Musk’s X ‘deceives’ users with blue checks, EU charges
Breach of EU’s Digital Markets Act regulations could lead to hefty fines as high as 6 percent of total annual turnover
‘Blue check negatively affects users' ability to make informed decisions about account authenticity and content,’ Commission said
Updated 12 July 2024
AFP
BRUSSELS: Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s X platform is misleading users with its blue checkmarks for certified accounts, and is also violating EU content rules, Brussels said Friday, in a finding that could lead to hefty fines.
EU regulators are unhappy with the blue badge system under Musk’s ownership since anyone can now obtain it with a premium subscription, whereas before it was reserved for verified accounts including leaders, companies and journalists, after approval.
The formal warning against X is the first under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping law that forces digital companies do more to police content online. It follows a probe launched in December 2023.
X becomes the third company in as many weeks to face the European Union’s wrath for violating landmark new rules, after Brussels warned Apple and Meta to change their ways or risk massive fines — for breaches of a second law known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Musk has overhauled the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, including changing its name, since purchasing it in October 2022.
But his plans for X have put him at odds with Brussels since the EU wants big tech to do more to protect users online and increase competition in the digital sphere.
Now the European Commission has told X of its preliminary view that it is “in breach of” the DSA, arguing that the social network “deceives” users with its new blue badge rules.
“Since anyone can subscribe to obtain such a ‘verified’ status, it negatively affects users’ ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of the accounts and the content they interact with,” the commission said in a statement.
“There is evidence of motivated malicious actors abusing the ‘verified account’ to deceive users,” it added.
The commission also accused X of failing to comply with rules on advertising transparency — since it does “not provide a searchable and reliable” ad database — and failing to give researchers access to public data.
“X has now the right of defense — but if our view is confirmed we will impose fines and require significant changes,” the EU’s top digital official, Thierry Breton, said.
Fines under the DSA can go as high as six percent of a company’s total worldwide annual turnover and force it to make changes to address violations.
X will be able to examine the EU’s file and defend itself against Friday’s finding.
There is no time limit on how long an investigation may last.
EU regulators’ wide-ranging probe into X also continues to look into the spread of illegal content and the effectiveness of the platform’s efforts to combat disinformation, the commission said.
Under the DSA, X is one of 25 “very large” online platforms, including Facebook and TikTok, with more than 45 million monthly active users in the 27-country EU.
X is also in the EU’s crosshairs for a cut to content moderation resources. In May, the EU told X to hand over “detailed information and internal documents” and demanded more information about steps taken to mitigate risks from generative AI on elections.
There are currently other investigations under the DSA into Meta’s Facebook and Instagram as well as TikTok and AliExpress.
The DSA and the DMA are both part of the EU’s bolstered legal armory targeting big tech and EU regulators have stepped up enforcement of the laws since they came into force.
Spanish journalist or Russian spy? The mystery around Pablo González’s double life
Friends had organized protests in Spain demanding his release as Polish authorities kept him detained without charges
His inclusion from last week's US-Russia prisoner swap appears to confirm suspicions that he was a indeed Russian operative using his cover as a journalist
Updated 52 min 32 sec ago
AP
WARSAW, Poland: When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, reporters from around the world rushed to the Polish-Ukrainian border to cover an exodus of refugees fleeing Russian bombs.
Among them was Pablo González, a freelance journalist from Spain who had been based in Poland since 2019, working for Spanish news agency EFE, Voice of America and other outlets. Warsaw-based reporters knew him as an outgoing colleague who liked to drink beer and sing karaoke into the wee hours of the morning.
Two and a half years later, he was sent to Moscow as part of a prisoner swap, leaving behind both mysteries about who he really was and concerns about how Poland handled a case in which he was accused of being a Russian agent.
In the first days of the war, González provided stand-up reports to TV viewers in Spain against a backdrop of refugees arriving at the train station in the Polish border town of Przemysl.
But less than week into the war, Polish security agents entered the room he was staying in and arrested him. They accused him of “participating in foreign intelligence activities against Poland” and said he was an agent of the GRU, Russian military intelligence.
