Facebook's co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg met China's propaganda tsar Liu Yunshan in Beijing on Saturday (March 19) as part of a charm offensive in one of the few markets where the social network cannot be accessed. The rare meeting [...] suggests warming relations between Facebook and the Chinese government, even as Beijing steps up censorship of and control over the Internet.

Mexico is joining the fight for gender equality with the #HeForShe campaign. The Mexican Interior Ministry announced their commitment to NosotrosPorEllas campaign at a launch event with UN Women Mexico on February 22. The international initiative encourages men and boys to participate in creating a gender equal world. 

U.S. social media companies are taking steps to curb support for terrorist causes on their websites. [...] In response, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) released a new propaganda video which threatens Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. 

India's telecoms regulator ruled Monday that service providers must charge the same price for all content, dealing a crushing blow to "Free Basics," a Facebook initiative that had come under withering criticism from tech activists. "Free Basics," formerly known as Internet.org, offered limited Internet access to consumers who cannot afford a broadband connection or smartphone data plan.

A Syrian refugee is showing Germany's locals and newcomers that the best way to understand each other is through humor. Firas Alshater, a drama student and filmmaker, is the star of a new YouTube video series that explores German society from a refugee's point of view.

In a setback for Facebook, Indian regulators have banned free mobile data programs that favor some Internet services over others. The regulations, issued Monday after months of intense public debate over how to extend the Internet to India’s poorest citizens, effectively block Facebook’s controversial Free Basics program in India. 

Terrorist groups may now have a harder time using Twitter as a platform for radical activities. For years, terrorists groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS) and Al Qaeda have used social media sites including Twitter and Facebook, to spread extremist messages, recruit followers, and call on sympathizers in the West to commit acts of violence at home.

Over the last few years we’ve been treated to a number of “Facebook revolutions,” from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street to the squares of Istanbul, Kiev and Hong Kong, all fueled by social media. But once the smoke cleared, most of these revolutions failed to build any sustainable new political order, in part because as so many voices got amplified, consensus-building became impossible. Question: Does it turn out that social media is better at breaking things than at making things?