White House probes Google after Trump accuses it of bias

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused Google’s search engine of promoting negative news articles and hiding “fair media” coverage of him, vowing to address the situation without providing evidence or giving details of action he might take.

Trump’s attack against the Alphabet Inc unit follows a string of grievances against technology companies, including social media Twitter Inc and Facebook Inc, which he has accused of silencing conservative voices, and Amazon.com Inc, which he has said is hurting small businesses and benefiting from a favorable deal with the U.S. Postal Services. He frequently berates news outlets for what he perceives as unfair coverage.

Google denied any political bias, saying in a statement that its search engine is “not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology.”

Trump said in several tweets on Tuesday that Google search results for “Trump News” were “rigged” against him because they showed only coverage from outlets like CNN and not conservative publications, suggesting the practice was illegal.

“I think Google is really taking advantage of our people,” Trump said on Tuesday in the Oval Office. “Google, and Twitter and Facebook, they are really treading on very, very troubled territory, and they have to be careful. It’s not fair to large portions of the population.”

Facebook declined to comment. Twitter did not comment when asked for a response. In congressional testimony, both companies have denied engaging in partisan censorship.

Neither Trump nor the White House detailed how or under what legal justification they would use to probe Google.

Trump’s economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, later told reporters that the White House was “taking a look” at Google, saying the administration would do “some investigation and some analysis,” without providing further details.

Earlier this summer, the new Republican chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Joseph Simons, said the agency would keep a close eye on big tech companies that dominate the internet. In a previous investigation, the FTC decided that Google was likely justified in developing a search function that harmed other companies.

In June Representative Keith Ellison, a Democrat, asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Google’s alleged anticompetitive behavior in the online search and advertising markets.

Congressional sources cautioned that it may be difficult for Trump to find a way to probe Google about news search results, and that Congress is unlikely to pass any applicable laws.

U.S. member of Congress Ted Lieu, a Democrat, said in a tweet directed at Trump that such restrictions on Google would violate the U.S. Constitution: “If government tried to dictate the free speech algorithms of private companies, courts would strike it down in a nanosecond.”

Shares of Alphabet closed down 0.8 percent at $1,245.86.

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: The logo of Google is pictured during the Viva Tech start-up and technology summit in Paris, France, May 25, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

TRUMP’S CRITICISM OF MEDIA

While the exact science behind Google searches on the internet is kept secret, its basic principles are widely known to be generated with a variety of factors measured by the company’s algorithms.

The factors Google uses to determine which websites appear first in search results include how often that page is linked to on other sites, the use of keywords, the popularity and respectability of the news site, and personal browsing history of the person conducting the search.

Highly trafficked and cited websites like CNN.com and NYTimes.com, two of the most Trump’s most frequent targets, often appear first in search results.

Trump’s accusation of bias on the part of Google comes as social media companies have suspended accounts, banned certain users and removed content as they face pressure from the U.S. Congress to police foreign propaganda and fake accounts aimed at disrupting American politics, including operations tied to Iran and Russia.

Companies such as Facebook and Twitter have also been pressed to remove conspiracy driven content and hate speech.

Tech companies have said they do not remove content for political reasons.

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump listens to a question during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S. August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

Some Republican U.S. lawmakers have also raised concerns about social media companies removing content from some conservatives, and have called Twitter’s chief executive to testify before a House of Representatives panel on Sept. 5.

Earlier this month, Alphabet’s YouTube joined Apple Inc and Facebook in removing some content from Infowars, a website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Jones was also temporarily suspended on Twitter.

Reporting by Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Ken Li in New York and Chris Sanders in Washington; Editing by Frances Kerry and Richard Chang

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Facebook hires prominent artificial-intelligence expert to open Montreal lab

TORONTO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc plans to open an artificial-intelligence laboratory in Montreal, which will be run by prominent AI researcher Joelle Pineau, two people familiar with the plan said on Friday.
Tech

Britain's O2 allows customers to choose smartphone pay back terms

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s O2 said it will allow customers to choose how much they pay upfront for a smartphone and how they spread the payments of the balance, targeting subscribers who want more control over their mobile contracts.

A man walks past an O2 phone store in Manchester, Britain March 7, 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo

The operator, owned by Spain Telefonica (TEF.MC), said customers would be able to pay for their new devices in monthly increments for any period between three and 36 months, all with no interest charged, as well as choosing an airtime plan.

Chief Executive Mark Evans said on Wednesday: “Our custom plans put power back in the hands of the consumers who don’t want to be tied down by rigid contracts especially at a time when certainty and transparency are at a premium in today’s economic environment.”

O2, the second largest British operator after BT (BT.L), said the “Custom Plans” built on the tariffs it introduced in 2013 that separate the cost of airtime and the cost of paying for the phone, and the change it made last year that allows customers to increase or decrease their airtime each month depending on their data needs.

Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by David Evans

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Britain's O2 allows customers to choose smartphone pay back terms

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s O2 said it will allow customers to choose how much they pay upfront for a smartphone and how they spread the payments of the balance, targeting subscribers who want more control over their mobile contracts.

A man walks past an O2 phone store in Manchester, Britain March 7, 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo

The operator, owned by Spain Telefonica (TEF.MC), said customers would be able to pay for their new devices in monthly increments for any period between three and 36 months, all with no interest charged, as well as choosing an airtime plan.

Chief Executive Mark Evans said on Wednesday: “Our custom plans put power back in the hands of the consumers who don’t want to be tied down by rigid contracts especially at a time when certainty and transparency are at a premium in today’s economic environment.”

O2, the second largest British operator after BT (BT.L), said the “Custom Plans” built on the tariffs it introduced in 2013 that separate the cost of airtime and the cost of paying for the phone, and the change it made last year that allows customers to increase or decrease their airtime each month depending on their data needs.

Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by David Evans

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Britain's O2 allows customers to choose smartphone pay back terms

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s O2 said it will allow customers to choose how much they pay upfront for a smartphone and how they spread the payments of the balance, targeting subscribers who want more control over their mobile contracts.

A man walks past an O2 phone store in Manchester, Britain March 7, 2016. REUTERS/Phil Noble/File Photo

The operator, owned by Spain Telefonica (TEF.MC), said customers would be able to pay for their new devices in monthly increments for any period between three and 36 months, all with no interest charged, as well as choosing an airtime plan.

Chief Executive Mark Evans said on Wednesday: “Our custom plans put power back in the hands of the consumers who don’t want to be tied down by rigid contracts especially at a time when certainty and transparency are at a premium in today’s economic environment.”

O2, the second largest British operator after BT (BT.L), said the “Custom Plans” built on the tariffs it introduced in 2013 that separate the cost of airtime and the cost of paying for the phone, and the change it made last year that allows customers to increase or decrease their airtime each month depending on their data needs.

Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by David Evans

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Facebook hires prominent artificial-intelligence expert to open Montreal lab

TORONTO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc plans to open an artificial-intelligence laboratory in Montreal, which will be run by prominent AI researcher Joelle Pineau, two people familiar with the plan said on Friday.
Tech

Altice, Dish urge U.S. to intervene in T-Mobile-Sprint deal

(Reuters) - U.S. cable and satellite TV providers Altice USA Inc (ATUS.N) and Dish Network Corp (DISH.O) have urged U.S. regulators not to approve the planned merger between T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.O) and Sprint Corp (S.N) in its current form, according to filings published on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO: A smartphones with Sprint logo are seen in front of a screen projection of T-mobile logo, in this picture illustration taken April 30, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

The $26 billion deal between the two U.S. wireless carriers, which would shrink the wireless market to three big players from four, faces a review from the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

In the filing with the FCC, Altice said it opposed the merger and called for the regulator to put conditions on the deal, including requiring the combined T-Mobile to honor its partnerships with Altice and other companies that rely on its network, and even divest wireless spectrum that the companies can use.

Altice plans to resell Sprint’s wireless service under its own brand next year, but is limited to selling its phone plans in the cable provider’s current markets.

While that agreement still stands, Altice said it was concerned about T-Mobile’s willingness to allow Altice to expand its wireless service nationwide and over the long term, since the carrier has made “no tangible commitments” to do so.

In a separate filing, Dish said the merger would likely increase prices for consumers and that T-Mobile and Sprint have overstated their argument that the carriers need to combine to build a 5G network, the next-generation wireless network that is expected to bring faster data speeds.

T-Mobile and Sprint have previously cited cable companies such as Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) and Charter Communications Inc (CHTR.O), which are entering the wireless industry, as evidence of growing competition.

The Communications Workers of America, a union that represents some telecommunications workers, also said in a separate FCC filing on Monday that the merger will result in more than 28,000 job losses.

In response to the FCC filings, T-Mobile and Sprint said in a joint statement on Tuesday that they were confident the merger will create more competition and be positive for consumers.

“These filings are part of the normal FCC open comment process and we welcome the opportunity for this important dialogue. We look forward to submitting our responses by the September 17th filing date,” the companies said.

Reporting by Sheila Dang; Editing by Rosalba O"Brien, Leslie Adler and David Gregoro

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Altice, Dish urge U.S. to intervene in T-Mobile-Sprint deal

(Reuters) - U.S. cable and satellite TV providers Altice USA Inc (ATUS.N) and Dish Network Corp (DISH.O) have urged U.S. regulators not to approve the planned merger between T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.O) and Sprint Corp (S.N) in its current form, according to filings published on Tuesday.

FILE PHOTO: A smartphones with Sprint logo are seen in front of a screen projection of T-mobile logo, in this picture illustration taken April 30, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

The $26 billion deal between the two U.S. wireless carriers, which would shrink the wireless market to three big players from four, faces a review from the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

In the filing with the FCC, Altice said it opposed the merger and called for the regulator to put conditions on the deal, including requiring the combined T-Mobile to honor its partnerships with Altice and other companies that rely on its network, and even divest wireless spectrum that the companies can use.

Altice plans to resell Sprint’s wireless service under its own brand next year, but is limited to selling its phone plans in the cable provider’s current markets.

While that agreement still stands, Altice said it was concerned about T-Mobile’s willingness to allow Altice to expand its wireless service nationwide and over the long term, since the carrier has made “no tangible commitments” to do so.

In a separate filing, Dish said the merger would likely increase prices for consumers and that T-Mobile and Sprint have overstated their argument that the carriers need to combine to build a 5G network, the next-generation wireless network that is expected to bring faster data speeds.

T-Mobile and Sprint have previously cited cable companies such as Comcast Corp (CMCSA.O) and Charter Communications Inc (CHTR.O), which are entering the wireless industry, as evidence of growing competition.

The Communications Workers of America, a union that represents some telecommunications workers, also said in a separate FCC filing on Monday that the merger will result in more than 28,000 job losses.

In response to the FCC filings, T-Mobile and Sprint said in a joint statement on Tuesday that they were confident the merger will create more competition and be positive for consumers.

“These filings are part of the normal FCC open comment process and we welcome the opportunity for this important dialogue. We look forward to submitting our responses by the September 17th filing date,” the companies said.

Reporting by Sheila Dang; Editing by Rosalba O"Brien, Leslie Adler and David Gregoro

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Tesla wins court case against Ontario government over rebate cancellation

TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian court has ruled in favor of Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) after the electric carmaker challenged the province of Ontario’s wind-down of an electric vehicle rebate.

Tesla superchargers are installed at the Quinte Mall in Belleville, Ontario, Canada, May 6, 2018. REUTERS/David Lucas/File Photo

In a ruling on Monday, Judge Frederick Myers of Ontario struck down the transition program set up by the new Ontario government, which excluded Tesla customers from qualifying for rebates.

A Tesla spokeswoman welcomed the decision.

“Tesla only sought fair treatment for our customers and we hope the Ministry now does the right thing by delivering on its promise to ensure all [electric vehicle]-owners receive their incentives,” the spokeswoman said in an email on Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for Ontario’s Attorney-General said the government is reviewing the ruling “and will make a decision on how to proceed in the coming days.”

Tesla’s challenge arose after Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government in July canceled a slew of green energy initiatives, including an Electric and Hydrogen Vehicle Incentive Program that provided rebates of up to C$14,000 ($10,640) for people who bought electric cars.

Premier Doug Ford’s government, which came to power the previous month, made provisions for people who had already bought or ordered cars but structured the transition program in such a way as to exclude Tesla, which does not use franchised dealerships.

In challenging the program, Tesla called this an “arbitrary” exclusion.

Myers agreed, calling the exclusion “arbitrary” and “egregious” in his ruling, in part “because the (Transportation) Minister singled out Tesla for reprobation and harm” without providing the company a chance to be heard.

Reporting by Anna Mehler Paperny; Editing by Frances Kerry

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Facebook hires prominent artificial-intelligence expert to open Montreal lab

TORONTO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc plans to open an artificial-intelligence laboratory in Montreal, which will be run by prominent AI researcher Joelle Pineau, two people familiar with the plan said on Friday.
Tech

White House investigating Google after Trump accuses it of bias

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Google’s search engine was hiding “fair media” coverage of him and said he would address the situation, taking a swipe at the internet giant without providing evidence or giving details of action he might take.

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: The logo of Google is pictured during the Viva Tech start-up and technology summit in Paris, France, May 25, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

The company, part of Alphabet Inc, denied any political bias in its search engine.

