Category: Technology

Facebook’s independent oversight board said Thursday that it had accepted the company’s request to review its decision to suspend the accounts of former President Donald Trump.The U.S. social media giant blocked Trump's access to his Facebook and Instagram accounts after he was accused of inciting a deadly insurrection by his supporters January 6 at the U.S. Capitol as lawmakers were formally certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory.When it made the decision, the company said the suspension would remain in effect at least until the end of Trump's term on January 20 and possibly indefinitely.The board said a five-member panel would review the case in the coming days and report its findings to the full board.A majority of the members must approve a decision before it can be issued. The board must…

Twitter has locked the account of China's U.S. embassy for a tweet that defended China's policies in the Xinjiang region, which the U.S. social media platform said violated the firm's policy against "dehumanization." The Chinese Embassy account, @ChineseEmbinUS, posted a tweet this month that said that Uighur women were no longer "baby making machines," citing a study reported by state-backed newspaper China Daily. The tweet was removed by Twitter and replaced by a label stating that it was no longer available. Although Twitter hides tweets that violate its policies, it requires account owners to manually delete such posts. The Chinese Embassy's account has not posted any new tweets since January 9. Twitter's suspension of the embassy's account came a day after the Trump administration, in its final hours, accused China of committing genocide in Xinjiang, a…

When Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th U.S. president Wednesday, he inherited several social media accounts, including the @POTUS, @WhiteHouse, @FLOTUS and @VP Twitter accounts.    Unlike after the last inauguration in 2017, when then-President Barack Obama’s followers were transferred to his successor Donald Trump, Biden inherited none of the @POTUS account’s existing 33 million followers.    Biden’s current official Twitter account, @PresElectBiden became @POTUS, bringing with it all followers.    President Biden’s first tweet shortly after he was sworn in Wednesday said, “There is no time to waste when it comes to tackling the crises we face. That's why today, I am heading to the Oval Office to get right to work delivering bold action and immediate relief for American families.” There is no time to waste when…

In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, dozens of Palestinian high-tech startups are flourishing. Some are branches of international companies, others are all Palestinian. High-tech also offers new possibilities for Israeli-Palestinian cooperation. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA from Jerusalem. Camera: Ricki Rosen    ...

Take a ride on a new kind of bike — one that skirts across lakes and waterways – powered by an electric engine and a battery. Michelle Quinn got a ride.Camera: Michelle Quinn    Producer: Rob Raffaele    ...

Turkey imposed advertising bans Tuesday on Twitter, Periscope and Pinterest for not complying with a new law requiring social media companies to appoint a local representative to handle content removal orders.   The rules that went into effect in October have drawn criticism from human rights and media freedom groups who argue Turkey’s government is trying to stifle dissent.   The law calls for a local representative to respond to requests to remove content that violates privacy and personal rights within 48 hours.   Facebook said Monday it would appoint such an envoy, while highlighting in a statement the need for users to be able to freely express themselves.   Other companies have complied with the rules, including YouTube, TikTok, Dailymotion and VKontakte.   Any company that does not comply…

Parler, a social media website and app popular with the American far right, has partially returned online with the help of a Russian-owned technology company.Parler vanished from the internet when dropped by Amazon Inc.'s hosting arm and other partners for poor moderation after its users called for violence and posted videos glorifying the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.On Monday, Parler's website was reachable again, though only with a message from its chief executive saying he was working to restore functionality.The internet protocol address it used is owned by DDos-Guard, which is controlled by two Russian men and provides services including protection from distributed denial of service attacks, infrastructure expert Ronald Guilmette told Reuters.If the website is fully restored, Parler users would be able to see and post comments.…

The decision by social media giants to police more content, along with banning U.S. President Donald Trump and some of his supporters from posting, is intensifying a debate in Europe over how to regulate platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.The hotly contested debate has mostly focused on whether governments should intervene to censor and curtail freedom of speech, or whether they should protect opinion from being blocked or scrubbed by the social media giants, however offensive the views. But a growing number of European leaders sees a third way to reduce fake news, hate speech, disinformation and poisonous personal attacks — by treating social media providers not as owners of neutral platforms connecting consumers with digital content creators but as publishers in their own right. This would help sidestep fears over state…

Europe’s populist leaders are outraged by the decision of U.S. social-media giants to block U.S. President Donald Trump from posting on their sites. They fear Facebook, Twitter and other major social media companies could start banning them, too.     Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki condemned the internet giants Tuesday. “The censorship of freedom of speech, the domain of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, is returning today in the form of a new, commercial mechanism fighting against those who think differently,” he wrote on Facebook.   Poland’s ruling populist Law and Justice Party (PiS) already has introduced legislation aimed at limiting the power of social media giants to remove content or ban users.     The draft law was proposed after Twitter started flagging as misleading content tweets by Trump and…

The attack on the U.S. Capitol has reignited criticism of social media and its alleged role in inciting violence. While Facebook and Twitter have banned President Trump, there are questions about the future of online speech. Tina Trinh reports.Producer: Matt Dibble  ...

