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Tag: Meta

  • What to know about the Meta glasses the New Orleans attacker used to scout the French Quarter

    What to know about the Meta glasses the New Orleans attacker used to scout the French Quarter

    NEW YORK — The man who drove a truck into a crowd of people in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, killing 14, had previously scouted the French Quarter and recorded video with his Meta smart glasses, the FBI said.

    On Oct. 31, Shamsud-Din Jabbar recorded video with the glasses as he cycled through the French Quarter and plotted the attack, said Lyonel Myrthil, FBI special agent in charge of the New Orleans field office. Jabbar also wore the glasses, which are capable of livestreaming, during the attack, but did not activate them.

    A spokesperson for Meta, the parent company of Facebook, declined to comment.

    Here’s what the glasses are capable of:

    Meta glasses, made in partnership with Ray-Ban, are frames with a built-in camera, speakers and artificial intelligence that can be controlled with your voice, buttons and some simple gestures. Some functions, such as listening to music or interacting with Meta’s AI assistant, require the device to be either paired with a phone or able to access the internet.

    The wearable does not have a display built into the lens, unlike some past industry attempts at building augmented-reality smart glasses. However, Meta has said it is working on a pair of glasses that will give users a fully holographic experience.

    One of the glasses’ main selling points is the ability to capture images and video using the onboard camera, then upload those files to Instagram or Facebook. You can also livestream, but only to Meta’s compatible social platforms.

    You can also use the glasses to make audio and video calls, message people or listen to music.

    The camera also allows Meta’s AI assistant to see what you’re seeing, allowing it to translate text into multiple languages (spoken back to you, or shown on a paired phone app), and answer simple questions, such as searching the nearest landmark to your location. The glasses are largely a hands-free experience so you will be talking to your device — and it will reply.

    The glasses currently cannot perform complex tasks that other digital assistants might be able to, like booking you a reservation at a restaurant or giving you turn-by-turn directions while you’re on the move. And there’s no display in the lens, so there isn’t a viewfinder for framing photos or video.

    There are also visual indicators built into the system that allow bystanders to know when you’re shooting video or taking photos. This LED privacy indicator stays on while you use the camera functions. According to Meta, you can’t disable this light to be more discreet in your actions.

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  • Apple complains Meta requests risk privacy amid EU effort to widen iPhone tech access

    Apple complains Meta requests risk privacy amid EU effort to widen iPhone tech access

    LONDON — Apple complained that requests from Meta Platforms for access to its operating software threaten user privacy, in a spat fueled by the European Union’s intensifying efforts to get the iPhone maker to open up to products from tech rivals.

    The 27-nation EU’s executive Commission is drawing up “interoperability” guidelines for Apple under its new digital competition rulebook. The interoperability measures would ensure that devices like smartwatches or features like wireless file transfers work as smoothly with iPhones as do Apple Watches or AirDrop.

    The EU’s rulebook, known as the Digital Markets Act, aims to promote fair competition in digital markets and prevent Big Tech “gatekeeper” companies from cornering markets. The commission posted proposed measures late Wednesday on how Apple should make its iOS operating system work with other technology.

    In response, Apple said it’s “concerned that some companies — with data practices that do not meet the high standards of data protection law held by the EU and supported by Apple — may attempt to abuse the DMA’s interoperability provisions to access sensitive user data.”

    The company singled out Meta, saying it has made at least 15 requests “for potentially far-reaching access to Apple’s technology stack” that would reduce privacy protections for users.

    If those requests were granted, “Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp could enable Meta to read on a user’s device all of their messages and emails, see every phone call they make or receive, track every app that they use, scan all of their photos, look at their files and calendar events, log all of their passwords,” the company said in a report.

    Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, fought back.

    “Here’s what Apple is actually saying: they don’t believe in interoperability,” Meta spokesman Andy Stone said in a post on X. “In fact, every time Apple is called out for anticompetitive behavior, they defend themselves on privacy grounds that have no basis in reality.”

