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Android 11: You can install Google's new OS on these phones today. Here's how
Android 11: You can install Google's new OS on these phones today. Here's how
Android 11 is ready for your phone, as long as it's compatible. And if it isn't yet, it could be soon -- phone brands will want to fast-track Google's new operating system for their top phones. The Android 11 update brings a slew of new features, including a screen to control your connected devices, redesigned media controls, improved notifications and a new messaging feature called Bubbles, which you'll either love or hate.
As is usually the case with major Android updates, how soon you'll receive the update depends on who makes your device. Google has said that Android 11 is rolling out to its Pixel 2 and newer phones in that range, along with OnePlus, Xiaomi, Oppo and Realme phones right now.
Own a Pixel? You're a few taps away from Android 11
Open the Settings app on your phone and, on a Pixel phone at least, tap System > Advanced > System update > Check for update. If your phone doesn't find the update right away, be patient. As is always the case with Google, the update is slowly rolling out, so it might take a few days before it shows up on your phone -- just keep checking.
Once your phone finds the update, just follow the prompts to install it like you would any other update. I recommend having your phone plugged into a charger and a strong Wi-Fi connection to ensure the process is as smooth as possible.
Android 11 will arrive just like a normal update on your Android phone.
Jason Cipriani/CNET
There's an open beta for the OnePlus 8 and 8 Pro
If you have a OnePlus 8 or OnePlus 8 Pro, the company has launched an open beta of its OxygenOS 11 update, which includes Android 11. Anyone who wants to check out the new features before it's officially released needs to visit the OnePlus forums, where instructions and details are posted. The installation process won't force you to reset your device or lose any data, but it is a beta, so proceed with caution.
I installed the update on a OnePlus 8, following the steps outlined in the post, and it took around 30 minutes to complete. You can download the file directly on your OnePlus phone and use the OnePlus file manager app to move it to the root storage folder, or download it on your computer and transfer the file to your phone in order to install it.
You can go back to a more stable version of OxygenOS if there are too many issues with the beta, but be warned, that will wipe all data from your phone.
Get an early look at Android 11 on your OnePlus phone.
Screenshots by Jason Cipriani/CNET
What about Nokia, Xiaomi, Oppo?
Not every phone-maker has publicly announced their rollout plans for Android 11, but we do know that Nokia has confirmed it will release Android 11.
Oppo will officially announce its ColorOS 11 update on Sept. 14 via a livestream, and has also opened a limited beta for the Find X2, Find X2 Pro, Reno3 (4G) and Reno3 Pro (4G).
Xiaomi posted on Twitter that the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro would be the first devices to get Android 11, and the company has also launched a beta program for early adopters.
We will continue to update this list as more device-makers announce their plans for rolling out Android 11 to their respective phones.
What do you do if you were in the public beta?
You shouldn't have to do anything special if you've been testing Android 11 on a Pixel phone through Google's public beta program. Once the update is available for your phone, you'll update to the official version of Android 11 and "graduate" from the beta program.
You can double-check that you're no longer enrolled in the beta program on the beta website: Your device should say "Opt in" under it.
I've been testing Android 11 for a while now, and have found some features that will change the way you use your phone. There's also some significant improvements to privacy features included in the update. For more general, but still just as great, Android tricks, check out these hidden features.
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Marvel's VFX Artists Are Suffering -- and Starting to Speak Out
Marvel's VFX Artists Are Suffering -- and Starting to Speak Out
Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi makes interviews look fun. During the long and often tedious press tour filmmakers endure to promote their latest films, Waititi brought his trademark laid-back goofiness to a video in which he breaks down a scene. Only, this time, it backfired. Almost offhandedly, Waititi questioned whether a character named Korg, a CGI rock creature he also played, looked "real." "Do I need to be more blue?" he asked.
The comment launched headlines. Waititi, the director, appeared to cruelly mock his own film's VFX work -- work painstakingly toiled over across hundreds of hours by visual effects artists. It got worse. At the same time, severalReddit threads surfaced, charting the harsh experiences of effects artists who worked on Marvel projects as far back as 2012.
Chris Hemsworth and Taika Waititi at the Sydney premiere of Thor: Love And Thunder.
Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
"Working on Marvel projects ends up being incredibly stressful, and this is a widely known issue throughout the VFX industry, it's not specific to any one VFX house," a person who worked on Marvel projects and wished to remain anonymous, told CNET via email. Industry standards dictate a strict policy of not speaking to the press.
