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Huawei asks court to declare US government ban unconstitutional
Huawei is stepping up its fight against American bans. The tech giant has motioned for a summary judgment in its lawsuit to invalidate Section 889 of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, arguing that it violates the "Bill of Attainder, Due Process and Vesting" clauses of the US Constitution. The law explicitly bans Huawei by name despite "no evidence" of a security risk, Huawei's Song Liuping said, and bans third-party contractors who buy from Huawei even when there's no link to the US government.
Huawei says it's a 'victim of bullying by the US'
To no one's surprise, Huawei isn't reacting calmly to losing key suppliers in the wake of the US' trade restrictions. Representative Abraham Liu said the company was the "victim of the bullying by the US administration," and that this was an attack on the "liberal, rules-based order." He added that the company wasn't taking the loss of Android support lying down. Huawei was "working closely" with Google to see how it could "handle the situation," Liu said, noting that Google had no motivations to block the company beyond complying with US law.
Commerce Dept. grants Huawei a 90-day license to help existing users
Last week the US Commerce Department added Huawei and 68 subsidiaries to its "Entity List" that bans it from doing business with US companies without a special license. Today, as anticipated, the Commerce Department loosened that restriction a bit with a temporary 90-day license. According to Wilbur Ross, the Secretary of Commerce, it "will allow operations to continue for existing Huawei mobile phone users and rural broadband networks." Because many operators, or owners of various handsets might not have any other way to get software updates or look into backups for necessary equipment, Huawei can continue to service those existing customers -- for now at least. For the long term, however, it's still looking at the loss of access to technology like Google's Android OS, not to mention any business deals in the US. Update: Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei made a rare public statement, telling media in China that his company had already made preparations for a ban, and said that its 5G would not be affected by the restrictions. He also said the temporary license "bears little meaning."
Intel, Qualcomm and other chipmakers cut off supplies to Huawei
Huawei has more to worry about beyond Google's decision to suspend Android support. Bloomberg sources said that American chipmakers Intel, Qualcomm, Broadcom and Xilinx had told staff they wouldn't supply Huawei with parts "till further notice," leaving the Chinese tech giant without potentially vital components. Nikkei tipsters also claimed that Germany's Infineon had cut off "certain shipments" to Huawei out of caution, although a spokesperson since said that most of its products wouldn't be subject to the US blacklisting that had prompted companies to back away.
Google suspends Huawei's Android support (updated)
Huawei was already facing serious trouble following the Trump administration's de facto ban, but it might get considerably worse. Reuters sources claim Google has suspended transactions with Huawei that require transferring proprietary hardware and software, hobbling much of its smartphone business outside of China. It "immediately" loses access to future OS updates beyond the Android Open Source Project, according to the insider, and upcoming phones would have to go without official apps like the Google Play Store and Gmail.
US may soften ban on Huawei to help existing users
The Trump administration might ease its Huawei trade ban... if ever so slightly. A Commerce Department spokeswoman told Reuters in a statement that it might soon grant Huawei a temporary license to "prevent the interruption" of service for existing networks and gear. Numerous internet providers and wireless carriers in rural and other low-population areas (including eastern Oregon and Wyoming) still have Huawei equipment, and the Commerce Department's trade ban would leave them hanging in the event of a system failure.
Huawei says US ban is 'in no one's interest'
Huawei issued a statement today objecting to the recent actions of the US government to effectively ban Chinese telecom firms from doing business within the country. "This decision is in no one's interest," the company said. "It will do significant economic harm to the American companies with which Huawei does business, affect tens of thousands of American jobs, and disrupt the current collaboration and mutual trust that exist on the global supply chain." Huawei also claimed it is committed to finding ways to remedy the current situation and wants to "mitigate the impacts of this incident."
Trump declares 'national emergency' to make way for Huawei ban (updated)
The US government now has some pretext for outright bans on doing business with Chinese telecom firms like Huawei and ZTE. President Trump has signed an executive order declaring a national emergency banning sales and use of telecom equipment that poses "unacceptable" risks to national security, including critical infrastructure and the online economy. "Foreign adversaries" are exploiting more and more security holes through communications tech, Trump argued, and there were "potentially catastrophic effects" if this behavior went unanswered.
Instagram is working on new rules for banning accounts
Less than a week after banning Alex Jones and other far-right extremists, Instagram has revealed that it is working on a new policy for account removals. These upcoming guidelines, which the company told Engadget will start rolling out "soon," are going to change how Instagram determines when an account should be removed from its app. Right now, it relies on a policy that allows "a certain percentage" of violations within a window of time before it decides to ban someone, but Instagram says this can create leniency for users who post often. Basically, the more an account posts, the higher the number of violations they're allowed. You can see why that would be problematic.
Facebook and Instagram ban Alex Jones and other far-right extremists
Facebook is continuing with its stricter responses to hate and violence. Both Facebook and Instagram have banned several predominantly far-right personalities and groups, including Infowars, its creator Alex Jones, Louis Farrakhan, Laura Loomer, Paul Nehlen, Paul Joseph Watson and Milo Yiannopoulos. Infowars was particularly hard-hit on top of earlier crackdowns. The two social networks will remove any content shared from Infowars, with repeat offenders facing their own bans.