    The Brussels-based European Commission’s proposed measures call for an approach based on Apple’s existing “request-based process,” in which developers ask for access to features and functions.

    Apple should provide a “dedicated contact” to handle requests and give updates and feedback, and there should be a “fair and impartial conciliation” process to settle disagreements on technical issues.

    The commission is now asking for feedback from the public by Jan. 9 on the proposals, including from any companies that have made interoperability requests from Apple, or are thinking of doing so.

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  • Meta shareholders seek sanctions for Sandberg, Zients for deleting Cambridge Analytica emails

    Meta shareholders seek sanctions for Sandberg, Zients for deleting Cambridge Analytica emails

    WILMINGTON, Del. — Attorneys for Meta shareholders asked a Delaware judge Monday to sanction the company’s former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and fellow Facebook board member and current White House chief of staff Jeff Zients for deleting emails related to the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal, despite being told to preserve such records.

    The plaintiff attorneys contend that Sandberg and Zients used personal email accounts to communicate about key issues relating to their 2018 shareholder lawsuit that alleged Facebook officers and directors violated both the law and their fiduciary duties in failing for years to protect the privacy of user data.

    “Although Sandberg and Zients received a litigation hold requiring them to preserve documents from these accounts, they both knowingly and permanently destroyed electronically stored information from such sources,” attorneys said in a court filing.

    The plaintiffs say the former board members were either “reckless or intentional” in destroying documents, noting that Sandberg deleted communications to and from her Gmail account after only 30 days, even after being notified of the “litigation hold” to preserve documents. Zients never disabled an auto-delete function on his email account, even though he, too, received a litigation hold and consulted with lawyers, they said.

    The plaintiffs argue that Sandberg and Zients should be prohibited from testifying about information they sent or received using their personal email accounts. They also say the burden of proof for any affirmative defense they present should be raised to a standard of “clear and convincing evidence,” instead of the lower standard of a “preponderance” of the evidence.

    Sandberg was deposed last week. Plaintiff attorney Max Huffman said Zients is “busy” and will be deposed in February “after there’s an effective transition in Washington.”

    Defense attorney Berton Ashman described the email deletions as “unfortunate” but argued that the plaintiffs have not shown that they were prejudiced in any way.

    “There’s no intent here to destroy relevant or responsive information,” Ashman told Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster, adding that there no “trove of missing emails.”

    “There’s no grand scheme or suggestion of bad behavior,” he added.

    Ashman said the vast majority of emails that Sandberg and Zients sent or received using their personal accounts were also received by other individuals at Facebook. He suggested that any emails that may have been deleted have been made available to the plaintiffs from other sources at Facebook.

    Huffman, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said Sandberg does not deserve the benefit of the doubt.

    “She unilaterally controlled what was kept and what was destroyed,” he told the judge.

    Laster, who is scheduled to preside over a non-jury trial in April, said he wanted to see a transcript of Sandberg’s deposition before ruling on the motion for sanctions.

    Last year, the judge rejected a defense motion arguing that the lawsuit should be dismissed because the plaintiffs did not first demand that Facebook’s board take legal action before filing litigation themselves. He agreed with the plaintiffs that such a demand would have been futile because of doubts that a majority of the relevant Facebook board members, many with close personal and business ties to Mark Zuckerberg, would be willing to confront the CEO and founder of the company over its privacy failures.

    Laster noted that, in deciding on a motion to dismiss, he was required to accept the allegations in the complaint as true.

    The complaint alleges that Facebook officials repeatedly and continually violated a 2012 consent order with the Federal Trade Commission under which Facebook agreed to stop collecting and sharing personal data on platform users and friends without their consent.

    Facebook later sold user data to commercial partners in direct violation of the consent order and removed disclosures from privacy settings that were required under consent order, the lawsuit alleges. The company’s conduct resulted in significant fines from regulators in Europe and culminated in the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018. That case involved a British political consulting firm hired by Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign that paid a Facebook app developer for the personal information of tens of millions Facebook users.

