News around the world

Facebook just had the biggest wipeout in stock market history. Shares plunged 19% on Thursday after executives warned that revenue growth would slow as the company focuses on user privacy. The sell-off vaporized about $119 billion in market value — the biggest single-day loss for any public company in history, according to Thomson Reuters. For founder Mark Zuckerberg, the loss came to almost $16 billion, according to Forbes, which tracks billionaire wealth in real time. That dropped him from fourth to sixth on the list of richest people in the world. Facebook (FB) Chief Financial Officer David Wehner said on a conference call with investors that Facebook is "putting privacy first" after the Cambridge Analytica scandal triggered a wave of horrible press, customer angst and regulatory scrutiny around the world. As an example of its new strategy, Wehner said Facebook will put more development muscle behind the company's Stories feature. That will put a drag on ...

Facebook has suspended analytics firm Crimson Hexagon while it investigates how it collects and shares data from the site and its Instagram platform. The social media giant has been facing increased scrutiny over how third-party firms use its data since news broke in March that data firm CA improperly accessed user data. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Facebook had suspended Boston-based Crimson Hexagon. The newspaper said among the firm’s clients is a Russian nonprofit with ties to the Kremlin. “We don’t allow developers to build surveillance tools using information from Facebook or Instagram,” said Ime Archibong, Facebook’s vice president of product partnerships. “We take these allegations seriously, and we have suspended these apps while we investigate.” Facebook said on Friday that Crimson Hexagon is co-operating and that so far its investigation has not found evidence that the firm obtained Facebook or Instagram information inappropriately. Crimson Hexagon says on its ...

Facebook has suspended analytics firm Crimson Hexagon while it investigates how it collects and shares data from the site and its Instagram platform. The social media giant has been facing increased scrutiny over how third-party firms use its data since news broke in March that data firm CA improperly accessed user data. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Facebook had suspended Boston-based Crimson Hexagon. The newspaper said among the firm’s clients is a Russian nonprofit with ties to the Kremlin. “We don’t allow developers to build surveillance tools using information from Facebook or Instagram,” said Ime Archibong, Facebook’s vice president of product partnerships. “We take these allegations seriously, and we have suspended these apps while we investigate.” Facebook said on Friday that Crimson Hexagon is co-operating and that so far its investigation has not found evidence that the firm obtained Facebook or Instagram information inappropriately. ...