Twitter Reverses Ban on Tweets About Controversial Hunter Biden Article

With just a few weeks to go before the Nov. 3 vote, the social media companies are continuing to shift their policies and, in some cases, are entirely reversing what they will and won’t allow on their sites. Twitter underlined just how fluid its policies were when it began letting users share links to an unsubstantiated New York Post article about Hunter Biden that it had previously blocked from its service.

FCC Chairman to Unveil Rules to Clarify Section 230 Internet Protection

Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai said the agency will move forward to set new rules to clarify the meaning of a key legal protection for social media companies. U.S. President Donald Trump in May directed the U.S. Commerce Department to file a petition with the FCC seeking to curb legal protections for social media companies over a provision known as “Section 230.”

YouTube Crackdown Targets QAnon for Spreading Conspiracy Theories

YouTube, the video service of Google parent Alphabet Inc, said it was banning content that targets an individual or a group using conspiracy theories such as QAnon or pizzagate that have “been used to justify real-world violence.” The company claims in a blog post it would begin enforcing these expanded hate and harassment policies immediately and would “ramp up” in the weeks to come.

State Attorneys General Plan to Pursue Google Even if U.S. Files Suit

A group of powerful Democratic and Republican state attorneys general plan to forge ahead with their own antitrust investigation into Google even after the Department of Justice files its imminent lawsuit against the search-and-advertising giant. With a federal lawsuit expected in a matter of days, states including Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska and New York are preparing to issue a joint public statement indicating they are still scrutinizing a wide array of Google’s business practices and may instead opt to join any federal case later, according to four people familiar with their thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a law-enforcement matter.

Republicans Criticize Social Media Services for Limitations

Simmering discontent among Republicans over the power that Facebook and Twitter wield over public discourse erupted into open acrimony. Republicans slammed the companies and baited them a day after the sites limited or blocked the distribution of an unsubstantiated New York Post article about Hunter Biden, the son of the Democratic presidential nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Twitter Briefly Restricts Trump's Re-Election Campaign Account

U.S. President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign’s Twitter account was briefly restricted from tweeting, spurring an outcry from Republican lawmakers who accused social media companies of acting like “speech police” and vowing to hold Twitter responsible. Twitter temporarily blocked the @TeamTrump account from sending tweets after it posted a video about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son that it said violated its rules.

N.Y. Financial Watchdog Urges Dedicated Regulator for Social Media Services

New York’s top financial watchdog said a dedicated regulator should oversee large social-media platforms, which should also be designated as systemically important, following a successful cyberattack on Twitter Inc. during the summer. The New York State Department of Financial Services made the recommendations as part of a 37-page report about the July 15 attack in which a number of prominent accounts, including those of former Vice President and Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden and Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk, were used to promote a cryptocurrency scam.

Appeals Court Sets Fast Calendar on U.S. Government's TikTok Ban

A U.S. appeals court agreed to fast-track a Justice Department appeal of a ruling blocking the government from banning new TikTok downloads from U.S. app stores. 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 the Chinese-owned short video-sharing app for download by new users.

Dozens of Fake Twitter Accounts from Black Trump Supporters Suspended

A network of more than two dozen fake Twitter accounts from supposed Black Trump supporters, many of them using identical language in their tweets, recently has generated more than 265,000 retweets or other amplifying “mentions” on Twitter, according to Clemson University social media researcher Darren Linvill, who has been tracking them since last weekend. Several had tens of thousands of followers, and all but one have now been suspended.

Twitter to Pay $100,000 Fine for Violating Law on Political Ad Disclosures

Twitter Inc will pay $100,000 for failing to meet Washington state’s disclosure laws over payments related to multiple political ads that were posted on its platform since 2012, the state’s attorney general said. The company failed to maintain the required records for at least 38 Washington candidates and committees that reported paying $194,550 for political advertising on Twitter, the attorney general’s office said, citing a judgment filed at King County Superior Court.

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).

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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.