is partnering with Airtel and BCS to provide the actual internet service, and says the fiber will offer more support for “mobile operators’ base stations.” The company also says that it’s “open” to working with other network providers down the line. All three organizations are making some kind of financial commitment to the project, though it’s unclear who is paying for what. The move to dig up ground and lay physical fiber cables is the latest in a string of efforts Facebook has made over the past two years to get more people online. Facebook’s mission is to connect everyone in the world with its social network, but that’s hard to do if significant portions of the world don’t have internet access.

Milo Yiannopoulos, the tech editor at conservative news site Breitbart and a pretty notorious Internet troll, has been suspended from Twitter for the final time. He’s now banned for good for repeatedly abusing other users, the company confirmed.

Yiannopoulos crossed the line when he went after actress Leslie Jones on the microblogging site. Jones was harassed and taunted by users, many of them sending her racist images and slurs. She ultimately signed off “with tears and a very sad heart” after publicly pleading with Twitter to intervene. Yiannopoulos, who had 338,000 followers and a Twitter bio that called him “The most fabulous supervillain on the Internet,” was one of the main instigators. He tweeted that Jones was “barely literate” and also referred to her as a man. The permanent ban means that Twitter will essentially keep Yiannopoulos off its network in any way possible, including finding and suspended any new accounts he creates. It’s the same punishment Twitter has handed down to other repeat trolls, like rapper Azealia Banks and Gotnews founder Chuck Johnson.

Twitter began adding content to users’ timelines, and it says it’s going to keep doing that.

Sources familiar with the update say Twitter’s algorithm searches for popular tweets in your “social graph,” marked by actions like favorites and retweets. But it’s not showing you those tweets specifically because of one of your pal’s actions -- it’s showing it to you because lots of your pals have shown interest in that tweet.