Shopping Comparison Sites Say Google Hasn't Complied with EU Ruling

Shopping comparison sites accused Google in an open letter of failing to comply with a major EU ruling about how the internet giant displays shopping services. Last year, Europe's regulator slapped Google with a 2.42 billion euro ($2.72 billion) fine for favoring its own shopping services in its search results over those of rivals following a years-long antitrust investigation.

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U.S. Asks Allies to Stop Using Huawei's Telecommunications Equipment

The U.S. government has initiated an extraordinary outreach campaign to foreign allies, trying to persuade wireless and internet providers in these countries to avoid telecommunications equipment from China’s Huawei Technologies Co., according to people familiar with the situation. American officials have briefed their government counterparts and telecom executives in friendly countries where Huawei equipment is already in wide use, including Germany, Italy and Japan, about what they see as cybersecurity risks, these people said.

Justice Department Investigating Manipulation in Bitcoin Rally

As Bitcoin plunges, the U.S. Justice Department is investigating whether last year’s epic rally was fueled in part by manipulation, with traders driving it up with Tether -- a popular but controversial digital token. While federal prosecutors opened a broad criminal probe into cryptocurrencies months ago, they’ve recently homed in on suspicions that a tangled web involving Bitcoin, Tether and crypto exchange Bitfinex might have been used to illegally move prices, said three people familiar with the matter.

Singapore Lawmaker Criticizes Facebook for Failing to Fight Fake News

A Singapore lawmaker hit out at Facebook, saying it had reneged on a promise to help rein in fake news and calling for tougher regulations, which the social media firm has cautioned against. The criticism follows Facebook’s refusal this month of a government request to remove an online article about the city-state’s banks and Malaysia’s scandal-linked 1MDB state fund, which the government said was false and malicious.

Russian Company Sues Facebook for Blocking Its News Account

A Russian company whose accountant was charged by federal prosecutors for attempting to meddle in U.S. elections sued Facebook Inc., claiming it is a legitimate news outlet and its Facebook account should be restored. The Federal Agency of News LLC, known as FAN, and its sole shareholder, Evgeniy Zubarev, filed the lawsuit in federal court in the Northern District of California, seeking damages and an injunction to prevent Facebook from blocking its account.

Free Speech Advocate Says 'Facebook Has Its Own First Amendment Rights'

Facebook is not a part of the government. That means, unlike an American government body that has to abide by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, it can kick off users who violate its rules. However, says First Amendment scholar Jameel Jaffer, we should have a discussion about that power and whether Facebook should be able to decide who gets to speak.

Facebook Faces Threats from Lawmakers, Shareholders, Activists

Republicans and Democrats threatened to restrain Facebook through competition laws and to open investigations into possible campaign finance violations. Shareholders ramped up calls to oust Mark Zuckerberg as Facebook’s chairman. And activists filed a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission about the social network’s privacy policies and condemned Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer, for overseeing a campaign to secretly attack opponents.

Instagram Says Security Flaw May Have Exposed Passwords

Instagram notified some users of a new security flaw that could have inadvertently exposed their passwords to public view, raising questions among security researchers about the effectiveness of Instagram’s security measures. The security flaw was tied, ironically, to a tool Instagram introduced in April to let users see how much of their personal data the site had collected.

SEC Settles with Two Tech Companies Selling Digital Tokens

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission settled charges with two technology companies for improperly offering digital tokens, mandating that they register their offerings as securities and reimburse investors. The action marked the first time the SEC has imposed penalties against tech startups that skirt the regulator’s rules through “initial coin offerings.”

Judge Refuses to Dismiss Lawsuit Against Publisher of Neo-Nazi Website

A lawsuit accusing the publisher of the neo-Nazi site Daily Stormer of coordinating a “terror campaign” of online harassment against a Jewish real estate agent cannot be dismissed on First Amendment grounds, a federal judge in Montana ruled. In his ruling denying a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, Dana L. Christensen, the chief judge for United States District Court in Missoula, Mont., wrote that the real estate agent, Tanya Gersh, was a private citizen, not a public figure, and that the publisher, Andrew Anglin, incited his followers to harass her as part of a personal campaign.

Democratic Senators Want Facebook Probed Over Retaliation

A group of Democratic senators urged the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate Facebook following allegations that it attempted to discredit critics who pushed for the company to be regulated. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) spearheaded a letter signed by fellow Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Chris Coons (Del.) and Mazie Hirono (Hawaii) pressing DOJ to probe the company in the wake of a New York Times report detailing how the company retaliated against its detractors amid the fallout from scandals at Facebook since the 2016 election.

Facebook Reports Removing 1.5 Billion Fake Accounts

Facebook said it had removed more than a billion fake accounts and taken action against millions of posts, photos and other forms of content that violated its prohibition against hate speech, terrorist propaganda and child exploitation, the latest sign that the social-networking giant faces an onslaught of online abuse as it builds new tools to spot it. The report shows that Facebook still struggles to identify hate speech and bullying, in particular, even at a time when social media companies are grappling with the rising tide of racist, sexist and anti-Semitic content online and the United States is experiencing a rise in hate crimes.

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.