In a call with Facebook employees, who have protested the inaction on Mr. Trump’s messages, Mr. Zuckerberg said his decision was “pretty thorough.” From a report: Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, on Tuesday stood firmly behind his decision to not do anything about President Trump’s inflammatory posts on the social network, saying that he had made a “tough decision” but that…
Tag: free speech
‘King of Donkey Kong’ Billy Mitchell Continues Defamation Suit Over Cheating Accusations
destinyland shares an update about Billy Mitchell, the intense dark-haired videogame champion in the 2007 documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. Last year the videogame record-keepers at Twin Galaxies revoked Billy Mitchell’s entire lifetime’s worth of videogame high scores after an online discussion argued videotapes of three of Mitchell’s performances suggested they’d been achieved using a MAME emulator….
Facebook is Quietly Helping To Set Up a New Pro-tech Advocacy Group To Battle Washington
Facebook is working behind the scenes to help launch a new political advocacy group that would combat U.S. lawmakers and regulators trying to rein in the tech industry, escalating Silicon Valley’s war with Washington at a moment when government officials are threatening to break up large companies. From a report: The organization is called American Edge, and it aims through a…
New Bill Threatens Journalists’ Ability To Protect Sources
A draft bill, first proposed by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) in January, intends to combat online child exploitation but could introduce significant harm to journalists’ ability to protect their sources. TechCrunch reports: Under the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (or EARN IT) Act, a government commission would define best practices for how technology companies should combat this type…
Judge Rejects Tulsi Gabbard’s ‘Free Speech’ Lawsuit Against Google
Last July, Hawaii representative and long-shot presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard sued Google for infringing on her free speech when it briefly suspended her campaign’s advertising account after the first Democratic debate in June. On Wednesday, California’s Central District Court rejected the suit outright. TechCrunch reports: Gabbard’s campaign, Tulsi Now, Inc., asked for $50 million in damages from Google for “serious and…
Turkey’s Wikipedia Ban Violates Rights, Top Court Rules
The Constitutional Court in Ankara ruled that the nationwide access ban on Wikipedia constitutes a violation of free speech, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Thursday. From a report: The 10-to-6 majority ruling follows Wikimedia Foundation’s application to the top court. Authorities are expected to lift the ban, Haberturk website said. Turkey’s information technologies watchdog BTK blocked access to the ubiquitous online…
Jury Sides With Elon Musk, Rejects $190M Defamation Claim Over Tweet
Aighearach (Slashdot reader #97,333) shared this story from Reuters: Tesla Inc boss Elon Musk emerged victorious on Friday from a closely watched defamation trial as a federal court jury swiftly rejected the $190 million claim brought against him by a British cave explorer who Musk had branded a “pedo guy” on Twitter. The unanimous verdict by a panel of five women…
How Fake News Is Still Fooling Facebook’s Fact-Checking Systems
Slashdot reader peterthegreat321 shared an article from Medium’s technology blog OneZero revealing the “cracks, loopholes, and limitations in Facebook’s systems that bad actors are busily exploiting.” Facebook says it’s proud of the progress it has made, though it acknowledges there’s more to be done. “Multiple independent studies have found that we’ve cut the amount of fake news on Facebook by more…
Facebook Bows to Singapore’s ‘Fake News’ Law, Posts ‘Correction’
An anonymous reader quotes the BBC: Facebook has added a correction notice to a post that Singapore’s government said contained false information. It is the first time Facebook has issued such a notice under the city-state’s controversial “fake news” law. Singapore claimed the post, by fringe news site States Times Review, contained “scurrilous accusations”. The note issued by the social media…
EFF Challenges Ring’s Spokesperson Shaq To A Discussion About Police Surveillance
Shaq O’Neal was one of the greatest players in basketball history. But as a spokesperson for Amazon’s Ring security cameras, the EFF also calls him the “one man at Ring who might listen to reason,” challenging him to go one-on-one with the EFF’s privacy experts: In just a year and a half, Amazon’s Ring has set up more than 500 partnerships…