Global Trade Union Pushes Europe to Broaden Amazon Antitrust Probe

A global trade union for the services sector urged European authorities to widen their antitrust investigation of Amazon.com Inc.to assess if the company engaged in creating knockoff goods and rigging search results on its platform. The demand by the UNI Global Union was triggered by a Reuters report based on internal Amazon documents that showed the e-commerce company ran a systematic campaign of copying products and manipulating search results to boost its own private brands such as AmazonBasics in India, a key growth market.

Twitter's Timeline Algorithm Found to Amplify Right-Leaning Politicians

Twitter’s timeline algorithm tends to amplify right-leaning politicians and news outlets more than their counterparts on the left, a study conducted by the platform found. The company analyzed millions of tweets from elected officials in seven countries — the United Kingdom, U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Spain and Japan — and hundreds of millions of tweets from news outlets between April 1 and Aug. 15, 2020.

Epic Games Asks Judge to Deny Apple's Request for Injunction Delay

"Fortnite" creator Epic Games opposed Apple Inc's efforts to put on hold orders handed down in an antitrust trial as a potentially lengthy appeals process plays out. U.S. district Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in September struck down some of the iPhone maker's App Store rules, including a prohibition on developers directing their users to other payment options beside Apple's in-app payment system, in a partial win for Epic and other app makers.

Facebook Sues Ukrainian Programmer for Scraping, Selling User Data

Facebook is suing a Ukrainian programmer for allegedly scraping and selling publicly accessible information from millions of Facebook users. The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California federal court, accuses freelance programmer Alexander Alexandrovich Solonchenko of using automated means to scrape phone numbers and Facebook user IDs off roughly 178 million accounts in 2018 and 2019.

Advertisers Hurt by Apple's New Privacy Policy for App Users

Apple’s privacy change, rolled out in April, is beginning to disrupt the online ad market, hurting e-commerce players and creating challenges for tech companies including Facebook Inc. and Snap Inc. Advertisers are finding it harder to reach potential customers, according to the executives, and ad prices—which were already rising—are going up further because of Apple’s change.

FTC Staff Report Accuses ISPs of 'Troubling Data Collection Practices'

A new Federal Trade Commission staff report points the finger at six of the largest internet service providers in the U.S., calling each out for amassing troves of personal data from their customers and failing to offer meaningful disclosures or options to control the collection of that data. The six ISPs in question -- Verizon, T-Mobile, Comcast Xfinity, Charter Spectrum, AT&T and Google Fiber -- account for roughly 98% of the mobile internet market in the U.S., notes the report.

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Facebook to Compensate French News Publishers for Shared Content

Facebook agreed to compensate French news publishers for content shared on the social media platform, the company announced. Facebook said the deal with Alliance de la presse d'Information générale, which represents papers across France, will allow users to “continue to freely share news within their communities, while ensuring the protections of neighboring rights of our publishing partners.”

Facebook’s Oversight Board Calls Lack of Info on VIP Program Unacceptable

Facebook’s Oversight Board issued a strong reprimand against the company in a set of quarterly reports, accusing it of not being “fully forthcoming” about a key program. The reports highlight the tense negotiations between the two entities, as the board tries to force greater transparency from the social media giant, despite its limited power.

Senator Blumenthal Calls Zuckerberg Testimony 'Urgent and Important'

Senator Richard Blumenthal is again calling on Mark Zuckerberg to testify about Facebook’s research into Instagram and child safety. “It is urgent and necessary for you or Mr. Adam Mosseri to testify to set the record straight and provide members of Congress and parents with a plan on how you are going to protect our kids,” the Connecticut lawmaker wrote in a letter addressed to Zuckerberg.

Sanctioned Russian Ransomware Group Blamed for Olympus Cyberattack

An “ongoing” cyberattack against the Japanese technology giant Olympus was caused by a Russian ransomware group sanctioned by the U.S. government, according to two people with knowledge of the incident. A new malware variant known as Macaw was used in the attack that began on October 10, which encrypted Olympus’ systems in the U.S., Canada and Latin America.

D.C. Attorney General Wants to Add Zuckerberg to Consumer-Protection Suit

The District of Columbia’s attorney general is seeking to hold Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg personally liable in a lawsuit stemming from the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, in what the district said was a novel legal action against the social-media giant. Attorney General Karl Racine said he filed a motion to add Mr. Zuckerberg as a defendant in a consumer-protection lawsuit originally filed in December 2018 accusing Facebook of misleading its users about the privacy and security of their personal data.

Facebook Agrees to Fine, Compensation for U.S. Worker Discrimination

Facebook is paying a $4.75 million fine and up to $9.5 million to eligible victims to resolve the Justice Department’s allegations that it discriminated against U.S. workers in favor of foreigners with special visas to fill high-paying jobs. Facebook also agreed in the settlement to train its employees in anti-discrimination rules and to conduct more widespread advertising and recruitment for job opportunities in its permanent labor certification program, which allows an employer to hire a foreign worker to work permanently.

Animal Rights Group Sues YouTube for Allowing Abuse Videos

Lady Freethinker, an animal rights nonprofit, sued YouTube, accusing it of failing to live up to its agreement with users by allowing animal abuse videos to be uploaded and failing to take action when alerted about the content. Lady Freethinker, which has exposed dogfighting rings in Chile and dog meat auctions in South Korea, said YouTube had ignored the group’s repeated flagging of animal abuse videos.

Lawmakers Want Facebook to Stop Pilot of Cryptocurrency Wallet

A group of U.S. lawmakers said Facebook Inc. cannot be trusted to manage cryptocurrency and urged the social media platform to discontinue immediately a small pilot of its cryptocurrency wallet named Novi. U.S. Democratic senators Brian Schatz, Sherrod Brown, Richard Blumenthal, Elizabeth Warren and Tina Smith voiced their opposition to Facebook's two-year-old effort to launch a cryptocurrency and digital wallet.

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