Arizona State Senate Avoids Vote on Bill for In-App Payment Systems

The Arizona State Senate was scheduled to vote on an unprecedented and controversial bill that would have imposed far-reaching changes on how Apple and Google operate their respective mobile app stores, specifically by allowing alternative in-app payment systems. But the vote never happened, having been passed over on the schedule without explanation.

German Court Seeks Guidance from European Court of Justice in Facebook Case

A court in Germany hearing an appeal by Facebook against data curbs imposed by the country’s antitrust watchdog said it would seek guidance from the European Court of Justice on the case. The move effectively defers a verdict in the two-year-old court battle and casts a spotlight on whether Germany’s Federal Cartel Office may have exceeded its authority in seeking to apply competition law to the issue of data protection.

Chinese Hackers Tried to Use Facebook to Target People in Uyghur Community

Facebook disclosed that a group of Chinese hackers had tried to use its platform to target people in the Uyghur community. The company says the collective, which is known as Earth Empusa or Evil Eye, went after about 500 individuals, many of whom were activists, journalists and dissidents living abroad in countries like the US, Australia and Canada.

12 State Attorneys General Ask Facebook, Twitter to Fight Vaccine Misinformation

A group of 12 state attorneys general sent a letter to Facebook and Twitter urging them to more aggressively enforce platform policies against coronavirus vaccine misinformation. Led by Connecticut Attorney General William Tong (D), the group argues that content on the social media sites are increasing vaccine hesitancy, which will “slow economic recovery and, more importantly, ultimately cause even more unnecessary deaths.”

Some Republicans Planning to Address Misinformation Pushed Election Narratives

House Democrats seeking to drill down on the spread of election fraud falsehoods on social media in advance of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot need to look no further than some of their Republican colleagues. A Washington Post analysis found that seven Republican members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee who are scheduled to grill the chief executives of Facebook, Google and Twitter about election misinformation sent tweets that advanced baseless narratives of election fraud, or otherwise supported President Donald Trump’s efforts to challenge the results of the presidential election.

Zuckerberg, Pichai Emphasize Need for Sections 230's Online Protections

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg laid out steps to reform a key internet law, saying that companies should have immunity from liability only if they follow best practices for removing damaging material from their platforms. In testimony prepared for a joint hearing before two House Energy and Commerce subcommittees, Zuckerberg acknowledged the calls from lawmakers for changes to a law called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives companies like Facebook immunity from liability over content posted by users.

Advertisers Question Facebook After Removal of 1.3 Billion Fake Accounts

Facebook, which in 2019 paid advertisers a $40 million settlement over inflated video-viewing metrics and is fighting a lawsuit over its “reach” to users, is now taking flak over its revelation that it took down 1.3 billion fake accounts during just three months last year. “How much money was spent advertising to these fake accounts?” said Angelo Carusone, CEO of progressive watchdog group Media Matters for America.

Reporters Without Borders Sues Facebook for Letting Hate Speech 'Flourish'

Reporters Without Borders said on it had filed a lawsuit against Facebook in France, citing a proliferation of hate speech against media and falsehoods about COVID-19. In the latest of a slew of battles governments and campaigners are waging with Big Tech around the world, the media watchdog noted large amounts of coronavirus misinformation on Facebook including vaccine conspiracy theories.

Biden to Nominate Columbia Law Professor as Commissioner of FTC

U.S. President Joe Biden announced that he would nominate antitrust advocate and monopoly critic Lina Khan for commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. Khan will be the third Democratic commissioner with the FTC overseeing privacy, data security and more. Khan has previously provided counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law, aiding in the investigation into digital markets like Google, Apple and others.

  • Read the article: CNET

Thousands of Attacks Target Microsoft Exchange Flaws Daily, Report Says

There are still thousands of cyber attacks targeting zero-day security vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server every single day as cyber criminals attempt to target organizations which have yet to apply the security patches released to mitigate them, according to a tech security company. Microsoft released critical updates to secure Microsoft Exchange Servers against the four vulnerabilities on March 2 with organizations urged to apply them as a matter of urgency to prevent cyber attacks to their email servers.

Judge Certifies Class-Action Case Against Apple Over Butterfly Keyboards

A federal judge in California certified an ongoing class action case against Apple earlier this month, clearing another hurdle for customers who say the company failed to address problems with the "butterfly" keyboards on its MacBook laptops. In a ruling handed down on March 8, but made publicly available last week, U.S. District Judge Edward Davila granted class action status to the case, which was filed in 2018.

  • Read the article: CNET

Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Facebook's Appeal in $15B Privacy Suit

The U.S. Supreme Court on turned away Facebook Inc.’s bid to pare back a $15 billion class action lawsuit accusing the company of illegally tracking the activities of internet users even when they are logged out of the social media platform. The justices declined to hear Facebook’s appeal of a lower court ruling that revived the proposed nationwide litigation accusing the company of violating a federal law called the Wiretap Act by secretly tracking the visits of users to websites that use Facebook features such as the “like” button.

Report Finds No Evidence of 'Overtly Malicious Behavior' in TikTok Code

The computer code underlying TikTok doesn’t pose a national security threat to the U.S., according to a new study by university cybersecurity researchers. Released by the University of Toronto cybersecurity group Citizen Lab, the report comes after government officials in multiple countries, including in the administration of former President Donald Trump, suggested the popular Chinese-owned short-video app could aid Beijing in spying overseas.

Apple Plans to Call Top Executives to Testify in Trial with Epic Games

Apple plans to call some of its highest profile executives to testify as part of its upcoming trial with Fortnite maker Epic Games. Apple said it plans to call its CEO, Tim Cook, software head Craig Federighi, and Apple fellow Phil Schiller, as well as employees who help combat fraud, manage payment processing and those who build developer tools for iPhone apps.

  • Read the article: CNET

Twitter to Establish Legal Representative in Turkey to Comply with Law

Twitter announced that it plans to establish a legal representative in Turkey, making it the latest social media company to do so to ensure compliance with a new internet law in the country. Twitter said in a statement that upon reviewing the new law, which requires representatives for social media platforms to review content flagged for privacy violations, it had decided to “establish a legal entity” in order to “ensure that Twitter remains available for all who use it in Turkey.”

Subscribe

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.