Platforms

Companies, including US tech giants, should be blocked from transferring European users’ data in some cases if they can’t guarantee it will be handled in compliance with European Union privacy laws, an adviser to the EU’s top court recommended. The recommendation, if followed by the EU’s Court of Justice, could unleash a 

Facebook will remove posts, photos and other content that mislead people about the US Census starting in 2020, aiming to prevent malicious actors from interfering in a critical, once-in-a-decade process that determines political representation. The new policies come as civil-rights leaders urge Facebook to act more aggressively against content that targets vulnerable communities, including people of color and immigrants, who may be most influenced by social-media misinformation about voting.

Not so long ago, the technology behind Bitcoin was seen in Silicon Valley as the best hope for challenging the enormous, centralized power of companies like Twitter and Facebook. Now, in an unexpected twist, the internet giants think that technology could help them solve their many problems. Countless entrepreneurs are working on decentralization projects, including the creator of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee.

The Federal Trade Commission has granted final approval to a settlement with the former CEO of Cambridge Analytica, LLC and an app developer who worked with the company to resolve allegations they used deceptive tactics to collect personal information from tens of millions of Facebook users for voter profiling and targeting. As part of the settlement, app developer Aleksandr Kogan and Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix are prohibited from making false or deceptive statements regarding the extent to which they collect, use, share, or sell personal information, as well as the purposes for

Social media platforms will continue to be held harmless for third-party content on their web sites according to the compromise on the US Mexico Canada Agreement trade deal announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). 

Mark Zuckerberg has rigged the rules of Facebook political advertising, making him complicit in lies and voter manipulation. The result is the most powerful propaganda amplifier in history, boosting campaigns that traffic in falsehoods. Zuckerberg’s company screens some paid political advertising for lies. But since early October, it makes an exception: When candidates pay for the ads, it will run any ad — even those with blatant lies.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is pushing to strip out sweeping legal protections for online content in the new trade pact with Mexico and Canada, in what would be a blow for big technology companies. Internet firms lobbied hard to include the immunity language in the trade agreement, seeing it as a way to extend to Mexico and Canada the broad umbrella of legal protection they enjoy in the US.

Why is President Donald Trump putting so much energy into defending Silicon Valley — not his most natural constituency — through US trade policy? President Trump is treading a politically delicate path as he tries to help Big Tech improve its access to foreign markets at a time when the sector is increasingly becoming a punching bag in Washington.

Sen Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i) -- the top Democrat on the Senate Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet Subcommittee -- led a group of 16 senators in reintroducing legislation to protect people’s personal data online. The Data Care Act would require websites, apps, and other online providers to take responsible steps to safeguard personal information and stop the misuse of users’ data. 

The Data Care Act establishes reasonable duties that will require providers to protect user data and will prohibit providers from using user data to their detriment:

Google’s co-founders stepped down from their active management roles at the internet giant, surrendering further control at a potential inflection point for the company. Billionaires Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who had been chief executive and president, respectfully, of Google parent Alphabet Inc., said they would hand control immediately to Sundar Pichai, Google’s existing CEO. The duo are hardly giving up their influence. They remain on Alphabet’s board and together control a majority of voting power over company decisions under Alphabet’s dual-class share structure.