FacEBook accidEntal ‘lEak’ RiSkS modERatoRS’ idEntitY
A security glitch at Facebook has put the lives of its over 1,000 content moderators at risk by accidentally leaking their identities to suspected terrorists’ accounts on the social media platform. According to a report in The Guardian on Friday, the security lapse that was identified in November 2016 has affected more than 1,000 workers across 22 departments at Facebook who used the company’s moderation software to review and remove inappropriate content, including sexual material, hate speech and terrorist propaganda. This all started after Facebook moderators started receiving friend requests from people affiliated with the terrorist organisations they were scrutinising. “The security glitch, which lasted for a month before Facebook was able to correct it in November, made the moderators’ profiles appear in the notifications of Facebook groups that are thought to be administrated by terrorists with ties to IS, Hezbollah and the Kurdistan Workers Party,” the report quoted a moderator as saying. It was later discovered by the company that the personal Facebook profiles of its moderators had been automatically appearing in the activity logs of the terror groups they were shutting down. Around 40 workers were affected in counter-terrorism unit based at Facebook’s European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland while six of those were assessed to be “high priority” victims of the ‘glitch’. “Within the highrisk, six had their personal profiles viewed by accounts with ties to IS, Hezbollah and the Kurdistan Workers Party. British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government sought on Saturday to quell anger over a deadly tower block fire by pledging to support the victims of the blaze after protesters jeered her when she visited local residents. May was rushed away from a meeting with residents on Friday under heavy police guard as protesters shouted “Shame on you” and hundreds stormed a local town hall calling for justice. After a botched snap election that lost her party its majority in parliament, May is facing criticism for her response to the blaze which engulfed the 24-storey apartment block of social housing on Wednesday, killing at least 30 people.
Residents of the destroyed tower said May was far too slow to visit the stricken community, that the building had been unsafe and that officials have failed to give enough information and support to those who have lost relatives Seven sailors are missing and three injured after a US Navy destroyer collided early on Saturday morning with a Philippine-flagged container ship south of Tokyo Bay in Japan, the US Navy said.
The Japanese Coast Guard said the destroyer was experiencing some flooding but was not in danger of sinking, while the merchant vessel was able to sail under its own power. The US Navy said in a statement the USS Fitzgerald, an Aegis guided missile de-