The attack on the U.S. Capitol has reignited criticism of social media and its alleged role in inciting violence. While Facebook and Twitter have banned President Trump, there are questions about the future of online speech. Tina Trinh reports.Producer: Matt Dibble  ...

Social media platform Parler has sued Amazon in response to being removed from Amazon Web Services (AWS), the company's web hosting services. Calling the deplatforming a "death blow," Parler said Amazon engaged in antitrust violations, breached its contract with Parler and interfered with the company's business relationship with its users. Specifically, the complaint said Amazing breached its contract by not providing Parler 30 days' notice before cutting it off from its servers. The suit asked a federal court for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against Amazon. "Without AWS, Parler is finished, as it has no way to get online," according to the complaint. "And a delay of granting this TRO by even one day could also sound Parler's death knell as President (Donald) Trump and others move on to other platforms." Parler, a social network…

Facebook has shut down several accounts of a network in Uganda linked to the country’s Ministry of Information. The social media company accused the network of using fake accounts to promote the ruling party and the president.The Facebook accounts shut down were allegedly linked to the “Citizens Interaction Center” at the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology.In a statement, Facebook accuses the account holders of using fake and duplicate accounts to manage pages, comment on other people’s content, impersonate users and re-share posts in groups to make them appear more popular than they were.Duncan Abigaba, the deputy head of the center, said the accounts were targeted because of their support for Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and the ruling National Resistance Movement or NRM.Abigaba said the action by Facebook is unfair…

Facebook has taken down several accounts linked to the government of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, saying they were being used to manipulate public opinion ahead of this week’s presidential election.   The U.S.-based social media giant said Monday it linked the network of accounts to the Uganda’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology.      Facebook said the ministry “used fake and duplicate accounts to manage pages, comment on other people's content, impersonate users, re-share posts in groups to make them appear more popular than they were.”   The Associated Press quoted presidential spokesman Don Wanyama as saying Facebook was “interfering in the electoral process of Uganda.” He also said, “If people wanted to have the evidence of outside interference, now they have it.”   Voters in the East African…

Parler, a social network service popular with conservatives, went offline Monday after its web hosting service Amazon suspended it for allowing posts that encourage violence.   Before the site went down, Parler CEO John Matze accused Amazon and other tech giants of a “war on free speech.”   Google banned Parler’s smartphone app from its app store on Friday, also citing Parler’s allowance of posts that seek to incite violence in the United States.   Apple instituted its own Parler ban on Saturday.   The two-year-old Parler saw an increase in users in recent months as social media giants Facebook and Twitter stepped up enforcement of posts that violated their policies.   Both Facebook and Twitter suspended President Donald Trump’s accounts last week after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.…

Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc have suspended Parler from their respective App Store and web hosting service, saying the social networking service popular with many right-leaning social media users has not taken adequate measures to prevent the spread of posts inciting violence.The action by Apple and Amazon follows a similar move by Alphabet Inc’s Google on Friday. Parler is favored by many supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, who was permanently suspended from Twitter on Friday, and it is seen as a haven for people expelled from Twitter.“We have suspended Parler from the App Store until they resolve these issues,” Apple said in a statement Saturday.Apple had earlier given Parler 24 hours to submit a detailed moderation plan, pointing to participants’ using the service to coordinate Wednesday’s siege of the…

U.S. tech giant Twitter took sharply different actions against the leaders of the U.S. and Iran on Friday, permanently banning President Donald Trump’s personal account while removing one tweet from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s apparent English account and suspending new posts on it.The greater severity of Twitter’s action against the @realdonaldtrump account, compared with the social media company’s treatment of Khamenei, prompted both critics and supporters of the U.S. president to post dozens of Twitter messages accusing the platform of double standards.Many of Twitter’s critics said the @Khamenei_IR account, which is not Twitter-verified but regularly shares his statements, has a history of posting comments against Israel, his regional enemy, that they view as more severe incitement to violence than recent Trump tweets deemed by the platform to violate its glorification of…

Alphabet's Google on Friday suspended the Parler social networking app from its Play Store until the app adds robust content moderation, while Apple gave the service 24 hours to submit a detailed moderation plan.Parler is a social network to which many supporters of President Donald Trump have migrated after being banned from services including Twitter, which on Friday permanently suspended Trump's account.In a statement, Google cited continued posts in the Parler app that seek "to incite ongoing violence in the U.S."Google said, "For us to distribute an app through Google Play, we do require that apps implement robust moderation for egregious content. In light of this ongoing and urgent public safety threat, we are suspending the app’s listings from the Play Store until it addresses these issues."In a letter from…

As a major showcase for the latest innovations in consumer technology, the Consumer Electronics Show typically draws over 170,000 attendees from all over the world. But this year, it's going all digital for the first time in its history. VOA's Tina Trinh reports. Produced by: Tina Trinh   ...

