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Facebook And Instagram Will Charge UK Users For Ad-Free Versions Of The Platforms 

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Meta has announced that Facebook and Instagram users in the United Kingdom will now be offered ad-free versions of the platforms if they pay a monthly fee up to £3.99 ($5.37) a month.

This announcement comes from Mark Zuckerberg as a response to regulatory warnings about personalized advertisements which are generated by using users’ data placed in an algorithm to produce targeted ads. The ad-free subscription service gives users the option to get out of targeted ads. 

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Reports indicate that web users will be charged £2.99 ($4.02) a month and mobile users will be charged £3.99 ($5.37) a month to scroll through Facebook and Instagram without seeing advertisements. 

Additionally, if accounts are linked, users will only need to pay one monthly fee. In a statement, Meta stated: 

“This will give people based in the UK the choice between continuing to use Facebook and Instagram for free with personalized ads, or subscribing to stop seeing ads.”

Users who opt not to pay the monthly fee will continue to see advertisements on their pages as usual. In their statement, Meta said the paid tier services will be rolled out throughout the upcoming weeks. 

This new subscription model is very similar to one that already exists between Meta and the European Union. However, the EU deemed that policy in breach of the digital markets act by the European Commission. The digital markets act is a piece of legislation that was designed to crack down on the overwhelming power big tech holds. 

The commission fined Meta €200 million ($235,125,380) this year after claims that the company could, and should, have released a free version of their sites that utilized less personal data including the users gender, age, and location, to be used to make targeted ads. 

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The Informational Commissioner’s Office is the UK’s data watchdog, and they stated that they support the move from Meta. 

“This moves Meta away from targeting users with ads as part of the standard terms and conditions for using its Facebook and Instagram services, which we’ve been clear is not in line with UK law,” said an ICO spokesperson according to the Guardian. 

The ICO stated this year that internet and Meta users should have the option to “opt out” of their personal data being used to create and push targeted ads. This statement came after Meta settled a court case with a UK citizen regarding targeted advertisements. 

More specifically, Meta agreed in the court case to stop targeting Tanya O’Carroll, a human rights campaigner who alleged that the company breached UK data laws by neglecting to respect her right to demand that Facebook stop collecting her data for the sake of personalized ads. 

After the lawsuit and settlement, Meta announced it was considering creating and implementing an ad-free subscription service to its social networks. 

Gareth Oldale, a partner at UK law firm TLT, stated that the ICO’s support for the new subscription service from Meta exemplifies a divergence between the EU and UK. 

“This position is certainly pro-business and illustrative of the UK government’s direction to regulators to support economic growth and development of the digital economy,” he said. “It does, however, mean that the divergence between the UK and the EU positions has grown a little wider.”

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New EU Travel Regulations Will Require Americans To Have Fingerprints Scanned Upon Arrival 

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Americans traveling to Europe in the future will have their fingerprints scanned and pictures taken under the European Union’s new Entry/Exit System.

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TikTok Facing New Privacy Investigation From Europe Over China Data Transfers 

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Popular social media app TikTok is facing a new privacy investigation from the European Union due to user data being sent to China, regulators stated this week. 

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The Data Protection Commission opened up the inquiry as a follow up to a previous investigation that ended earlier this year with a 530 million euro ($620 million) fine. The fine was enforced after it was found that TikTok put its user’s data at risk of being exposed and spied on by allowing remote access from China. 

TikTok’s European headquarters are based in Dublin, Ireland, so the Irish national watchdog will be serving as TikTok’s lead data privacy regulator in the 27-nation EU. 

During a previous investigation, TikTok told the regulator that they didn’t store European user data in China, and the data itself was remotely accessible by staff in China. 

Later on, it backtracked and stated that some data had been stored on Chinese servers, and the watchdog responded by stating they would consider regulatory action, according to the Associated Press.

“As a result of that consideration, the DPC has now decided to open this new inquiry into TikTok,” the watchdog stated.

“The purpose of the inquiry is to determine whether TikTok has complied with its relevant obligations under the GDPR in the context of the transfers now at issue, including the lawfulness of the transfers,” the regulator said, referencing the General Data Protection Regulation which is the European Union’s privacy rules.  

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TikTok is owned by China’s ByteDance, and has been under scrutiny from multiple nations over how they handle personal user information and data. Western officials specifically believe that the app poses a security risk which the EU has also cited. 

“Our teams proactively discovered this issue through the comprehensive monitoring TikTok implemented under Project Clover,” the company said in a statement. 

“We promptly deleted this minimal amount of data from the servers and informed the DPC. Our proactive report to the DPC underscores our commitment to transparency and data security.”

