Facebook Took Down Elbow Photo Because It Looked Like a Boob (NSFW?)

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, the elbow boob existed. It was an innocent thing – nothing but a joint, but Facebook saw fit to take down any images of it because, well, it looked too much like a female breast.

Facebook Elbow BoobOkay, so that sounds like a really twisted fairy tale of sorts, but the story is 100% true. It’s also one tale that ends up making Facebook’s content filters seem like a bunch of incapable code. (Is there such a thing?) Because apparently, it can’t tell the difference between an actual breast and a woman’s elbow.

The image was originally posted by  Theories of the Deep Understand of Things who wanted to test Facebook’s image filters. Looks like their theories were proven right (or was that wrong?)

Either way, I admit that the image is pretty misleading, and people with imaginative minds can choose to go with the ‘alternate’ representation of the elbow. It has been confirmed that this image only shows the woman’s elbow and nothing more, but Facebook took it down anyway.

So I ask you: Should they have kept the image up?

[via Geekologie]


Asha 205 Skips Facebook Button In China

The Asha 205 was the other featurephone which we did not bother to cover the other day simply because the Asha 206 (that came in single and dual SIM models) proved to be the superior device between the two, but if there was one thing that news feeds buzzed about the Asha 205, it would be this – the Asha 205 is Nokia’s first handset to come with a dedicated Facebook button. Well, it seems that the China-bound Asha 205 will be different, even gimped if you were to say so, as it will no longer carry the Facebook button, but rather, be replaced by a QQ button – which is China’s equivalent of Facebook – at least in terms of popularity, as it is an instant messaging service.

After all, we do know that China and Facebook are not the best of friends, never mind about Mark Zuckerberg’s intention of learning Chinese as well as marrying a hottie who in all probability, can trace her roots back to China. We do wonder just how well the Asha 205 will sell in that part of the world…

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Chrome For iOS Adds Passbook Integration, Google Drive For Android & iOS Now Supports Spreadsheet Editing,

Facebook gets the banhammer in Tajikistan

Social media, while home to endless cat pictures and game updates, is an excellent medium for voicing social discontent and advocating against authority, whatever that authority may be. Such is the case in politics, where citizens voice their opinion on social media networks to reach a larger audience. Now Facebook has received the proverbial banhammer in Tajikistan, which has blocked access to the website due to “mud and slander.”

Service providers in Tajikistan were ordered to block users from accessing Facebook due to a myriad of complaints regarding what was considered unsavory statements about the country’s officials and president. Following along with the orders, a total of six mobile and Internet providers blocked the social network. Allegedly, the public has praised the move, “flooding” the Telecommunications agency with positive calls.

Tajikistan’s Office of Telecommunications’ Beg Zukhorov offered this statement. “I received many calls from citizens of Tajikistan asking me to shut down this Facebook as a hotbed of slander. Unknown people there insult the leaders of the state. They are apparently being paid well for that … My phone has literally exploded with calls from grateful citizens who happily greeted the news of the closure of the site, and only a few will see this as a negative step.”

Thus far, Facebook has not issued a response, saying only that it is not, at this point, “taking any active action.” The Tajik agency extended an invitation to Mark Zuckerberg to discuss the matter in its Dushanbe office. Not surprisingly, this isn’t the first time Tijikistan has blocked access to Facebook, having already done so once for a little over a week in reaction to posted criticism of the country’s president.

[via Ria Novostri]


Facebook gets the banhammer in Tajikistan is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Facebook Copyright Law (For Idiots)

We already explained just how worthless that Facebook copyright privacy status update gobbledygook is. But just in case you or one of your friends needs it spoken outloud to you because word-things are too hard, College Humor breaks it down for you in plain English. More »

Facebook Gifts now offering digital iTunes gift cards

It’s safe to assume that many of us spend hours a day on Facebook – whether it be chatting, uploading photos or checking our news feed for news and updates, there’s certainly a lot of things that can be done, and soon it seems you won’t need to open iTunes should you wish to send a gift card to one of your Facebook friends. As you can see in the screenshot above, Facebook has recently announced that Facebook users will now be able to send their friends iTunes gifts via the Facebook Gifts platform. Through this platform, users will be able to send various iTunes purchases, such as songs or albums or you can even gift your friend a gift card to let them decide how they want to spend it.

