With Twitter and Facebook blocking and labeling more social media posts, some American conservatives are flocking to alternatives like Parler, which says it won’t censor speech. Matt Dibble reports.
…

When Twitter started blocking President Donald Trump’s postings claiming widespread voter fraud, some cheered. Others started looking for the social media exits.
 
They found a new option at Parler.
 
Fed up with what they see as an anti-conservative bias by managers of the major social media platforms, Trump supporters are telling their followers on Twitter and Facebook to “Follow me on Parler.”
 
From the French word “to speak” or “to talk” but pronounced “PAR-lor,” the social media app is a lot like Twitter, with users posting messages and following topics searchable as hashtags.
 
Launched in 2018 in Nevada, Parler welcomed newcomers to “a non-biased, free speech social media focused on protecting user’s rights.”
 
Over the past year, conservative celebrities have flocked to Parler, a trend that has accelerated since the 2020 U.S. election. As Twitter and Facebook tried to tamp down misinformation about the election, more than 4 million accounts were launched on the app within days, the company says.   
 
Among Parler users are Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, and Fox News host Sean Hannity.  
 
Posts on Parler are called “parlays.” One on Thursday, under the hashtag #StoptheSteal, said “Shocker Pro Marxist Pope Francis congratulates Crooked Joe!”
“To parlay is to have a discussion bridging the differences,” said Amy Peikoff, Parler’s chief policy officer. “Coming to an understanding between two different viewpoints, and this is the sort of discussion that we want to foster on Parler.”
 
Previous alternatives to Facebook and Twitter have popped up in the U.S. claiming to be true bastions of free speech. Gab, which became a haven for neo-Nazis, was booted from the app stores of Apple and Google because it didn’t take down hate speech.
 
But the popularity of Parler – and other right-wing sites such as MeWe and Rumble, a video site – comes amid growing pressure on social media firms to do more to monitor their sites, particularly addressing misinformation about voting and the election results.  
 
Twitter, Facebook and to a lesser extent Google, the owner of YouTube, have put labels on tweets, posts and videos that claim election fraud. In some cases, they stopped the content from being shared and spreading.
 
Much of the conversation on Parler echoes Trump’s unsupported claim that the November 3 election was stolen by Democrats through massive voter fraud.  #StoptheSteal is a top hashtag for those who claim without proof that former Vice President Joe Biden, the projected winner of the 2020 presidential race, stole the election.
 
Last week, Facebook took down a Stop the Steal group that had gained more than 300,000 users in 24 hours. Facebook said it stopped the group because it was trying to incite violence.
   
“The group was organized around the delegitimization of the election process, and we saw worrying calls for violence from some members of the group,” a Facebook spokesman told The New York Times.
 
Parler users have also crossed that line at times: An Arkansas police chief used the site to urge violence against Democrats he claimed were preventing Trump’s reelection. When the posts appeared in news stories, his public account was removed and he was forced to resign.  
   
While the Parler algorithm does not promote posts to keep users engaged, the company says it is serious about its commitment to free speech and does not block extremist content.  
   
“The fact that we don’t block out the content from various extremists does not mean that our goal is to further all of those views,” said Parler’s Peikoff. “What we are planning to do is give the widest freedom possible so that people can have a full discussion.”  
   
For years, the leading social media companies have been criticized for their finely tuned algorithms designed to boost users’ time spent on the sites. That has led to some users receiving a stream of increasingly extremist content on their feeds, according to Michael Karanicolas, the Wikimedia fellow at the Yale School of Law.
   
The rise of Parler, he said, “potentially suggests that if platforms do try and steer people away from these echo chambers and steer people away from what they want, the people will just migrate elsewhere.”
 
There is one potential customer that Parler has not yet managed to attract: Trump, himself.
 
While @TeamTrump, Trump’s reelection campaign, is on the site with 2 million followers, the president isn’t on Parler, yet.
 
With nearly 89 million followers on Twitter, Trump is still tweeting, even as Twitter has been putting warning labels on more of his tweets.
…

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg told an all-staff meeting Thursday that former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon had not violated enough of the company’s policies to justify his suspension, according to a recording heard by Reuters.
 
“We have specific rules around how many times you need to violate certain policies before we will deactivate your account completely,” Zuckerberg said. “While the offenses here, I think, came close to crossing that line, they clearly did not cross the line.”
 
Bannon suggested in a video last week that FBI Director Christopher Wray and government infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci should be beheaded, saying they had been disloyal to U.S. President Donald Trump, who last week lost his re-election bid.
 
Facebook removed the video but left up Bannon’s page. The company had not previously answered questions about those actions and did not immediately respond to a Reuters request about Zuckerberg’s comments.
 
Twitter banned Bannon last week over the same content.
 
Zuckerberg spoke on the issue at a weekly forum with Facebook employees where he is sometimes asked to defend content and policy decisions, like the question on Thursday from a staff member asking why Bannon had not been banned.
 
Arrested in August, Bannon has pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding hundreds of thousands of donors to the $25 million “We Build the Wall” campaign. Bannon has dismissed the charges as politically motivated.
 