Trump’s economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, later told reporters that the White House was “taking a look” at Google, saying they would do “some investigation and some analysis,” without providing further details.

Trump’s criticism and threat of action to somehow restrict Google was his latest attack on a major tech company, following a series of tweets about Amazon.com, which he has accused of hurting small businesses and benefitting from a favorable deal with the U.S. Postal Service.

Last week, without mentioning specific companies, he accused social media companies of silencing “millions of people” in an act of censorship, without offering evidence to support the claim.

In several tweets on Tuesday, the president said Google search results for “Trump News” showed only the reporting of what he terms fake news media, saying this was rigged against him and others.

Blaming Google for what he said was dangerous action that promoted mainstream media outlets such as CNN and suppressed conservative political voices, Trump added, “This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!” He did not offer any details.

Google said in a statement that its search engine “is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology ... We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.”

U.S. member of Congress Ted Lieu, a Democrat, said in a tweet directed at Trump: “If government tried to dictate the free speech algorithms of private companies, courts would strike it down in a nanosecond.”

Shares of Alphabet fell 0.3 percent to $1,252.98.

TRUMP’S CRITICISM OF MEDIA

While the exact science behind Google searches on the internet is kept secret, its basic principles are widely known. Search results on Google are generated by a variety of factors measured by the company’s algorithms.

They include determining a site’s relevance by counting the number of links to the page. Other factors such as personal browsing history and how certain keywords appear on the page also affect how pages are ranked. Popular news sites such as CNN.com and NYTimes.com, which many readers link to, can appear higher in searches based on such factors.

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump listens to a question during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S. August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

Trump has long criticized news media coverage of him, frequently using the term fake news to describe critical reports. Earlier this month, he accused social media companies, which include Twitter Inc and Facebook Inc, of censorship.

Trump’s accusation of bias on the part of Google comes as social media companies have suspended accounts, banned certain users and removed content as they face pressure from the U.S. Congress to police foreign propaganda and fake accounts aimed at disrupting American politics, including operations tied to Iran and Russia.

Companies such as Facebook and Twitter have also been pressed to remove conspiracy driven content and hate speech.

Tech companies have said they do not remove content for political reasons.

Some Republican U.S. lawmakers have also raised concerns about social media companies removing content from some conservatives, and have called Twitter’s chief executive to testify before a House of Representatives panel on Sept. 5.

Earlier this month, Alphabet’s YouTube joined Apple Inc and Facebook in removing some content from Infowars, a website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Jones was also temporarily suspended on Twitter.

Trump and the White House did not provide any detail on how they would probe Google, but the new Republican chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Joseph Simons, said in June that the agency would keep a close eye on big tech companies that dominate the internet.

Reporting by Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Ken Li in New York and Chris Sanders in Washington; Editing by Frances Kerry

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

White House investigating Google after Trump accuses it of bias

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Google’s search engine was hiding “fair media” coverage of him and said he would address the situation, taking a swipe at the internet giant without providing evidence or giving details of action he might take.

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: The logo of Google is pictured during the Viva Tech start-up and technology summit in Paris, France, May 25, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

The company, part of Alphabet Inc, denied any political bias in its search engine.

Trump’s economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, later told reporters that the White House was “taking a look” at Google, saying they would do “some investigation and some analysis,” without providing further details.

Trump’s criticism and threat of action to somehow restrict Google was his latest attack on a major tech company, following a series of tweets about Amazon.com, which he has accused of hurting small businesses and benefitting from a favorable deal with the U.S. Postal Service.

Last week, without mentioning specific companies, he accused social media companies of silencing “millions of people” in an act of censorship, without offering evidence to support the claim.

In several tweets on Tuesday, the president said Google search results for “Trump News” showed only the reporting of what he terms fake news media, saying this was rigged against him and others.

Blaming Google for what he said was dangerous action that promoted mainstream media outlets such as CNN and suppressed conservative political voices, Trump added, “This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!” He did not offer any details.

Google said in a statement that its search engine “is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology ... We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.”

U.S. member of Congress Ted Lieu, a Democrat, said in a tweet directed at Trump: “If government tried to dictate the free speech algorithms of private companies, courts would strike it down in a nanosecond.”

Shares of Alphabet fell 0.3 percent to $1,252.98.

TRUMP’S CRITICISM OF MEDIA

While the exact science behind Google searches on the internet is kept secret, its basic principles are widely known. Search results on Google are generated by a variety of factors measured by the company’s algorithms.

They include determining a site’s relevance by counting the number of links to the page. Other factors such as personal browsing history and how certain keywords appear on the page also affect how pages are ranked. Popular news sites such as CNN.com and NYTimes.com, which many readers link to, can appear higher in searches based on such factors.

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump listens to a question during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S. August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

Trump has long criticized news media coverage of him, frequently using the term fake news to describe critical reports. Earlier this month, he accused social media companies, which include Twitter Inc and Facebook Inc, of censorship.

Trump’s accusation of bias on the part of Google comes as social media companies have suspended accounts, banned certain users and removed content as they face pressure from the U.S. Congress to police foreign propaganda and fake accounts aimed at disrupting American politics, including operations tied to Iran and Russia.

Companies such as Facebook and Twitter have also been pressed to remove conspiracy driven content and hate speech.

Tech companies have said they do not remove content for political reasons.

Some Republican U.S. lawmakers have also raised concerns about social media companies removing content from some conservatives, and have called Twitter’s chief executive to testify before a House of Representatives panel on Sept. 5.

Earlier this month, Alphabet’s YouTube joined Apple Inc and Facebook in removing some content from Infowars, a website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Jones was also temporarily suspended on Twitter.

Trump and the White House did not provide any detail on how they would probe Google, but the new Republican chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Joseph Simons, said in June that the agency would keep a close eye on big tech companies that dominate the internet.

Reporting by Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Ken Li in New York and Chris Sanders in Washington; Editing by Frances Kerry

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Instagram Adds 2FA, Account Verification in Security Update

Social media platforms" struggle with safety and security is like a game of Whac-A-Mole. One day, the threat is coordinated bot activity; the next, it"s SIM hijackers stealing the identities of regular users. In an effort to protect Instagram users from these and other threats, the company announced a set of features today designed make Instagram feel "safer," including ways to protect your own account and to verify whether the accounts you follow are genuine or not.

Instagram

First, all users will soon be able to use a more robust form of two-factor authentication to log into Instagram. Previously, Instagram offered two-factor authentication with a code sent via SMS—better than nothing, but insufficient to protect all Instagram users from having their accounts compromised. (Users with "valuable" handles may be more vulnerable to scams like SIM hijacking, where hackers access a person"s phone number and use it to log into their accounts and steal their usernames.) Now, the platform will allow integration with third-party authenticators, like DUO Mobile and Google Authenticator, which supply two-factor codes locally and provide an additional layer of security against account hacking.