    The fallout led to Facebook agreeing to pay unprecedented $5 billion penalty to settle FTC charges that the company violated the 2012 consent order by deceiving users about their ability to protect their personal information.

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  • Meta to build $10 billion AI data center in Louisiana as Elon Musk expands his Tennessee AI facility

    Meta to build $10 billion AI data center in Louisiana as Elon Musk expands his Tennessee AI facility

    NEW ORLEANS — The largest artificial intelligence data center ever built by Facebook’s parent company Meta is coming to northeast Louisiana, the company said Wednesday, bringing hopes that the $10 billion facility will transform an economically neglected corner of the state.

    Republican Gov. Jeff Landry called it “game-changing” for his state’s expanding tech sector, yet some environmental groups have raised concerns over the center’s reliance on fossil fuels — and whether the plans for new natural gas power to support it could lead to higher energy bills in the future for Louisiana residents.

    Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, is expanding its existing supercomputer project in Memphis, Tennessee, the city’s chamber of commerce said Wednesday. The chamber also said that Nvidia, Dell, and Supermicro Computer will be “establishing operations in Memphis,” without offering further details.

    Louisiana is among a growing number of states offering tax credits and other incentives to lure big tech firms seeking sites for energy-intensive data centers.

    The U.S. Commerce Department found that there aren’t enough data centers in the U.S. to meet the rising AI-fueled demand, which is projected to grow by 9% each year through 2030, citing industry reports.

    Meta anticipates its Louisiana data center will create 500 operational jobs and 5,000 temporary construction jobs, said Kevin Janda, director of data center strategy. At 4 million square feet (370,000 square meters), it will be the company’s largest AI data center to date, he added.

    “We want to make sure we are having a positive impact on the local level,” Janda said.

    Congressional leaders and local representatives from across the political spectrum heralded the Meta facility as a boon for Richland parish, a rural part of Louisiana with a population of 20,000 historically reliant on agriculture. About one in four residents are considered to live in poverty and the parish has an employment rate below 50%, according to the U.S. census data.

    Meta plans to invest $200 million into road and water infrastructure improvements for the parish to offset its water usage. The facility is expected to be completed in 2030.

    Entergy, one of the nation’s largest utility providers, is fast-tracking plans to build three natural gas power plants in Louisiana capable of generating 2,262 megawatts for Meta’s data center over a 15-year period — nearly one-tenth of Entergy’s existing energy capacity across four states.

    The Louisiana Public Service Commission is weighing Entergy’s proposal as some environmental groups have opposed locking the state into more fossil fuel-based energy infrastructure. Meta said it plans to help bring 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy onto the grid in the future.

    Louisiana residents may ultimately end up with rate increases to pay off the cost of operating these natural gas power plants when Meta’s contract with Entergy expires, said Jessica Hendricks, state policy director for the Alliance for Affordable Energy, a Louisiana-based nonprofit advocating for energy consumers.

    “There’s no reason why residential customers in Louisiana need to pay for a power plant for energy that they’re not going to use,” Hendricks said. “And we want to make sure that there’s safeguards in place.”

    Public service commissioner Foster Campbell, representing northeast Louisiana, said he does not believe the data center will increase rates for Louisiana residents and views it as vital for his region.

    “It’s going in one of the most needed places in Louisiana and maybe one of the most needed places in the United States of America,” Foster said. “I’m for it 100%.”

    Environmental groups have also warned of the pollution generated by Musk’s AI data center in Memphis. The Southern Environmental Law Center, among others, says the supercomputer could strain the power grid, prompting attention from the Environmental Protection Agency. Eighteen gas turbines currently running at xAI’s south Memphis facility are significant sources of ground-level ozone, better known as smog, the group said.

