Meta Withheld Details of Indian Hate Speech Report Over Security Concerns

Executives at Meta Platforms Inc. privately told rights groups that security concerns prevented them from releasing details of its investigation into hate speech on its services in India, according to audio recordings heard by The Wall Street Journal. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, in July released a four-page summary of a human-rights impact assessment on India, its biggest market by users, where it has faced accusations of failing to adequately police hate speech against religious minorities.

U.S., Russia Pushing for Control of UN's International Telecommunication Union

The United States and Russia are tussling over control of a United Nations organization that sets standards for new technologies, part of a global battle between democracies and authoritarian nations over the direction of the internet. American officials are pushing more than 190 other member countries of the International Telecommunication Union, a U.N. agency that develops technical standards for technology like cellphone networks and video streaming, to vote for Doreen Bogdan-Martin, a longtime American employee, to lead the organization.

House Approves First Major Antitrust Bills Aimed at Technology Companies

The House passed a package of antitrust bills aimed at boosting antitrust enforcers’ ability to take on powerful tech firms in a 242-184 vote that split both parties. It is the first major antitrust reform package to pass on the House floor as part of a three-year process that started with a House Judiciary Committee investigation into the market power of Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook, now under the parent company name Meta.

Two Former eBay Security Executives Get Prison Terms for Harassment

Two former eBay Inc. security executives were sentenced to prison for carrying out a campaign to harass and intimidate a Massachusetts couple through threats and disturbing home deliveries after their online newsletter drew the ire of the company's then-CEO. Jim Baugh and David Harville were sentenced to 57 and 24 months in prison, respectively, for their roles in an extensive harassment campaign that involved sending the couple cockroaches, a funeral wreath and a bloody Halloween pig mask.

Vietnam Preparing Rules to Limit Posting of News Content on Social Media

Vietnam is preparing new rules to limit which social media accounts can post news-related content, three people familiar with the matter said, as authorities tighten their control over news and information sources in the country. The rules, expected to be announced by the year-end and with details yet to be hammered out, would establish a legal basis for controlling news dissemination on platforms like Facebook and YouTube while placing a significant moderation burden on platform providers, two of the sources added.

Musk Asks Court to End Consent Decree Limiting His Twitter Postings

Elon Musk's lawyers urged a federal appeals court to throw out a provision in his 2018 consent decree with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requiring a Tesla Inc. lawyer to vet some of his posts on Twitter. In a brief filed with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, lawyers for Musk called the pre-approval mandate a "government-imposed muzzle" that inhibited and chilled his lawful speech on a broad range of topics.

Pro-Russian Hackers Working with Military Intelligence Agency, Google Says

A growing body of evidence suggests that pro-Russian hackers and online activists are working with the country’s military intelligence agency, according to researchers at Google. Western officials and security experts are interested in the possible Kremlin links because it would help explain Moscow’s intentions both inside and outside Ukraine despite recent military setbacks that prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin this week to announce a mobilization push.

Hackers Deface Fast Company Magazine's Site, Send Racist Notifications

Hackers breached internal systems at Fast Company magazine, defacing the company’s main news site and sending racist push notifications through Apple News to iPhone users. The two-sentence push notifications were attributed to Fast Company and contained the n-word and graphic language, prompting shocked users to post screenshots on Twitter.

Meta Accuses Russia of Creating Fake Media Accounts to Support War

Russia set up a sprawling and sophisticated network of websites impersonating mainstream media outlets, which it used to spread anti-Ukrainian messaging that was amplified via fake social media accounts, Meta has found. In a new report, Meta called it Russia’s “largest and most complex” influence operation since the war in Ukraine began.

Oracle Settles Charges of Violating Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Oracle has settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission after it was charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for a second time, the SEC announced. The SEC said Oracle violated provisions of the act between 2016 and 2019 when its subsidiaries in India, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates created slush funds used to bribe foreign officials.

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TikTok Becomes Target of Multiple U.S. Investigations Over Chinese Ties

TikTok, the massively popular video app owned by the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd., is facing broad hostility in Washington, D.C. The White House; the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), an interagency panel reviewing foreign investments with national security implications; and Congress are all considering actions that could significantly alter the way it operates in its biggest market. In addition to their general concerns about all social media companies, U.S. officials worry about TikTok’s data collection polices and its relationship to the Chinese government.

SEC Fines Wall Street Firms for Use of 'Off-Channel' Messaging Apps

U.S. securities regulators have imposed close to $2 billion in fines on more than a dozen financial firms, including eight major Wall Street banks, for failing to police employees who routinely used messaging apps and other “off channel” services on their personal phones to communicate with one another. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the charges after a monthslong investigation found that Wall Street firms did not monitor how employees were communicating on work-related matters or keep records of those messages, as federal law requires.

Meteorologist Fired After Disclosure of Nude Photos Prompts Employment Debate

A well-known New York City meteorologist finds himself at the center of a debate over whether employers should be policing their workers’ legal off-the-clock activities online — particularly at a time when many people’s sex lives are increasingly led on the internet, and as Americans have become more open-minded about sex in general. An unknown sender delivered emails and packages containing nude pictures of the meteorologist performing sex acts nude on an adult webcam site to the television station where he did the morning weather report.

Iran Limits Access to Instagram, WhatsApp Amid Protests

Iran curbed access to Meta Platforms' Instagram and WhatsApp, two of the last remaining social networks in the country, amid protests over the death of a woman in police custody, residents and internet watchdog NetBlocks said. The death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by morality police in Tehran for "unsuitable attire", has unleashed anger over issues including freedom in the Islamic Republic and an economy reeling from sanctions.

Microsoft Says It Won't Label Apparently False Social Media Posts

Microsoft Corp. won’t label social media posts that appear to be false in order to avoid the appearance that the company is trying to censor speech online, President Brad Smith said in an interview with Bloomberg News, hinting that the company is taking a different approach than other technology firms in dealing with disinformation. “I don’t think that people want governments to tell them what’s true or false,” Smith said when asked about Microsoft’s role in defining disinformation. “And I don’t think they’re really interested in having tech companies tell them either.”

TikTok to Require Verification of Government Accounts, Ban Fundraising

TikTok will begin requiring accounts belonging to U.S. government departments, politicians and political parties to be verified and will ban videos aimed at campaign fundraising, the short-form video app said. The move comes as TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, and other social media platforms are working to clamp down on political misinformation ahead of the U.S. midterm elections in November, after years of being criticized for allowing such content to flourish on their services.

Florida Asks Supreme Court to Rule on State Regulation of Social Media

Florida’s attorney general asked the Supreme Court to decide whether states have the right to regulate how social media companies moderate content on their services. At stake is the constitutionality of state laws in Florida and Texas that would bar social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube from blocking or limiting certain types of political speech.

Pentagon to Review Efforts to Spread Pro-American Messages on Social Media

White House officials told the military that they were concerned about its efforts to spread pro-American messaging on social media, prompting the Pentagon to order a review of secretive operations to influence populations overseas, U.S. officials said. The review follows a decision by Twitter and Facebook over the summer to shut down misleading accounts that they determined were sending messages about U.S. foreign policy interests abroad.

46 States Ask Appeals Court to Reinstate Antitrust Suit Against Meta

A big group of U.S. states, led by New York, argued to an appeals court that it should reinstate an antitrust lawsuit against Meta's Facebook because of ongoing harm from the company's actions and because the states had not waited too long to file their complaint. Barbara Underwood, solicitor general of New York which led the group that consists of 46 states, Guam and District of Columbia, said that it was wrong to treat states like a class action and put a limit on when they can sue.

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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.