Instagram

To help users differentiate between real and fake accounts, Instagram will now make it easy to look up information about individual accounts—including the date the account was created, its country of origin, and a record of username changes over the past year. You’ll also be able to see any ads the account is running and similar accounts with shared followers. To surface this information, tap the three dots on an Instagram profile page and select the new tab, “About This Account.” The feature will roll out first to accounts with large followings (celebrities, public figures, so-called influencers) and later to all Instagram accounts.

What"s more, accounts with large numbers of followers will now be able to request verification from Instagram. The platform already gives blue checkmarks to some celebrity users and brands—WIRED"s Instagram, for example, has one—but the verification process is mysterious, and Instagram hasn’t previously let users request verification. The new verification process involves a request form along with a place to upload a photo of a government-issued photo ID.

Post Mates

Instagram says the new changes are part of an effort to make the platform feel safe and to empower users to follow genuine accounts over fake ones.

“Keeping people with bad intentions off our platform is incredibly important to me,” Instagram’s co-founder and CTO, Mike Krieger, wrote in a blog post today. “That means trying to make sure the people you follow and the accounts you interact with are who they say they are, and stopping bad actors before they cause harm.”

The platform is also hoping to avoid some of the problems befalling its parent company, Facebook, which has struggled to keep fake accounts, misinformation campaigns, and untrustworthy pages off its service. Facebook said it has deactivated millions of fake accounts this year, and that some malicious actors are becoming harder to trace.

Instagram is, of course, a different beast. As it grows, it will have to face decisions about how to create community and trust on a global platform of over 1 billion users. Checkmarks and two-factor authentication aren"t the end of that story. But they"re a good place to start.

---

More Great WIRED Stories

White House investigating Google after Trump accuses it of bias

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Google’s search engine was hiding “fair media” coverage of him and said he would address the situation, taking a swipe at the internet giant without providing evidence or giving details of action he might take.

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: The logo of Google is pictured during the Viva Tech start-up and technology summit in Paris, France, May 25, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

The company, part of Alphabet Inc, denied any political bias in its search engine.

Trump’s economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, later told reporters that the White House was “taking a look” at Google, saying they would do “some investigation and some analysis,” without providing further details.

Trump’s criticism and threat of action to somehow restrict Google was his latest attack on a major tech company, following a series of tweets about Amazon.com, which he has accused of hurting small businesses and benefitting from a favorable deal with the U.S. Postal Service.

Last week, without mentioning specific companies, he accused social media companies of silencing “millions of people” in an act of censorship, without offering evidence to support the claim.

In several tweets on Tuesday, the president said Google search results for “Trump News” showed only the reporting of what he terms fake news media, saying this was rigged against him and others.

Blaming Google for what he said was dangerous action that promoted mainstream media outlets such as CNN and suppressed conservative political voices, Trump added, “This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!” He did not offer any details.

Google said in a statement that its search engine “is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology ... We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.”

U.S. member of Congress Ted Lieu, a Democrat, said in a tweet directed at Trump: “If government tried to dictate the free speech algorithms of private companies, courts would strike it down in a nanosecond.”

Shares of Alphabet fell 0.3 percent to $1,252.98.

TRUMP’S CRITICISM OF MEDIA

While the exact science behind Google searches on the internet is kept secret, its basic principles are widely known. Search results on Google are generated by a variety of factors measured by the company’s algorithms.

They include determining a site’s relevance by counting the number of links to the page. Other factors such as personal browsing history and how certain keywords appear on the page also affect how pages are ranked. Popular news sites such as CNN.com and NYTimes.com, which many readers link to, can appear higher in searches based on such factors.

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump listens to a question during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S. August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

Trump has long criticized news media coverage of him, frequently using the term fake news to describe critical reports. Earlier this month, he accused social media companies, which include Twitter Inc and Facebook Inc, of censorship.

Trump’s accusation of bias on the part of Google comes as social media companies have suspended accounts, banned certain users and removed content as they face pressure from the U.S. Congress to police foreign propaganda and fake accounts aimed at disrupting American politics, including operations tied to Iran and Russia.

Companies such as Facebook and Twitter have also been pressed to remove conspiracy driven content and hate speech.

Tech companies have said they do not remove content for political reasons.

Some Republican U.S. lawmakers have also raised concerns about social media companies removing content from some conservatives, and have called Twitter’s chief executive to testify before a House of Representatives panel on Sept. 5.

Earlier this month, Alphabet’s YouTube joined Apple Inc and Facebook in removing some content from Infowars, a website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Jones was also temporarily suspended on Twitter.

Trump and the White House did not provide any detail on how they would probe Google, but the new Republican chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Joseph Simons, said in June that the agency would keep a close eye on big tech companies that dominate the internet.

Reporting by Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Ken Li in New York and Chris Sanders in Washington; Editing by Frances Kerry

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Instagram Adds 2FA, Account Verification in Security Update

Social media platforms" struggle with safety and security is like a game of Whac-A-Mole. One day, the threat is coordinated bot activity; the next, it"s SIM hijackers stealing the identities of regular users. In an effort to protect Instagram users from these and other threats, the company announced a set of features today designed make Instagram feel "safer," including ways to protect your own account and to verify whether the accounts you follow are genuine or not.

Instagram

First, all users will soon be able to use a more robust form of two-factor authentication to log into Instagram. Previously, Instagram offered two-factor authentication with a code sent via SMS—better than nothing, but insufficient to protect all Instagram users from having their accounts compromised. (Users with "valuable" handles may be more vulnerable to scams like SIM hijacking, where hackers access a person"s phone number and use it to log into their accounts and steal their usernames.) Now, the platform will allow integration with third-party authenticators, like DUO Mobile and Google Authenticator, which supply two-factor codes locally and provide an additional layer of security against account hacking.

Instagram

To help users differentiate between real and fake accounts, Instagram will now make it easy to look up information about individual accounts—including the date the account was created, its country of origin, and a record of username changes over the past year. You’ll also be able to see any ads the account is running and similar accounts with shared followers. To surface this information, tap the three dots on an Instagram profile page and select the new tab, “About This Account.” The feature will roll out first to accounts with large followings (celebrities, public figures, so-called influencers) and later to all Instagram accounts.

What"s more, accounts with large numbers of followers will now be able to request verification from Instagram. The platform already gives blue checkmarks to some celebrity users and brands—WIRED"s Instagram, for example, has one—but the verification process is mysterious, and Instagram hasn’t previously let users request verification. The new verification process involves a request form along with a place to upload a photo of a government-issued photo ID.

