Facebook shuts down three underutilized apps

It’s time to say goodbye to Hello, Moves, and tbh. These three Facebook apps are being shut down because of the lack of enough user interest to keep them going and the company doesn’t want to “spread ourselves too thin” with underutilized apps. Facebook said they will also be deleting user data for all three apps within 90 days.

Fitness tracking app Moves was bought by Facebook back in 2014 but raised privacy concerns because of how the app tracked daily activities. A year later, Facebook introduced Hello, a mobile app the displayed information about incoming phone calls even if the caller’s number isn’t saved on your phone. And then last year, Facebook acquired tbh, which let its users compliment each other by sending anonymous quizzes.

Facebook quiz app may have leaked personal data of 120 million users

While the whole Cambridge Analytica scandal isn’t that far in our past, we knew it was going to unearth a lot of skeletons in Facebook’s closet. The latest one is a Facebook quiz app that may have leaked personal data of around 120 million users who’ve answered the quizzes. Security researcher who goes by the username Inti De Ceukelaire discovered the leak by taking part in Facebook’s data abuse bounty program launched in April 10. One of the third-party apps he looked through was from NameTests.com and there he discovered that the site exposed Facebook users’ data to “any third-party that requested it.” He found that the app exposed user information through javascript, which could easily share files between sites as part of its basic functions.

The site has possibly leaked information since the end of 2016 and De Ceukelaire reported it to Facebook by April 22. Unfortunately, Facebook’s response wasn’t as speedy as the fix only came around the end of June. According to NameTests’ parent company, Social Sweethearts, they have investigated the issue but no user data has been compromised and they are working on measures to avoid these risks from happening in the future. 

Source: TechCrunch

Facebook tests out new feature to track the time you spend on the social network

Tech companies are acknowledging our need to have better control over our digital health. The latest one to join this initiative is Facebook. The company is testing out a new feature that can show you how much time you spend on the platform. The “Your Time on Facebook” feature shows you the time you’ve spent on the social network over the past seven days as well as the average for the total week. You can set a time limit on how long you’re in the application and it’ll notify you when you’ve hit your limit. Facebook hasn’t given a specific timetable when this will roll out to more users but the company has told TechCrunch that they are “working on new ways to help make sure people’s times on Facebook is time well spent.”

Facebook Messenger Kids app comes to Canada and Peru

Facebook’s controversial chat app Messenger Kids is making its way out of the US and into Canada and Peru. It’ll also now be available in French and Spanish. The app, which is designed for kids under 13, has been met by criticism from advocacy groups for being harmful to kids as they shouldn’t be exposed to social media accounts at such young ages. Facebook has said the app complies with the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act but advocacy groups like the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood saying in an open letter that “young children are simply not ready to have social media accounts” and are “not old enough to navigate the complexities of online relationships.”

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