As Trump’s chief White House strategist, Bannon helped articulate Trump’s “America First” policy. Trump fired him in August 2017, ending Bannon’s turbulent tenure.
…

For years, the European Union has been leading the fight to impose a global tax on technology multinationals. After years of resistance by the Trump administration, the Europeans now hope the incoming Biden administration will be willing to compromise – or face a possible digital tax.Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple: four companies dubbed as GAFA in France by those who criticize what they say are the multinationals’ avoidance of European taxes.The projected outcome of the presidential vote in the United States did not change Europeans’ eagerness to tackle the issue with a Biden administration after years of resistance by the Trump administration.Thierry Breton is the E.U.’s Internal Market Commissioner.He explains that Europe is not naive anymore in its expectations regarding its partnership with the United States. Europeans cannot afford to be naïve anymore, he said.The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, hosted the international talks over digital taxation. Members postponed a deadline for an agreement into 2021 after the U.S. pulled out of talks in June due to the coronavirus pandemic.French economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, said Washington is unlikely to drop what he called its confrontational stance on the issue no matter who is in the White House.”Digital giants are now the adversaries of governments,” Le Maire said, vowing that they would soon be taxed “at the same rate as French companies.” It is a position echoed by Commissioner Breton.He said that a discussion has been initiated by the OECD and even though the United States got out of it, he said this a negotiation and they can come back. Europeans set a deadline until June 2021 to complete this negotiation, Breton said. If all the other countries agree but the United States does not return to the negotiating table, Europe will take its responsibilities and we will impose a tax, Breton insists.Some in Europe warn that a Biden administration will still resist imposing a tax on U.S. technology companies. President-elect Biden and his vice president-elect, Kamala Harris, reportedly have as many connections with Silicon Valley as the Obama administration had between 2009 and 2017.Arno Pons is the head of Digital New Deal, a Paris research organization.Pons said Joe Biden was Barack Obama’s vice-president during an administration that was clearly pro-GAFA and probably has the same views now. As for Kamala Harris, originally from California, he sees her as having close ties to the executives of big technology firms. Pons cites as an example the recent nomination in the transition team of former employees from Apple and Facebook.Last month, the OECD warned that tensions over a digital tax could trigger a trade war that could wipe out one percent of global growth every year. 
…

The U.S. Treasury Department and China-based ByteDance say they are focused on resolving a battle over U.S. security concerns that prompted President Donald Trump to order the company to divest its popular TikTok app by Thursday.Trump signed an Aug. 14 order setting a 90-day deadline as he alleged that if the app remains under the control of a Chinese company, then the Chinese government could spy on TikTok users.TikTok says it is not a security threat. It has been pursuing an agreement with Oracle and Walmart to shift TikTok’s U.S. operations to a new company, and earlier this week asked a court to authorize an extension after receiving “no substantive feedback” from the Trump administration about its proposed fix.”Facing continual new requests and no clarity on whether our proposed solutions would be accepted, we requested the 30-day extension that is expressly permitted in the August 14 order,” TikTok said in a statement Tuesday.The Treasury Department said Wednesday it “remains focused on reaching a resolution of the national security risks arising from ByteDance’s acquisition of Musical.ly, in accordance with the August 14 order signed by the President, and we have been clear with ByteDance regarding the steps necessary to achieve that resolution.”TikTok has 100 million U.S. users.
…

The U.S. Treasury Department said on Wednesday it wants a resolution of national security risks it has raised over ByteDance’s 2017 acquisition on Musical.ly, which it then merged into the TikTok video-sharing app. The statement came a day after China-based ByteDance filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington challenging a Trump administration order set to take effect on Thursday requiring it to divest TikTok. “The Treasury Department remains focused on reaching a resolution of the national security risks arising from ByteDance’s acquisition of Musical.ly,” Treasury spokeswoman Monica Crowley said. “We have been clear with ByteDance regarding the steps necessary to achieve that resolution.” TikTok did not immediately comment. President Donald Trump in an August 14 order directed ByteDance to divest the app within 90 days, which falls on Thursday. The Trump administration contends TikTok poses national security concerns as the personal data of U.S. users could be obtained by China’s government. TikTok, which has over 100 million U.S. users, denies the allegations. ByteDance, which has been in talks for a deal with Walmart Inc. and Oracle Corp. to shift TikTok’s U.S. assets into a new entity, said Tuesday it was requesting a 30-day extension so that it can finalize terms. “Facing continual new requests and no clarity on whether our proposed solutions would be accepted, we requested the 30-day extension that is expressly permitted in the August 14 order,” TikTok said in a statement. TikTok announced a preliminary deal in September for Walmart and Oracle to take stakes in a new company to oversee U.S. operations called TikTok Global. Trump has said the deal had his “blessing.” 
 
…

As election misinformation raged online, Facebook Inc. said on Wednesday its post-election ban on political ads would likely last another month, raising concerns from campaigns and groups eager to reach voters for key Georgia Senate races in January.
 
The ban, one of Facebook’s measures to combat misinformation and other abuses on its site, was supposed to last about a week but could be extended. Alphabet Inc.’s Google also appeared to be sticking with its post-election political ad ban.
 
“While multiple sources have projected a presidential winner, we still believe it’s important to help prevent confusion or abuse on our platform,” Facebook told advertisers in an email seen by Reuters. It said to expect the pause to last another month though there “may be an opportunity to resume these ads sooner.”
 
Facebook later confirmed the extension in a blog post.
 
Baseless claims about the election reverberated around social media this week as President Donald Trump challenged the validity of the outcome, even as state officials reported no significant irregularities, and legal experts cautioned he had little chance to overturn Democratic President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
 
In one Facebook group created on Sunday, which rapidly grew to nearly 400,000 members by Wednesday, members calling for a nationwide recount swapped unfounded accusations about alleged election fraud and shifting state vote counts every few seconds.
 