A man identified as Pablo González, a freelance Spanish journalist who has been based in Poland since 2019, second from left, with shaved head, listens to Russian President Vladimir Putin following the biggest prisoner swap between the US and Russia in post-Soviet history, upon their arrival at the Vnukuvo government airport outside Moscow on August 1, 2024. Gonzalez had another passport and another name: Pavel Rubtsov. (Sputnik, Kremlin Pool via AP)
Friends were astonished — and, as Poland held González without trial for months that turned into years, some grew skeptical and organized protests in Spain demanding his release. Authorities have never detailed the accusations.
But on Thursday evening, the burly 42-year-old with a shaved head and beard was welcomed home by President Vladimir Putin after being freed in the largest prisoner swap since the Soviet era.
His inclusion in the deal appears to confirm suspicions that González was a Russian operative using his cover as a journalist.
Born Pavel Rubtsov in 1982 in then-Soviet Moscow, González went to Spain with his Spanish mother at age 9, where he became a citizen and received the Spanish name of Pablo González Yagüe. He went into journalism, working for outlets Público, La Sexta and Gara, a Basque nationalist newspaper.
It’s not clear what led Poland to arrest him. The investigation remains classified and the spokesman for the secret services told The Associated Press that he could not say anything beyond what was in a brief statement. Poland is on high alert after a string of arrests of espionage suspects and sabotage, part of what the authorities view as hybrid warfare by Russia and Belarus against the West.
Polish security services said Poland included him in the deal due to the close Polish-American alliance and “common security interests.” In their statement, they said that “Pavel Rubtsov, a GRU officer arrested in Poland in 2022, (had been) carrying out intelligence tasks in Europe.”
The head of Britain’s MI6 agency, Sir Richard Moore, said at the Aspen Security Forum in 2022 that González was an “illegal” who was arrested in Poland after “masquerading as a Spanish journalist.”
“He was trying to go into Ukraine to be part of their destabilizing efforts there,” Moore said.
Another hint at his activities came from independent Russian outlet Agentstvo, which reported that in 2016 Rubtsov befriended and spied on Zhanna Nemtsova, the daughter of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was murdered in Moscow in 2015.
Poland-based journalists who knew González said he used his base in Poland to travel to former Soviet countries including Ukraine and Georgia. He had a license to operate a drone and used it to film Auschwitz-Birkenau from the air for coverage on the 75th anniversary of the death camp’s liberation in 2020.
Voice of America, a US-government funded organization, confirmed that he worked briefly for them, but they have since removed any of his work from their website.
“Pablo González contributed to a few VOA stories as a freelancer over a relatively short period of time starting in late 2020,” spokesperson Emily Webb said in reply to an emailed query. “As a freelancer who provided content to a number of media outlets, his services were arranged through a third-party company used by news organizations around the world.”
“At no time did he have any access to any VOA systems or VOA credentials,” Webb said. “As soon as VOA learned of the allegations, we removed his material.”
Because Poland’s justice system was politicized under a populist government that ruled in 2015-23, some activists worried about whether his rights were respected. Reporters Without Borders was among the groups that called for him to be put on trial or released.
The group stands by its position that he should not have been held that long without trial. “You are innocent until a trial proves you guilty,” Alfonso Bauluz, the head of the group’s office in Spain told AP on Friday. He expressed frustration at the silence around the case, and the fact that there will apparently not be a trial at all, saying Poland has not presented the evidence it has against him.
But the group also says it expects González to provide an explanation now that he is free.
Jaap Arriens, a Dutch video journalist based in Warsaw, hung out with the man he knew as Pablo in Warsaw and Kyiv, as well as in Przemysl shortly before his arrest.
Arriens described him as a friendly, funny man with a macho demeanor and a chest covered in tattoos that he once showed off in a bar.
González mostly fit in, but seemed better-off than the average freelance journalist. He always seemed to have the newest and most expensive phones and computers, working at the Poland-Ukraine border with the latest 14-inch MacBook Pro. He had plenty of money to spend in bars.
He recalled González once saying: “Life is good, life is almost too good.”