Marvel and Disney didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Visual effects artists are in more demand than ever, servicing abundant productions from Marvel, Warner Bros., Sony and more. VFX studios secure work by placing a bid based on the number of shots a studio requests. Competition can be aggressive. While a low bid might win, the actual workload the shots amount to can vary dramatically.
"You bid on a number of shots and hope that on average they don't end up being too complicated or difficult, or that the client gets too caught up in minor details and keeps sending shots back for more work," said Peter Allen, an animator and VFX artist and former lecturer in film and television production at the University of Melbourne.
The work is contracted to a VFX house at a set price. An effects artist might manage grueling hours to meet hard release dates but work overtime unpaid. If the final product fails to satisfy audience expectations, VFX artists often take the blame.
"As a visual medium, visual effects are among the easiest targets for fans to pick apart, especially if there are leaks or early releases of unfinished shots," Allen said. Cats and Sonic the Hedgehog are recent examples.
The upcoming She-Hulk has already drawn criticism for the CGI look of its hero.
Marvel Studios/Screenshot by CNET
With an avalanche of new projects lined up in the next phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- a seemingly never-ending stream of content -- effects artists have been coming under intensifying strain. Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk and Thor: Love and Thunder are the latest to weather criticism about underwhelming superpower effects.
But now, the artists vital to Marvel's storytelling are speaking out. Sick of bearing the brunt of visual effects criticism, tired of punishing working conditions, VFX artists are demanding change.
Unless the industry can make fundamental improvements, Marvel could have a problem on its hands.
An infamous client
Even before the public Reddit threads, insider stories and viral tweets, Marvel had a reputation for pushing VFX artists to the brink. Forget 38-hour weeks. One source described working 60 to 80. This lasted "multiple months in a row."
The toll was brutal. "I've had to comfort people crying at their desks late at night from the sheer pressure involved, and routinely had colleagues call me having anxiety attacks," the effects artist said. "I've heard personally from many artists that they ask to avoid Marvel shows in their future assignments."
Another VFX artist, who also wished to remain anonymous, described harsh conditions that extended beyond the Marvel machine.
"I have worked on several projects for Marvel and other tentpole films," the effects artist told CNET. "For many years, I did work long hours, mostly unpaid. No longer. At no time do I work for free, nor will I work an all-nighter for a perceived emergency."
Sequences underwent late changes in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Marvel Studios
One effects artists boils Marvel's problems down to three major issues: a demand to see near-complete work much earlier in the process compared to other clients; high-pressure environments leading to burnout and low morale; and lower budgets squeezing out more experienced, more expensive workers from future Marvel projects.
Even after shots are exhaustively delivered, Marvel is allegedly "infamous" for requesting "tons of different variations" until one earns the green light. It doesn't end there. More changes to a production often come late in the game, potentially weeks out from release, resulting in an endemic practice of working overtime. The latest Doctor Strange flick, for example, underwent late changes to sequences involving VFX.
"We've literally made up entire third acts of a film, a month before release, because the director didn't know what they wanted," one source said about Marvel in general. "Even Marvel's parent Disney is much easier to work with on their live-action films."
Could VFX houses push back? Not if they want to risk financial loss. In 2013, Rhythm & Hues, the acclaimed VFX house that worked on The Lord of the Rings and Life of Pi -- which won the Oscar for best visual effects -- filed for bankruptcy. It was the last major independent VFX studio in Los Angeles. Moving Picture Company, an effects house that worked on Spider-Man: No Way Home, reportedly announced in July that it would be freezing pay rises this year.
Marvel, providing a seemingly endless source of work, is a lucrative client. "Marvel has multiple blockbusters in a row, and studios that displease them risk losing out on tons of work," said one effects artist. "So they don't push back as much as they would with other clients."
The size of Marvel allows it to secure bargain effects work, to "string along" a studio or move on to the next best bidder. Yet, for some, working on Marvel projects is no different from any other big action film. It's about managing expectations.
The VFX studio behind Oscar-winning Life of Pi went bankrupt.
Fox 2000 Pictures
Balance
Not all VFX gigs are an overwhelming slog. Not even with Marvel.
"My experience working on the one Marvel film was pretty much the same as any other film," another artist told CNET. They said that, while the workload was high, the deadlines "were the same as any other action film."
