Microsoft Supports Antitrust Bill Giving Power to News Publishers Online

Lawmakers debated an antitrust bill that would give news publishers collective bargaining power with online platforms like Facebook and Google, putting the spotlight on a proposal aimed at chipping away at the power of Big Tech. At a hearing held by the House antitrust subcommittee, Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, emerged as a leading industry voice in favor of the law.

Microsoft Says Hackers Exploiting Exchange Flaw for Ransomware

Hackers are exploiting recently discovered vulnerabilities in Exchange email servers to drop ransomware, Microsoft has warned, a move that puts tens of thousands of email servers at risk of destructive attacks. In a tweet, the tech giant said it had detected the new kind of file-encrypting malware called DoejoCrypt — or DearCry — which uses the same four vulnerabilities that Microsoft linked to a new China-backed hacking group called Hafnium.

Amazon Stops Selling Books 'That Frame LGBTQ+ Identity As a Mental Illness'

Amazon.com Inc. said it recently removed a three-year-old book about transgender issues from its platforms because it decided not to sell books that frame transgender and other sexual identities as mental illnesses. The company explained its decision in a letter to Republican Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Mike Braun of Indiana and Josh Hawley of Missouri, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

EU Competition Commissioner Says Google Faces 'Very Large Investigation'

European Union Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Google faces a “very large investigation” into its advertising business, adding a new front to a decade-long antitrust battle. Technology “is really a high priority for us because what has happened over these last 12 months has changed a lot of habits,” Vestager told an online event.

Judge Dismisses Several Privacy Claims in Lawsuit Against Zoom

A U.S. judge dismissed large parts of a lawsuit accusing Zoom Video Communications Inc of violating users’ privacy rights by sharing personal information with Facebook, Google and LinkedIn, and letting malevolent intruders join Zoom meetings in a practice called Zoombombing. In a decision, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, dismissed several claims in the proposed class action including invasion of privacy, negligence, and violations of that state’s consumer and anti-hacking laws. She allowed some contract-based claims to proceed.

After Crackdown from Mainstream Social Sites, QAnon Followers Go Elsewhere

Adherents of QAnon, an extremist ideology that the FBI has deemed a domestic terrorism threat, can now be found in the less-visible but still-virulent world of encrypted chat app groups on Telegram and elsewhere. These largely unmoderated online spaces have become cauldrons of ludicrous claims about the pandemic and breeding grounds for an increasingly intense alliance between QAnon and covid denialism.

Biden Administration Adds Conditions to 5G Export Licenses with Huawei

The Biden administration has informed some suppliers to China’s Huawei Technologies Co. of tighter conditions on previously approved export licenses, prohibiting items for use in or with 5G devices, according to people familiar with the move. The 5G ban is effective as of this week, according to the people, who asked not to be identified to discuss nonpublic communications.

Facebook Asks Court to Dismiss Antitrust Cases from FTC, Most States

Facebook asked a federal court to dismiss major antitrust cases filed by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and nearly every U.S. state, saying they failed to show the company had a monopoly or harmed consumers. “By a one-vote margin, in the fraught environment of relentless criticism of Facebook for matters entirely unrelated to antitrust concerns, the agency decided to bring a case against Facebook,” Facebook said in responding to the FTC complaint.

Apple Denies Parler's Application to Return to App Store

Apple denied Parler’s application to get back on its App Store, dealing a major blow to the right-leaning social media network that reappeared online last month after going dark for several weeks. Apple refused to let Parler back on its store in a recent decision, said a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private business matters.

Foreign Governments Increasingly Use U.S. Servers to Stage Cyberattacks

U.S. lawmakers and security experts are voicing concern that foreign governments are staging cyberattacks using servers in the U.S., in an apparent effort to avoid detection by America’s principal cyberintelligence organization, the National Security Agency. When hackers recently targeted servers running Microsoft Corp.’s widely used Exchange software, they employed U.S.-based computers from at least four service providers to mount their attack, according to an analysis by the threat intelligence company DomainTools LLC.

Russian Government Slows Access to Twitter to 'Protect Russian Citizens'

The Russian government said that it was slowing access to Twitter, accusing the social network of failing to remove illegal content and signaling that the Kremlin is escalating its offensive against American internet companies that have long provided a haven for freedom of expression. It was a landmark step in a country where the internet has essentially remained free despite President Vladimir V. Putin’s authoritarian rule.

Irish Data Protection Commissioner Says TikTok May Send EU Data to China

TikTok, the Chinese-owned video-sharing app, may be sending some European Union user data to China, its main data-protection watchdog in the EU warned. “TikTok tells us that EU data is transferred to the U.S. and not to China, however we have understood that there is possibility that maintenance and AI engineers in China may be accessing data,” Irish Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon said at an online event.

T-Mobile to Automatically Enroll Customers in Advertising Program

T-Mobile US Inc. will automatically enroll its phone subscribers in an advertising program informed by their online activity, testing businesses’ appetite for information that other companies have restricted. The No. 2 U.S. carrier by subscribers said in a recent privacy-policy update that unless they opt out it will share customers’ web and mobile-app data with advertisers starting April 26.

Twitter Sues Texas Attorney General for Retaliating Against Ban on Trump

Twitter sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, accusing the Republican of retaliating against the social media company for banning former President Donald Trump from its platform. "Twitter seeks to stop AG Paxton from unlawfully abusing his authority as the highest law-enforcement officer of the State of Texas to intimidate, harass, and target Twitter in retaliation for Twitter's exercise of its First Amendment rights," Twitter said in a lawsuit filed in a U.S. District Court.

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French Lobbying Group to File Privacy Complaint Against Apple

France Digitale will file a complaint against iPhone maker Apple with data privacy watchdog CNIL over alleged breaches of European Union rules, France’s leading startup lobby said in a statement. In the seven-page complaint seen by Reuters, the lobby, which represents the bulk of France’s digital entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, alleges Apple’s latest operating software, iOS 14, does not comply with EU privacy requirements.

Instagram Includes Anti-Vaccination Content in 'Suggested' Posts

Instagram’s “suggested” posts recommended anti-vaccination content to users, even as parent company Facebook intensified efforts to combat false and misleading statements about COVID-19, according to research from the Center for Countering Digital Hate. The nonprofit group says Instagram suggested anti-vaccination posts to volunteers who created accounts and showed an interest in conspiracy theories.

Lawmakers Appear to Focus on Tweaks to Section 230 Protections, Not Repeal

Former President Donald J. Trump called multiple times for repealing the law that shields tech companies from legal responsibility over what people post. President Biden, as a candidate, said the law should be “revoked.” But the lawmakers aiming to weaken the law have started to agree on a different approach. They are increasingly focused on eliminating protections for specific kinds of content rather than making wholesale changes to the law or eliminating it entirely.

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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.