    Patrick Anderson, an attorney at the law center, said xAI has operated with “a stunning lack of transparency” in developing its South Memphis facility, which is located near predominantly Black neighborhoods that have long dealt with pollution and health risks from factories and other industrial sites.

    “Memphians deserve to know how xAI will affect them,” he said, “and should have a seat at the table when these decisions are being made.”

    _____

    Sainz reported from Memphis, Tennessee. Associated Press writer Matt O’Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.

    _____

    Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on the social platform X: @jack_brook96

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  • South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users

    South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users

    SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.

    It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.

    Following a four-year investigation, South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.

    It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.

    South Korea’s privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.

    The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.

    The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.

    “While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent,” Lee said.

    Lee also said Meta put the privacy of Facebook users at risk by failing to implement basic security measures such as removing or blocking inactive pages. As a result, hackers were able to use inactive pages to forge identities and request password resets for the accounts of other Facebook users. Meta approved these requests without proper verification, which resulted in data breaches affecting at least 10 South Korean Facebook users, Lee said.

    In September, European regulators hit Meta with over $100 million in fines for a 2019 security lapse in which user passwords were temporarily exposed in an un-encrypted form.

    Meta’s South Korean office said it would “carefully review” the commission’s decision, but didn’t immediately provide more comment.

    In 2022, the commission fined Google and Meta a combined 100 billion won ($72 million) for tracking consumers’ online behavior without their consent and using their data for targeted advertisements, in the biggest penalties ever imposed in South Korea for privacy law violations.

    The commission said then that the two companies didn’t clearly inform users or obtain their consent to collect data about them as they used other websites or services outside their own platforms. It ordered the companies to provide an “easy and clear” consent process to give people more control over whether to share information about what they do online.

    The commission also hit Meta with a 6.7 billion won ($4.8 million) fine in 2020 for providing personal information about itsx users to third parties without consent.

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  • GoFundMe bets social media can unlock Gen Z giving. A Meta partnership and new tools will test that

    GoFundMe bets social media can unlock Gen Z giving. A Meta partnership and new tools will test that

    NEW YORK — New GoFundMe tools will make it easier to circulate causes across online platforms in a push to cater toward younger generations.

    The crowdfunding site hopes to meet digital natives in the online spaces where they frequently advocate, streamlining the donation experience to encourage more charity and connecting traditional nonprofits with a demographic that prefers direct contributions over institutional giving. Among the features rolling out this fall are fundraising widgets for video game streamers, personalized profiles to highlight users’ philanthropic interests and an integrated button on Instagram to donate.

    “We play a really important role helping people ask for help and give help in the world,” GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan told The Associated Press. “We want to make sure that people can carry that with them, and communicate and express that, in the places where they spend time.”

    The products reflect the for-profit company’s internal recognition that Gen Z’s habits make social media an untapped source to drive charitable contributions. Gen Z respondents ages 12-27 are much more likely than older people to regularly share causes or fundraisers on their accounts, according to a survey led this summer by GoFundMe. Half reported doing so at least once a week and 41% said social media content compelled them to research or support a cause.

    GoFundMe allows users to create online fundraising pages where both their personal networks and benevolent strangers can help cover large costs with collective gifts. People turn to the platform for help affording basic needs like rent or unexpected emergencies like surgeries. The company collects a transaction fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents for every donation.

    It’s not the only player in this space. But GoFundMe, already the largest crowdfunding site with $30 billion generated since 2010, has recently moved to increase its influence in the philanthropic sector. It signed a deal in 2022 to acquire Classy, an online fundraising platform that facilitates giving specifically for nonprofits.

    This latest announcement marks GoFundMe’s entrance into a market dominated by competitor Tiltify, which enables fundraising on virtual livestreams. On Monday, GoFundMe released in-video fundraising widgets for live streamers across platforms including Twitch and Instagram Live. A QR code brings viewers to the donation page and a tracker shows how close the campaign is to reaching its goal.