Another VFX artist believes the onus is on the effects houses to stand up for their workers, to "pay overtime" and "manage expectations," both with clients and artists.
"The blame is on the VFX studios, not the client -- Marvel or otherwise."
Yet less established VFX houses might lack the influence to shield artists from the "crazy" schedules Marvel could impose. One solution to this power dynamic has already started to unfold.
A decade ago, visual effects artists were part of one of the "largest non-unionized sectors in showbiz," according to a Variety report. Since then, VFX unions such as the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees have attempted to organize visual effects artists.
"Employees unionizing would dramatically change how VFX houses bid shows because they can't simply dump the poor choices onto their employees," one effects artist said. "It makes sure employees can't be pushed around as easily."
Animation artists, for example, can unionize in their respective workplaces with the help of the Animation Guild. The organization acts as an advocate for its members over wage disputes and more between employees and employers. Major studios such as Dreamworks and Walt Disney Animation Studios -- as well as Marvel Animation -- employ artists covered by the guild.
The time could be right for making unionization happen for effects artists, VFX artist Allen said. "Right now, there's high demand for staff so there is an unusual opportunity for those staff to organize since production companies really need them."
But this solution isn't as easy as snapping one's fingers. Outsourcing, or using ununionized workers, is another way for studios to cut costs. "Many studios will bring in people on work visas with the promise of long-term employment," one effects artist said. The studios then leave the employee "dangling."
Still, signs could be positive for effects artists. Other production workers, including staff in IT and logistics, have been successful in joining the Animation Guild, which "used to be for artists only," Allen says. For VFX professionals, traditionally viewed as craftworkers rather than artists, this could be an "interesting development."
"But individual workplaces have to agree to unionize, it's not an automatic protection for all workers."
Chris Hemsworth as Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Marvel Studios/YouTube
The Marvel effect
One effects artist believes the onus is still on Marvel to enact its own changes. It could come down to greater training for its directors on the VFX process.
"Marvel's directors are often inexperienced with the VFX process, both on set and after," an effects artist said.
If the director happens to prefer longer takes, it can "dramatically" increase the workload on artists, Allen said. Not only are there more frames to create effects for, but the longer the effect is on screen, the more precise they have to be. "Shorter shots mean you can cut a few corners."
The effects artist said Marvel must stop believing "VFX gives [it] infinite room to change things." They said Marvel must work with its directors to reduce the number of iterations in the VFX process. "With training -- with clearer, more 'decisive' visualization provided to directors early in the process -- everyone could be on the same page."
Then, maybe, no one would have their work come under fire during press tours.
Iihs top safety pick 2014 iihs top safety picks 2015 iihs top safety picks 2019 top safety pick 2022 iihs top safety picks 2022 iihs safety ratings 2021 iihs top safety pick 2021 health and safety 2022 iihs safety ratings 2022 iihs top safety pick 2022 iihs side impact 2022 iihf worlds 2022 scores
IIHS Announces 2022 Top Safety Pick Plus Winners
IIHS Announces 2022 Top Safety Pick Plus Winners
A few years ago, when the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety added a headlight requirement to get its Top Safety Pick Plus award, it knocked a ton of manufacturers out of the running. The fact is that most car headlights at that time were simply not good enough, but now carmakers are getting the hang of things, and more cars than ever are getting that coveted Plus award.
IIHS released its Top Safety Pick Plus winners on Thursday, Feb. 24, and 65 models made the cut in 10 categories. Many made it with no asterisks, but several models have added qualifiers. For example, the Genesis G70, Mitsubishi Outlander and Hyundai Santa Fe made the list but only for models built after a particular month. Others, like the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and GLE-Class, make the cut only with optional front crash protection.
Despite that, having 65 models to choose from is a massive win for the American car-buying public because it means that it's easier than ever to find a truly safe car at basically any price and in nearly any shape and size. If you want a small car, buy the new Honda Civic or Mazda3. Need a supersafe minivan? Get the Chrysler Pacifica or Toyota Sienna. The list goes on.
"Manufacturers deserve congratulations for the steady improvements they've made since we last updated our award requirements, but with US traffic fatalities expected to exceed 40,000 people in 2021, it's no time for anybody to rest on their laurels," IIHS President David Harkey said in a statement. "A key reason vehicles have continued to get safer over the more than 25 years since the Institute began our ratings program is that we have never shied away from raising the bar. The high number of Top Safety Pick Plus winners shows that it's time to push for additional changes."