Post Mates

Instagram says the new changes are part of an effort to make the platform feel safe and to empower users to follow genuine accounts over fake ones.

“Keeping people with bad intentions off our platform is incredibly important to me,” Instagram’s co-founder and CTO, Mike Krieger, wrote in a blog post today. “That means trying to make sure the people you follow and the accounts you interact with are who they say they are, and stopping bad actors before they cause harm.”

The platform is also hoping to avoid some of the problems befalling its parent company, Facebook, which has struggled to keep fake accounts, misinformation campaigns, and untrustworthy pages off its service. Facebook said it has deactivated millions of fake accounts this year, and that some malicious actors are becoming harder to trace.

Instagram is, of course, a different beast. As it grows, it will have to face decisions about how to create community and trust on a global platform of over 1 billion users. Checkmarks and two-factor authentication aren"t the end of that story. But they"re a good place to start.

---

More Great WIRED Stories

White House investigating Google after Trump accuses it of bias

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Google’s search engine was hiding “fair media” coverage of him and said he would address the situation, taking a swipe at the internet giant without providing evidence or giving details of action he might take.

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: The logo of Google is pictured during the Viva Tech start-up and technology summit in Paris, France, May 25, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

The company, part of Alphabet Inc, denied any political bias in its search engine.

Trump’s economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, later told reporters that the White House was “taking a look” at Google, saying they would do “some investigation and some analysis,” without providing further details.

Trump’s criticism and threat of action to somehow restrict Google was his latest attack on a major tech company, following a series of tweets about Amazon.com, which he has accused of hurting small businesses and benefitting from a favorable deal with the U.S. Postal Service.

Last week, without mentioning specific companies, he accused social media companies of silencing “millions of people” in an act of censorship, without offering evidence to support the claim.

In several tweets on Tuesday, the president said Google search results for “Trump News” showed only the reporting of what he terms fake news media, saying this was rigged against him and others.

Blaming Google for what he said was dangerous action that promoted mainstream media outlets such as CNN and suppressed conservative political voices, Trump added, “This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!” He did not offer any details.

Google said in a statement that its search engine “is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology ... We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.”

U.S. member of Congress Ted Lieu, a Democrat, said in a tweet directed at Trump: “If government tried to dictate the free speech algorithms of private companies, courts would strike it down in a nanosecond.”

Shares of Alphabet fell 0.3 percent to $1,252.98.

TRUMP’S CRITICISM OF MEDIA

While the exact science behind Google searches on the internet is kept secret, its basic principles are widely known. Search results on Google are generated by a variety of factors measured by the company’s algorithms.

They include determining a site’s relevance by counting the number of links to the page. Other factors such as personal browsing history and how certain keywords appear on the page also affect how pages are ranked. Popular news sites such as CNN.com and NYTimes.com, which many readers link to, can appear higher in searches based on such factors.

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump listens to a question during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S. August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

Trump has long criticized news media coverage of him, frequently using the term fake news to describe critical reports. Earlier this month, he accused social media companies, which include Twitter Inc and Facebook Inc, of censorship.

Trump’s accusation of bias on the part of Google comes as social media companies have suspended accounts, banned certain users and removed content as they face pressure from the U.S. Congress to police foreign propaganda and fake accounts aimed at disrupting American politics, including operations tied to Iran and Russia.

Companies such as Facebook and Twitter have also been pressed to remove conspiracy driven content and hate speech.

Tech companies have said they do not remove content for political reasons.

Some Republican U.S. lawmakers have also raised concerns about social media companies removing content from some conservatives, and have called Twitter’s chief executive to testify before a House of Representatives panel on Sept. 5.

Earlier this month, Alphabet’s YouTube joined Apple Inc and Facebook in removing some content from Infowars, a website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Jones was also temporarily suspended on Twitter.

Trump and the White House did not provide any detail on how they would probe Google, but the new Republican chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Joseph Simons, said in June that the agency would keep a close eye on big tech companies that dominate the internet.

Reporting by Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Ken Li in New York and Chris Sanders in Washington; Editing by Frances Kerry

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

White House investigating Google after Trump accuses it of bias

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday Google’s search engine was hiding “fair media” coverage of him and said he would address the situation, taking a swipe at the internet giant without providing evidence or giving details of action he might take.

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: The logo of Google is pictured during the Viva Tech start-up and technology summit in Paris, France, May 25, 2018. REUTERS/Charles Platiau/File Photo

The company, part of Alphabet Inc, denied any political bias in its search engine.

Trump’s economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, later told reporters that the White House was “taking a look” at Google, saying they would do “some investigation and some analysis,” without providing further details.

Trump’s criticism and threat of action to somehow restrict Google was his latest attack on a major tech company, following a series of tweets about Amazon.com, which he has accused of hurting small businesses and benefitting from a favorable deal with the U.S. Postal Service.

Last week, without mentioning specific companies, he accused social media companies of silencing “millions of people” in an act of censorship, without offering evidence to support the claim.

In several tweets on Tuesday, the president said Google search results for “Trump News” showed only the reporting of what he terms fake news media, saying this was rigged against him and others.

Blaming Google for what he said was dangerous action that promoted mainstream media outlets such as CNN and suppressed conservative political voices, Trump added, “This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!” He did not offer any details.

Google said in a statement that its search engine “is not used to set a political agenda and we don’t bias our results toward any political ideology ... We continually work to improve Google Search and we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.”

U.S. member of Congress Ted Lieu, a Democrat, said in a tweet directed at Trump: “If government tried to dictate the free speech algorithms of private companies, courts would strike it down in a nanosecond.”

Shares of Alphabet fell 0.3 percent to $1,252.98.

TRUMP’S CRITICISM OF MEDIA

While the exact science behind Google searches on the internet is kept secret, its basic principles are widely known. Search results on Google are generated by a variety of factors measured by the company’s algorithms.

They include determining a site’s relevance by counting the number of links to the page. Other factors such as personal browsing history and how certain keywords appear on the page also affect how pages are ranked. Popular news sites such as CNN.com and NYTimes.com, which many readers link to, can appear higher in searches based on such factors.

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump listens to a question during an interview with Reuters in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S. August 20, 2018. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

Trump has long criticized news media coverage of him, frequently using the term fake news to describe critical reports. Earlier this month, he accused social media companies, which include Twitter Inc and Facebook Inc, of censorship.

Trump’s accusation of bias on the part of Google comes as social media companies have suspended accounts, banned certain users and removed content as they face pressure from the U.S. Congress to police foreign propaganda and fake accounts aimed at disrupting American politics, including operations tied to Iran and Russia.

Companies such as Facebook and Twitter have also been pressed to remove conspiracy driven content and hate speech.

Tech companies have said they do not remove content for political reasons.

