social media

Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez rises during Question Period, Monday, April 25, 2022 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Facebook has serious concerns over online news bill, considers options for response

Meta says it was “not consulted” on its content, an assertion sharply disputed by Canada

Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez rises during Question Period, Monday, April 25, 2022 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
FILE - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer media award in Berlin on Dec. 1, 2020. Musk says he has lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter, and he’s trying to negotiate an agreement with the company. The Tesla CEO says in documents filed Thursday, April 21, 2022 with U.S. securities regulators that he’s exploring a tender offer to buy all of the social media platform’s common stock for $54.20 per share in cash.  (Hannibal Hanschke/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Elon Musk has an agreement to acquire Twitter for about $44B

Musk says Twitter must do better at serving what he calls the “societal imperative” of free speech

FILE - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer media award in Berlin on Dec. 1, 2020. Musk says he has lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter, and he’s trying to negotiate an agreement with the company. The Tesla CEO says in documents filed Thursday, April 21, 2022 with U.S. securities regulators that he’s exploring a tender offer to buy all of the social media platform’s common stock for $54.20 per share in cash.  (Hannibal Hanschke/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer media award in Berlin on Dec. 1, 2020. Musk says he has lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter, and he’s trying to negotiate an agreement with the company. The Tesla CEO says in documents filed Thursday, April 21, 2022 with U.S. securities regulators that he’s exploring a tender offer to buy all of the social media platform’s common stock for $54.20 per share in cash. (Hannibal Hanschke/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Reports: Twitter in talks with Musk over bid to buy platform

Musk said last week that he had lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter

FILE - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the Axel Springer media award in Berlin on Dec. 1, 2020. Musk says he has lined up $46.5 billion in financing to buy Twitter, and he’s trying to negotiate an agreement with the company. The Tesla CEO says in documents filed Thursday, April 21, 2022 with U.S. securities regulators that he’s exploring a tender offer to buy all of the social media platform’s common stock for $54.20 per share in cash. (Hannibal Hanschke/Pool Photo via AP, File)
(Pixabay.com)

Liz Weston: Find out and fix what big data says about you

You’re being tracked, and discovering and correcting a tracker’s mistakes is no small task

(Pixabay.com)
Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, holds a press conference regarding the introduction of Bill C-18, the Online News Act, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 5, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Feds try to avoid Australian pitfalls in online news bill

Digital platforms like Google and Facebook will soon have to pay for news content

Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, holds a press conference regarding the introduction of Bill C-18, the Online News Act, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 5, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, holds a press conference regarding the introduction of Bill C-18, the Online News Act, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 5, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, holds a press conference regarding the introduction of Bill C-18, the Online News Act, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 5, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez speaks about the government’s plan to amend the Broadcast Act during a news conference, Wednesday, February 2, 2022 in Ottawa. Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez will introduce legislation today to make digital giants compensate Canadian media outlets for reusing their news content. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Law to help news industry, combat fake news to be tabled today

Law will create framework for media outlets to negotiate compensation deals with online platforms

Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez speaks about the government’s plan to amend the Broadcast Act during a news conference, Wednesday, February 2, 2022 in Ottawa. Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez will introduce legislation today to make digital giants compensate Canadian media outlets for reusing their news content. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Nanaimo TikTok creator Mike DeVries has garnered millions of video views by posting ‘body hacks’ – tips and tricks to do with the human body. (Greg Sakaki/News Bulletin)

B.C. TikTok creator gains millions of views posting ‘body hacks’

VIU student Mike DeVries building following posting life tips and tricks

Nanaimo TikTok creator Mike DeVries has garnered millions of video views by posting ‘body hacks’ – tips and tricks to do with the human body. (Greg Sakaki/News Bulletin)
Erin O'Toole poses with a chocolate bar in this undated handout photo. On the morning of Aug. 24, 2020, the Colorado O'Toole woke up to find a whole lot of new Canadian followers. Turns out, the politician O'Toole had just won the Conservative leadership. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Erin O'Toole *MANDATORY CREDIT*

Twitter twins stay on top of Canadian news one misfired tweet at a time

Colorado’s Erin O’Toole shares birthday with her Canadian Twitter twin, the now ex-Conservative Leader

Erin O'Toole poses with a chocolate bar in this undated handout photo. On the morning of Aug. 24, 2020, the Colorado O'Toole woke up to find a whole lot of new Canadian followers. Turns out, the politician O'Toole had just won the Conservative leadership. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO, Erin O'Toole *MANDATORY CREDIT*
FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2020 file photo, a view of the TikTok app logo, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2020 file photo, a view of the TikTok app logo, in Tokyo. The Biden administration is putting on hold a deal brokered by the Trump administration that would have had Oracle and Walmart buying a big stake in popular video app TikTok, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)

More scrutiny needed of TikTok’s reach, influence on public health: B.C. researchers