“The reality is right now that we are not through the danger zone,” said Vanita Gupta, chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
 
Google declined to answer questions about the length of its ad pause, although one advertiser said the company had floated the possibility of extending it through or after December. A Google spokeswoman previously said the company would lift its ban based on factors such as the time needed for votes to be counted and whether there was civil unrest.
 
The extensions mean that the top two digital advertising behemoths, which together control more than half the market, are not accepting election ads ahead of the two U.S. Senate runoff races in Georgia that could decide control of that chamber.
 
Democratic and Republican digital strategists who spoke to Reuters railed against those decisions, saying the ad bans were overly broad and failed to combat a much bigger problem on the platforms: the organic spread of viral lies in unpaid posts.
 
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, along with the Senate campaigns of Georgia Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, called for an exemption for the Georgia Senate run-offs so they could make voters aware of upcoming deadlines.
 
Ossoff faces incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue, and Warnock faces incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler.
 
“It is driving us absolutely bonkers,” said Mark Jablonowski, managing partner of DSPolitical, a digital firm that works with Democratic causes.
 
“They’re essentially holding the rest of the political process hostage,” said Eric Wilson, a Republican digital strategist, who said he thought the companies’ concerns about ads on the election outcome did not require a blanket ban. “This is something that deserves a scalpel and they’re using a rusty ax,” he added.
 
The companies declined to say when they would lift other “break-glass” election measures introduced for unpaid posts, like Facebook’s limits on the distribution of live videos and demotions of content that its systems predict may be misinformation.
 
Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said those emergency measures would not be permanent, but that rollback was “not imminent.”
 
Google’s YouTube, which is labeling all election-related videos with information about the outcome, said it would stick with that approach “as long as it’s necessary.”
 
The video-sharing company bans “demonstrably false” claims about the election process, but has used the tool sparingly, saying hyperbolic statements about a political party “stealing” the election does not violate the policy.
 
However, Twitter Inc. has stopped using its most restrictive election-related warning labels, which hid and limited engagement on violating tweets. Instead, the company is now using lighter-touch labels that “provide additional context,” spokeswoman Katie Rosborough said.
 
Twitter placed a label reading “this claim about election fraud is disputed” on two of Trump’s tweets Tuesday morning, but each was retweeted more than 80,000 times by that evening.
 
Democratic strategists, including members of the Biden campaign who tweeted criticism of Facebook, said social media companies’ measures were not effectively curbing the spread of viral lies.
 
Nina Jankowicz, a disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center, said the ad pauses were needed but not sufficient for tackling false information.
 
“Clearly President Trump does not think the election is over, so I don’t think the platforms should treat it as if it is,” she said. 
…

ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of video-sharing app TikTok, filed a petition late Tuesday with a U.S. Appeals Court challenging a Trump administration order set to take effect Thursday requiring it to divest TikTok. President Donald Trump in an Aug. 14 order directed ByteDance to divest the app within 90 days, which falls on Thursday. “Facing continual new requests and no clarity on whether our proposed solutions would be accepted, we requested the 30-day extension that is expressly permitted in the August 14 order,” TikTok said in a statement. “Without an extension in hand, we have no choice but to file a petition in court to defend our rights,” the company said. FILE – Women wearing masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus chat as they pass by the headquarters of ByteDance, owners of TikTok, in Beijing, China, Aug. 7, 2020.The White House and Treasury declined to comment. The Justice Department did not immediately comment. The Trump administration contends TikTok poses national security concerns as the personal data of U.S. users could be obtained by China’s government. TikTok, which has over 100 million U.S. users, denies the allegations. The petition names Trump, Attorney General William Barr, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the inter-agency panel that reviews certain transactions involving foreign investment on national security concerns. It says the CFIUS action and Trump order “seek to compel the wholesale divestment of TikTok, a multibillion-dollar business built on technology developed by” ByteDance “based on the government’s purported national security review of a three-year-old transaction that involved a different business.” That order was based on a government review of ByteDance’s 2017 acquisition of U.S. social media app Musical.ly, which ByteDance merged into TikTok. Separate restrictions on TikTok from the U.S. Commerce Department have been blocked by federal courts, including restrictions on transactions that were scheduled to take effect Thursday that TikTok warned could effectively ban the app’s use in the United States. Talks have been ongoing to finalize a preliminary deal for Walmart Inc and Oracle Corp to take stakes in a new company to oversee U.S. operations. Trump has said the deal had his “blessing.” 
…

European Union regulators have filed antitrust charges against Amazon, accusing the e-commerce giant of using data to gain an unfair advantage over merchants using its platform.
The EU’s executive commission, the bloc’s top antitrust enforcer, said Tuesday that the charges have been sent to the company.
The commission said it takes issue with Amazon’s systematic use of non-public business data to avoid “the normal risks of competition and to leverage its dominance” for e-commerce services in France and Germany, the company’s two biggest markets in the EU.
The EU started looking into Amazon in 2018 and has been focusing on its dual role as a marketplace and retailer.
In addition to selling its own products, the U.S. company allows third-party retailers to sell their own goods through its site. Last year, more than half of the items sold on Amazon worldwide were from these outside merchants.
Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager, the EU commissioner in charge of competition, said it’s not a problem that Amazon is a successful business but “our concern is very specific business conduct which appears to distort genuine competition.”
Amazon faces a possible fine of up to 10% of its annual worldwide revenue, which could amount to billions of dollars. The company rejected the accusations.
“We disagree with the preliminary assertions of the European Commission and will continue to make every effort to ensure it has an accurate understanding of the facts,” the company said in a statement.
The company can, under EU rules, reply to the charges in writing and present its case in an oral hearing.
Vestager also opened a second investigation into Amazon over whether it favors its own products and those from third-party merchants that use its logistics and delivery services.
It’s the EU’s latest effort to curb the power of big technology companies, following a series of multi-billion-dollar antitrust fines against Google in previous years.
…

Twitter says it could strip President Donald Trump’s account of certain privileges when projected election winner Joe Biden takes office on January 20.
 
