Lawmakers Ask Meta to Explain Ads for Illegal Drugs on Instagram

A bipartisan group of 19 lawmakers sent a letter to Meta Platforms asking why ads for illicit drugs on Instagram and other apps have continued to proliferate while the company is facing a federal probe over the practice. The letter cited an article in The Wall Street Journal published in July revealing that the social media giant has collected revenue from hundreds of ads for cocaine, opioids and other drugs.

California Lawmakers Amend Bill Putting Restrictions on AI Technology

California lawmakers have amended a bill that would create new restrictions for artificial intelligence, paving the way for first-of-their-kind safety rules that could set new standards for how tech companies develop their systems. The State Assembly’s Appropriations Committee voted to endorse an amended version of the bill, S.B. 1047, which would require companies to test the safety of powerful AI technologies before releasing them to the public.

TikTok Tells Court Justice Department Misstated Ties to China

TikTok told a federal appeals court that the U.S. Department of Justice has misstated the social media app's ties to China, urging the court to overturn a law requiring China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok's U.S. assets or face a ban. TikTok, which has sued to overturn the law, said the Justice Department has made factual errors in the case. The department's lawyers said last month that the app poses a national security risk by allowing the Chinese government to collect the data of Americans and covertly manipulate what content they see.

Iranian Hackers Reportedly Targeting U.S. Presidential Campaigns

When Donald Trump's presidential campaign publicly stated that it had been successfully targeted by Iranian hackers, the news may have initially seemed like a sign that the Middle Eastern country was particularly focused on the candidate whom it perceived to take the most hawkish approach to its regime. It's since become clearer that Iran has had the Democrats in the sights of its cyber operations, too. Now Google's cybersecurity analysts have confirmed that both campaigns were targeted not simply by Iran but by the same group of hackers working in service of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

X Files Antitrust Suit Against Advertising Industry Coalition Over Boycott

X filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against an advertising industry coalition and its members — including CVS Health, Mars, Orsted and Unilever — alleging the group abused its influence over marketers and ad agencies to discriminate unfairly against X, prompting an ad boycott. The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, argues GARM "conspired, along with dozens of non-defendant co-conspirators, to collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue from Twitter, Inc. (‘Twitter,’ now X Corp.)."

Fives States Urge Musk to Change AI Chatbot to Avoid Fake Election Info

Five secretaries of state plan to send an open letter to billionaire Elon Musk on Monday, urging him to “immediately implement changes” to X’s AI chatbot Grok, after it shared with millions of users false information suggesting that Kamala Harris was not eligible to appear on the 2024 presidential ballot. The letter, spearheaded by Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon and signed by his counterparts Al Schmidt of Pennsylvania, Steve Hobbs of Washington, Jocelyn Benson of Michigan and Maggie Toulouse Oliver of New Mexico, urges Musk to “immediately implement changes to X’s AI search assistant, Grok, to ensure voters have accurate information in this critical election year.”

Google Violated Antitrust Law in Online Search, Federal Judge Rules

Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in online search, a federal judge ruled, a landmark decision that strikes at the power of tech giants in the modern internet era and that may fundamentally alter the way they do business. Judge Amit P. Mehta of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia said in a 277-page ruling that Google had abused a monopoly over the search business.

Justice Department Sues TikTok for Illegally Collecting Children's Data

The Justice Department sued TikTok, accusing it of illegally collecting children’s data and escalating a long-running battle between the U.S. government and the Chinese-owned app. TikTok broke the law by gathering personal information from users under the age of 13 without their parents’ permission, according to the government’s complaint.

Appeals Court Blocks FCC's Reinstatement of Net Neutrality Rules

A U.S. appeals court blocked the Federal Communications Commission's reinstatement of landmark net neutrality rules, saying broadband providers are likely to succeed in a legal challenge. The FCC voted in April along party lines to reassume regulatory oversight of broadband internet and reinstate open internet rules adopted in 2015 that were rescinded under then-President Donald Trump.

Apple Asks Judge to Dismiss Justice Department's Antitrust Suit

Apple is asking a federal judge to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and 16 state attorneys general against the iPhone maker, which they allege maintains an illegal monopoly over the smartphone market. The tech giant argued in a filing that it is not a monopolist and that its design choices have not had any anticompetitive effects on the market.

Two Convicted Russian Hackers Released as Part of Prisoner Exchange

Two Russians serving time in U.S. prisons for computer hacking and multi-million dollar credit card theft have been included in a headline-grabbing prisoner swap deal with Moscow. The two men — Vladislav Klyushin and Roman Seleznev — were sentenced to a combined 36 years in prison for hacking computer networks, insider trading and financial crimes.

Senators Introduce Bill to Prohibit Unauthorized Use of AI Voices

Actress Scarlett Johansson sparked national debate in May when she accused start-up OpenAI of copying her voice to create a conversational artificial intelligence system. But a bipartisan group of senators are trying to head off the next Johansson-esque episode, unveiling legislation that would prohibit people from making unauthorized AI replicas without the consent of whomever they mimic.

Chinese Hackers Accused of Stealing from Taiwanese Research Center

A hacking group believed to be linked to the Chinese government stole passwords and documents from a Taiwanese government-affiliated research center that specializes in computing, cybersecurity researchers at Cisco Systems Inc. said. The attackers used a kind of malicious software tool that’s almost entirely used by China-based groups, after they gained access to the unnamed research center as early as July 2023, Cisco’s Talos threat intelligence group said in a report shared exclusively with Bloomberg News.

U.S. Considers Restricting China's Access to AI Memory Chips

The U.S. is considering unilateral restrictions on China’s access to AI memory chips and equipment capable of making those semiconductors as soon as next month, a move that would further escalate the tech rivalry between the world’s biggest economies. The measure is designed to keep Micron Technology Inc. and South Korea’s leading memory chipmakers SK Hynix Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. from supplying Chinese firms with so-called high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, chips, according to people familiar with the matter, who emphasized that no final decision has been made.

Google Launches Feature to Remove Explicit Nonconsensual Fake Content

Google is rolling out new online safety features that make it easier to remove explicit deepfakes from Search at scale and prevent them from appearing high up in search results in the first place. When users successfully request the removal of explicit nonconsensual fake content that depicts them from Search, Google’s systems will now also aim to filter out all explicit results on similar searches about them and remove any duplicate images.

Microsoft Blames Global Azure Outage on Denial-of-Service Cyberattack

A global Microsoft Azure outage that impacted a range of services for consumers — from reports of stalling Outlook emails to trouble ordering on Starbucks’ mobile app — was triggered by a distributed denial of service cyberattack, according to the tech giant. Microsoft Azure, a cloud computing platform used by companies and organizations worldwide, confirmed the attack in a status update — and said an error in the platform’s defense response may have “amplified the impact” rather than initially mitigating it.

Britain's Antitrust Watchdog Probing Alphabet's Relationship with OpenAI

Britain's antitrust watchdog is scrutinizing Google-parent Alphabet's partnership with artificial intelligence startup Anthropic and its impact on competition, the regulator said. More than 18 months after Microsoft-backed OpenAI triggered an AI boom with the release of ChatGPT, antitrust regulators around the world have been increasingly concerned by multiple deals struck between smaller industry startups and big tech giants.

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