“And I thought: ‘Man, freelance life is never too good. What are you talking about?’ I don’t know any freelancer who talks like this.”
González, whose grandfather emigrated from Spain to the Soviet Union as a child during the Spanish Civil War, was known as a Basque nationalist with ties to the region’s independence movement.
Russia is suspected of supporting separatist movements in Spain and elsewhere in an effort to destabilize Europe.
González’ wife in Spain had been advocating on his behalf during his detention in Poland, even though they were not living together at the time of his arrest.
Over the past years, the suspect’s supporters ran an account on Twitter, now X, to advocate for his release.
When he was sent to Moscow on Thursday, the @FreePabloGonzález account tweeted: “This is our last tweet: Pablo is finally free. Endless thanks to all.”
Those who have followed the case are now awaiting González’s next moves.
He has Spanish citizenship — and the right to return to the European Union. His wife was quoted in Spanish media saying she hopes he can return to Spain.
How social media sites failed to avoid censorship, curb hate speech and disinformation during Gaza war
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack that sparked the conflict in Gaza, social media has been inundated with content related to the war
Meta, TikTok, X, and Telegram have promised to create a safer, less toxic online environment, but the process lacks transparency
Updated 04 August 2024
GABRIELE MALVISI JEFF LATZKE | AP
LONDON: Tech giant Meta recently announced it would start removing social media posts that use the term “Zionist” in contexts where it refers to Jewish people and Israelis rather than representing supporters of the political movement, in an effort to curb antisemitism on its platforms.
Facebook and Instagram’s parent company previously said it would lift its blanket ban on the single most moderated term across all of Meta’s platforms — “shaheed,” or “martyr” in English — after a year-long review by its oversight board found the approach was “overbroad.”
Similarly, TikTok, X and Telegram have long promised to step up efforts to curb hate speech and the spread of disinformation on their platforms against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Gaza.
Activists accuse social media giants of censoring posts, including those providing evidence of human rights abuses in Gaza. (Getty Images)
These initiatives are intended to create a safer, less toxic online environment. However, as experts have consistently pointed out, these efforts often fall short, resulting in empty promises and a worrying trend toward censorship.
“In short, social media platforms have not been very good at avoiding censorship or curbing hate speech and disinformation about the war on Gaza,” Nadim Nashif, founder and director of 7amleh, a digital rights and human rights activist group for Palestinians, told Arab News.
“Throughout the conflict, censorship and account takedowns have jeopardized efforts to document on-the-ground human rights violations as well.”
Nashif says hate speech and incitement to violence remain “rampant,” particularly on Meta’s platforms and X, where antisemitic and Islamophobic content continues “to spread widely.”
Since the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack that sparked the conflict in Gaza, social media has been inundated with content related to the war. In many instances it has served as a crucial window into the dramatic events unfolding in the region and has become a vital source of real-time news and accountability for Israeli actions.
Profiles supporting the actions of both Hamas and the Israeli government have been accused of sharing misleading and hateful content.
FASTFACT
1,050
Takedowns and other suppressions of content on Instagram and Facebook posted by Palestinians and their supporters, documented by Human Rights Watch during October-November 2023 period.
Even so, none of the social media platforms — including Meta, YouTube, X, TikTok, or messaging apps such as Telegram — has publicly outlined policies designed to mitigate hate speech and incitement to violence in relation to the conflict.
Instead, these platforms remain flooded with war propaganda, dehumanizing speech, genocidal statements, explicit calls to violence, and racist hate speech. In some cases, platforms are taking down pro-Palestinian content, blocking accounts, and sometimes shadow banning users voicing their support for the people of Gaza.
On Friday, Turkiye’s communications authority blocked access to the Meta-owned social media platform Instagram. Local media outlets said access was blocked in response to Instagram removing posts by Turkish users that expressed condolences over the recent killing in Tehran of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh.
The previous day, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim accused Meta of cowardice after his Facebook post on Haniyeh’s killing was removed. “Let this serve as a clear and unequivocal message to Meta: Cease this display of cowardice,” wrote Anwar, who has repeatedly condemned Israel’s war on Gaza and its actions in the occupied West Bank, on his Facebook page.
