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The suspended apps were associated with about 400 developers, it said.

Facebook said not all the apps posed a threat to users.

The company came under huge pressure in 2018 after it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica had accessed many users' data without permission.

The political consultancy firm is alleged to have used this data - harvested by a personality quiz - to target political advertising.

Facebook Dating launched on Friday in the United States, a service for those 18 and older. 

The platform, reportedly displayed as a separate tab on the mobile app, seeks to match users with common interests who aren't already friends. 

Similar to pre-existing dating apps Bumble and Hinge, you can then send a cutie a 'like' and a corresponding message. 

Many may not like what they see.

A feature in settings called Off-Facebook Activity will show all the apps and websites that send information about you to Facebook, which is then used to target ads more effectively.

You will also be able to clear your history and prevent your future off-app behaviour being tapped. But one expert said the move was unlikely to have a big impact on the firm's profits.

For now, it is rolling out very slowly, with only Ireland, South Korea and Spain getting access. But the goal is to eventually offer it globally.

Twitter said it removed 936 accounts it said were being used to “sow political discord in Hong Kong”.

The network said the accounts originated in mainland China and were part of a coordinated attempt to undermine the “legitimacy and political positions of the protest movement”.

Facebook said it had, after being tipped off by Twitter, removed "seven Pages, three Groups and five Facebook accounts.”

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been investigating allegations that political consultancy Cambridge Analytica improperly obtained the data of up to 87 million Facebook users.

The settlement was approved by the FTC in a 3-2 vote, sources told US media.

Facebook and the FTC told the BBC they had no comment on the reports.

How was the settlement reached?

The consumer protection agency the FTC began investigating Facebook in March 2018 following reports that Cambridge Analytica had accessed the data of tens of millions of its users.

Malele Atofu was arrested and locked in police custody for the second time.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi is alleged to have been defamed in the first social media video rant by King Faipopo which resulted in his arrest three months ago.

Tuila'epa is one of the prosecution witnesses in the case against Faipopo.

The defendant's application for the matter to be quashed because Samoa has no jurisdiction to hear the case will be heard next Monday.

The website Down Detector reported that thousands of people globally had complained about the Facebook-owned trio being down from 11.30 BST onwards.

Facebook users were presented with the message: "Something went wrong."

At 14:50, the site said it had resolved the issue after some users "experienced trouble connecting" to the apps.

A spokesman for the company added: "We're sorry for any inconvenience."

Facebook did not comment on the cause of the problem, or say how many users had been affected.

Security researcher Brian Krebs broke the news about data protection failures, which saw up to 600 million passwords stored in plain text.

The passwords that were exposed could date back to 2012, he said.

In a statement, Facebook said it had now resolved a "glitch" that had stored the passwords on its internal network.

In a detailed expose, Mr Krebs said a Facebook source had told him about "security failures" that had let developers create applications that logged and stored the passwords without encrypting them.

The penalties, around $US2,000 each for the five families who were found to be responsible for the abuse, illustrate the growing frustration in Samoa and society across the Pacific, where Facebook content is becoming a constant flashpoint between traditional leaders and their critics.

Chiefs in Lauli'i village, to the East of Samoa's capital Apia, initially mulled fines of nearly $US4,000, as well as the banishment of the families from the village, the Samoa Observer reported on Tuesday. But after debate, the village council decided on the reduced fines.

This follows BBC News uncovering several incidents of group owners being approached about selling their pages.

Last month, nearly all 25,000 members of a west London group left in protest after finding out it had been sold by the person running it.

One buyer told BBC News they bought groups to promote their own business. They also sell unofficial ad space.

Facebook says the practice falls under the "spam" section of its Community Standards rules although there is no specific line that says this.