Step into a world where the focus is keenly set on Whatsapp Owned By Facebook. Within the confines of this article, a tapestry of references to Whatsapp Owned By Facebook awaits your exploration. If your pursuit involves unraveling the depths of Whatsapp Owned By Facebook, you've arrived at the perfect destination.
Our narrative unfolds with a wealth of insights surrounding Whatsapp Owned By Facebook. This is not just a standard article; it's a curated journey into the facets and intricacies of Whatsapp Owned By Facebook. Whether you're thirsting for comprehensive knowledge or just a glimpse into the universe of Whatsapp Owned By Facebook, this promises to be an enriching experience.
The spotlight is firmly on Whatsapp Owned By Facebook, and as you navigate through the text on these digital pages, you'll discover an extensive array of information centered around Whatsapp Owned By Facebook. This is more than mere information; it's an invitation to immerse yourself in the enthralling world of Whatsapp Owned By Facebook.
So, if you're eager to satisfy your curiosity about Whatsapp Owned By Facebook, your journey commences here. Let's embark together on a captivating odyssey through the myriad dimensions of Whatsapp Owned By Facebook.
Facebook-owned WhatsApp extends message deletion time
Facebook-owned WhatsApp extends message deletion time
Facebook-owned WhatsApp is changing the amount of time you have to delete messages you've sent for all recipients. According to WABetaInfo, since the release of WhatsApp beta for Android 2.18.69, the messaging app allows users 2¹² seconds (4,096 seconds, which is 68 minutes, 16 seconds) to take back a message you didn't want to send. It replaces it with a "this was deleted" message. The feature has since been added to the iOS and Windows Phone apps via updates.
First released last October, the "delete for everyone" feature used to allow you only 7 minutes to delete a message. The app had a flaw though, allowing people with modified versions of the app from third-party sites to delete messages as far back as three years.
This has been fixed as well, and when a revoke request comes in, it will make sure the message was sent within 24 hours. This time limit was decided in case the recipient of the message that is being deleted didn't have their phone on. If they don't turn their phone on in 24 hours, the message will not be deleted.
Members family problems because of whatsapp family image for whatsapp group profile pictures for whatsapp family group whatsapp status for parents love why do people like whatsapp why do people use the whatsapp why does everyone use whatsapp whatsapp why do people use it why do people use the whatsapp why would someone use whatsapp why whatsapp web logout automatically
Why WhatsApp users are pushing family members to Signal
Why WhatsApp users are pushing family members to Signal
When WhatsApp users started freaking out about privacy on the messaging app last month, Kevin Woblick knew it was time to encourage his family to move to another chat service: Signal.
The 30-year-old German software developer had broached the topic after Edward Snowden leaked classified documents detailing America's mass surveillance program. But Woblick couldn't convince his family to delete WhatsApp despite the Snowden news and the global uproar over digital privacy that followed. So this time, he took a gentler approach.
"It wouldn't be too inconvenient to have a second messenger on your phone right?" he asked his family. He found it amusing that his grandma was the first to agree to download the app. Then, the rest of his family followed.
Woblick and his family are among the exodus of WhatsApp users bolting from the Facebook-owned messaging app to services like Signal that are seen as secure alternatives. Making the move isn't easy, because people naturally gravitate toward apps their friends and family use, and then stick with them. In India, WhatsApp's largest market, switching to another messaging service is even tougher because of its enormous reach.
WhatsApp, which Facebook bought in 2014 for $19 billion, is used by more than 2 billion people in over 180 countries. The popular app is an online space where people go to chat, shop and share news. More than 175 million people message a business on WhatsApp daily, allowing them to browse or buy items, ranging from cakes to flights. The messaging app, though, has also been criticized for not doing enough to curb the spread of misinformation that fuels violence. In 2018, false rumors about child kidnappers ignited mob violence and killings in India, prompting WhatsApp to limit message forwarding.
Outrage over privacy on WhatsApp began to grow in January, when the service notified users it was updating its privacy policy and terms of service. The update included details about how WhatsApp data could be used and shared when a user messages a business on the app. Some users thought the changes meant WhatsApp could read their messages and listen to their personal phone calls. WhatsApp said the messaging service can't read personal messages, because they're end-to-end encrypted, and that the changes wouldn't expand the app's ability to share data with Facebook.
WhatsApp responded to the fallout, pushing back the update until May. It placed newspaper ads in India, shared more information on its website, and used Status, a tool that lets users post content that disappears within 24 hours, to assure people their personal WhatsApp messages remain private.
By then, though, the damage had been done.
From Jan.1 to Jan. 25, compared with Dec. 7 to Dec. 31, Signal installs jumped 4,868%, while downloads of WhatsApp fell roughly 16%, according to data from data analytics firm SensorTower. At one point, the surge in new users led to a daylong outage on Signal. A spokesperson for Signal said the app "had a record breaking January" but declined to say how many users are on the app.
Unlike WhatsApp, Signal isn't owned by a company. It's funded by a nonprofit set up by Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton, who co-founded WhatsApp but left the social media giant in 2017. Besides the user outrage, the encrypted-messaging service has also been endorsed by high-profile figures, including Snowden and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
David Choffnes, an associate computer science professor at Northeastern University, said WhatsApp's policy updates could've rekindled concerns over Facebook's poor track record with privacy. He pointed to the scandal involving Cambridge Analytica, a British political consultancy, that harvested the data of roughly 87 million Facebook users without their permission.
"The whole world has lost a lot of trust in Facebook," Choffnes said, adding that the WhatsApp backlash "was sort of like a powder keg ready to ignite."
Nidhi Hegde, director of strategy and programs at the American Economic Liberties Project in Washington, DC, said her family uses a mix of WhatsApp and Signal. Some didn't want to switch to a new messaging service, especially after WhatsApp delayed its privacy updates. On Thursday, WhatsApp was No. 3 in Apple's top apps for social networking, and Signal was No. 12.
"I think what it has done is make a lot more people (like my mom and older relatives) who are not particularly tech-savvy or thinking about privacy become more aware of Facebook's power and how their personal data is mined for targeted advertising to feed Facebook's business," Hegde said in an email. "And they are now significantly concerned that they have no choice but to accept the terms."