    The moves also signal the continuation of GoFundMe’s attempts to better serve nonprofit partners in addition to everyday organizers.

    A Meta partnership will launch Oct. 31 on Instagram for organizers in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. GoFundMe promises a “seamless” integration of fundraisers on Instagram Stories and a “polished look” to help campaigns stand out.

    Nonprofits will be able to nurture donor relationships further with identifying data on contributors who give through Instagram, according to a company spokesperson.

    “It’s equally important for us to support nonprofit organizations who are often working on really big, big, deep structural issues,” Cadogan said.

    The company is also building out user profiles. Starting Nov. 13, individuals and organizations can personalize their own accounts with more details about their giving.

    The customizable pages can be made private. But Cadogan said the goal is to inspire others toward action through more public proclamations of users’ own charitable efforts. Organizers can pin a fundraiser or nonprofit to their page with a brief description about why the cause matters to them. Unique links will track collective impact with reminders of how many people gave money from a link on your profile.

    If LinkedIn is the site where users highlight their professional side, Cadogan said he wants GoFundMe Profiles to be the site where people show “this is me as a person that does good in the world.”

    “We hope that over time that becomes the place on the internet that you express your altruistic side of your identity,” he said.

    Youth-facing organizations must follow young people to the platforms where they find community, according to Fast Forward Executive Director Shannon Farley. Her organization helps nonprofits scale their impact with software and she previously ran an online network of millennial philanthropists.

    Online spaces provide a “real opportunity” for digital-first nonprofits, she said, but it’s harder for a “traditional, brick and mortar organization” to break into them.

    “Social media is where young people and young donors live,” Farley said. “If you’re not going to the places where people are every day, you’re missing out on a whole group of people who could be backing your cause.”

    ___

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Meta unveils cheaper VR headset, AI updates and shows off prototype for holographic AR glasses

    Meta unveils cheaper VR headset, AI updates and shows off prototype for holographic AR glasses

    MENLO PARK, California — Meta unveiled updates to the company’s virtual reality headset and Ray Ban smart glasses on Wednesday along with AI advances as it tries demonstrate its artificial intelligence prowess and the next generation of computing platforms beyond smartphones and computers.

    CEO Mark Zuckerberg also showed off Orion, a prototype he called “the most advanced glasses the world has ever seen.”

    “The technical challenges to make them are insane,” he told a crowd of developers and journalists at Meta’s Menlo Park, California headquarters. These holographic augmented reality glasses, for one, needed to be glasses — not a bulky headset. There are no wires and it has to weigh less than 100 grams (3.53 ounces), among other things. And the beyond interacting with your voice, typing or hand gestures, Orion has a “neural interface” — it lets you send a signal from your brain to the device.

    There is no release date for Orion — Zuckerberg called it a “glimpse of the future.”

    Seemingly in his element speaking to a cheering and clapping crowd, Zuckerberg said Meta is working to “bring the future to everyone” with its headsets, glasses and AI system. As part of an update to its Llama model, people will now be able to interact with Meta AI by speaking, with voices from celebrities such as John Cena, Judi Dench and Awkwafina.

    Meta AI now has 500 million users, the company said. Jeremy Goldman of the research firm Emarketer called the number “jaw-dropping.”

    “Meta has transformed from just a social media company into an AI powerhouse. Zuckerberg’s move to celebrity voices is not just for fun — it’s a direct challenge to OpenAI, with an emphasis on real-world utility,” Goldman said.

    Meta, which introduced the Quest 3 last year, also showed off a cheaper version of the VR googles — the 3S — that will cost $299. The regular Quest 3 costs $499. The S3 will start shipping on Oct. 15.

    “Meta is aggressively undercutting Apple’s Vision Pro to dominate the middle-tier AR/VR market,” Goldman said. Those VR googles, which came out earlier this year after much anticipation, cost $3,500.

