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Facebook’s new political ad rules could upend June 5th primaries

Facebook introduced new disclosure rules for political advertisements this week designed to block bad actors from meddling in elections. But in the meantime, the rules are blocking legitimate candidates from buying Facebook ads — and at least one congressional candidate in Mississippi says it could tip the election toward his opponent. The rules that Facebook implemented in the United States this week require anyone wishing to buy a political ad to verify their identity. To do so, Facebook mails a card to their physical location containing an authorization code.

Will regulators approve the massive T-Mobile-Sprint merger?

As the two smaller players in a wireless industry dominated by four companies, T-Mobile and Sprint argue that they need to link up to effectively challenge Verizon and AT&T, and the creation of a new wireless behemoth — with nearly 100 million customers — will allow them to build out a national 5G network. T-Mobile CEO John Legere has already raised the specter of Chinese competition on the next-generation network technology. And although that argument will be thoroughly questioned by critics, it’s one that could get some play in the Trump administration.

'Information Fiduciary' would regulate Facebook without going through Congress

We’re trusting services like Facebook with our data, and that trust should come with concrete legal responsibilities. To make that happen, Yale Law professor Jack Balkin proposes designating cloud providers as “information fiduciaries,” binding them an industry-wide code of conduct modeled after similar designations in law, medicine, and finance. In the abstract, the rule would require Facebook and other companies to not act against user’s interest, leaving courts to decide the penalties when they do.