Social media company Meta—the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp—announced Monday that it will ban RT and other Russian state media from its apps worldwide, days after the State Department announced sanctions against Kremlin-coordinated news organizations.

“After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets: Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity,” Meta said in a statement provided to TIME.

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Before the ban, RT had over 7 million followers on Facebook, while its Instagram account had over a million followers.

The move is an escalation of actions Meta announced in 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to limit the spread of Russian disinformation, which at the time included labeling and demoting posts with links to Russian state-controlled media outlets and demonetizing the accounts of those outlets and prohibiting them from running ads. The company also complied with E.U. and U.K. government requests to restrict access to RT and Sputnik in those territories. In response, in March 2022, Russia blocked access to Facebook and Instagram in the country. 

Meta’s latest actions come after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a press conference on Friday that the U.S. government has concluded Rossiya Segodnya and five of its subsidiaries, including RT, “are no longer merely firehoses of Russian Government propaganda and disinformation; they are engaged in covert influence activities aimed at undermining American elections and democracies, functioning like a de facto arm of Russia’s intelligence apparatus.” Sanctions unveiled Friday were imposed on RT’s parent company TV-Novosti as well as on Rossiya Segodnya and its general director Dmitry Kiselyov, and the State Department issued a notice “alerting the world to RT’s covert global activities.” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told the Associated Press that the State Department’s allegations were “nonsense.”

Meta’s new global ban follows a similar YouTube global ban on Russian state-funded media channels, while TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) block access to RT and Sputnik in the E.U. and U.K.

China has strongly advised its carmakers to make sure advanced electric vehicle technology stays in the country, people familiar with the matter said, even as they build factories around the world to escape punitive tariffs on Chinese exports.

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Beijing is encouraging Chinese automakers to export so-called knock-down kits to their foreign plants, the people said, meaning key parts of a vehicle would be produced domestically and then sent for final assembly in their destination market. 

The instructions come as companies from BYD Co. to Chery Automobile Co. firm up plans to build factories in Spain to Thailand and Hungary as their innovative and affordable EVs make inroads in foreign markets.

Read More: Why Biden Is Taking a Hard Line on Chinese EVs

China’s Ministry of Commerce held a meeting in July with more than a dozen automakers, who were also told they shouldn’t make any auto-related investments in India, the people said asking not to be identified discussing matters that are private, in another attempt to safeguard the know-how of China’s EV industry and mitigate regulatory risks.

In addition, carmakers wanting to invest in Turkey should first notify the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which oversees China’s EV industry, and the local Chinese embassy in Turkey.

Representatives from the Ministry of Commerce, or MOFCOM, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

China’s directive comes at a time most major Chinese carmakers are looking to localize manufacturing so as to avoid tariffs on Chinese-made EVs. MOFCOM guidelines that demand key production should remain within China could hurt automakers’ efforts to globalize as they search for new customers to offset fierce competition and sluggish sales at home that are cutting into their bottom lines.

It could also come as a blow to those European nations wooing Chinese carmakers in the hopes their presence will bring jobs and a local economic boost. BYD is planning on building a factory in Turkey, for example, that’s expected to have an annual capacity of 150,000 cars and employ up to 5,000 people.

During the meeting, MOFCOM noted that the countries inviting Chinese automakers to build factories are usually those enacting or considering trade barriers against Chinese vehicles. Officials told attendees that manufacturers shouldn’t blindly follow trends or believe such calls for investment from foreign governments, according to the people.

Several Chinese companies have already begun opening plants in the European Union to avoid duties. But Valdis Dombrovskis, an executive vice president of the European Commission, warned recently that such moves would only work if the firms meet rules-of-origin requirements that dictate a minimum level of value must be created in the EU.

“How much of the value added is going to be created in the EU, how much of the know-how is going to be in the EU? Is it just an assembly plant or a car manufacturing plant? It’s quite a substantial difference,” Dombrovskis told the Financial Times last month.

Brazil, Spain

In Brazil, BYD and Great Wall Motor Co. have said explicitly they aim to increase the share of locally produced and locally sourced components in coming years. That’s aimed at meeting local component requirements of roughly 50% of a product in order to export to other Latin American countries without tariffs, based on Brazil’s trade agreements with them.

Turkish politicians said in July that BYD has agreed to construct a $1 billion plant in the west of the country. Any new factory is expected to improve BYD’s access to the European Union, because Turkey has a customs-union agreement with the bloc. Turkey in June introduced a 40% tariff on vehicle imports from China.

BYD declined to comment.

In Spain, Chery Automobile has a partnership with a local firm to reopen a former Nissan Motor Co. plant in Barcelona. The Spanish plant will assemble cars from kits that have been partially “knocked down,” according to Chery.

Tensions between China and India meanwhile have remained elevated since a deadly clash broke out over a stretch of border in the Himalayas between the two nuclear-armed neighbors in 2020. 

Chinese state-owned manufacturer SAIC Motor Corp., which controlled MG Motor India, was investigated over financial irregularities in 2022, Bloomberg reported. Last year, SAIC diluted its stake in the Indian MG operation, with its ownership forecast to be trimmed to 38-40% over time, according to one local media report.

Chinese EV stocks pared early gains Thursday with SAIC Motor falling more than 1% in Shanghai and Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. and BYD slightly down in Hong Kong.

Apple Inc. lost its court fight over a €13 billion ($14.4 billion) Irish tax bill, in a boost to the European Union’s crackdown on special deals doled out by nations to big companies.

The E.U.’s Court of Justice in Luxembourg backed a landmark 2016 decision that Ireland broke state-aid law by giving the iPhone maker an unfair advantage.

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The court ruled on Tuesday that a lower court win for Apple should be overturned, because judges incorrectly decided that the commission’s regulators had made mistakes in their assessment.

The ruling is a boost for E.U. antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager, whose mandate in Brussels is about to end after two terms.

