TorrentFreak: Rightsholders Reported Five Million Unique ‘Pirate’ Domain Names to Google

TorrentFreak: Rightsholders Reported Five Million Unique ‘Pirate’ Domain Names to Google. “Over the past several years, copyright holders have asked Google to remove URLs from five million unique domains. These include blatant pirate sites such as The Pirate Bay, but also legal streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+. What stands out most is that a tiny fraction of all domains are responsible for the majority of the trouble.”

WIRED: This New Tool Aims to Keep Terrorism Content Off the Internet

WIRED: This New Tool Aims to Keep Terrorism Content Off the Internet. “Launched in Paris on Friday, Altitude is a free tool built by Jigsaw—a unit within Google that tracks violent extremism, misinformation, and repressive censorship—and Tech Against Terrorism, a group that seeks to disrupt terrorists’ online activity. The tool aims to give smaller platforms the ability to easily and efficiently detect terrorist content on their networks and remove it.”

Meduza: Russian authorities ordered removal of 4,333 pieces of content from Yandex streaming service in first nine months of 2023

Meduza: Russian authorities ordered removal of 4,333 pieces of content from Yandex streaming service in first nine months of 2023. “The Russian streaming platform Yandex.Music deleted 4,333 pieces of content in response to demands from government agencies in the first nine months of 2023, the outlet RBC reported on Wednesday, citing a transparency report from the company.”

X Corp/ Twitter case: Karnataka High Court asks whether government can withhold reasons for its blocking orders (Bar and Bench)

Bar and Bench (India): X Corp/ Twitter case: Karnataka High Court asks whether government can withhold reasons for its blocking orders. “Can the government withhold its reasons for blocking internet content when the Supreme Court has indicated that such blocking orders are open to being challenged in courts, the Karnataka High Court asked the Central government on Wednesday. Justices G Narendar and Vijaykumar A Patil posed the query while hearing X Corp’s appeal against a single-judge’s June 30 judgment that had dismissed X Corp’s challenge to orders issued by the Indian government between 2021-22 to block certain posts and accounts.”

Digital Services Act: Commission launches Transparency Database (European Commission)

European Commission: Digital Services Act: Commission launches Transparency Database. “Under the DSA, all providers of hosting services are required to provide users with clear and specific information, so-called statements of reasons, whenever they remove or restrict access to certain content. The new database will collect these statements of reasons in accordance with Article 24(5) of the DSA.”

The Guardian: AEC struggles to get Twitter to remove posts that ‘incite violence’ and spread ‘disinformation’ ahead of voice

The Guardian: AEC struggles to get Twitter to remove posts that ‘incite violence’ and spread ‘disinformation’ ahead of voice. “The Australian Electoral Commission has struggled to get Twitter to remove posts that it says are inciting violence against staff and promoting disinformation about the electoral process ahead of the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum, documents reveal.”

The Guardian: Apple removes app created by Andrew Tate

The Guardian: Apple removes app created by Andrew Tate. “McCue Jury & Partners, the firm representing four British women who have accused Tate of sexual and physical assault, claimed that the app deliberately targets young men and encourages misogyny, including members of the app sharing techniques on how to control and exploit women. The firm has also claimed that there is evidence to suggest that the app is an illegal pyramid scheme, with members being charged $49.99 a month to join.”

UK Government: Online animal cruelty activity to be removed from social media platforms

UK Government: Online animal cruelty activity to be removed from social media platforms. “Social media firms will be forced to remove online content facilitating animal torture in a further push to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. Under new proposals, social media platforms will be required to proactively tackle the illegal content and have it swiftly removed, or face fines of up to £18 million or 10% of their global annual revenue.”

TorrentFreak: Google Preemptively Banned Hundreds of Millions of ‘Pirate’ URLs Last Year

TorrentFreak: Google Preemptively Banned Hundreds of Millions of ‘Pirate’ URLs Last Year. “Google remains committed to tackling online piracy. In a recent letter to the US Patent and Trademark Office, the company says that it blocked hundreds of millions of URLs before they appeared in the search engine. These preemptive takedowns are part of a broader strategy that also deals with advertisements for streaming piracy that hasn’t happened yet.”

Bloomberg: Google Axes Bad Reviews of Tracker Exposing Uyghur Forced Labor

Bloomberg: Google Axes Bad Reviews of Tracker Exposing Uyghur Forced Labor. “The Human Rights Foundation’s Uyghur Forced Labor Checker had been experiencing a spate of unusual activity in recent months, with the number of downloads fluctuating dramatically, according to Claudia Bennett, the nonprofit’s legal and program officer. The tool, a Google Chrome extension, alerts internet users if a retailer or business whose website they are visiting has links to forced Uyghur labor.”

CNN: X took two days to suspend account of suspect in Pride flag killing

CNN: X took two days to suspend account of suspect in Pride flag killing. “X has suspended an account that posted numerous anti-gay and antisemitic posts and was used by the man accused of killing store owner Lauri Carleton over her display of a Pride Flag. But the account had remained live two days after law enforcement publicly confirmed its existence on the platform formerly known as Twitter. The social media company finally suspended the account Wednesday evening.”

Engadget: Google is making it easier to remove your private information from Search

Engadget: Google is making it easier to remove your private information from Search. “Google has announced several updates to Search aimed at making it easier for people to control information about them that appears in results. The company released a tool last year to help people take down search results containing their phone number, home address or email. Now, the company has updated the ‘results about you’ tool to make it more effective.”