Some Republican U.S. lawmakers have also raised concerns about social media companies removing content from some conservatives, and have called Twitter’s chief executive to testify before a House of Representatives panel on Sept. 5.

Earlier this month, Alphabet’s YouTube joined Apple Inc and Facebook in removing some content from Infowars, a website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Jones was also temporarily suspended on Twitter.

Trump and the White House did not provide any detail on how they would probe Google, but the new Republican chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Joseph Simons, said in June that the agency would keep a close eye on big tech companies that dominate the internet.

Reporting by Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Ken Li in New York and Chris Sanders in Washington; Editing by Frances Kerry

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Deloitte reports 6 percent rise in full-year revenue in UK, Switzerland

(Reuters) - Deloitte on Tuesday reported a nearly 6 percent increase in full-year revenue in Britain and Switzerland, driven by growth in its audit and risk advisory segment.

Offices of Deloitte are seen in London, Britain, September 25, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay - RC1614FC2010

Deloitte said it had also launched legal services in Britain, moving onto turf of traditional law firms.

Earnings and market share at Deloitte, EY, PwC and KPMG, the “Big Four” accounting firms, have come under political scrutiny, with the industry in Britain set to voluntarily propose this week market share limits for the firms.

“The audit profession has faced significant scrutiny in the past year, with concerns raised over quality, conflicts of interest and a lack of choice,” David Sproul, senior partner and chief executive of Deloitte North West Europe, said in a statement.

“These are serious concerns and we recognize the need for change.”

Sproul said Deloitte audited 27 percent of Britain’s FTSE 100 top listed companies.

Revenue rose to 3.60 billion pounds ($4.59 billion) for the financial year ended May 31, from 3.38 billion pounds a year earlier.

Distributable profit was 584 million pounds, or 832,000 pounds per equity partner, the company said.

Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru and Huw Jones in London; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Mark Potter

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Swiss watchdog to propose looser anti-money laundering rules for fintechs

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss financial regulator FINMA is planning to loosen anti-money laundering rules for smaller financial technology firms, part of a drive to boost innovation and shore up the country’s position as a leading money management hub.

FILE PHOTO: The logo of Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA is seen outside their headquarters in Bern, Switzerland April 5, 2016. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich/File Photo

The revisions, prompted by a new ‘fintech’ licensing category carved out by the Swiss parliament in June, will clarify how non-banks applying for the new license must ensure due diligence.

“As a rule, all financial institutions are subject to similar due-diligence requirements relating to combating money laundering. However, as most fintech license applicants are likely to be smaller institutions, FINMA proposes to introduce some organizational relaxations for such institutions,” the financial supervisor said in a statement on Tuesday.

Its proposal defines small institutions as those with gross revenues under 1.5 million Swiss francs ($1.5 million).

Under its terms small institutions, unlike banks, will not for instance have to establish an independent anti-money laundering unit with monitoring duties, it said.

The move comes after Switzerland’s parliament voted in June to amend the Swiss Banking Act, creating a new fintech license category to ease rules imposed on financial endeavors that take in funds and provide certain bank-like functions, but do not make money by investing or receiving interest on the funds.

Switzerland, the world’s largest center for offshore wealth, has gained prominence in recent years as a hub for financial technology providers, such as banking software groups Temenos (TEMN.S) and Avaloq AVLN.S, as well as cryptocurrency projects.

But advocates have warned that as banks face increasing margin pressure and tougher competition from technological rivals, more must be done to promote innovation if Switzerland is to remain a leading financial hub.

The new license, intended to promote financial innovation, will apply to groups which accept public deposits of up to 100 million francs but don’t invest the funds or pay interest.

It will likely have the biggest immediate impact on activities such as crowdfunding, which under current rules could often require a banking license.

Cryptocurrency projects — which often fall under anti-money laundering or securities regulations under FINMA’s current guidelines but generally don’t require a banking license — are unlikely to be affected by the changes.

The federal government plans the amendments to take effect from Jan. 1, and FINMA said its own adjustments to the Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance should enter into force simultaneously, if possible.

FINMA opened a review period for its proposal on Tuesday to run through October 26.

($1 = 0.9957 Swiss francs)

Reporting by Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi; Editing by Jan Harvey

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Brussels loans Nokia €500m to fund European 5G research

Finnish networking and comms giant Nokia has been awarded a €500m (£453.6m) loan by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to further accelerate its research and development around the next-generation 5G mobile network standard.

Backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), part of the European Commission’s (EC’s) Investment Plan for Europe, or Juncker Plan, the loan will provide much-needed support to Nokia as it develops its 5G proposition – an area where European firms are widely regarded as having fallen behind their counterparts in Asia and North America.

Nokia proposes to deliver an end-to-end 5G network proposition, from the radio access network (RAN) to internet protocol (IP), as well as optical and packet core networks, service platforms, and other software and services associated with 5G, making it capable of acting as a one-stop shop for mobile network operators (MNOs).

“We are pleased to land this financing commitment from the EIB, which shares our view of the revolutionary nature of 5G – and the realisation that this revolution is already under way,” said Nokia CFO Kristian Pullola.

“This financing bolsters our 5G research efforts and continues the broader momentum we have already seen this year in terms of customer wins and development firsts, supporting our relentless drive to be a true leader in 5G – end to end.”

EC vice-president Jyrki Katainen, who is responsible for jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness, said: “Ensuring that Europe embraces and benefits from new technologies requires sustained investment. That is where the Investment Plan for Europe can play a crucial role.

“I am delighted that, with today’s agreement, the plan is contributing to Nokia’s research and development activities across multiple European countries to advance the development of 5G technology.”

Viavi vice-president of wireless, Li-Ke Huang, said: “The US, China and South Korea have invested early and heavily to try to establish a leadership position in the ‘5G race’. This investment from the EIB is a crucial show of 5G support in Europe, and a demonstration of the region’s commitment to developing next-generation networks.

“Sustained backing from private, public and governmental bodies is essential to ensuring that Europe continues to be a major player in cellular communications.

“In order to be granted enough spectrum and gain the necessary support from regulators and governments, operators and vendors in Europe need to demonstrate that 5G development can solve existing problems in today’s networks.”

Huang said that the strength of its mobile ecosystem through the likes of Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson meant Europe was still in a strong position to drive development of 5G networks, with support from governments, universities, consultancies, R&D specialists and the wider industry.

“Continued financial investment, along with collaboration and knowledge-sharing, will help to promote 5G development across the continent,” he added.

Earlier in August 2018, Nokia revealed that it would charge a flat fee of €3 per device to license its 5G patents, substantially undercutting rivals such as Ericsson and Qualcomm. The move has been read as an attempt to reduce the chances of it getting into legal battles with smartphone manufacturers, as well as to increase the attractiveness of its 5G portfolio.