Last month, WhatsApp users got a notice telling them the app's 3,800-word privacy policy and 5,000-word terms of service were being updated to include information about processing of user data, the ability of businesses to use Facebook services for managing chats, and the relationship between WhatsApp and Facebook. The notice linked to the revised policies but didn't outline the exact changes users were agreeing to if they accepted the updates.
The changes spell out what happens to your data when you message a business on WhatsApp, which is different from chatting with friends and family. Some businesses might make communications available to a third-party service provider that manages their chats with customers, which can include Facebook, the revised privacy policy says. WhatsApp labels chats with businesses that use Facebook's services to manage their conversations. A WhatsApp FAQ on the changes also notes that when a person messages a business, the store might use that information for marketing, which could include Facebook ads.
Some users thought the updates meant WhatsApp was going to force them to share personal data with Facebook for the first time. (But WhatsApp has already been sharing data with Facebook to suggest content and connections, and display "relevant offers and ads." The company updated its privacy policy in 2016 to reflect that and WhatsApp users that year were allowed to opt out of this data sharing.)
On social media, WhatsApp users quickly began sharing strategies about how to get family and friends to migrate to Signal or other messaging apps.
Siddharth Rao created a public Google doc he shared on Twitter titled "How to start a conversation about the Signal app with your family." Rao, a security and privacy researcher in Finland, said he's trying to learn more from WhatsApp users about their experience migrating to Signal and whether they stayed after the move. Many of the people who added to the document still have "one leg" in WhatsApp and the other in Signal, he said.
One strategy included in the document is to lie and tell people that WhatsApp is shutting down. Other tips include easing users into deleting WhatsApp after they've tried Signal, by disabling notifications for the Facebook-owned app.
Shachin Bharadwaj, an entrepreneur who splits his time between India and California, said he received anxious messages from his parents after the privacy changes were announced, concerned that WhatsApp was going to read their chats. The 38-year-old said he also recalled seeing videos, including one that called Facebook "evil" and claimed the company was planning to listen to users' conversations.
Bharadwaj knows that private messages remain encrypted on WhatsApp, but that didn't stop him from downloading Signal last month. He's used WhatsApp to order items such as medication in India, but he feels like there's just "too much happening" on the Facebook-owned service and wants to keep his most personal chats, like his family chats, on Signal. He now splits his messaging between the apps.
"I don't think you can ever leave WhatsApp as of the situation in India today," Bharadwaj said, pointing to the amount of WhatsApp users in that country. "But my idea was to move quality conversations to Signal."
As for Woblick, he thinks it'll "take a lot of time" before he's comfortable deleting WhatsApp, because some of his friends stayed on the app. For now, however, he's OK with using both. "For me it was more important to do that first step and migrate the most important people and contacts to Signal so I'm able to work with them without needing to use WhatsApp," he said.
Make your whatsapp messages disappear by default slides make your whatsapp messages disappear by default radio make your whatsapp messages disappear by default c make your whatsapp messages disappear by default on which page make your whatsapp messages disappear by niall make your whatsapp messages disappeared make your whatsapp messages restore how to make your whatsapp a business account make your own crossword puzzle make your own minecraft skin
Make your WhatsApp messages disappear by default
Make your WhatsApp messages disappear by default
WhatsApp is adding more options to control your disappearing messages, the popular app announced Monday. You can now turn on disappearing messages by default for all new chats, and you can choose how long you have until the messages fade.
Brett Pearce/CNET
When you enable the feature, every one-on-one chat that you or someone else starts will be set to disappear after your chosen amount of time: 24 hours, seven days or 90 days. The app is also adding the option to turn on disappearing messages when you create a group chat.
The feature is optional and doesn't alter or delete any of your existing chats, according to WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook's parent company Meta. But when you have disappearing messages turned on, WhatsApp will display a message in your chats that tells people this is the default option you've picked.
Here's how you can turn on disappearing messages by default for all new individual chats.
Whether you're using WhatsApp on an iPhone or Android, turning on default disappearing messages seems to take just a few steps. According to WhatsApp's help page about disappearing messages, after you open the app and go to Settings (it's located in the bottom right corner of the screen), tap Account, then Privacy and finally Default message timer. From there you can turn on disappearing messages and select how long you would like to wait until messages fade.
WhatsApp stresses you should only use disappearing messages with trusted individuals. Although the app makes your messages vanish after a set amount of time, it's possible the person you're chatting with can forward, copy, save or take a screenshot of the message before it disappears.
WhatsApp introduced disappearing messages in November 2020. The feature originally worked for individual chats only, and the duration of time before the message disappeared was seven days. Earlier this year, WhatsApp added View Once, a feature that causes videos and pictures to vanish from a chat after they've been opened.
For more, check out how to declutter Facebook messenger without deleting chats and how to transfer your Facebook photos and posts to other platforms. If you want to delete more than your chat history, take a look at how to permanently delete your Facebook account and how to disappear from the internet for good.
Whatsapp delays privacy update following concerns over covid whatsapp delays privacy update following concerns over princess whatsapp delays privacy update following up after an interview whatsapp delays privacy updates whatsapp privacy extension whatsapp privacy whatsapp privacy chrome whatsapp delays in tax whatsapp delays at newark
WhatsApp delays privacy update following concerns over Facebook data sharing
WhatsApp delays privacy update following concerns over Facebook data sharing
WhatsApp on Friday said it was postponing an update to its privacy policy following concerns and calls from users to switch to other encrypted apps like Signal and Telegram. The Facebook-owned app is now giving users until May 15 to review and accept its new policy, which relates to how businesses access user information.
"No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8," WhatsApp said in a blog post. "We're also going to do a lot more to clear up the misinformation around how privacy and security works on WhatsApp."
Earlier this week, WhatsApp published an FAQ clarifying the terms of its updated privacy policy and responding to concerns that it shares personal information with parent company Facebook. The firm noted the update doesn't affect the privacy of messages with friends and family, and instead relates to messaging businesses through the platform. WhatsApp also said the update "provides further transparency about how we collect and use data."
