Twitter Wants to Discuss India's Order to Remove Certain Accounts

Twitter said it was seeking talks with India’s technology minister, days after the country asked the U.S. social media giant to take down 1,178 accounts it says are spreading misinformation about ongoing farmers’ protests. New Delhi wrote to Twitter on Feb. 4 asking it to remove the accounts, which it said were backed by arch-rival Pakistan or operated by sympathizers of Sikh separatists, two technology ministry sources said, adding the company had yet to comply.

China Blocks Clubhouse App to Stop Conversations About Banned Topics

Officials in China moved to block the live hangout app Clubhouse in an apparent response to a rise of conversations on the platform about banned topics, including the country's treatment of Uighur Muslims and Taiwan. Reports from multiple media outlets indicated that many users were disconnected mid-conversation, receiving only an error code from the app.

Hacker Tried to Change Setting on Florida City's Water Treatment System

Officials from Pinellas County in Florida announced that an unidentified hacker remotely gained access to a panel that controls the City of Oldsmar's water treatment system, and changed a setting that would have drastically increased the amount of sodium hydroxide in the water supply. During a press conference, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said that a legitimate operator saw the change and quickly reversed it, but signaled that the hacking attempt was a serious threat to the city's water supply.

  • Read the article: Vice

Facebook to Start Removing Posts with Erroneous Claims About Vaccines

Facebook said that it plans to remove posts with erroneous claims about vaccines from across its platform, including taking down assertions that vaccines cause autism or that it is safer for people to contract Covid-19 than to receive the vaccinations. The social network has increasingly changed its content policies over the past year as the coronavirus has surged.

House Committee Investigating Parler Asks About Trump's Interest

A House committee investigating conservative social media site Parler demanded answers about its ownership, possible ties to Russia and whether the company offered a significant stake to former president Donald Trump to entice him to join the platform. The letter from the House Oversight and Reform Committee cites numerous news reports about the site, which has struggled to return to full operation for weeks and which fired its chief executive last week.

Twitter Permanently Suspends Founder of Gateway Pundit Website

Twitter issued a permanent suspension for the account run by Jim Hoft, founder and editor-in-chief of far-right news website Gateway Pundit, for violations of its “civic integrity policy.” A Twitter spokesperson confirmed the news to The Hill, citing “repeated violations” of its policy that bars users from tweeting messages “for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes,” including misinformation regarding the outcome of an election.

Extremists Using Cryptocurrency, Other New Tools to Raise Funds Online

A mysterious $500,000 Bitcoin transfer. Online stores selling sham nutritional supplements and buckets of protein powder. Inane, live-streamed video game sessions, full of dog whistles and racial slurs, fed by a steady flow of cryptocurrency donations in the form of virtual lemons. Some of the income streams exploited by America's extremist movements have come under increased scrutiny after last month’s attack on the U.S. Capitol, for which some far-right extremists fundraised online.

Social Media Services Asked to Preserve Documents in Dominion Lawsuit

Lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems have asked Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Parler to preserve posts about the company, even if the material was already removed for spreading misinformation. The posts need to be kept “because they are relevant to Dominion’s defamation claims relating to false accusations that Dominion rigged the 2020 election,” according to the demand letters from Dominion’s law firm Clare Locke.

Clubhouse Attracting Users from China to Avoid Censorship

Private social audio app Clubhouse is attracting masses of new users from mainland China, where the U.S. app remains uncensored by authorities despite flourishing discussions on rights, national identity and other sensitive topics. Western social media apps including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are banned in China, where the local internet is tightly censored to weed out content that could undermine the ruling communist party.

Owner of 'TheDonald' Web Forum Defends Himself Against Former Compatriots

The story of TheDonald, a furiously pro-Trump forum that became an online staging ground for the Capitol assault, is a cautionary tale about the Internet’s dark side. What began on Reddit as an online political rally for an upstart presidential candidate turned increasingly foul as Williams fought — and often lost — against what he said were “nefarious forces” determined to advance the most extreme ideologies, including white supremacy. Jody Williams — who controlled the Web address where the forum moved after Reddit expelled it last year — finally took decisive action on Jan. 21, two weeks after the Capitol assault, after waking to news that a group of other moderators had started their own site and used it to attack him.

Apple's Screen Time Feature Blocks Users from Searching 'Asian'

Apple has spent years ensuring its smartphones and tablets can be safely used by kids, but some of its family-friendly content controls are over-zealous — and seemingly prejudiced. According to a report from The Independent today, content controls built into iOS 14’s Screen Time feature meant to limit access to adult websites also block users from searching for the word “Asian” in Safari and other browsers.

Google Delists Chrome Extension 'Great Suspender' for Containing Malware

Google has delisted the popular extension The Great Suspender for containing malware and is proactively disabling the extension for those who have it. The Great Suspender is — or perhaps was — an extension that forced your excess tabs to sleep, helping to keep Chrome from using too much RAM and other resources. Last year, as explained in-depth by TheMageKing, the development of The Great Suspender changed hands and was subsequently sold to an unknown third party.

Google Explores Anti-Tracking Privacy Technology for Android

Google is considering developing an Android alternative to Apple’s upcoming App Tracking Transparency, a new planned opt-in requirement the iPhone maker will impose on developers that demands they ask for permission to track iOS users across apps and websites. The news underscores the increasing pressure on large tech companies, many spurred on by Apple, to take more proactive measures to better protect user privacy.

Homeland Security Committee Chair Warns of Changes for Section 230

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) warned tech companies to take greater action on content moderation or risk changes to a landmark law that provides the companies a legal liability shield over content posted on their platforms by third parties. “If the companies don't assume the interest in policing their own platforms, then you leave government no choice,” Thompson said.

Microsoft Supports Australian Legislation on Revenue Sharing with News Publishers

Microsoft threw its support behind a proposed Australian law that would compel tech companies to share royalties with news publishers. Google and Facebook have fought the draft regulatory code, which would force them into mediated negotiations with publishers. "The code reasonably attempts to address the bargaining power imbalance between digital platforms and Australian news businesses," Microsoft president Brad Smith said in a release.

  • Read the article: CNET

Cybersecurity Agency Reconsiders Role in Fighting Election Misinformation

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the key federal group responsible for election security, is reevaluating its role in countering disinformation and misinformation after the agency stood up a web page to address misleading election claims last year. Acting CISA Director Brandon Wales described decisions made by the agency to address election disinformation and misinformation as having been “controversial” for election officials and said CISA was working to “get back to basics” and focus on cyber and physical security aspects of elections instead.

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.