TikTok Broadens Its Ban Against QAnon Conspiracy Theory

TikTok is toughening its stance against the QAnon conspiracy theory, expanding its ban to all content or accounts that promote videos advancing baseless ideas from the far-right online movement. The action hardens the video-sharing app's previous enforcement against QAnon that targeted specific hashtags on the app that QAnon supporters have used to spread unfounded theories.

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Trickbot Botnet Still Operating Despite Microsoft's Court Order

Cyber security researchers questioned the effectiveness of Microsoft’s effort to disrupt a botnet it feared could snarl state and local computer systems to sow distrust of the upcoming presidential election. The software giant said that a court order it won from a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia to seize control of U.S.-based servers controlling the Trickbot botnet, a network of computers secretly infected by malware that can be controlled remotely.

FCC Effort on Section 230 Threatens Protections for Internet Companies

A new effort by the Federal Communications Commission to rethink the legal shield that applies to social media sites drew widespread rebukes, as critics faulted the agency for reversing its past positions in the face of mounting public pressure from the White House. The agency’s move threatens to strike at the heart of a critical federal law known as Section 230, which for decades has spared tech giants from being held accountable for the ways they police their platforms.

Google Says China-Backed Hackers Impersonating McAfee Antivirus

Google said in a new blog post that hackers linked to the Chinese government have been impersonating antivirus software McAfee to try to infect victims’ machines with malware. And, Google says, the hackers appear to be the same group that unsuccessfully targeted the presidential campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden with a phishing attack earlier this year.

Judge Questions Whether Public Can Rely on Trump's Tweets

A federal judge rebuked the Justice Department and the White House Counsel’s Office for dismissing without explanation President Trump’s “emphatic and unambiguous” tweets ordering the declassification of all documents in the government’s probe of Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election. “I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax,” the president tweeted Oct. 6. “Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!”

Digital Ad Auction Tactics Violate European Union Privacy Law, Memo Says

Tactics Google and other large online-ad players use in digital ad auctions violate European Union privacy law, investigators for Belgium’s privacy regulator wrote in an internal report, a preliminary finding with implications across the continent. European privacy regulators are homing in on the electronic auctions that happen in milliseconds to determine which ads show up when you load a webpage.

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.

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