Microsoft Wins Court Order Against Potential Election Hackers

Microsoft has taken legal steps to dismantle one of the world’s largest botnets, an effort it says is aimed at thwarting criminal hackers who might seek to snarl state and local computer systems used to maintain voter rolls or report on election results. The company obtained an order from a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia that gave Microsoft control of the Trickbot botnet, a global network it describes as the largest in the world.

Facebook's New Policy Bans Posts Denying or Distorting Holocaust

Facebook is banning posts that deny or distort the Holocaust and will start directing people to authoritative sources if they search for information about the Nazi genocide. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new policy, the latest attempt by the company to take action against conspiracy theories and misinformation ahead of the U.S. presidential election three weeks away.

Yelp to Label Businesses 'Accused of Racist Behavior'

Yelp is introducing a new feature to let people know when a business might be discriminating against customers — a warning that will top a company’s page on the review site that notes it has been “accused of racist behavior.” The San Francisco-based online review company said it has a “zero tolerance policy to racism” in a blog post announcing the new label from vice president of user operations Noorie Malik.

Judge Allows Apple to Continue Banning Fortnite from App Store

A federal judge ruled that Apple did not need to reinstate the popular video game Fortnite in its App Store, in a blow to Fortnite’s parent company, Epic Games, which is locked in an antitrust battle with the tech giant over its app store fees and rules. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the Northern District of California said in her ruling that Apple’s ban of the game could continue because Epic had violated its contract with Apple.

Pakistan Blocks TikTok for Not Filtering 'Immoral and Indecent' Content

Pakistan’s telecom regulator blocked TikTok for failing to filter out “immoral and indecent” content, another blow to the social media app that has come under increasing scrutiny as its popularity has surged across the globe. The ban comes in view of “complaints from different segments of the society against immoral and indecent content on the video sharing application,” said the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

Twitter Makes Election-Related Changes, Including Limiting Misleading Tweets

Twitter is making sizable changes to retweets and other features aimed at making it harder for politicians and other users to spread misinformation about the Nov. 3 election, the company announced — the latest attempt by Silicon Valley platforms to protect the vote. The changes are part of a push to protect the "critical dialogue" on Twitter "from attempts — both foreign and domestic — to undermine it," said Twitter's general counsel Vijaya Gadde and head of product Kayvon Beykpour in a blog post announcing the moves.

Facebook to Ban Marketing Firm Operating as Domestic 'Troll Farm'

Facebook said that it will permanently ban from its platform an Arizona-based marketing firm running what experts described as a domestic "troll farm” following an investigation of the deceptive behavior prompted by a Washington Post article last month. The firm, Rally Forge, was “working on behalf" of Turning Point Action, an affiliate of Turning Point USA, the prominent conservative youth organization based in Phoenix, Facebook concluded.

French Court Requires Google to Discuss Payment for News Content

Google must open talks with publishers in France about paying to use their content, an appeals court confirmed, paving the way for an industry-wide deal in the country. The ruling may reverberate outside France, as it compels Google to sit down with publishers and news agencies to find a way to remunerate them under the “neighbouring right” enshrined in revamped EU copyright rules, which allows publishers to demand a fee from online platforms for showing news snippets.

U.S. Seizes 92 Websites Used by Iran to Spread Disinformation

The U.S. Justice Department seized 92 websites it said were used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to spread disinformation. Four of the web domains -- Newsstand7.com, usjournal.net, usjournal.us and twtoday.net -- were disguised as genuine news outlets based in the U.S., which the Justice Department determined were controlled by the Iranian guard.

Facebook to Limit Poll Watching Posts, Political Ads After Election

Facebook Inc said it would remove calls for people to engage in poll watching that use “militarized language” or suggest the goal is to intimidate voters or election officials, tightening the social media company’s restrictions around the U.S. elections. Facebook also said that it would respond to candidates or parties making premature claims of victory or contesting declared outcomes by adding labels and notifications with authoritative information about the state of the race.

European Antitrust Official to Pursue More Injunctions in Tech Cases

Europe’s top competition official said she would make more use of injunctions, including in pending cases against big technology companies, after successfully forcing U.S. chip maker Broadcom Inc. to change its alleged anticompetitive practices. The European Commission, the bloc’s top antitrust watchdog, said it was closing its probe and accepted Broadcom’s legally binding commitments to refrain from any exclusivity arrangements for chips used in television set-top boxes and internet modems over the next seven years.

Supreme Court Hears Google-Oracle Java Programming Copyright Case

The Supreme Court considered whether Google should have to pay Oracle billions of dollars in a long-running lawsuit over software used on many of the world’s smartphones, wrestling during a lively argument with the potentially enormous implications of what has been called the copyright case of the decade. The case, Google v. Oracle America, No. 18-956, concerns Google’s reliance on aspects of Java, a programming language, in its Android operating system.

Judge Sets Hearing, After Election, on U.S. Effort to Ban TikTok

A U.S. judge said he would hold a Nov. 4 hearing on whether to allow the U.S. government to bar transactions with TikTok, a move that the Chinese-owned short video-sharing app has warned would effectively ban its use in the United States. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington issued a preliminary injunction on Sept. 27 that barred the U.S. Commerce Department from ordering Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google app stores to remove TikTok for download by new users.

Congressional Investigators Fault Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google for Antitrust

Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google engaged in anticompetitive, monopoly-style tactics to evolve into four of the world’s most powerful corporate behemoths, according to congressional investigators, who called in a wide-ranging report for sweeping changes to federal laws so that government regulators can bring Silicon Valley back in check. The roughly 450-page report, capping a 15-month investigation by the House’s top antitrust committee, found the four tech giants relied on dubious, harmful means to solidify their dominance in search, smartphones, social networking and shopping — and in the process evaded the very federal regulators whose primary task it is to ensure that companies do not grow into such corporate titans.

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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.