In case you need a refresher on what criteria a vehicle has to meet before getting a Top Safety Pick Plus award, they need to pass all six of the IIHS' stringent crash tests: driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, original side, roof strength and head restraint tests. They also need frontal crash prevention systems rated as Advanced or Superior in both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian tests. Lastly, they need to have at least one headlight system that ranks as Good or Acceptable.
Now, carmakers won't be able to rest on their laurels for long. The IIHS is adding two tests to the 2023 Top Safety Pick Plus criteria: an updated side impact test that uses a heavier movable barrier conducted at a higher speed and a nighttime pedestrian crash prevention test. Neither will be necessary for the basic Top Safety Pick, but to get the Plus, vehicles have to score Good or Acceptable on the former and Advanced or Superior on the latter.
Monkeypox outbreak us latest news monkeypox virus outbreak news monkeypox outbreak in usa most recent outbreak of monkeypox what is the monkeypox outbreak what is the monkeypox outbreak biden declares monkeypox emergency us declares monkeypox emergency who declares health emergency monkeypox who declares a recession who declares war congress or president
WHO Declares Monkeypox Outbreak a Global Health Emergency
WHO Declares Monkeypox Outbreak a Global Health Emergency
The World Health Organization on Saturday declared the monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency, as the number of cases, and countries reporting them, has climbed over the last month.
"We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little," WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference.
Tedros said there are now more than 16,000 reported cases from 75 countries, up from 3,040 reported cases from 47 countries a month ago. Five people have died as a result of the current outbreak, Tedros said. About 2,900 cases have been confirmed throughout the United States and Puerto Rico, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tedros said, however, that we have the tools to bring the outbreak under control, and he called on countries to carry out a coordinated response. That includes implementing measures for halting transmission and protecting vulnerable groups; increasing the monitoring of the outbreak's progress; speeding up research into vaccines and treatments; and developing recommendations for international travel.
Read more: What We Know About the Monkeypox Vaccine
Monkeypox spreads between people primarily through contact with infectious sores, scabs or bodily fluids, according to the CDC, but it can also spread through prolonged face-to-face contact via respiratory droplets or by touching contaminated clothing or bedding. Anyone can be infected with monkeypox, but so far many of the outbreak cases have involved men who have sex with men.
"Although I'm declaring a public health emergency of international concern," Tedros said, "for the moment, this is an outbreak that's concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners. That means that this is an outbreak that can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups."
Tedros cautioned that "stigma and discrimination can be as dangerous as any virus" and he called on countries to adopt measures that "protect the health, human rights and dignity of affected communities."
He also said countries should work closely with those communities to develop services and outreach programs, and he said the WHO intends to partner with civil organizations, including groups with experience working with people who have HIV, to fight discrimination and stigma.
Gay and bisexual communities tend to have particularly "high awareness and rapid health-seeking behavior when it comes to their and their communities' sexual health," Dr. Hans Henri P. Kluge, the WHO's regional director for Europe, said in a statement at the end of May, noting that those who sought early health care services should be applauded.
A monkeypox infection typically begins with flulike symptoms, including fatigue, intense headache, fever and swollen lymph nodes. Within one to three days of a fever developing, according to the CDC, a rash or sores develop and can be located pretty much anywhere on the body, including the hands, genitals, face, chest and inside of the mouth.
Read more: What to Know About Monkeypox
Notably, some people never experience flulike symptoms, the CDC says, and people may experience all or only a few of the typical monkeypox symptoms. For safer sex and social gatherings where people may be in close contact with other peoples' bodies, the CDC has a fact sheet for practices to consider.
Close contact is a key element in the transmission of monkeypox. That, along with the fact that the virus that causes monkeypox appears to have a slower reproduction rate than the COVID-19 virus, sets it apart from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said last month at a media briefing.
CNET's Jessica Rendall contributed to this report.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
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Nvidia Turing architecture arrives in high-end Quadro RTX GPUs
Nvidia Turing architecture arrives in high-end Quadro RTX GPUs
At SIGGRAPH 2018, Nvidia announced its first processors built on its long-awaited Turing architecture, the Quadro RTX 5000, 6000 and 8000 graphics processors; Turing brings higher-bandwidth processing thanks to 4,608 CUDA cores along with support for high-bandwidth GDDR6 memory and the new one-cable VirtualLink VR. RTX adds new ray-tracing cores for high-quality, real-time rendering with global illumination.
