CEOs from Amazon, Facebook, Google, Apple to Testify in Antitrust Probe

The chief executives of the four U.S. tech giants — Amazon.com, Facebook, Alphabet’s Google and Apple — will testify before the U.S. Congress in late July as part of an ongoing antitrust probe into the companies, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai of Google and Apple’s Tim Cook will appear as part of the probe by the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, the sources said.

U.K. Watchdog Recommends Regulations for Online Advertising

Britain’s competition watchdog has set out recommendations for new regulations to tackle the dominance of Google and Facebook in the online advertising market. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that it had proposed the creation of a “Digital Markets Unit” designed to rein in platforms with “a position of market power” when it comes to digital ads.

  • Read the article: CNBC

Facebook Removes Hundreds of Accounts Linked to 'Boogaloo' Movement

Facebook removed hundreds of accounts and groups associated with a violent network of the far-right “boogaloo” movement whose followers have been linked to violence that disrupted mostly peaceful protests around the United States. Facebook said it was designating the faction of the boogaloo movement that advocates violence as a “dangerous organization” and had taken down 220 accounts, 28 pages, 106 groups and 95 accounts on Facebook-owned Instagram that were associated with it.

Biden Campaign Accuses Facebook of Haggling with Trump Over Hateful Posts

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign demanded in a letter to Facebook that the company prevent misuse of its platform by President Trump to spread “hateful content” and misleading claims about mail-in voting ahead of the November election. The letter, obtained by The Washington Post and addressed to Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president for global affairs and communications, is the latest in a series of complaints from the campaign about how Facebook enforces its rules for politicians.

FCC Designates Chinese Telecoms Huawei, ZTE as National Security Threats

The Federal Communications Commission designated the Chinese telecommunications firms Huawei and ZTE as national security threats, cutting them off from billions of dollars in federal broadband subsidies. The agency voted unanimously last year to bar telecommunications manufacturers it deemed to be threats from receiving money meant to expand internet access to underserved areas, including rural America.

Supreme Court Says Booking.com Entitled to Trademark Registration

The travel reservation company Booking.com, a unit of Booking Holdings Inc, deserves to be able to trademark its name, the U.S. Supreme Court decided, overruling a federal agency that found it too generic to merit protection. The court decided 8-1 that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office was incorrect when it denied the company’s application to trademark the name Booking.com, with the justices finding it distinctive enough that the agency should have approved it.

Twitch Suspends Trump for 'Hateful Conduct,' Removes Videos

Amazon’s video site Twitch, primarily used to stream e-sports, temporarily banned President Donald Trump from its platform, citing “hateful conduct” in his posts. Twitch pointed to comments made at two rallies that led to its decision. At a campaign rally in 2016, which was recently rebroadcast on the platform, Trump said Mexico was sending over its bad actors, such as rapists or drug dealers.

  • Read the article: CNBC

Reddit Shuts Down Trump Forum for Violations of Content Policy

Reddit shut down its popular but controversial forum devoted to supporting President Trump, following years in which the social media company tried but often failed to control the racism, misogyny, anti-Semitism, glorification of violence and conspiracy theories that flourished there. The move against r/The_Donald, as the forum was known, came after its volunteer moderators and much of the community had left in recent months, moving to a website that mimics Reddit’s system of conversation and user voting on content but appears to have fewer rules.

India Bans TikTok, WeChat, Other Chinese Apps, Citing Security

India banned 59, mostly Chinese, mobile apps including Bytedance’s TikTok and Tencent’s WeChat in its strongest move yet targeting China in the online space since a border crisis erupted between the two countries this month. India’s technology ministry issued an order stating the apps are “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.”

Justice Dep't Warns of Fake ‘Face Mask Exempt' Cards Sold on Facebook

The U.S. Department of Justice is warning Americans about fraudulent cards distributed on Facebook by a group encouraging people to not wear masks during the Covid-19 pandemic. The laminated cards feature an image of an eagle and say "Face Mask Exempt Card" in bold letters across the top. They appear to be geared toward people trying to skirt state and business requirements to wear face masks in public, or to receive service. The card also references the DOJ and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

  • Read the article: CNN

Four EU Countries Offer to Limit Digital Tax Proposal After U.S. Threat

France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy have offered to limit their proposed digital tax after the U.S. threatened to slap tariffs on goods from those countries. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin obtained by Bloomberg News, the finance chiefs of those countries said this approach “would considerably ease the task of achieving a consensus-based solution and make a political agreement within reach this year.”

DHS Asks CEOs of Large Tech Companies to Help End 'Deadly Riots'

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security sent a letter to chief executives of five large tech companies asking them to ensure social media platforms are not used to incite violence in the wake of nationwide protests following George Floyd’s death. “I am writing to ask you to do your part to put an end to violence and illegal activity spreading across our country by ensuring that your platforms are not used as a tool to organize, facilitate, or incite dangerous or deadly riots, in violation of state and local laws,” Acting Secretary Chad Wolf said in the letter.

Russian Ransomware Group Targets U.S. Government, Large Companies

A Russian ransomware group whose leaders were indicted by the Justice Department in December is retaliating against the U.S. government, many of America’s largest companies and a major news organization, identifying employees working from home during the pandemic and attempting to get inside their networks with malware intended to cripple their operations. Sophisticated new attacks by the hacking group — which the Treasury Department claims has at times worked for Russian intelligence — were identified in recent days by Symantec Corporation, a division of Broadcom, one of the many firms that monitors corporate and government networks.

Barr's Interest in Tech Cases Makes Google Antitrust Probe High Priority

Under Attorney General William P. Barr, the Justice Department has made top priority of looking into the country’s biggest tech companies. He receives regular updates on the Google case from an aide, according to several people close to the investigations, while an official in the office of his deputy, Jeffrey Rosen, oversees the investigations into tech companies.

Verizon Becomes Biggest Advertiser to Join Facebook Boycott

Verizon Communications Inc said it was pausing advertising on Facebook Inc in July, in support of a campaign that called out the social media giant for not doing enough to stop hate speech on its platforms. Verizon is the biggest yet to join the advertising boycott, which has gained the backing of dozens of U.S. companies, and its announcement was a blow to Facebook’s efforts to contain the growing revolt.

Google to Start Paying Publishers to License 'High-Quality Content'

In a major departure from its long-standing practice of not paying publishers directly to distribute their work, Google executives tell Axios that the search giant is creating a licensing program to pay publishers "for high-quality content" as a part of a new news product launching later this year. Regulators around the world have been threatening Google with broad-based policies that would force it to pay publishers on policymakers' terms.

Senate Bill Would Help Law Enforcement Break Encryption Protections

Several Senate Republicans are seeking to force tech companies to help government investigators break encryption to access material that could aid in probes of terrorists, child predators, drug traffickers and other criminals. Sens. Lindsay Graham (South Carolina), Tom Cotton (Arkansas) and Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee) introduced the Lawful Access to Encrypted Data Act, which would put an end to what they called "warrant-proof" encryption.

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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.