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US lawmakers step up antitrust inquiry, demanding documents from tech giants
The House Judiciary Committee of the US Congress has called on tech companies to release a wide array of documents and emails relating to possible anticompetitive practices, escalating the federal government’s ongoing antitrust investigation into companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon. The requests were sent directly to executives like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, […]
Facebook has won an appeal against a German agency’s restrictions on data collection
A regional court in Germany has ruled in favor of Facebook’s appeal against a February order by the nation’s antitrust watchdog, preventing the social media giant from combining user data collected from its various platforms, which include Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. An order from the Federal Cartel Office (FCO) in February had accused Facebook of abusing […]
US legislator joins international inquiry into disinformation on social media
An international effort to investigate disinformation through social media platforms and tech giants has gained its first US legislator as a member, adding weight to requests for US-based tech executives to appear as witnesses before the committee, according to Tech Crunch. The next meeting of the International Grand Committee on Disinformation and ‘Fake News’ is set to […]
Facebook workers are transcribing private user conversations on Messenger
Facebook has admitted to revealing audio recordings of private user conversations to hundreds of outside contractors, hired to improve the accuracy of its artificial intelligence, according to revelations first disclosed in a Tuesday report from Bloomberg. On Wednesday, the Irish Data Protection Commission, in charge of supervision of Facebook in the EU, said it was evaluating whether […]
US fines Facebook $5bn over Cambridge Analytica, as Europe steps up data enforcement
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted last week to issue a $5 billion (€4.46 billion) fine against Facebook over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which they claim that Facebook violated a prior agreement to not misuse consumer data. The move comes as European authorities levy increasingly large fines against companies over their handling of […]
France votes to fine social media companies that fail to remove hate speech
French legislators voted Thursday to impose a hefty fine on social media companies that fail to remove hate speech from their platform, according to The Verge. The measure was approved by the lower house of the French Parliament, and will need the support of the upper chamber to become law. It would allow companies like Facebook […]
Facebook says its platform wasn’t used to manipulate the Brexit vote
Facebook’s head of global affairs said Monday there is “absolutely no evidence” that the social network was manipulated by outside interests to affect the outcome of Britain’s Brexit referendum. Nick Clegg, who is also a former deputy UK prime minister, said two extensive data analyses had shown no interference in the months ahead of the […]
United Kingdom, France Push Tech Firms to Action on Extremist Content
With her recent comments on tackling extremism online, Prime Minister Theresa May has not earned many fans among the tech industry in the UK or internationally. Nevertheless, she and many other British political leaders are sticking to an aggressive approach. On a trip to France earlier this month, May and her new counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed how to introduce legal liability […]
Europe’s position on data protection: The story of a huge gap between ideal and reality
It is not always easy to see a clear line in the difficult relationship Europe maintains with its core values and data protection policies. The current development aims to point out contradictions on the European fight for increased data protection and to give a sense of responsibility to our governments when it comes to protecting […]
France leads the world on wifi hotspots…for now
France currently leads the world in terms of number of public wifi hotspots with 13 million (commercial and community hotspots) according to a far-reaching study by global wi-fi provider iPass. The US comes in second in terms of number of hotspots at 9.8 million and the UK third at 5.6 million. Europe overall has the world’s largest […]