In 2016, Vestager sparked outrage across the Atlantic when she homed in on Apple’s tax arrangements. She claimed that Ireland granted illegal benefits to the Cupertino, California-based company that enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses in the country, over many years. 

She ordered Ireland to claw back the €13 billion sum, which amounts to about two quarters of Mac sales globally. The money has been sitting in an escrow account pending a final ruling.

“We are disappointed with today’s decision as previously the general court reviewed the facts and categorically annulled this case,” an Apple spokesperson said.

At 4:16 a.m. New York time, Apple shares were down 1.3% at $218 in premarket trading on Tuesday.

While it is a negative outcome for Ireland, which had claimed it had not given any tax advantages to Apple or other tech companies to set up there, given how long the case took to reach completion, it is now unlikely to have much of an impact for the country that is a well established hub for the European headquarters of a large number of major tech companies.

Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook previously blasted the E.U. move as “total political crap.” The U.S. Treasury has also weighed in, saying that the E.U. was making itself a “supra-national tax authority” that could threaten global tax reform efforts. Then President Donald Trump said Vestager “hates the United States” because “she’s suing all our companies.”

The Apple decision was by far the biggest in Vestager’s decade-long campaign for tax fairness, which has also targeted the likes of Amazon.com Inc. and carmaker Stellantis NV’s Fiat. Vestager has argued that selective tax benefits to big firms are illegal state aid that are banned in the E.U.

At issue in Tuesday’s case were two tax deals with the Irish government in 1991 and 2007. Those agreements allowed Apple to mis-attribute Irish profits to a “head office” that “only existed on paper,” according to the E.U.’s assessment. In turn, this resulted in a massive reduction in tax bills. The E.U.’s antitrust arm argued the break Apple received was anti-competitive, amounting to illegal state aid.

The case landed at the E.U.’s top court after Vestager contested Apple’s win at a lower tribunal in 2020. Judges at the bloc’s General Court found E.U. state aid watchdogs made several errors.

Since then, the Dane has suffered several more tax defeats but she took comfort from the fact that judges backed her approach to using state-aid rules to attack unfair arrangements.

Apple was one of the first U.S. tech giants to set up in Ireland, as a result of its deliberately low corporate tax rate in the 1980s and early 1990s, designed to attract foreign investment. The company set up its European headquarters outside the southern city of Cork in 1980 and now employs around 6,000 in the country.

In the years since, many tax loopholes once available have been closed and Ireland in 2021 signed up OECD measures that include a global minimum rate of 15% for multinational corporations.

LONDON — Google lost its final legal challenge on Tuesday against a European Union penalty for giving its own shopping recommendations an illegal advantage over rivals in search results, ending a long-running antitrust case that came with a whopping fine.

The European Union’s Court of Justice upheld a lower court’s decision, rejecting the company’s appeal against the 2.4 billion euro ($2.7 billion) penalty from the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc’s top antitrust enforcer.

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“By today’s judgment, the Court of Justice dismisses the appeal and thus upholds the judgment of the General Court,” the court said in a press release summarizing its decision.

Google didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment.

Read More: What Google’s Antitrust Defeat Means for AI

The commission’s original decision in 2017 accused the Silicon Valley giant of unfairly directing visitors to its own Google Shopping service to the detriment of competitors. It was one of three multibillion-euro fines that the commission imposed on Google in the previous decade as Brussels started ramping up its crackdown on the tech industry.

Google made changes to comply with the commission’s decision requiring it to treat competitors equally. The company started holding auctions for shopping search listings that it would bid for alongside other comparison shopping services.

At the same time, the company appealed the decision to the courts. But the E.U. General Court, the tribunal’s lower section, rejected its challenge in 2021 and the Court of Justice’s adviser later recommended rejecting the appeal.

European consumer group BEUC hailed the court’s decision, saying it shows how the bloc’s competition law “remains highly relevant” in digital markets.

“Google harmed millions of European consumers by ensuring that rival comparison shopping services were virtually invisible,” director general Agustín Reyna said. “Google’s illegal practices prevented consumers from accessing potentially cheaper prices and useful product information from rival comparison shopping services on all sorts of products, from clothes to washing machines.”

Google is still appealing the other two E.U. antitrust penalties, which involved its Android mobile operating system and AdSense advertising platform. The company was dealt a setback in the Android case when the E.U. General Court upheld the commission’s 4.125 billion euro fine in a 2022 decision. Its initial appeal against a 1.49 billion euro fine in the AdSense case has yet to be decided.

Those three cases foreshadowed expanded efforts by regulators worldwide to crack down on the tech industry. The E.U. has since opened more investigations into Big Tech companies and drafted new laws to clean up social media platforms and regulate artificial intelligence.

Google is now facing particular pressure over its lucrative digital advertising business. In a federal antitrust trial that began Monday, the U.S. Department of Justice is alleging the company holds a monopoly in the “ad tech” industry.

British competition regulators accused Google last week of abusing its dominance in ad tech while the E.U. is carrying out its own investigation.

Australia’s government will work with states and territories to legislate new age limits for social media websites, as part of a push to protect children’s mental health and shield them from inappropriate content online.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will introduce the new laws before an election due within the next nine months, saying parents were working “without a map” to try and tackle the mental health consequences triggered by social media.

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“No generation has faced this challenge before,” Albanese will say in a speech on Tuesday, according to excerpts provided by his office in advance. “Too often, there’s nothing social about social media—taking kids away from real friends and real experiences.”

No specific age limit has been set yet for social media, with the government already trialling age assurance technology to restrict children’s access to inappropriate content online, including pornography. The government is also still consulting on how the ban would work in practice.

Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corp. on Tuesday that the government was considering an upper age limit of 14 to 16 years for the ban. 

“We’re looking at how you deliver it. This is a global issue that governments around the globe are trying to deal with,” he said. 

