Facebook Updates: Shuts down TikTok clone, Privacy breach, and more

Facebook has shut down Lasso, their version of TikTok, and has announced another data breach, along with more updates.

The privacy breach is involved with Facebook logins used to sign in to other apps. In addition to shutting down Lasso, Facebook launched is now prompting users to wear face masks.

Lasso

In 2018, Facebook launched a stand-alone short-format video app called Lasso. Users could log in with Facebook or Instagram and also cross-post their videos to Stories on Facebook.

The app included filters, effects, and video-editing tools to adjust the speed of the video. Users could shoot 15-second long videos by lip-syncing to music, dancing, or do anything similar to what one can on TikTok.

Lasso was available in a few countries such as US, Panama, Peru, and more. Earlier this year, Lasso also added Hindi as a support language to the app, seemingly for the app's launch in India.

But now, Facebook has shut down the app. A Facebook spokesperson who confirmed the news to TechCrunch also mentioned, "We’ll look to incorporate in our other video experiences".

The news comes in ahead of TikTok's ban in India and Instagram Reels' expansion to more countries. This could either mean, Facebook is clearing the way for Reels to avoid in-house competition, or they are planning a new app altogether.

The short-format video creation space in India is wide open currently since TikTok's ban. Apart from the launch of Reels, Instagram was also testing an in-app short-format video creation feature called 'Clips'.

Another major player working on a feature of a similar kind is YouTube, they recently announced the tests. YouTube also has a substantial regional reach in India, if they expand the tests to India, they would be able to make hay as the sun shines.

Also Read: Facebook Updates: News Tab, Business Inbox, & more

Privacy Breach

Facebook shared private information of users with an approximate of 5,000 developers beyond the 90 days of inactivity (cut-off date).

In 2014, Facebook introduced controls for users to decide which non-public information such as email address, birth date, and more to share when they used Facebook to sign into apps.

In 2018, Facebook announced that the permission for an app’s ability to receive any updates to this information would automatically expire if Facebook's systems didn’t recognize a person as having used the app within the last 90 days.

For instance, when you see the option of 'Sign-In with Facebook' or 'Sign-In with Google' while logging into an app, and you used Facebook logins and haven't used the app for more than 90 days, Facebook continued to share your information in spite of their policies, and despite you not using the app for more than 90 days.

At this point, Facebook's privacy breach list gets longer on a regular basis, despite their biggest one Cambridge Analytica Scandal leading to an agreement with the FTC, and settlement that several journalists touted to be not substantial for Facebook's doings.

Mask Prompts

Facebook and Instagram will start showing a prompt at the top of the Feeds, urging users to wear a face mask while heading out in public with a button to redirect users to the CDC website where they can gain more information.

Dark Mode for Mobile

A small group of users have reported having access to dark mode on Facebook Mobile apps. Facebook Web, Instagram Mobile, and WhatsApp already had dark mode available. It is unclear when the setting will be rolled out on a full scale globally.