Tag Archives: social media

SCOTUS Likely To Rule On Social Media “Censorship”

The Washington Post reports: Governments that say conservative voices are the ones most often eliminated by the decisions of tech companies scored a major victory Friday, when a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld a Texas law barring companies from removing posts based political ideology. But a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court …

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Texas Social Media “Censorship” Ban Goes Into Effect

The Texas Tribune reports: A Texas law prohibiting large social media companies from banning users’ posts based on their political viewpoints will go into effect after a federal appeals court on Friday lifted a block placed on the statute. NetChoice and the Computer & Communications Industry Association sued Texas after the law, known as House Bill 20, was passed last …

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Social Media Platforms Must Post Hate Speech Policies Under New California Law Signed Yesterday By Newsom

The Hill reports: California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has signed into law a social media transparency measure that he says protects residents from hate and disinformation posts spread through social media platforms. A.B. 587 will require social media companies to publicly post their policies regarding hate speech, disinformation, harassment and extremism on their platforms and report data on their enforcement …

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Meta Subpoenas Rivals In Search Of Trade Secrets

Bloomberg News reports: To defend itself against the federal government, Meta Platforms Inc. says it needs its rivals to divulge some of their most closely held secrets. Facebook’s parent company has so far subpoenaed 132 companies for documents, including Snap Inc., ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok and the audio startup Clubhouse, and has warned that it may seek information from 100 more. …

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Twitter Shareholders Approve Musk’s Purchase Bid

CNBC reports: Twitter shareholders voted Tuesday to approve Elon Musk’s $44 billion bid to buy the company and take it private. The vote comes as Musk seeks to scrap the deal, casting doubt on Twitter’s self-reported percentage of fake accounts and alleging the company was not as forthcoming as it should have been with its explanation of the calculation. Twitter …

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Shareholders Reject Merger With Trump’s Truth Social

Reuters reports: The blank-check acquisition firm that agreed to merge with Donald Trump’s social media company failed to secure enough shareholder support for a one-year extension to complete the deal, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. At stake is a $1.3 billion cash infusion that Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates the former U.S. president’s Truth Social …

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Twitter Seeks Six Months Of Musk’s Text Messages

Bloomberg News reports: Twitter Inc. is asking a judge to order Elon Musk to turn over all of his text messages from the first six months of 2022, saying the billionaire wasn’t cooperating in exchanging evidence ahead of trial in the fight over his $44 billion buyout offer. The social-media company submitted the public proposed order in a Friday court …

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Far-Right Platform Parler Allowed Back On Google Store

Axios reports: A year and a half after it was removed from Google’s Play Store, Parler, a Twitter alternative that attracts conservatives, has returned to the showcase for Android apps. Google removed Parler following the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, which was incited by misinformation and violent speech online. Beginning Friday, Parler will be available for download in Google’s Play Store, …

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Twitter To Finally Offer Long-Demanded Edit Button

The New York Times reports: Begone typos and grammar mistakes! Begone fat-fingered auto corrected slip-ups and textual despair! The edit button is coming to Twitter. On Thursday, after countless pleas from many of its more than 237 million users, some people will start being able to click a button on the social media service to edit a tweet after they …

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Musk Again Tries To Terminate Deal To Buy Twitter

Axios reports: Elon Musk’s lawyers on Monday sent a second deal termination letter to Twitter, a follow-up to his initial termination notice in July, this time citing recent allegations made by a Twitter whistleblower. Why it matters: Musk’s legal team is trying to leverage the allegations made by former Twitter security chief Peiter Zatko last week to defend Musk’s attempt …

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Meta Settles Cambridge Analytica/Trump Privacy Suit

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. …

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Musk Loses “Absurdly Broad” Demand For Twitter Data

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 …

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Former Exec Claims Twitter Lied To Feds About Security

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 …

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Musk Subpoenas Former Twitter CEO In Latest Ploy

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 …

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Musk Lawyers Subpoena Ad Tech Firms In Twitter Fight

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 …

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Video Platform Rumble Drops Ban On Hate Speech

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, …

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Musk Teases Creation Of Own Social Media Platform

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 …

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Teen Charged For Abortion After FB Handed Over DMs

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 …

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Twitter Breach Exposed Users Of Anonymous Accounts

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 …

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Musk Challenges Twitter CEO To Public Debate On Bots

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% …

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