Tag Archives: Politics & Government

The European Union is investigating Meta’s election policies

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The EU has officially opened a significant investigation into Meta for its alleged failures to remove election disinformation. While the European Commission’s statement doesn’t explicitly mention Russia, Meta confirmed to Engadget the EU probe targets the country’s Doppelganger campaign, an online disinformation operation pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda.

Bloomberg’s sources also said the probe was focused on the Russian disinformation operation, describing it as a series of “attempts to replicate the appearance of traditional news sources while churning out content that is favorable to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s policies.”

The investigation comes a day after France said 27 of the EU’s 29 member states had been targeted by pro-Russian online propaganda ahead of European parliamentary elections in June. On Monday, France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot urged social platforms to block websites “participating in a foreign interference operation.”

A Meta spokesperson told Engadget that the company had been at the forefront of exposing Russia’s Doppelganger campaign, first spotlighting it in 2022. The company said it has since investigated, disrupted and blocked tens of thousands of the network’s assets. The Facebook and Instagram owner says it remains on high alerts to monitor the network while claiming Doppelganger has struggled to successfully build organic audiences for the pro-Putin fake news.

Mark Zuckerberg onstage during a company keynote presentation. Profile view from his left side.
Meta

The European Commission’s President said Meta’s platforms, Facebook and Instagram, may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA), the landmark legislation passed in 2022 that empowers the EU to regulate social platforms. The law allows the EC to, if necessary, impose heavy fines on violating companies — up to six percent of a company’s global annual turnover, potentially changing how social companies operate.

In a statement to Engadget, Meta said, “We have a well-established process for identifying and mitigating risks on our platforms. We look forward to continuing our cooperation with the European Commission and providing them with further details of this work.”

The EC probe will cover “Meta’s policies and practices relating to deceptive advertising and political content on its services.” It also addresses “the non-availability of an effective third-party real-time civic discourse and election-monitoring tool ahead of the elections to the European Parliament.”

The latter refers to Meta’s deprecation of its CrowdTangle tool, which researchers and fact-checkers used for years to study how content spreads across Facebook and Instagram. Dozens of groups signed an open letter last month, saying Meta’s planned shutdown during the crucial 2024 global elections poses a “direct threat” to global election integrity.

Meta told Engadget that CrowdTangle only provides a fraction of the publicly available data and would be lacking as a full-fledged election monitoring tool. The company says it’s building new tools on its platform to provide more comprehensive data to researchers and other outside parties. It says it’s currently onboarding key third-party fact-checking partners to help identify misinformation.

However, with Europe’s elections in June and the critical US elections in November, Meta had better get moving on its new API if it wants the tools to work when it matters most.

The EC gave Meta five working days to respond to its concerns before it would consider further escalating the matter. “This Commission has created means to protect European citizens from targeted disinformation and manipulation by third countries,” EC President von der Leyen wrote. “If we suspect a violation of the rules, we act.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-european-union-is-investigating-metas-election-policies-175134538.html?src=rss

OpenAI’s Sam Altman and other tech leaders join the federal AI safety board

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Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, Microsoft chief Satya Nadella, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai are joining the government's Artificial Intelligence Safety and Security Board, according to The Wall Street Journal. They're also joined by Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Northrop Grumman's Kathy Warden and Delta's Ed Bastian, along with other leaders in the tech and AI industry. The AI board will be working with and advising the Department of Homeland Security on how it can safely deploy AI within the country's critical infrastructure. They're also tasked with conjuring recommendations for power grid operators, transportation service providers and manufacturing plants on how they can can protect their systems against potential threats that could be brought about by advances in the technology. 

The Biden administration ordered the creation of an AI safety board last year as part of a sweeping executive order that focuses on regulating AI development. In the Homeland Security's website, it said the board "includes AI experts from the private sector and government that advise the Secretary and the critical infrastructure community." Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told the Journal that the use of AI in critical infrastructure can greatly improve services — it can, for instance, speed up illness diagnoses or quickly detect anomalies in power plants — but they carry a significant risk which the agency is hoping to minimize with the help of this board. 

That said, one can't help but question if these AI tech leaders can provide guidance that aren't meant to primarily serve themselves and their companies. Their work centers around advancing AI technologies and promoting their use, after all, while the board is meant to ensure that critical infrastructure systems are using AI responsibly. Mayorkas seems to be confident that they'll do their jobs properly, though, telling the Journal that the tech leaders "understand the mission of this board," and that it's "not a mission that is about business development."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/openais-sam-altman-and-other-tech-leaders-join-the-federal-ai-safety-board-120334742.html?src=rss

FCC votes to restore net neutrality protections

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The Federal Communications Commission has voted to reinstate net neutrality protections that were jettisoned during the Trump administration. As expected, the vote fell across party lines with the three Democratic commissioners in favor and the two Republicans on the panel voting against the measure.

