Social Media

Bloomberg News reports: Meta Platforms Inc. settled a long-running lawsuit that claimed Facebook illegally shared user data with the research firm Cambridge Analytica. The preliminary settlement, disclosed in a court filing late Friday, follows the revelation last month that Meta Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg would have to sit for as long as six hours of questioning by plaintiffs’ lawyers. …

The Verge reports: After a hearing on discovery requests from lawyers representing both Elon Musk and Twitter, Judge Kathaleen McCormick gave a firm “no” to the Musk team’s “absurdly broad” request in favor of a much smaller set of information. However, Twitter must hand over some additional data relating to how it calculates the “monetizable daily active users” (mDAU) statistic …

Axios reports: Facebook parent company Meta has reached a $37.5 million settlement in a lawsuit that accused the company of violating user privacy by tracking location data through smartphones without asking users to do so. Meta has faced a number of legal challenges in recent years, and recently reached a separate $90 million settlement over location tracking. The new settlement …

The Washington Post reports: Twitter executives deceived federal regulators and the company’s own board of directors about “extreme, egregious deficiencies” in its defenses against hackers, as well as its meager efforts to fight spam, according to an explosive whistleblower complaint from its former security chief. The complaint from former head of security Peiter Zatko, a widely admired hacker known as …

The Verge reports: As Twitter and Elon Musk prepare for their October 17th trial date in the Delaware Court of Chancery to argue over his attempt to break their $44 billion acquisition agreement, Musk’s legal team submitted a subpoena for evidence from a familiar face: former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Dorsey stepped down as Twitter CEO for the second time …

Reuters reports: Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who is attempting to walk away from his deal to acquire Twitter, is seeking documents from advertising technology firms as part of his quest to gain more information on bot and spam accounts on Twitter, according to filings in a Delaware court on Thursday. Musk’s lawyers have subpoenaed both Integral Ad Science and DoubleVerify …

The New York Times reports: Facebook and Instagram on Thursday removed the accounts of Children’s Health Defense, an organization led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that is one of the largest U.S. anti-vaccine groups, for spreading medical misinformation. In an emailed newsletter, Children’s Health Defense said Facebook and Instagram had taken down its accounts after a 30-day ban by the …

The Verge reports: Democratic Senate hopeful John Fetterman’s campaign to troll Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz into defeat has dominated Facebook and Twitter over the last few weeks. But on Thursday, the campaign announced it is launching an official TikTok account to expand the reach of its already viral videos. The campaign formally launched the TikTok account with a video …

The Daily Beast reports: While the online video platform Rumble has long taken criticism for amplifying right-wing misinformation and conspiracy theories, the video-hosting service is preparing to head in an even darker direction, hiring one of Alex Jones’ lawyers to draft new content moderation policies that remove an existing ban on material that promotes or incites hate groups. In June, …

The Hill reports: Elon Musk on Tuesday evening appeared to tease creating his own social media platform if he does not ultimately buy Twitter. “Have you thought about creating your own social platform?” Tesla Owners Silicon Valley asked the billionaire on Twitter. “If Twitter deal doesn’t come through.” “X.com,” Musk responded. In 1999, Musk co-founded an online financial services company …

Reuters reports: Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk sold $6.9 billion worth of shares in the electric vehicle maker, saying the funds could be used to finance a potential Twitter deal if he loses a legal battle with the social media platform. “In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don’t …

Forbes reports: A Nebraska teenager is facing criminal charges alleging she aborted a fetus in violation of state law, after authorities obtained her Facebook messages using a search warrant. Seventeen-year-old Celeste Burgess, who is being tried as an adult along with her mother Jessica Burgess, is awaiting trial in Madison County District Court on charges that they broke a Nebraska …

The Associated Press reports: A vulnerability in Twitter’s software that exposed an undetermined number of owners of anonymous accounts to potential identity compromise last year was apparently exploited by a malicious actor, the social media company said Friday. It did not confirm a report that data on 5.4 million users was offered for sale online as a result but said …

Reuters reports: Elon Musk on Saturday challenged Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) Chief Executive Officer Parag Agrawal to a public debate about the percentage of bots on the social media platform. “Let him prove to the public that Twitter has <5% fake or spam daily users!,” Musk said in a tweet. He also started a poll asking users whether less than 5% …

The Insider reports: Twitter has issued a slew of subpoenas to some of Silicon Valley’s biggest names amid its legal battle with Elon Musk. Twitter sent legal requests to billionaire investors Chamath Palihapitiya and Marc Andreessen on Monday. Twitter also subpoenaed one of the entrepreneurs that helped Musk found PayPal, David Sacks, SpaceX and Tesla board member Stephen Jurvetson, as …

Ars Technica reports: Twitter is moving ahead with a shareholder vote on the merger with Elon Musk a few weeks before its lawsuit against Musk goes to trial. Twitter yesterday sent a letter to shareholders inviting them to a September 13 special meeting where they will be asked to approve the merger agreement that Musk is now trying to get …

Axios reports: Facebook wants to shape your online life around the algorithmically-sorted preferences of millions of strangers around the globe. That’s how TikTok sorts the videos it shows users, and that’s largely how Facebook will now organize its home screen. The dominant player in social media is transforming itself into a kind of digital mass media, in which the reactions …

Reuters reports: Twitter Inc’s lawsuit to hold Elon Musk to his $44 billion takeover will go to trial in October after a Delaware judge said on Tuesday the social media company deserved a quick resolution of the deal’s uncertainty. The ruling is a blow to Musk who pushed for a trial in February which his lawyer told the court would …

Bloomberg News reports: Elon Musk’s lawyers say Twitter Inc. officials are unfairly pushing for a “warp speed” trial over claims the billionaire improperly canceled his proposed $44 billion buyout of the social media company, and asked that the case be heard next year instead. Musk is requesting a Feb. 13, 2023, trial at the earliest, “an extremely rapid schedule for …

The Insider reports: Twitter says it handed over massive amounts of user data to Elon Musk over the last several months, even as it grew concerned that he could use it to his own ends. In a lawsuit filed Tuesday against Musk over his attempt to walk away from his $44 billion deal to buy the platform, Twitter said the …