Axios

Residents in cities across Libya have been blocked in recent days from accessing Facebook as rival militia groups clash for power seven years after Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011, Reuters reports.

Why it matters: Facebook is the main platform for sharing news in Libya in the absence of a robust news media market in the country, per Reuters, and has been a powerful tool of democracy and open speech in times of government unrest. "Earlier today, a networking issue caused some people to have trouble accessing or posting to various Facebook services. We quickly investigated and started restoring access, and we have nearly fixed the issue for everyone. We’re sorry for the inconvenience," said a Facebook spokesperson.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with Facebook's comment.

Silicon Valley giants, lawmakers and Big Tech critics are trying to influence how a key regulator thinks about antitrust law enforcement.

Why it matters: Starting this month, the Federal Trade Commission is holding public hearings over concerns like privacy, market power of online platforms like Google and Facebook, and the impact on data on competition. The agency asked for input on those issues — and in trying to steer the topics, companies, lobbyists and interest groups are trying to steer the ultimate policy conclusions.

Cities are increasingly marketing themselves as "smart cities" — hyper-connected, sensor-equipped communities — in their latest economic development pitch to attract workers and businesses.

Why it matters: Metropolitan areas across the country are trying to take advantage of new technologies to become more efficient and sustainable — two qualities that appeal to younger generations of workers, as well as the startups and big corporations who want to employ them.

Facebook has added Inupiaq, a indigenous language spoken in northern Alaska, as an option to its community translation tool, per the AP.

The details: It's only available on the Facebook website, not its app — at least for now. Facebook spokeswoman Arielle Argyres told the AP that the social media giant will soon add Cherokee and Canada’s Inuktut language. "It’s important to have these indigenous languages on the internet. Oftentimes they’re nowhere to be found. So much is carried through language — tradition, culture — and so in the digital world, being able to translate from that environment is really important," Argyres said.