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☆ It's wild that Western governments have decided that TikTok might spy for China. The app hasn't helped itself.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

TikTok denies it feeds user data to China, but the drip-drip of revelations hasn't helped. The suspicion is that TikTok's owner ByteDance is in cahoots with the Chinese Communist Party and shares data about Western users with China. TikTok has maintained the app doesn't spy on individuals, and has pointed to the steps it's taking to hive off user information. FCC commissioner Brendan Carr responded to Bertram asking if "any member of the CCP accessed non-public US or EU user data from inside China." US social-media services normalized the aggressive harvesting of user data, and routinely hand over information to international governments.

Google , Netflix , Meta , Apple , Amazon and Microsoft generate nearly half of all internet traffic today. Big Tech firms say this would amount to an "internet tax" that could undermine net neutrality. They bemoaned spending billions on laying cables and installing antennas to cope with rising internet demand without corresponding investments from Big Tech. One suggestion is to require individual bargaining deals with the Big Tech firms, similar to Australian licensing models between news publishers and internet platforms. "The imbalance is not down to Big Tech, it's not down to streamers, and it's not down to telcos.

☆ Facebook and Google are handing over user data to help police prosecute abortion seekers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Police make requests for social media user data to aid prosecution after a crime has been committed. ProPublica found similar web trackers that capture user data on the sites of at least nine online pharmacies that offer abortion pills by mail, including Abortion Ease, BestAbortionPill.com, PrivacyPillRX, PillsOnlineRX, Secure Abortion Pills, AbortionRx, Generic Abortion Pills, Abortion Privacy, and Online Abortion Pill Rx. Private content by users — such as location data or messages — requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant before it can be turned over. She said because the platforms themselves are unlikely to prioritize user privacy, the burden to do so falls on the individual user. "All the angst directed social media services for being a pawn in law enforcement's game seems misdirected to me.

☆ Biggest security benefits, risks with new Meta, Twitter verified identity subscriptions
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Cheryl Winokur Munk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

As Twitter and Meta Platforms move to paid subscriptions for social media identity verification and security, the battle to stay safe online continues. With social engineering and phishing the primary sources of social media account compromise, it's unlikely verified accounts will actually be more secure. "Twitter is only eliminating the SMS-based two-factor authentication capability, and does offer two additional methods for two-factor authentication that are stronger and more reliable than SMS-based authentication," Ramzan said. When signing on for a social media account, try to give away as little personal information as possible, Buzzard said. Aura recommends social media users disable third-party apps that are connected to their social media accounts.

☆ China's Tencent wants to expand its presence in Singapore — and Chinese tourists are a big reason
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Kimberley Kao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Budrul Chukrut | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesTencent is expanding its presence in Singapore — and China's a big reason. The Chinese tech giant has struck new partnerships with Singapore businesses such as ride-hailing app Grab through its digital messaging app, WeChat/Weixin. In Grab's mini-program, Chinese travelers can also choose to pay via WeChat/Weixin Pay in Chinese yuan. "Chinese travelers represented the largest group of non-Southeast Asian users using the Grab app in 2019," he added. Singapore did not tighten travel restrictions for Chinese travelers after China announced the easing of its border controls.

☆ Australia regulator to probe social media influencers for false endorsements
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Australia's competition regulator said on Friday it would check whether influencers on social media platforms had failed to disclose their affiliation with the brands they were promoting. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it would look at more than 100 influencers after several consumers informed the regulator about some endorsements and testimonials which they said were misleading. The probe will target influencers in fashion, cosmetics, food and beverage, travel, fitness, parenting, gaming and technology. It will also check if advertisers, marketers, brands and social media platforms are facilitating any misconduct. The ACCC has been conducting a series of investigations as part of a broader Digital Platform Services Inquiry, focused on the provision of social media services, including sponsored posts and influencer advertising on social media platforms.

☆ Cloudflare says White House asked tech firm to bypass Iran censorship, but US sanctions got in the way
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

In the case of San Francisco-based Cloudflare, Prince said the White House official suggested the company could be given a “license” to operate in Iran, but Prince replied that it was “too late” for that. Prince did not name the White House official. CNN has requested comment from the White House National Security Council. About 10% of Russian households use that anti-censorship Cloudflare technology, Prince claimed. The phone call from the White House, Prince said, illustrated a difficult “tradeoff” between sanctions meant to punish human rights-flouting regimes and the need to get technology into the hands of dissidents.

