Facebook shuts Uganda accounts ahead of vote | Twitter shares fall following Trump ban | Coalition MPs, regulators call for new social media rules

Jan 11, 2021

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Facebook has shut a slew of accounts belonging to Ugandan government officials accused of seeking to manipulate public debate ahead of elections Thursday, the internet giant told AFP on Monday. France24
Twitter Inc. shares fell 7% in pre-market trading after the social media platform permanently banned outgoing President Donald Trump. The company confirmed its decision in a blog post on Friday, saying Trump’s tweets breached policies by risking incitement to violence. It cited his posts on the riots in the U.S. capital last week. Bloomberg
The competition regulator wants new rules to determine when social media behemoths can close accounts after Donald Trump was suspended from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, sparking warnings by some Coalition MPs that unclear self-regulation by the technology giants could limit freedom of speech. The Age

Australia

Coalition MPs, regulators call for new social media rules after Trump turn-off
The Age
@nickbonyhady @JennieDuke
The competition regulator wants new rules to determine when social media behemoths can close accounts after Donald Trump was suspended from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, sparking warnings by some Coalition MPs that unclear self-regulation by the technology giants could limit freedom of speech.

Kelly, Christensen top performers on Facebook and they want to keep it that way
The Guardian
@joshgnosis @annefdavies
Federal Liberal backbenchers Craig Kelly and George Christensen, who have accused social media companies of censoring conservatives, are among the most influential Australian MPs on Facebook, an analysis suggests.

Cognizant to bolster Australia and New Zealand presence with Servian acquisition
ZDNet
@ashabeeeee
The 'transformation' consultancy specialises in data analytics, artificial intelligence, digital services, experience design, and cloud.

China

China tried to add eleventh-hour Huawei revenge clause to EU deal
South China Morning Post
@fbermingham
At the eleventh hour of its painstakingly negotiated investment deal with the European Union, China tried to add a clause that would have frozen some of the benefits for EU states that restricted access for Huawei Technologies Co. and other Chinese telecoms firms, according documents reviewed by the South China Morning Post.

For Chinese firms, theft of your data is now a legal requirement
The Hill
Cooperating with Chinese firms means cooperating with the Communist Party and its predatory mining of data and other property.

China Gives U.S. Tech the Silent Treatment
Wall Street Journal
Patience may be a virtue. For U.S. tech companies looking to do deals that involve China, it is also an expensive necessity.

Exclusive: Chinese regulators to push tech giants to share consumer credit data - sources
Reuters
China plans to push tech giants including Ant Group, Tencent and JD.com to share consumer loan data to prevent excess borrowing and fraud, two people with knowledge of the matter said, in Beijing’s latest tightening of scrutiny.

USA

Chris Krebs @C_C_Krebs

Solving our domestic #disinfo problem is going to be difficult in the long term, but we have a more immediate problem - continued #disinformation inciting additional violence and acts of insurrection in the run up to inauguration on January 20th. So how do we prevent that?

Superspreader Down: How Trump’s Exile from Social Media Alters the Future of Politics, Security, and Public Health
Defense One
@peterwsinger
The companies faced a rapidly changing business, technology, and battlefield. And making these kind of decisions is not what most people in tech firms planned on doing when they packed their bags for Silicon Valley. They want to build and profit, not police.

Trump Is Banned. Who Is Next?
The Atlantic
@evelyndouek
Tech giants must not treat their crackdown on the president’s social accounts as an edge case. The social web should be different now.

The Facebook Oversight Board Should Review Trump’s Suspension
Lawfare
@evelyndouek
Checks and balances don’t exist only for decisions people agree with. Facebook should allow oversight of its most high-profile content moderation decision yet.

Twitter Shares Fall 7% Following Permanent Trump Ban
Bloomberg
@TW_Seal
Twitter Inc. shares fell 7% in pre-market trading after the social media platform permanently banned outgoing President Donald Trump.

Jillian C. York @jilliancyork

No, banning Trump does not "set a new precedent" and no, the Q purge isn't "the largest online purge in history" and more: jilliancyork.com/2021/01/10/eve…

A list of platforms that banned or limited Trump-affiliated accounts: Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, Apple, Snapchat, TikTok, Shopify, Pinterest, and more
Axios
Platforms are rapidly removing Donald Trump’s account or accounts affiliated with pro-Trump violence and conspiracies, like QAnon and #StoptheSteal.

Scoop: Facebook freezing political spending after Capitol attack
Axios
@ashleyrgold
Freezing political giving may be the next step tech companies take to show they're seriously rethinking their approach to Washington.

Stripe will no longer process payments for Trump's campaign website and fundraising efforts, after violations of policies against encouraging violence
Wall Street Journal
@EmilyGlazer @rudegeair @AAndriotis
Stripe Inc. will no longer process payments for President Trump’s campaign website following last week’s riot at the Capitol, according to people familiar with the matter.