A June survey by Essential Media found that 68% of Australians were supportive of an age limit of social media, with only 15% opposed.

Since coming to power in May 2022, the center-left Labor government has taken several steps to try to crack down on problems associated with harmful content online. In the first half of 2024, it took social media platform X to court in an attempt to force it to remove footage of a violent terrorist attack in Sydney.

PARIS — Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov promised to step up efforts to fight criminality on the messaging app, his first public comments since French authorities handed him preliminary charges for allegedly allowing the platform’s use for criminal activity.

In a Telegram post late Thursday, Durov defended himself against the French judicial investigation, suggesting that he shouldn’t have been targeted personally.

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“Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach,” the post said. “Building technology is hard enough as it is. No innovator will ever build new tools if they know they can be personally held responsible for potential abuse of those tools.”

Read More: What to Know About Telegram Founder Pavel Durov

While insisting that Telegram is not “some sort of anarchic paradise,” Durov said surging numbers of Telegram users “caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”

“That’s why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard. We’ve already started that process internally, and I will share more details on our progress with you very soon,” he said.

French investigators detained Durov at Le Bourget airport outside Paris in late August and questioned him for four days as part of a sweeping probe opened earlier this year. Released on 5 million euros bail, Durov has to report to a police station twice a week. Russia-born, he has amassed multiple citizenships, including French.

French allegations against Durov include that Telegram is used for child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, and that the platform refused to share information or documents with investigators when required by law.

In his post, Durov said that while in police detention, “I was told I may be personally responsible for other people’s illegal use of Telegram, because the French authorities didn’t receive responses from Telegram.”

“This was surprising for several reasons,” he added.

He said Telegram has an official representative in the European Union who replies to EU requests, with a public email address.

Telegram’s website informs users that they can contact the app through a bot and includes a link to report illegal content. It also includes an email address and phone number for “competent authorities of the EU and EU members” to use. “If you are not a competent EU or EU member authority, your request will not be processed,” it says.

In his post, Durov said “French authorities had numerous ways to reach me to request assistance.” He said he also had previously worked with them to “establish a hotline with Telegram to deal with the threat of terrorism in France.”

“If a country is unhappy with an internet service, the established practice is to start a legal action against the service itself,” he said.

SAO PAULO — Elon Musk’s satellite-based internet service provider Starlink backtracked Tuesday and said it will comply with a Brazilian Supreme Court justice’s order to block the billionaire’s social media platform, X.

Starlink said in a statement posted on X that it will heed Justice Alexandre de Moraes’ order despite him having frozen the company’s assets. Previously, it informally told the telecommunications regulator that it would not comply until de Moraes reversed course.

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“Regardless of the illegal treatment of Starlink in freezing our assets, we are complying with the order to block access to X in Brazil,” the company statement said. “We continue to pursue all legal avenues, as are others who agree that @alexandre’s recent order violate the Brazilian constitution.”

De Moraes froze Starlink’s accounts last week as a means to compel it to cover X’s fines that already exceeded $3 million, reasoning that the two companies are part of the same economic group. Starlink filed an appeal, its law firm Veirano told the Associated Press on Aug. 30, but has declined to comment further in the days since.

Read More: What to Know About Elon Musk’s Battle With a Brazilian Judge Over Speech on Social Media

Days later, the justice ordered the suspension of X for refusing to name a local legal representative, as required in order to receive notifications of court decisions and swiftly take any requisite action—particularly, in X’s case, the takedown of accounts. A Supreme Court panel unanimously upheld the block on Monday, undermining efforts by Musk and his supporters to cast the justice as an authoritarian renegade intent on censoring political speech in Brazil.

Had Starlink continued to disobey de Moraes by providing access, telecommunications regulator Anatel could eventually have seized equipment from Starlink’s 23 ground stations that ensure the quality of its internet service, Arthur Coimbra, an Anatel board member, said on a video call from his office in Brasilia.

Already some legal experts questioned de Moraes’ basis for freezing Starlink’s accounts, given that its parent company SpaceX has no integration with X. Musk noted on X that the two companies have different shareholder structures.

X has clashed with de Moraes over its reluctance to block users—mostly far-right activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy and allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro—and has alleged that de Moraes wants an in-country legal representative so that Brazilian authorities can exert leverage over the company by having someone to arrest. And Musk has been relentlessly posting in recent days, lambasting de Moraes as a criminal.

“This evil tyrant is a disgrace to judges’ robes,” Musk wrote on X along with a photo of de Moraes some 17 hours before Starlink announced its decision to comply with the order.

He hasn’t posted about the company’s operations in Brazil since its announcement.

The reversal comes as a relief to those in Brazil who have come to depend on Starlink. The company has said it has more than 250,000 customers in the country, many of whom are in remote areas that wouldn’t have fast internet access otherwise.

Before Starlink, internet access in many of these areas came from slow, unstable fixed antennae. Its easy-to-install kits and high-quality connections have transformed communication in some communities, surpassing even major Amazonian cities in speed.

The Forest People Connection project, founded in 2022 with Musk-donated Starlink terminals, has so far brought them to 1,014 remote communities, including riverine and Indigenous peoples. The Yanomami are among them. Living in a far-flung corner of Brazil’s rainforest, they had faced a severe health crisis, but now have access to Starlink-powered telemedicine consults and reliable communication for emergency transport of patients.

Improved connectivity has also facilitated illegal activities, such as gold mining.

While Brazil’s massive territory with vast rural and forested areas makes it a key growth market for Starlink, its presence isn’t yet as large as Musk has led some to believe. On Sunday, he shared someone else’s post that showed him meeting Bolsonaro in 2022 and noted that the duo claimed to have struck a partnership to bring Starlink to 19,000 schools. Musk touted the deal on X at the time.