Privacy advocates (as well as Elon Musk) have called for WhatsApp's users to ditch the Facebook-owned messaging app and instead opt for encrypted platforms like Signal. WhatsApp says personal messages are also protected by end-to-end encryption, but it has for years openly collected certain user data to share with Facebook. Telegram, another secure messaging app, on Tuesday said it had surpassed 500 million active users, and gained more than 25 million new global users in just 72 hours.
WhatsApp says neither it nor Facebook can see private messages. In addition, the company says it doesn't keep logs of who users message or call, can't see shared location and doesn't share contacts with Facebook.
Under WhatsApp's privacy policy, businesses have the option to use "secure hosting services from Facebook to manage WhatsApp chats with their customers, answer questions, and send helpful information like purchase receipts," WhatsApp says. If you communicate with a business, it can see what you're saying and then use that information for marketing, which could include advertising on Facebook. WhatsApp says it clearly labels conversations with businesses that use Facebook's hosting services.
Also, interacting with Facebook's Shops commerce feature via WhatsApp allows a person's shopping activity to be used to show related ads on Facebook and Instagram. WhatsApp says this feature is optional and that when you use it, "we will tell you in the app how your data is being shared with Facebook." Additionally, clicking on a Facebook ad with the option to message a business through WhatsApp could allow Facebook to then show more related ads.
Facebook explains what caused its widespread outages facebook explains what caused its widespread panic facebook explains what caused its widespread meaning facebook explains what caused ww1 facebook explains what caused the dust facebook whatsapp whatsapp facebook what is it copy paste on facebook explained
Facebook explains what caused its widespread outage
Facebook explains what caused its widespread outage
Facebook said late Monday that the company believes a "faulty configuration" change caused a widespread outage that lasted roughly six hours.
"Our engineering teams have learned that configuration changes on the backbone routers that coordinate network traffic between our data centers caused issues that interrupted this communication," Facebook's vice president of engineering and infrastructure, Santosh Janardhan, said in a blog post. "This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt."
Monday's outage also impacted the tools that Facebook employees use. Facebook said it hasn't found any evidence that user data was compromised during the outage.
In a more detailed post published Tuesday, Janardhan said there was a "bug" in a tool meant to prevent mistakes like what triggered the outage from happening. Facebook encountered multiple problems, including getting access to its data centers and domain name system servers, which had become unreachable. Referred to as the phone book of the internet, DNS translates domain names like Facebook.com to numeric Internet Protocol addresses. "The total loss of DNS broke many of the internal tools we'd normally use to investigate and resolve outages like this," Janardhan said.
Facebook also had to carefully manage how quickly it brought its services back online because a sudden surge in traffic could cause a new round of crashes. "Every failure like this is an opportunity to learn and get better, and there's plenty for us to learn from this one," Janardhan said. The company is extensively reviewing what happened.
The rare outage, which also impacted other apps owned by Facebook such as Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, showcased how dependent people and businesses are on social media even as the company faces more scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators. The Wall Street Journal recently published a series of stories detailing how Facebook knew about the platform's problems, including its harmful impact on the mental health of teenagers.
Former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen, the whistleblower who gathered the internal documents used by the Journal, testified before Congress on Tuesday.
Monday's outage was reminiscent of other times Facebook's services went offline. For instance, Facebook experienced an outage in 2019 that lasted more than 14 hours, which the social network said was the result of a "server configuration change."
Read also: Best memes and jokes about the big Facebook outage
Tired of only using whatsapp on your phone read this blog tired of only using whatsapp on your phone read this image tired of only using whatsapp on your mac tired of only using whatsapp on your pc tired of only using whatsapp on computer tired of only using whatsapp on computer tired of only using whatsapp abroad do you ever get a little bit tired of life
Tired of only using WhatsApp on your phone? Read this
Tired of only using WhatsApp on your phone? Read this
WhatsApp , the Facebook-owned chat app, is a cross-platform app that makes it all too easy and convenient to share messages, images, videos and GIFs with friends and loved ones from your phone.
But, as with any messaging service, having to stare at your phone's screen all day while the group conversations are flooded with messages can be a hassle. Especially when you're sitting at a desk, with a computer right in front of you.
Wouldn't it be nice to have the option of accessing your WhatsApp account on your computer? Well, you can. And it's incredibly easy to set up.
What you'll need to use WhatsApp on your computer
Before you can view and manage your conversations on your PC or Mac, you'll need to make sure the WhatsApp app on your iPhone or Android phone is up to date by checking for any pending updates in your phone's respective app store.
With that done, download and install the Windows or MacOS version of WhatsApp on your computer. Alternatively, if you're using a computer that you can't install apps on, visit WhatsApp Web, which is basically a version of the app, but built for your browser.
Keep in mind, your phone will still need to have a mobile data or Wi-Fi connection in order for the app on your computer to communicate with the app on your phone. So if for example, you're traveling in another country and your phone doesn't have a connection, you won't be able to use WhatsApp on a computer.
Scan the QR code using your phone.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
How to set up WhatsApp Web
To use WhatsApp Web, follow these steps:
1. Using your web browser of choice, visit https://web.whatsapp.com/.
2. You'll see a QR code for you to scan with the WhatsApp phone app. You can access the built-in scanner by opening the Menu or Settings, then selecting WhatsApp Web from the options.
Notice there's a small checkbox below the QR code that will keep you signed into that computer by default. Remove the check if you're using a public computer.
3. After you scan the code, you'll be able to see your WhatsApp messages on your phone and in the browser. WhatsApp recommends leaving your phone connected to Wi-Fi and not just mobile data to avoid any data overages.
The desktop app looks and works just like the mobile app, only bigger.
Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET
How to set up WhatsApp's desktop app
Setting up the desktop app is similar to setting up WhatsApp Web, but with one exception -- you need to download and install the application first.
1. Download the Mac or Windows version of the app from whatsapp.com/download.
2. Mac users will need to unzip the file, then move WhatsApp to the Applications folder.
3. Windows users will need to run the .EXE file and follow the prompts.
4. When the app launches, you'll see a QR code for you to scan with the WhatsApp phone app. You can access the built-in scanner by opening the Menu or Settings, then selecting WhatsApp Web from the options.