Instagram Adds 2FA, Account Verification in Security Update

Social media platforms" struggle with safety and security is like a game of Whac-A-Mole. One day, the threat is coordinated bot activity; the next, it"s SIM hijackers stealing the identities of regular users. In an effort to protect Instagram users from those and future threats, the company announced today a set of features designed make Instagram feel "safer," including ways to protect your own account and to verify whether the accounts you follow are genuine or not.

Instagram

First, all users will soon be able to use a more robust form of two-factor authentication to log into Instagram. Previously, Instagram offered two-factor authentication with a code sent via SMS—better than nothing, but insufficient to protect all Instagram users from having their accounts compromised. (Users with "valuable" handles may be more vulnerable to scams like SIM hijacking, where hackers access a person"s phone number and use it to log into their accounts and steal their usernames.) Now, the platform will allow integration with third-party authenticators, like DUO Mobile and Google Authenticator, which supply two-factor codes locally and provide an additional layer of security against account hacking.

Instagram

To help users differentiate between real and fake accounts, Instagram will now make it easy to look up information about individual accounts, including the date the account was created, its country of origin, and a record of username changes over the past year. You’ll also be able to see any ads the account is running and similar accounts with shared followers. To surface this information, tap the three dots on an Instagram profile page and select the new tab, “About This Account.” The feature will roll out first to accounts with large followings—celebrities, public figures, influencers—and later to all Instagram accounts.

Lastly, accounts with large numbers of followers will now be able to request verification from Instagram. The platform already gives blue checkmarks to some celebrity users and brands—WIRED"s Instagram, for example, has one—but the verification process is mysterious, and Instagram hasn’t previously let users request verification. The new verification process involves a request form along with a place to upload a photo of a government-issued photo ID.

Post Mates

Instagram says the new changes are part of a roadmap to help the platform feel safe, and to empower users to follow genuine accounts over fake ones.

“Keeping people with bad intentions off our platform is incredibly important to me,” Instagram’s co-founder and CTO, Mike Krieger, wrote in a blog post today. “That means trying to make sure the people you follow and the accounts you interact with are who they say they are, and stopping bad actors before they cause harm.”

The platform is also hoping not to repeat the same mistakes of its parent company, Facebook, which has struggled to keep fake accounts, misinformation campaigns, and untrustworthy pages off its platform. In the past few weeks, Facebook has removed millions of fake accounts in the past year, and which are becoming harder to trace on the platform.

Instagram is, of course, a different beast. As it grows, it will have to face hard decisions about how to create community and trust on a global platform of over a billion users. Checkmarks and two-factor authentication aren"t the end of that story. But they"re a good place to start.

---

More Great WIRED Stories

Brussels loans Nokia €500m to fund European 5G research

Finnish networking and comms giant Nokia has been awarded a €500m (£453.6m) loan by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to further accelerate its research and development around the next-generation 5G mobile network standard.

Backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), part of the European Commission’s (EC’s) Investment Plan for Europe, or Juncker Plan, the loan will provide much-needed support to Nokia as it develops its 5G proposition – an area where European firms are widely regarded as having fallen behind their counterparts in Asia and North America.

Nokia proposes to deliver an end-to-end 5G network proposition, from the radio access network (RAN) to internet protocol (IP), as well as optical and packet core networks, service platforms, and other software and services associated with 5G, making it capable of acting as a one-stop shop for mobile network operators (MNOs).

“We are pleased to land this financing commitment from the EIB, which shares our view of the revolutionary nature of 5G – and the realisation that this revolution is already under way,” said Nokia CFO Kristian Pullola.

“This financing bolsters our 5G research efforts and continues the broader momentum we have already seen this year in terms of customer wins and development firsts, supporting our relentless drive to be a true leader in 5G – end to end.”

EC vice-president Jyrki Katainen, who is responsible for jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness, said: “Ensuring that Europe embraces and benefits from new technologies requires sustained investment. That is where the Investment Plan for Europe can play a crucial role.

“I am delighted that, with today’s agreement, the plan is contributing to Nokia’s research and development activities across multiple European countries to advance the development of 5G technology.”

Viavi vice-president of wireless, Li-Ke Huang, said: “The US, China and South Korea have invested early and heavily to try to establish a leadership position in the ‘5G race’. This investment from the EIB is a crucial show of 5G support in Europe, and a demonstration of the region’s commitment to developing next-generation networks.

“Sustained backing from private, public and governmental bodies is essential to ensuring that Europe continues to be a major player in cellular communications.

“In order to be granted enough spectrum and gain the necessary support from regulators and governments, operators and vendors in Europe need to demonstrate that 5G development can solve existing problems in today’s networks.”

Huang said that the strength of its mobile ecosystem through the likes of Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson meant Europe was still in a strong position to drive development of 5G networks, with support from governments, universities, consultancies, R&D specialists and the wider industry.

“Continued financial investment, along with collaboration and knowledge-sharing, will help to promote 5G development across the continent,” he added.

Earlier in August 2018, Nokia revealed that it would charge a flat fee of €3 per device to license its 5G patents, substantially undercutting rivals such as Ericsson and Qualcomm. The move has been read as an attempt to reduce the chances of it getting into legal battles with smartphone manufacturers, as well as to increase the attractiveness of its 5G portfolio.

Brussels loans Nokia €500m to fund European 5G research

Finnish networking and comms giant Nokia has been awarded a €500m (£453.6m) loan by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to further accelerate its research and development around the next-generation 5G mobile network standard.

Backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), part of the European Commission’s (EC’s) Investment Plan for Europe, or Juncker Plan, the loan will provide much-needed support to Nokia as it develops its 5G proposition – an area where European firms are widely regarded as having fallen behind their counterparts in Asia and North America.

Nokia proposes to deliver an end-to-end 5G network proposition, from the radio access network (RAN) to internet protocol (IP), as well as optical and packet core networks, service platforms, and other software and services associated with 5G, making it capable of acting as a one-stop shop for mobile network operators (MNOs).

“We are pleased to land this financing commitment from the EIB, which shares our view of the revolutionary nature of 5G – and the realisation that this revolution is already under way,” said Nokia CFO Kristian Pullola.

“This financing bolsters our 5G research efforts and continues the broader momentum we have already seen this year in terms of customer wins and development firsts, supporting our relentless drive to be a true leader in 5G – end to end.”

EC vice-president Jyrki Katainen, who is responsible for jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness, said: “Ensuring that Europe embraces and benefits from new technologies requires sustained investment. That is where the Investment Plan for Europe can play a crucial role.

“I am delighted that, with today’s agreement, the plan is contributing to Nokia’s research and development activities across multiple European countries to advance the development of 5G technology.”

