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Italy's Antitrust Takes Aim at Google over Personal Data Usage

FILED - 09 January 2024, US, Las Vegas: The Google logo can be seen on the Internet company's pavilion at the CES technology trade fair. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa
FILED - 09 January 2024, US, Las Vegas: The Google logo can be seen on the Internet company's pavilion at the CES technology trade fair. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa
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Italy's Antitrust Takes Aim at Google over Personal Data Usage

FILED - 09 January 2024, US, Las Vegas: The Google logo can be seen on the Internet company's pavilion at the CES technology trade fair. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa
FILED - 09 January 2024, US, Las Vegas: The Google logo can be seen on the Internet company's pavilion at the CES technology trade fair. Photo: Andrej Sokolow/dpa

Italy's antitrust agency said on Thursday it had launched an investigation into online search giant Google and its parent company Alphabet over alleged unfair commercial practices involving users' personal data.
The request for consent that Google sends to its users to connect its multiple services "could constitute misleading and aggressive commercial practice", the watchdog said.
This "incomplete and misleading," information supplied to users fails to clarify the impact their consent may have on the use their personal data, the antitrust authority, which is in charge of overseeing consumer rights, added.
Google offers a wide range of online tools, including video platform YouTube, email service Gmail, and Maps.
The antitrust body said Google presented its request for users' consent in a way that could limit their freedom of choice, by inducing them to agree to a combined usage of personal data by different Google services.
"We will analyze the details of this case and will work cooperatively with the authority," a Google spokesperson said in a statement.
Under Italian legislation companies found in breach of consumer rights rules face fines ranging from 5,000 euros to 10 million euros.

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Meta Lifts Restrictions on Trump's Facebook and Instagram Accounts

FILED - 16 May 2024, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schwerin: The Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp apps can be seen on the display of a smartphone, in front of the logo of Meta. Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa
FILED - 16 May 2024, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schwerin: The Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp apps can be seen on the display of a smartphone, in front of the logo of Meta. Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa
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Meta Lifts Restrictions on Trump's Facebook and Instagram Accounts

FILED - 16 May 2024, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schwerin: The Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp apps can be seen on the display of a smartphone, in front of the logo of Meta. Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa
FILED - 16 May 2024, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Schwerin: The Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp apps can be seen on the display of a smartphone, in front of the logo of Meta. Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa

Meta said Friday it was lifting restrictions on US presidential candidate Donald Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts, ending measures put in place after his supporters violently stormed the US Capitol in 2021.
It said that "former President Trump, as the nominee of the Republican Party, will no longer be subject to the heightened suspension penalties."
Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts were suspended indefinitely a day after his supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and it was determined he had praised people engaged in violence on social media, reported AFP.
His accounts were reinstated in February 2023 but with a threat of penalties for future breaches -- an additional restriction that Meta lifted on Friday.
"In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for President on the same basis," Meta wrote in a blog post.
It added that US presidential candidates "remain subject to the same Community Standards as all Facebook and Instagram users, including those policies designed to prevent hate speech and incitement to violence."
Trump, the first former president to be convicted of a crime, was also banned from Twitter and YouTube.
While those restrictions were later lifted last year, Trump now mainly communicates on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
His Facebook profile, which has 34 million users, includes messages originally published on Truth Social as well as invitations to rallies and videos from his campaign.