Facebook Pays Fine in Russia for Not Deleting Content Deemed Illegal

Facebook has paid 17 million rubles ($229,643) in fines owed in Russia for failing to delete content Moscow deems illegal, the Interfax news agency reported, but with the threat of a potentially larger fine looming. Facebook parent Meta, along with Alphabet's Google, faces a court case next week for suspected repeated violations of Russian legislation on content and could be fined a percentage of its annual revenue in Russia.

Biden Administration Adds Chinese Tech Companies to Blacklist

The Biden administration added dozens of Chinese companies and research institutes to blacklists restricting access to U.S. investment and technology for their alleged support for China’s military and the mass surveillance of mainly Muslim ethnic groups. The Commerce and Treasury departments targeted an array of Chinese businesses, from a company that lays undersea fiber-optic cables to developers of facial-recognition technology to the world’s largest commercial drone-maker, DJI Technology Co.

Facebook Notifies 50,000 Users of 'Surveillance-for-Hire' Hacking Attempts

Facebook is notifying nearly 50,000 users in more than 100 countries that they may have been targets of hacking attempts by surveillance companies working for government agencies or private clients, the company said. The notification is the result of a months-long investigation by Meta, Facebook’s parent company, into what Meta officials called “cyber-mercenaries” who engage in “surveillance-for-hire.”

Russia Fines Twitter, Facebook, TikTok for Not Deleting Illegal Content

Russia fined Twitter, Facebook owner Meta Platforms and TikTok for failing to delete content the government deems illegal, a Moscow court said, the latest in a string of penalties against foreign technology firms. Moscow has increased pressure on Big Tech this year in a campaign that critics characterise as an attempt by the Russian authorities to exert tighter control over the internet, something they say threatens to stifle individual and corporate freedom.

Hackers Linked to China Seeking to Exploit Flaw in Log4j Software

Hackers linked to China and other governments are among a growing assortment of cyberattackers seeking to exploit a widespread and severe vulnerability in computer server software, according to cybersecurity firms and Microsoft Corp. The involvement of hackers whom analysts have linked to nation-states underscored the increasing gravity of the flaw in Log4j software, a free bit of code that logs activity in computer networks and applications.

Lawmakers Want U.S. to Sanction Israeli Spyware Firm NSO Group

A group of U.S. lawmakers is asking the Treasury Department and State Department to sanction Israeli spyware firm NSO Group and three other foreign surveillance companies they say helped authoritarian governments commit human rights abuses. Their letter also asks for sanctions on top executives at NSO, the United Arab Emirates cybersecurity company DarkMatter, and European online bulk surveillance companies Nexa Technologies and Trovicor.

Zoom Joins Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism

Video conferencing platform Zoom has joined an independent counterterrorism group that shares information among major tech companies to combat violence and extremism. The Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) announced that Zoom had joined the group. The forum was founded by Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube in 2017 and now has 18 members.

EU Lawmakers Seek to Expand Scope of Draft Rules Aimed at U.S. Tech Giants

EU lawmakers voted to beef up draft rules to rein in U.S. tech giants, including extending the scope to their retailing activities and to their business users outside Europe, as part of their common position in forthcoming talks with EU countries. The Digital Markets Act (DMA), unveiled by EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager last December, sets out a list of dos and don'ts for U.S. tech giants designated as online gatekeepers with fines up to 10% of global turnover for violations, a global first.

Britain Vows to Push Back Against Chinese, Russian Cyberspace Control

Britain said it would push back at what it casts as attempts by Russia and China to establish national sovereignty over the communications arteries and emerging technologies which will shape the 21st century. Britain depicts China and Russia as strategic rivals whose rush for control of some major technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and microprocessor design could threaten both Western security and a relatively free internet.

Britain's Antitrust Regulator Says Apple, Google Hold 'Vise-Like Grip'

Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google hold a “vise-like grip” over how people use mobile devices, Britain’s antitrust regulator said, adding it was assessing whether to try to loosen what it said was their control over smartphone ecosystems. The preliminary report is among several, nonbinding research efforts by the U.K. and other antitrust regulators in Europe into competition in the tech industry.

CISA 'Not Seeing Widespread' Attacks from Log4j Vulnerability

The U.S. agency charged with defending the country against hacking said the majority of attacks it has seen using a recently disclosed flaw in widely used open-source software were minor, with many of them seeking to hijack computing power to mine cryptocurrency. Officials at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said they had not confirmed reports by multiple security companies of ransomware installations or attempts by other governments to steal secrets.

Huawei Presentations Show Role in China's State Surveillance

A review by The Washington Post of more than 100 Huawei PowerPoint presentations, many marked “confidential,” suggests that the company has had a broader role in tracking China’s populace than it has acknowledged. These marketing presentations, posted to a public-facing Huawei website before the company removed them late last year, show Huawei pitching how its technologies can help government authorities identify individuals by voice, monitor political individuals of interest, manage ideological reeducation and labor schedules for prisoners, and help retailers track shoppers using facial recognition.

German Official Wants Telegram Removed from App Stores

Germany should order the messaging program Telegram removed from Apple's and Google's app stores if it continues to ignore requests to help track down extremist content, a senior German official said. Telegram has been blamed in Germany for fueling an increasingly virulent subculture of anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists who exchange news about supposed dangers and arrange protests that have spilled over into violence.

Chinese Authorities Fine Weibo for Disseminating 'Illegal Information'

Chinese authorities said they have fined social-media giant Weibo Corp. millions of dollars for a string of infractions, the second time in two weeks that Beijing has announced the punishment of a major internet platform amid a further tightening of controls online. The Cyberspace Administration of China said that Twitter-like Weibo had been ordered to pay a penalty of 3 million yuan, the equivalent of about $471,000, for disseminating “illegal information” in severe violation of regulations including the country’s cybersecurity law and its law governing the protection of minors.

U.K.’s Antitrust Watchdog Investigating Microsoft's Acquisition of Nuance

The $19.7 billion acquisition of speech-to-text specialist Nuance by Microsoft, announced earlier this year, has attracted the attention of the U.K.’s active antitrust watchdog — which said it’s taking a first look to assess whether there are reasons to be concerned about the proposed deal. A decision on whether the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will open a phase 1 investigation will follow in due course.

CISA Director Calls 'Log4j' Vulnerability 'One of the Most Serious'

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Jen Easterly told industry leaders in a phone briefing that a vulnerability in a widely used logging library “is one of the most serious I’ve seen in my entire career, if not the most serious.” “We expect the vulnerability to be widely exploited by sophisticated actors and we have limited time to take necessary steps in order to reduce the likelihood of damage,” she said of the Apache Log4j flaw.

Store Thefts by Flash Mobs Organized on Social Media, Law Enforcement Says

A recent rash of thefts by fast-moving mobs at stores in the Bay Area and outside Minneapolis were organized on social media and committed by people who often didn’t know one another, according to law-enforcement officials investigating the incidents. Snapchat was among the social-media apps and messaging services used by thieves in the Bay Area, one of the law-enforcement officials said.

Facebook's Parent Company Acquires 'Meta' Trademarks for $60 Million

Meta Platforms Inc, the owner of social media network Facebook, is behind a $60 million deal to acquire the trademark assets of U.S. regional bank Meta Financial Group, spokespeople for the companies said. The deal underscores how valuable the Meta name has become for the technology giant, which is betting that its focus on the metaverse — shared digital spaces accessed via the internet through an array of devices — will pay off handsomely in the coming years.

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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.