Trump’s recent tweets alleging voter fraud in the November 3 election have been tagged by Twitter, with notices that say for example, “This claim about voter fraud is disputed.”
 
Ordinarily, Twitter would remove such tweets, but affords world leaders some further latitude.
 
“A critical function of our service is providing a place where people can openly and publicly respond to their leaders and hold them accountable,” a Twitter spokesman told the Bloomberg news agency. “With this in mind, there are certain cases where it may be in the public’s interest to have access to certain tweets, even if they would otherwise be in violation of our rules.”
 
This policy, however, does not apparently extend to former leaders, Twitter told the Reuters news organization.
 
“This policy framework applies to current world leaders and candidates for office, and not private citizens when they no longer hold these positions,” a Twitter spokesman told Reuters in a statement.
 
Trump is refusing to concede the election, alleging voter fraud. He is suing various states over what he says are irregularities.  
 
Media organizations, including VOA, have projected Biden as the winner of the election, with 279 electoral votes.
…

Richard Branson’s Virgin Hyperloop has completed the world’s first passenger ride on a super high-speed levitating pod system, the company said on Sunday, a key safety test for technology it hopes will transform human and cargo transportation. Virgin Hyperloop executives Josh Giegel, its Chief Technology Officer, and Sara Luchian, Director of Passenger Experience, reached speeds of up to 107 miles per hour (172 km per hour) at the company’s DevLoop test site in Las Vegas, Nevada, the company said. “I had the true pleasure of seeing history made before my very eyes,” said Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman of Virgin Hyperloop and Group Chairman and Chief Executive of DP World. Los Angeles-based Hyperloop envisions a future where floating pods packed with passengers and cargo hurtle through vacuum tubes at 600 miles an hour (966 kph) or faster.Virgin Hyperloop test in Las Vegas, Nevada, Nov. 9, 2020.In a hyperloop system, which uses magnetic levitation to allow near-silent travel, a trip between New York and Washington would take just 30 minutes. That would be twice as fast as a commercial jet flight and four times faster than a high-speed train. The company has previously run over 400 tests without human passengers at the Nevada site. The test comes a month after Reuters first reported that Virgin Hyperloop picked the U.S. state of West Virginia to host a $500 million certification center and test track that will serve as a proving ground for its technology. The company is working toward safety certification by 2025 and commercial operations by 2030, it has said.  Canada’s Transpod and Spain’s Zeleros also aim to upend traditional passenger and freight networks with similar technology they say will slash travel times, congestion and environmental harm linked with petroleum-fueled machines. 
…

With the result of the U.S. presidential race still uncertain Wednesday, Twitter and Facebook took new steps to flag potentially misleading election-related comments by prominent Republicans and Democrats alike.By Wednesday midday, Twitter had limited the ability of President Donald Trump to share four tweets by attaching labels directing readers to information about the election and security.One of his tweets appeared to accuse election officials of tampering with the vote count. The president tweeted that “they are working hard to make up 500,000 vote advantage in Pennsylvania disappear — ASAP. Likewise, Michigan and others!”They are working hard to make up 500,000 vote advantage in Pennsylvania disappear — ASAP. Likewise, Michigan and others!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020Twitter shielded the tweet with a label stating that “some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.” Once a viewer clicked on “View,” however, the president’s tweet was visible.For its part, Facebook said it would show notifications on its site and on Instagram that votes are still being counted and a winner hasn’t been projected. The message will be applied to both candidates, the company said.New eraThe moves by the internet giants signal a new willingness to moderate their sites and step into the maelstrom of facts and theories, even when prominent people are speaking.Twitter also slapped warnings on Democratic leaders’ tweets. One posted Wednesday morning by Neera Tanden, president of the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, claimed that Biden had reached the threshold to win the election, which was false.Biden is winning Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and NE2. That is 270— Neera -Vote Now- Tanden (@neeratanden) November 4, 2020“Some votes may still need to be counted,” Twitter added to Tanden’s tweet.Some lawmakers angeredWhatever happens in the U.S. elections, the steps taken by the internet firms are getting noticed.“We are going to STOP THE STEAL,” tweeted Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican congresswoman-elect from Georgia.But that was blocked by Twitter with a warning that some votes still need to be counted.We are going to STOP THE STEAL!Join the fight: https://t.co/EUXB2i8mn5#STOPTHESTEALhttps://t.co/MLBG5Wq84j— Marjorie Taylor Greene For Congress🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) November 4, 2020Taylor Greene then tweeted, “IT’S OFFICIAL! The Silicon Valley Cartel is CENSORING ME. They can’t stop us.”IT’S OFFICIAL!The Silicon Valley Cartel is CENSORING ME.They can’t stop us.Please RT this and sign your petition.We will not let Democrats STEAL THIS ELECTION! https://t.co/8MPPRS2bmVpic.twitter.com/oHZs3VUwft— Marjorie Taylor Greene For Congress🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) November 4, 2020Notable tweetsAlex Stamos is the former Facebook chief security officer and part of Election Integrity Partnership, a group of research groups focused on the election and misinformation.In a press briefing Wednesday morning, Stamos said the group is tracking multiple disinformation campaigns online around the election count. As they pop up, the group is flagging them to the internet firms, which are labeling them, and that is helping to slow down their spread.Stamos expressed concern, though, about the media and internet companies’ focus on the president’s speech.Limiting candidates’ speech raises the stakes that internet firms could be interfering with the democratic process, he said.“It’s the place where we have to be the most careful about setting precedents about incredibly powerful information intermediaries and what they can do in a democracy like the United States,” Stamos said.For him, internet companies should be focused on the disinformation campaigns and the efforts to inject misinformation into the public sphere.Whatever happens, social media firms are in new territory and many are watching the steps they are taking around the U.S. election.
…