Under the GDPR, European user data can only be transferred outside of the bloc if there are safeguards in place. These safeguards ensure a certain level of protection, and only 15 countries or territories are deemed to have an equal data privacy obligation as the EU.

EU Lawyer Says Hungary’s Censorship Of LGBTQ+ Content Violates Human Rights 

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A Hungarian law that bans content about LGBTQ+ people from schools and media is a violation of human rights, according to a senior legal scholar in the European court of justice.

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European Union Begin Landmark AI Law Enforcement With Restrictions 

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The European Union has officially begun enforcing a landmark artificial intelligence law this week, setting a new standard for AI restrictions and large fines for violations. 

The EU AI Act is the first-of-its-kind regulatory outline for this growing technology, according to reports. This past Sunday was the deadline for prohibitions on certain AI systems and requirements to guarantee technology literacy among staff members. 

Companies now need to comply with these restrictions and will face penalties if they don’t. The AI Act bans certain applications of AI that are considered to pose an “unacceptable risk to citizens,” CNBC reported.

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Specifically, social scoring systems, real-time facial recognition, and other types of biometric identifications that categorize people by their race, sex life, sexual orientation, and more. The Act also bans what they consider manipulative AI tools. 

If companies are to breach the act they can face fines up to 35 million euros ($35.8 million) or 7% of their global annual revenues, depending on which of the amounts is larger. The size of the penalty will also depend on the size of the company and the specific infringement. 

The Act itself isn’t fully implemented yet, but it’s in its initial stages of developments that are upcoming. 

“It’s quite important to recognize that the AI Act is predominantly a product safety legislation,” said Tasos Stampelos, the head of EU public policy and government relations at Mozilla, to CNBC during a panel in November. 

“With product safety rules, the moment you have it in place, it’s not a done deal. There are a lot of things coming and following after the adoption of an act,” he said.

“Right now, compliance will depend on how standards, guidelines, secondary legislation or derivative instruments that follow the AI Act, that will actually stipulate what compliance looks like.”

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Some technology executives and investors are not happy with the AI Act considering this technology is so new. They fear the Act will deter the development of AI. 

For example, Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands told CNBC last summer that he’s “concerned” over the EU’s focus on regulating AI. 

“Our ambition seems to be limited to being good regulators,” Constantijn said. “It’s good to have guardrails. We want to bring clarity to the market, predictability and all that. But it’s very hard to do that in such a fast-moving space.”

Other leaders, however, believe that these regulations will give Europe a global advantage over the development of AI thanks to the regulations they’re implementing. 

“While the U.S. and China compete to build the biggest AI models, Europe is showing leadership in building the most trustworthy ones,” Diyan Bogdanov, director of engineering intelligence and growth at Bulgarian fintech firm Payhawk, said.

“The EU AI Act’s requirements around bias detection, regular risk assessments, and human oversight aren’t limiting innovation — they’re defining what good looks like,” he stated.

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States In The EU Announce Official Recognition Of Palestinian State 

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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez made a formal announcement recently stating that “the establishment of a Palestinian state is the only route to peace.” The statement was made as a part of Spain, Norway, and Ireland formally recognizing Palestine as a state. 

Sanchez spoke this week before a cabinet vote that approved their already announced plan to recognize a Palestinian state. 

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“[The cabinet has] adopted an important decision to recognize a Palestinian state [with] one objective: to help Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace,” said Pilar Alegria, a spokesperson for the Spanish government. 

Prime Minister Sanchez said this declaration was “a matter of historical justice”.

“The only route towards establishing peace is the establishment of a Palestinian state, living side by side with the state of Israel. The state of Palestine must be viable with the West Bank and Gaza connected by a corridor and with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Madrid stated they will not recognize any shifts to borders that existed before 1967 when the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip became a part of Israel’s territory in the Arab-Israeli War.

According to reports, leaders in Spain, Ireland, Malta, and Slovenia stated back in March that they were considering recognizing Palestine as a state as a means of ending the war in Gaza. 

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“For more than 30 years, Norway has been one of the strongest advocates for a Palestinian state. Today, when Norway officially recognises Palestine as a state, is a milestone in the relationship between Norway and Palestine,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement. 

Ireland’s cabinet approved of the formal recognition in what they say is “an important moment and I think it sends a signal to the world that there are practical actions you can take as a country to help keep the hope and destination of a two-state solution alive at a time when others are trying to sadly bomb it into oblivion,” Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris said.

In total, Palestine has been officially recognised by 144 other countries. Of the EU, Sweden, Cyprus, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria have recognised a Palestinian state.

The United Kingdom and Australia have said they are considering recognition, France has said now is not the time while Germany joined Israel’s staunchest ally, the United States, in rejecting a unilateral approach, insisting that a two-state solution can be achieved only through dialogue.