It never happened. As of March 2023, SpaceX and the communications ministry hadn’t signed any contract, and only three terminals had been installed in Amazon schools for a 12-month trial period. The ministry’s press office didn’t immediately answer an AP request for updated information about these contracts on Tuesday. Brazil’s education ministry told the AP that states are responsible for signing contracts with internet service providers.

Since January 2022, when Starlink began operations in Brazil, it has captured a 0.5 percent share of the internet market, trailing significantly behind leading providers, according to Anatel.

Although Starlink has retreated and says it will now block X, Musk’s bravado in recent days has boosted his hero status in the eyes of his fans, said Marietje Schaake, the international policy director at Stanford University Cyber Policy Center.

“The battle of the titans, between de Moraes and Musk, reminds us of how powerful, political and provocative tech leaders have become,” said Schaake, who is also author of the forthcoming book “The Tech Coup: How to Save Democracy from Silicon Valley.”

“Brazil won’t be that last country to seek accountability or to put up guardrails.”

—Maisonnave reported from Curitiba. AP writers Barbara Ortutay and David Biller contributed from San Francisco and Rio de Janeiro.

SAO PAULO — Brazil started blocking Elon Musk’s social media platform X early Saturday, making it largely inaccessible on both the web and through its mobile app after the company refused to comply with a judge’s order.

X missed a deadline imposed by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes to name a legal representative in Brazil, triggering the suspension. It marks an escalation in the monthslong feud between Musk and de Moraes over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation.

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To block X, Brazil’s telecommunications regulator, Anatel, told internet service providers to suspend users’ access to the social media platform. As of Saturday at midnight local time, major operators began doing so.

De Moraes had warned Musk on Wednesday night that X could be blocked in Brazil if he failed to comply with his order to name a representative, and established a 24-hour deadline. The company hasn’t had a representative in the country since earlier this month.

“Elon Musk showed his total disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, setting himself up as a true supranational entity and immune to the laws of each country,” de Moraes wrote in his decision on Friday.

The justice said the platform will stay suspended until it complies with his orders, and also set a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) for people or companies using VPNs to access it.

In a later ruling, he backtracked on his initial decision to establish a 5-day deadline for internet service providers themselves — and not just the telecommunications regulator — to block access to X, as well as his directive for app stores to remove virtual private networks, or VPNs.

The dispute also led to the freezing this week of the bank accounts in Brazil of Musk’s satellite internet provider Starlink.

Brazil is one of the biggest markets for X, which has struggled with the loss of advertisers since Musk purchased the former Twitter in 2022. Market research group Emarketer says some 40 million Brazilians, roughly one-fifth of the population, access X at least once per month.

“This is a sad day for X users around the world, especially those in Brazil, who are being denied access to our platform. I wish it did not have to come to this – it breaks my heart,” X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino said Friday night, adding that Brazil is failing to uphold its constitution’s pledge to forbid censorship.

X had posted on its official Global Government Affairs page late Thursday that it expected X to be shut down by de Moraes, “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents.”

“When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts,” the company wrote.

X has clashed with de Moraes over its reluctance to comply with orders to block users.

Accounts that the platform previously has shut down on Brazilian orders include lawmakers affiliated with former President Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing party and activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy. X’s lawyers in April sent a document to the Supreme Court in April, saying that since 2019 it had suspended or blocked 226 users.

In his decision Friday, de Moraes’ cited Musk’s statements as evidence that X’s conduct “clearly intends to continue to encourage posts with extremism, hate speech and anti-democratic discourse, and to try to withdraw them from jurisdictional control.”

In April, de Moraes included Musk as a target in an ongoing investigation over the dissemination of fake news and opened a separate investigation into the executive for alleged obstruction.

Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” has repeatedly claimed the justice’s actions amount to censorship, and his argument has been echoed by Brazil’s political right. He has often insulted de Moraes on his platform, characterizing him as a dictator and tyrant.

De Moraes’ defenders have said his actions aimed at X have been lawful, supported by most of the court’s full bench and have served to protect democracy at a time it is imperiled. He wrote Friday that his ruling is based on Brazilian law requiring internet services companies to have representation in the country so they can be notified when there are relevant court decisions and take requisite action — specifying the takedown of illicit content posted by users, and an anticipated churn of misinformation during October municipal elections.

The looming shutdown is not unprecedented in Brazil.

Lone Brazilian judges shut down Meta’s WhatsApp, the nation’s most widely used messaging app, several times in 2015 and 2016 due to the company’s refusal to comply with police requests for user data. In 2022, de Moraes threatened the messaging app Telegram with a nationwide shutdown, arguing it had repeatedly ignored Brazilian authorities’ requests to block profiles and provide information. He ordered Telegram to appoint a local representative; the company ultimately complied and stayed online.

X and its former incarnation, Twitter, have been banned in several countries — mostly authoritarian regimes such as Russia, China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Venezuela and Turkmenistan. Other countries, such as Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt, have also temporarily suspended X before, usually to quell dissent and unrest. Twitter was banned in Egypt after the Arab Spring uprisings, which some dubbed the “Twitter revolution,” but it has since been restored.

A search Friday on X showed hundreds of Brazilian users inquiring about VPNs that could potentially enable them to continue using the platform by making it appear they were logging on from outside the country. It was not immediately clear how Brazilian authorities would police this practice and impose fines cited by de Moraes.

“This is an unusual measure, but its main objective is to ensure that the court order to suspend the platform’s operation is, in fact, effective,” Filipe Medon, a specialist in digital law and professor at the law school of Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Rio de Janeiro, told The Associated Press.

Mariana de Souza Alves Lima, known by her handle MariMoon, showed her 1.4 million followers on X where she intends to go, posting a screenshot of rival social network BlueSky.

On Thursday evening, Starlink, said on X that de Moraes this week froze its finances, preventing it from doing any transactions in the country where it has more than 250,000 customers.

