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Facebook has begun testing a new system for identifying users. It replaces the usual passwords with ... selfies, Wired reports.

Test info began spreading first on Twitter. In front of Wired, Facebook confirms that it is actually trying such a method of identification. The goal is to reduce abuse by automated bots that create fake profiles and then build up "friendships."

Facebook has announced it will "unleash" a system of artificial intelligence aimed at quickly recognizing members of the social network who have suicidal thoughts. The initiative aims to help these people in a timely manner, AFP said.

On Wednesday, Facebook announced a new portal that lets users see which Internet Research Agency-linked Facebook pages or Instagram accounts they liked or followed between January 2015 and August 2017, when the pages were shut down, reported BBC. 

The Internet Research Agency is a troll farm with ties to the Russian government.

Russian Twitter accounts posted almost 45,000 messages about Brexit in the 48 hours around last year's referendum in an attempt to sow discord during the vote on whether to leave the European Union, the Times newspaper reported on Wednesday, quoted by Reuters. 

Representatives of the technological giants Facebook, Twitter, and Google have appeared before the US Congress to testify to the distribution of untrue or misleading information paid by Russia on their platforms during the US presidential election last year, DPA and Associated Press reported.

U.S. social media companies have acknowledged that Russian entities used their platforms to sow discord and disinformation during and after the 2016 presidential campaign and pledged to better combat such abuses in the future.

An app that encourages teens to be nice to each other has been acquired by Facebook for an undisclosed fee.

The app - called tbh, meaning "to be honest" - is just nine weeks old, but had already been downloaded five million times.

The app's creators said it will remain a standalone program but will now have more resources thanks to Facebook.

Facebook will rethink the principles of political advertising on its platform and change the regulation before the US Congress elections scheduled for November 2018. Mike Schroffer, Chief Technology Officer on the Social Network, said on Thursday.

Hysteria about possible Russian interference in American political life continues, reports Kaldata. 

Facing scrutiny from Congress, Twitter today disclosed that more than 200 Russia-linked accounts had been used to spread propaganda and misinformation on the company's platform, reports TheVerge.