With net neutrality rules in place, broadband service is considered an essential communications resource under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934. That enables the FCC to regulate broadband internet in a similar way to water, power and phone services. That includes giving the agency oversight of outages and the security of broadband networks. Brendan Carr, one of the Republican commissioners, referred to the measure as an "unlawful power grab."  

Under net neutrality rules, internet service providers have to treat broadband usage in the same way. Users have to be provided with access to all content, websites and apps under the same speeds and conditions. ISPs can't block or prioritize certain content — they're not allowed to throttle access to specific sites or charge streaming services for faster service.

The FCC adopted net neutrality protections in 2015 during the Obama administration. But they were scrapped when President Donald Trump was in office. Back in 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to bring back the Obama-era rules, but the FCC was unable to do so for quite some time. The commission was deadlocked with two Democratic votes and two Republican votes until Anna Gomez was sworn in as the third Democratic commissioner on the panel last September. The FCC then moved relatively quickly (at least in terms of the FCC's pace) to re-establish net neutrality protections.

The issue may not be entirely settled. There may still be legal challenges from the telecom industry. However, the FCC's vote in favor of net neutrality is a win for advocates of an open and equitable internet.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fcc-votes-to-restore-net-neutrality-protections-161350168.html?src=rss

The White House wants a zero-emission freight industry by 2040

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The Biden administration is tackling the monumental task of making America’s industrial freight system more environmentally friendly. The White House said on Wednesday that it aims to have 30 percent of industrial truck sales produce zero emissions by 2030 and 100 percent by 2040.

In addition to those non-binding targets, the White House is meeting on Wednesday with stakeholders from the commercial vehicle, shipping and infrastructure industries to help execute its agenda. The roundtable is designed to advance the Biden Administration’s goal of “supercharging the buildout of the infrastructure necessary to make a zero-emissions freight ecosystem a reality in the United States.”

Unsurprisingly, the freight industry uses a lot of energy and produces a lot of pollution to match. Bloomberg notes that the transportation sector emits about 29 percent of US greenhouse gas emissions, and freight (including shipping, trucking and trains) makes up about a third of that figure. So, you can ballpark that the American freight industry is responsible for roughly 10 percent of the country’s carbon emissions.

As part of the election-year rollout, the Biden Administration plans to ask the public to comment on charging infrastructure for heavy-duty vehicles, signaling that the specifics of the plan aren’t yet finalized. The White House wants to avoid a fragmented industrial EV charging system without a universally agreed-upon standard. The industry has seemingly settled on Tesla’s NACS as the de facto choice in the lightweight consumer sector.

Alongside the newly announced industrial goals, the Biden Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is opening up about $1 billion in Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding to replace Class 6 and 7 vehicles (school buses, garbage trucks and delivery trucks) with electric equivalents.

The IRA requires that at least $400 million of that funding goes to local communities hit the hardest by industrial pollution. The White House says 72 million Americans live near truck freight routes and bear the brunt of their short-term output. Sadly but unsurprisingly (given the nation’s history), people of color and those from low-income households are most likely to be heavily affected by high environmental toxin levels.

The White House’s goals are admirable, given the urgency of the global climate crisis and the freight industry’s role. However, one significant problem remains: These are voluntary, non-binding resolutions that could — and, given public comments, almost certainly would — be undone by a second Trump Administration, should the serial napper return to office next year. As with many other aspects of the nation’s and world’s future, US voters will decide the outcome this November.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-white-house-wants-a-zero-emission-freight-industry-by-2040-180401537.html?src=rss

Joe Biden signs the bill that could ban TikTok in the United States

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The bill that will force a sale or ban of TikTok in the United States is now law. President Joe Biden signed a package of foreign aid bills that included the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” one day after the legislation was approved by the Senate.

In a statement, TikTok said it would challenge the law in court, which could delay an eventual sale or ban. “This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court,” the company said. “We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail. The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation. This ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans.”

The law gives TikTok’s parent company ByteDance, which is based in China, up to a year to sell the app to a new owner. If the company fails to divest, then TikTok will be banned from US app stores and web hosting services.

Unlike previous attempts to force a sale or ban of the app, the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” had overwhelming bipartisan support and was able to move through Congress with remarkable speed. The original version of the bill, which called for a six-month window to divest, passed the House in March, just days after it was introduced. An updated version, which allows up to 12 months for a divestment, passed over the weekend.