With the result of the U.S. presidential race still uncertain Wednesday, Twitter and Facebook took new steps to flag potentially misleading election-related comments by prominent Republicans and Democrats alike.By Wednesday midday, Twitter had limited the ability of President Donald Trump to share four tweets by attaching labels directing readers to information about the election and security.One of his tweets appeared to accuse election officials of tampering with the vote count. The president tweeted that “they are working hard to make up 500,000 vote advantage in Pennsylvania disappear — ASAP. Likewise, Michigan and others!”They are working hard to make up 500,000 vote advantage in Pennsylvania disappear — ASAP. Likewise, Michigan and others!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2020Twitter shielded the tweet with a label stating that “some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process.” Once a viewer clicked on “View,” however, the president’s tweet was visible.For its part, Facebook said it would show notifications on its site and on Instagram that votes are still being counted and a winner hasn’t been projected. The message will be applied to both candidates, the company said.New eraThe moves by the internet giants signal a new willingness to moderate their sites and step into the maelstrom of facts and theories, even when prominent people are speaking.Twitter also slapped warnings on Democratic leaders’ tweets. One posted Wednesday morning by Neera Tanden, president of the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, claimed that Biden had reached the threshold to win the election, which was false.Biden is winning Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and NE2. That is 270— Neera -Vote Now- Tanden (@neeratanden) November 4, 2020“Some votes may still need to be counted,” Twitter added to Tanden’s tweet.Some lawmakers angeredWhatever happens in the U.S. elections, the steps taken by the internet firms are getting noticed.“We are going to STOP THE STEAL,” tweeted Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican congresswoman-elect from Georgia.But that was blocked by Twitter with a warning that some votes still need to be counted.We are going to STOP THE STEAL!Join the fight: https://t.co/EUXB2i8mn5#STOPTHESTEALhttps://t.co/MLBG5Wq84j— Marjorie Taylor Greene For Congress🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) November 4, 2020Taylor Greene then tweeted, “IT’S OFFICIAL! The Silicon Valley Cartel is CENSORING ME. They can’t stop us.”IT’S OFFICIAL!The Silicon Valley Cartel is CENSORING ME.They can’t stop us.Please RT this and sign your petition.We will not let Democrats STEAL THIS ELECTION! https://t.co/8MPPRS2bmVpic.twitter.com/oHZs3VUwft— Marjorie Taylor Greene For Congress🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) November 4, 2020Notable tweetsAlex Stamos is the former Facebook chief security officer and part of Election Integrity Partnership, a group of research groups focused on the election and misinformation.In a press briefing Wednesday morning, Stamos said the group is tracking multiple disinformation campaigns online around the election count. As they pop up, the group is flagging them to the internet firms, which are labeling them, and that is helping to slow down their spread.Stamos expressed concern, though, about the media and internet companies’ focus on the president’s speech.Limiting candidates’ speech raises the stakes that internet firms could be interfering with the democratic process, he said.“It’s the place where we have to be the most careful about setting precedents about incredibly powerful information intermediaries and what they can do in a democracy like the United States,” Stamos said.For him, internet companies should be focused on the disinformation campaigns and the efforts to inject misinformation into the public sphere.Whatever happens, social media firms are in new territory and many are watching the steps they are taking around the U.S. election.
…

A U.S. judge said Wednesday he was uncertain if he had a legal basis to bar the U.S. Commerce Department from imposing restrictions on video-sharing app TikTok after a Pennsylvania judge already had blocked the government’s plan Friday.Beijing-based ByteDance Ltd, the owner of TikTok, argues that the previous ruling could still be overturned on appeal.U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols for the District of Columbia said he was unsure if TikTok could demonstrate “irreparable harm” to win a new injunction against the government’s order that Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google app stores remove TikTok for download by new users.On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Wendy Beetlestone stopped the Commerce Department from barring TikTok’s data hosting within the United States and other technical transactions that she said would effectively ban the use of the app in the country.The Trump administration contends TikTok poses national security concerns as the personal data of U.S. users could be obtained by China’s government. TikTok denies the allegations.The restrictions were set to take effect Nov. 12. A Justice Department lawyer told Nichols the government had not decided whether to appeal Beetlestone’s order.Beetlestone, whose ruling came in a lawsuit filed by three TikTok users, noted the app has more than 100 million U.S. TikTok users.On Sept. 27, Nichols issued a preliminary injunction against the government’s order. Beetlestone’s order also blocks the app store download ban.Talks have been ongoing to finalize a preliminary deal for Walmart and Oracle Corparation to take stakes in a new company to oversee U.S. operations. U.S. President Donald Trump has said the deal had his “blessing.” 
…