“Starting today with Facebook Gifts, you can instantly gift your friends iTunes digital gifts and recommend albums, movies, games, apps, and more available on the iTunes Store.

Search for a specific song or album to recommend, or let your friend decide. iTunes digital gifts are available for $10, $15, $25, or $50.”

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Google+ gets integrated into the Google Play store, Firefox Facebook Integration Launched,

Facebook asked by privacy groups to halt policy changes

Facebook has been in the news lately regarding its plans to change its policies. The social network has proposed to end its user voting system and replace that with one that looks at high-quality feedback instead, in addition to other changes. Now two privacy groups have asked the company to stop its proposed changes, saying that it makes user data vulnerable.

The Center for Digital Democracy’s President Jeffrey Chester and the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s President Marc Rotenberg said this in a letter to Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. “These proposed changes raise privacy risks for users. We urge you to withdraw the proposed changes.” Facebook originally launched the user-voting system in 2009, but has since stated that it has outgrown the model.

The privacy changes have been a source of concern and raised eyebrows since the social network announced them. Many users have expressed concern, while the European Union regulators sought clarification about the changes last week. The changes will be applied to the social network’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and data policy if implemented.

The current system, says Facebook, results in a barrage of votes that don’t provide any substantial information. “We found that the voting mechanism, which is triggered by a specific number of comments, actually resulted in a system that incentivized the quantity of comments over their quality.” By changing the system, they can introduce a platform where the quality of feedback is given weight over mere voting numbers. This will likewise eliminate copy-and-paste voting.

[via Bloomberg]


Facebook asked by privacy groups to halt policy changes is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Here’s the Most Hilarious Prank You Can Pull on Facebook

This Facebook user had a genius idea for a prank: find Facebook users with the same name as yourself, recreate their profile pictures as closely as possible and then send them a friend request. It’s like seeing an alternate version of yourself and it’s freaking hilarious. More »

Facebook Privacy Message Is Pointless. Stop Posting

I’ve noticed the privacy message over the week-end, but I didn’t think much about it until it started to show up in more and more feeds. Basically, the idea was that by posting a simple message prohibiting the use of your information, you would be protected from what many see as invasion of their privacy, even if the Facebook terms of use say otherwise. Of course, posting such a message has no legal consequences. It reads like this: (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Firefox Facebook Integration Launched, Instagram launches badges that webmasters can embed into their websites,

Facebook will be sharing your data with other websites

Just last week, Facebook decided to make some big changes to how it deals with user feedback on privacy issues, but one of the changes in the updated privacy policy went slightly unnoticed. Facebook says that they can now use the data it has about your likes and dislikes to show you ads outside of Facebook. In other words, the social network giant can display catered ads to you when you’re not even browsing Facebook.

Facebook needs to make their investors happy, and the only way to do that is generating revenue through different avenues, such as advertising. As many users know, Facebook has already scoured its social network with sponsored this and sponsored that, as well as catered ads based on user data. Now, the company is looking to expand that outside of Facebook’s fortress.

One way that Facebook is looking to earn some revenue is through an external advertising network, which uses information about users and their activity on Facebook as a way of targeting ads on other websites. Venture-capitalist Chris Dixon says that “an external ad network is inevitable. Google proved this model with Adsense.”

While Dixon says that it’s almost impossible for other ad networks to compete with Adsense, “Facebook’s traffic is so great now that an external ad network might increase their revenues by 2x or so.” That would essentially boost Facebook’s yearly revenue to $10 billion. Of course, the only websites that you would find Facebook ads on would be those that the social network partners up with, so don’t expect every single website to be filled with Facebook ads, but it’s said that Facebook will start with Instagram to test out its external ad network, and will move onto other sites where they will attempt to partner up with them in order to serve catered ads.

[via GigaOM]


Facebook will be sharing your data with other websites is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.


Facebook Took Down This Picture Because It Thinks Elbows Are Boobs

Elbows and boobs. Both are great in their own special ways, but they are definitely not the same thing. You and I might know that well enough, but it seems that Facebook has a little more trouble with the distinction. That’s why they took down this elbowlicious picture. More »