Social Discord
Meta fined for data abuse, Tik Tok banned for no abuse, Bing surprises Baidu, AI deep fake crashes markets, Bluesky is not Twitter
UPDATE: Meta on Monday was fined a record 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) and ordered to stop transferring data collected from Facebook users in Europe to the United States.
It’s been a difficult few months for popular Chinese-owned video app, TikTok, as lawmakers ramp up their attempts to restrict the app’s access across the globe.
Microsoft Bing has achieved a significant milestone, overtaking Baidu to become the largest desktop search engine in China.
An apparently AI-generated image reported as real caused both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Index to suffer a US$500 billion market cap swing.
Amid management changes at Twitter, discontented users are exploring an alternative social media platform called Bluesky.
Meta Fined US$1.3 Billion for Violating EU Data Privacy Rules
The Facebook owner said it would appeal an order to stop sending data about European Union users to the United States. Meta on Monday was fined a record 1.2 billion euros ($1.3 billion) and ordered to stop transferring data collected from Facebook users in Europe to the United States, in a major ruling against the social media company for violating European Union data protection rules.
The penalty, announced by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, is potentially one of the most consequential in the five years since the European Union enacted the landmark data privacy law known as the General Data Protection Regulation. Regulators said the company failed to comply with a 2020 decision by the European Union’s highest court that Facebook data shipped across the Atlantic was not sufficiently protected from American spy agencies.
But it remains unclear if or when Meta will ever need to cordon off the data of Facebook users in Europe. Meta said it would appeal the decision, setting up a potentially lengthy legal process. At the same time, European Union and American officials are negotiating a new data-sharing pact that would provide legal protections for Meta and scores of other companies to continue moving information between the United States and Europe — a pact that could nullify much of the European Union’s ruling on Monday. A preliminary deal was announced last year.
The ruling, which comes with a grace period of at least five months before Meta needs to comply, applies only to Facebook and not to Instagram and WhatsApp, which Meta also owns. The company said there would be no immediate disruption to Facebook’s service in the Europe Union.
Still, the E.U. decision shows how government policies are upending the borderless way that data has traditionally moved. As a result of data-protection rules, national security laws and other regulations, companies are increasingly being pushed to store data within the country where it is collected, rather than allowing it to move freely to data centers around the world.
The case against Meta stems from U.S. policies that give intelligence agencies the ability to intercept communications from abroad, including digital correspondence. In 2020, an Austrian privacy activist, Max Schrems, won a lawsuit to invalidate a U.S.-E.U. pact, known as Privacy Shield, that had allowed Facebook and other companies to move data between the two regions. The European Court of Justice said the risk of U.S. snooping violated the fundamental rights of European users.
“Unless U.S. surveillance laws get fixed, Meta will have to fundamentally restructure its systems,” Mr. Schrems said in a statement on Monday. The solution, he said, is most likely a “federated social network” in which most personal data would stay in the European Union except for “necessary” transfers like when a European sends a direct message to somebody in the United States.
On Monday, Meta said it was being unfairly singled out for data-sharing practices used by thousands of companies.
“Without the ability to transfer data across borders, the internet risks being carved up into national and regional silos, restricting the global economy and leaving citizens in different countries unable to access many of the shared services we have come to rely on,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs, and Jennifer G. Newstead, the company’s chief legal officer, said in a statement.
Meta and other companies are counting on the new data agreement between the United States and the European Union to replace the one invalidated by European courts in 2020. Last year, President Biden and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, announced the outlines of a deal in Brussels, but the details are still being negotiated.
Without a deal, the ruling against Meta shows the legal risks that companies face in continuing to move data between the European Union and United States. Meta faces the prospect of having to delete vast amounts of data about Facebook users in the European Union, said Johnny Ryan, senior fellow at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties. That would present technical difficulties given the interconnected nature of internet companies.
The decision against Meta was announced almost exactly on the five-year anniversary of G.D.P.R. Many civil society groups and privacy activists have said the data privacy law, initially held up as a model, has not fulfilled its promise because of a lack of enforcement.
