Morning Tidings

Tag: bans

  • WhatsApp Bans Over 1.4 Million Bad Accounts in India in February 2022

    New Delhi, April 1: WhatsApp on Friday said that it banned 1,426,000 bad accounts in India in the month of February in compliance with the new IT Rules, 2021. The platform had banned 1,858,000 accounts in January. The company said that it also received 335 grievance reports in the same month from the country and took action on 21 of those in February.

    “In accordance with the IT Rules 2021, we’ve published our ninth monthly report for the month of February 2022,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement. “As captured in the latest Monthly Report, WhatsApp banned over 1.4 million accounts in the month of February,” the spokesperson added.

    The company said that data shared highlights the number of Indian accounts banned by WhatsApp between February 1 to February 28 using the abuse detection approach, which also includes action taken in furtherance to negative feedback received from users via its “Report” feature. Google Removes 93,067 Pieces of Bad Content in India in February 2022.

    “WhatsApp is an industry leader in preventing abuse, among end-to-end encrypted messaging services,” the spokesperson said. “Over the years, we have consistently invested in Artificial Intelligence and other state of the art technology, data scientists and experts, and in processes, in order to keep our users safe on our platform,” the company added. Under the new IT Rules 2021, big digital and social media platforms — with more than 5 million users — have to publish monthly compliance reports.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Apr 01, 2022 11:22 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • WhatsApp Bans Over 1.8 Million Bad Accounts in India in January 2022

    New Delhi, March 1: Meta-owned WhatsApp on Tuesday said that it banned 1,858,000 bad accounts in India in the month of January in compliance with the new IT Rules, 2021. The company said that it also received 495 grievance reports in the same month from the country and took action on 24 of those in January.

    “In accordance with the IT Rules 2021, we’ve published our eighth monthly report for the month of January 2022,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement. WhatsApp Bans 1.75 Million Accounts in India Due to New IT Rules in November 2021.

    “As captured in the latest Monthly Report, WhatsApp banned over 1.8 million accounts in the month of January,” the spokesperson added. The company said that data shared highlights the number of Indian accounts banned by WhatsApp between January 1 to January 31 using the abuse detection approach, which also includes action taken in furtherance to negative feedback received from users via its “Report” feature.

    “WhatsApp is an industry leader in preventing abuse, among end-to-end encrypted messaging services,” the spokesperson said. “Over the years, we have consistently invested in Artificial Intelligence and other state of the art technology, data scientists and experts, and in processes, in order to keep our users safe on our platform,” the company added.

    Meta (formerly Facebook) also took down over 11.6 million pieces of content across 13 policies for Facebook and over 3.2 million pieces of content across 12 policies for Instagram in the month of January. Under the new IT rules 2021, big digital and social media platforms — with more than 5 million users — have to publish monthly compliance reports.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Mar 01, 2022 09:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • Facebook Bans Russian State Media from Running Ads, Monetizing Platform Over Ukraine Invasion

    California, February 26: Facebook has banned Russian state media from running ads and monetizing the platform over the Russian military operation in Ukraine, said Nathaniel Gleicher, the head of the social network’s security policy, on Saturday.

    “We are now prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the world. We also continue to apply labels to additional Russian state media. These changes have already begun rolling out and will continue into the weekend,” Gleicher said in a tweet.

    The security policy said that the company is closely monitoring the situation in Ukraine and will keep sharing steps they are taking to protect people on their platform.

    Earlier, Facebook had established a Special Operations Center in response to the unfolding military conflict in Ukraine. “It is staffed by experts (including native speakers) so we can closely monitor the situation and act as fast as possible.” Russia-Ukraine War: 50 Countries Issue Joint Statement Against Russia’s Veto on Ukraine Resolution.

    The company had said that it launched a new feature in Ukraine that allows people to lock their profiles to provide an extra layer of privacy and security to help people protect themselves online.

