EU Close to Finishing AdSense Case Against Google, Antitrust Chief Says

EU regulators are close to wrapping up their third case against Alphabet unit Google involving its AdSense advertising service, Europe’s antitrust chief said, suggesting the company may soon be hit with another hefty fine. The comments by European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager come four months after she levied a record 4.34 billion euro ($5 billion) fine against Google for using its popular Android mobile operating system to block rivals.

Zuckerberg Rejects Request to Testify Before British Parliament

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has rejected a request to appear before an international parliamentary committee delving into the questions around fake news. The rebuff came after Damian Collins, the head of the U.K. parliament’s media committee, joined forces with his Canadian counterpart in hopes of pressuring Zuckerberg to testify, as he did before the U.S Congress.

Hackers Insert Malicious Code Into Web Analytics Platform

Hackers have breached StatCounter, one of the internet's largest web analytics platforms, and have inserted malicious code inside the company's main site-tracking script. According to Matthieu Faou, the ESET malware researcher who discovered the hack, this malicious code hijacks any Bitcoin transactions made through the web interface of the Gate.io cryptocurrency exchange.

Several EU Governments Reject Plan to Tax Big Internet Companies

A European Union plan to tax big internet firms like Google and Facebook on their turnover was on the verge of collapsing after several EU governments rejected it and announced national initiatives instead. Under a proposal from the EU’s executive Commission in March, EU states would charge a 3 percent levy on the digital revenues of large firms that are accused of averting tax by routing their profits to the bloc’s low-tax states.

Judge Issues Ruling Against Qualcomm in FTC's Antitrust Case

Mobile chip firm Qualcomm Inc. suffered a setback in an antitrust brought against by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission when a judge sided with trade regulators on a motion for partial summary judgment. Qualcomm and the FTC last month asked a federal judge in San Jose, California, to delay the ruling so that the two sides could pursue settlement talks.

Report Faults Facebook for Being Used to Incite Violence in Myanmar

Facebook failed to prevent its platform from being used to “foment division and incite offline violence” in Myanmar, one of its executives said in a post on Monday, citing a human rights report commissioned by the company. The report, by Business for Social Responsibility, or BSR, which is based in San Francisco, paints a picture of a company that was unaware of its own potential for doing harm and did little to figure out the facts on the ground.

Despite Going Offline After Synagogue Killings, Gab Website Returns

Gab, which was booted by its domain host after a user of the platform was accused of killing 11 in a Pittsburgh synagogue, came back online. The platform, which bills itself as a free speech alternative to Twitter, has been scrutinized for attracting far-right, white supremacist and neo-Nazi users who have flocked to its platform after being banned from mainstream sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Shopify to Ban Some Groups Under Rules Against Hate, Violence

Shopify Inc. will ban some right-wing organizations from its service after accusations from activists, such as Canadian non-profit group North99, that it was supporting hate-promoting groups. The Canadian e-commerce company tweaked its rules to allow it to bar anyone who uses Shopify to sell items that support groups that it believes condone hate or violence.

Supreme Court Refuses to Throw Out Net Neutrality Decision

The U.S. Supreme Court refused a request by the Trump administration and the telecommunications industry to wipe away a lower court decision that had upheld Obama-era net neutrality rules aimed at ensuring a free and open internet, though the justices’ action does not undo the 2017 repeal of the policy. The high court decision not to throw out the 2016 U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruling leaves a legal precedent in place that could help net neutrality supporters in any future legal battle if that policy is ever re-introduced.

Despite Facebook's Removal of Infowars, Alex Jones's NewsWars Thrives

In the three months since Facebook removed four of Jones’s pages over allegations of hate speech, his NewsWars page has remained intact and surged in posts and page views. Videos hosted by the NewsWars Facebook page have totaled 3.9 million views since August, nearly reaching the monthly viewership of Jones’s videos on Infowars and other pages he controlled before they were shut down.

After Report, Facebook Deletes 'White Genocide' as Ad Target

Despite long-running international efforts to debunk the idea of a “white genocide,” Facebook was still selling advertisers the ability to market to those with an interest in that myth just days after the bloodshed. The Intercept was able to select “white genocide conspiracy theory” as a pre-defined “detailed targeting” criterion on the social network to promote two articles to an interest group that Facebook pegged at 168,000 users large and defined as “people who have expressed an interest or like pages related to White genocide conspiracy theory.”

Twitter Apologizes for Trending Topic 'Kill all Jews'

The Twitter trending topic "Kill all Jews" appeared in many New Yorkers' local trending sections. That phrase had been the subject of discussion following the vandalism of Union Temple, a Brooklyn synagogue that was set to host a political event with Broad City star Ilana Glazer. "This phrase should not have appeared in trends, and we’re sorry for this mistake," a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.

Wealthy Moscow Residents Hit by Data Leak from Internet Provider

Thousands of wealthy Moscow residents who subscribed to a regional Internet provider have had personal data including names, home addresses and mobile numbers posted online. People affected by the high-profile data leak are all clients of Moscow-based Internet provider Akado Telecom, a large telecommunications network owned by billionaire businessman Viktor Vekselberg, which said it had opened an inquiry into the incident.

U.S. Indicts Companies in China, Taiwan for Semiconductor Spying

The U.S. Justice Department unveiled an indictment against two companies based in China and Taiwan and three individuals, saying they conspired to steal trade secrets from U.S. semiconductor company Micron Technology Inc. relating to its research and development of memory storage devices. The charges against Taiwan-based United Microelectronics Corp., China state-owned Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co. Ltd. and three individuals who once worked for a unit of Micron mark the fourth case brought by the Justice Department since September as part of a broader crackdown against alleged Chinese espionage on U.S. companies.

India Wants WhatsApp to Share Locations, Identities -- to Stop Violence

The Indian government is pressing WhatsApp to give it the locations and identities of people using the Facebook-owned mobile messaging app to spread fake information that has led to violence. India’s Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asked WhatsApp vice president Chris Daniels about the action during a meeting, according to the Indian news service The Hindu.

The GigaLaw Firm helps companies of all sizes protect their brands online, using domain name dispute policies – such as the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) – and other legal tools available to copyright and trademark owners on the Internet.