Two Former eBay Workers Plead Guilty to Cyber Stalking Campaign

Two former eBay Inc. employees pleaded guilty to participating in a cyber stalking campaign against a Massachusetts couple whose online newsletter was viewed by top executives as critical of the e-commerce company. Federal prosecutors in Boston said former eBay employees Stephanie Stockwell and Brian Gilbert and others harassed the couple through Twitter and sent them disturbing packages like a bloody Halloween pig mask and live spiders and cockroaches during the August 2019 campaign.

Republicans Blast Tech CEOs for Censorship While Democrats Cite 'Sham'

Lawmakers hammered the chief executives of Twitter, Facebook, Google and one another at a Senate hearing, with Republicans claiming the companies were suppressing conservative views while Democrats accused their colleagues of holding a “sham” hearing for political gain. For nearly four hours, members of the Commerce Committee pelted Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sundar Pichai with more than 120 questions about social media speech and the harm caused by their platforms, often framing their attacks through the lens of next week’s election.

British Group Threatens Suit Against Facebook Over Cambridge Analytica

Facebook Inc. risks being dragged into a U.K. legal dispute involving almost 1 million British users affected by the Cambridge Analytica scandal, two years after revelations about the misuse of private data caused a global backlash. A group -- Facebook You Owe Us -- sent a letter to the social media giant, kick-starting a legal process that may result in a lawsuit. The group said in a statement that legal action would allow consumers to be compensated for the misuse of their data.

Advertisers, Publishers File Complaint Against Apple in France

Advertising companies and publishers have filed a complaint against Apple Inc. with France’s competition authority, arguing that privacy changes the smartphone maker plans to roll out are anticompetitive. Starting in early 2021, Apple’s operating software will require apps to get opt-in permission from users to collect their advertising identifier, a key number used to deliver targeted ads and check how ad campaigns performed.

Italy's Antitrust Authority Investigates Google for Online Advertising

Italy's antitrust authority is investigating Alphabet's Google for alleged abuse of its dominant position in the Italian online display advertising market, it said. The investigation follows a complaint filed by Italian digital advertising lobby group IAB last year, and adds to regulatory scrutiny the Silicon Valley tech giant is facing worldwide.

TikTok to Limit Spread of Information Prematurely Claiming Election Victories

The widely popular video-sharing app TikTok said it will limit the spread of content that prematurely claims election victories before races are confirmed by The Associated Press. TikTok will also add a banner pointing viewers to its election guide on content with unverifiable claims about voting, premature declarations of victory or attempts to dissuade people from voting by “exploiting COVID-19 as a voter suppression tactic,” the company said in a blog post.

Democrats Ask FCC Chair About White House Role in Net Neutrality Decision

Two key U.S. House Democratic lawmakers asked Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai if the White House was involved in his decision to move forward with new regulations limiting key social media legal protections. Representatives Frank Pallone and Mike Doyle demanded Pai disclose if he had any contact with the White House or President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign before his announcement.

Political Advertisers Complain About Problems with Facebook's Blocking

Facebook’s ban on new political ads got off to a rocky start, with some political advertisers saying their ads were blocked despite being submitted and approved before the Oct. 27 deadline. Biden campaign digital director Rob Flaherty tweeted his dissatisfaction of the initiative, saying it was “performative” and “immediately” broke.

Read the article: The Washington Post

Facebook Plans for Emergency Measures to Combat Election Conflict

Facebook Inc. teams have planned for the possibility of trying to calm election-related conflict in the U.S. by deploying internal tools designed for what it calls “at-risk” countries, according to people familiar with the matter. The emergency measures include slowing the spread of viral content and lowering the bar for suppressing potentially inflammatory posts, the people said.

Twitter to Alert Users About Inaccurate Voting Information, Results

Twitter announced a new effort to preemptively debunk, or “prebunk” in Twitter parlance, some of the most commonly circulated false and misleading information about the election. The company will, for the first time, pin information to the top of users’ timelines about how to vote, as well as a notice that voting results may not come immediately on Election Day — two common topics for misinformation across social media.

Big Tech Firms Urge EU to Provide Protections for Content Moderation

Big technology platforms are calling on the European Union to protect them from legal liabilities for removing hate speech and illegal content as government scrutiny over how platforms manage user posts grows worldwide. A safeguard protecting companies that actively manage user posts would result in “better quality content moderation,” by incentivizing platforms to remove bad content while protecting free expression, Edima, an association representing Facebook Inc., ByteDance Ltd.-owned TikTok, Alphabet Inc.’s Google and others, said in a paper.

Appeals Court Rejects U.S. Request to Immediately Ban WeChat

A U.S. appeals court rejected a Justice Department request that it allow the government to immediately ban Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc's Google from offering Tencent's WeChat for download in U.S. app stores. The three-judge panel for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said in a brief order the government had not demonstrated it would “suffer an imminent, irreparable injury during the pendency of this appeal, which is being expedited.”

Health Care Institutions Preparing for Coronavirus-Related Cyberattacks

Hospitals and health care institutions preparing for a fall wave of coronavirus cases are bracing for more cyberattacks after hackers seeking to take advantage of the pandemic launched several successful attacks this year that severely disrupted patient services. The attacks have been widespread around the world, hitting health care groups during the worst public health crisis in a century.

Trump Administration Tells Court It Has Authority to Ban Use of TikTok

The Trump administration said it has the authority to ban Americans' use of the TikTok, saying in a court filing that the popular Chinese-owned video-sharing app poses a national security threat because of its relationship with the Chinese government. Trump administration lawyers said in a filing with the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. that the U.S. government should be allowed to impose restrictions on the app that will make it unusable in the U.S. next month.

  • Read the article: CNET

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