“This order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied—unconstitutionally—against X. It was issued in secret and without affording Starlink any of the due process of law guaranteed by the Constitution of Brazil. We intend to address the matter legally,” Starlink said in its statement. The law firm representing Starlink told the AP that the company appealed, but wouldn’t make further comment.

Musk replied to people sharing the reports of the freeze, adding insults directed at de Moraes. “This guy @Alexandre is an outright criminal of the worst kind, masquerading as a judge,” he wrote.

Musk later posted on X that SpaceX, which runs Starlink, will provide free internet service in Brazil “until the matter is resolved” since “we cannot receive payment, but don’t want to cut anyone off.”

In his decision, de Moraes said he ordered the freezing of Starlink’s assets, as X didn’t have enough money in its accounts to cover mounting fines, and reasoning that the two companies are part of the same economic group.

While ordering X’s suspension followed warnings and fines and so was appropriate, taking action against Starlink seems “highly questionable,” said Luca Belli, coordinator of the Getulio Vargas Foundation’s Technology and Society Center.

“Yes, of course, they have the same owner, Elon Musk, but it is discretionary to consider Starlink as part of the same economic group as Twitter (X). They have no connection, they have no integration,” Belli said.

SAO PAULO — It’s a showdown between the world’s richest man and a Brazilian Supreme Court justice.

The justice, Alexandre de Moraes, has threatened to suspend social media giant X nationwide if its billionaire owner Elon Musk doesn’t swiftly comply with one of his orders. Musk has responded with insults, including calling de Moraes a “tyrant” and “a dictator.”

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It is the latest chapter in the monthslong feud between the two men over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. Many in Brazil are waiting and watching to see if either man will blink.

What is the basis for de Moraes’ threat?

Earlier this month, X removed its legal representative from Brazil on the grounds that de Moraes had threatened her with arrest. On Wednesday night at 8:07 p.m. local time (7:07 p.m. Eastern Standard Time), de Moraes gave the platform 24 hours to appoint a new representative, or face a shutdown until his order is met.

De Moraes’ order is based on Brazilian law requiring foreign companies to have legal representation to operate in the country, according to the Supreme Court’s press office. This ensures someone can be notified of legal decisions and is qualified to take any requisite action.

X’s refusal to appoint a legal representative would be particularly problematic ahead of Brazil’s October municipal elections, with a churn of fake news expected, said Luca Belli, coordinator of the Technology and Society Center at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a university in Rio de Janeiro. Takedown orders are common during campaigns, and not having someone to receive legal notices would make timely compliance impossible.

“Until last week, 10 days ago, there was an office here, so this problem didn’t exist. Now there’s nothing. Look at the example of Telegram: Telegram doesn’t have an office here, it has about 50 employees in the whole world. But it has a legal representative,” Belli, who is also a professor at the university’s law school, told The Associated Press.

Does a single judge really have that much power?

Any Brazilian judge has the authority to enforce compliance with decisions. Such measures can range from lenient actions like fines to more severe penalties, such as suspension, said Carlos Affonso Souza, a lawyer and director of the Institute for Technology and Society, a Rio-based think tank.

Lone Brazilian judges shut down Meta’s WhatsApp, the nation’s most widely used messaging app, several times in 2015 and 2016 due to the company’s refusal to comply with police requests for user data. In 2022, de Moraes threatened the messaging app Telegram with a nationwide shutdown, arguing it had repeatedly ignored Brazilian authorities’ requests to block profiles and provide information. He ordered Telegram to appoint a local representative; the company ultimately complied and stayed online.

Affonso Souza added that an individual judge’s ruling to shut down a platform with so many users would likely be assessed at a later date by the Supreme Court’s full bench.

How would de Moraes suspend X?

De Moraes would first notify the nation’s telecommunications regulator, Anatel, who would then instruct operators — including Musk’s own Starlink internet service provider — to suspend users’ access to X. That includes preventing the resolution of X’s website — the term for conversion of a domain name to an IP address — and blocking access to the IP address of X’s servers from inside Brazilian territory, according to Belli.

Given that operators are aware of the widely publicized standoff and their obligation to comply with an order from de Moraes, plus the fact doing so isn’t complicated, X could be offline in Brazil as early as 12 hours after receiving their instructions, Belli said.

Since X is widely accessed via mobile phones, de Moraes is also likely to notify major app stores to stop offering X in Brazil, said Affonso Souza. Another possible — but highly controversial — step would be prohibiting access with virtual private networks ( VPNs) and imposing fines on those who use them to access X, he added.

Has X been shut down in other countries?

X and its former incarnation, Twitter, are banned in several countries — mostly authoritarian regimes such as Russia, China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Venezuela and Turkmenistan.

China banned X when it was still called Twitter back in 2009, along with Facebook. In Russia, authorities expanded their crackdown on dissent and free media after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. They have blocked multiple independent Russian-language media outlets critical of the Kremlin, and cut access to Twitter, which later became X, as well as Meta’s Facebook and Instagram.

In 2009, Twitter became an essential communications tool in Iran after the country’s government cracked down on traditional media after a disputed presidential election. Tech-savvy Iranians took to Twitter to organize protests. The government subsequently banned the platform, along with Facebook.

Other countries, such as Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt, have also temporarily suspended X before, usually to quell dissent and unrest. Twitter was banned in Egypt after the Arab Spring uprisings, which some dubbed the “Twitter revolution,” but it has since been restored.

Why is Brazil so important to X and Musk?

Brazil is a key market for X and other platforms. Some 40 million Brazilians, roughly one-fifth of the population, access X at least once per month, according to the market research group Emarketer. Musk, a self-described “free speech absolutist,” has claimed de Moraes’ actions amount to censorship and rallied support from Brazil’s political right. He has also said that he wants his platform to be a “global town square” where information flows freely. The loss of the Brazilian market — the world’s fourth-biggest democracy — would make achieving this goal more difficult.

