Judge Won't Sanction Michael Cohen for AI-Generated Fake Legal Citations

A Manhattan judge declined to impose sanctions on Michael D. Cohen, the onetime fixer for former President Donald J. Trump, after he mistakenly gave his lawyer fake legal citations concocted by Google Bard, an artificial intelligence program, for a motion the lawyer was preparing on Mr. Cohen’s behalf. The lawyer, David M. Schwartz, cited the bogus cases in his motion, which was filed in Federal District Court.

Supreme Court Seems Reluctant to Limit White House Contacts with Social Media

A majority of the Supreme Court seemed wary of a bid by two Republican-led states to limit the Biden administration’s interactions with social media companies, with several justices questioning the states’ legal theories and factual assertions. Most of the justices appeared convinced that government officials should be able to try to persuade private companies, whether news organizations or tech platforms, not to publish information so long as the requests are not backed by coercive threats.

Six More Countries Join U.S.-Led Pact Targeting Phone-Hacking Spyware

The Biden administration is welcoming six new countries to a U.S.-led pact to crack down on phone-hacking spyware as U.S. officials tell CNN that the administration continues to find new cases of American government personnel being targeted by a technology that is deemed a national security and counterintelligence threat. “We are aggressively and intensively trying to identity and confirm more” cases of US government personnel whose phones have been targeted with commercially available spyware, a U.S. National Security Council official told CNN.

  • Read the article: CNN

Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on U.S. Role in Social Media Moderation

The Biden administration’s legal battle over social media content moderation will reach the Supreme Court, when the justices are set to hear arguments over whether federal officials violated the First Amendment by urging platforms to remove posts they deemed false or misleading. Two Republican attorneys general brought the case in a challenge to the administration’s efforts to curb misinformation online — an effort they described as a government “campaign of censorship.”

Lawmakers Increase Calls Against Sex Exploitation Amid OnlyFans Disclosure

Three U.S. lawmakers and two in Britain called for tougher safeguards against online sexual exploitation after a Reuters investigation identified more than 140 police complaints of nonconsensual pornography on OnlyFans, the popular adults-only website. "It is absolutely unconscionable," U.S. Representative Ann Wagner, a Missouri Republican, said in a statement about the abuses alleged in the complaints.

League of Women Voters Files Suit Over AI-Generated Call Impersonating Biden

A voting advocacy group is suing a political consultant and companies behind an AI-generated robocall of President Biden that in January urged New Hampshire voters not to participate in the state’s presidential primary. The League of Women Voters of New Hampshire accuses campaign consultant Steve Kramer and telecom companies Life Corp. and Lingo Telecom of voter intimidation, coercion and deception in violation of federal and state laws, including the Voting Rights Act and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Russia Increases Internet Censorship Controls Ahead of Putin's Election

Russia is ratcheting up its Internet censorship ahead of elections gave President Vladimir V. Putin another six years in power, further shrinking one of the last remaining spaces for political activism, independent information and free speech. The Russian authorities have intensified a crackdown against digital tools used to get around internet blocks, throttled access to WhatsApp and other communications apps in specific areas during protests, and expanded a program to cut off websites and online services, according to civil society groups, researchers and companies that have been affected.

FTC Opens Inquiry Into Reddit's Sharing of User-Generated Content for AI

Reddit disclosed the Federal Trade Commission is looking into its sale, licensing or sharing of user-generated content with third parties to train artificial-intelligence models. The social network said a letter from the FTC indicated that the regulator was interested in meeting with Reddit to learn more about its plans, and that the FTC intends to request information and documents as its inquiry continues, according to a securities filing.

Court in Brazil Rules for Meta in Trademark Case from Computer Company

Facebook-parent Meta won an appeal overturning a previous court ruling that barred it from using its name in Brazil due to confusion with another company. Mark Zuckerberg's tech company was in late February ordered to stop using its name in Brazil within 30 days after a Brazilian computer services provider won a favorable ruling arguing it already owned rights to the name and had as a result of the U.S. branding been wrongly cited in over 100 lawsuits.

Supreme Court Allows Some Suits Against Public Officials on Social Media

The Supreme Court opened the door to lawsuits against public officials for blocking critics on social media, but only when such actions deprive citizens of access to online posts that effectively serve as government communications. A unanimous high court set out the rules in a case involving a city manager in Port Huron, Mich., who used his personal Facebook page to post about his daughter and dog but also used the same account to announce some of the administrative directives he issued in his official capacity.

Pornhub Blocks Users in Texas After Court Upholds Age-Verification Law

Pornhub and other affiliated adult websites have blocked access to users in Texas, amid a legal battle with the Lone Star State’s attorney general over an age-verification law. A federal appeals court upheld a Texas law requiring pornography sites to institute age-verification measures to ensure only adults 18 and older are able to access them, while it also struck down a part of the law requiring porn sites to display “health warnings” about the content

European Parliament Approves Rules to Govern Artificial Intelligence

The European Union’s parliament approved the world’s first major set of regulatory ground rules to govern the mediatized artificial intelligence at the forefront of tech investment. The EU brokered provisional political consensus in early December, and it was then endorsed in the Parliament’s Wednesday session, with 523 votes in favor, 46 against and 49 votes not cast.

  • Read the article: CNBC

Italy's Competition Watchdog Fines TikTok $11M for Failing to Protect Children

Italy's competition watchdog has fined three units of social media giant TikTok 10 million euros ($10.94 million) in total for inadequate checks on content potentially harmful to young or vulnerable users, it said. TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, and other social media companies including Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms, are under pressure from regulators around the globe to protect under-age users.

House Approves Bill That Would Ban TikTok if Not Sold by Chinese Owner

The House passed a bill with broad bipartisan support that would force TikTok’s Chinese owner to either sell the hugely popular video app or have it banned in the United States. The move escalates a showdown between Beijing and Washington over the control of a wide range of technologies that could affect national security, free speech and the social media industry.

As President, Trump Approved Social Media Campaign Targeting China

Two years into office, President Donald Trump authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to launch a clandestine campaign on Chinese social media aimed at turning public opinion in China against its government, according to former U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the highly classified operation. Three former officials told Reuters that the CIA created a small team of operatives who used bogus internet identities to spread negative narratives about Xi Jinping’s government while leaking disparaging intelligence to overseas news outlets.

Apple to Allow iPhone Users in Europe to Download Apps from Websites

IPhone users in the European Union will be able to download apps from websites, instead of through the App Store or a competing app store app, Apple said, in the the latest change forced by the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act. The announcement is the latest example of the Digital Markets Act forcing Apple to make long-resisted changes to its App Store business processes.

  • Read the article: CNBC

OpenAI Responds to Musk's Lawsuit, Denies Founding Agreement

OpenAI hit back at Elon Musk’s lawsuit against it, saying in a legal filing that it never had a founding agreement with the technology billionaire and describing his contentions as “often incoherent.” “There is no Founding Agreement, or any agreement at all with Musk, as the complaint itself makes clear,” OpenAI said in a recent filing to California’s superior court for San Francisco County. Musk’s claims “rest on convoluted — often incoherent — factual premises,” the filing said.

U.S. Director of National Intelligence Says TikTok Could Influence Elections

China could use social media app TikTok to influence the 2024 U.S. elections, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a House of Representatives intelligence committee hearing. Asked by Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi if China's ruling Communist Party (CCP) would use TikTok to influence the elections, Haines said: "We cannot rule out that the CCP would use it."

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.