Policy – SiliconANGLE

FCC launches probe into censorship on Big Tech platforms

James Farrell — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 01:43:02 +0000

The Federal Trade Commission today announced that it will investigate alleged censorship on tech platforms, explaining that any wrongdoing would “have violated the law.” “Tech firms should not be bullying their users,” said FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, recently chosen by President Trump to lead the commission. “This inquiry will help the FTC better understand how […]

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Trump Media and Rumble sue Brazil Supreme Court justice in censorship row

James Farrell — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 01:52:06 +0000

Donald Trump’s media group and the video platform Rumble today filed a joint lawsuit against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, accusing him of violating U.S. free speech protections. The suit, filed in a federal court in Tampa, Florida, came just hours after Brazil’s ex-president Jair Bolsonaro was charged with attempting a coup after […]

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South Korea pauses DeepSeek downloads over privacy concerns

James Farrell — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 02:10:58 +0000

South Korea’s personal data protection watchdog has announced that downloads of the popular Chinese artificial intelligence app DeepSeek have been banned in the country. The Personal Information Protection Commission said the app was removed from the local version of Apple’s App Store and Google Play over the weekend. The officials said the app will remain […]

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Major publishers launch copyright lawsuit against AI startup Cohere

James Farrell — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 01:36:04 +0000

Several major publishers are suing the Canadian artificial intelligence startup Cohere Inc., alleging that the company engaged in “systematic copyright and trademark infringement,” the latest in a long line of copyright lawsuits publishers have launched against AI firms. “Without permission or compensation, Cohere uses scraped copies of our articles, through training, real-time use, and in […]

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Report: DOGE staffers ‘effectively shut down’ CFPB

Maria Deutscher — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 22:25:40 +0000

The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has reportedly curtailed the activities of a federal agency that regulates financial services companies. Bloomberg reported the development today, citing sources familiar with the matter. The agency that has drawn DOGE’s attention is the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB. It was set up in 2011 to […]

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One of Elon Musk’s key DOGE team members, Marko Elez, quits after being outed as a racist

Mike Wheatley — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 01:31:32 +0000

A key staff member of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency resigned earlier today after he was linked by the Wall Street Journal to a profile on X that had made a number of racist posts, advocating for eugenics and the destruction of Israel and Gaza. The DOGE staffer has been identified as Marko Elez, […]

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Apple shares fall after China ponders mounting probe into App Store

James Farrell — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 02:17:23 +0000

Apple Inc. shares slid today after it was reported China’s watchdog will mount an antitrust investigation into the company’s App Store commissions. The probe, similar to those already carried out in the U.K. and the EU, will examine Apple’s practice of taking 30% of in-app purchase fees and blocking external payment services. Apple ran into a similar […]

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Ontario cancels and un-cancels Starlink contract after tariffs concession

James Farrell — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 02:06:43 +0000

Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford today announced he was pausing retaliatory measures in response to U.S. tariffs after President Donald Trump agreed to delay the tariffs. Ford (pictured) had earlier said he would cancel a C$100m (US$68.5m) contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink, stating that he was “ripping up” the contract the province had with Trump’s “first […]

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Concerns grow as Elon Musk’s DOGE team gains access to yet more sensitive government databases

Mike Wheatley — Tue, 04 Feb 2025 01:36:02 +0000

After controversially being granted access to the U.S. Treasury’s payments system, Elon Musk and his nongovernmental team of government spending slashers have now gotten their hands on a federal human resources database containing sensitive data on millions of federal employees. According to a report by Musk Watch journalists Caleb Ecarma and Judd Legum, Musk’s associates […]

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Elon Musk and his cost-cutting team gain access to sensitive US Treasury database

Mike Wheatley — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 02:17:54 +0000

Elon Musk and his nongovernmental team of government spending slashers have been granted access to the U.S. Treasury’s payments system, which is used to disperse trillion of dollars worth of government funds each year. Critics say the move to give Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency staff access to the system is alarming and perhaps even […]

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Meta back in the ‘tent’ after agreeing to settle Trump’s $25M censorship lawsuit