Brazil is also a potentially huge growth market for Musk’s satellite company, Starlink, given its vast territory and spotty internet service in far-flung areas.

Late Thursday afternoon, Starlink said on X that de Moraes this week froze its finances, preventing it from doing any transactions in the country where it has more than 250,000 customers.

“This order is based on an unfounded determination that Starlink should be responsible for the fines levied — unconstitutionally — against X. It was issued in secret and without affording Starlink any of the due process of law guaranteed by the Constitution of Brazil. We intend to address the matter legally,” Starlink said in its statement.

Musk replied to people sharing the earlier reports of the freeze, adding his own insults directed at de Moraes.

“This guy @Alexandre is an outright criminal of the worst kind, masquerading as a judge,” he wrote.

De Moraes’ defenders have said his actions have been lawful, supported by most of the court’s full bench and have served to protect democracy at a time in which it is imperiled.

In April, de Moraes included Musk as a target in an ongoing investigation over the dissemination of fake news and opened a separate investigation into the executive for alleged obstruction.

Will X appoint a new legal representative in Brazil?

X said Thursday in a statement that it expects its service to be shutdown in Brazil.

“Unlike other social media and technology platforms, we will not comply in secret with illegal orders,” it said. “To our users in Brazil and around the world, X remains committed to protecting your freedom of speech.”

It also said de Moraes’ colleagues on the Supreme Court “are either unwilling or unable to stand up to him.”

Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg alleged that Facebook was “pressured” by the U.S. government to censor content related to COVID-19 during the global pandemic and that he regrets the company’s decision to accede to the demands.

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“In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire,” Zuckerberg wrote in a letter to the Committee on the Judiciary of the U.S. House of Representatives. And while it was Meta’s decision whether to remove content, he continues, “the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it.”

During the pandemic, Facebook officials drew ire from critics of lockdowns, vaccines and masking mandates because it removed certain posts, saying they contained misinformation related to the virus or otherwise went against its policies. In all, Facebook took down more than 20 million pieces of content in just over a year. Zuckerberg joins other social media executives, including Jack Dorsey, former CEO of blogging platform Twitter, in lamenting past instances of content moderation that, in their view, went too far.

There’s a growing global debate over how far social media companies should go in policing the comments, images and other content posted by their users. Some platforms believe they should be hands off when it comes to telling users what they can and can’t say online, while some governments say that an overly laissez-faire stance can beget criminal behavior. French officials arrested Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov during the weekend, alleging that the company failed to adequately combat crime on the messaging app, including the spread of child sexual abuse material.

On the eve of the U.S. presidential election, pitting Vice President Kamala Harris against former President Donald Trump, Zuckerberg is also taking pains to appear non-partisan. “My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another—or to even appear to be playing a role,” Zuckerberg wrote in the letter, the contents of which were posted to the Facebook page of the House Judiciary Committee and confirmed by Meta. He was writing in reference to contributions made in the last presidential cycle to support electoral infrastructure.

Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of the encrypted messaging service Telegram, made headlines earlier this year when he said Telegram had hit 900 million users and was nearing profitability.

Now, Durov, 39, is in the news for a different reason. On Sunday, Aug. 25, French media reported that Durov had been arrested at the Paris Le Bourget airport on Aug. 24. According to French Media, investigators from the National Anti-Fraud Office, attached to the French customs department, notified Durov that he was being placed in police custody, the arrest was reportedly based on charges related to the spread of illicit material on Telegram.

On Aug. 28, French authorities handed Durov preliminary charges for failing to prevent illicit activity on the app. Per the Associated Press, the first preliminary charge against Durov was for “complicity in managing an online platform to allow illicit transactions by an organized group.”A crime such as that can reportedly lead to prison sentences of up to 10 years. In a statement, the Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, said that Durov had been released from custody on a $5.5 million bail, but he must stay in the country.

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“Telegram abides by E.U. laws, including the Digital Services Act—its moderation is within industry standards and constantly improving. Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe,” Telegram wrote in a statement emailed to TIME on Aug. 25. “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”

The Paris Prosecutor’s Office and France’s Ministry of Justice did not respond to TIME’s request for comment.

Durov has been a mogul in the app-creating industry for years. In a rare interview with U.S. conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson in April 2024, Durov discussed how important free speech is to him, and why he created Telegram.

“For me, it was never about getting rich. For me, everything in my life was about becoming free,” Durov told Carlson during their sit-down in Dubai. “And to the extent that it was possible, my mission in life was to allow others to also be free. And using the platforms that we created, my hope was that they could express their freedom.”

With public interest in Durov arguably at an all-time high, here’s what to know about the business mogul.

Pavel Durov co-founded the encrypted messaging service Telegram and the social media platform VK

Durov has been referred to as the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia,” according to CNN, after co-founding the social media platform VKontakte (VK) in his native country in 2006.

In 2014, Durov said he had been fired from VK. Meanwhile, VK stated that they were acting on a previous resignation letter from Durov that had not been rescinded.

Durov fled Russia in 2014, selling his stake in VK, after reportedly refusing to cooperate with Russian authorities and provide encrypted data of users of the app.

“It was a bit painful because my first company was my baby,” Durov told Carlson in his 2024 interview. “But at the same time, I understood that I would rather be free. I wouldn’t want to take orders from anyone.”

In 2013, Durov founded Telegram with his brother, Nikolai Durov, which has only grown in popularity since. Per Telegram, the messaging app has “a focus on speed and security. Telegram is like SMS and email combined—and can take care of all your personal or business messaging needs.”

During his exile, Durov focused intensely on the growth of Telegram. “I’m very happy right now without any property anywhere,” Durov told the New York Times in 2014. “I consider myself a legal citizen of the world.”

