Facebook sorry for labelling 65,000 Russians 'interested in treason'
London, July 12 : Facebook has apologised for labelling 65,000 Russians as "interested in treason," putting them at potential probe risk by the Russian law enforcement officials and the government, the media reported.
According to a report in The Guardian on Thursday, the advertising tools algorithmically labelled 65,000 Russians as "interested in treason".
Facebook later said the label was intended to only identify historical treason.
"Treason was included as a category, given its historical significance. Given it's an illegal activity, we've removed it as an interest category," a spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The social media giant generally tags users based on their behaviour on its platform for advertisers to select and target people interested in specific topics.
"Treason was included as a category, given its historical significance. Given it's an illegal activity, we've removed it as an interest category," a Facebook spokesperson told the Guardian.
The labelling raises new concerns over data-driven profiling.
and targeting of users on the website, which has already faced criticism for the same tool algorithmically inferring information about users' race, sexuality and political views despite data protection legislation requiring explicit consent to hold such information.
The Danish Broadcasting Corporation first raised this problem with Facebook.
The issue at hand has "raised a number of important questions about the way Facebook's advertising systems work. Our goal is to ensure people see ads that are relevant and useful. It's better for the people using our service, as well as for advertisers," Facebook said in a statement.
"When we identify misuse of our ads products, we take action. Depending on the violation, we may remove the ad, suspend the ad account or even report the advertiser to law enforcement," it added.
In a latest admission, Facebook said it entered into data-sharing partnership with 52 technology companies, including Chinese companies like Alibaba, Huawei, Lenovo and Oppo.
In its 747-page response to questions raised by a US committee, Facebook said it had already ended partnerships with 38 of them with seven more due to expire in July and one more in October this year.
The UK's data protection watchdog also plans to slap a fine of 500,000 pounds ($662,501) on Facebook over the Cambridge Analytica data leak scandal. This is the highest permitted fine under Britain's data protection law.
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Prasidh, Kuldeep limit South Africa to 270 after De Kock's hundred
Visakhapatnam (PTI): India fought back gallantly through Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav after Quinton de Kock struck his 23rd hundred, keeping South Africa to a manageable 270 in the third and series-deciding final ODI, here Saturday.
India won the toss after judging the spin of the coin incorrectly 20 times in a row. They had little hesitation in inserting the Proteas into bat, a clear indication of dew factor dominating the thought.
After Arshdeep Singh sent back Ryan Rickelton early, De Kock (106, 89b, 8x4, 6x4) struck his seventh century against India and put on 113 runs off 124 balls with skipper Temba Bavuma (48, 67b) as the visitors moved to a healthy position.
De Kock was severe on Prasidh (4/66), who erred on length continuously in his first spell (2-0-27-0). The left-hander biffed the pacer for 6, 6, 4 in his second over to milk 18 runs.
The 32-year-old quickly pounced on anything that was short, and pacers Prasidh and Harshit offered him plenty of feed on his pet areas.
Bavuma was more sedate, and made runs through those typical dabs and jabs, occasionally unfurling a drive of elan.
De Kock moved to fifty in 42 balls, and never let the tempo down reaching his hundred in 79 balls.
India found temporary relief when Ravindra Jadeja induced a false slash from Bavuma to get caught by Virat Kohli at point.
The tourists got another move on through a 54-run partnership between De Kock and Matthew Breetzkle for the third wicket, and at 168 for two in 28 overs they were in a good position to press on.
But Breetzke's punishment of part-time spinner Tilak Varma forced a rethink in the Indian camp, as skipper KL Rahul brought back Prasidh for a second spell.
What a masterstroke it turned out to be! The Karnataka man broke the back of South Africa’s top and middle order in an exceptional second spell (4-0-11-3).
Breetzke was the first man to go, trapped plumb in front with a straight one and four balls later Aiden Markram uppishly chipped a fuller delivery to Kohli at short covers.
Prasidh soon castled De Kock, whose ugly cross-batted swipe failed to connect a full length delivery from the pacer.
All of a sudden, SA found themselves at a shaky 199 for five, losing three wickets in the space of three overs.
Once Prasidh was done away with the top and middle-order, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep (4/41) took over and mopped up the tail as SA fell short of even a par total on this track.