Much of the criticism has focused on a provision that requires regulators in the country where a company has its European Union headquarters to enforce the far-reaching privacy law. Ireland, home to the regional headquarters of Meta, TikTok, Twitter, Apple and Microsoft, has faced the most scrutiny.
On Monday, the Irish authorities said they had been overruled by a board made up of representatives from E.U. countries. The board insisted on imposing the €1.2 billion fine and forcing Meta to address past data collected about users, which could include deletion.
“The unprecedented fine is a strong signal to organizations that serious infringements have far-reaching consequences,” said Andrea Jelinek, the chairwoman of the European Data Protection Board, the E.U. body that set the fine.
Meta has been a frequent target of regulators under the G.D.P.R. In January, the company was fined €390 million for forcing users to accept personalized ads as a condition of using Facebook. In November, it was fined €265 million for a data leak.
Read more here.
Which countries have banned TikTok?
As lawmakers continue to raise security concerns over Chinese-owned TikTok, more bans are being enforced across the globe. It’s been a difficult few months for popular Chinese-owned video app, TikTok, as lawmakers ramp up their attempts to restrict the app’s access across the globe. On 18 May 2023, Montana became the first US state to ban the app from operating and being downloaded over concerns about user data security.
The landmark ban, which is set to take effect on 1 January 2024, has been criticized as an infringement on free speech by many users of the platform. Five users even filed a lawsuit against the state. Montana’s decision follows government bodies and countries, including the UK, Canada and the EU, all taking their own stance on the app.
Many governments are fearful that TikTok, which is owned by Chinese company ByteDance, may be used by the Chinese government to collect user data for political purposes. Security experts have voiced similar concerns. Sarah Bauerele Danzman, a professor at Indiana University, told ABC News: “We don’t have smoking gun evidence. But we do know that if the [Chinese government] asks TikTok for any data, they would be compelled to provide it and we also probably wouldn’t know if they did.”
However, other experts have spoken out against the ban and questioned why governments are singling out one app. “We all agree that we need lawmakers to be making privacy-first choices in their legislation, but this can’t be at the expense of compromising people’s freedoms online or banning the platforms they chose to use,” Lauren Hendry Parsons, privacy advocate at ExpressVPN, told Verdict.
TikTok has denied all claims that it collects more data than other social media companies and called the bans “disappointing”.
Here is a list of every jurisdiction that has enforced a TikTok ban so far:
The European Union
The European Commission and EU Council temporarily banned TikTok from employee phones on 23 February 2023 as a cybersecurity measure. The European Parliament announced it would be blocking TikTok from all of its government-issued phones on 28 February.
This led to a wave of bans across Europe as other countries followed suit.
United Kingdom
The UK government banned TikTok from all government electronic devices on 16 March 2023. A Government Cabinet Office security review ruled that the video-sharing app was prohibited over fears of Chinese government interference and surveillance.
In a government press release, the UK government explained how TikTok was able to access and collect a “range of data on the device, including contacts, user content, and geolocation data”.
Australia
TikTok is currently banned on all Australian government devices. Mark Dreyfus, Australia’s attorney general, announced he had authorised a mandatory direction to ban the Chinese-owned app from government phones on 4 April.
“The direction will come into effect as soon as practicable,” he said in a statement. The government said TikTok “poses significant security and privacy risks” due to its “extensive collection of user data and exposure to extrajudicial directions from a foreign government that conflicts with Australian law.”
Lee Hunter, general manager of TikTok for Australia and New Zealand said, “there is no evidence to suggest that it is in any way a security issue for Australians.” “Our millions of Australian users deserve a government which makes decisions based upon facts and who treats all businesses fairly, regardless of country of origin,” Hunter said in a statement.
New Zealand
New Zealand announced TikTok would be banned from all of its parliamentary devices on 17 March 2023. The country’s MPs were informed via email from the parliamentary service stating: “The Service has determined that the risks are not acceptable in the current New Zealand parliament environment.
