Two separate parliamentary committees, in the UK and Canada, have issued an unprecedented international joint summons for Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear before them. The committees are investigating the impact of online disinformation on democratic processes and want Zuckerberg to answer questions related to the Cambridge Analytica-Facebook user data misuse scandal, which both have been […]
View More Zuckerberg gets joint summons from UK and Canadian parliamentsCategory: social media platforms
Europe’s parliament calls for full audit of Facebook in wake of breach scandal
The European Parliament has called for a full audit of Facebook following a string of data breach scandals — including the Cambridge Analytica affair. MEPs are urging the company to allow European Union bodies to carry out a full audit to assess data protection and security of users’ personal data, following the scandal in which […]
View More Europe’s parliament calls for full audit of Facebook in wake of breach scandalFake news ‘threat to democracy’ report gets back-burner response from UK gov’t
The UK government has rejected a parliamentary committee’s call for a levy on social media firms to fund digital literacy lessons to combat the impact of disinformation online. The recommendation of a levy on social media platforms was made by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee three months ago, in a preliminary report following […]
View More Fake news ‘threat to democracy’ report gets back-burner response from UK gov’tAudit Facebook and overhaul competition law, say MEPs responding to breach scandals
After holding a series of hearings in the wake of the Facebook -Cambridge Analytica data misuse scandal this summer, and attending a meeting with Mark Zuckerberg himself in May, the European Union parliament’s civil liberties committee has called for an update to competition rules to reflect what it dubs “the digital reality”, urging EU institutions […]
View More Audit Facebook and overhaul competition law, say MEPs responding to breach scandalsZuckerberg must face public scrutiny over latest data breach, say UK MPs
UK members of parliament have once again called for Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, to travel to the country to face questions about how his business operates. They’re renewing calls for facetime with the Facebook CEO in light of the massive data breach it disclosed on Friday — which the company said could affect as many as […]
View More Zuckerberg must face public scrutiny over latest data breach, say UK MPsWhite House says a draft executive order reviewing social media companies is not “official”
A draft executive order circulating around the White House “is not the result of an official White House policymaking process,” according to deputy White House press secretary, Lindsay Walters. According to a report in The Washington Post, Walters denied that White House staff had worked on a draft executive order that would require every federal agency to […]
View More White House says a draft executive order reviewing social media companies is not “official”Facebook and Airbnb told to change their ToS to fix EU consumer rights issues by year’s end
Facebook has been singled out for censure by the European Commission’s head of consumer affairs who has warned she’s running out of patience and said the company needs to make additional changes to their terms of service before the end of the year to bring them into line with the bloc’s consumer rules. The Commission […]
View More Facebook and Airbnb told to change their ToS to fix EU consumer rights issues by year’s endThis is what Americans think about the state of election security right now
A wide-ranging new poll yields some useful insight into how worried the average American feels about election threats as the country barrels toward midterms. The survey, conducted by NPR and researchers with Marist College, polled 949 adult US residents in early September across regions of the country, contacting participants through both landlines and mobile devices. The […]
View More This is what Americans think about the state of election security right nowGoogle rebuked by Senate Intelligence Committee for not sending Page or Pichai to testify
Alphabet’s decision to decline to send its CEO Larry Page to today’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing — to answer questions about what social media platforms are doing to thwart foreign influence operations intended to sow political division in the U.S. — has earned it a stinging rebuke from the committee’s vice chair, Sen. Mark Warner. “I’m […]
View More Google rebuked by Senate Intelligence Committee for not sending Page or Pichai to testifyFacebook users becoming more cautious and critical, says Pew
Ahead of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg testifying before Congress later today, where she will be questioned alongside Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey as US lawmakers wrestle with how to regulate social media platforms (and even just to get bums on seats, given Google’s Larry Page declined to attend), the Pew Research Center has published new research suggesting […]
View More Facebook users becoming more cautious and critical, says PewUK media giants call for independent oversight of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter
The UK’s leading broadcasters and ISPs have called for the government to introduce independent regulatory oversight of social media content. The group of media and broadband operators in the tightly regulated industries spans both the state-funded and commercial sector — with the letter to the Sunday Telegraph being inked with signatures from the leaders of the BBC, […]
View More UK media giants call for independent oversight of Facebook, YouTube, TwitterHere’s Twitter’s position on Alex Jones (and hate-peddling anti-truthers) — hint: It’s a fudge
The number of tech platforms taking action against Alex Jones, the far right InfoWars conspiracy theorist and hate speech preacher, has been rising in recent weeks — with bans or partial bans including from Google, Apple and Facebook. However, as we noted earlier, Twitter is not among them. Although it has banned known hate peddlers […]
View More Here’s Twitter’s position on Alex Jones (and hate-peddling anti-truthers) — hint: It’s a fudge