FTC warns ‘no CEO or company is above the law’ if Twitter shirks privacy order

The FTC has telegraphed what appears to be a now-inevitable investigation into Twitter’s internal data handling practices, as the company continues to shed important staff and improvise new features. “No CEO or company is above the law,” the agency said in a statement — and if E

Twitter safety head suggests further ‘identity verification’ beyond paid verification may later be required

Twitter's head of Safety and Integrity Yoel Roth admitted in a Twitter thread that the company may have to further invest in “identity verification” that goes beyond the paid verification system that will accompany its revamped Twitter Blue subscription. Under Elon Musk, Twitter has

Ireland-led GDPR probe of Yahoo’s cookie banners moves to draft decision review

A multi-year investigation into technewss’s parent entity Yahoo — looking at compliance with key transparency requirements of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), including in relation to cookie banners displayed on its media properties — has take

TikTok privacy update in Europe confirms China staff access to data as GDPR probe continues

An incoming privacy policy change announced by TikTok yesterday for users in Europe — which, for the first time, names China as one of several third countries where user data can be remotely accessed by “certain” company employees to perform what it claims are “importantR

Meta hit with antitrust breach order in Turkey for combining user data across FB, WhatsApp, Instagram

Meta won’t be quaking at the size of the penalty it’s just been handed by Turkey’s competition authority, which announced a 346.72 million lira sanction today. The circa $18.6 million fine pales in comparison to a number of recent stings hitting it from European regulators. Such a

Australia to toughen privacy laws with huge hike in penalties for breaches

Australia has confirmed an incoming legislative change will significantly strengthen its online privacy laws following a spate of data breaches in recent weeks — such as the Optus telco breach last month. “Unfortunately, significant privacy breaches in recent weeks have shown existing s

France fines Clearview AI maximum possible for GDPR breaches

Clearview AI, the controversial facial recognition firm that scrapes selfies and other personal data off the Internet without consent to feed an AI-powered identity-matching service it sells to law enforcement and others, has been hit with another fine in Europe. This one comes after it failed to r

DuckDuckGo's beta Mac app is open to public with new features

DuckDuckGo's web browser for Mac is now available as an open beta test, the Internet privacy company announced today. Six months after the web browsing app rolled out as a closed beta, DuckDuckGo added new features to version 0.30, including a “Duck Player” to defend users from targeted ads

Demanding employees turn on their webcams is a human rights violation, Dutch Court rules

When Florida-based Chetu hired a telemarketer in the Netherlands, the company demanded the employee turn on his webcam. The employee wasn’t happy with being monitored “for 9 hours per day,” in a program that included screen-sharing and streaming his webcam. When he refused, he was

UK pauses data reform bill to rethink how to replace GDPR

The U.K. government has confirmed another pause to draft digital legislation under new prime minister Liz Truss’ reshuffled cabinet — saying the data reform bill it had introduced in recent months is on hold while ministers take another look. The paused bill contained a package of amen

Social media a factor in death of UK schoolgirl, inquest finds

The inquest into the death of British schoolgirl, Molly Russell, has concluded that social media was a factor in her demise, the BBC reports. The 14-year-old had viewed thousands of pieces of content about self-harm and suicide on online platforms, including Instagram and Pinterest, prior to her de

Google rolls out tool to request removal of personal info from search results, will later add proactive alerts

This spring, Google announced it would expand the types of personal information users could request to have removed from Google Search results to include contact information, like a phone number, address or email. At Google’s “Search On” event today, where the company unveiled a n

FCC solicits feedback from the public on rules to stop robotexts

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today proposed new rules to fight back against so-called “robotext” campaigns — the barrages of scam texts sent by malicious actors and large criminal organizations. In a press release, the agency said it would solicit ideas to appl

Italy fires Meta urgent request for info re: election interference measures

Days ahead of the Italian general election, the country’s privacy watchdog has sent Facebook’s parent (Meta) an urgent request for information, asking the social media giant to clarify measures it’s taking around Sunday’s election. The risk of election interference via socia