Telegram was banned in Russia from 2018 to 2020 after Telegram refused to give Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) encryption keys granting access to user messaging data.

What has been the public reaction to Pavel Durov’s detainment in Paris?

Many public figures have publicly commented on Durov’s detainment in Paris.

Elon Musk wrote the hashtag #FreePavel on X (formerly Twitter) alongside a clip of Durov’s interview with Carlson. Former independent presidential candidate RFK Jr. also posted on X, writing that “the need to protect free speech has never been more urgent.”

Edward Snowden, a former U.S. intelligence contractor who in 2013 leaked classified information belonging to the National Security Agency (NSA) and others, said that Durov’s arrest was “an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association” and alleged that French President Emmanuel Macron was “taking hostages as a means for gaining access to private communications.”

On Monday, Aug. 26, Macron wrote on X  that France is “deeply committed to freedom of expression,” but that those freedoms are “upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life.” He added: “The arrest of the president of Telegram on French soil took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation. It is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to rule on the matter.” 

Meanwhile, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Durov resides in Dubai) also released a statement, saying that they are “closely following” Durov’s case and that they have “submitted a request to the French government to provide him with all consular services urgently.”

What is Pavel Durov’s nationality?

Durov was born in 1984 in the then-Soviet Union. When he was 4 years old, his family moved to Italy, though he returned to Russia after his father received a job at St Petersburg University, where he himself eventually attended for education.

Durov was granted French citizenship in 2021, but lives in Dubai. He reportedly also holds UAE citizenship.

What is Pavel Durov’s net worth?

According to Forbes, as of Aug. 25, Durov’s net worth is estimated to be $15.5 billion. Durov is currently listed number 120 on Forbes’ billionaire list.

Yet, Toncoin—the bitcoin linked to the Telegram app—has reportedly dropped more than 20% since Durov’s arrest over the weekend.

Does Pavel Durov have a wife and children?

Durov is unmarried, but reportedly has five children that he shares with his ex-girlfriends, according to his Forbes profile. On July 29, Durov said in a post on Telegram that he has over “100 biological kids” via sperm donation.

NICE, France — The founder and CEO of the messaging service Telegram was detained at a Paris airport on an arrest warrant alleging his platform has been used for money laundering, drug trafficking and other offenses, French media reported Sunday.

Pavel Durov, a dual citizen of France and Russia, was taken into custody at Paris-Le Bourget Airport on Saturday evening after landing in France from Azerbaijan, according to broadcasters LCI and TF1.

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Investigators from the National Anti-Fraud Office, attached to the French customs department, notified Durov, 39, that he was being placed in police custody, the broadcasters said.

Read More: What to Know About Pavel Durov, the Russian Billionaire Founder of Telegram

Durov’s representatives couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

French prosecutors declined to comment on Durov’s arrest when contacted by The Associated Press on Sunday, in line with regulations during an ongoing investigation.

French media reported that the warrant for Durov was issued by France at the request of the special unit at the country’s interior ministry in charge of investigating crimes against minors. Those include online sexual exploitation, such as possession and distribution of child sexual abuse content and grooming for sexual purposes.

Telegram was founded by Durov and his brother in the wake of the Russian government’s crackdown after mass pro-democracy protests that rocked Moscow at the end of 2011 and 2012.

The demonstrations prompted Russian authorities to clamp down on the digital space, adopting regulations that forced internet providers to block websites and cellphone operators to store call records and messages that could be shared with security services.

In the increasingly repressive environment, Telegram and its pro-privacy rhetoric offered a convenient way for Russians to communicate and share news. In 2018, Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor moved to block Telegram over its refusal to hand over encryption keys, but ultimately failed to fully restrict access to the app.

Telegram continued to be widely used — including by government institutions — and the ban was dropped two years later. In March 2024, Roskomnadzor said that Telegram was working with the Russian government to a certain extent and had removed more than 256,000 posts with prohibited content at Roskomnadzor’s request.

Telegram also continues to be a popular source of news in Ukraine, where both media outlets and officials use it to share information on the war, and deliver missile and air raid alerts.

Telegram did not immediately respond to a message for comment on Sunday.

A French judicial official suggested that Durov could appear before a judge later Sunday to determine whether he will remain in custody. The official wasn’t authorized to be named publicly during an ongoing investigation.

“If the person concerned is to be brought before a judge today, it is only in the context of the possible extension of his police custody measure — a decision that must be taken and notified by an investigating judge,” the official said.

Western governments have often criticized Telegram for lack of content moderating on the messaging service, which experts say opens up the messaging platform for potential use in money laundering, drug trafficking and allowing the sharing of content linked to sexual exploitation of minors.

Compared to other messaging platforms, Telegram is “less secure (and) more lax in terms of policy and detection of illegal content,” said David Thiel, a Stanford University researcher, who has investigated the use of online platforms for child exploitation, at its Internet Observatory.

In addition, Telegram “appears basically unresponsive to law enforcement,” Thiel said, adding that messaging service WhatsApp “submitted over 1.3 million CyberTipline reports in 2023 (and) Telegram submits none.”

In 2022, Germany issued fines of 5.125 million euros ($5 million) against the operators of Telegram for failing to comply with German law. The Federal Office of Justice said that Telegram FZ-LLC hasn’t established a lawful way for reporting illegal content or named an entity in Germany to receive official communication.

Both are required under German laws that regulate large online platforms.

Last year, Brazil temporarily suspended Telegram over its failure to surrender data on neo-Nazi activity related to a police inquiry into school shootings in November.

Russian government officials expressed outrage at Durov’s arrest, with some highlighting what they said was the West’s double standard on freedom of speech.

“In 2018, a group of 26 NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and others, condemned the Russian court’s decision to block Telegram,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

“Do you think this time they’ll appeal to Paris and demand Durov’s release?” Zakharova said in a post on her personal Telegram account.