In a video shared on TikTok, CEO Shou Chew called it a “disappointing moment” for the company. “Make no mistake, this is a ban on TikTok and a ban on you and your voice,” he said. “It's actually ironic because the freedom of expression on TikTok reflects the same American values that make the United States a beacon of freedom.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/joe-biden-signs-the-bill-that-could-ban-tiktok-in-the-united-states-154106950.html?src=rss

FTC bans employers from using noncompete clauses

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The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has banned noncompete clauses in a move to "drive innovation" and protect workers' rights and wages, the regulator said in a press release. The new rule will free most new and current employees from such agreements, with the exception of "policy-making" executives earning more than $151,164 per year. 

"Noncompete clauses keep wages low, suppress new ideas, and rob the American economy of dynamism," said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. The agency estimated that the new rule will allow the creation of 8,500 new businesses each year, increase worker earnings by $524 per year and lower health care costs by $194 billion over the next decade. 

Noncompete clauses, widely used in the tech industry, keep employers from freely changing to similar jobs or starting a business in the same field. The result is that workers must often stay in jobs they don't want, switch to a lower-paid position, relocate, or defend against costly litigation. "An estimated 30 million workers — nearly one in five Americans [in the workforce] —are subject to a noncompete," according to the FTC.

The Commission found that noncompetes tend to negatively affect competitive conditions in labor markets by inhibiting efficient matching between workers and employers. There is also evidence that noncompetes lead to increased market concentration and higher prices for consumers.

Companies must now cancel existing noncompete clauses and notify employees about the change. The ruling applies to most employees and future hires, but current deals with senior executives still apply on the grounds that such agreements are likely to have been agreed upon by both parties. 

Tech companies ostensibly use noncompetes as a way to protect IP, but they function in reality to lock in workers. The FTC said that trade secret laws and non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are a better way to protect IP, and "employers that wish to retain employees can compete on the merits for the worker's labor services by improving wages and working conditions."  

Microsoft, the third largest tech industry employer in the US, eliminated such clauses back in 2022. "While our existing employee agreements have noncompete obligations, we do not endorse the use of such provisions as a retention tool," the company said at the time. 

The FTC vote went 3 to 2 along party lines. Republican commissioner Melissa Holyoke said the Commission "overstepped the boundaries of its power" and estimated the ruling would be challenged in court and struck down. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ftc-bans-employers-from-using-noncompete-clauses-123045777.html?src=rss

Senate passes bill that could ban TikTok

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A bill that could ban TikTok is now all but certain to become law. The Senate approved a measure that requires ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban, in a vote of 79 - 18. The “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” will next head to President Joe Biden, who has said he would sign the bill into law.

While it’s far from the first effort to force a ban or divestment of the social media app, the bill managed to draw far more support than previous attempts. The bill was introduced in March and sailed through the House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan agreement. A slightly revised version was approved as part of a package of foreign aid legislation on Saturday.

Under the updated terms, TikTok would have up to 12 months to divest from parent company ByteDance or face a ban in US app stores and web hosting services. The company has called the bill unconstitutional and indicated it would mount a legal challenge to such a law, which could further delay an eventual sale or ban.

The company didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

TikTok has long been viewed with suspicion by lawmakers and the intelligence community. Ahead of votes in the House and Senate, members of Congress were briefed by intelligence officials on the alleged national security threat posed by the app. The exact nature of those concerns is still unclear, though some members of Congress have asked for details from the briefings to be declassified.

At the same time, some lawmakers have expressed skepticism, saying that the alleged threat posed by TikTok is largely hypothetical. Free speech and digital rights groups also oppose the bill, noting that comprehensive privacy legislation would be a more effective way of protecting Americans’ personal data. TikTok CEO Shou Chew has made a similar argument, telling Congress last year that a forced sale wouldn’t resolve data concerns about the app.

But TikTok’s recent efforts to muster opposition to the bill may have backfired. Lawmakers rebuked the company for sending in-app notifications to users about the bill after the alerts resulted in a flood of calls to Congressional offices. And the app may have drawn even more suspicion when Politico reported last week that Chinese diplomats were lobbying Congressional staffers to oppose the bill. Officials in China have condemned the measure. A Chinese law, passed in 2020, could prevent ByteDance from including TikTok’s recommendation algorithm in a sale of the app.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/senate-passes-bill-that-could-ban-tiktok-014124533.html?src=rss

Russian court sentences Meta spokesperson in absentia to six years in prison

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A Russian military court sentenced Meta spokesperson Andy Stone in absentia to six years in prison for "publicly defending terrorism," Reuters reports. Stone's lawyer reportedly asked for an acquittal and there are plans to appeal the sentence. 