They're slated to be available by the end of the year.
Specifications
GPU
Memory
Memory with NVLink (two cards)
Ray Tracing bandwidth
CUDA Cores
Tensor Cores
Price
Quadro RTX 8000
48GB
96GB
10 Gigarays per second
4,608
576
$10,000
Quadro RTX 6000
24GB
48GB
10 Gigarays per second
4,608
576
$6,300
Quadro RTX 5000
16GB
32GB
6 Gigarays per second
3,072
384
$2,300
NVLink is a new physical connector to link GPUs.
Dell, Lenovo and HP are among the first manufacturers that'll be incorporating these into their desktops. But unless you're editing 8K video, simulating real-time fluid dynamics or other seriously processor-intensive work, you might not care about how much heavy lifting these GPUs can do. However, they do make the Turing-based GeForce GPUs we've been waiting for, such as a possible GTX 1180, seem a bit closer; it's rumored to launch next week at Gamescom. And given the claim that their real time ray-tracing improves over Pascal by 6x in these GPUs, that bodes well for improvements for in-game rendering.
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PC gamers, crypto miners and other GPU enthusiasts have been waiting over two years for the company's next big graphics card -- which is pretty unusual in this space. And even so, Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang recently told reporters the cards were still "a long time" away.
But a couple of new leaks suggest we might see the GeForce GTX 11 series far sooner than that -- likely this fall, and perhaps even this August.
That's according to this video from Brainbean, where a Lenovo product manager lets slip that his new gaming PC will have GeForce 11-series graphics this fall -- combined with a report from VideoCardz that claims Nvidia is sending out invites to the press for a possible announcement at the Gamescom conference on Aug. 21.
It's possible that Lenovo's product manager misspoke, but if not, HotHardware says it'd be the first time we've had confirmation that Nvidia's next GPUs will actually be called 11 series (and thus GTX 1180, GTX 1170 etc) instead of the GeForce 20 series or something of the sort.
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Text Too Tiny on Your iPhone, iPad or Mac? It's Easy to Fix
Text Too Tiny on Your iPhone, iPad or Mac? It's Easy to Fix
If you find yourself having to squint in order to read or type words on your phone or computer screen, you won't get much enjoyment out of your Apple device. Not to mention the headache-inducing blue light.
Apple has a number of accessibility features that you can explore and customize under Settings > Accessibility. With the launch of iOS 15, Apple's Zoom feature has a new reworked accessibility feature. This tool is also available on Macs.
Here's what you need to know about the Zoom feature.
What is Apple's Zoom tool?
The Zoom feature lets you magnify specific parts of your screen. You can customize the feature to magnify the whole screen or a draggable windowed view. Zoom also allows you to turn on gestures like double-tapping three fingers to activate Zoom, move around your screen and change the magnification.
Where can I find Apple's Zoom tool?
To find Zoom, open the Settings app on your iPhone, iPad or Mac, tap Accessibility and choose Zoom.
How the Zoom tool works
Here's what you'll turn on or off to make the magnification feature work best for you.
Follow Focus lets you track your selections, like your text insertion point, as well as your typing.
Smart Typing becomes available if you turn on Follow Focus. This lets you switch to Window Zoom when the keyboard pops up. Window Zoom magnifies a section of screen in a window that you can drag around to expand what you need to see, like a digital magnifying glass. Also, once the keyboard pops up, you can double-tap to magnify where you're typing, but the keyboard stays put.
Keyboard shortcuts only applies if you've connected an external keyboard to your iPad. If you have, simply toggle the option on to find and customize keyboard shortcuts like toggling Zoom, moving your Window and resizing your Window. If you open Zoom on your Mac, you can turn on Zoom keyboard shortcuts, scroll gestures, hover text and zoom on the touch bar. For example, toggle zoom is Option-Command-8. Pressing that combination lets you zoom in and back out. You can also choose whether you want to magnify full-screen, split-screen or picture-in-picture mode.
You can find the Zoom feature under the Accessibility tab in Settings.
Sarah Tew/CNET
Zoom controller gives you quick access to determine what activates for single, double and triple taps on the screen. You can also choose to Show Controller on the screen. This puts a little icon on the screen that I found helpful when moving the Window around the screen. Think of it as a little map to keep you oriented when you've magnified a section of screen. You can choose between five different colors to make the icon more visible, as well as change the opacity.
