US FTC Seeks Data on How Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Others Use Personal Data

Luckin Coffee to Pay $180 Million Penalty to Settle Accounting Fraud Charges: US SEC

China-based startup Luckin Coffee Inc. has agreed to pay a $180 million penalty to settle accounting fraud charges for “intentionally and materially” overstating its 2019 revenue and understating a net loss, U.S. regulators said on Wednesday. The U.S. Securities and Commission (SEC) fine on the China-based rival to Starbucks comes after it said earlier this year that much of its 2019 sales were fabricated, sending its shares plunging and sparking an investigation by China’s securities regulator and the SEC. The SEC said it found that Luckin “intentionally and materially overstated its reported revenue and expenses and materially understated its net loss in its publicly disclosed financial statements in 2019.” Luckin has not admitted or denied the charges, the SEC said. The company has agreed to pay the penalty, which may…

WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission is seeking information from Facebook, Twitter, and other social media and video streaming companies about how they use the personal information that they collect on their users, the U.S. agency said on Dec. 14.

In addition to Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc., the orders requesting data were sent to Facebook subsidiary WhatsApp, Amazon.com Inc., China’s ByteDance unit TikTok, Discord Inc., Reddit Inc., Snap Inc., and Google subsidiary YouTube LLC.

The FTC is seeking to learn how the companies collect data on users, how they decide which advertisements to show and how algorithms are used, among other information, the agency said in a statement. It’s also seeking information about how the companies’ practices affect children and teenagers.

The companies have 45 days to respond to the orders, which are usually used to generate policy or recommend legislation.

In a joint statement, two Democratic members of the commission, Rohit Chopra and Rebecca Slaughter, and one Republican, Christine Wilson, noted their impetus for the order.

“Never before has there been an industry capable of surveilling and monetizing so much of our personal lives,” they wrote. “Social media and video streaming companies now follow users everywhere through apps on their always-present mobile devices. This constant access allows these firms to monitor where users go, the people with whom they interact, and what they are doing. … Too much about the industry remains dangerously opaque.”

Discord said it looked forward to answering the FTC’s questions. “We make no money from advertising, selling user data to advertisers, or sharing users’ personal information with others. Instead, the company generates its revenue directly from users through a paid subscription service,” a spokesperson said in an email statement.

None of the other companies immediately responded to a request for comment.

By Diane Bartz

Focus News: US FTC Seeks Data on How Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Others Use Personal Data

Half of Australia’s Largest Chinese Media Outlets Linked to Beijing’s United Front: Report

A new report has confirmed long-standing concerns that Australia’s Chinese-language media landscape is dominated by outlets “friendly towards the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).” “The influence environment” by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) analysed the content, political stances, business ties, and management structures of 24 of the largest Chinese-language media (print and online), located mainly in the country’s capital cities. It found that executives from 12 media outlets have been members of organisations controlled by the United Front Work Department, Beijing’s foremost overseas infiltration organ. At the same time, four outlets were directly owned or received financial support from the CCP. One of the largest online Chinese language media is Sydney Today, who had an alleged 670,000 followers in 2019. The co-founder of Sydney Today, Stan Chen was also listed…