Sri Lanka lifts social media ban nine days after terrorist bombings
Sri Lanka's president ordered an end to the country's temporary ban on social media. The ban was instituted after devastating suicide bombings on Easter Sunday left more than 250 people dead. According to the New York Times, the government issued a statement today calling on the public "to use social media responsibly even though the ban is lifted, due to the prevailing situation in the country."
Indiegogo will ban fundraising for anti-vaccination projects
Add Indiegogo to the growing list of internet giants blocking anti-vaccination content. The crowdfunding site told BuzzFeed News it will ban campaigns from anti-vaxxers and others who conduct "health campaigns" unsupported by science. It didn't say when the ban would take effect, but the policy will come in the wake of a recently completed campaign that raised $86,543 for a documentary spreading anti-vaccination myths. Indiegogo will honor that campaign but intends to prevent similar projects from getting started in the future.
Sri Lanka temporarily bans social media after terrorist bombings
Extremist violence has once again prompted Sri Lanka to put a halt to social media in the country. The government has instituted a "temporary" ban on social networks, including Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber, after a string of apparently coordinated bombings that targeted churches and hotels on April 21st, killing over 200 people. Udaya Seneviratne, secretary to Sri Lanka's president, described as an attempt to "prevent incorrect and wrong information" from spreading in the wake of the terrorist attacks.
Nepal bans 'PUBG' over concerns kids are addicted
Authorities and parents in Nepal are worried kids and teenagers are addicted to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. As such, officials have banned the battle royale game in the Himalayan nation as of today.
Facebook bans white nationalism and separatism accounts in Canada
Last week, Facebook announced it would ban white nationalism and separatism content, in addition to the white supremacy content it already prohibits. Today, we're getting a sense of which accounts that might include. According to BuzzFeed News, Facebook will ban groups, Pages and Instagram accounts associated with Faith Goldy, the Canadian Nationalist Front, Soldiers of Odin, Wolves of Odin, Kevin Goudreau and the Aryan Strikeforce.
San Francisco lawmakers will consider a ban on e-cigarette sales
Authorities in San Francisco are considering banning the sale of e-cigarettes until the FDA carries out an investigation on their effects on health. Officials from the city -- which has already banned the sale of flavored tobacco and flavored vaping liquid -- said such a review should have been completed before e-cigarettes entered the market.
Reddit bans gore-, death-focused channels following NZ mosque attack
Following other social networks, Reddit has also faced people trying to reshare video of a terrorist attack on a mosque in New Zealand. Now two notorious subreddits, r/watchpeopledie and r/Gore have been banned for hosting links to it. Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell shared a picture of a moderator saying "The video stays up until someone censors us." In 2015 Reddit chose to ban instead of quarantine a number of racist groups, and researchers found the move made its community less toxic overall. On the banned pages, Reddit posted a note saying their removal is because of violating its policy against content glorifying or encouraging violence, although it doesn't explain how they were left up so long in the first place.
Twitter bans right-wing activist Jacob Wohl over fake accounts
Twitter has cracked down on one of its more overt offenders. The social network told Daily Beast it has banned conservative activist Jacob Wohl for "multiple violations" of its rules by creating and running numerous fake accounts. He'd admitted to USA Today in an interview that he intended to open fake Twitter and Facebook accounts to manipulate the 2020 election in favor of Trump, and it appears that he didn't waste time. A Daily Beast source said he'd already crafted "several" Twitter accounts before Twitter dropped the hammer.
Slack apologizes for 'mistakenly' banning people who had visited Iran
On Wednesday a number of people noticed their Slack access had suddenly been revoked, and the company said it was due to complying with "U.S. trade embargoes and economic sanctions regulations." However, it had cut off people who weren't logging on from countries impacted by sanctions or embargoes, although as TechCrunch noted, some said they had traveled to countries like Iran, North Korea or Cuba. Late Friday Slack apologized for its far-too-wide-reaching bans, claiming that "we made a series of mistakes and inadvertently deactivated a number of accounts that we shouldn't have." Slack: We did not block any user based on their nationality or ethnicity. As is standard in the enterprise software industry, Slack uses location information principally derived from IP addresses to implement these required blocks. We do not collect, use, or possess any information about the nationality or ethnicity of our users. We have restored access to most of the mistakenly blocked accounts, and we are working hard to restore any remaining users whose access was blocked in error. If you think we've made a mistake in blocking your access, please reach out to feedback@slack.com and we'll review as soon as possible. Going forward, the company said it will "soon" block access to IP addresses from certain countries. While users who travel their may not have access while connected to those networks, they won't be banned and can log in when they're in another region that isn't under legal sanctions.
Facebook bans hundreds more pages relating to Myanmar conflict
Just a week after Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey admitted he "doesn't know enough" about the political situation in Myanmar, following his series of tone-deaf tweets applauding the country, Facebook has taken further action to stymy the calls to violence made on its platform. The network has now banned an additional 425 pages, 17 groups, 135 Facebook accounts and 15 Instagram accounts, adding to takedowns made in August and October.