5. After you scan the code, you'll be able to see your WhatsApp messages on your phone and in the app. Again, WhatsApp recommends leaving your phone connected to a Wi-Fi network in order to reduce the amount of mobile data used.
A quick note about security
Once you've installed the app or you're logged in to the Web interface, anyone with access to your computer can view your WhatsApp conversations as long as you're logged in. If your computer is password-protected, that's probably not a big deal. But if you use WhatsApp Web from a public computer, sign out when you're finished. You can do that by clicking on the three-dot menu icon and selecting Log out.
If you forget to log out of WhatsApp Web on a computer that's not yours, or you suspect someone has accessed your account, you can log out of all active sessions by visiting the same settings page you used to scan the QR Code in the mobile app and selecting Log out from all devices.
If you're a Windows user and looking for more messaging apps, we have a few chat app recommendations beyond WhatsApp that are worth checking out. If you're just getting started with WhatsApp, make sure to check out our favorite features and learn how to use them.
What is a voice call on whatsapp whatsapp voice call pc whatsapp voice call on laptop whatsapp for phone calls whatsapp for android phone whatsapp app for android phone whatsapp for android download whatsapp for ipad whatsapp for laptop
WhatsApp for Android now offers voice calling to all users
WhatsApp for Android now offers voice calling to all users
Voice calling is now available to all WhatApps users. WhatsApp
WhatsApp users on Android can now all tap into the app's new voice-calling feature.
Rolled out in February to a small number of people, the call feature then expanded to invitation-only by those who were able to get the feature. Now it's available to all Android phone users. There's just one catch. You may not be able to get it from the version currently up at the Google Play Store.
WhatsApp version 2.12.19 does include the calling feature, according to Android Police. But that version is available only as an APK file (Android application package), which is not as easy to install as an app you download directly from Google Play. Version 2.12.19 is the latest one available through the APK.
On Google Play, you'll also see WhatsApp version 2.12.5, and according to The Next Web, that older version also enables the feature. However, Android Police said that it's seen reports of the calling feature not working under older versions of WhatsApp.
A WhatsApp support rep told CNET that you should be on the latest version of the app. So if you really want to trade phone calls with a fellow WhatsApp user, your best bet seems to be to download the version 2.12.19 APK file.
Now owned by Facebook, which paid $19 billion to acquire it, WhatsApp started life as a basic text-messaging app but one that also offered the ability to leave voice messages. The company has been promising to add a phone-calling feature, which would give the app the leverage to compete against similar services such as Skype and Viber. At last year's Mobile World Congress, WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum said the voice calling would roll out to Android phones and the iPhone first, and then to Windows Phone and some BlackBerry phones.
So when will the voice-calling feature reach iPhone users? At Facebook's F8 developers conference last week, WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton seemed to indicate that it could be out within a matter of not too many weeks, according to VentureBeat.
Here's how you get that APK file to try out the voice calling:
Normally, you should never download an APK file onto your Android device unless you're sure of its source. But in this case, the file comes from WhatsApp, so the source seems legitimate.
First, you'll need to download the actual file, either directly from WhatsApp or from an APK Mirror site. You can then follow the steps in this CNET tutorial on how to install an APK file.
After you open the app, you'll see a new tab for Calls, according to TNW. Simply tap that tab and then select the name of the person you wish to call.
Facebook youtube to restrict some russian state duma facebook youtube to restrict some russian state map facebook youtube to restrict some russian revolution facebook youtube to restrict synonym facebook youtube to restrict a person s location facebook youtube to restrict meaning facebook youtube to restrict your google facebook youtube video facebook log in to facebook youtube fb login facebook youtube
Facebook, YouTube to Restrict Some Russian State-Controlled Media Across Europe
Facebook, YouTube to Restrict Some Russian State-Controlled Media Across Europe
Facebook, YouTube and other social networks are restricting access to Russian state-controlled media outlets RT and Sputnik across Europe, amid calls to crack down on disinformation. The move will likely heighten tensions between some of the world's most popular social networks and the Russian government.
Facebook's parent company, Meta, said Monday that it will limit the accessibility of Sputnik and RT across the European Union.
"We have received requests from a number of governments and the EU to take further steps in relation to Russian state-controlled media. Given the exceptional nature of the current situation, we will be restricting access to RT and Sputnik across the EU at this time," Nick Clegg, who oversees global affairs at Meta and is a former UK deputy prime minister, said in a tweet.
Clegg didn't respond to questions on Twitter about what the restrictions entail, how many requests Meta has received and from which governments or how many Facebook users will be impacted by these restrictions. Clegg also didn't say when these restrictions would start. RT's Facebook page has 7.4 million followers and Sputnik's Facebook page has 1.4 million followers. The media outlets are also on Facebook-owned Instagram, a photo and video service. RT has 839,000 followers on Instagram and Sputnik has 116,000 followers.
On Tuesday, Google said in a post on Twitter that it would block YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe.
"Due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, we're blocking YouTube channels connected to RT and Sputnik across Europe, effective immediately," reads a tweet from the official Google Europe account. "It'll take time for our systems to fully ramp up. Our teams continue to monitor the situation around the clock to take swift action."
Google, the video giant's parent company, didn't immediately respond to questions on how many YouTube channels would be blocked. RT's main channel on YouTube has more than 4.6 million subscribers, while Sputnik has over 300,000 subscribers.
Facebook's move came a day after Meta announced it had restricted access to several accounts, including from Russian state-controlled media, in Ukraine after a request from the government there. Meta has been facing more pressure to take action against these media outlets for spreading propaganda and false claims after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
On Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a tweet that the EU's executive branch is developing tools to ban "toxic and harmful disinformation" published by RT and Sputnik and their subsidiaries. The EU is an economic and political union of 27 countries, including France, Germany and Spain.
Following Facebook's move on Tuesday, RT took issue with unspecified comments from European government officials and actions by social media platforms, with its deputy editor-in-chief saying in a statement that no one had pointed to specific evidence of falsehoods appearing on its site during the Ukraine crisis. In its own statement, Sputnik's press arm characterized the restrictions as an "information war against the Russian media."