As U.S. voters wait to hear who the next president will be, Twitter, Facebook, Google and other internet firms will be busy doing something else: Monitoring their sites and deciding if and when to stop the spread of misinformation. After the 2016 U.S. election, in which internet firms were criticized for allowing foreign-sponsored actors to use their networks to spread misinformation, they vowed to take steps to better protect their sites. Once the coronavirus pandemic hit, companies began to more directly tackle misinformation related to the health crisis, observers say, and turned to more automated ways to moderate content, such as artificial intelligence. Those practices have carried over to efforts to address misinformation around the election, said Spandana Singh, a policy analyst with New America’s Open Technology Institute. “A number of the policies and practices that they adopted for the U.S. elections were largely informed by their COVID-19 response,” she said.   Now that they’ve signaled more of a willingness to address misinformation, the tech firms are walking a tightrope: Take steps to stop misinformation about the election from spreading or allow people to express themselves, whether it’s sharing truth or falsehoods. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
FILE – People wearing face masks during the coronavirus pandemic walk by the Twitter logo outside the New York City headquarters in Manhattan, Oct. 14, 2020.Facebook said it could turn to its so-called “break-glass options.” What that exactly means, the company hasn’t said. But the Wall Street Journal reported that the company may turn to measures taken in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, such as possibly deactivate hashtags related to false information about election results or suppress viral posts that spread messages of violence or fake news. “This election cycle is a really good testing ground for a number of new policies and practices,” Singh said. “Should they be effective, I definitely think they will be rolled out globally.” FILE – The Facebook application is displayed on a mobile phone at a store in Chicago, July 30, 2019.One problem with online misinformation is that it can spread widely before internet sites, which are also sensitive to claims they are suppressing certain viewpoints, decide to act, said Shannon McGregor, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. “I worry if they will break the glass as quick as it might need to be done depending on what is happening in our post-election period,” she said. While U.S. voters chart the future course of the nation, this Election Day is another test case of whether social media helps or hurts the democratic process. 
 
…

Social media companies have made a lot of changes ahead of the U.S. election to stop the spread of misinformation. Will it be enough? VOA’s Michelle Quinn reports.Camera: Deana Mitchell, Matt Dibble                 Produced by: Matt Dibble
…

Social media giant Twitter said Monday it will put warning labels on tweets from U.S. election candidates that claim victory ahead of official results.  In a blog post Monday, the company said an election win must be “authoritatively called” before tweets without warning labels will be allowed by candidates or campaigns.  To determine election results, Twitter said it would require an announcement from state election officials or a “public projection from at least two authoritative national news outlets that make independent election calls,” citing examples that included ABC News, The Associated Press, CNN and Fox News. Tuesday’s U.S. election has a record number of early votes, which election officials say could slow down the vote count in some states. Because of this, it is possible that a winner in the presidential race, along with some state and local races, will not be known on election night.  Twitter said candidates’ tweets that include premature claims of an election victory would be subject to warning labels such as, “Official sources called this election differently,” or “Official sources may not have called the race when this was tweeted.” The company said U.S.-based accounts with over 100,000 followers and a significant engagement that post premature claims will also be considered for labeling. In addition, Twitter said any tweets “meant to incite interference” with the election process or with the implementation of election results, including through violent action, will be removed.  
…

Some New Yorkers are finding unique ways to get together even when they can’t be in the same space. Evgeny Maslov has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.Camera: Michael Eckels    
…

Cyber criminals could soon unleash a wave of ransomware attacks targeting U.S. hospitals and health care providers, according to a statement released by three federal agencies, including the FBI.In the statement, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) warned they had “credible information of an increased and imminent cybercrime threat to U.S. hospitals and healthcare providers” with the goal of “data theft, and disruption of healthcare services.”Ransomware scrambles data, and it can only be unscrambled if the target pays the attacker a sum of money.Alex Holden, CEO of Hold Security, told the AP he warned federal authorities about the impending attacks Friday after seeing “infection attempts at a number of hospitals.”He added that the hackers were demanding ransoms of over $10 million per target and that he had seen attackers discuss plans to infect “more than 400 hospitals, clinics and other medical facilities.”“One of the comments from the bad guys is that they are expecting to cause panic and, no, they are not hitting election systems,” Holden told AP. “They are hitting where it hurts even more, and they know it.”In a statement reported by AP, Charles Carmakal, chief technical officer of the cybersecurity firm Mandiant, said the U.S. is “experiencing the most significant cyber security threat we’ve ever seen.”He pointed the finger at a criminal gang called UNC1878, adding it was deliberately targeting and disrupting U.S. hospitals, forcing them to divert patients to other healthcare providers.”  He said the eastern European group is “one of most brazen, heartless, and disruptive threat actors I’ve observed over my career.”Ransomware attacks have risen 40% this year with a particular spike in September, technology website CNET reported, citing data from cybersecurity firm SonicWall.  Last month, a chain of U.S. hospitals run by Universal Health Services was attacked, resulting in doctors and nurses resorting to pencil and paper at 250 facilities, AP reported. Employees said the attacks resulted in emergency room delays and problems with wireless vital signs monitoring equipment.Brett Callow, an analyst with the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, told the AP that “a total of 59 U.S. healthcare providers/systems have been impacted by ransomware in 2020, disrupting patient care at up to 510 facilities.” 
 