    (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, Morning Tidings Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)

  • Singapore Cryptocurrency Guidelines: Government Bans Crypto Players From Promoting DPT Services via Ads

    Singapore, January 18: After India, Singapore has now warned cryptocurrency and digital token providers not to promote or advertise their digital tokens via various media platforms to the general public. In new guidelines, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said that digital payment token (DPT or more commonly known as cryptocurrency) service providers should not promote their DPT services to the general public in Singapore.

    The new guidelines also apply to banks and payment institutions that offer such services. These will further be expanded to include the transfer of cryptocurrencies and provision of wallet services. Singapore: Indian-Origin Cryptocurrency Investor Metakovan Buys USD 69.3 Million Artwork by Digital Artist Beeple.

    “The trading of cryptocurrencies is highly risky and not suitable for the general public. DPT service providers should therefore not portray the trading of DPTs in a manner that trivialises the high risks of trading in DPTs, nor engage in marketing activities that target the general public,” said Loo Siew Yee, MAS Assistant Managing Director (Policy, Payments and Financial Crime).

    DPT service providers include payment institutions, banks and other financial institutions, as well as applicants under the Payment Services Act (PS Act). The authority warned that trading cryptocurrencies is “highly risky” and not suitable for the general public, as the prices of crypto are subject to sharp speculative swings.

    “MAS has observed that some DPT service providers have been actively promoting their services through online and physical advertisements or through the provision of physical automated teller machines (ATM) in public areas. This could encourage consumers to trade DPTs on impulse, without fully understanding the attendant risks,” the authority said in a statement late on Monday.

    The new guidelines clarify that DPT service providers should not engage in marketing or advertising of DPT services via all kinds of advertisements, across the media as well as social media influencers. The Indian government in November last year raised concerns over crypto ads promising wild returns.

    Indian crypto players bombarded the public with advertisements across platforms — doubling down on their marketing spend when the cryptocurrencies are yet to be accepted as legal tender and lack legal framework and regulatory norms in the country.

    An advertisement by the Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), a part of the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) with industry players like CoinSwitch Kuber, CoinDCX, WazirX and Zebpay on board, had claimed that crores of Indians have invested over Rs 6 lakh crore in crypto assets to date.

    Meanwhile, the much-awaited ‘Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2021’, did not make it to the table during the Winter Session of Parliament amid growing concerns over the misuse of digital coins on the Dark Web for terror acts and drugs trafficking by militant organisations, and for money laundering and hawala-based transactions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that all democratic countries need to work together on cryptocurrency and ensure that it does not end up in the wrong hands.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Jan 18, 2022 11:17 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • Swiss Army Bans WhatsApp Use Over Security Concerns

    London/New Delhi, Jan 8: Citing privacy concerns, the Swiss army has banned the use of Meta-owned WhatsApp among other popular messaging services by army personnel.

    The army staff has been asked to use encrypted Swiss messaging app ‘Threema’ instead, reports www.swissinfo.

    Apart from WhatsApp, the Swiss army has also banned the use of Signal and Telegram. Government Recording Your WhatsApp Calls and Monitoring Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Under New Communication Rules? Here’s The Truth Behind The Viral Message.

    According to reports, the primary concern appears to be the “ability of authorities in Washington to access data stored by companies that fall under US jurisdiction, as described in the US CLOUD Act”.

    “The CLOUD Act obliges service providers under US jurisdiction to comply with search warrants, regardless of where servers are located,” according to reports.

    Since Threema is based in Switzerland, it would not be obliged to respond to such search warrants.

    Threema also operates in line with the European Union’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

    “Data security is one of the reasons for the policy changea, according to an army spokesman quoted in a report by Tamedia newspaper.

    WhatsApp is the most popular messenger application among 16- to 64-year-olds in Switzerland, according to local surveys.

    Such concerns over the use of foreign mobile applications by army officials have been raised in India too as they might compromise security.

    After the Centre banned several Chinese mobile apps over security concerns in 2020, the Indian Army asked its personnel to delete 89 apps, including Facebook, PUBG, Zoom, Instagram, Snapchat and Tik Tok, etc, along with several dating apps.

    The Indian Army has now launched a contemporary messaging application called ‘ASIGMA’ (Army Secure IndiGeneous Messaging Application).

    The application can be used on mobile phones using the internal army network.

    “The application is being deployed on the Army’s internal network as a replacement for the Army Wide Area Network (AWAN) messaging application which has been in service for the past 15 years,” according to the defence ministry.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Jan 08, 2022 05:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • WhatsApp Bans 1.75 Million Accounts in India Due to New IT Rules in November 2021

    New Delhi, January 1: Meta-owned WhatsApp on Saturday said that it banned 1,759,000 accounts in India in November in compliance with the IT Rules 2021. WhatsApp also received 602 grievance reports in the same month from the country, and took action on 36 of those.

    “In accordance with the IT Rules 2021, we’ve published our sixth monthly report for the month of November. This user-safety report contains details of the user complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp’s own preventive actions to combat abuse on our platform,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement. WhatsApp Banned 2 Million Accounts in India from May 15 to June 15 Under New IT Rules.

    “As captured in the latest Monthly Report, WhatsApp banned over 1.75 million accounts in the month of November,” the spokesperson added. In October, the platform had banned over 2 million accounts in India. WhatsApp has more than 400 million users in India.

    “Over the years, we have consistently invested in Artificial Intelligence and other state of the art technology, data scientists and experts, and in processes, in order to keep our users safe on our platform,” the company said.

    On the other hand, Meta said that over 16.2 million content pieces were “actioned” on Facebook across 13 violation categories proactively in India during November. Photo sharing platform Instagram took action against over 3.2 million pieces across 12 categories during the same period proactively.

    The new IT rules — which came into effect in May last year — require large digital platforms (with over 5 million users) to publish compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken. “We will continue to bring more transparency to our work and include more information about our efforts in future reports,” said WhatsApp.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Jan 01, 2022 10:53 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • BGMI Publisher Krafton Permanently Bans 58,611 Accounts for Cheating

    New Delhi: In a bid to eradicate cheating on Battlegrounds Mobile India, South Korean game developer Krafton announced that it has permanently banned 58,611 accounts between December 20 to December 26. The company on its website mentioned the entire list of banned accounts, who, it said, “have tried to ruin the game”. Krafton’s Battlegrounds Mobile India iOS Version Now Available for Download on Apple App Store.

    “Battlegrounds Mobile India will strive to implement strong sanctions with the ultimate goal of eradicating the use of illegal programmes in order to provide you a pleasant gaming environment,” Krafton said in a statement.

    In November, Krafton had said that it cleaned out most of the cheaters in the game, making Battlegrounds Mobile India a much more fun experience, and will continue to take whatever step is necessary to keep Battlegrounds Mobile India fair and fun.

    The company had removed over 25 lakh accounts in just over a month in November to eradicate cheating on Battlegrounds Mobile India. Its cheat detection and banning mechanism allowed the system to follow cheaters in real time and ban users who used unlawful methods. The company had also mentioned that its “Permabans” replaced all interim bans with permanent bans, leaving no possibility for a second chance.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Dec 29, 2021 08:30 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • China Bans Quran Apps, LinkedIn and Yahoo News As Major Crack Down on Foreign Content

    Beijing, October 22: In a major crackdown on foreign content, China has banned the Quran apps, LinkedIn, and Yahoo news across the country. Quran Majeed, a popular app for reading the Islamic religious text, is the latest app to be banned in China in response to Chinese government requests. This comes after China banned a host of US-based social media platforms. According to reports, the move comes as part of a bigger shift in the country to stop foreign content.

    Last week, Apple took down one of the world’s most popular Quran apps in China after a request from Chinese officials. According to a report by BBC, Apple removed Quran Majeed, a popular app for reading the Islamic religious text and other prayer-related information, in China. It must be noted that China is one of Apple’s biggest markets, and the company’s supply chain is heavily reliant on Chinese manufacturing. China Bans Mobile Phone Use in Classrooms.

    Apart from Quran Majeed, Olive Tree’s Bible App was also withdrawn in China this week. Olive Tree claims that Apple proactively took it down. Meanwhile, LinkedIn said that it would be removing the Chinese version of its site by the end of this year in the face of growing compliance requirements by the state.  Microsoft had earlier announced that the China-localised version of LinkedIn will be shut down. This comes after seven years of continuous operation in China. China Bans Broadcasting of BBC World News on Mainland Over Xinjiang, COVID-19 Reporting.

    Several professors and journalists had claimed that their LinkedIn profiles had been blocked in China, preventing them from accessing their accounts. Also, Yahoo News has also been withdrawn from Apple’s App Store in China, thus making residents lose access to foreign news.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Oct 22, 2021 09:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).

  • YouTube Bans False COVID-19 Vaccine Claims in Fight Against Misinformation and Conspiracy Theories

    Washington, September 29: YouTube is wiping vaccine misinformation and conspiracy theories from its popular video-sharing platform. The ban on vaccine misinformation, announced in a blog post on Wednesday, comes as countries around the world continue to offer free immunisations for COVID-19 to a somewhat hesitant public.

    Public health officials have struggled to push back against a steady current of online misinformation about the COVID-19 shot since development of the immunisation first got underway last year.

    YouTube’s new rules will prohibit misinformation about any vaccine that has been approved by health authorities such as the World Health Organization and are currently being administered. The platform had already begun to crack down late last year on false claims about the COVID-19 vaccine.

    YouTube, which is owned by Google, will delete videos that falsely claim vaccines are dangerous or cause health issues, like cancer, infertility or autism — a theory that scientists have discredited for decades but has endured on the internet. As of Wednesday, popular anti-vaccine accounts, including those run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., were kicked off YouTube. NASA To Halt Mars Missions Communication for Next Few Weeks As Earth and Red Planet on Opposite Sides of the Sun.

    “We’ve steadily seen false claims about the coronavirus vaccines spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general, and we’re now at a point where it’s more important than ever to expand the work we started with COVID-19 to other vaccines,” YouTube said in a prepared statement.

    The new rule will apply to general claims about vaccines as well as statements about specific vaccines, such as those given for measles or flu. Claims about vaccines that are being tested will still be allowed. Personal stories about reactions to the vaccine will also be permitted, as long as they do not come from an account that has a history of promoting vaccine misinformation.

    (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, Morning Tidings Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)

  • Amazon Bans 600 Chinese Brands From Its Store For Abusing Review Policy

    New York, September 20: Amazon banned 600 Chinese brands for violating its review policies. Almost 3,000 online merchant accounts backed by these brands were closed by the e-commerce giant. The action was taken as part of a global crackdown on consumer review abuses, reported The Wall Street Jornal. According to Amazon, these brands were offering gift cards to customers in exchange for positive reviews. Amazon Listing Agency AMZ SEO HUB Sees Sales Soar Since Pandemic.

    According to a report by The Verge, some brands were offering VIP testing programs or extended product warranties. Meanwhile, other brands were offering incentives to customers who had posted poor reviews. These incentives were in the form of a refund or a free product. Amazon said that it gives opportunities to businessmen to grow their business by providing healthy competition.

    “Customers rely on the accuracy and authenticity of product reviews to make informed purchasing decisions, and we have clear policies for both reviewers and selling partners that prohibit abuse of our community features. We suspend, ban, and take legal action against those who violate these policies, wherever they are in the world,” said Amazon in a statement shared with The Verge. Amazon Blocks Top Chinese Sellers for Manipulating Feedback: Report.

    However, the e-commerce giant clarified that the campaign against the brands who abused review policy was not to target China. It added that the company would continue to improve abuse detection mechanisms and would take enforcement action against the brands misusing its policies. Amazon assured that it would take steps in the best interests of its customers.

    The development came after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) of the United States launched an investigation into the allegations that Amazon and Google were not doing enough to tackle fake reviews. Notably, allegations against Chinese companies have surfaced as the rise in Beijing’s e-commerce transactions was reported in recent years.

    (The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Sep 20, 2021 11:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).