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EU Launching Formal Investigation Into Meta Regarding Election Misinformation Before June Polls Open 

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The European Union (EU) is set to launch a formal investigation into Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. The investigation was prompted over the EU’s concerns that the tech giant isn’t doing enough to counter Russian disinformation ahead of the EU elections in June, according to reports. 

The EU is also likely to express their concerns regarding the lack of effective monitoring of election content, and the inadequate tools they use for flagging illegal content. 

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Lisa O’Carroll, a correspondent for The Guardian, wrote that the European Commission is worried about Meta’s moderation system, claiming that it is not extensive enough to combat the presence of misinformation, and even suppresses voting. 

The Financial Times revealed that government officials are worried about how Meta is handling Russia’s specific efforts to undermine the upcoming elections. 

Meta’s plan to discontinue its CrowdTangle tool also has officials concerned. CrowdTangle is a public insights tool that allows researchers, journalists, and others within the EU to monitor in real time the spread of misinformation and any attempts to suppress voting. 

The EU currently has new laws in place that require tech companies to regulate their content and have systems in place to guard against any and all systemic risks involving election interference. 

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“We have a well-established process for identifying and mitigating risks on our platforms. We look forward to continuing our cooperations with the European Commission and providing them with further details of this work,” a spokesperson for Meta stated. 

The commission recently carried out “stress tests” on all the major social media platforms as a means of determining if there were proper safeguards in place to prevent the spreading of misinformation. The tests involved a series of made-up scenarios that are based on past attempts at election manipulation, such as using deep fakes and speech suppression.

“The aim was to test platforms’ readiness to address manipulative behavior that could occur in the run-up to the elections, in particular the different manipulative tactics, techniques and procedures,” the commission stated.

This past Monday, parliament released official tips for voters in the upcoming elections, which will be taking place between June 6th and 9th. They cited previous voting issues such as the specific pen colors needed for a ballot to be valid, and warned citizens to be diligent about spotting disinformation. 

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European Union Leaders Pushing For Palestinian Statehood To Bring Peace To Middle East 

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European Union foreign ministers have made the argument this week that the creation and implementation of a statehood for Palestine could be the “only credible way to achieve peace in the Middle East,” according to reports.

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Top European Union Diplomat Says Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Mutiny Was ‘The Monster Acting Against His Creator’

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Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, told reporters in Luxembourg that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mutiny in Russia was “the monster acting against his creator.”

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tiktok

European Union Bans TikTok From Official Government Devices 

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This Tuesday, the European Parliament announced that they’re banning TikTok from all government staff devices due to cybersecurity concerns. The video-sharing app is now banned in all three of the European Union’s (EU) main government institutions. 

“In view of cybersecurity concerns, in particular regarding data protection and collection of data by third parties, the European Parliament has decided, in alignment with other institutions, to suspend as from 20 March 2023, the use of the TikTok mobile application on corporate devices,” it said in a statement reported by CNN. 

The parliament also “strongly recommends that members and staff remove TikTok from their personal devices.”

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TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, told CNN “it’s disappointing to see that other government bodies and institutions are banning TikTok on employee devices with no deliberation or evidence.”

“These bans are based on basic misinformation about our company, and we are readily available to meet with officials to set the record straight about our ownership structure and our commitment to privacy and data security,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

“We share a common goal with governments that are concerned about user privacy, but these bans are misguided and do nothing to further privacy or security. We appreciate that some governments have wisely chosen not to implement such bans due to a lack of evidence that there is any such need.”

A senior EU official working out of the European Council also told CNN that the General Secretariat of the Council, which is responsible for assisting the representatives of each of the 27 countries in the EU, “is in the process of implementing measures similar to those taken by the Commission.”

“It will be uninstalling the application on corporate devices and requesting staff to uninstall it from personal mobile devices that have access to corporate services,” the official added.

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“The Secretariat continuously keeps its cybersecurity measures under review in close cooperation with the other EU institutions. The ban on TikTok applies only to devices overseen by the EU’s executive branch. This measure aims to protect the Commission against cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyber-attacks against the corporate environment of the Commission,” it said in a statement.

A TikTok spokesperson discussed how at this time they were working to contact the commission as a means of “setting the record straight, and explaining how we can protect the data of the 125 million people across the EU who come to TikTok every month.” 

In America, government agencies have had similar restrictions, with the White Horse directing federal agencies to remove the app from all government-issued devices over cybersecurity concerns. 

Brooke Oberwetter, a TikTok spokesperson, stated that “the ban of TikTok on US federal devices passed in December without any deliberation, and unfortunately that approach has served as a blueprint for other world governments.”

“We hope that when it comes to addressing national security concerns about TikTok beyond government devices, Congress will explore solutions that won’t have the effect of censoring the voices of millions of Americans.”