Facebook regional director Ankhi Das should withdraw her criminal complaint against journalist Awesh Tiwari: CPJ

New Delhi: Facebook regional director Ankhi Das should withdraw her criminal complaint against journalist Awesh Tiwari, and respect citizens’ rights to criticize her, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On August 16, Das, Facebook’s public policy director for India, South, and Central Asia, filed a criminal complaint with the cyber unit of the Delhi police, accusing Tiwari and other social media users of threatening her, “making sexually coloured remarks,” and defaming her, according to news website Newslaundry and a copy of the complaint shared on social media.

The complaint cited a Facebook post by Tiwari, Chhattisgarh state bureau chief of news channel Swarajya Express, who frequently posts political commentary on Facebook. The post criticized Das for her and Facebook’s alleged inaction in controlling hate speech by members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party against religious minorities, and cited a Wall Street Journal article alleging Das’ fealty to the party. The post does not contain any sexual remarks or explicit threats.

In her complaint to the police, Das asked for an investigation to be opened against Tiwari for sexual harassment, defamation, and criminal intimidation. If charged and convicted, Tiwari could face fines as well as up to two years in prison for sexual harassment, up to two years for defamation, and up to seven years in prison for criminal intimidation, according to the Indian penal code.

“As a journalist, I put a status on Facebook based on the report published in The Wall Street Journal. It is ridiculous to call it threatening,” Tiwari told CPJ in a phone interview.

“It is patently absurd that an executive of Facebook, which claims a commitment to freedom of the press and free expression, would file a criminal complaint against a journalist for criticizing her on that very platform,” said Aliya Iftikhar, CPJ’s senior Asia researcher, in New York. “In trying to intimidate Awesh Tiwari, Ankhi Das is merely suggesting that The Wall Street Journal story that he cited struck a sensitive nerve. She should immediately withdraw her complaint.”

Das did not respond to CPJ’s emailed request for comment. A Facebook representative told CPJ via email that the social media outlet takes the safety and security of its employees seriously, but said it does not comment on individual employee matters.

Das’ complaint names five social media users who allegedly committed offenses against her. Tiwari was the only journalist among those named, according to Newslaundry.

Tiwari told CPJ that he has received 11 calls from unknown phone numbers threatening him with imprisonment, lawsuits, and physical harm since the news of Das’ police complaint broke.

On August 17, Tiwari filed a counter complaint with the police in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, accusing Das of criminal intimidation, defamation, and hurting religious sentiments, according to the Hindustan Times.  Tiwari said he also filed complaints against two Facebook users who made posts threatening to burn down his house; screenshots of those posts were published by Newslaundry.

The Delhi police told the Economic Times on August 17 that an investigation had been opened into Das’ complaint. CPJ messaged the police press relations office for comment, but did not receive any response. Courtesy: cpj 

Facebook launches TikTok-like product inside Instagram

California, US: Facebook rolled out its own version of social media rival TikTok in the United States and more than 50 other countries on Wednesday, embedding a new short-form video service called Reels as a feature within its popular Instagram app.

The debut comes days after Microsoft said it was in talks to acquire TikTok's U.S. operations from China's ByteDance. ByteDance has agreed to divest parts of TikTok, sources have said, under pressure from the White House which has threatened to ban it and other Chinese-owned apps over data security concerns. The launch of Reels escalates a bruising fight between Facebook and TikTok, with each casting the other as a threat. Both have been eager to attract American teenagers, many of whom have flocked to TikTok in the last two years.

Reels was first tested in Brazil in 2018 and then later in France, Germany and India, which was TikTok's biggest market until the Indian government banned it last month following a border clash with China. Facebook also tried out a standalone app called Lasso which did not gain much traction. Similar to TikTok, Reels users can record short mobile-friendly vertical videos, then add special effects and soundtracks pulled from a music library.

Those similarities led TikTok Chief Executive Kevin Mayer to call Reels a "copycat product" that could coast on Instagram's enormous existing user base after "their other copycat Lasso failed quickly." Facebook faced similar charges at a congressional hearing on U.S. tech companies' alleged abuse of market power last week, with lawmakers suggesting the company has copied rivals like Snapchat for anti-competitive reasons.

Vishal Shah, Instagram's vice president of product, acknowledged the similarities in a Tuesday (August 4) video conference call with reporters and said that "inspiration for products comes from everywhere," including Facebook's teams and "the ecosystem more broadly."

Instagram is not yet planning to offer advertising or other ways for users to make money through Reels, although it did recruit young online stars like dancer Merrick Hanna and musician Tiagz - who was recently signed by Sony/ATV after rising to fame via TikTok memes - to test the product ahead of launch. The company paid the creators for production costs, Shah said.

CEOs from Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple faced jabs for alleged abuse of their market power!

Washington, DC: Tensions between lawmakers were high during a much-anticipated congressional hearing on Wednesday, July 29 with four of America's most prominent tech CEOs in the hot seat.

When Republican Jim Jordan concluded questions about fears that Google's powerful search engine might steer voters to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Representative Mary Scanlon criticized Jordan's line of questioning. "I'd like to redirect your attention to antitrust law rather than fringe conspiracy theories," she said. "There is no fringe conspiracy," Jordan snapped back, prompting lawmakers to shout "Put your mask on!"

