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I am worried for our democracy.So is Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir, the county’s tough-as-nails elections chief for the past 35 years. Which is why DeBeauvoir is finally speaking publicly about a serious threat she faced this year: an effort by Attorney General Ken Paxton to charge her with a crime for her handling of the 2020 election.“I don’t take kindly to being threatened and (feeling like) I can’t speak back,” DeBeauvoir told me last week.To be clear, Paxton did not succeed. (Nor did his office return multiple requests for comment for this piece.)Earlier this year, Paxton’s office tried to indict DeBeauvoir on a charge of unlawfully obstructing a poll watcher, a Class A misdemeanor that could bring up to a year in jail. It was a petty and trumped-up charge, and it did not fly, not even in Paxton’s hand-picked venue of Williamson County, known for its more conservative leanings. A grand jury there returned a “no bill” in April.It all sounds so tidy in the past tense.  » Read More

The Australian Electoral Commission has launched legal action against Liberal MP Andrew Laming for allegedly failing to disclose his political links on a Facebook page which appeared to be operating under the guise of a grassroots community group.The federal court proceedings come after Guardian Australia revealed in April that the Queensland MP was operating 35 Facebook groups – with at least one for each suburb in his electorate.The AEC is launching action based on just one of the 35 sites, which was called “Redland Hospital: Let’s fight for fair funding,” set up by Laming ahead of the last federal election to campaign against Labor.It is the first time the AEC’s authorisation requirements for social media will be tested in court after disclosure laws were updated following the 2016 election to explicitly include social media posts.According to the AEC website the penalty for a breach by an individual can be a fine of up to $26,640.In a statement,  » Read More

Facebook has paid RUB 17 million (roughly 1.7 crore) in fines owed in Russia for failing to delete content Moscow deems illegal, the Interfax news agency reported on Sunday, but with the threat of a potentially larger fine looming.Facebook parent Meta, along with Alphabet's Google, faces a court case this week for suspected repeated violations of Russian legislation on content and could be fined a percentage of its annual revenue in Russia.Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.Russia in October sent state bailiffs to enforce the collection of RUB 17 million in fines imposed on Facebook. Interfax said there were no more enforcement proceedings against the company as of Sunday, citing the federal bailiff service's database.Moscow has increased pressure on large tech firms this year in a campaign that critics characterise as an attempt by the Russian authorities to exert tighter control over the Internet, something they say threatens to stifle individual and corporate freedom.  » Read More

Facebook parent Meta, along with Alphabet's Google , faces a court case next week for suspected repeated violations of Russian legislation on content and could be fined a percentage of its annual revenue in Russia. Image used for representation purpose.   | Photo Credit: Reuters Facebook parent Meta, along with Alphabet's Google , faces a court case next week for suspected repeated violations of Russian legislation on content and could be fined a percentage of its annual revenue in Russia. Facebook has paid 17 million roubles ($229,643) in fines owed in Russia for failing to delete content Moscow deems illegal, the Interfax news agency reported on Sunday, but with the threat of a potentially larger fine looming.(Sign up to our Technology newsletter, Today's Cache, for insights on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, business and policy. Clickhereto subscribe for free.)Facebook parent Meta, along with Alphabet's Google, faces a court case next week for suspected repeated violations of Russian legislation on content and could be fined a percentage of its annual revenue in Russia.  » Read More

The mother of a young boy who died in the tragic bouncy castle accident in Tasmania has shared a heartbreaking Facebook post.  Zane Mellor, 12, was one of five Devonport Hillcrest Primary School students who died on Thursday, with several others critically injured. The incident occurred when a sudden gust of wind lifted the bouncy castle into the air and led to the children falling from a height of 10m.  Australian media reported that the school was holding its end of year celebration.  Mellor's mother Georgie Gardam penned a moving and heartbreaking Facebook post revealing her "world is broken". "To the love of my life, my firstborn, my world, I miss you beyond words," she wrote. "This isn't real, how do we go on without you, we know we gave you the best life." Gardam said she spoiled her son and that he was an avid gamer and loved playing online with his friends.  "I may of let you game a little too long or spoil you with too much McDonald's and Hawaiian pizza and buy too many PlayStation games but everything I did in life was for you," Gardam wrote.  » Read More

The year is about to end and it has been a busy one for social media giants such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. From crypto to the Olympics and Squid Games to Adele’s album, there was plenty for social media users to keep themselves busy on the platforms. In fact, the latest figures by Statista show that there were 3.78 billion social media users worldwide in 2021 — a five percent increase from a year ago. It is also 920 million more than the number of social users in 2017, which represents a whopping 32.2 percent jump in under five years. With their increasing user base, social media platforms are striving to make social media a safe and better place —and there’s always something new coming up in the social media space. Here we explore all the important features released by Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Twitter in 2021. Twitter All features rolled out by Twitter in 2021. (File Image)Birdwatch: Twitter launched a pilot program called Birdwatch that will allow users to flag tweets that they believe are misleading and write notes to provide context.  » Read More

Thank you for supporting our journalism. This article is available exclusively for our subscribers, who help fund our work at the Chicago Tribune. A federal judge sentenced a Hammond man to 50 years Thursday for his role in soliciting child porn through Facebook. Federal prosecutors alleged Johnson used Facebook to target poor women, messaging them with promises of cash if they would send “sexually explicit” pictures of babies or young children. Three women responded, sending pornographic images of genitalia — including one Chicago woman of her own child, prosecutors alleged. Johnson claimed he didn’t know her name, according to filings. All three were later indicted on a charge of child porn, federal prosecutors said. One pleaded guilty, a second is set to plead Dec. 21. A third died during the investigation, according to a release. An informant tipped off the FBI, while the Gang Response Investigative Team (GRIT) picked up the case. An investigator took over and pretended to be the informant, while communicating with a fake account later linked by IP addresses to Johnson.  » Read More

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Meta, Facebook's parent company, is taking action against the "surveillance-for-hire industry" that is using social media platforms to indiscriminately target dissidents and journalists. Facebook’s parent company, Meta, suspended around 1,500, mostly fake accounts run by 'cyber mercenaries' Nearly 50,000 Facebook users in more than 100 countries around the world have received a warning from the social media giant that they might have been targeted by surveillance companies. Facebook's parent company, Meta, released a report on Thursday saying that "cyber mercenaries" regularly spy on dissidents, critics of authoritarian regimes, journalists, families of opposition members and human rights activists — on behalf of paying clients. " looks like indiscriminate targeting on behalf of the highest bidder," Nathaniel Gleicher, head of security policy at Facebook, said following a months-long investigation. 'Surveillance-for-hire' Meta said it suspended around 1,500 mostly fake accounts run by seven organizations across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The accounts were linked to seven firms in Israel, India,  » Read More

Facebook owner Meta is calling out half a dozen private surveillance companies for hacking or other abuses, accusing them in a report published on Thursday of collectively affecting some 48,000 people across its platforms.The company's fight with the spy firms comes amid a wider move by American tech companies, US politicians and President Joe Biden's administration against purveyors of digital espionage services, notably the Israeli spyware company NSO Group.Meta is already suing NSO in the US. Nathaniel Gleicher, Meta's head of security policy, told Reuters that Thursday's crackdown was meant to signal that “the surveillance-for-hire industry is much broader than one company.”The Meta report said the company was suspending about 1,500 mostly fake accounts run by seven organisations across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Meta said users in more than 100 countries were affected.Meta did not provide a detailed explanation of how it identified the surveillance firms, but it operates some of the world's biggest social and communications networks and regularly touts its ability to find and remove malicious actors from its platforms.  » Read More