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Amazon and GoPro file joint lawsuit against Chinese counterfeiters
Amazon and GoPro have filed a joint lawsuit against a group of Chinese nationals and businesses they allege sold counterfeit GroPro products on Amazon.
US Customs seized $62.6 million worth of fake AirPods and headphones since October
The popularity of Apple's AirPods seems to have caused a boom in counterfeit audio gear.
New York orders Craigslist to remove ads for fake COVID-19 treatments
It's no secret that coronavirus-related scams are flourishing (the FCC put out a guide to avoiding them), and New York is now applying legal pressure to stop them. State Attorney General Letitia James has ordered Craigslist to "immediately remove" ads that either sell fake COVID-19 treatments or engage in price gouging on items like hand sanitizer. James also asked Craigslist to outline all its "proactive efforts" to spot and clamp down on these ads.
Facebook and eBay crack down on fake product reviews after UK warning
Facebook and eBay are taking steps to crack down on fake and misleading product reviews, following an advisory notice from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Both companies have signed agreements to better identify, investigate and respond to fake reviews, resulting in Facebook removing 188 groups and disabling 24 user accounts, and eBay permanently banning 140 users.
Adobe, Twitter and the New York Times team up to fight digital fakes
Adobe, Twitter and the New York Times are tired of seeing fake media propagate, and they're teaming up to do something about it. The trio has launched a Content Authenticity Initiative that aims to create a standard for digital media attribution. Ideally, you'd know whether or not a picture or video is legitimate simply by examining the file -- you'd know if it had been manipulated.
An old Instagram hoax is back, and it's duping celebrities
An Instagram hoax that first circulated in 2012 is back, and celebrities from Usher to Waka Flocka Flame, Julianne Moore, Julia Roberts and Rob Lowe have allegedly fallen for it. The post claims Instagram is changing its rules and everything you've ever posted will become public, NBC News reports.
Twitter bans advertising from state-controlled news outlets
Twitter announced today that it will no longer accept advertising from state-controlled news outlets. Those accounts will still be able to use the platform, but not its advertising. The change comes after China's state-backed media outlet Xinhua sponsored ads attacking Hong Kong protestors.
Facebook is already awash with fraudulent ads about its own cryptocurrency
Facebook revealed its cryptocurrency plans just a month ago, and already it's the subject of a wave of fraudulent ads. As The Washington Post reports, around a dozen fake accounts, pages and groups have appeared on Facebook and Instagram, presenting themselves as official hubs for Facebook's not-yet-available Libra currency.
MIT made an AI that can detect and create fake images
Creating digital renderings and editing images can take hours, but researchers from MIT and IBM want to change that. They've trained AI to generate photographic images from scratch and to intelligently edit objects inside them. While this could be beneficial for artists and designers, it also offers insight into how neural networks learn context, and the team hopes to leverage the tool to spot fake or altered images.
FEMA's presidential alerts are an easy target for spoofing attacks
Last fall, FEMA conducted the first nationwide test of its Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system when it beamed a "presidential alert" to all capable phones in the US. WEA has long been used to send alerts about missing children, natural disasters and other dangerous events. But a few years ago, the FCC voted to expand WEA so that, among other changes, government officials could write longer messages. Now, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder warn that WEA's presidential alerts can be easily spoofed.
Facebook takes down more fake accounts from Iran
Today, Facebook removed 51 accounts, 36 Pages, seven groups and three Instagram accounts that were involved in "coordinated inauthentic behavior" based in Iran. According to the company, the individuals responsible pretended to be located in the US and Europe, impersonated news organizations and journalists in the Middle East and tried to contact public figures under the guise.
Amazon will let brands issue takedown strikes on fake listings
From sky-high fees for merchants selling big brands to a product registry, Amazon has used all the tools at its disposal in its ongoing war on counterfeits. But the fakes keep coming. Now Amazon is putting more power in the hands of brands as part of a new anti-counterfeiting program dubbed "Project Zero."