Screenshot of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's post denouncing Meta's censorship of his post criotical against Israel's assassination policy.
Meanwhile, footage of Israeli soldiers purportedly blowing up mosques and homes, burning copies of the Qur’an, torturing and humiliating blindfolded Palestinian detainees, driving them around strapped to the bonnet of military vehicles, and celebrating war crimes remain freely available on mobile screens.
“Historically, platforms have been very bad at moderating content about Israel and Palestine,” said Nashif. “Throughout the war on Gaza, and the ongoing plausible genocide, this has simply been exacerbated.”
A report by Human Rights Watch titled “Meta’s Broken Promises,” published in December, accused the firm of “systematic online censorship” and “inconsistent and opaque application of its policies” and practices that have been silencing voices in support of Palestine and Palestinian human rights on Instagram and Facebook.
The report added that Meta’s behavior “fails to meet its human rights due diligence responsibilities” due to years-long failed promises to address its “overbroad crackdowns.”
Jacob Mukherjee, convenor of the political communications MA program at Goldsmiths, University of London, told Arab News: “I’m not sure to what extent you can really even call them efforts to stop censorship.
“Meta promised to conduct various reviews — which, by the way, it has been promising for a good couple of years now since the last upsurge in the Israel-Palestine conflict in 2021 — before Oct. 7 last year.
“But as far as I can see, not a great deal has changed, substantially speaking. They have had to respond to suggestions that they’ve been engaged in censorship, of course, but that’s mainly been a PR effort in my view.”
Between October and November 2023, Human Rights Watch documented more than 1,050 takedowns and other suppressions of content on Instagram and Facebook posted by Palestinians and their supporters, including content about human rights abuses.
Of these, 1,049 involved peaceful content in support of Palestine that was censored or otherwise unduly suppressed, while one case involved the removal of content in support of Israel.
However, censorship appears to be only part of the issue.
7amleh’s violence indicator, which monitors real-time data on violent content in Hebrew and Arabic on social media platforms, has recorded more than 8.6 million pieces of such content since the conflict began.
Nashif says the proliferation of violent and harmful content, predominantly in Hebrew, is largely due to insufficient investment in moderation.
This content, which has primarily targeted Palestinians on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, was used by South Africa as evidence in its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Meta is arguably not alone in bearing responsibility for what has been described by South Africa’s lawyers as the first genocide livestreamed to mobile phones, computers, and television screens.
Activists accuse social media giants of censoring posts, including those providing evidence of human rights abuses in Gaza. (Getty Images)
X too has faced accusations from both supporters of both Palestine and Israel of giving free rein to handles known for spreading disinformation and doctored images, which oftentimes have been shared by prominent political and media personalities.
“One of the major issues with current content moderation systems is a lack of transparency,” said Nashif.
“When it comes to AI, the platforms do not release clear and transparent information about when and how AI systems are implemented in the content moderation process. Policies are often opaque and allow a great deal of leeway for the platforms to do as they see fit.”
For Mukherjee, the issue of moderation happening behind a smoke screen of murky policies is strongly political, requiring these companies to adopt a “balanced” approach between political pressure and “managing the expectations and desires of the user base.”
Activists accuse social media giants of censoring posts, including those providing evidence of human rights abuses in Gaza. (Getty Images)
He said: “These AI tools can kind of be used to insulate the real power holders, i.e. the people that run the platforms, from criticism and accountability, which is a real problem.
“These platforms are private monopolies that are essentially responsible for regulating an important part of the political public sphere.
“In other words, they’re helping to shape and regulate the arena in which conversations happen, in which people form their opinions, from which politicians feel the pressure of public opinion, and yet they are completely unaccountable.”
Although there have been examples of pro-Palestinian content being censored or removed, as revealed by Arab News in October, these platforms made clear, well before the Gaza conflict, that it is ultimately not in their interest to take down content from their platforms.
“These platforms are not made for reasons of public interest or in order to ensure that we have an informed and educated populace that’s exposed to a range of perspectives and is equipped to properly make decisions and form opinions,” said Mukherjee.