RT and Sputnik are on other social media sites, including Twitter and TikTok. A spokeswoman for TikTok said users in the EU won't see content from RT's and Sputnik's accounts. Twitter started labeling state-affiliated media, but a spokeswoman said the company had "nothing to share at this time" when asked if the company was also planning to restrict RT and Sputnik.
The rare move by Meta also raises questions about whether Russia will further restrict access to Facebook and Instagram. Ukrainians have put pressure on Facebook to remove access to the main social network and Instagram in Russia, but Clegg said Sunday those platforms are also being used by protesters and as a source of independent information. "The Russian Government is already throttling our platform to prevent these activities. We believe turning off our services would silence important expression at a crucial time," Clegg said in a tweet on Sunday.
Russia said last week that it's partly restricting access to Facebook after the social network refused to stop fact-checking and labeling content posted on Facebook by four Russian state-owned media organizations. Russia's telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, alleges Facebook violated "fundamental human rights" by restricting the country's state-controlled media.
Facebook and YouTube have also been barring ads from Russia state media. Twitter also said last week that it's temporarily pausing ads in Ukraine and Russia.
On Sunday, Meta also announced that it removed a network of about 40 fake accounts, Pages and Groups on Facebook and Instagram from Russia and Ukraine. Meta said some of these accounts pretended to be news editors and ran fake news websites and published stories that included "claims about the West betraying Ukraine and Ukraine being a failed state." Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, created a special operations center with experts who speak Ukrainian and Russian to help monitor its platform.
CNET's Carrie Mihalcik contributed to this report.
Russia 20 billion a day how long has russia been around facts about russia today what did russia do today why is russia taking so long russia spending on war how much money has russia spent on the war why has russia invaded ukraine how russians sneeze how russia will collapse
How Russia has spent a decade crumbling online freedoms
How Russia has spent a decade crumbling online freedoms
Aleksandr Litreev was on a way to a business meeting last February when his life changed forever. En route to a hotel in Yakaterinburg, a day's drive east of Moscow, Litreev was pulled over by police. When they asked him to hand over his phone, the then-24-year-old knew it was no routine traffic stop.
"They took me to a police station," Litreev recalls, "and magically some drugs appear." Litreev said he was arrested by around 10 armed policemen, beaten into confessing to ecstasy possession, and then detained for a month. He managed to flee to Estonia after being released into house arrest.
Litreev is a member of Russia's liberal opposition. Rather than rousing people to the ballot box, he builds internet tools that help everyday Russians fight against an increasingly controlling state. As part of the tightest squeeze on freedoms in Russia this century, critical online media publications have been labeled foreign agents, and platforms like Twitter and Facebook are being pressured to purge their platforms of content the Kremlin disapproves of.
With Russia's parliamentary elections running on Sept. 17 through Sept. 19, the Kremlin has stepped up censorship. It's demanded keywords associated with the opposition be blocked from Google and Yandex, the domestic search giant, and that Google and Apple kick an opposition-made app from their app stores.
Litreev has been fighting back for years, creating an app that sends lawyers to defend arrested protesters and joining the "digital resistance" that countered the government's attempt to block encrypted-messenger Telegram.
"If I go back to Russia now, I will get something like lifetime imprisonment," Litreev said. "Not gonna happen."
Before fleeing to Estonia, Litreev also worked with Alexei Navalny, who, for the last 10 years, has been the face of Russia's opposition to President Vladimir Putin. Navalny was poisoned by Russian spies in August 2020 and has since been jailed. Navalny's case shows how the Kremlin has lost any of the patience it once had: He was tolerated for nearly a decade -- as a popular blogger, investigative journalist and later an opposition politician -- before authorities attempted to eliminate him altogether.
"The things that are happening now have never happened before," said Litreev, explaining that authorities poisoning an opposition candidate would have been inconceivable as recently as 2017. "And now we're here."
Aleksandr Litreev, a software developer who fled to to Estona amid Russia's opposition crackdown.
Aleksandr Litreev
Digital wargames
In 2017, Litreev made his first significant venture into opposition politics. A YouTube expose from Navalny alleged that then-Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had embezzled over $1.2 billion, sparking protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg that turned into a general rebuke of widespread corruption and political repression.
Litreev's contribution was an app called Red Button. If protesters thought they were at risk of arrest, they could open the app and press the big red button it presented. That would automatically call a lawyer, who also receives the protester's emergency contact details and a GPS signal of their location.
"It's basically Uber, but for a lawyer," Litreev said. It was used extensively by demonstrators at the time, which got the attention of Kremlin authorities. "That's the point where pressure on me started," he added.
Litreev, then 21 and fresh out of university, was motivated to join the opposition movement as he watched the Kremlin ratchet up internet restrictions. A 2014 law allowed the telecommunications regulator, Roskomnadzor, to block access to online media that called for "unsanctioned mass public events." In 2016, Putin signed a bill requiring telecommunications companies to store their customers' text messages and phone calls for up to six months.
The law was used as a pretext to ban Telegram, a platform created by eccentric Russian-born developer Pavel Durov that doubles as an instant messenger and a social media platform. (Durov is now based in Dubai.) It allows for encrypted messages between people, like WhatsApp, but also for public figures and groups to create "channels" that can have millions of followers. Russian authorities wanted control over Telegram, and stopping them became Litreev's next project.
Thousands rallied for "internet freedom" in 2018 after Roskomnadzor banned Telegram. Many protested by bringing paper planes, Telegram's symbol.
Mikhail Tereshchenko/Getty
In 2018, the Kremlin ordered Durov to hand over keys that would allow the FSB, the successor to the Soviet KGB, to unscramble the app's encrypted messages. Roskomnadzor's stated goal was to fight terrorist attacks, like a 2017 train bombing in St. Petersburg, which it claimed were spreading thanks to Telegram and apps like it. Durov refused, calling the request both unconstitutional and technically untenable. What followed was a game of hide-and-seek that lasted for two years.
