LONDON: Social media giant Facebook , now known as Meta Platforms, faces a 2.3 billion pound plus ($3.2 billion plus) class action in Britain over allegations it abused its market dominance by exploiting the personal data of 44 million users.
Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, a senior adviser to Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) watchdog and a competition law academic, said she was bringing the case on behalf of people in Britain who had used Facebook between 2015 and 2019.
The lawsuit, which will be heard by London’s Competition Appeal Tribubal, alleges Facebook made billions of pounds by imposing unfair terms and conditions that demanded consumers surrender valuable personal data to access the network.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the law firm representing Lovdahl Gormsen, has notified Facebook of the claim.
Facebook said people used its services because it delivered value for them and “they have meaningful control of what information they share on Meta’s platforms and who with.”
The case comes days after Facebook lost an attempt to strike out an antitrust lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), one of the biggest challenges by the US government against a tech company in decades as Washington attempts to tackle Big Tech’s extensive market power.
“In the 17 years since it was created, Facebook became the sole social network in the UK where you could be sure to connect with friends and family in one place,” Lovdahl Gornsen said.
“Yet, there was a dark side to Facebook; it abused its market dominance to impose unfair terms and conditions on ordinary Britons, giving it the power to exploit their personal data.”
Lovdahl Gormsen alleges Facebook collected data within its platform and through mechanisms like the Facebook Pixel, allowing it to build an “all-seeing picture” of Internet usage and generate valuable, deep data profiles of users.
Opt-out class actions, like Lovdahl Gormsen’s, bind a defined group automatically into a lawsuit unless individuals opt out.
Facebook faces $3.2 billion UK class action over market dominance
https://arab.news/6vswm
Facebook faces $3.2 billion UK class action over market dominance
- Facebook faces a $3.2 billion class action suit in Britain over allegations it abused its market dominance by exploiting personal data of 44 million users
Anger at former French PM over ‘financial domination’ comment many consider antisemitic
- Dominique de Villepin faces a backlash after a TV interview in which he claimed American actors and other public figures were under pressure to avoid criticizing Israel
- The head of an organization for French Jews describes comments as ‘insidiously antisemitic rhetoric’ that suggests Jews are ‘puppet masters of the media and artists’
LONDON: A former prime minister of France faced an angry backlash on Wednesday after comments that many people interpreted as a veiled, antisemitic criticism of Jewish control of the arts, culture and the media.
During a TV interview, Dominique de Villepin talked about the alleged pressure on American actors and other public figures to avoid criticizing Israel during the Gaza war.
“You can see in the background how substantial the domination of finance is on the realms of media, art and music,” he told TMC television. “They can’t say what they think simply because their contracts are immediately ended. Unfortunately, we see this as well in France.”
Some commentators described his comments as dangerous and reminiscent of bigoted beliefs in the 19th and early 20th centuries about Jewish power within French society.
These beliefs resulted in events such as the Dreyfus affair from 1894 to 1906, in which a Jewish military officer was wrongly convicted of treason, the rise of right-wing political parties with antisemitic views in the 1930s, and the French state’s deportation of 76,000 Jews to Nazi death camps during the Second World War.
“The antisemitism that was so long hidden is being unleashed,” said Jacques Attali, a prominent intellectual and former presidential adviser.
Yonathan Arfi, the head of Crif, an organization for French Jews, said: “Dominique de Villepin did not make a gaffe. He revealed himself in spite of himself.
“His words reveal insidiously antisemitic rhetoric which is aimed, without naming them, at Jews as the party of international finance and the puppet masters of the media and artists.”
Eric Ciotti, the leader of de Villepin’s former party, The Republicans, also criticized him and expressed shock about “conspiracy theory remarks that remind us of dark times” in French history.
While serving as foreign minister, de Villepin spearheaded France’s decision not to participate in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
He has said that it is not antisemitic to criticize the suppression of free speech by the financially powerful, and that his criticism of the Israeli government and its policies, and the country’s assault on Gaza, is not the result of any form of hatred of or prejudice against the Jewish people.
French politicians and media figures on the extreme left of French politics have voiced support for de Villepin, saying that his comments about financial influence were misinterpreted, and that in other comments about the Middle East he was simply reflecting France’s long-standing impartial stance on Israel and Arab nations.
However, the controversy has brought renewed attention to long-running social issues in French society, where there has been a prevailing wave of antisemitism of late.
French police have recorded hundreds of antisemitic attacks in the past month alone. Studies have found that 75 percent of the Jewish population in France claimed to have personal experience of offensive treatment, and 50 percent admitted to concealing their Jewish identity in public.
CIA official posts and deletes pro-Palestine image on Facebook
DUBAI: A senior CIA official posted a pro-Palestine image, showing a man waving a Palestinian flag on Facebook, last month amid tensions within US President Joe Biden’s administration.
The unusual political statement made by the CIA’s associate deputy director for analysis has sparked controversy, with her eventually deleting the post.
A separate Facebook post shows the official with a sticker reading “Free Palestine,” but a person familiar with the matter told the Financial Times that the photo was posted several years ago.
“The officer is a career analyst with extensive background in all aspects of the Middle East and this post (of the Palestinian flag) was not intended to express a position on the conflict,” the person said.
Four former intelligence officials said they were surprised that a senior CIA official would express her supposed political views on Facebook.
“The public posting of an obviously controversial political statement by a senior analytic manager in the middle of a crisis shows glaringly poor judgment,” said one former intelligence official.