Zoom Region lets you choose between a Window Zoom, Full Screen Zoom or Pinned Zoom. Window Zoom will magnify a section of your screen, but you'll still be able to see some of the unmagnified screen and pan over that area. Full Screen Zoom eliminates the window and works like double tapping to magnify and pan around on a photo. Pinned Zoom lets you choose a specific section of the screen -- top, left, right or bottom -- and keeps the unpinned section in regular size.
Zoom filter lets you customize the magnified section's coloring as inverted, grayscale, grayscale inverted or low-light.
Maximum Zoom Level is a simple slider that lets you customize the magnification anywhere from 1.2x all the way to 15x.
For more information, check out these six hidden iOS 15 tricks we found.
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Hackers Target Ukrainian Military, Journalists on Facebook
Hackers Target Ukrainian Military, Journalists on Facebook
Facebook's parent company Meta said late Sunday that hackers are increasingly targeting Ukrainian military officials and journalists to spread disinformation. Hackers tied to an operation known as "Ghostwriter" compromised some Ukrainian Facebook accounts, but Meta said it wasn't naming the victims to protect their privacy.
"We detected attempts to target people on Facebook and post YouTube videos portraying Ukrainian troops as weak and surrendering to Russia," said David Agranovich, director of global threat disruption at Meta, at a virtual press conference.
The threats underscores the variety of challenges social media companies face as they try to combat false claims about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Meta added features in Ukraine meant to keep users safe such as the ability to lock their Facebook profile and remove the ability to view and search friends lists. The company, like Twitter, is encouraging users to enable two-factor authentication, an extra layer of security that makes it tougher for hackers to break into accounts.
Ghostwriter typically targets people through email first through tactics such as trying to trick people into clicking on a malicious link to steal their login credentials, Agranovich said. After compromising a target's email, they will then break into people's social media accounts and use those accounts to post disinformation.
Nathaniel Gleicher, who heads Meta's security policy, said as social media users take steps to protect their accounts, they should also think about how their information could get compromised on other apps and devices. Gleicher said Ghostwriter targeted a "small number" of Facebook users but the group is going after valuable targets such as public figures.
Mandiant Threat Intelligence, which has done research on Ghostwriter, said in a report published last year that it found evidence that suggests the operation has ties to a suspected state-sponsored cyber espionage actor called UNC1151. In November, Mandiant Threat Intelligence linked UNC1151 to the Belarusian government.
"We cannot rule out Russian contributions to either UNC1151 or Ghostwriter. However, at this time, we have not uncovered direct evidence of such contributions," Mandiant Threat Intelligence said in a blog post.
The European Union said in a press release in September that some EU member states have associated Ghostwriter with the Russian state.
Meta also pulled down a network of about 40 fake accounts, Pages and Groups on Facebook and Instagram from Russia and Ukraine. The accounts targeted Ukrainians across multiple social networks including on Twitter, YouTube, Telegram, Odnoklassniki and VK. These fake accounts pretended to be news editors, a former aviation engineer and an author of a scientific publication on hydrography (the science of mapping water). They ran fake news websites and published stories that included "claims about the West betraying Ukraine and Ukraine being a failed state," Meta said.
The company said the network of fake accounts didn't have a wide reach. Fewer than 4,000 Facebook accounts followed one of more of these Pages and fewer than 500 accounts followed one or more of the Instagram accounts.
The social media giant shared information about the operation with other tech platforms, researchers and governments.
Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok are being flooded with misinformation and disinformation, including misleading videos that use old footage to create a false image of what's happening in real-time.
Meta said it's expanding its third-party fact checking capacity in Russia and Ukrainian, labeling state-controlled media publishers and barring ads from Russia state media. The company, which owns Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp, said it created a special operations center with experts who speak Ukrainian and Russian to help monitor its platform.
Russia has partly restricted access to Facebook after the social network refused to stop fact-checking and label 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.
Gleicher said he doesn't have any more information about what restrictions Russia put into place but Meta's teams continue to monitor the situation and "do believe that we're still accessible in [the] country."
On Sunday, Meta said it restricted some accounts, including several run by Russia state media, because the Ukrainian government requested the company do so. The company is reviewing other government requests to do the same in their countries.