James Farrell — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 02:34:17 +0000

Meta Platforms Inc. today agreed to a $25 million settlement over the lawsuit President Donald Trump brought against the company in 2021 for suspending his accounts following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Meta, which under its Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg recently seems to have charmed President Trump (pictured) back into his graces, at […]

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Trump plans to impose up to 100% tariffs on foreign-made chips

Maria Deutscher — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 20:07:20 +0000

President Donald Trump has stated that he plans to impose tariffs as high as 100% on semiconductors made outside the U.S. Trump previewed the plan Monday afternoon during a GOP event in his Doral, Florida, golf resort. He indicated that the new tariffs could also apply to certain other products including pharmaceuticals. Many U.S. chipmakers […]

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Trump administration reportedly considering deal for Oracle to acquire TikTok

Duncan Riley — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 00:04:53 +0000

The Trump administration is reportedly working on a plan to save the U.S. operations of TikTok that involves Oracle Corp. and group investors acquiring the popular short-form video application. According to NPR, referencing “two people with direct knowledge of the talks,” the potential deal could even go as far as Oracle acquiring a majority stake […]

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Trump pardons Ross Ulbricht, founder of Silk Road drug marketplace

James Farrell — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 05:04:51 +0000

President Donald Trump today signed a full and unconditional pardon for Ross Ulbricht, the man who operated the notorious dark web drug marketplace, Silk Road. Ulbricht ran the Silk Road from 2011 until 2013 under the pseudonym “Dread Pirate Roberts.” That year he was arrested and in 2015 was sentenced to life without parole. The […]

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Trump suspends TikTok ban, signs tech-focused executive orders

Maria Deutscher — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 20:13:03 +0000

President Donald Trump has issued an executive order that suspends the U.S. government’s ban of TikTok for 75 days. The directive was included in a batch of technology-focused executive orders that Trump signed late Monday. Another renamed the United States Digital Service, a government office that helps maintain federal websites, and granted it new responsibilities. […]

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Trump signs executive order to prevent censorship of online platforms

James Farrell — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 02:34:58 +0000

President Donald Trump today signed an executive order that he claims will restore freedom of speech and end federal censorship, with the express purpose of keeping government out of social media. “Over the last 4 years, the previous administration trampled free speech rights by censoring Americans’ speech on online platforms, often by exerting substantial coercive […]

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TikTok restores US service following intervention from President-elect Trump

Duncan Riley — Sun, 19 Jan 2025 23:25:29 +0000

TikTok services were being restored to users in the U.S. Sunday afternoon following a promise from President-elect Trump after the service went dark Saturday. The Chinese-owned social media service had been late Saturday following the implementation of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. The ban, which extended to all apps owned by TikTok’s […]

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US places new set of export restrictions on advanced chips

Maria Deutscher — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 23:34:19 +0000

The U.S. Commerce Department is rolling out a new set of export restrictions designed to prevent China from obtaining advanced chips. The rules were announced today by the department’s Bureau of Industry and Security. The export restrictions focus on chip foundries, or companies that make semiconductors for other organizations. Bloomberg reported that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing […]

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China reportedly evaluating plan for Elon Musk to acquire TikTok’s US operations, but TikTok denies it

Duncan Riley — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 01:05:15 +0000

With TikTok in the U.S. facing being shut down on Jan. 19, Chinese officials are reportedly evaluating an 11th-hour option that involves Elon Musk, through X Inc., acquiring the U.S. operations of TikTok should last-minute attempts to stop the ban fail. Bloomberg, quoting people familiar with the matter, said today that though Beijing officials strongly […]

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UK court begins hearing $1.83 billion lawsuit against Apple over App Store fees

Duncan Riley — Sun, 12 Jan 2025 23:26:13 +0000

Lawyers representing Apple Inc. will be in court Monday in the U.K. to face a class action lawsuit that alleges that the iPhone maker runs its App Store as an illegal monopoly. The lawsuit, filed back in 2021, alleges that Apple’s 30% commission on app sales is an abuse of dominance and unlawful. The lawsuit […]