How Parler, a Chosen App of Trump Fans, Became a Test of Free Speech
New York Times
@jacknicas @daveyalba
The app has renewed a debate about who holds power over online speech after the tech giants yanked their support for it and left it fighting for survival. Parler went dark early on Monday.

Parler sues Amazon, asks court to reinstate platform
The Hill
@johnkruzel @chrisismills
Social media company Parler sued Amazon on Monday, alleging that its suspension from Amazon's hosting service violated antitrust law and breached the companies' contractual arrangement.

Facebook appoints civil rights vice president amid pressure over racial hatred, violence on Facebook, Instagram
USA Today
Civil rights attorney Roy L. Austin, Jr., who focused on policing in the Obama administration, first at the Justice Department and then at the White House, is Facebook’s new vice president of civil rights charged with helping the social media giant curb the racial hatred and violence on its platforms that over the summer led to a month-long boycott by civil rights groups and major advertisers.

NZ & Pacific Islands

Connecting Papua New Guinea, one tower at a time
Rest of World
Nearly a decade on, even as the company’s unorthodox strategy has led to its collapse in various international markets, Digicel is hanging on to Papua New Guinea as a rare instance of success.

South & Central Asia

Pakistan internet connectivity collapses amid nation-scale power outage
NetBlocks
NetBlocks has identified a nation-scale power outage across Pakistan after 11:40 p.m.

Crouching elephant vs. ‘charming’ dragon: why vaccine diplomacy is next battleground for India, China
Economic Times
@SandhyaETprime
Thanks to ramped up production in the year of vaccines, a realignment of geopolitical equations looks imminent. The focus will be on countries that make vaccines available and their recipients. While the history of Chinas vaccines industry is riddled with controversies, being the supplier of affordable vaccines to low-and-middle income countries for decades makes India a better choice.

UK

Bitcoin holders barred from depositing profits in UK banks
The Times
Some banks will not accept transfers from bitcoin exchanges. HSBC, one of the biggest banks in the country, does not process cryptocurrency payments or allow customers to bank money from digital wallets.

Europe

Germany's Merkel hits out at Twitter over 'problematic' Trump ban
CNBC
@Ryan_Browne_
German Chancellor Angela Merkel blasted Twitter's decision to ban U.S. President Donald Trump.

Turkey Starts Antitrust Investigation Into WhatsApp, Facebook
Bloomberg
@FiratKozok @cagankoc
Turkey’s antitrust board launched an investigation into Facebook Inc. and its messaging service WhatsApp Inc. over new usage terms that have sparked privacy concerns.

Africa

Facebook shuts Uganda accounts ahead of vote
France24
Facebook has shut a slew of accounts belonging to Ugandan government officials accused of seeking to manipulate public debate ahead of elections Thursday, the internet giant told AFP on Monday.

Misc

David Kaye @davidakaye

this is not plausible for companies whose vast majority of users are based outside the United States (where the 1st amendment is totally foreign). look to the global common vocabulary/standards in int'l human rights law.

Greg Lukianoff @glukianoff

The best way for social media companies to decide what speech is & isn't permitted is to mirror standards in First Amendment law. NOT b/c they have to (THEY DON'T) but b/c there's are decades of clear standards & wisdom in the cases about how to have #freespeech in the real world

Every Deleted Parler Post, Many With Users' Location Data, Has Been Archived
Gizmodo
@dellcam
In the wake of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by scores of President Trump’s supporters, a lone researcher began an effort to catalogue the posts of social media users across Parler, a platform founded to provide conservative users a safe haven for uninhibited “free speech” — but which ultimately devolved into a hotbed of far-right conspiracy theories, unchecked racism, and death threats aimed at prominent politicians.

Following riots, alternative social apps and private messengers top the app stores
TechCrunch
@sarahintampa
Alternative social media apps including MeWe, CloutHub and other privacy-focused rivals to big tech, are topping the app stores following Trump’s ban from mainstream social platforms like Facebook and Twitter and the more recent removal of conservative social app Parler from both the App Store and Google Play.

‘Your Cock Is Mine Now:’ Hacker Locks Internet-Connected Chastity Cage, Demands Ransom
Vice
@lorenzofb
Turns out giving an internet-connected device control of your penis may not be the best idea ever.

Airbnb’s Section 230 Use Underscores Law’s Reach Beyond Facebook
Wall Street Journal
@heathersomervil
As lawmakers and tech executives prepare for a major battle over an internet liability shield this year, a look at Airbnb Inc.’s use of the law shows that the stakes go well beyond social-media giants such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc.

Daily Cyber Digest