Judge Dismisses Suit Challenging Utah Law Requiring Adult Sites to Verify Ages

A Utah law requiring adult websites to verify the age of their users will remain in effect after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit from an industry group challenging its constitutionality. The dismissal poses a setback for digital privacy advocates and the Free Speech Coalition, which sued on behalf of adult entertainers, erotica authors, sex educators and casual porn viewers over the Utah law — and another in Louisiana — designed to limit access to materials considered vulgar or explicit.

Biden Administration Looks for Malware from China Targeting Power Grids

The Biden administration is hunting for malicious computer code it believes China has hidden deep inside the networks controlling power grids, communications systems and water supplies that feed military bases in the United States and around the world, according to American military, intelligence and national security officials. The discovery of the malware has raised fears that Chinese hackers, probably working for the People’s Liberation Army, have inserted code designed to disrupt U.S. military operations in the event of a conflict, including if Beijing moves against Taiwan in coming years.

X Threatens to Sue Organization That Criticized Its Inaction on Hate

X Corp., the parent company of the social media company previously known as Twitter, sent a letter on July 20 to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit that conducts research on social media, accusing the organization of making “a series of troubling and baseless claims that appear calculated to harm Twitter generally, and its digital advertising business specifically,” and threatening to sue. The letter cited research published by the Center for Countering Digital Hate in June examining hate speech on Twitter, which Mr. Musk has renamed X.com.

California's Privacy Regulator to Review Data Collection on Smart Autos

California’s new privacy regulator said it is embarking on its first-ever enforcement action: a review of the privacy practices of connected automobiles. The California Privacy Protection Agency — created under a ballot initiative in 2020 and the only regulator in the nation solely dedicated to privacy issues — will examine the growing amalgamation of data collected by smart vehicles and whether the business practices of the companies collecting that data comply with state law.

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.

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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.