“The fact (is) that the business models actually want there to be lots of content and if that’s pro-Palestine content, then so be it. It’s ultimately still getting eyeballs and engagement on the platform, and content that provokes strong sentiment, to use the industry’s terms, gets engagement, and that means data and that means money.”
Beautiful boy: Saudi influencer just wants to inspire
‘I’ve always had a passion for beauty,’ TikToker Ali Majed says
Influencer says he wants to ‘support other aspiring beauty enthusiasts’
Updated 03 August 2024
Rahaf Jambi
RIYADH: A Saudi makeup artist with a gift for glamour is hoping to use his growing social media presence to inspire men and women across the region.
Ali Majed has almost 600,000 followers on TikTok and has been an ambassador for French beauty products retailer Sephora since 2022.
Despite his links to one of the giants of the industry, his online content regularly features lesser known brands from around the region.
Beauty influencer Ali Majid says he wants to ‘support other aspiring beauty enthusiasts.’ (Supplied)
“I’ve always had a passion for beauty, for as long as I can remember,” Majed told Arab News.
“Even when I didn’t quite realize it fully, because I was so young, I knew there was something about this world of creativity and glamour that was calling out to me.”
When he is not promoting Sephora products, Majed spends his time working on a range of his own.
HIGHLIGHTS
• Ali Majed has almost 600,000 followers on TikTok and has been an ambassador for French beauty products retailer Sephora since 2022.
• Majed’s interest was piqued by the boom in social media coverage that started around seven or eight years ago.
• His online content regularly features lesser known brands from around the region.
“My brand came about as a result of my constant contemplation of how I could support other aspiring beauty enthusiasts, not just in the region, but globally.
“If there’s anything I can do to make someone feel less alone and empower them to pursue their dreams, I’ll work on that immediately.”
Majed is one of a number of Saudi men who are making waves in the beauty industry. He said his interest was piqued by the boom in social media coverage that started around seven or eight years ago.
“That was the time where makeup content had made its way onto mainstream social media, planting its feet firmly into the ground, announcing that it was here to stay. And I enjoyed every second of it,” he said.
In 2022, Majed joined the Sephora Squad, a program for beauty content creators in the Middle East.
“It’s safe to say that (it) has taught me a tremendous amount of things about my job, whether it be the behind the scenes of the beauty industry or the influencer world and how to navigate that space as well.”
To those hoping to follow in his footsteps, Majed said it is all about being happy in what you do.
“Make sure this is something that you’re not only passionate about, but also something that sparks joy in you,” he said.
“It’s one thing to be incredibly interested in a certain field, for whatever reason, but when that interest is supplemented by a feeling of fulfillment and happiness, that is what will make you unstoppable.”
Majed said he took his inspiration from the first Saudi men to put themselves forward as beauty ambassadors.
“I have observed and learned from Bassam Fattouh, Fady Khataya, Issam Majed, Mohammed Hindash and many more,” he said.
“These men were each pioneers in their own way, masters of their signature techniques and also inspirations to many more like them within the region.”
These days, Majed is a beauty leader in his own right, with many other content creators complimenting him and citing him as an inspiration. Though his newfound fame still leaves him a little surprised.
“A fan recognized me and asked for a picture at a concert,” he said. “I was thrilled that someone wanted to take a selfie with me, as I didn’t realize that was something that could happen.”
Trump agrees to Fox News debate with Harris on Sept 4
Updated 03 August 2024
AFP
WASHINGTON: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said late Friday that he had agreed to debate his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, on Fox News on September 4.
“I have agreed with FoxNews to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
It was not immediately clear if Harris had agreed to the debate.
Trump’s post came hours after the vice president had secured the Democratic Party’s nomination as standard bearer in the November presidential election.
Trump’s White House bid was turned upside down last month when 81-year-old President Joe Biden, facing growing concerns about his age and lagging polling numbers, abandoned his re-election bid and backed Harris.
His decision to bow out followed a disastrous debate performance against Trump in June on CNN.
A second Trump-Biden debate had been slated for September 10 on ABC.
