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Russia used Facebook to organize anti-immigrant rallies
Facebook is in hot water with US lawmakers. The web giant's reluctance to stamp out Russia's propaganda farms on its social network did not go down well with Congressional investigators. It finally acted last month, taking down thousands of ads linked to an infamous, pro-Putin internet agency. The shady organization, known for running misinformation campaigns, must've felt at home on the platform. After all, Facebook is still grappling with its fake news conundrum. But, the Russian rabbit hole goes even deeper than the $100,000 spent on deceptive ads. The Daily Beast is now reporting that operatives from the country set up Facebook events to remotely organize political protests in the US. Among these was a 2016 anti-immigrant rally in Idaho. Others reportedly pushed anti-muslim conspiracy theories. Facebook confirmed that it had shut down "several promoted events" as part of its recent clampdown.
Facebook's standalone Events app arrives on Android at last
It's taken a bit more than two months, but Facebook has finally brought its standalone Events app to Android. Having debuted in October this year, Events lets you stalk see happenings that your friends are interested in attending, as well as affairs hosted by Pages you like and updates from parties you've already RSVPed to. You can also look for recommendations of upcoming things to do based on time, location and your interests.
Facebook debuts hand-picked event listings in 10 cities
In its latest attempt to seem a little more human and a little less algorithmic, Facebook debuted a new feature Monday that suggests interesting events picked by real, live humans in 10 major US cities -- even if those events aren't on Facebook. As TechCrunch reports, iOS users in San Francisco, New York, Chicago and elsewhere will see the cleverly named "Featured Events" listings at the top of the events tab starting today. Unlike "suggested" events, which are based on your friends' interests and RSVPs, Facebook has actually built out a team of curators to hand-pick events in each city.
Waze 3.7 navigates to Facebook Events, shares directions with others
It's not hard to navigate to a Facebook Event if there's an address: it's much harder if the organizer simply assumes that we'll know where to go. Thankfully, we can now lean on some collective help through Waze 3.7 for Android and iOS. The update not only populates the destination list with Facebook Events, but fills in the blanks for everyone involved -- enter an address and it will be sent to others on the guest list. It's also easier to be fashionably late with the new app, as Waze members can see when others are likely to show up. Anyone who's ever had to navigate to "that place near the guy with the thing" will likely want to grab the 3.7 upgrade at one of the source links.
Facebook redesigns Events listings, makes you an even bigger jerk for forgetting someone's birthday
Facebook, that tenuous connection between ourselves and the many casual acquaintances we've amassed over the years, has just rolled out a better way to keep track of events. Now it's possible to plan that witty annual birthday greeting months in advance, thanks to the new calendar and list views on the social network's Events page. You can also see suggested events and respond to invites from the comfort of the same page. The roll out follows the introduction the new Google+ Events page late last month, so now the two social networks can avoid awkwardly bumping into each other at parties. Update: Looks like weddings and celebrations are getting overhauled, too. Clearly, it's time to get down.
Symbian Foundation teases augmented reality/social networking tool, says you'll probably never get it (video)
What do you do when everyone's talking about the competition's exciting new take on navigation? Why, you come up with your exciting new angle that's way cooler than theirs then sit back and guffaw while high-fiving your co-workers. That seems to be what Symbian Foundation is attempting here, with a teaser of a tool that would let you not only easily interact with Facebook events but also get real-time augmented reality navigation straight to them. It looks fancy enough, but there's a big catch: the company has no current plans of making it a reality, saying it's "not part of the Symbian UI Roadmap." Carry on, then, nothing to see after the break but a mobile Web 2.0 pipe dream.