FTC Focused on Appealing Microsoft's $69 Billion Acquisition of Activision

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it remained focused on its appeal opposing Xbox maker Microsoft's now-closed $69 billion deal to buy Activision but would "assess" the company's agreement with Ubisoft. The companies closed their transaction after winning approval from Britain on condition that they sell the streaming rights to Activision's games to Ubisoft Entertainment to address the UK regulator's competition concerns.

Vietnamese Government Agents Targeted U.S. Lawmakers with Spyware

Vietnamese government agents tried to plant spyware on the phones of members of Congress, American policy experts and U.S. journalists this year in a brazen campaign that underscores the rapid proliferation of state-of-the-art hacking tools, according to forensic examination of links posted to Twitter and documents uncovered by a consortium of news outlets that includes The Washington Post. Targeted were two of the most influential foreign policy voices on Capitol Hill: Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Tex.) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and chair of its subcommittee on the Middle East.

Southeast Asian Countries Considering Hands-Off Approach to AI

Southeast Asian countries are taking a business-friendly approach to artificial intelligence regulation in a setback to the European Union's push for globally harmonized rules that align with its own stringent framework. Reuters reviewed a confidential draft of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations' (ASEAN) "guide to AI ethics and governance," whose content has not previously been reported.

California Law Allows Residents to Request Deletion from Data Brokers

California is officially the first state to pass a law streamlining personal data removal. On October 10, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 362, known as the Delete Act, into law, requiring the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) to create and roll out a tool allowing state residents to request that all data brokers delete their information.

MGM Resorts Refused to Pay Ransom to Attack That Cost It $100 Million

MGM Resorts International refused to pay a hackers’ ransom demand in a September cyberattack that threw its Las Vegas Strip resorts into chaos and crippled its properties and technology nationwide, according to a person familiar with the matter. Service disruptions from the attack and efforts to resolve the issue will cost the company more than $100 million in the third quarter, MGM said in a regulatory filing Thursday.

Hamas Using Social Media to Spread Violent Videos from Israel

Since Hamas launched a deadly cross-border attack into Israel over the weekend, violent videos and graphic images have flooded social media. Many of the posts have been seeded by Hamas to terrorize civilians and take advantage of the lack of content moderation on some social media sites — particularly X and Telegram — according to a Hamas official and social media experts interviewed by The New York Times.

Meta Oversight Board to Review Manipulated Video of Biden

The Meta Oversight Board will hear a case over a manipulated video of President Biden in a decision that could lead to recommendations over Facebook and Instagram’s political misinformation policies, the board announced. A video of Biden placing an “I Voted” sticker on his adult granddaughter and then kissing her on the cheek was altered in a Facebook post, showing it on a loop so that it repeats the moment where Biden’s “hand makes contact with his granddaughter’s chest,” according to the board’s announcement.

European Officials Warn X About Hosting Misinformation Related to War in Israel

European officials warned X that the company formerly known as Twitter appears to have been hosting misinformation and illegal content about the war between Hamas and Israel, in potential violation of the European Union’s signature content moderation law. In a letter addressed to X owner Elon Musk, Thierry Breton, a top European commissioner, said X faces “very precise obligations regarding content moderation” and that the company’s handling of the unfolding conflict so far has raised doubts about its compliance.

  • Read the article: CNN

Judge Throws Out $32.5 Million Verdict for Sonos in Patent Case Against Google

A California federal judge has thrown out a $32.5 million verdict for wireless-audio company Sonos against rival Google after finding that the Sonos patents at the heart of the case were unenforceable. U.S. District Judge William Alsup said that Sonos had improperly tried to connect its patents for multi-room audio technology to a 2006 application to claim that its inventions predated Google's devices.

Russian Court Rejects Apple's Appeal of $12.1 Million Fine in Antitrust Case

A Russian court rejected Apple's appeal against the alleged abuse of its dominant market position in terms of in-app payments, for which it was fined 1.2 billion roubles ($12.1 million) in January, the RIA news agency reported. Russia's federal anti-monopoly service (FAS) fined Apple in January over what it said was the U.S. company's abuse of its dominant market position.

Supreme Court to Hear Cases on States' Restrictions on Social Media

The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether Florida and Texas may prohibit large social media companies from removing posts based on the views they express, setting the stage for a major ruling on how the First Amendment applies to powerful tech platforms. The laws’ supporters argue that the measures are needed to combat what they called Silicon Valley censorship, saying large platforms had removed posts expressing conservative views on issues like the coronavirus pandemic and claims of election fraud.

Judge Says X Corp. Must Pay $1.1 Million in Legal Fees to Former Twitter Executives

X Corp., formerly known as Twitter, must pay $1.1 million in legal fees racked up by a group of the social-media platform’s former top executives, a judge ruled. Lawyers for the group — led by ex-Twitter Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal and former top lawyer Vijaya Gadde – Tuesday persuaded Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen St. J. McCormick that Twitter violated its duties to cover legal expenses generated by their work for the company.

Microsoft CEO Testifies in Government's Antitrust Case Against Google

Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, testified that Google’s power in online search was so ubiquitous that even his company found it difficult to compete on the internet, becoming the government’s highest-profile witness in its landmark antitrust trial against the search giant. In more than three and a half hours of testimony in federal court in Washington, Mr. Nadella was often direct and sometimes combative as he laid out how Microsoft could not overcome Google’s use of multibillion-dollar deals to be the default search engine on smartphones and web browsers.

Court Limits Cybersecurity Defense Agency's Actions on Online Hoaxes

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled that a key cybersecurity defense agency probably violated the First Amendment in its efforts to coordinate with Silicon Valley to protect elections from online hoaxes, in a decision that could have sweeping implications for government efforts to secure the vote in 2024. The panel of three judges nominated by Republican presidents wrote that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency “used its frequent interactions with social media platforms to push them to adopt more restrictive policies on election-related speech,” revising an injunction issued last month.

Meta's Oversight Board Investigating Altered Video of Biden on Facebook

Meta's Oversight Board plans to open a case examining an altered video of U.S. President Joe Biden that was flagged by a user on the company's flagship social media service Facebook, the board said in a statement. The board, which is funded by Meta but run independently, said the case would "examine issues related to manipulated media on Meta's platforms and the company's policies on misinformation, especially around elections."

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.