Some members of the intelligence community were concerned that the post expressed a bias that could undermine the analysis directorate, the official added.
The pro-Palestine images and unrelated posts from the past year and a half have been deleted from the CIA official’s page, according to the Financial Times.
The CIA has since sent out an internal email reminding employees against posting political messages on social media, which aims to serve as “a reminder of existing policy,” a US official told NBC News.
“CIA officers are committed to analytic objectivity, which is at the core of what we do as an agency. CIA officers may have personal views, but this does not lessen their — or CIA’s — commitment to unbiased analysis,” a CIA spokesperson said in a statement.
Fatima Al-Banawi’s directorial debut ‘Basma’ to premiere on Netflix in 2024
- Actress plays title character in film that deals with issue of mental illness
LONDON: Saudi actress Fatima Al-Banawi is set to make her directorial debut with the film “Basma,” which premieres on Netflix next year.
Best known for her role in “Barakah Meets Barakah,” Al-Banawi plays the title character in the movie, a young Saudi woman who returns to her hometown of Jeddah after completing her studies in the US.
She is soon faced with the reality of a father suffering from a mental illness, broken family relationships, and struggles to recapture the home life she once knew.
“There are 7 billion versions of normal on this planet. I hope I managed to deliver one of them,” said Al-Banawi, who also wrote and directed the film.
“After we finished filming ‘Basma,’ I wondered whether there would be anything better than dreams coming true, and I realized the only thing better than that is to be able to dream.”
Hello! magazine set to launch in Middle East
- Hello! Arabia and Hello! Indo-Arabia will focus on luxury lifestyle content with “distinctive Arabian flair,” and stories about regional and international celebrities
- The print editions will be distributed across the Gulf region, Lebanon, Egypt and Morocco; the magazines will share a website and host regular celebrity events
DUBAI: Spanish media group Hola! is preparing to launch regional editions of Hello! Magazine, in partnership with Sudhakar Adapa, the founder and CEO of Bia Brands.
Hello! Arabia and Hello! Indo-Arabia will focus on luxury lifestyle content with “distinctive Arabian flair,” and stories about regional and international celebrities, the company said.
The monthly print editions will be distributed across the Gulf region, Lebanon, Egypt and Morocco, and the magazines will share a website. They will also host regular celebrity events.
The editorial offices will be in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and content will be supplied by contributors throughout the region. The editor-in-chief of Hello! Arabia is yet to be announced but Faarah Mehta has been appointed to the role with Hello! Indo-Arabia.
“We are delighted to bring this prestigious brand to the Gulf audience,” said Adapa.
Eduardo Sanchez Perez, the chairman of Hola Group, added: “It gives us great pleasure to welcome Hello! Indo-Arabia and Hello! Arabia to our big Hola! and Hello! family, so that readers from the Gulf and wider MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region will join us in savoring life’s beautiful moments with the inspiring exclusives, news and human-interest stories they will find in these two magazines.”
The magazines are set to launch in the first quarter of 2024.
Jewish BBC staff defy rules to attend antisemitism march
- The employees, who work in current affairs and journalism, say their Jewish identity ‘took precedence over what the BBC thinks’
- BBC rules on impartiality state editorial staff ‘should not participate in public demonstrations or gatherings about controversial issues’
LONDON: A number of Jewish employees of the BBC joined a march in London on Sunday in protest against antisemitism, in contravention of the broadcaster’s policy.
Staff members attended the event, organized by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, despite being reminded of BBC rules on impartiality that state editorial staff “should not participate in public demonstrations or gatherings about controversial issues.” Employees who want to participate in pro-Palestine marches are believed to have been given similar reminders.
The Jewish employees, who reportedly work in current affairs and journalism departments, told Times Radio that being Jewish “took precedence over what the BBC thinks.”
One person, who spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity, said: “I learned last week that the BBC was barring members of staff from attending the planned march against antisemitism — and let’s face it, we’re really talking about Jewish members of staff here, because they’re the only ones who would really be wanting to go — so the BBC knew exactly who it was stopping.”
Although the BBC describes the rules as guidance, non-compliance can result in disciplinary action, the employee added.
“We understood the BBC’s rationale that staff risk creating a perception of bias by attending marches which are political or controversial but this was not a march about Brexit or the NHS, but a march against antisemitism and there is nothing controversial or political about that,” the worker said.
“Antisemitism has soared in Britain since the Hamas attacks and the start of the war on Oct. 7, and as Jews we are all-too-well aware. Whether or not we have experienced it directly, our families and communities are affected by it daily and it is on our minds, whether we are at home or at work.
“Personally, I was unwilling to comply as I felt my attendance, as a Jewish person, took precedence over what the BBC thinks and I went to the march. I know several other Jewish staff did too and I am sure there were more who I don’t know about. The march was dignified and civilized and did nothing other than demonstrate an utter rejection of antisemitism by not just Jews but other communities and faiths who also attended to show their support.”
The employee added that the BBC had shown “insensitivity towards us which is going to be hard to repair.”
Staff compared the current situation with the BBC’s stance on the Pride parades in 2020, when Director General Tim Davie granted all staff the go ahead to participate.
A spokesperson for the broadcaster said: “The BBC is clear that antisemitism is abhorrent. We have established guidance around marches, which explains that different considerations apply depending on what you do for the BBC.
“Corporately, we have not issued any staff communication on any specific march this weekend but this does not mean discussions which consider the guidance have not taken place between colleagues.”
