Huawei's Meng Wanzhou Takes Over as Rotating Chairperson

FILE PHOTO: Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's rotating chairperson and chief financial officer, speaks at the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, China June 28, 2023. REUTERS/Nicoco Chan/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's rotating chairperson and chief financial officer, speaks at the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, China June 28, 2023. REUTERS/Nicoco Chan/File Photo
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Huawei's Meng Wanzhou Takes Over as Rotating Chairperson

FILE PHOTO: Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's rotating chairperson and chief financial officer, speaks at the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, China June 28, 2023. REUTERS/Nicoco Chan/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's rotating chairperson and chief financial officer, speaks at the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, China June 28, 2023. REUTERS/Nicoco Chan/File Photo

Meng Wanzhou on Tuesday took over from Eric Xu as the rotating chairperson of China's Huawei Technologies for the next six months, the Shenzhen-based telecoms giant and smartphone maker said.
Meng, who is also the daughter of Huawei's founder Ren Zhengfei, will also continue to serve as the company's chief financial officer concurrently, Reuters reported.
The 52-year-old is taking the reins at a time when Huawei is going head-to-head with rival Apple over smartphone sales. Both companies launched their latest devices on the same day in September, with Huawei rolling out a premium tri-fold phone that costs $2,800.
Meng, described as the "Princess of Huawei" by Chinese media, was caught up in an extradition drama several years ago.
She was detained in Vancouver in December 2018 after a New York court issued an arrest warrant, saying Meng had tried to cover up attempts by Huawei-linked companies to sell equipment to Iran in breach of US sanctions.
Meng was allowed to return to China in September 2021 after reaching an agreement with US prosecutors to end a bank fraud case against her.



EU Privacy Regulator Fines Meta 91 Million Euros over Password Storage

A logo of Meta Platforms Inc. is seen at its booth, at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups, at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France June 17, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
A logo of Meta Platforms Inc. is seen at its booth, at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups, at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France June 17, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
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EU Privacy Regulator Fines Meta 91 Million Euros over Password Storage

A logo of Meta Platforms Inc. is seen at its booth, at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups, at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France June 17, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
A logo of Meta Platforms Inc. is seen at its booth, at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups, at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France June 17, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

The lead European Union privacy regulator fined social media giant Meta 91 million euros ($101.5 million) on Friday for inadvertently storing some users' passwords without protection or encryption.

The inquiry was opened five years ago after Meta notified Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) that it had stored some passwords in 'plaintext'. Meta publicly acknowledged the incident at the time and the DPC said the passwords were not made available to external parties.

"It is widely accepted that user passwords should not be stored in plaintext, considering the risks of abuse that arise from persons accessing such data," Irish DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said in a statement, according to Reuters.

The DPC is the lead EU regulator for most of the top US internet firms due to the location of their EU operations in the country.

It has so far fined Meta a total of 2.5 billion euros for breaches under the bloc's General Data Protection Regulation's (GDPR), introduced in 2018, including a record 1.2 billion euro fine in 2023 that Meta is appealing.