Roskomnadzor banned Telegram in April 2018, pulling down the app's servers. Scores of Russian internet users -- dubbed the Digital Resistance -- countered by hosting Telegram on proxy servers, which Roskomnadzor found and banned too. For his part, Litreev helped create software that deployed millions of proxy servers at once, making it impossible for Russian authorities to manually pull them down individually.
"They got tired of banning IP address by IP address, so they started to ban whole subnetworks, ranges of IP addresses," he said. "At some point, when we got our service hosted on Amazon and on Google Cloud, they accidentally banned a huge subnet which belongs to Google."
Those attempts to ban Telegram were unsuccessful. Not only did the service remain accessible, its Russian user base actually grew. Meanwhile, with authorities hastily banning up to 19 million IP addresses, Google and Amazon services were briefly unusable throughout Russia.
Roskomnadzor had a choice: either block a huge range of IP addresses and risk more catastrophic blackouts, or rescind the ban on Telegram. "It was a fight for all or nothing," Litreev said.
After two years, Roskomnadzor relented, lifting its Telegram ban last June on the grounds that the company would help it with terrorism inquiries in the future. The Digital Resistance won this battle, the latest in a war that had been going on since 2012.
Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin in 2012.
Natalia Kolesnikova/Getty
The first ruling
Russia is often grouped with China as a troublesome autocracy. A common misconception related to this comparison is that Russia has always had a fiercely censored internet. But unlike China's internet, which was built from the ground up not to rely on Western companies or users, Russia's internet largely grew freely from the mid-'90s.
That began to change in 2012, when Putin became president for the second time.
Much like the US, Russian presidents were bound by the constitution to serve no more than two consecutive four-year terms. So in 2008, when Putin swapped places with Dmitry Medvedev, becoming prime minister while Medvedev assumed the presidency, many suspected it was a ploy to circumvent constitutional limits. Those suspicions were confirmed when he announced his intention to run as president again in 2011.
When Putin's United Russia party retained a majority in the parliamentary elections two months later -- elections local monitors and the EU said were fraudulent -- protests erupted. Tens of thousands demanded free elections and the release of political prisoners. But what concerned the Kremlin wasn't the demonstrators, but how they managed to organize themselves. These protests were the biggest the country had seen since the '90s, and they were powered by social media.
"The driving force back then was the internet -- social media, Facebook and Twitter," said Andrei Soldatov, a journalist and co-author of The Red Web, a book that details Russia's tightening grip on internet freedoms. "That was the moment the Kremlin started paying attention to this new threat, and it was absolutely clear that it was the big thing for years to come."
The "Snow Revolution" protests in Moscow, 2011.
Epsilon/Getty
Online freedoms began unraveling a month after Putin took office in 2012. The Russian Duma (the lower house of the Federal Assembly) started drafting an internet restriction bill that lawmakers claimed was necessary to protect minors from child sexual abuse material, online drug markets and content that encouraged self harm. In practice, it allowed government authorities to create an internet blacklist.
Roskomnadzor now had legal cover to pull down websites it didn't like. Today, the internet in Russia is still markedly more open than it is in countries like China, Egypt and Vietnam. But Russia's strategy of censorship is more subtle, focused less on suppressing speech than on oppressing competition.
"The idea is not to prevent you from getting information," Soldatov said. "The idea is to discourage you from participating in political activities of any kind, online or offline."
The Kremlin's aversion to political opposition explains why political protests are often followed by a tightening of controls. The Moscow demonstrations of 2011 and 2012 led to the first internet restriction bill, and Telegram was targeted in 2018 after protests were organized on the platform.
Then, in 2019, the opposition began translating online engagement into electoral victories.
A new era
Activists, journalists and opposition politicians had proven adept at maneuvering around the digital barriers the Kremlin had been throwing up since 2012. Navalny continued to use his prominent online platform to trouble authorities. Though demonized on state TV, many of his YouTube documentaries on shadowy Kremlin activities racked up hundreds of millions of views. Older Russians who regularly watched Russian television thought Navalny was a menace. Many middle-class, internet-savvy Russians, however, were receptive to his cause.
Though the Kremlin punished Navalny in various ways, convicting him on trumped-up fraud charges and barring him from running for office, authorities showed some restraint in suppressing his movement.
"Navalny was tolerated for a decade," said William Partlett, a professor at Melbourne Law School who researches post-Soviet societies and is authoring a book on Navalny. "He was exposing high-level corruption among very important, powerful people in the inner circle of the Kremlin. And he was allowed to do that, and I think the idea was, 'we can manage this guy.'"
That changed in 2019. Navalny, unable to run for Moscow city council himself, encouraged his followers to adopt the "smart voting" doctrine. It meant voting for anyone other than the ruling United Russia party, be they liberals, avowed communists or hardcore nationalists. The plan worked: The "systemic opposition" won 20 of Moscow's 45 seats, reducing the United Russia Party's majority from 38 to 25.
The same system was used successfully in regional elections, ousting three United Russia governors. In a world where freedom of expression is fine up until the point where it infringes on Kremlin control, this was all unacceptable. Navalny's opposition movement was powered by online platforms, from Telegram to Twitter, and now it was producing tangible offline results.
"Now the question for Putin becomes, is the internet manageable?" Partlett said.
The Kremlin cracked down hard. An online libel law was enacted last December, allowing sites to be blocked and people to be jailed for "defaming" public figures. Specific activists and journalists have been targeted: one journalist was jailed for 25 days for retweeting a photo that carried the date and time of a planned protest, while a video of police violently interrogating blogger Gennady Shulga was leaked by the police themselves, Shulga said, "to show people what the authorities can do."
Navalny's treatment played out in front of the world. He was poisoned in an airport in August 2020, then flown to Berlin, where he recuperated. After returning to Russia, he was immediately imprisoned. Meanwhile, Putin amended the constitution in April to allow him to rule as president until 2036.
Alexei Navalny, the face of Russia's liberal opposition, is currently jailed in Russia.
Dmitry Serebryakov/Getty
Taking on big tech
Litreev talks about his exploits like a nimble David outmaneuvering a lumbering, sluggish Goliath. He knows the battle will be perilous but expects he and his fellow activists will ultimately prevail.