“The decision to block the TikTok application has been made based on our own analysis and following discussion with our colleagues across government and internationally.,” it read.
France
France banned TikTok from government phones on 24 March 2023. The country’s ban is different from that of the UK, as it currently prohibits the use of any “recreational” apps meaning that as well as TikTok; Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and more are also banned.
A government spokesperson said: “Recreational applications do not have sufficient levels of cybersecurity and data protection to be deployed on government equipment.“These applications can therefore constitute a risk to the protection of the data of these administrations and their public officials.
United States
Montana, a state of just over a million residents, announced it will be banning TikTok from residents’ personal devices, in a landmark move taking effect on 1 January 2024. “To protect Montanans’ personal and private data from the Chinese Communist Party, I have banned TikTok in Montana,” Montana Governor Greg Gianforte wrote in a tweet.
Legislation signed by Gianforte makes it illegal for both Google and Apple to house TikTok in their app stores. As it currently stands, there will be no charges for individuals using the app. The US government ordered all of its federal employees to remove TikTok from their government phones on 28 February 2023.
Currently, over half of all US states have banned TikTok from government devices over fears of data breaches from China. TikTok said it was “disappointed” by the decision from Congress stating, “a political gesture that will do nothing to advance national security interests – rather than encouraging the Administration to conclude its national security review.”Despite many lawmakers pushing for the US to ban the app nationwide, a widespread ban was blocked in March over fears of free speech being infringed upon.
Austria
Austria banned TikTok from government employees’ work phones on 10 May 2023. Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said: “It will be banned from work mobile phones. On private phones outside the state network it will of course be possible (to use the app).”
Afghanistan
The Taliban announced a nationwide ban of TikTok in April 2022, claiming it was negatively impacting the younger generation. A Taliban spokesperson was quoted by The Sun stating that the application’s “filthy content was not consistent with Islamic laws.” TikTok was banned from the country at the same time as the popular mobile game PUBG.
Denmark
Denmark ordered a ban of TikTok on work devices in March, 2023. The country’s Defense Ministry cited security concerns and ordered employees to remove the application as soon as possible.
Canada
Canada banned TikTok from government mobile phones on the 28 February 2023. Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said: “I suspect that as governments take the significant step of telling all federal employees that they can no longer use TikTok on their work phones, many Canadians from business to private individuals will reflect on the security of their own data and perhaps make choices. “I’m always a fan of giving Canadians the information for them to make the right decisions for them.”
India
India announced it was banning TikTok along with 58 other popular Chinese-owned phone apps in June 2020. The country believes the app is a threat to its national security, claiming the company is secretly collecting information and obtaining data illegally. Before the ban, India represented the biggest international market for the company with over 200m users.
Read more here.
Microsoft Bing beats Baidu in China
Microsoft Bing has achieved a significant milestone, overtaking Baidu to become the largest desktop search engine in China. Recent data from StatCounter reveals that in April 2023, Bing captured a historic high market share of 37.4%, surpassing Baidu and establishing a 10-percentage-point lead.
Bing’s Rise to the Top: Overtaking Baidu in China’s Desktop Search Market
Baidu’s market share has declined to 27.01%, resulting in Bing’s rise to the top position. Following Bing and Baidu, the rankings are occupied by Sogou (16.36%), Yandex (7.45%), Haosou (6.25%), and Google (5.2%) respectively.
The success of Bing can be attributed to its deep integration into various Microsoft products and services. Acting as the company’s fourth prominent product line, Bing is closely tied with Windows, Office, and Xbox.
Microsoft has been consistently enhancing Bing’s capabilities by integrating the latest technologies. On February 8th of this year, Bing adopted an upgraded version of its AI model, GPT-3.5, to enhance search results. Additionally, Microsoft confirmed on March 15th that Bing’s search engine now operates on GPT-4, the latest iteration of its AI model.
