On July Fourth, Jason Miller, spokesman for former U.S. President Donald Trump, plans to launch a new social media app called Gettr. According to Miller, the new platform is to act as an extension of the MAGA brand and serve as an alternative to other social media platforms from which Trump has been suspended.
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No Twitter, no problem: Trump to start own social media platform
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Deadline day for the fight against robocalls
The Trump administration attempted to crack down on robocalls, but the Federal Communications Commission struggled with enforcement. As of June 30, 2021, major phone carriers have to adopt new technology that blocks fake or spoofed calls–or face fines if they don’t.
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Federal judge dismisses antitrust lawsuits targeting Facebook
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Monday dismissed antitrust lawsuits brought against Facebook by the Federal Trade Commission and a coalition of state attorneys general, dealing a significant blow to attempts by regulators to rein in tech giants.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled Monday that the lawsuits were “legally insufficient” and didn’t provide enough evidence to prove that Facebook was a monopoly. The ruling dismisses the complaint but not the case, meaning the FTC could refile another complaint.
“These allegations — which do not even provide an estimated actual figure or range for Facebook’s market share at any point over the past ten years — ultimately fall short of plausibly establishing that Facebook holds market power,” he said.
The U.S. government and 48 states and districts sued Facebook in December 2020, accusing the tech giant of abusing its market power in social networking to crush smaller competitors and seeking remedies that could include a forced spinoff of the social network’s Instagram and WhatsApp messaging services.
The FTC had alleged Facebook engaged in a “a systematic strategy” to eliminate its competition, including by purchasing smaller up-and-coming rivals like Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. New York Attorney General Letitia James said when filing the suit that Facebook “used its monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition, all at the expense of everyday users.”
Boasberg dismissed the separate complaint made by the state attorneys general as well.
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DOJ seizes Iranian state-linked news website domains
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — American authorities seized a range of Iran’s state-linked news website domains they accused of spreading disinformation, the U.S. Justice Department said Tuesday, a move that appeared to be a far-reaching crackdown on Iranian media amid heightened tensions between the two countries.
The Justice Department said 33 of the seized websites were used by the Iranian Islamic Radio and Television Union, which was singled out by the U.S. government last October for what officials described as efforts to spread disinformation and sow discord among American voters ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
The U.S. says three other seized websites were operated by the Iraqi Shiite paramilitary group, Kata’ib Hizballah, which more than a decade ago was designated a foreign terrorist organization. The group is separate from the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group whose news websites remained operational.
The website domains are owned by U.S. companies, but despite the sanctions, neither the IRTVU nor KH obtained the required licenses from the U.S. government before using the domain names, according to the Justice Department.
The Justice Department announcement came hours after the Iranian state-run news agency IRNA revealed the U.S. government seizures without providing further information.
The takedowns come as world powers scramble to resurrect Tehran’s tattered 2015 nuclear deal and just days after the election victory of Iran’s hard-line judiciary chief, Ebrahim Raisi. On Monday, Raisi, known for his hostility to the West, staked out a hard-line position in his first news conference. He ruled out the possibilities of meeting with President Joe Biden or negotiating over Tehran’s ballistic missile program and support for regional militias — concerns the Biden administration wants addressed in future talks.
Relations between Iran and the U.S. have deteriorated for years following President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from Tehran’s nuclear deal and the return of devastating sanctions on the country. That decision has seen Iran, over time, gradually abandon every limit on uranium enrichment. The country is now enriching uranium to 60%, its highest level ever, though still short of weapons-grade levels.
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From strikes and hot deals: What you need to know about Amazon Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day began Monday, with deals and strikes grabbing the headlines.
This is the earliest time of year Prime Day has ever happened. It was moved up to accommodate the Olympics next month.
Many people were excited for one of the busiest online shopping days of the year. Video caught a plane spelling “Amazon Prime Day” in the sky over Brisbane Australia.
But there are others who voiced their opposition to the shopping holiday. A German trade union called on workers at seven Amazon warehouses to go on strike.