"The level of expertise and level of professionalism on the government side is much lower than our side," he said.
Litreev points to a spat between Twitter and Kremlin as evidence. In March, Roskomnadzor demanded Twitter take down thousands of tweets dating back to 2017 that encouraged illegal activity -- which includes child porn, drug markets and, of course, news stories related to opposition candidates. To motivate Twitter to fulfill the request, the telecoms regulator throttled Twitter's speed for months.
But, in a flashback to the Roskomnadzor inadvertently blocking Google amid a clumsy attempt to ban Telegram, sites like Reddit.com and Microsoft.com went down too. People realized that authorities had targeted the "t.co" link-shortening formation Twitter uses, which clobbered any website that ended with the letter "t."
It was a conspicuous fumble on the part of Roskomnadzor, but authorities did manage to isolate and slow down Twitter. The initial missteps masked the use of a concerning new suite of powers that had been signed into law in 2019, called "the sovereign internet," or RuNet.
The law requires ISPs to connect a new range of state hardware to internet exchange points. These "big red boxes" all direct to a control center in Moscow and allow the Kremlin to manage the flow of traffic from one region of the country to another. The system has been called a "digital Iron Curtain," akin to China's Great Firewall that separates its internet from the rest of the world.
Soldatov says this comparison is inaccurate. The Kremlin isn't interested in isolating itself from the rest of the internet, he says, since that would prove economically ruinous. Rather, it's a tool to control the flow of information from one region of the country to the next.
"The sovereign internet was never about the West. It's about what's going on inside the country," he said. "The most sensitive content is generated inside the country."
Moscovites protesting the jailing of Navalny in April.
Anadolu Agency/Getty
Roskomnadzor was able to pair the new sovereign internet hardware with existing data surveillance technology to selectively slow Twitter traffic. In the future, the Kremlin could use the same technology to, for example, throttle certain apps to prevent livestreams from a protest in Moscow from reaching other parts of the country.
It was the government's first known experiment with its newest online tools -- and it worked.
Twitter has removed over 6,000 tweets, according to Roskomnadzor. In the months since, Russian authorities have demanded Facebook take down content, fined Google $81,000 for not taking down content, and told Facebook and Twitter to store all data of Russian users within the country. On Aug. 26, Twitter and Facebook were both fined for not storing such data quickly enough.
Facebook, Google and Twitter declined to comment. Roskomnadzor was contacted but didn't respond.
Just as the Kremlin pressures Facebook, Google and Twitter, it fosters local substitutes like RuTube, a YouTube alternative owned by the state gas company. Law requires Android phones to come preloaded with 16 Russian-made apps, including the VK social media app and the Yandex search engine, while Apple is required to prompt Russians to download the apps during the setup process of new iPhones. It's part of a plan meant to better allow authorities to control online platforms so that anti-Kremlin content can't go viral.
"The tools the Russian government uses are evolving with time. They are much more advanced if we compare them to, say, 2018," Litreev acknowledged. "But modern problems require modern solutions."
The modern problems
Litreev's latest project is Solar Labs, a decentralized VPN that's based on blockchain and incentivized with cryptocurrency. The Solar Labs platform will allow people around the world to host their own VPN servers, for which they'll be paid with Solar Labs cryptocurrency tokens. If enough people from a variety of countries host their own VPN servers, it'll be impossible for all servers to be taken down at once.
"Even if the government will do whatever it takes to block our service, they will not succeed unless they just shut the whole internet for the whole country," he said. Solar Labs is designed to be useful not just for Russians, but also Iranians, Chinese and Belarussians, all of whom face strict internet censorship.
Litreev says the Kremlin's crackdowns on activists, journalists and dissidents are acts of hysteria. The more extreme the measure, the more desperation it reflects.
And the measures have gotten extreme. It's not just in Russia, either. In May, Belarus' ruler, who's closely aligned with Putin, used military force to ground a RyanAir plane midflight to detain a dissident journalist. The whole region's rules are being rewritten.
Litreev wants to go home to see old faces and places, but says people like him need to work to create a safe Russia. He hopes that Solar Labs' VPN, which launches in September, will be part of that process. Meanwhile, Litreev feels safe in Estonia -- though he makes sure any flights he takes avoid both Russian and Belarusian airspace.
Soldatov, living in London, is less hopeful. He said he was optimistic five years ago, when he co-authored The Red Web, but that the events since then have sapped his confidence.
"We use this word, 'unprecedented,'" he said. "The problem when something is unprecedented is you cannot calculate your risks, because you do not know where they are going to stop."
Huawei mate 30 pro review huawei mate 30 pro amazon huawei mate 30 pro specs huawei mate 30 pro photography huawei mate 30 huawei mate 30 pro huawei mate 30 pro 5g
Huawei Mate 30 Pro review: Sublime camera, disastrous software
Huawei Mate 30 Pro review: Sublime camera, disastrous software
Huawei started 2019 strong with the excellent P30 Pro phone, but things went downhill from there. Due to concerns that its equipment could be used to spy on the US and other companies, the Chinese tech giant has been banned from using technology from US companies. As a result, it can't license Google Mobile Services. The Mate 30 Pro, its latest flagship, has no Google Play Store, and no apps like Google Maps, Gmail and YouTube.
It has the striking appearance of a futuristic slab of aluminum and glass, but I knew I was in for a rough ride just moments after booting up the Mate 30 Pro. Entering the AppGallery, Huawei's version of the Google Play Store, I was encouraged to download some of its most popular apps: Weibo, WeChat and the China Drama Channel. It quickly became clear that Huawei doesn't have much to offer its non-Chinese customers.
One question has enshrouded the Mate 30 Pro since Huawei's tech ban: Can Huawei, a huge, powerful company with deep resources, find a way to neutralize the loss of Google?
The answer, unfortunately, is no.
The Mate 30 Pro is an exceptional piece of hardware. Its quad-camera setup shoots outstanding photos (sometimes better than the iPhone 11 Pro) a dazzling 6.53-inch waterfall display is the centerpiece of an inspired design, and its 4,500-mAh battery goes and goes and goes. But the fiasco that is Android without full Google support makes it impossible to recommend.