In a recent statement, Mustafa Suleyman, co-founder of DeepMind, a Google subsidiary specializing in artificial intelligence, warned of fundamental changes in the internet landscape. He predicted that traditional search methods would become obsolete within the next decade, giving way to a conversational and interactive search experience. Such a transformation is expected to have a profound impact on the future of the internet and those who rely on it for information and livelihood.
The rise of Bing in China exemplifies the dynamic nature of the search engine market and highlights the increasing competition among major players to innovate and provide enhanced search experiences for users.
Read more here.
Viral Pentagon explosion Tweet was deep fake
An apparently AI-generated image sparked a brief dip in stock market. It could have been worse. On Monday morning, a verified Twitter account called Bloomberg Feed shared an ominous tweet. Beneath the words, “Large Explosion near The Pentagon Complex in Washington, D.C. - Initial Report,” it showed an image of a huge plume of black smoke next to a vaguely Pentagon-like building.
The Al generated image, reportedly disseminated by the Free United States Volunteer Group, surfaced with multiple news sources reporting it as real, the S&P 500 fell 30 points in minutes and the Dow Jones Industrial Index dropped 85 points within four minutes. This resulted in a $500 billion market cap swing on a fake image. It then rebounded once the image was confirmed fake.
Al is becoming dangerous.
Read more here.
Bluesky challenges Twitter?
Amid management changes at Twitter, discontented users are exploring an alternative social media platform called Bluesky. According to media reports, downloads of the Bluesky app surged more than 600% in April. Initially conceived by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey in 2019 as a complementary project aimed to improve Twitter user experience, Bluesky transitioned into a standalone project in early 2022, and its iOS app was released in February this year followed by an Android version in April.
Visually, Bluesky looks similar to Twitter. The timeline is called the “skyline” and tweets are “skeets”. It has two main differences that drive its popularity – decentralisation and invite-only access. Decentralisation was a driving force behind Dorsey’s creation of Bluesky. So what does that mean and how’s this app different to Twitter?
Dorsey is a big proponent of decentralised control and cryptocurrency. He believes centralised platforms like Twitter cannot address issues such as enforcement of policies to address abuse and misinformation, and the proprietary algorithms are not meeting user needs.
Twitter uses an AI-powered, centrally managed algorithm to moderate what content the user is exposed to.
On Bluesky, however, users have control over the algorithm that selects what they are exposed to. As Wired magazine explained:
Crucially, users and servers will be able to label posts or specific users - e.g., with a tag like “racist” — and anyone can subscribe to that list of labels, blocking posts on that basis.
Bluesky calls this concept a “composable, customizable marketplace of algorithms that lets you take control of how you spend your attention.”
In addition to giving users more control over what kind of content they see, Bluesky has plans to “decentralise” control of social media even further. If all goes well, Bluesky itself will just be the first of many interconnected social networks running on the same basic principles.
Bluesky is based on what it calls the AT protocol, a network that allows servers to communicate with each other. This means that, hypothetically, you could move your account between different social networks that also use the AT protocol without losing your content and followers.
It’s worth noting this is all a bit theoretical for now; this functionality can’t be used yet.
But it is designed to eventually address the concerns of social media influencers who fear losing their audience due to platform rule changes or when choosing to move to a different platform.
Invite-only
Another distinguishing factor of Bluesky is that, for now anyway, it is invitation-only.
Most social media platforms, including Twitter, allow users to register freely. Bluesky, however, requires an invitation code. Existing users receive invitation codes fortnightly.
Despite at least 360,000 Bluesky app downloads, it’s been reported there are only 70,000 users. Media reported earlier this month there were a staggering 1.9 million people on the waitlist.
With so many people curious to get in, the Bluesky invites became a hot commodity. You can find them on eBay between A$50 and $200; some listings were asking much more.
The invitation-only design ensures steady user growth, avoiding a rapid influx of users followed by a sudden loss of interest.
And potential new users who patiently wait for an invitation are already familiar with Bluesky. Flooding other social media platforms with requests for invitation codes creates extra interest, too.
Read more here.