The union said it was organizing the strike to get better pay and working conditions. They have been doing this at various German Amazon locations since 2013.
In addition, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called Monday “a perfect day not to shop Amazon”.
“It’s a perfect day to keep it local, to buy from neighborhood stores,” Mayor de Blasio said.
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Hackers inflame tensions between Russia and United States
Hackers based in Russia have perpetrated more than 1,000 cyber attacks this year, and the majority of those attacks have targeted companies and infrastructure in the United States.
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Southwest Airlines reports second straight day of technical issues
Video above was captured by Twitter user @paytons420, who said they took it at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
All Southwest Airlines flights were temporarily grounded Tuesday afternoon after the second straight day of technical issues.
Southwest blamed Tuesday’s grounding on “intermittent performance issues with our network connectivity.”
Nearly 500 flights, 14 percent of Southwest’s flight schedule for the day, had to be canceled. Another 37 percent had to be delayed.
From flight tracking service Flight Aware, as of 6/15/21, 4:30 p.m. EDT
A similar outage happened Monday night. Southwest blamed that outage on a third-party provider of weather data.
Monday’s outage delayed more than 1,500 flights. That was more than a quarter of all flight delays within the United States.
From flight tracking service Flight Aware, as of 6/15/21, 4:30 p.m. EDT
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Tesla unveils its fastest car ever: 0 to 60 in under 2 seconds
Tesla unveiled the Model S Plaid during a live event at the company’s factory in Fremont, California. The car sports several new updates, including improved speed, range, and a new interior. The car can go from 0-60 mph in a 1.99 seconds and is the fastest production car ever, says Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
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DOJ top security official resigning
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department’s top national security official is resigning from his position after revelations that the department secretly seized records from Democrats and members of the media.
John Demers will leave his position by the end of next week, a Justice Department official told The Associated Press on Monday. The official could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.
A second person familiar with the matter said Demers had planned for weeks to leave the department by the end of June. He was sworn in a few weeks after the subpoena for the Democrats’ records. He is one of the few Trump appointees who has remained in the Biden administration. The official and the person could not discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity.
The resignation comes amid questions about what Demers knew about the Justice Department’s efforts to secretly seize the phone data from House Democrats and reporters as part of the aggressive investigations into leaks.
News emerged last week that the Justice Department had secretly subpoenaed Apple for metadata from House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff and another Democratic member of the panel, California Rep. Eric Swalwell, in 2018, as their committee was investigating then-President Donald Trump’s ties to Russia. Schiff at the time was the top Democrat on the panel, which was led by Republicans.
The records of at least 12 people connected to the House intelligence panel were eventually shared with the Justice Department by Apple after the subpoena was issued in 2018. The people included aides, former aides and family members. One was a minor.
The subpoena, issued Feb. 6, 2018, requested information on 73 phone numbers and 36 email addresses, Apple said. It also included a non-disclosure order that prohibited the company from notifying any of the people and was renewed three times, the company said in a statement.
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Colonial Pipeline CEO testifies on ransomware attack
Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount testified Tuesday morning before the Senate Homeland Security Committee about last month’s ransomware attack.
Blount called the decision to pay the roughly $4.4 million ransom one of the most difficult he has had to make in his life.
He said it was the right thing to do, even though authorities typically say to not pay ransom.
“I know how critical our pipeline is to the country. And I put the interests of the country first,” Blount said. “I kept the information closely held because we were concerned about operational safety and security and we wanted to stay focused on getting the pipeline back up and running.”
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday it had recovered $2.3 million worth of the ransom money.
The recovery was part of a worldwide sting operation called Trojan Shield.
More than 800 people were arrested in 700 raids in 16 countries.
“The amount of intelligence that we received was staggering,” FBI Special Agent-in-charge Suzanne Turner said. “From seizing drugs, guns and millions of dollars in multiple currencies to addressing more than 150 threats to life.”