Social Media

US President Donald Trump has expressed his approval of a deal that would allow Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok to continue operating in the US. Mr Trump told reporters he had given his “blessing” to a partnership between TikTok and US firms Oracle and Walmart. The president had ordered the app …

A lawyer for Julian Assange told a London court on Friday that she was present when an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump offered to arrange a pardon for the WikiLeaks founder in return for information that would “benefit President Trump politically”. Australian-born Assange, 49, is fighting to avoid being …

Facebook on Tuesday launched a climate science information center to elevate credible sources on climate change, as critics question its role in the spread of misinformation on the issue. Facebook said the project is modeled on its COVID-19 Information Center, and launched a similar feature last month on voting in …

The U.S. Commerce Department plans to issue an order Friday that will bar people in the United States from downloading Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and video-sharing app TikTok starting on September 20, three officials told Reuters. The officials said the ban on new U.S. downloads of TikTok could be still …

A Saudi children’s hair stylist has become the first woman to break into the profession, which has long been an exclusively male domain. Wafaa Sakr, who appeared in a viral video inside a barber shop in Taif, said she styles children’s hair, but does not cut men’s hair. She said …

The man who leaked the “Pentagon Papers” about the Vietnam War defended Julian Assange at his London extradition hearing on Wednesday, saying WikiLeaks had acted in the public interest and warning Assange would not get a fair trial in the United States. Australian-born Assange, 49, is fighting to stop being …

A campaign waged against Netflix over “Cuties” and the film’s sexualized portrayal of children produced a surge in U.S. subscription cancellations over the weekend, according to research company YipitData. Netflix subscriber churn rates began to rise Sept. 10, the day after the release of “Cuties” on Netflix, when the hashtag …

Dear Christina “DZA” Marie,   First off all let me thank you on behalf of all the readers of The Levant newspaper in the Middle East and elsewhere. It’s not every day we get to talk to a distinguished author and, better yet, someone who teach authors how to write. …

Two years after agreeing to a self-regulatory code of practice to tackle disinformation, Facebook, Alphabet’s Google, Twitter and other tech rivals must try harder to be more effective, the European Commission said on Thursday. Fake news related to COVID-19 has accelerated calls for social media to be more proactive in …

A senior aide to the Connecticut federal prosecutor in charge of investigating the origins of the FBI’s probe into contacts between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia has resigned from the Justice Department, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said. Nora Dannehy, who had been working with Connecticut U.S. attorney …

Russia and China dismissed on Friday allegations by Microsoft Corp MSFT.O that hackers linked to Moscow and Beijing were trying to spy on people tied to both U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. Advisers to both presidential campaigns are assessing risks from digital spies around the globe, …

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) recently alerted one of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s main election campaign advisory firms that it had been targeted by suspected Russian state-backed hackers, according to three people briefed on the matter. The hacking attempts targeted staff at Washington-based SKDKnickerbocker, a campaign strategy and communications firm working …

Saudi Arabia is developing a secure alternative to the short messaging service WhatsApp that will help ensure protection of confidential data. The local messaging service will limit the Kingdom’s reliance on foreign companies and ensure that any confidential or sensitive data is safe on local servers. A dedicated team of …

Julian Assange resumes his battle in a London court on Monday to avoid extradition to the United States to face criminal charges over the activities of his WikiLeaks website, after months of delay due to the coronavirus lockdown. The U.S. authorities accuse Australian-born Assange, 49, of conspiring to hack government …

The Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Sunday accused U.S. Attorney General William Barr of lying when he said China posed a bigger threat to November’s U.S. election than Russia. “That’s just a plain false statement by the attorney general,” Adam Schiff told CNN. “What Bill …

Saudi children’s increasing use of tablets and computers has parents questioning how safe their kids are online, even on something as seemingly innocent as a game app. In a viral video, American parents of a 7-year-old girl described how she was exposed to an “inappropriate” ad for a mobile game …

Facebook Inc’s (FB.O) final policy changes in the lead-up to U.S. elections in November are unlikely to stem a flood of disinformation around the vote, which could suppress turnout and sow confusion about results, election experts said on Friday. Restrictions on paid messaging were a net positive, experts said, but …

After exposing two major sexual assaults in her first two months as an Instagram activist, and spurring Egypt to bring in a law to protect victims’ identities, Nadeen Ashraf has bigger plans. The 22-year-old student wants to turn her #MeToo-style Instagram account Assault Police, which has emboldened hundreds of Egyptian …

Seven years after former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the mass surveillance of Americans’ telephone records, an appeals court has found the program was unlawful – and that the U.S. intelligence leaders who publicly defended it were not telling the truth. In a ruling handed …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD   CONTINUED from yesterday…   A Parting of Genders, a Meeting of Minds? When I began to dream up this article some time ago I’d stumbled onto a fan of MD’s on Twitter, a fellow Arab, Nayli Yasmeen (@nayli_yasmeen), and we got to talking about …

Facebook made a mistake in not removing a militia group’s page earlier this week that called for armed civilians to enter Kenosha, Wisconsin, amid violent protests after police shot Jacob Blake, CEO Mark Zuckerberg says. The page for the “Kenosha Guard” violated Facebook’s policies and had been flagged by “a …

Egyptian public prosecutors ordered the detention of a man suspected of being involved in an alleged gang rape at a luxury Cairo hotel in 2014 for four days pending investigation, they said in a statement on Thursday. The man, who is also a suspect in other similar cases, was arrested …

