Corporate Accountability News Highlights is a regular series by Ranking Digital Rights highlighting key news related to tech companies, freedom of expression, and privacy issues around the world.
Alex Jones caricature by Flickr user DonkeyHotey (CC BY 2.0)
Tech giants ban conspiracy theorist Alex Jones
This week, Apple, Facebook, Google, and other social media and tech companies took steps to ban InfoWars, a website and media platform produced by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Apple Podcasts removed five of six podcasts produced by InfoWars for violating its policy that ‘’does not tolerate hate speech.” Facebook took down four Infowars pages for ‘’repeated violations’’ of the site’s guidelines, including “glorifying violence” and “dehumanizing immigrants.” Youtube terminated Jones’ channel of 2.4 million subscribers for violating its community guidelines.
Other services that took measures to ban Jones’ InfoWars include Spotify, Pinterest, audio streaming app Stitcher, MailChimp, Linkedin and even the adult-video website YouPorn.
Jones is behind a number of controversial conspiracy theories, such as the 9/11 attacks were an ‘’inside job,’’ the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax, and that Obama is a ‘’radical Muslim’’ (all false allegations). Actions taken by major platforms this week were in relation to violations of their policies against hate speech and harmful content.
The measures came a few weeks after Facebook, Spotify and Youtube (Google) removed content by Jones for violating their terms of service and policies.
Spotify previously removed specific episodes of the Alex Jones Show before shutting down the entire podcast this week. Three other Infowars podcasts are still live on the service, according to The Guardian.
Twitter, however, has not banned InfoWars or Jones. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explained that his company did not ban Jones and Infowars because they ‘’did not violate our rules.’’
Internet, mobile and telecommunication companies should be transparent about what their rules are and how they enforce them. For example, companies need to clearly disclose whether any government authorities or private entities receive priority consideration when flagging content to be restricted for violating the company’s rules. They should also regularly publish data about the volume and nature of actions taken to restrict content or accounts that violate the company’s rules. The 2018 Corporate Accountability Index found that while most of the 22 companies evaluated disclosed at least some information about what content and activities they do not allow and how they enforce their rules, only four companies — Twitter, Microsoft, Facebook and Google — published data about such restrictions.
Companies should also notify users when they restrict content. Services that host user-generated content should notify those who posted the content and users trying to access it. The notification should include a clear reason for the restriction. The 2018 Index found that companies do not disclose sufficient data about their user notification policies when they restrict access to content or accounts.
Bangladesh shuts down 3G and 4G networks during student protests
Authorities in Bangladesh ordered telecommunication companies to shut down 3G and 4G networks during student protests in the capital Dhaka on August 4. The telecom regulator ordered mobile operators to downgrade mobile internet speeds to 2G levels for 24 hours at the request of law enforcements, local media reported.
‘’Mobile internet speeds in Bangladesh plummeted by a factor of ten overnight, restricting access to information and limiting online sharing, according to NetBlocks web probe metrics,’’ NetBlocks, a project that maps internet freedom, reported.
Students have been protesting to improve road safety after two teens were killed by a speeding bus. The protests turned violent with police firing tear gas, injuring several protesters. Pro-government supporters have also been accused of beating protesters and journalists. The violence further intensified by rumors of protesters murdered and female protesters raped circulating online, indicating that the government may have resorted to the shutdown to curb the dissemination of such rumors.
Telecommunications companies should be transparent about their processes for responding to government requests to restrict access to networks. They should disclose information about how they handle government network shutdown demands, including under whose authority a shutdown is ordered, so that those responsible can be held accountable. None of the 10 telecommunications companies evaluated in the 2018 Corporate Accountability Index disclosed sufficient information about how they handle government network shutdown demands. Vodafone was the only company to clearly disclose its process for responding to these types of government demands and to clearly commit to push back against demands when possible. Telefónica was the only company that disclosed the number of shutdown requests it received.
Facebook asked banks for customers’ financial data
The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook asked U.S. banks to share detailed financial information about their customers, including credit card transactions and checking account balances. In response to the report, Facebook denied that it was ‘’actively asking financial services companies for financial transaction data,’’ adding that it is only seeking to partner with banks and credit card companies to offer new financial services through its messaging app Messenger including customer service support through a chatbot and fraud alert.
Banks expressed concerns over user privacy and how Facebook would handle financial information of their customers, according to the Wall Street Journal. The social media giant assured banks that such data will not be used for targeted advertisements or shared with third parties.
Internet, mobile, and telecommunications companies should be transparent about how they handle user information including which user information they collect and share and for what purposes, how they collect that information and with whom they share it, and for how long they retain it. The 2018 Index found that companies do not disclose enough information about how they handle user information and that users are not fully informed about what information about them is collected and shared, with whom, and for what purposes.