That was expected to go ahead as planned, with Harris replacing Biden, but a spokesman for Trump last week said it would be “inappropriate” to schedule a debate before Harris was formally the Democratic nominee.
The 78-year-old Republican nominee had previously said he would not debate Harris, who is nearly two decades his junior, departing from political tradition.
The former prosecutor and ex-California attorney general last month dared Trump to debate her face-to-face.
“Well Donald, I do hope you’ll reconsider to meet me on the debate stage, because as the saying goes, if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face,” Harris said at a campaign rally in Atlanta.
In his post, Trump said the debate will be held in Pennsylvania, and moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum in front of a full audience.
Fox News confirmed that the debate would have “spectators” and follow similar rules to the June 27 CNN debate between Trump and Biden.
The news channel said it had invited Trump and Harris to participate in a debate in Pennsylvania in September.
“I look forward to meeting and debating Kamala Harris on September 4th,” Trump said, adding the date was “convenient and appropriate” as it comes just before the September 6 start of early voting for the presidential election.
Arab press assaulted and harassed by both Israel and Hezbollah
Violent incidents underscore the growing threats faced by journalists in the region
Updated 03 August 2024
Arab News
LONDON: Recent incidents involving attacks on the media have heightened concerns about press freedom and journalist safety in the Arab world.
Separate assaults on an MTV crew in Lebanon by Hezbollah members and accusations by the Israeli Defense Forces against a journalist killed in Gaza underscore the growing threats faced by journalists in the region.
On Thursday evening, the IDF confirmed that it had killed Al-Jazeera journalist Ismail Al-Ghoul in an airstrike in Gaza, alongside cameraman Ramy El Rify, claiming Al-Ghoul was a Hamas operative involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Al-Jazeera dismissed these allegations as “baseless,” asserting they were attempts to justify the deliberate killing of its journalists.
Earlier this week, MTV reporter Nawal Berry and cameraman Dany Tanios revealed in an interview that they were assaulted and had their equipment broken by four men while attempting to cover the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on a south Beirut suburb, which killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukr.
Both incidents have been widely condemned by human rights organizations and press freedom advocates, reigniting discussions around press safety in the region during such a critical juncture.
Commenting on the Israeli killing, CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg stated, “Journalists are civilians and should never be targeted,” and demanded an explanation from Israel for what appeared to be a direct strike on Al-Jazeera journalists.
Al Jazeera, in its statement, refuted the Israeli accusations that Al-Ghoul was a member of the elite Nukhba unit who participated in the Oct. 7 attack and instructed Hamas operatives on how to record operations, dismissing them as an attempt to justify the deliberate killing of its journalists.
HIGHLIGHTS
• On Thursday evening, the IDF confirmed that it had killed Al-Jazeera journalist Ismail Al-Ghoul in an airstrike in Gaza, alongside cameraman Ramy El Rify, claiming Al-Ghoul was a Hamas operative involved in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
• Earlier this week, MTV reporter Nawal Berry and cameraman Dany Tanios revealed in an interview that they were assaulted and had their equipment broken by four men while attempting to cover the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on a south Beirut suburb.
Since the beginning of the conflict, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported that at least 113 journalists and media workers have been among the more than 39,000 killed, making it the deadliest period for journalists since CPJ began gathering data in 1992.
Of these, 108 were Palestinian, two Israeli, and three Lebanese.
While attacks on the press by Israel, particularly targeting Al Jazeera, have been documented well before the conflict began, the recent incident involving Hezbollah members attacking the MTV crew has taken many by surprise.
Despite Hezbollah supporters having a history of assaulting and threatening journalists, the violence against the MTV crew highlights the escalating dangers faced by the media.
Tanios, in his interview, recounted that he and his colleague were assaulted when a few men saw the MTV logo on his camera.
“They asked what we were covering, and I told them we’re here to cover the event that took place here,” he said.
“I told them we’re your siblings; we’re here to support you, we’re not against you,” adding that if some people “have a problem with MTV,” the journalists working for the channel should not pay the price.
The Yazidi nightmare
Ten years after the genocide, their torment continues
