Italy's Competition Watchdog Ends Case Against Google Over Use Data

Italy's AGCM competition watchdog said it had accepted commitments proposed by Google to end a case over the tech giant's alleged abuse of its dominant position in the user data portability market. The regulator opened the investigation last year following a complaint from Italian startup Hoda which accused Google of hindering the right of the U.S. company's users to share their personal data with other digital service platforms.

Facebook Removed Posts About COVID-19 After Pressure from White House

Facebook removed content related to COVID-19 in response to pressure from the Biden administration, including posts claiming the virus was man-made, according to internal company communications viewed by The Wall Street Journal. The emails show Facebook executives discussing how they managed users’ posts about the origins of a pandemic that the administration was seeking to control.

EU Opens Antitrust Investigation of Microsoft's Bundling of Teams Video App

The European Union opened an antitrust investigation into whether Microsoft is abusing its dominant position by bundling its Teams videoconferencing app with its popular Office productivity software, marking the first formal EU probe of the software giant in more than a decade. The bloc’s executive body, the European Commission, said it is concerned that Microsoft may be giving Teams an unfair advantage by not allowing customers to choose whether access to the product is included when they subscribe to the company’s productivity software.

Twitter Reinstates Account That Posted Illegal Child Sex Abuse Material

Twitter came under renewed fire over its handling of child sex abuse imagery after it reinstated the account of a right-wing influencer who had tweeted an image of a toddler being tortured. After some of the account’s more than 500,000 followers complained that the account had been suspended for its political messaging, Twitter owner Elon Musk responded by saying that it was because of the image.

Indonesia Blocks X.com Because of Prior Links to Pornography, Gambling

Elon Musk’s aspirations for X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, have hit a stumbling block in Indonesia after the site X.com was blocked under the country’s curbs on online pornography and gambling. Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Informatics said the site was restricted as the domain had been previously used by sites that did not adhere to the country’s strict laws against “negative” content such as pornography and gambling.

Russian News Outlets Posting Propaganda on Threads Without Labels

State-backed news outlets from Russia and other authoritarian governments have rushed to join Meta Platforms’ new Threads microblogging service, posting propaganda such as a fake video purporting to show President Biden in a store perusing books on dementia. Unlike on Facebook and Instagram, their verified accounts on Threads aren’t labeled as state-controlled media, raising questions over how the Facebook parent intends to police content on its Twitter rival that launched this month.

Biden to Nominate New Leader for Office of National Cyber Director

President Biden will nominate Harry Coker to be the country’s next national cyber director and replace Chris Inglis, who resigned earlier this year, the White House announced. Coker, a national security expert, has more than four decades of experience in public service and currently works as a senior fellow at Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security.

Meta Offers to Limit Use of Competitors' Ad Data for Facebook Marketplace

Meta Platforms offered to curb the use of competitors' advertising data for its Facebook Marketplace online classified service in an attempt to settle an EU antitrust investigation but regulators gave it the cold shoulder, people familiar with the matter said. Its offer also included limiting the use of advertising data to develop products that compete with advertisers, the people said.

Three AI Leaders Urge Congress to Push for International Cooperation

A trio of influential artificial intelligence leaders testified at a congressional hearing, warning that the frantic pace of AI development could lead to serious harms within the next few years, such as rogue states or terrorists using the tech to create bioweapons. Yoshua Bengio, an AI professor at the University of Montreal who is known as one of the fathers of modern AI science, said the United States should push for international cooperation to control the development of AI, outlining a regime similar to international rules on nuclear technology.

Meta Faces Possible $14 Million Fine in Australia for Collecting User Data

An Australian court ordered Facebook owner Meta Platforms to pay fines totaling $14 million for collecting user data through a smartphone application advertised as a way to protect privacy without disclosing its actions. Australia's Federal Court also ordered Meta, through its subsidiaries Facebook Israel and the now-discontinued app, Onavo, to pay legal costs to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which brought the civil lawsuit.

FTC Finalizing Antitrust Lawsuit That Could Force Amazon to Restructure

The Federal Trade Commission is finalizing its long-awaited antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, four people with knowledge of the matter told Politico, a move that could ultimately break up parts of the company. The FTC has been investigating the company on a number of fronts, and the coming case would be one of the most aggressive and high-profile moves in the Biden administration’s rocky effort to tame the power of tech giants.

Popular Online Games Fail to Restrict Hateful Usernames, ADL Says

Usernames that include racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, anti-LGBTQ+, ableist and white supremacist terms go unmoderated on some of the most popular online games, according to a report published by the Anti-Defamation League. The report from the ADL Center for Technology and Society said usernames were one of the easiest pieces of content to moderate, since they’re screened by the registration system when an account is created.

Jury Finds Google Liable for $338.7 Million in Remote-Streaming Patent Case

Alphabet's Google violated a software developer's patent rights with its remote-streaming technology and must pay $338.7 million in damages, a federal jury in Waco, Texas decided. The jury found that Google's Chromecast and other devices infringe patents owned by Touchstream Technologies related to streaming videos from one screen to another.

Student Suspended for Memes Targeting Principal Files First Amendment Suit

A Tennessee high school student who was suspended after posting three memes last year to Instagram making fun of his principal’s “overly serious demeanor” is suing Tullahoma City Schools. He alleges that then-Principal Jason Quick and Assistant Principal Derrick Crutchfield violated his free speech rights by punishing him for social media posts he published off campus.

Top AI Companies Agree to Voluntary Safeguards with White House

Seven leading A.I. companies in the United States have agreed to voluntary safeguards on the technology’s development, the White House announced, pledging to manage the risks of the new tools even as they compete over the potential of artificial intelligence. The seven companies — Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft and OpenAI — will formally announce their commitment to new standards in the areas of safety, security and trust at a meeting with President Biden at the White House.

Cybercriminals Using AI to Create Phishing Emails, Canadian Official Says

Hackers and propagandists are wielding artificial intelligence (AI) to create malicious software, draft convincing phishing emails and spread disinformation online, Canada's top cybersecurity official told Reuters, early evidence that the technological revolution sweeping Silicon Valley has also been adopted by cybercriminals. In an interview, Canadian Centre for Cyber Security Head Sami Khoury said that his agency had seen AI being used "in phishing emails, or crafting emails in a more focused way, in malicious code (and) in misinformation and disinformation."

Kevin Mitnick, Once Called 'Most Wanted Computer Outlaw,' Dies

Kevin Mitnick, who at the dawn of widespread internet usage in the mid-1990s became the nation’s archetypal computer hacker — obsessive but clever, shy but mischievous and threatening to an uncertain degree — and who later used his skills to become “chief hacking officer” of a cybersecurity firm, died on Sunday in Pittsburgh. Described by The New York Times in 1995 as “the nation’s most wanted computer outlaw,” Mr. Mitnick was a fugitive for more than two years.

North Korean Hackers Target U.S. Cryptocurrency Companies

A North Korean government-backed hacking group penetrated an American IT management company and used it as a springboard to target cryptocurrency companies, the firm and cybersecurity experts said. The hackers broke into Louisville, Colorado-based JumpCloud in late June and used their access to the company’s systems to target "fewer than 5" of its clients, it said in a blog post.

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