The issue of masks has been contentious between House Republicans and Democrats, especially following another positive case from one of their own colleagues on Wednesday, July 29. Republican U.S. congressman Louie Gohmert, who has steadfastly refused to wear a mask during the coronavirus pandemic, said on Wednesday he had tested positive for COVID-19, leading at least three of his colleagues to say they would self-quarantine.

The moment with Rep. Jordan came during an hours-long hearing in which Google and Facebook took the sharpest jabs for alleged abuse of their market power from Democrats and Republicans.

Facebook Inc's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon.com Inc's Jeff Bezos, Alphabet Inc -owned Google's Sundar Pichai and Apple Inc's Tim Cook - whose companies together represent about $5 trillion of market value - parried a range of accusations from lawmakers via videoconference before the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel.

On the Republican side, Jordan accused the companies of taking a long list of actions that he said showed they try to hamper conservatives from reaching their supporters."Big Tech is out to get conservatives," he said. The companies have denied allegations of political censorship. Jordan's allegations come after President Donald Trump, who has clashed with several of the biggest tech companies, on Wednesday threatened to take action against them.

"If Congress doesn't bring fairness to Big Tech, which they should have done years ago, I will do it myself with Executive Orders," Trump said on Twitter. The president did not provide details but in the past has been irritated by tech companies, including Facebook and Twitter, which have occasionally taken action on his postings on issues such as treatments for the coronavirus. He has also clashed with the Washington Post, which is owned by Bezos.

Facebook's Zuckerberg took a series of questions about the company's purchase of Instagram in 2012, and whether it was acquired because it was a threat. Zuckerberg responded that the deal had been reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission and that Instagram at the time was a tiny photo-sharing app rather than a social-media phenomenon.

Cicilline's subcommittee has been looking in to allegations by critics that the companies have hurt competitors and consumers with their business practices and seemingly insatiable appetite for data. The hearing marks the first time the four CEOs have appeared together before lawmakers, and was also the first-ever appearance of Bezos before Congress.

A detailed report with antitrust allegations against the four tech platforms and recommendations on how to tame their market power could be released by late summer or early fall by the committee, which has separately amassed 1.3 million documents from the companies, senior committee aides said.

Zuckerberg criticizes Trump virus response, Fauci implores young people to stay vigilant

California: The leading U.S. expert on infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, on Thursday implored younger people to continue social distancing and other measures to curtail spread of the novel coronavirus, which has surged in some parts of the country.

"You have to have responsibility for yourself, but also a societal responsibility, that your getting infected is not just you in a vacuum, you're propagating a pandemic," he said in a live interview with Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg.

Social media platforms including Facebook, which in April removed "pseudoscience" as an option for advertisers, have been criticized for allowing the spread of misinformation about the pandemic, from bogus cures to wide-ranging conspiracy theories.

Zuckerberg criticized the administration of President Donald Trump for its response to the virus.

"It is clear that the trajectory of the US is significantly worse than many other countries, and that our government and this administration have been considerably less effective in handling this." New U.S. cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, have climbed to over 60,000 a day from daily totals under 20,000 in May. The median age of those infected has fallen by about 15 years as younger people, many of whom may show few symptoms of illness, are being infected, Fauci said.

He cautioned that even asymptomatic people can spread the coronavirus to others, increasing the likelihood that the virus could infect a more vulnerable person. Fauci said some states have moved forward with reopening even though they did not meet guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We have to regroup," Fauci said, noting that some regions of the country are much less at risk than others. He urged people to wear face coverings, avoid crowds, maintain social distance and remember that being outdoors is always better than being indoors.

"We should be looking at public health measures as a vehicle or a gateway to getting the economy back," he said.

EU Court strikes down EU-US data transfer tool in Facebook case

Luxembourg: Europe's top court on Thursday rejected the validity of a mechanism used by thousands of companies to send data to the United States, backing concerns about U.S. surveillance raised by privacy activist Max Schrems in his clash with Facebook.

The EU-U.S. Privacy Shield was set up in 2016 to protect the personal data of Europeans when it is transferred across the Atlantic for commercial use. The same court also rejected its predecessor, known as Safe Harbour, in 2015.

However, judges upheld the validity of another data transfer mechanism known as standard contractual clauses but stressed that privacy watchdogs must suspend or prohibit transfers outside the EU if the protection of the data cannot be ensured.

Hundreds of thousands of companies including Facebook, industrial giants and carmakers use these clauses to transfer Europeans' data around the world for services ranging from cloud infrastructure, data hosting, payroll and finance to marketing.

The case - C-311/18 Facebook Ireland and Schrems - went to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg after Schrems challenged Facebook's use of the standard clauses, saying they lacked sufficient data protection safeguards.

Schrems shot to fame for winning a legal battle in 2015 to overturn Safe Harbour. EU concerns about data transfers mounted after former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden's revelations in 2013 of mass U.S. surveillance.

In the EU, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), introduced in 2018, seeks to increase individuals' control over their personal information. Companies that fail to comply are liable to fines of up to 4% of global annual turnover.