TikTok Chief Executive Officer Kevin Mayer has left short video app firm just three months since joining – and days after TikTok sued the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump over an executive order banning transactions with it in the country. He will be replaced by U.S. General Manager Vanessa …

Seven suspects in an alleged gang rape at a luxury Cairo hotel in 2014 that is at the centre of an online campaign against sexual assault in Egypt have fled the country, the public prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday. The men left Egypt between July 27 and July 29 after …

Russian government-supported organizations are playing a small but increasing role amplifying conspiracy theories promoted by QAnon, raising concerns of interference in the November U.S. election. Academics who study QAnon said there were no signs Russia had a hand in the early days of the movement, which launched in 2017 with …

The Trump administration has filed a motion asking a court to dismiss a lawsuit against the president’s executive order targeting social media companies, calling it a “profound misunderstanding,” according to a copy of the motion seen by Reuters. The lawsuit was brought in June by the Center for Democracy and …

Chinese government-linked hackers have been targeting U.S. election infrastructure ahead of the 2020 presidential election, White House National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said on Sunday, indicating a more active level of alleged Chinese interference. O’Brien’s comments appeared to go beyond a statement released on Friday by the Office of the …

When Mohamad first got the text message offering him up to $10 million for information about attempts to interfere with the U.S. election, he thought it was “some kind of cyber attack.” But when the Tehran-based software developer logged on to Twitter he realized he was one of an unknown …

Facebook Inc (FB.O) on Wednesday took down a post by U.S. President Donald Trump, which the company said violated its rules against sharing misinformation about the coronavirus. The post contained a video clip, from an interview with Fox & Friends earlier in the day, in which Trump claimed that children …

Washington has identified a critical financial facilitator for Daesh based in Turkey in a move to unsettle the remaining global financial networks of the terrorist group. In a statement on Tuesday, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said that the Daesh facilitator, Adnan Muhammad …

Google and Facebook took particularly sharp jabs for alleged abuse of their market power from Democrats and Republicans on Wednesday in a much-anticipated congressional hearing that put four of America’s most prominent tech CEOs in the hot seat. The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives antitrust panel holding the …

Turkey’s parliament passed a law regulating social media on Wednesday, that critics said will increase censorship and help authorities silence dissent. President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, which has a majority with an allied nationalist party, had backed the bill. The assembly began debating the new legislation on Tuesday, and …

An Egyptian court sentenced five female social media influencers to two years each in prison on Monday after finding them guilty of promoting immorality and human trafficking by encouraging women to make money building social media followings. The women, who were also fined 300,000 Egyptian pounds ($19,000), were accused of …

Languages play a crucial role in bridging gaps between different cultures. The internet revolution has helped transform the world into a global village in its true sense. Social media and other modes of communication have removed barriers and physical boundaries helping people connect with one another all over the world. …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD     “An artist should be as impartial as God.” — Wyndham Lewis   “The summary of the advice of all prophets is this; Find yourself a mirror.” — Shams Tabrizi   Well, as luck would have it, some time ago I’d written a review …

Only 8 percent of organizations in Saudi Arabia are considered “leaders” in “cyber resilience” compared with 17 percent globally, according to a new study that identifies how well organizations are prepared to defend themselves against cyberattacks. The study, carried out by the multinational professional services company Accenture, said that companies …

An Israeli court has dismissed Amnesty International’s legal bid to stop NSO Group from exporting surveillance software, saying the rights organization did not prove NSO’s technology had been used to spy on its members. Amnesty alleged that governments around the world have used the Israeli company’s cellphone-hacking software, Pegasus, to …

One Lebanese woman asked for sugar, milk and soap in exchange for a child’s dress. Another wanted canned goods in return for gym equipment. A 65-year-old seamstress now exchanges her sewing services for food, because her clients can no longer afford to pay her. Bartering on Facebook has become the …

Hundreds of Egyptian women are speaking out about sexual violence after a #MeToo campaign on Instagram led to the arrest of a man accused of raping and blackmailing multiple women. The Instagram account Assault Police said more than 100 women had given testimonies since it was set up to target …

An Israeli official flagged a possible security risk on Monday following a U.S. move to allow American providers to sell clearer satellite images of Israel and the Palestinian territories. Under a 1997 U.S. regulation known as the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, satellite images of Israel and the Palestinian territories used in services …

On an average day, US President Donald Trump sends about 14 posts to the 28 million Facebook followers of his campaign account. His Democratic rival, Joe Biden, delivers about half that many posts to an audience of just 2 million. The numbers are similarly skewed in other spheres of the …

Israel’s defence minister said on Sunday it is not “necessarily” behind every mysterious incident in Iran, after a fire at the Natanz nuclear site prompted some Iranian officials to say it was the result of cyber sabotage. Israel, widely believed to be the region’s only nuclear power, has pledged never …

Iran will retaliate against any country that carries out cyber attacks on its nuclear sites, the head of civilian defence said, after a fire at its Natanz plant which some Iranian officials said may have been caused by cyber sabotage. The underground Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP) is one of …

Every day, energy merchants collect and scrutinize whatever information they can find on fuel demand to get a trading edge: from satellite data tracking oil tankers worldwide to thermal images from cameras on pipelines and storage tanks. Real-time data on fuel demand would be the ultimate prize. On-the-spot gasoline consumption …