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Judge rejects Google’s motion to dismiss privacy lawsuit, trial set for August

Duncan Riley — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 23:30:34 +0000

Google LLC is set to face trial in August over a privacy-related class action lawsuit after failing to persuade a judge to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that it adequately discloses how its Web & App Activity settings worked and that users consented to being tracked. The lawsuit was filed in 2020 and accused […]

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Meta announces broad changes to fact-checking, content moderation policies

Maria Deutscher — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 20:12:15 +0000

Meta Platforms Inc. plans to make a set of sweeping changes to its fact-checking and content moderation policies, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg announced in a video released this morning. In 2016, Meta launched a program that relied on third-party fact-checking organizations to review user content on Facebook. The company’s initial partner roster included more than 90 such […]

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Nick Clegg steps down as Meta’s global policy chief, replaced with Trump-friendly Joel Kaplan

James Farrell — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 02:28:17 +0000

Former Republican White House staffer Joel Kaplan just became Meta Platforms Inc.’s global policy head as Britain’s former deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, leaves the company after six years. Clegg (pictured, center), who led the Liberal Democrat Party from 2007 to 2015, joined Meta – then Facebook Inc. – in 2018 as vice president of […]

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Appeals court ruling kills off efforts to restore FCC net neutrality rules

Mike Wheatley — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 23:58:31 +0000

A U.S. appeals court today ruled the Federal Communications Commission does not have the legal authority to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules first implemented by former President Barack Obama. The ruling ends a decade-plus-long effort by Democrats to gain more oversight over the internet. In today’s ruling, the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals […]

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Judge upholds most of California’s ban on ‘addictive feeds’ for children

James Farrell — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 02:32:05 +0000

Tech industry trade group NetChoice has failed to block California’s attorney general from enforcing most of a law that will regulate how social media firms deliver content to young people. The Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act (SB 976) was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in September last year. The law […]

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Trump, lawmakers and advocacy groups urge Supreme Court to pause TikTok divestment

Duncan Riley — Sun, 29 Dec 2024 23:16:49 +0000

As the deadline for Byteance Ltd. to divest the U.S. operations of TikTok quickly approaches, President-elect Trump, various members of Congress and advocacy groups have made representations to the U.S. Supreme Court in favor of pausing the forced selloff. The forced selloff of the U.S. arm of TikTok was signed into law by President Biden […]

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Iran votes to lift bans on WhatsApp, Google Play and other foreign-owned apps

Mike Wheatley — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 01:34:46 +0000

Iran’s government has unblocked access to the WhatsApp messenger and Google Play store after banning them two years ago, state media reported. The Supreme Cyberspace Council, which is tasked with safeguarding the internet for Iranian citizens, voted unanimously to lift restrictions on a number of foreign-owned applications during a meeting today, according to a report […]

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US officials launch investigation into China’s legacy chip sector

Mike Wheatley — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 01:02:11 +0000

The outgoing Biden administration today said it’s launching a fresh probe into China’s semiconductor industry, with a particular focus on legacy chips that are used in products such as cars, electrical goods and defense systems. The White House said the investigation stems from the Chinese government’s “non-market policies and practices, as well as industrial targeting” […]

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Japan targets Google over alleged Android ecosystem monopolization

Duncan Riley — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 23:15:33 +0000

Japan’s Fair Trade Commission is reportedly planning to or has already sent a cease-and-desist order to Google LLC’s Japan office, accusing Google of breaching Japan’s antimonopoly laws by forcing smartphone manufacturers to include the Google search app on their smartphones. The exact status of the order is unclear. The Japan Times said today that the Japanese […]

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Google tries to persuade judge in antitrust case not to force the sale of its Chrome browser

Mike Wheatley — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 01:05:14 +0000

Google LLC has proposed putting limits on its search partnerships in order to resolve antitrust violations in its search business, as an alternative to the U.S. Department of Justice’s suggestion that it sell its Chrome browser. Google Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland detailed the company’s remedies proposal in a blog post Friday. It […]

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