With in-person coaching off the table because of the COVID pandemic, hundreds of companies nationwide are using virtual reality training to help employees master some essential skills. Maxim Moskalkov has the story.Camera: Aleksandr Bergan     ...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts will be suspended at least through Inauguration Day in the wake of violence by the president’s supporters that erupted Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol.“We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great,” Zuckerberg said in a statement on his Facebook page, adding that the account could remain locked indefinitely.“Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”Twitter barred Trump from posting messages on its platform Wednesday for 12 hours for “repeated and severe violations” of the social media company’s civic integrity rules.Twitter…

Facebook and Alphabet’s YouTube took down a video from President Donald Trump on Wednesday that continued to make the baseless claim the election was fraudulent as he told supporters who had stormed the U.S. Capitol to go home.Twitter restricted users from retweeting the video "due to a risk of violence," as hundreds of protesters sought to force Congress to undo the president's election loss to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden. Twitter restricted a later tweet from Trump that again falsely alleged he had won the election.Later Wednesday night, Twitter locked the president’s account for 12 hours over "repeated and severe violations" of the social media platform's civic integrity rules and threatened permanent suspension.Facebook Vice President of Integrity Guy Rosen tweeted that it believed the video "contributes to rather than diminishes the…

The U.S. Department of Justice confirmed on Wednesday that it had been the victim of a massive hacking operation linked to Russian intelligence.  In a statement, Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi said about 3% of the agency’s email accounts appeared to have been compromised, although no classified information was accessed. “After learning of the malicious activity, the Office of Chief Information Officer eliminated the identified method by which the actor was accessing the ... email environment,” Raimondi said. Raimondi said the department learned about the previously unknown hack on its networks on Christmas Eve and determined that it constituted a “major” security incident. The disclosure came a day after U.S. intelligence agencies said that the hack was part of an ongoing intelligence operation and likely being carried out by Russia.  FILE - This…

U.S. intelligence officials investigating last month's massive cybersecurity breach that impacted thousands of companies and dozens of government agencies warn the hack is part of an ongoing intelligence operation, likely being carried out by Russia. The public conclusion, shared Tuesday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the National Security Agency (NSA), is the first formal statement of attribution from U.S. officials, and confirms previous comments by senior officials and lawmakers who said the evidence pointed "pretty clearly" to Moscow. FILE - The sign outside the National Security Agency (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md., June 6, 2013. All fingers are pointing to Russia as author of the worst-ever hack of U.S. government agencies."This work…

U.S. intelligence officials investigating last month's massive cybersecurity breach that impacted thousands of companies and dozens of government agencies warn the hack is part of an ongoing intelligence operation, likely being carried out by Russia. The public conclusion, shared Tuesday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the National Security Agency (NSA), is the first formal statement of attribution from U.S. officials, and confirms previous comments by senior officials and lawmakers who said the evidence pointed "pretty clearly" to Moscow. FILE - The sign outside the National Security Agency (NSA) campus in Fort Meade, Md., June 6, 2013. All fingers are pointing to Russia as author of the worst-ever hack of U.S. government agencies."This work…

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order banning transactions with eight Chinese software applications, including Ant Group's Alipay, the White House said, escalating tensions with Beijing before President-elect Joe Biden takes office this month. The order, first reported by Reuters, tasks the Commerce Department with defining which transactions will be banned under the directive and targets Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s QQ Wallet and WeChat Pay as well. The move is aimed at curbing the threat to Americans posed by Chinese software applications, which have large user bases and access to sensitive data, a senior official told Reuters. A U.S. Tencent spokeswoman did not immediately comment. FILE - WeChat has an average of 19 million daily active users in the United States.The order signed by Trump also names CamScanner, SHAREit, Tencent QQ, VMate…

Online communication and collaboration service Slack reported a global outage Monday, as millions returned to work after the Christmas and New Year’s holidays."Our team is currently investigating, and we're sorry for any troubles this may be causing," Slack said in a statement.Slack has seen its popularity grow as many people work and study from home during the coronavirus pandemic. When it last reported, the company said it had 12 million daily users. Slack shares have surged by 80% over the past year.According to The Associated Press, the outage began around 10 a.m. Eastern time, with outages reported in the United States, Germany, India, Britain, Japan and other countries.The disruption in service was the latest in a string of tech outages, which have seen Google services, Zoom and some Microsoft products…

More than 200 Google employees in the United States have formed a workers' union, the elected leaders of the union wrote in a New York Times opinion piece on Monday.   The "Alphabet Workers Union" aims to ensure that employees work at a fair wage, without fear of abuse, retaliation or discrimination, the union heads wrote.   Google has been under fire from the U.S. labor regulator, which has accused the company of unlawfully questioning several workers who were then terminated for protesting against company policies and trying to organize a union. Google has said it was confident it acted legally.   "We're building on years of organizing efforts at Google to create a formal structure for workers," the union leaders wrote, adding that so far 226 employees had signed…