Umpf / Blog / Friday Social: FaceTime Eavesdropping, Fyre Festival and Twitter Royalty

Friday Social: FaceTime Eavesdropping, Fyre Festival and Twitter Royalty

  • Social Media

Our #FridaySocial is a weekly round-up of the key social media news stories from the previous seven days.  Let us know your thoughts in the comments or via Twitter – @Umpf

FaceTime Eavesdropping

News broke this week that a software glitch was allowing eavesdropping on Apple iPhone devices via the FaceTime app.

According to reports, the bug affects devices using versions of iOS 12.1 or later and allows callers to hear audio and view video from the target device – even if the call is rejected.

It’s believed the glitch happens when users FaceTime someone and add an additional participant, adding their own number again.

It was allegedly flagged up by a teenager in America, whose mother contacted Apple the next day… not ideal for the tech giant.

A spokesman for Apple said the issue should be fixed with a software update later this week.

Fyre Festival Influencers to be Subpoenaed?

The Fyre Festival documentaries have been the talk of the office the past couple of weeks – and the disastrous event is hitting the headlines once more as talk of legal proceedings progresses.

A new report suggests the likes of Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and Hailey Baldwin could be expecting to receive subpoenas to help determine where the money was spent.

According to reports, trustee Gregory Messer – who is overseeing the bankruptcy of Fyre Media – is looking into the costs to figure out how owner Billy McFarland spent the multi-million poun budget.

It’s believed Kendall Jenner was paid $250,000 for her involvement, whilst Emily Ratajkowski’s management were reportedly paid $299,000.

 

Zuckerberg Updates on Messaging Merger

Mark Zuckerberg has shared more details about plans for a potential merging of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram.

This week he confirmed that Facebook wants to make it easier to send messages across its apps, but that the concept is still in its very early stages and could be ‘a 2020 thing or beyond.’

Speaking about why he wanted to do this, he added: “The first reason I’m excited is moving more to end to end encryption by default in our products. People like this in WhatsApp. I think it’s the direction we should be going in. I think there’s an opportunity … to have encryption work in a consistent way across the things that we’re doing.”

He also explained there are practical benefits, for example in countries where WhatsApp is dominant, being able to message a Facebook Marketplace seller via WhatsApp instead of Messenger could be more convenient.

Watch this space.

 

Social Media Ban for Crime Suspects

New powers to control suspects who are believed to be carrying knives could include bans on using social media to encourage feuds.

The government revealed the sanctions as part of the Knife Crime Prevention Orders, with the aim of reducing rising violence.

The orders would target anyone in England and Wales over the age of 12, who are suspected of knife crime involvement – even if they are not caught with a blade.

Breaching an order would be a criminal offence punishable with up to two years in prison.

Critics said the orders risked criminalising young people, and Labour MP Sarah Jones, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Knife Crime, said the plan was flawed, adding: “Imprisoning a young person – as young as 12 years old – for two years for breaching this order is completely disproportionate.”

 

And finally…

Twitter users were left confused after the Royal Family’s official account asked some strange questions…

Taken out of context, you can see why this might seem odd, but they were in fact in response to previous tweets that were missed by most people: