James Farrell

James Farrell is the former editor-in-chief of Chiang Mai CityNews, where he wrote and managed daily news, features, op-eds and blogs on a diverse range of topics. Prior to this, in the same city of Northern Thailand where he lives, he was the longstanding deputy editor of the monthly magazine Citylife. He has written on culture, politics, travel, tech, business, human rights, for local, national, and international news services and magazines. He has a keen interest in the role technology is playing in the transformation of society, culture and politics, especially in developing nations. This is reflected in his not-so-successful first novel.

Latest from James Farrell

Uber announces new rules during COVID-19 pandemic

APPS - BY JAMES FARRELL - 6 YEARS AGO

Uber Technologies Inc. said today that new measures will be put in place for drivers and passengers as the world tackles the coronavirus pandemic. The company said that during the lockdown, it has been creating new products in line with the “new normal” when people are once again going to work and going about their ...

Facebook to pay $52M to content moderators who developed PTSD

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 6 YEARS AGO

Facebook Inc. today agreed to pay $52 million to moderators who suffered mental health issues while on the job. Moderators will receive a minimum of $1,000 each from Facebook, although if those staff have been diagnosed with mental health conditions, such as PTSD, there could be additional compensation. The company also agreed to provide counseling ...

Twitter will now add labels to disputed or misleading coronavirus information

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 6 YEARS AGO

Twitter Inc. announced today that it will start adding labels and warning messages to COVID-19-related content that’s either disputed or could be misleading. The company said in a blog post that the labels might now offer additional information to posts that might not be deemed harmful, but perhaps don’t provide sufficient context. Those posts might ...

Clearview AI will stop selling its facial recognition technology to private companies

AI - BY JAMES FARRELL - 6 YEARS AGO

The controversial facial recognition firm Clearview AI Inc. has stopped selling its technology to private companies, it was reported today. According to Buzzfeed News, the company is “is cancelling the accounts of every customer who was not either associated with law enforcement or some other federal, state, or local government department, office, or agency.” Clearview ...

YouTube and Twitter pressured to remove more COVID-19-related misinformation

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 6 YEARS AGO

Rep. Adam Schiff shared some strong words with Twitter Inc. and Google LLC-owned YouTube today, telling the companies that they aren’t doing enough to crack down on COVID-19 misinformation and should follow the example of Facebook Inc. “Though the best protection is removing or downgrading harmful content before users engage with it, that is not ...

Twitter makes it easier for researchers to see real-time COVID-19 tweets

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 6 YEARS AGO

In an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 misinformation and help people and organizations trying to better understand the current crisis, Twitter Inc. announced today that it’s opening up the platform to approved developers and researchers. “To further support Twitter’s ongoing efforts to protect the public conversation, and help people find authoritative health information ...

Google will soon require that all advertisers reveal their identities

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 6 YEARS AGO

Google LLC announced today that all advertisers will soon be required to go through a verification process so consumers can better understand who’s behind an ad and where it came from. Since 2018, Google has used a verification process for only political ads, which the company says has provided better transparency for voters in 30 ...

Facebook to start showing users where posts originate

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 6 YEARS AGO

Facebook Inc. said today that it will start showing users where posts come from in order to improve transparency. The company said in a blog post that when posts are made from “high-reach” accounts both on Facebook and Instagram, where that post was created will be displayed with the text or the image. Facebook didn’t ...

Facebook bans posts supporting protests that violate social distancing

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 6 YEARS AGO

Facebook Inc. said today that it will take down posts that promote protests the violate social distancing rules that have been imposed in various states. This week there have been COVID-19 anti-quarantine rallies all over the U.S., with some of those rallies talking about “revolution” in the country. Health experts have advised people not to protest ...

Facebook actively searching for people who interacted with COVID-19 misinformation

POLICY - BY JAMES FARRELL - 6 YEARS AGO

Facebook Inc. announced today that it will start notifying people if they have engaged with misinformation regarding COVID-19. Although information and research pertaining to the novel coronavirus changes daily and not all scientists agree on various aspects of the disease, that’s not what Facebook seems to be interested in. What the company is more concerned ...