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The United States is 'literally leaderless'
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Texas Bill Aimed at Big Tech Censorship Likely to Pass
After being halted by Democrat lawmakers’ boycott of the state legislature earlier this year, a bill aimed at reining in Big Tech censorship introduced by Republican lawmakers in Texas looks set to pass.
The bill declares that “social media platforms function as common carriers, are affected with a public interest, are central public forums for public debate, and have enjoyed governmental support in the United States,” and that “social media platforms with the largest number of users are common carriers by virtue of their market dominance.”
The law contains strong transparency mandates for social media companies, requiring them to disclose how and why they moderate content, and how and why they prioritize certain types of content, including their own, in user newsfeeds.
It also prohibits censorship on the basis of political viewpoint and allows citizens of Texas to sue tech companies that wrongfully terminate their accounts or censor them. The Texas attorney general will also be empowered to sue tech companies on behalf of groups of users.
The common carrier language introduces a tougher and older legal standard than Florida’s tech censorship law, which was shot down by a Bill Clinton-appointed federal judge shortly after it was passed. It is one of the approaches suggested by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in his opinion on tech censorship, which he gave earlier this year.
The law has caused alarm amongst Big Tech’s paid advocates. NetChoice, the industry trade group that represents Google, Facebook, Twitter, PayPal, Amazon, and other companies known for engaging in political censorship, has been furiously condemning the law, to no avail.
Texas House Democrats also oppose the bill, and have attempted to add amendments that would allow tech companies to censor “hate speech” and “vaccine disinformation,” but were defeated.
Adam Kovacevich, the former top Google employee who now heads the Big Tech advocacy group Chamber of Progress, said the law would lead to more “hate speech” online. Kovacevich was embroiled in scandal during his time at Google for describing the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) as a “sideshow circus” while telling Google employees that the tech giant planned to “steer” the conservative movement using strategic political donations.
The bill has passed the Texas Senate, and its companion bill is likely to pass the House. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has publicly supported the law and is likely to sign it once it reaches his desk.
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. He is the author of #DELETED: Big Tech’s Battle to Erase the Trump Movement and Steal The Election.
Facebook-Owned WhatsApp Fined $266 Million by Irish Data Regulator
The Irish data protection commissioner has fined the Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp €225 million euro (approximately $266 million dollars) for “severe” breaches of privacy laws.
The Irish Times reports that Ireland’s data protection commissioner Helen Dixon has fined the Facebook-owned private messaging app WhatsApp €225 million euro (approximately $266 million dollars) for “severe” breaches of privacy laws. The fine came after European regulators encouraged Dixon to greatly increase the fine against the internet giant.
The WhatsApp fine is the largest issued by Dixon since 2018 when she was tasked with enforcing the European Union’s new privacy laws. Dixon commented on WhatsApp’s actions stating: “It is appropriate to classify the infringements . . . as being severe in gravity.”
WhatsApp was criticized by Dixon for a “very significant information deficit” among four violations of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which has resulted in sweeping changes to the handling of user data across Europe. According to Dixon, WhatsApp only provided 41 percent of the prescribed information to users of its service and none to non-users.
In a 266-page ruling, Dixon stated: “All four infringements are in my view very serious in nature,” adding: “They go to the heart of the general principle of transparency and the fundamental right of the individual to protection of his/her personal data which stems from the free will and autonomy of the individual to share his/her personal data in a voluntary situation such as this.”
Dixon stated that the impact on non-users of WhatsApp was “particularly severe” as they were denied the right to exercise control over their own personal data. Initially, Dixon proposed a 30 to 50 million euro fine ($35 million to $59 million USD) against WhatsApp but was told by the European Data Protection Board to increase the penalty.
Dixon’s office stated: “This decision contained a clear instruction that required the [Irish data protection commission] to reassess and increase its proposed fine on the basis of a number of factors contained in the EDPB’s decision and following this reassessment the DPC has imposed a fine of €225 million on WhatsApp.”
WhatsApp has disputed the fine, claiming that it is out of line with previous GDPR penalties. The company said in a statement: “We disagree with the decision today regarding the transparency we provided to people in 2018 and the penalties are entirely disproportionate. We will appeal this decision. WhatsApp is committed to providing a secure and private service. We have worked to ensure the information we provide is transparent and comprehensive and will continue to do so.”
It was recently reported that WhatsApp has faced a major security vulnerability that could lead to further data leakage. The company has since fixed the exploit but shows that the end-to-end encrypted messaging app may not be as secure as once thought. Read more about the vulnerability at 9to5Mac here.
Read more about the latest fine brought against WhatsApp at the Irish Times here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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