Two Republican Senators Ask FTC to Probe TikTok's Privacy Practices

Two U.S. Republican senators asked the Federal Trade Commission for an investigation of video-sharing app TikTok’s consumer data collection and processing practices. The request was in a letter by Senator Jerry Moran, chair of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Senator John Thune, chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet.

Justice Department Seizes Millions in Cryptocurrency from Militant Accounts

The Justice Department said it has seized millions of dollars from cryptocurrency accounts that militant organization abroad, including al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, relied on to raise money for violent operations. The Trump administration said the groups used the accounts to solicit donations for their causes, including through a bogus scam that officials say purported to sell protective gear for the coronavirus pandemic.

Facebook Still Hosting Groups Aligned with 'Boogaloo' Movement

Facebook is still littered with groups and pages aligned with the antigovernment “boogaloo” movement months after the company announced that it would ban these communities, according to a new report from the Tech Transparency Project. In June, Facebook announced that it would remove groups dedicated to the boogaloo movement, months after reports first surfaced that the right-wing extremist group leveraged the platform to organize for an armed revolt.

Lawmaker Criticizes Twitter for 'Cavalier Nature' About Security

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, is criticizing Twitter over the briefing the company gave Congress on last month's historic hack. Comer wrote in a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey that while the social media giant's transparency after the hack has been "commendable," it was "unable to answer several basic questions" during last week's briefing.

Facebook to Ban Posts Containing Blackface, Anti-Semitic Conspiracies

Facebook will start banning posts that contain blackface or that promote anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that Jewish people are running the world. Under the new policy, Facebook will no longer allow visual or written posts that depict “caricatures of black people in the form of blackface” or “Jewish people running the world or controlling major institutions such as media networks, the economy or the government.”

House Democrats Push Facebook on Power of Oversight Board

A group of House Democrats questioned whether Facebook's independent oversight board will be fully empowered to moderate harmful content on the social media platform, including battling voter suppression and racist content. In letters to the 20 members of Facebook’s oversight board — an independent group established by Facebook to help review content moderation decisions — House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Penn.) and Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) raised concerns that the group was not doing enough to moderate harmful content on the platform.

Read the article: The Hill

Facebook Reports Deleting 7 Million Misleading Posts About COVID-19

Facebook said it took down 7 million posts pushing COVID-19 misinformation from its main social media site and Instagram between April and June as the company tried to combat the rapid spread of dangerous information about the novel coronavirus. The company also put warning notes on 98 million covid-19 misinformation posts on Facebook during that period — labeling posts that were misleading but not deemed harmful enough to remove.

TikTok Avoided Privacy Safeguard in Android to Collect Identifying Data

TikTok skirted a privacy safeguard in Google’s Android operating system to collect unique identifiers from millions of mobile devices, data that allows the app to track users online without allowing them to opt out, a Wall Street Journal analysis has found. The tactic, which experts in mobile-phone security said was concealed through an unusual added layer of encryption, appears to have violated Google policies limiting how apps track people and wasn’t disclosed to TikTok users.

Russian Ruling Says Apple Abused Dominant Position in Mobile Apps Market

Russian competition watchdog FAS said that Apple Inc. has abused its dominant position in the mobile apps market through its App Store for iOS devices and will issue an order demanding that the company resolve regulations breaches. The Russian ruling comes against the backdrop of European Commission investigations into Apple and the App Store’s rules, including requirements that app developers use its own in-app purchase system.

EU Looks at Gaming App Concerns from Facebook, Microsoft in Apple Probe

Facebook and Microsoft's grievances over how their gaming apps appear on Apple's App Store may feed into an EU investigation into the iPhone maker's business as EU antitrust regulators said such concerns are on their radar. The European Commission in June opened four probes into Apple, three of which are into its App Store and its restrictive rules, including requirements that app developers use its own in-app purchasing system.

Denmark Seeks Talks with Google After Removal of Artists on YouTube

Denmark, angry at Google's censorship of some Danish content over an argument over copyright, said it was seeking talks with the Alphabet-owned tech giant. Google removed all music by Danish artists on the Danish site of video streaming platform YouTube in early August, following failed negotiations on copyright with music licensing organisation Koda.

Senators Pushing for National Cybersecurity Coordinator in Defense Act

Sen. Angus King of Maine and his allies are trying to push the idea of a cybersecurity coordinator into the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 now snaking through Congress, where it faces GOP officials skeptical of bureaucracy. Under the proposal, this cyber official would lead as many as 75 staffers in a new office, advising the president and molding U.S. cybersecurity strategy.

Apple Opposes Prepear's Pear Logo at U.S. Trademark Office

Apple claims the “minimalistic fruit design” of Prepear’s pear logo and its “right-angled leaf … readily calls to mind Apple’s famous Apple Logo and creates a similar commercial impression,” according to Apple’s notice of opposition before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, obtained by MacRumours. Prepear is a meal-planning app that lets users store and organise recipes and it relies on Apple’s mobile App Store to deliver its app.

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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.