Category: Russia

Alabama Fake News LinkedIn Reid Hoffman Russia

LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman accidentally funded fake news

sudshr47 December 27, 2018

TwitterFacebook

A Silicon Valley billionaire who co-founded LinkedIn is apologizing for accidentally funding a recently uncovered fake news operation.

LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman issued a statement on Wednesday addressing a New York Times story that uncovered a “secret experiment” that utilized fake news in the Alabama Senate race that pit Democrat Doug Jones against Republican Roy Moore in December 2017. 

The Times report claims that Democratic tech operatives engaged in Russian manipulation tactics, funded by Hoffman, in an effort to help Jones defeat Moore in last year’s special election.

More about Russia, Linkedin, Alabama, Reid Hoffman, and Fake News

View More LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman accidentally funded fake news
Artificial Intelligence Asia Baidu Beijing bytedance China dailyhunt Entertainment Facebook general atlantic india Jack Dorsey Lawsuit media platform Myanmar Pakistan Russia sharechat Softbank Tencent tiktok Toutiao Twitter Xiaomi Youtube

TikTok parent ByteDance sues Chinese news site that exposed fake news problem

sudshr47 December 20, 2018

There’s worrying news from China’s online media world as ByteDance, the $75 billion company behind popular video app TikTok is taking a news site to court for alleged defamation after it published a story about ByteDance’s fake news problem in India. U.S. tech firms have come to rely on media to help uncover issues, but Chinese […]

View More TikTok parent ByteDance sues Chinese news site that exposed fake news problem
department of justice microblogging Russia Security transparency report Twitter United States world wide web

Twitter says governments are ramping up their demands for user data

sudshr47 December 13, 2018

Twitter says the number of government demands for data on its users has shot up in the past year. In its latest transparency report out Thursday, the social media giant said it received 10 percent more requests between January and June than on its previous reporting period — the largest percentage increase in three years. […]

View More Twitter says governments are ramping up their demands for user data
DCMS committee disinformation EC Election Interference election security Europe european commission european union Facebook Fake News Google Government Mariya Gabriel online disinformation online platforms Political Advertising Propaganda Rt Russia Security Social Media social media platforms social networks Spain Sputnik Twitter Vox

Europe dials up pressure on tech giants over election security

sudshr47 December 5, 2018

The European Union has announced a package of measures intended to step up efforts and pressure on tech giants to combat democracy-denting disinformation ahead of the EU parliament elections next May. The European Commission Action Plan, which was presented at a press briefing earlier today, has four areas of focus: 1) Improving detection of disinformation; 2) […]

View More Europe dials up pressure on tech giants over election security
computing encrypted communications encryption facebook messenger law enforcement Privacy Russia Security Social Media Spy U.S. government United States

GCHQ’s not-so-smart idea to spy on encrypted messaging apps is branded ‘absolute madness’

sudshr47 November 30, 2018

Nobody wants to be a third wheel. Unless you’re a British spy. Two of the most senior officials at British eavesdropping agency GCHQ say one way that law enforcement could access encrypted messages is to simply add themselves to your conversations. “It’s relatively easy for a service provider to silently add a law enforcement participant to […]

View More GCHQ’s not-so-smart idea to spy on encrypted messaging apps is branded ‘absolute madness’
Facebook Fake News Mark Zuckerberg Russia Social Media

‘Frat boy billionaire’ Mark Zuckerberg shamed by international lawmakers for not attending hearing

sudshr47 November 27, 2018

TwitterFacebook

Lawmakers from nine different countries openly mocked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for not attending a hearing in the UK. 

On Tuesday, two dozen lawmakers from nine international parliaments convened in London for the inaugural “International Grand Committee on Disinformation.” The intended purpose of the event was to grill Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg over the company’s scandals involving fake news. While representatives from Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Ireland, Latvia, Singapore, and the UK were in attendance, one individual was glaringly absent: Mark Zuckerberg.

The Facebook founder and CEO was repeatedly asked to attend by the committee. The social media company sent its Vice President of Public Policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Richard Allan, in Zuckerberg’s place.  Read more…

More about Facebook, Russia, Mark Zuckerberg, Social Media, and Fake News

View More ‘Frat boy billionaire’ Mark Zuckerberg shamed by international lawmakers for not attending hearing
Elections Facebook Mark Zuckerberg Russia Sheryl Sandberg

Facebook’s former security chief stands up for the social network, calls for change

sudshr47 November 18, 2018

TwitterFacebook

Facebook’s former chief security officer is defending the social network amid the fallout from the New York Times’ bombshell report on the company this past week.

Alex Stamos, who was the company’s CSO from 2015 up until the summer of 2018, wrote a piece published in the Washington Post on Saturday responding to the New York Times report. Stamos attempted to dispel the Times’ report claiming that Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, fearing blowback, delayed taking action following his team’s discovery of Russian interference in the 2016 election via a misinformation campaign on the platform. Read more…

More about Facebook, Russia, Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and Elections

View More Facebook’s former security chief stands up for the social network, calls for change
Donald Trump Julian Assange Robert Mueller Russia Wikileaks

Whoops! Prosecutor accidentally reveals charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in court filing

sudshr47 November 16, 2018

TwitterFacebook

The U.S. government has filed charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange — and the reason we know is because of a copy-and-paste error.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kellen S. Dwyer accidentally dropped in two references to the sealed charges against Julian Assange in a filing for a separate unsealed case completely unrelated to Wikileaks. The charges against Assange, which are unknown at this time, are under seal according to a report by The Washington Post.

The unintentional disclosure appears to have occurred due to a copy-and-paste mistake, reports both The New York Times and The Guardian. It looks as if the prosecutor copied text from a similar case and neglected to swap out Assange’s name. Read more…

More about Russia, Wikileaks, Donald Trump, Julian Assange, and Robert Mueller

View More Whoops! Prosecutor accidentally reveals charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in court filing
Donald Trump Facebook New York Times Russia Tech

Facebook defends itself from damning New York Times story, denies it scuttled Russian meddling evidence

sudshr47 November 15, 2018

TwitterFacebook

In the wake of yesterday’s bombshell New York Times report, Facebook is defending itself from a multitude of allegations that appear in the story.

The company is outright denying its reported hesitation to investigate Russian interference on its platform during the 2016 presidential election, but several other allegations from the story have been explained by the company in a way that suggests they’re at least partially true.

Let’s start with the biggest allegation from the story: The claim that Facebook knew about Russian meddling on its platform earlier than it had previously stated.  Read more…

More about Facebook, Russia, Donald Trump, New York Times, and Tech

View More Facebook defends itself from damning New York Times story, denies it scuttled Russian meddling evidence
Alex Stamos Artificial Intelligence Donald Trump Europe european parliament Facebook online disinformation Policy Privacy Russia Security Sheryl Sandberg Social Social Media Soros Fund Management The New York Times United States

Facebook under pressure over Soros smear tactics

sudshr47 November 15, 2018

Facebook is facing calls to conduct an external investigation into its own lobbying and PR activities by an aide to billionaire George Soros. BuzzFeed reports that Michael Vachon, an advisor to the chairman at Soros Fund Management, made the call in a letter to friends and colleagues. The call follows an explosive investigation, published yesterday […]

View More Facebook under pressure over Soros smear tactics