…

The CEOs of Facebook, Google and Twitter testified before a Senate committee hearing Wednesday, just days before the U.S. election. Tina Trinh reports.
Producer: Matt Dibble
…

The nation’s top technology leaders urged U.S. lawmakers Wednesday to keep content moderation protections in place, despite growing calls from Republicans to address perceived bias in the way social media companies handle free speech online.  Online companies are shielded from liability for content on their sites under Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.  Those protections apply to companies of all sizes operating online that use third-party content. But some Republicans contend Section 230 is a “carve-out” for larger companies such as Facebook and Twitter, allowing them to censor content based on political viewpoints and use their considerable reach to influence public discourse.  U.S. President Donald Trump called for an end to Section 230 in a Tweet Wednesday, saying “The USA doesn’t have Freedom of the Press, we have Suppression of the Story, or just plain Fake News. So much has been learned in the last two weeks about how corrupt our Media is, and now Big Tech, maybe even worse. Repeal Section 230!”  President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at MotorSports Management Company, in West Salem, Wis., Oct. 27, 2020.At issue is whether or not a company that moderates content is a publisher instead of a platform and if the reach of companies such Facebook, Google and Twitter constitutes a monopoly.  “Companies are actively blocking and throttling the distribution of content on their own platforms and are using protections under Section 230 to do it. Is it any surprise that voices on the right are complaining about hypocrisy, or even worse?” Senate Commerce Chairman Roger Wicker said Wednesday.  Section 230 has received renewed attention during the 2020 presidential election cycle due to online companies’ new approaches to content moderation in response to foreign interference on online platforms during the 2016 elections cycle.  Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey pushed back against that in prepared testimony Wednesday, saying, “We should remember that Section 230 has enabled new companies—small ones seeded with an idea—to build and compete with established companies globally. Eroding the foundation of Section 230 could collapse how we communicate on the Internet, leaving only a small number of giant and well-funded technology companies.”  Dorsey told lawmakers one possible approach that is “within reach” would allow users to choose between Twitter’s own algorithm that determines what content is viewable, and algorithms developed by third parties.Wicker said his staff had collected “dozens and dozens” of examples of conservative content that he says has been censored and suppressed over the past four years by Twitter. He alleged the social media company had allowed Chinese Communist propaganda about COVID-19 to remain up for two months while President Donald Trump’s claims about mail-in ballots were immediately taken down.  Earlier this month, Twitter blocked users from sharing a link to a news story on Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. Twitter also locked the accounts of President Trump and White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany for sharing the story, citing its policies for how hacked materials are shared on its website. Based on these actions, Republican Senator Ted Cruz accused Twitter of attempting to influence U.S. elections.  “Your position is that that you can sit in Silicon Valley and demand of the media that you can tell them what stories they can publish; you can tell the American people what reporting they can hear,” Cruz said to Dorsey Wednesday.  The Twitter CEO has apologized for the decision, tweeting, “Straight blocking of URLs was wrong, and we updated our policy and enforcement to fix. Our goal is to attempt to add context, and now we have capabilities to do that.”  Facebook also restricted sharing of the Hunter Biden story, saying it would first need a third-party fact check.  The social media company had allowed Russian disinformation to flood the site during the 2016 election, but Facebook instituted new policies this election cycle. According to its website, Facebook’s response includes the removal of 6.5 billion fake accounts in 2019, adding third-party factcheckers to go over content posted on the site as well as removing 30 networks engaged in coordinated, inauthentic behavior.  “Without Section 230, platforms could potentially be held liable for everything people say. Platforms would likely censor more content to avoid legal risk and would be less likely to invest in technologies that enable people to express themselves in new ways,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told lawmakers Wednesday.  Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears on a screen as he speaks remotely during a hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee on Capitol Hill, Oct. 28, 2020, in Washington.Congressional Democrats expressed concern about the growth of extremist groups online as well as continuing attempts at foreign election interference on social media platforms, questioning the timing of the hearing.“I am appalled that my Republican colleagues are holding this hearing literally days before an election, when they seem to want to bully and browbeat the platforms here to try to tilt toward President Trump’s favor. The timing seems inexplicable except to game the referee,” said Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. “President Trump has broken all the norms. And he has put on your platforms, potentially dangerous and lethal misinformation and disinformation.”  In an earlier line of questioning, Dorsey told lawmakers Twitter does not maintain lists of accounts to watch, but bases content moderation based on algorithms and service user requests.   Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer at Google, also stated the company’s commitment toward independence, telling lawmakers, “We approach our work without political bias, full stop. To do otherwise would be contrary to both our business interests and our mission, which compels us to make information accessible to every type of person, no matter where they live or what they believe.” 
…

Disinfecting public spaces is a major undertaking but it is essential for a safe return to normal activity. Now an army of robots that uses ultra-violet light to disinfect surfaces and the air, as Matt Dibble reports.
Camera, Producer: Matt Dibble
…