    While VR goggles have grabbed more headlines, the augmented reality Ray Bans turned out to be a sleeper hit for Meta. The company hasn’t disclosed sales numbers, but Zuckerberg said during Meta’s July earnings call that the glasses “continue to be a bigger hit sooner than we expected — thanks in part to AI.” Zuckerberg said on Wednesday that Meta seems to have gotten past the supply issues that plagued the Ray Bans a few months ago due to high demand.

    “They are kind of the perfect form factor for AI,” Zuckerberg said. The glasses, he added, let an AI assistant “see what you see, hear what you hear” and help you go about your day.

    For instance, you can ask the glasses to remind you where you parked or to pick up groceries, look at a pile of fruit and come up with a smoothie recipe, or help you pick out a party outfit.

    Meta — which renamed itself from Facebook in 2021, still makes nearly all of its money from advertising. In its most recent quarter, 98% of its more than $39 billion in revenue came from ads. At the same time, the company is investing heavily in AI and what Zuckerberg sees as the next generation of computing platforms such as VR headsets and AR glasses.

    “VR headsets, despite Meta’s assertion, will not go mainstream,” said Forrester research director Mike Proulx. “They’re too cumbersome, and people can only tolerate them in short bursts.”

    Glasses, on the other hand “put computing power directly into a common and familiar form factor. As the smart tech behind these glasses matures, they have the potential to disrupt everyday consumers’ interactions with brands.”

    Proulx said the Orion prototype “sets the stage for a future where a revolutionary 3D computing platform is within reach and can actually be useful to the everyday consumer.”

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  • Facebook owner Meta bans Russia state media outlets over “foreign interference”

    Facebook owner Meta bans Russia state media outlets over “foreign interference”

    LONDON — Meta said it’s banning Russia state media organization from its social media platforms, alleging that the outlets used deceptive tactics to amplify Moscow’s propaganda. The announcement drew a rebuke from the Kremlin on Tuesday.

    The company, which owns Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, said late Monday that it will roll out the ban over the next few days in an escalation of its efforts to counter Russia’s covert influence operations.

    “After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets: Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity,” Meta said in a prepared statement.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov lashed out, saying that “such selective actions against Russian media are unacceptable,” and that “Meta with these actions are discrediting themselves.”

    “We have an extremely negative attitude towards this. And this, of course, complicates the prospects for normalizing our relations with Meta,” Peskov told reporters during his daily conference call.

    RT was formerly known as Russia Today. Rossiya Segodnya is the parent company behind state news agency RIA Novosti and news brands like Sputnik.

    “It’s cute how there’s a competition in the West — who can try to spank RT the hardest, in order to make themselves look better,” RT said in a release.

    Rossiya Segodnya did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

    Meta’s actions comes days after the United States announced new sanctions on RT, accusing the Kremlin news outlet of being a key part of Russia’s war machine and its efforts to undermine its democratic adversaries.

    U.S. officials alleged last week that RT was working hand-in-hand with the Russian military and running fundraising campaigns to pay for sniper rifles, body armor and other equipment for soldiers fighting in Ukraine. They also said RT websites masqueraded as legitimate news sites but were used to spread disinformation and propaganda in Europe, Africa, South America and elsewhere.

    Earlier this month, the Biden administration seized Kremlin-run websites and charged two RT employees of covertly providing millions of dollars in funding to a Tennessee-based content creation company to publish English-language social media videos pushing pro-Kremlin messages.

    Moscow has rejected the allegations.

    Meta had already taken steps to limit Moscow’s online reach. Since 2020 it has been labeling posts and content from state media. Two years later, it blocked state media from running ads and putting their content lower in people’s feeds, and the company, along with other other social media sites like YouTube and TikTok, blocked RT’s channels for European users. Also in 2022 Meta also took down a sprawling Russia-based disinformation network spreading Kremlin talking points about the invasion of Ukraine.