Scarlett Johansson says fighting deepfake porn is 'fruitless'
Scarlett Johansson knows better than most how horrible a place the internet can be. She's been the victim of leaks before where private photos have ended up publicly available. And now she's been targeted by a new kind of harasser, ones that use artificial intelligence to create surprisingly convincing (but fake) pornographic videos of her. One such video has racked up over 1.5 million views, and she's come to the sad conclusion that trying to fight these "deepfake" videos is "fruitless" and a "lost cause."
Samsung to develop real products with a fake Supreme
The Chinese launch event for Samsung's Galaxy A8s had a little surprise for fashion-conscious locals, as the company announced that it was partnering with Supreme. Samsung China's Feng En even invited executives from the popular fashion brand on stage to talk about the marketing collaboration. Don't get too excited about a potential Samsung x Supreme smartphone, however, because there's a catch.
Instagram cracks down on fake likes, follows and comments
Instagram announced today that it's cracking down on the use of third-party apps to boost growth. The company said that apps that generate fake likes, follows and comments violate its policies and going forward, those who use these sorts of apps will be prompted to stop. "We're taking a number of steps to limit this kind of unwelcome behavior," Instagram said. "Accounts we identify using these services will receive an in-app message alerting them that we have removed the inauthentic likes, follows and comments given by their account to others." They'll also be asked to change their passwords.
Facebook confirms accounts banned ahead of election had Russian ties
Facebook has confirmed that the 115 accounts it blocked yesterday due to "inauthentic behavior" are likely linked to Russia. In a new statement, the company says that a site claiming association with the Russia-based Internet Research Agency (IRA) posted a list of fake Instagram accounts it had made ahead of the midterm elections, many of which included those removed by Facebook yesterday. The IRA has been linked to previous interference with US politics and the 2016 Presidential election.
Fake news is down on Facebook in the US and France, say three studies
Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook have not had a great year. From being called in front of Congress to getting lashed by the media for its appalling handling of user data, the pressure has been on the social media site to get things right. Even calls for Zuckerberg to be kicked out as chairman are starting to percolate. But Zuckerberg might be able to breath a little easier today as three new independent studies show that fake news overall is going down on the website he launched from his dorm room.
Americans fear they can’t identify social media bots
A new poll from the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan fact tank that studies trends, found that many Americans fear they cannot discern a bot from an actual person on social media. This study did not tackle the percentage of people who have been fooled by bots, but more simply, what general knowledge and awareness Americans have. About half -- 47 percent -- of the people who've heard of bots feel confident or somewhat confident that they can recognize one on social media. Only seven percent felt they were very confident. This is contrast with another study done by Pew in December of 2016 that found 84 percent of Americans felt they could readily recognize fake news. According to the study, about 66 percent of Americans have heard of social media bots-- to at least some extent -- and are aware of their existence. Another 34 percent had never heard of bots at all. The margin of error for the 4,581-person sample was 2.4 percentage points.
Why are people pretending to be dead on Instagram?
Ahmed Simrin, 15, is one of the millions of teenagers who uses Instagram. He doesn't post pictures on his page every day (there are two total), yet somehow he's managed to get nearly 3,000 people to follow it. That doesn't make him a social media influencer, by any means, but his Instagram page quickly stands out when you realize one of the photos has over 22,000 comments and 4,000 likes. This type of engagement is typically only seen on accounts from celebrities. His viral picture, posted in October 2017, isn't anything out of the ordinary, either: It's Simrin simply standing next to his friend, each staring directly into the camera, with a caption that reads "Fresh out the oven." But then you look at the comments, and it would appear that poor Simrin is no longer with us. There are thousands of users telling him to rest in peace. "RIP, you'll be missed." "RIP, bro." "You died way too young." "I can't believe you're gone." The list goes on and on.
Facebook is building a 'war room' for the midterm elections
In a bid to protect its millions of users from further instances of foreign interference, Facebook is building a physical "war room" ahead of the upcoming US midterm elections. In an interview with NBC News, Facebook's head of civic engagement, Samidh Chakrabarti, said the company is "laser focused on getting it right" this time, after more than 126 million Americans were exposed to meddlesome posts from Russia-linked accounts during the 2016 presidential election.
