Facebook can’t seem to get through a week quietly. This week, Germany’s antitrust regulator ordered the world’s largest social network to stop combining data from the Facebook accounts of its German users with information it collects about them from other sites unless they give their OK. The Federal Cartel Office’s order covers not only Facebook’s …

Facebook’s mission is to bring the world closer together. But lately the company has been associated with breaking societies apart. The world’s biggest social network was used to spread misinformation in elections around the world, potentially affecting their outcomes. The UN determined that Facebook played a role in furthering hate speech in Myanmar, contributing to a possible genocide. Five people …

Twitter can be filled with harassment, bullying, misinformation and hate speech — not exactly a warm and fuzzy place for people or companies hoping to spread their messages. On Thursday, Twitter showed it’s making strides against toxic users. The company reported that the number of monthly active users fell slightly to 321 million in the fourth quarter from 326 million in the …

Facebook, which has been building and testing a hub for humorous meme content, called LOL, is switching gears. The world’s largest social network confirmed on Thursday that it was no longer planning to release a meme app aimed at high school kids. Instead it’s focusing more on a messaging app for kids under 13 years old, called Messenger Kids. The …

Snap, which has struggled to keep users on its Snapchat app, broke its losing streak. Snap said Tuesday that 186 million users logged in to the vanishing-messaging app daily in the fourth quarter, the same number as in the previous quarter. Snap had seen a drop in daily usage for two consecutive quarters last year after an unpopular redesign of the …

Twitter wants people who use its live video streaming app Periscope to channel their inner talk show host. On Monday, the social network said it added a new feature to Periscope that lets users invite and add guests to their live videos. Periscope users can invite up to three guests to their live video broadcasts. Twitter Periscope users can add …

If you want a sense of how much power Apple holds over Silicon Valley, take a look at what the iPhone maker did to Google and Facebook this week. On Wednesday, Apple yanked enterprise certificates — digital signatures that both the tech giants used to run software on iPhones and iPads. That shut down internal apps employees at Google and …

Some Facebook users have been giving the social network access to their phone activity in exchange for money as part of a research project since 2016, according to a Tuesday report by TechCrunch. Facebook, which critics say isn’t doing enough to protect the privacy of its users, has been giving people between the ages of 13 and 35 a payment …

Facebook’s spat with Apple on Wednesday shows it can’t stay out of trouble. But the social network seems immune to scandals as well. Monthly active users — the number of people who log on to Facebook every month — rose 9 percent year over year to 2.32 billion in the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31. User growth is crucial …

Facebook should shut down a messaging app aimed at children under 13 years old, child advocates said Tuesday in a letter to the company. The missive follows a report last week that the social network duped kids into spending their parents’ money on online games. A year ago, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and other advocacy groups had asked …