LONDON, Dec 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) - One of China’s biggest exports in 2023 will be its social e-commerce phenomenon. There’s early evidence that selling goods over live social networking works beyond the People’s Republic. Live online shopping revenue will help offset shrinking marketing budgets. By contrast, consultancy McKinsey projects U.S. social media e-commerce sales will increase 20% annually over the same span, to $80 billion. Such anecdotes are what will make e-commerce go viral on Western social media.

☆ Warner Bros. Discovery salaries revealed: Pay data shows how much the company recently offered for jobs at HBO and more, despite waves of layoffs and cuts
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Ashley Rodriguez | Elaine Low | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

Insider analyzed new pay data from the entertainment companies, now merged as Warner Bros. Recent salaries ranged from $55 an hour to $300,000 a year for jobs at HBO and other units. The salaries ranged from $55 per hour to $300,000 per year, with a median annual salary of $143,000 to $170,000. For example, Discovery offered an ad sales account manager between $131,458 and $149,000 per year, according to the data. Associate Manager, Brand Marketing/Publishing: $92,518 to $130,011WarnerMedia DirectData Architect: $162,400 to $200,150 median; ranging from $159,800 to $205,000WarnerMedia Services

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☆ Elon Musk’s Twitter bans links to other social media sites, including Facebook and emerging rivals
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Under the new policy, links to content on Facebook and Instagram are prohibited, as well as links to content on emerging Twitter alternatives, including Mastodon and Post. Despite the bans, Twitter says it will still “allow paid advertisement/promotion for any of the prohibited social media platforms.”Notably absent from the list is TikTok, one of the internet’s fastest-growing social media platforms whose links to China have sparked national security concerns among US policymakers. Now, that practice has been formalized into official Twitter policy, a move that could further raise eyebrows among Twitter’s regulators. As part of Twitter’s new policy, users may not “link out” to social media platforms subject to the restrictions. Users may continue to use third-party software to simultaneously publish their social media content to multiple sites, including Twitter, the company said.

☆ Disney buys MLB's stake in streaming firm BAMTech for $900 mln
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 29 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) disclosed on Tuesday that it has taken full control of BAMTech, a video-streaming firm spun off from Major League Baseball's digital media company MLB Advanced Media. Disney earlier this month purchased the remaining stake in BAMTech from Major League Baseball for $900 million, the company said in a SEC filing. Previous to the transaction, streaming technology services provider BAMTech was owned 85% by Disney and 15% by Major League Baseball (MLB). BAMTech provides the streaming platform for such entities as Worldwide Wrestling Entertainment and Warner Bros Discovery Inc's HBO. Streaming service provider Hulu is owned 67% by Disney and 33% by NBC Universal (NBCU).

The U.S. congressional elections posed a fresh test for social media companies, which for years have struggled to balance free expression against amplifying potentially harmful commentary. Voices on the right sought on social media on Tuesday to falsely blame Democrats for voting glitches reported in some places. Common Cause also noted a "big slowdown" in Twitter's response time since Friday, when layoffs gutted many of the company's teams responsible for elevating credible information. Before Tuesday, both Musk and Twitter's head of safety and integrity Yoel Roth tweeted that the company would uphold and enforce its election integrity policies through the midterms. The falsehoods appeared to originate on messaging app Telegram before spreading to more mainstream social media services, according to Common Cause.

☆ How the mounting popularity of Formula 1 relies on continuous innovation in the live broadcast experience
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Insider Studios With Tata Communications | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The delivery and quality of the live broadcast experience are now more vital than ever. Broadcast connectivity partner Tata Communications leveraged its substantial expertise to rise to the challenge. "The brilliance of the F1 broadcast is that the viewer never has to think about the technology. Aside from F1, Tata Communications also partners with numerous other sports and entertainment franchises. Tata Communications' new broadcast model has delivered around a 34% reduction in the organization's travelling freight, which has lessened the environmental impact.

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