Viavi vice-president of wireless, Li-Ke Huang, said: “The US, China and South Korea have invested early and heavily to try to establish a leadership position in the ‘5G race’. This investment from the EIB is a crucial show of 5G support in Europe, and a demonstration of the region’s commitment to developing next-generation networks.

“Sustained backing from private, public and governmental bodies is essential to ensuring that Europe continues to be a major player in cellular communications.

“In order to be granted enough spectrum and gain the necessary support from regulators and governments, operators and vendors in Europe need to demonstrate that 5G development can solve existing problems in today’s networks.”

Huang said that the strength of its mobile ecosystem through the likes of Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson meant Europe was still in a strong position to drive development of 5G networks, with support from governments, universities, consultancies, R&D specialists and the wider industry.

“Continued financial investment, along with collaboration and knowledge-sharing, will help to promote 5G development across the continent,” he added.

Earlier in August 2018, Nokia revealed that it would charge a flat fee of €3 per device to license its 5G patents, substantially undercutting rivals such as Ericsson and Qualcomm. The move has been read as an attempt to reduce the chances of it getting into legal battles with smartphone manufacturers, as well as to increase the attractiveness of its 5G portfolio.

Brussels loans Nokia €500m to fund European 5G research

Finnish networking and comms giant Nokia has been awarded a €500m (£453.6m) loan by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to further accelerate its research and development around the next-generation 5G mobile network standard.

Backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), part of the European Commission’s (EC’s) Investment Plan for Europe, or Juncker Plan, the loan will provide much-needed support to Nokia as it develops its 5G proposition – an area where European firms are widely regarded as having fallen behind their counterparts in Asia and North America.

Nokia proposes to deliver an end-to-end 5G network proposition, from the radio access network (RAN) to internet protocol (IP), as well as optical and packet core networks, service platforms, and other software and services associated with 5G, making it capable of acting as a one-stop shop for mobile network operators (MNOs).

“We are pleased to land this financing commitment from the EIB, which shares our view of the revolutionary nature of 5G – and the realisation that this revolution is already under way,” said Nokia CFO Kristian Pullola.

“This financing bolsters our 5G research efforts and continues the broader momentum we have already seen this year in terms of customer wins and development firsts, supporting our relentless drive to be a true leader in 5G – end to end.”

EC vice-president Jyrki Katainen, who is responsible for jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness, said: “Ensuring that Europe embraces and benefits from new technologies requires sustained investment. That is where the Investment Plan for Europe can play a crucial role.

“I am delighted that, with today’s agreement, the plan is contributing to Nokia’s research and development activities across multiple European countries to advance the development of 5G technology.”

Viavi vice-president of wireless, Li-Ke Huang, said: “The US, China and South Korea have invested early and heavily to try to establish a leadership position in the ‘5G race’. This investment from the EIB is a crucial show of 5G support in Europe, and a demonstration of the region’s commitment to developing next-generation networks.

“Sustained backing from private, public and governmental bodies is essential to ensuring that Europe continues to be a major player in cellular communications.

“In order to be granted enough spectrum and gain the necessary support from regulators and governments, operators and vendors in Europe need to demonstrate that 5G development can solve existing problems in today’s networks.”

Huang said that the strength of its mobile ecosystem through the likes of Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson meant Europe was still in a strong position to drive development of 5G networks, with support from governments, universities, consultancies, R&D specialists and the wider industry.

“Continued financial investment, along with collaboration and knowledge-sharing, will help to promote 5G development across the continent,” he added.

Earlier in August 2018, Nokia revealed that it would charge a flat fee of €3 per device to license its 5G patents, substantially undercutting rivals such as Ericsson and Qualcomm. The move has been read as an attempt to reduce the chances of it getting into legal battles with smartphone manufacturers, as well as to increase the attractiveness of its 5G portfolio.

Facebook hires prominent artificial-intelligence expert to open Montreal lab

TORONTO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc plans to open an artificial-intelligence laboratory in Montreal, which will be run by prominent AI researcher Joelle Pineau, two people familiar with the plan said on Friday.
Tech

Instagram Adds 2FA, Account Verification in Security Update

Social media platforms" struggle with safety and security is like a game of Whac-A-Mole. One day, the threat is coordinated bot activity; the next, it"s SIM hijackers stealing the identities of regular users. In an effort to protect Instagram users from those and future threats, the company announced today a set of features designed make Instagram feel "safer," including ways to protect your own account and to verify whether the accounts you follow are genuine or not.

Instagram

First, all users will soon be able to use a more robust form of two-factor authentication to log into Instagram. Previously, Instagram offered two-factor authentication with a code sent via SMS—better than nothing, but insufficient to protect all Instagram users from having their accounts compromised. (Users with "valuable" handles may be more vulnerable to scams like SIM hijacking, where hackers access a person"s phone number and use it to log into their accounts and steal their usernames.) Now, the platform will allow integration with third-party authenticators, like DUO Mobile and Google Authenticator, which supply two-factor codes locally and provide an additional layer of security against account hacking.

Instagram

To help users differentiate between real and fake accounts, Instagram will now make it easy to look up information about individual accounts, including the date the account was created, its country of origin, and a record of username changes over the past year. You’ll also be able to see any ads the account is running and similar accounts with shared followers. To surface this information, tap the three dots on an Instagram profile page and select the new tab, “About This Account.” The feature will roll out first to accounts with large followings—celebrities, public figures, influencers—and later to all Instagram accounts.

Lastly, accounts with large numbers of followers will now be able to request verification from Instagram. The platform already gives blue checkmarks to some celebrity users and brands—WIRED"s Instagram, for example, has one—but the verification process is mysterious, and Instagram hasn’t previously let users request verification. The new verification process involves a request form along with a place to upload a photo of a government-issued photo ID.

Post Mates

Instagram says the new changes are part of a roadmap to help the platform feel safe, and to empower users to follow genuine accounts over fake ones.

“Keeping people with bad intentions off our platform is incredibly important to me,” Instagram’s co-founder and CTO, Mike Krieger, wrote in a blog post today. “That means trying to make sure the people you follow and the accounts you interact with are who they say they are, and stopping bad actors before they cause harm.”

The platform is also hoping not to repeat the same mistakes of its parent company, Facebook, which has struggled to keep fake accounts, misinformation campaigns, and untrustworthy pages off its platform. In the past few weeks, Facebook has removed millions of fake accounts in the past year, and which are becoming harder to trace on the platform.

Instagram is, of course, a different beast. As it grows, it will have to face hard decisions about how to create community and trust on a global platform of over a billion users. Checkmarks and two-factor authentication aren"t the end of that story. But they"re a good place to start.

---

More Great WIRED Stories