Researchers need to get ahead of misinformation and not just in regards to COVID

FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2020 file photo, a view of the TikTok app logo, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 28, 2020 file photo, a view of the TikTok app logo, in Tokyo. The Biden administration is putting on hold a deal brokered by the Trump administration that would have had Oracle and Walmart buying a big stake in popular video app TikTok, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File)
Seen on the screen of a device in Sausalito, Calif., Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. Zuckerberg talked up his latest passion — creating a virtual reality “metaverse” for business, entertainment and meaningful social interactions. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Facebook rebrands as Meta to emphasize ‘metaverse’ vision

Zuckerberg says he expects the metaverse to reach a billion people within the next decade

Seen on the screen of a device in Sausalito, Calif., Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address during a virtual event on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2021. Zuckerberg talked up his latest passion — creating a virtual reality “metaverse” for business, entertainment and meaningful social interactions. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
NDP Member of Parliament Charlie Angus speaks during a news conference, Monday, October 18, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Facebook whistleblower rekindles questions about cracking down on Facebook in Canada

Canadian politicians and experts grapple with how to regulate Big Tech

NDP Member of Parliament Charlie Angus speaks during a news conference, Monday, October 18, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
NDP Member of Parliament Charlie Angus speaks during a news conference, Monday, October 18, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

NDP calls for independent social media regulator as scrutiny of Facebook heats up

VIDEO: MP says says Facebook seems to ‘drive extremist content and undermine democracy’

NDP Member of Parliament Charlie Angus speaks during a news conference, Monday, October 18, 2021 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
The icons of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp can be seen on the screen of a smartphone in Kempten, Germany, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. The six-hour outage of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp on Monday was a headache for many casual users. But the outage was far more serious for many people worldwide who rely on the social media sites to communicate with relatives, friends and neighbors and run their businesses. It’s a stark reminder that many of the most popular ways to communicate are controlled by one company, Facebook. And any lengthy outage can have severe implications. (Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa via AP)

Outage highlights how vital Facebook has become worldwide

For small businesses, the outages meant hundreds or thousands of dollars in lost revenue

The icons of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp can be seen on the screen of a smartphone in Kempten, Germany, Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. The six-hour outage of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp on Monday was a headache for many casual users. But the outage was far more serious for many people worldwide who rely on the social media sites to communicate with relatives, friends and neighbors and run their businesses. It’s a stark reminder that many of the most popular ways to communicate are controlled by one company, Facebook. And any lengthy outage can have severe implications. (Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa via AP)
Facebook says the Federal Trade Commission failed to prove that it has a monopoly in the “personal social networking space”. (Dreamstime/TNS)

Facebook asks court to dismiss FTC antitrust complaint

Facebook is asking a federal court to dismiss a revised complaint against…

Facebook says the Federal Trade Commission failed to prove that it has a monopoly in the “personal social networking space”. (Dreamstime/TNS)
Facebook (Courtesy photo)

Facebook back after lengthy global outage blamed on router issues

The company apologized and said it is working to understand more about the cause

Facebook (Courtesy photo)
People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier responds to reporters' questions after launching his campaign during a press conference at a hotel in Saint-Georges, Que., Friday, Aug. 20, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Twitter requires Maxime Bernier to delete tweet sharing reporters’ emails

Bernier called three journalists from mainstream news outlets ‘idiots’

People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier responds to reporters' questions after launching his campaign during a press conference at a hotel in Saint-Georges, Que., Friday, Aug. 20, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
The English department at the University of Victoria is rethinking its practice of quoting disturbing passages in classic literature, after the use of the N-word in a lecture led to a complaint from a student.

Use of N-word in University of Victoria literature class lecture sparks probe

English department to look at establishing best practices for teaching disturbing materials

The English department at the University of Victoria is rethinking its practice of quoting disturbing passages in classic literature, after the use of the N-word in a lecture led to a complaint from a student.
The Twitter logo is displayed outside the company’s headquarters in San Francisco. (Bloomberg/David Paul Morris)

Nigeria suspends Twitter over president’s deleted tweet

The company deleted a controversial tweet President Muhammadu Buhari made about a secessionist movement

The Twitter logo is displayed outside the company’s headquarters in San Francisco. (Bloomberg/David Paul Morris)
The Twitter Canada office in Toronto is shown in this undated handout photo. Twitter Inc. will be bulking up on Canadian talent this year with a hiring spree meant to add dozens of engineers in the country to its staff. The San Francisco, Calif.-based social media giant said Thursday that it plans to form its first Canadian engineering hub with at least 24 new workers it will soon hire. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Twitter Canada

Twitter to launch engineering hub in Canada with dozens of hires this year

Several of Twitter’s senior hires in the U.S. and other markets have come from Canada

The Twitter Canada office in Toronto is shown in this undated handout photo. Twitter Inc. will be bulking up on Canadian talent this year with a hiring spree meant to add dozens of engineers in the country to its staff. The San Francisco, Calif.-based social media giant said Thursday that it plans to form its first Canadian engineering hub with at least 24 new workers it will soon hire. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Twitter Canada