Social network

Facebook and academics row over data access

Members of the Cybersecurity for Democracy team, based at New York University, tweeted they had had their accounts shut down.

Facebook said the tools they had used to gain access to its data violated user privacy.

The researchers said Facebook was now curtailing their work measuring vaccine disinformation, among other things.

Laura Edelson tweeted Facebook had suspended the accounts of several people associated with the team, including her own.

Lego's new social network wants to keep bullies out

The company launched on Tuesday a free iOS and Android app called Lego Life. The social platform children under the age of 13 share photos of their Lego creations, watch animated videos and participate in building challenges.

"One of its core purposes is to put their iPhone down and go do something else," Rob Lowe, senior director at the Lego Group, told CNNTech.

Facebook: Social network, media company - or both?

This abstract question may strike you as the preserve of Palo Alto wannabes, Lower East Side podcasters, and media navel-gazers closer to home.

In fact the answer, while complex, goes to the very essence of democracy in our time.

And you cannot understand Thursday's announcement from the company, about its clampdown on fake news, without answering the prior question above.

New social network to pay trending users

Linda Ikeji, a former model from Lagos, Nigeria, says her social network, LIS (Linda Ikeji Social) has something others lack: a one-stop shop for everything online.

"About 30-40 million Nigerians are now online, and they go through so many sites," Ikeji told CNN.

"They go to Facebook for connecting with friends. They come to my blog to read the news. They buy and sell things and go to places like Nairaland where they exchange opinions."