    Meta and Facebook “already blocked RT in Europe two years ago, now they’re censoring information flow to the rest of the world,” RT said in its statement.

    Moscow has fought back, designating Meta as an extremist group in March 2022, shortly after sending troops into Ukraine, and blocking Facebook and Instagram. Both platforms — as well as Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, which is also blocked — were popular with Russians before the invasion and the subsequent crackdown on independent media and other forms of critical speech. The social media platforms are now only accessible through virtual private networks.

    ___

    Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia contributed to this report.

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  • Meta oversight panel says political content cuts could limit dissent in crises including Venezuela’s

    Meta oversight panel says political content cuts could limit dissent in crises including Venezuela’s

    MEXICO CITY — Meta’s efforts to scale back political content on its platforms could limit the reach of people’s expressions of dissent or awareness during crises, including Venezuela’s post-election situation, the company’s oversight panel said Thursday in a decision on cases involving videos taken after the July vote in the South American country.

    The quasi-independent Oversight Board urged the social media giant to apply an existing protocol for crisis situations “to ensure that political content during crises can have the same reach as other types of content.”

    The decision came as Meta clamps down on the amount of news and political content users see following years of criticism about how it handles misinformation and whether it contributes to political polarization.

    Meta set up the board in 2020 to be a referee for content on its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. The company referred to the board two videos related to pro-government armed groups, known in Venezuela as “colectivos,” that were posted after the July 28 presidential election, whose official result prompted protests across the country.

    One of the videos, posted to Instagram, shows a group of armed men on motorcycles pulling up to an apartment complex. A woman can be heard shouting in Spanish that the “colectivos” were trying to access a building, while the person taking the video can be heard yelling in the same language “Go to hell! I hope they kill you all!”

    Meta determined the video did not violate its policies because “the expression was a conditional or aspirational statement against a violent actor rather than a call to action,” according to the decision. The board agreed with the company.

    The other video reviewed by the Oversight Board was posted on Facebook. It shows people running and a group of men, presumed to be “colectivos” riding motorcycles. The man who filmed the video can be heard saying the group is attacking the people on the street. The caption in Spanish accompanying the post criticizes the government’s security forces for not defending people from the violent, ruling-party loyal gangs and calls on the state’s forces to “kill those damn colectivos.”

    Meta took down the video for representing “a call to action to commit high-severity violence,” according to the decision. The board disagreed, finding that it is similar to the Instagram post and, in Venezuela’s current context, “understood as an aspirational statement.”

    “The Board acknowledges Meta’s concern that allowing this type of expression could contribute to a heightened risk of offline violence in an ongoing crisis,” according to the decision. “However, given the specific context of Venezuela, in which widespread repression and violence is carried out by state forces jointly with colectivos, and where there are strong restrictions on people’s rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, it is fundamental to allow people to freely express their dissent, anger or desperation, even resorting to strong language.”

    Thousands of people, including minors, took to the streets across Venezuela hours after ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner of the July 28 election. The protests were largely peaceful, but demonstrators also toppled statues of Maduro’s predecessor, the late leader Hugo Chávez, threw rocks at law enforcement officers and buildings, and burned police motorcycles and government propaganda.

    Maduro and his ruling party allies, who control all aspects of government, responded to the demonstrations with full force. A Wednesday report from Human Rights Watch implicated Venezuelan security forces and “colectivos” in some of the 24 deaths that occurred during the protests.

    While the National Electoral Council declared Maduro’s victory, it never released vote tallies backing their claim. However, the main opposition coalition claimed that its candidate, former diplomat Edmundo González, defeated Maduro by a 2-to-1 margin and offered as proof vote tallies from more than 80% of the electronic voting machines used in the election.

    Meta, then called Facebook, launched the Oversight Board four years ago in response to criticism that it was not moving fast enough to remove misinformation, hate speech and influence campaigns from its platforms. The board has 21 members, a multinational group that includes legal scholars, human rights experts and journalists.

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