A few months after Russian officials placed him on a wanted list and started a criminal investigation, a Moscow court issued an arrest warrant for Stone on several terrorism-related charges in February. It cited Stone's alleged "promotion of terrorist activities, public calls for terrorist activities, public justification of terrorism or propaganda of terrorism and public calls for extremist activities."

The measure follows Russia's investigative committee opening a probe into Meta in March 2022. It claimed that Stone had incited extremist activity after lifting "a ban on calls for violence against the Russian military on its platforms." Around that time, Stone said Meta was "temporarily" allowing some posts that would have previously been taken down for inciting violence to stay on its platforms, but noted that the company would still outlaw “credible calls for violence against Russian civilians.”

In any case, it seems unlikely that Stone will actually spend time behind bars in Russia, unless he were to travel there or to a country that has an extradition treaty with the nation. It's not uncommon for a person to be charged or sentenced (often for spying- or hacking-related crimes) in another country and never actually have to deal with those consequences.

Russia has designated Meta as an extremist organization. It blocked access to Facebook and Instagram soon after commencing its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Engadget has contacted Meta for comment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/russian-court-sentences-meta-spokesperson-in-absentia-to-six-years-in-prison-201500601.html?src=rss

Russian court sentences Meta spokesperson in absentia to six years in prison

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A Russian military court sentenced Meta spokesperson Andy Stone in absentia to six years in prison for "publicly defending terrorism," Reuters reports. Stone's lawyer reportedly asked for an acquittal and there are plans to appeal the sentence. 

A few months after Russian officials placed him on a wanted list and started a criminal investigation, a Moscow court issued an arrest warrant for Stone on several terrorism-related charges in February. It cited Stone's alleged "promotion of terrorist activities, public calls for terrorist activities, public justification of terrorism or propaganda of terrorism and public calls for extremist activities."

The measure follows Russia's investigative committee opening a probe into Meta in March 2022. It claimed that Stone had incited extremist activity after lifting "a ban on calls for violence against the Russian military on its platforms." Around that time, Stone said Meta was "temporarily" allowing some posts that would have previously been taken down for inciting violence to stay on its platforms, but noted that the company would still outlaw “credible calls for violence against Russian civilians.”

In any case, it seems unlikely that Stone will actually spend time behind bars in Russia, unless he were to travel there or to a country that has an extradition treaty with the nation. It's not uncommon for a person to be charged or sentenced (often for spying- or hacking-related crimes) in another country and never actually have to deal with those consequences.

Russia has designated Meta as an extremist organization. It blocked access to Facebook and Instagram soon after commencing its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Engadget has contacted Meta for comment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/russian-court-sentences-meta-spokesperson-in-absentia-to-six-years-in-prison-201500601.html?src=rss

Biden signs bill to reauthorize FISA warrantless surveillance program for two more years

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President Biden this weekend signed into law a bill that reauthorizes a controversial spying program under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Section 702 of FISA, which has now been extended for two more years, allows for warrantless intelligence gathering on foreign targets. While its focus is on the communications of targets located outside the US, that includes any exchanges with people stateside, meaning Americans’ records can get swept up in these collections too.

The Senate vote on reauthorizing Section 702 came down to the wire. It was set to expire on Friday at midnight, but was recently given an extension until April 2025, according to The New York Times, lest it lapse while disagreements over proposed amendments dragged on. Section 702’s extension period was also shortened, cutting it down to two years instead of the previous five. Congress did ultimately miss the deadline on Friday, but it passed with a 60-34 vote, CBS News reported. The White House issued a statement not long after saying the president “will swiftly sign the bill into law.”

Section 702 was first signed into law in 2008 and has been renewed twice already, allowing US intelligence agencies to use data from internet and cell phone providers without a warrant to keep tabs on foreign targets’ communications. It’s faced strong opposition from both sides over its implications for Americans’ privacy. Kia Hamadanchy, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), called the passage of the bill “profoundly disappointing” in a statement released over the weekend, going on to say that it “gives the government more ways to secretly surveil us — with little power to hold spy agencies accountable.”

“Senators were aware of the threat this surveillance bill posed to our civil liberties and pushed it through anyway, promising they would attempt to address some of the most heinous expansions in the near future,” Hamadanchy said. “We plan to make sure these promises are kept.”

Update, April 21 2024, 1:21PM ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from the ACLU.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/biden-signs-bill-to-reauthorize-fisa-warrantless-surveillance-program-for-two-more-years-153817277.html?src=rss