Controversies

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• According to a report from local publication News24, the commission now wants the Competition Tribunal to impose its “maximum penalty” – a fine of 10 percent of the U.S. social media giant’s local turnover.

• The commission found that Meta was abusing its market dominance by threatening to remove GovChat from its WhatsApp Business Application Programming Interface (WhatsApp Business API).

• It has referred Meta, WhatsApp and Facebook South Africa to the Tribunal for prosecution.

Company response

• Clarification — Meta

  This fine is about record keeping practices from 2018 that we have since updated, not a failure to protect people’s information.

• Clarification — Meta

  A Meta spokesperson said: “This fine is about record-keeping practices from 2018 that we have since updated, not a failure to protect people’s information.

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• Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has been fined €17 million (~$18.6 million) by the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) over a string of historical data breaches.

• As a result of its inquiry, the DPC found that Meta Platforms infringed Articles 5(2) and 24(1) GDPR.

• The details of all 12 security lapses Facebook ‘fessed up to over the six-month period of 2018 are not listed by the DPC in its announcement of the sanction — but in

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• As this is only the start of the CMA's investigation, no decision has been made on whether Google or Meta have broken the law.

• CMA and European Commission launch parallel probes into Google and Meta's "Jedi Blue" agreement.

Company response

• Remediation — Facebook

  Facebook forced to "sequester and delete" personal data collected during the period.

Source excerpt

• If the court approves the settlement, this long-running privacy lawsuit will finally be put to bed with $90 million (after the usual legal expenses) being parceled out to eligible users

• Facebook had told users that it would not track their visits to third-party sites when they were logged out of the service, but continued to do so when these sites in its extended ecosystem were visited.

• Facebook came to the negotiating table with the parties and hammered out the eventual $90 million penalty.

Company response

• Remediation — Meta

  As part of the settlement, Meta will also sequester and remove all of the data involved in this case.

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• Facebook's parent company, Meta, has agreed to pay $90 million to settle a decade-old privacy suit.

• The company has agreed to settle the class action suit filed back in 2012, accusing Facebook of tracking users on the web even after they signed out of their accounts across various platforms, including Android phones and PCs.

• The lawsuit is pending approval by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

Company response

• Apology — Meta

  On Tuesday, Meta apologized for the removal of the post and the restrictions placed on Neuer's page, saying that the situation had been remedied.

• Remediation — Meta

  We have also removed the restrictions on this Page, and have apologized to Hillel Neuer for the inconvenience caused.”

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• On Tuesday, Meta apologized for the removal of the post and the restrictions placed on Neuer's page, saying that the situation had been remedied.

• We have also removed the restrictions on this Page, and have apologized to Hillel Neuer for the inconvenience caused.”

• Meta, the parent company of Facebook, apologized on Tuesday after restricting and threatening to remove the Facebook account of Hillel Neuer, the executive director of the NGO UN Watch.

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• Meta has lost an attempt to dismiss a US Federal Trade Commission antitrust lawsuit which could force the company to sell WhatsApp and Instagram.

Company response

• Denial — Meta

  A Meta spokesperson told the The New York Times that the "claims are without legal basis,"

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• Facebook parent company Meta is being sued by the sister of a federal security guard who was killed in a drive-by shooting in 2020.

• The suit claims that the social network was responsible for connecting the two individuals charged in the incident and helping them plan the attack.

• A Meta spokesperson told the The New York Times that the "claims are without legal basis,"

Company response

• Denial — Meta

  These claims are without legal basis

• Remediation — Meta

  We’ve banned more than 1,000 militarized social movements from our platform and work closely with experts to address the broader issue of internet radicalization.

Source excerpt

• We’ve banned more than 1,000 militarized social movements from our platform and work closely with experts to address the broader issue of internet radicalization.

• The wrongful death lawsuit against Facebook’s parent company Meta was filed Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court.

• These claims are without legal basis

Company response

• Ongoing disclosure — Google

  A Google spokesperson said the company is committing to “further changes and active work with the CNIL”

• Ongoing disclosure — Meta

  a spokesperson for Facebook parent company Meta said it is reviewing the decision and remains “committed to working with relevant authorities”

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• A Google spokesperson said the company is committing to “further changes and active work with the CNIL”, while a spokesperson for Facebook parent company Meta said it is reviewing the decision and remains “committed to working with relevant authorities”.

• France’s data regulator has fined Google €150m and Facebook €60m over their cookie policies.

• The CNIL said today (6 January) that the websites Facebook.com, Google.fr and YouTube.com do not allow users to refuse tracking cookies as easily as accepting them.

