Meta Bans Russian Media Outlet RT Over 'Foreign Interference Activity'

Social media giant Meta announced that it is banning Russian media outlet RT, days after the Biden administration accused RT of acting as an arm of Moscow’s spy agencies. “After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets. Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity," a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.

Jury Finds Zynga Owes $44.9 Million to IBM for Damages in Patent Case

IBM has convinced a federal jury in Delaware that mobile-game maker Zynga owes $44.9 million in damages for violating IBM's patent rights in what the tech giant called "foundational" Internet technology. The jury determined that Zynga games including entries from its "Farmville" series infringed two IBM patents related to web-based communications.

EU Antitrust Officials Reportedly Not Considering Google Breakup Order

EU antitrust officials are considering ordering Alphabet's Google to end anti-competitive practices in its adtech business, but will not order a breakup as they had previously warned, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. European Union regulators are due to issue a decision with a hefty fine in the coming months after antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager last year threatened to break up Google's lucrative adtech business.

Apple Asks Court to Dismiss Suit Against Spyware Company NSO Group

Apple asked a court to dismiss its three-year-old hacking lawsuit against spyware pioneer NSO Group, arguing that it might never be able to get the most critical files about NSO’s Pegasus surveillance tool and that its own disclosures could aid NSO and its increasing number of rivals. A redacted version of the filing in San Francisco federal court cited a July article in the Guardian, which reported that Israeli officials had taken files from NSO’s headquarters.

Judge in Brazil Lifts Freezes on Bank Accounts for X, Starlink

Brazil's Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes decided to lift freezes previously imposed on Starlink and X bank accounts after ordering the transfer of 18.35 million reais ($3.3 million) from the accounts to the national coffers. According to a court statement, the lift was ordered because the amount transferred to Brazil reached the total X owed the country in fines, which had been imposed amid a feud between billionaire owner Elon Musk and Moraes.

Judge Blocks Utah's Law Requiring Social Media Age Verification

A federal judge blocked Utah from enforcing an ambitious new law that would have required social media companies to verify people’s ages, apply privacy settings and impose certain restrictions on minors. U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby issued the preliminary injunction against the Utah Minor Protection in Social Media Act, which was set to take effect Oct. 1.

EU's Highest Court Rules Against Apple, Google in Landmark Cases

The European Union’s highest court delivered the 27-nation bloc a major victory in its yearslong campaign to regulate the technology industry, ruling against Apple and Google in two landmark legal cases. The decisions, issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union, were seen as an important test of efforts in Europe to clamp down on the world’s largest technology companies.

Trial Opens in Antitrust Case Against Google Over Online Ads

The Justice Department told a federal judge that Google had built a monopoly in lucrative technology that delivers online ads, kicking off a second federal antitrust trial against the tech giant amid mounting scrutiny of the industry. Google used its acquisition of the advertising software company DoubleClick in 2008 to dominate technology that auctions off ads on web pages as users visit, Julia Tarver Wood, the government’s lead trial lawyer, said in opening statements.

Australian Government Plans Minimum Age for Using Social Media

The Australian government plans to set a minimum age limit for teens to use social media, citing mental health concerns, a move that has broad political support but that has some experts warning of harmful unintended consequences. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Tuesday that his government would introduce the legislation in Parliament this year — ahead of an expected May election — but that the precise age limit was yet to be decided.

42 State Attorneys General Pushing for Social Media Warning Labels

The attorneys general of 42 states and U.S. territories joined together to call on Congress to pass legislation implementing Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s proposal to require official warnings on social media platforms. “Young people are facing a mental health crisis, which is fueled in large part by social media,” read the letter, which was addressed to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Facebook Admits Scraping Posts from Australian Users to Train AI Models

Facebook has admitted that it scrapes the public photos, posts and other data of Australian adult users to train its AI models and provides no opt-out option, even though it allows people in the European Union to refuse consent. Meta's global privacy director Melinda Claybaugh was pressed at an inquiry as to whether the social media giant was hoovering up the data of all Australians in order to build its generative artificial intelligence tools, and initially rejected that claim.

Court Affirms Copyright Ruling Against Internet Archive's Book Lending

In a swift decision, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has unanimously affirmed a March 2023 lower court decision finding the Internet Archive's program to scan and lend print library books is copyright infringement. In an emphatic 64-page decision, released on September 4, the court rejected the Internet Archive’s fair use defense, as well as the novel protocol known as “controlled digital lending” on which the Archive’s scanning and lending is based.

Justice Department Seizes 32 Domain Names in Russia's Election Interference

The Biden administration announced sanctions targeting Russian government-backed efforts to manipulate American opinion leading up to the 2024 election. The DOJ said it was seizing 32 Internet domains “used in Russian government-directed foreign malign influence campaigns colloquially referred to as ‘Doppelganger,’ in violation of U.S. money laundering and criminal trademark laws.”

  • Read the article: CNBC

Chinese Government-Backed Trolls Targeting U.S. Voters, Research Shows

Chinese government-backed trolls are targeting U.S. voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election, assuming fake identities of politically engaged voters on social media to promote divisive narratives around issues including gun control, racial inequality and the Israel-Hamas war, according to new research. The propaganda push, which researchers attributed to a prolific influence network known as Spamouflage that has been previously linked to the Chinese government, has sought to undermine confidence in U.S. elections, a new report said.

Halliburton Says Unauthorized Third Party Removed Data in Cyberattack

U.S. oilfield services firm Halliburton said an unauthorized third party had accessed and removed data from its systems, providing details regarding the cyberattack in August first reported by Reuters. The company said it is evaluating the nature and scope of information that was removed, but added that the incident is not reasonably likely to have a material impact.

Read the article: Reuters

South Korean Authorities Investigating Surge of Sexually Explicit Content

The authorities in South Korea are investigating a surge of sexually explicit images and video clips that have spread online and shocked the nation, leading the police to detain seven male suspects — six of them teenagers — the police said. The South Korean authorities began investigating the images and videos late last month after local media reported the spread of the content, which was created using deepfake apps.

Federal Judge Blocks Texas Law Requiring Age Verification, Filters

A federal judge issued a last-minute partial block on a Texas law that would require some large web services to identify minors and filter what they see online. Called HB 18 or the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act, it was signed into law last year and was set to take effect over the weekend on September 1, but a court ruling determined that the “monitoring and filtering” requirements posed a significant threat to online speech.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justices Uphold Judge's Ban on X

A panel of Brazilian Supreme Court justices voted to uphold a decision by one justice block the social network X across the country because its owner, Elon Musk, refused to comply with court orders to suspend certain accounts. The five-justice panel voted unanimously to back the order, issuing strongly worded opinions saying that the blackout of X complied with Brazilian law and that it was necessary to enforce the nation’s rules against a foreign company that was flouting them.

Yelp Sues Google for Giving Preference to Its Own Reviews

Online reviews company Yelp sued Google, alleging the search giant has used its power over the web to benefit its own reviews business and unfairly shut out the smaller company. Yelp, a pioneer of online reviews for local businesses, has long accused Google of anti-competitive conduct, lobbying for stricter oversight of how the giant handles searches for restaurant and business reviews.

Appeals Court Says Mother Can Pursue Death Claim Against TikTok

A U.S. appeals court has revived a lawsuit against TikTok by the mother of a 10-year-old girl who died after taking part in a viral "blackout challenge" in which users of the social media platform were dared to choke themselves until they passed out. While a federal law typically shields internet companies from lawsuits over content posted by users, the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled, the law does not bar Nylah Anderson's mother from pursuing claims that TikTok's algorithm recommended the challenge to her daughter.

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.