Lee Kun-hee, the ailing Samsung Electronics chairman who transformed the small television maker into a global giant of consumer electronics, has died. He was 78.A Samsung statement said Lee died Sunday with his family members, including his son and de facto company chief Lee Jae-yong, by his side.Lee Kun-hee had been hospitalized since May 2014 after suffering a heart attack, and the younger Lee has run Samsung, the biggest company in South Korea.“All of us at Samsung will cherish his memory and are grateful for the journey we shared with him,” the Samsung statement said. “Our deepest sympathies are with his family, relatives and those nearest. His legacy will be everlasting.”Lee Kun-hee inherited control from his father and during his nearly 30 years of leadership, Samsung Electronics Co. became a global brand and the world’s largest maker of smartphones, televisions and memory chips. Samsung sells Galaxy phones while also making the screens and microchips that power its rivals, Apple’s iPhones and Google Android phones.Samsung helped make the nation’s economy, Asia’s fourth largest. Its businesses encompass shipbuilding, life insurance, construction, hotels, amusement park operation and more. Samsung Electronics alone accounts for 20% of the market capital on South Korea’s main stock market.Lee leaves behind immense wealth, with Forbes estimating his fortune at $16 billion as of January 2017.His death comes during a complex time for Samsung.A stern, terse leaderWhen he was hospitalized, Samsung’s once-lucrative mobile business faced threats from upstart makers in China and other emerging markets. Pressure was high to innovate its traditionally strong hardware business, to reform a stifling hierarchical culture and to improve its corporate governance and transparency.Samsung was ensnared in the 2016-17 corruption scandal that led to then-President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment and imprisonment. Its executives, including the younger Lee, were investigated by prosecutors who believed Samsung executives bribed Park to secure the government’s backing for a smooth leadership transition from father to son.In a previous scandal, Lee Kun-hee was convicted in 2008 for illegal share dealings, tax evasion and bribery designed to pass his wealth and corporate control to his three children.The late Lee was a stern, terse leader who focused on big-picture strategies, leaving details and daily management to executives.His near-absolute authority allowed the company to make bold decisions in the fast-changing technology industry, such as shelling out billions to build new production lines for memory chips and display panels even as the 2008 global financial crisis unfolded.Those risky moves fueled Samsung’s rise.Lee was born Jan. 9, 1942, in the southeastern city of Daegu during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. His father Lee Byung-chull had founded an export business there in 1938 and following the 1950-53 Korean War, he rebuilt the company into an electronics and home appliance manufacturer and the country’s first major trading company.Lee Byung-chull was often called one of the fathers of modern industrial South Korea. Lee Kun-hee was the third son and his inheritance of his father’s businesses bucked the tradition of family wealth going to the eldest. One of Lee Kun-hee’s brothers sued for a bigger part of Samsung but lost the case.When Lee Kun-hee inherited control from his father in 1987, Samsung was relying on Japanese technology to produce TVs and was making its first steps into exporting microwaves and refrigerators.The company was expanding its semiconductor factories after entering the business in 1974 by acquiring a near-bankrupt firm.‘Let’s change everything’A decisive moment came in 1993. Lee Kun-hee made sweeping changes to Samsung after a two-month trip abroad convinced him the company needed to improve the quality of its products.In a speech to Samsung executives, he famously urged, “Let’s change everything except our wives and children.”Not all his moves succeeded.A notable failure was the group’s expansion into the auto industry in the 1990s, in part driven by Lee Kun-hee’s passion for luxury cars. Samsung later sold near-bankrupt Samsung Motor to Renault. The company also was frequently criticized for disrespecting labor rights. Cancer cases among workers at its semiconductor factories were ignored for years.In 2020, Lee Jae-yong declared heredity transfers at Samsung would end, promising the management rights he inherited wouldn’t pass to his children. He also said Samsung would stop suppressing employee attempts to organize unions, although labor activists questioned his sincerity.South Koreans are both proud of Samsung’s global success and concerned the company and Lee family are above the law and influence over almost every corner of society.Critics particularly note how Lee Kun-hee’s only son gained immense wealth through unlisted shares of Samsung firms that later went public.In 2007, a former company lawyer accused Samsung of wrongdoing in a book that became a best seller in South Korea. Lee Kun-hee was subsequently indicted on tax evasion and other charges.Lee resigned as chairman of Samsung Electronics and was convicted and sentenced to a suspended three-year prison term. He received a presidential pardon in 2009 and returned to Samsung’s management in 2010.
…

A U.S. judge in San Francisco on Friday rejected a Justice Department request to reverse a decision that allowed Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google to continue to offer Chinese-owned WeChat for download in U.S. app stores.U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler said the government’s new evidence did not change her opinion about the Tencent app. As it has with Chinese video app TikTok, the Justice Department has argued WeChat threatens national security.WeChat has an average of 19 million daily active users in the United States. It is popular among Chinese students, Americans living in China and Americans who have personal or business relationships in China.WeChat is an all-in-one mobile app that combines services similar to Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Venmo. The app is an essential part of daily life for many in China and boasts more than 1 billion users.The Justice Department has appealed Beeler’s decision permitting the continued use of the Chinese mobile app to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, but no ruling is likely before December.In a suit brought by WeChat users, Beeler last month blocked a U.S. Commerce Department order set to take effect September 20 that would have required the app to be removed from U.S. app stores.The Commerce Department order would also bar other U.S. transactions with WeChat, potentially making the app unusable in the United States.”The record does not support the conclusion that the government has ‘narrowly tailored’ the prohibited transactions to protect its national-security interests,” Beeler wrote on Friday.She said the evidence “supports the conclusion that the restrictions ‘burden substantially more speech than is necessary to further the government’s legitimate interests.'”WeChat users argued the government sought “an unprecedented ban of an entire medium of communication” and offered only “speculation” of harm from Americans’ use of WeChat.In a similar case, a U.S. appeals court agreed to fast-track a government appeal of a ruling blocking the government from banning new downloads from U.S. app stores of Chinese-owned short video-sharing app TikTok.
…