Source excerpt

• 法国数据监管机构CNIL对Meta Platforms罚款6000万欧元，对谷歌罚款1.5亿欧元，理由是用户难以摆脱Cookie的在线追踪。

• 对 Facebook 的爱尔兰部门处以 6000 万欧元的罚款。

• 措施包括，谷歌和Facebook有义务为法国互联网用户提供拒绝Cookie追踪的更简单工具，以确保追踪前得到用户的同意。决定适用于谷歌旗下的法国网站google.fr 和 youtube.fr 以及 Facebook 旗下的法国平台。

Company response

• Clarification — Meta

  Given the complexity of this work, we want these assessments to be thorough. We will report annually on how we're addressing human rights impacts, in line with our Human Rights Policy.

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• Given the complexity of this work, we want these assessments to be thorough. We will report annually on how we're addressing human rights impacts, in line with our Human Rights Policy.

• In a letter sent to the company, earlier this month, many human rights groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and India Civil Watch International urged Meta to release the report.

• Human rights groups are calling on Meta (formerly called Facebook) to release the human rights impact assessment about hate speech on the social platform in India.

Company response

• Denial — Meta

  A spokesperson for Meta said in an email: “These claims are without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously.”

Source excerpt

• A spokesperson for Meta said in an email: “These claims are without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously.”

• The Texas Attorney General’s office is suing Facebook for allegedly violating state law when the social media platform captured and used biometric information from photos or videos uploaded to the site without users’ consent.

• The Texas lawsuit was filed in state district court in Marshall, Texas, where Paxton held a short press conference announcing the litigation.

Company response

• Denial — Meta

  Meta公司公开表示不认同这一决定

Source excerpt

• Meta公司公开表示不认同这一决定

• 因此，CMA决定否决Meta对Giphy的收购，并要求Meta出售Giphy公司。

• 据CMA官网消息，11月30日英国反垄断执法机构“竞争与市场管理局”（简称CMA）否决了Meta（原 Facebook）收购“表情包”公司Giphy的交易，称该交易阻碍市场竞争，这是CMA首次终结一项互联网巨头的并购交易。

Company response

• Denial — Meta

  this suit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously

• Denial — Meta

  the lawsuit filed by the Ohio attorney general has no merit.

Source excerpt

• Social medial giant Facebook is being sued for securities fraud over allegedly misleading statements that wiped out more than $100 billion in shareholder value, according to a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) by state Attorney General Dave Yost.

• A spokesperson for Facebook’s parent company, Meta, said in an email that “this suit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously.”

• The pension fund claims that Meta misrepresented the safety of its platforms for vulnerable users, including children and teenagers, to its shareholders and the general public.

Company response

• Denial — Meta

  Meta发言人发表声明称，这起诉讼“毫无根据”，并表示“我们将积极地进行自己辩护”。

Source excerpt

• Meta发言人发表声明称，这起诉讼“毫无根据”，并表示“我们将积极地进行自己辩护”。

• 俄亥俄州总检察官戴夫·约斯特（Dave Yost）提起诉讼称，Facebook在其应用可能对儿童健康产生的负面影响方面误导了公众。约斯特代表俄亥俄州的一家公共养老基金和其他Facebook投资者，以联邦集体诉讼的形式提起了这项指控。

• “The bottom line is, there are substantial questions about the governance of Facebook. Do their policies what they say they mean? What are the internal procedures to make sure the policy is followed?” Yost said.

Company response

• Denial — Meta

  A Meta spokesperson said that "this suit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously"

Source excerpt

• Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has been sued by a photo app called Phhhoto for allegedly copying its features for Instagram.

• The company also blocked Phhhoto from Instagram's API and from being pre-populated in Instagram posts, reports The Verge.

Company response

• Denial — Meta

  A Meta spokesperson declined the allegations and said, 'This suit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously.'

Source excerpt

• A Meta spokesperson declined the allegations and said, 'This suit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously.'

• The suit claims that Facebook and Instagram then created a clone that does the same job and then used the market share to get the other app to fall behind in the race.

• As Facebook Inc (FB) fights off a monopoly lawsuit charged by the FTC, another predicament hits the company as photo app Phhhoto has filed an antitrust lawsuit against the tech giant claiming that it has cloned their app and ruined their business.

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• Russia’s communication watchdog Roskomnadzor said that Facebook and Instagram had failed to remove 2 000 pieces that violate Russian laws, whereas Google keeps 2 600 pieces of banned content.

• Later on Friday, the court fined Meta Platforms $27.1m on the same grounds.

Source excerpt

• Later Friday, Facebook parent company Meta received a 1.9 billion ruble ($27 million) court fine, again for failing to remove banned content.

• A Moscow court also slapped a $27 million fine on Meta (formerly Facebook) over its failure to delete content banned by the law of the land.