Even more galling is the Mate 30 Pro's price. The phone starts at AU$1,599 in Australia, which converts to $1,100 or £830. (No availability has been announced for either the US or UK.) Yes, it's a premium phone and premium parts ain't cheap. But as a proposition to you, the buyer, that much money for a partially functioning phone is preposterous.
Huawei tries Android without all of Google
Since Android 10 itself is open-source, the Mate 30 Pro still runs Google's most recent operating system fine. But since Google Mobile Services requires a license, Huawei has no access to the Google Play Store or any of Google's apps.
Instead, you'll use Huawei's AppGallery, which the company says has over 45,000 apps. That sounds like a lot, but I could count the useful apps in the AppGallery on one hand.
There's no Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Netflix, Disney Plus or Reddit. You won't find Google apps, like Gmail, Maps or YouTube. (You can log into Gmail through Huawei's native email app, though.) Even if you do install Google apps by downloading their APKs -- the Android equivalent of Windows' .exe files -- they won't work without authentication from Google Mobile Services. Uber doesn't work either, since the ride-sharing app runs Google Maps. Losing Google's suite of apps is devastating; losing almost every useful app in the Google Play Store is debilitating.
Huawei's AppGallery has over 45,000 apps. You'll find few of them useful.
Ian Knighton/CNET
Of all the apps I download onto every new phone, only one was available: Spotify. When I tried to find Spotify in the AppGallery a week later, however, it appeared to have been pulled. TikTok (which is owned by Chinese company Bytedance) was available at first, then disappeared and then appeared again.
To get around the software obstructions I downloaded APKs from assorted websites. It was a dodgy process, and worked inconsistently. Some apps ran fine, others crashed after a few moments and others still didn't work at all.
It was a total mess.
Huawei Mate 30 Pro's camera credentials
If Huawei phones have been known for one thing, it's cameras. Huawei beat competitors to the punch with dual-lens cameras (P9), a dedicated Night Mode (P20 Pro) and 5x optical zoom (P30 Pro). Photography is undoubtedly the Mate 30 Pro's greatest strength.
The phone has a fantastic quad-camera setup. The main shooter has 40 megapixels. Then there's an 8-megapixel telephoto lens, which has a 3x optical zoom and 30x digital zoom; a 40-megapixel ultrawide-angle lens; and there's a 3D "time-of-flight" sensor that helps with depth perception.
The Mate 30 Pro has less zoom capability than Huawei's current flagship the P30 Pro, which has 5x optical and 50x digital. But it has a bigger, better ultrawide-angle sensor over the P30 Pro. This is a worthwhile trade, because I find ultrawide-angle capability much more useful than better zoom functionality.
Some Portrait shots give the subject brushed, lightened skin.
Daniel Van Boom/CNET
Others work better.
Daniel Van Boom/CNET
The Mate 30 Pro's quad-camera setup generally captures crisp, vibrant shots.
Daniel Van Boom/CNET
See that fountain all the way in the back?
Daniel Van Boom/CNET
Here it is, shot with 30x zoom.
Daniel Van Boom/CNET
Photography isn't perfect. Thanks to heavy software processing, skin can look artificially brushed in Portrait shots. This processing also makes Night Mode superfluous: Low-light shots capture an impressive amount of light, and toggling on Night Mode often results in overkill. I didn't have the option to shoot a dark photo even when I wanted to because the scene is brightened with software by default.
But despite these issues, the Mate 30 Pro has one of the best camera setups on any Android phone. Photos generally look spectacular, with rich color and crisp detail.
And Huawei packed in another innovative trick, but this time for the video camera. The Mate 30 Pro features stupefying slow-motion capabilities. There are four options: 4x, 8x, 32x, 64x and an astonishing 256x. That 256x option uses AI software to slow things down to 7,680 frames per second.
Slow-motion cameras need more light, so you'll need a reasonably bright environment to take advantage of ultra-slow-mo. And since 256x slow motion makes 25 seconds out of one-tenth of a second, you'll need good timing to shoot the split second you want in slow-mo. But I found the feature super fun to play around with. It makes something as little as a water splash look spectacular.
Good parts, bad phone
In regards to hardware, the Mate 30 Pro is luxurious in every aspect.
Its 6.53-inch, 2,400x1,176x-pixel screen is beautiful, bright and crisp. Its OLED screen is a waterfall display, meaning it wraps around the side of the phone all the way to the aluminum back. Videos and browsing were a joy, and the glass body felt more luxe to hold than aluminum. The downside is that there are no volume buttons, so I had to tap the side of the display to activate an on-screen volume slider instead. This generally works OK, but makes quick volume changes more cumbersome than they need be.
Powered by Huawei's own Kirin 990 processor and 8GB of RAM, the Android heavyweight felt silky smooth to use. But where the Mate 30 Pro really shines is battery life. Running it through CNET's battery test -- turning the phone on Airplane mode and looping an HD video -- it lasted 24 hours, 12 minutes. That's crazy.
The best phone you shouldn't buy.
Ian Knighton/CNET
I wish I could say that the Kirin 990 CPU also scored well on Geekbench 5, a benchmark we run to test a processor's efficiency. Saying it performed well would be a safe bet but, after downloading the APK for Geekbench 5 from four different sites, the app never worked. I could try searching for more Geekbench APKs, but I think this anecdote is an apt encapsulation of the Huawei Mate 30 Pro.
It's a beautiful device with powerful parts and a sublime camera. But its software situation is a disaster. Don't buy this phone.
Originally published Dec. 17. Update, Dec. 28: Adds video review, comparison to iPhone 11 Pro camera.
Huawei Mate 30 Pro
Huawei Mate 30 Pro
Google Pixel 4 XL
Samsung Galaxy Note 10
OnePlus 7T
iPhone 11 Pro
Display size, resolution
6.53-inch OLED
6.3-inch OLED
6.3-inch AMOLED; 2,280x1,080 pixels
6.55-inch AMOLED; 2,400x1,080-pixels
5.8-inch OLED Super Retina XDR; 2,436x1,125 pixels
