Among other censorship and safety issues, it remains a “tremendous challenge for Facebook to maintain a set of standards” that meet the needs of its truly global community. So Monika Bickert, head of global policy at the social giant, tells Re/Code in a ranging interview. Inevitably, “you’re going to have content that makes people uncomfortable,” Bickert explains. “That’s not always a bad thing … We want to make sure that people have that ability to express themselves in a safe place.” 

For all its talk about making the world a better place, Apple is one of the tech industry’s biggest advocates of more lenient environmental protection laws. Yes, “Apple … as a company that makes devices full of not-necessarily-eco-friendly components, lobbies a lot on environmental issues,” GigaOm reports, citing data from MapLight -- a nonprofit organization that recently released a tool for tracking the lobbying activity of any company since 2008. 

In line with its long held membership policies, Facebook has reportedly been forcing gay and transgender users to use their legal names rather than their online personas or chosen names. “Not that long ago, it looked as though Facebook might be softening its previous stance on real names,” GigaOm reports. Yet “some gay and transgender users say the site is forcing them to use their birth names or have their pages blocked.” 

So much for Bloomberg News’ social discussion platform. After a brief beta test, Bloomberg Current will be shuttered in a matter of weeks. As Talking Biz News reports, “The invitation-only site was divided into eight categories … to appeal to business readers with specific interests.” But “the story isn’t over,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “By redirecting our focus, we’ll continue to explore how Bloomberg can best connect you with peers and create a community dedicated to discovering and discussing business and economic trends -- so stay tuned.” 

Taking a note from Snapchat, Facebook is giving select users the power to schedule the future deletion of particular posts. “We’re running a small pilot of a feature on Facebook for iOS that lets people schedule deletion of their posts in advance,” a company spokesperson tells The Next Web. The tests follows Facebook’s introduction of it’s a standalone Snapchat clone Slighshot. 

Adding its social muscle to the Net neutrality debate, Twitter has joined a group of tech companies coming together for an "Internet slowdown" protest on Wednesday. Regarding Twitter, Reddit, and Netflix, BBC News reports: “They are among dozens of firms worried that proposed new regulations will mean extra charges for fast internet access.” For participating companies, taking part in the protest should mean displaying a spinning wheel -- which BBC calls “an icon for slow loading speed” on their homepages. 

Taking a cue from Snapchat, Facebook is now letting Messenger users draw all over their photos before sending them off to friends and family. “You can doodle or type to your heart's content, which should be very handy for elaborating on complex driving directions,” Android Police reports. “Or drawing genitals on the heads of your friends when they've been caught in a compromising position … You know, important stuff.” 

National Review has hired Benny Johnson as its new social media director -- Yes, the same Benny Johnson who was very recently fired by Buzzfeed for numerous instances of plagiarism. Ironically, as Politico reports: “National Review was one of several news or information Web sites that Johnson took content from while working at BuzzFeed.” 

To say nothing of other industries and media categories, Instagram appears to be fundamentally reshaping the highly visual business of fashion. “If we were prone to hyperbole, we’d say [#NYFW on Instagram has] been the most significant force for democratizing fashion since the ready-to-wear revolution of the early 20th century,” The New York Observer suggests. To help brands manage the social madness, check-in app zkipster just launched zSocial -- an app for cataloguing the various Instagram posts (and tweets) sent by party guests over the course of an event. 

The Verge’s Sarah Perez is excited about Steven -- a new emoji-based social network developed by Twitter’s former Chief Scientist Abdur Chowdhury. On its surface, Steven “offers you a way to log your activities and location using emoji … plus view and respond to posts from other friends,” Perez writes. Yet, “By recording a user’s everyday activities and location … Steven is gradually building up a database of information that could be put to use in the future.” More interesting still, the app creates a “sort of ‘ambient awareness’ of what you’re [sic] friends are doing, even when they’re not …