Officials at the Russian Embassy in Paris had requested access to Durov, Zakharova told Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti, but she added that French authorities view Durov’s French citizenship as his primary one.

In a statement to the AP earlier this month, Telegram said that it actively combats misuse of its platform.

“Moderators use a combination of proactive monitoring and user reports in order to remove content that breaches Telegram’s terms of service. Each day, millions of pieces of harmful content are removed,” the company said.

In the aftermath of the major security breach confirmed by National Public Data (NPD) on Friday, many may have to safeguard their sensitive information, like their social security number, to prevent identity theft. One of the best ways to do this is through a credit freeze, which limits access to your credit reports.

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In a statement, NPD warned that the “the information that was suspected of being breached contained name, email address, phone number, social security number, and mailing address(es).” 

It recommended the public take a number of steps to safeguard their information, including freezing their credit, which NPD said “means potential creditors cannot get your credit report.” It also means bad actors cannot take out loans or open credit cards, since the freeze locks the data at the consumer reporting agency until the individual gives permission for the release of said data.

Read More: How to Check if Your Information Was Compromised in the Social Security Number Breach

There are other alternatives to a credit freeze, including a credit lock and a fraud alert, but a credit freeze is the most effective.

The best way to go about freezing your credit is creating an account with the three big credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. These agencies are also recommended by the U.S. government. A request must be made separately to each, though the service is free.

Once an account is created with a username and password, users can simply click a button and freeze their credit. This request can also be submitted by mail or phone with each agency. Typically, the freeze will take place within one business day if requested over the phone or online, and within three business days if requested by mail.

With these agencies, parents also have the ability to freeze their children’s credit reports, if necessary. Experian has a Child Identity Theft Protection scheme, through which parents can check if their child has an Experian credit report and add a fraud alert to the report or freeze it.

According to Experian, it’s important to remember that a credit freeze does not fully block access to credit reports, it only limits them. So, credit bureaus can still share credit reports when requested for “non-lending purposes,” including insurance companies, landlords, employers, and government agencies.

Under a freeze, if a legitimate lending party needs to run your credit, they should contact you directly from the organization, and then the freeze can be lifted.

Billions of personal information records may have been exposed in April after a hacking group gained access to records from the background check service National Public Data (NPD), prompting warnings from cybersecurity experts. NPD confirmed this week that a security incident within their company resulted in a leak of personal information, including social security numbers for millions of people.

In their statement on Friday, NPD warned that the “the information that was suspected of being breached contained name, email address, phone number, social security number, and mailing address(es).” It recommended the public to take a number of steps to safeguard their identities, including freezing their credit and putting fraud alerts on their files at big credit bureaus.

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The breach came to public awareness after a class-action lawsuit was filed August 1 in U.S. District Court in Florida, which was first reported by Bloomberg Law. 

National Public Data did not share how many people were at risk, but hackers, who have been identified as part of the hacking group USDoD, have been offering, for sale, what they claimed were billions of NPD records since April, though the Washington Post reported that “security researchers who looked at the trove said some of the claims were exaggerated.”

Read More: How To Freeze Your Credit If Your Information Was Leaked in the Social Security Breach

According to David Brumley, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, these breaches will become more popular with centralization of data.

“We are not talking about a startup here,” Brumley said. “Looking forward, we have to have higher standards for the custodians of our data.”

Here is how you can check if your social security has been compromised by the breach and what to do to protect your information.

How to check if your social security information has been compromised

NPD has not notified specific people whose data has been compromised. In their statement, they say they are working with law enforcement to review affected records and “will try to notify you if there are further significant developments applicable to you.”

Cybersecurity firm Pentester compiled a free database after the breach with the information in it—redacting social security numbers and dates of birth– and created a search tool for people to see if their information was involved. People can enter their name, state, and year of birth here, and the search will instantly look for information in the billions of records leaked online in the massive data breach. 

What to do if you’re affected by the leak

If your social security number was breached, the best thing to do is to freeze your credit files through creating an account with one of the three consumer credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian or TransUnion. This can prevent identity theft. Credit reporting agencies also have services for those who set up accounts to check if their social security numbers have been compromised.

Even if your social security number was not leaked, Brumley says there are protections that should become the norm in this era of data breaches.

He urges people to set up two-factor authentication on as many online accounts as possible, or use an authentication app to secure your online accounts. He also advises to set up account alerts with your bank, including any and all charges outside of your home country and ATM withdrawals.

Brumley says his major piece of advice is to “be vigilant.” 

Vigilance, he says, includes checking your credit score constantly, especially before large purchases like car loans and mortgages. It also includes awareness of phishing scams, since Brumley says leaks of this size open up the space for scammers to pose as banks and those trying to help.

He also says people should be double checking with their banks, even if they have alert services on for large purchases and withdrawals. He says that even though some banks have regulations where they require extra identification, people can now engineer ways to fool these checks. He adds that it’s up to each individual to keep a watchful eye on their credit, their identity, and their bank information.

“There’s not much more you can do when this much data has been compromised,” Brumley adds.

WhatsApp, the instant messaging application owned by Meta, released an update this week, introducing animated stickers from GIPHY,  the popular GIF platform.

In a blog post, Meta wrote that the “integration lets you find and share relevant and engaging stickers, without having to leave the app.” WhatsApp, which recently hit 100 million users in the United States, says that users can access the new GIPHY features by updating the app in theApp store.

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Before the update, U.S.-based WhatsApp users were among those who could stay within the app to send GIFs from GIPHY—which was previously owned by Meta— but now they will be able to expand their use to animated stickers. Users will be able to search for different stickers using keywords or emojis.

Read More: Mark Zuckerberg Just Intensified the Battle for AI’s Future

The update goes even further for Android users, expanding access to a “custom sticker maker” of which iOS users have already had access to for some time. With the sticker maker, WhatsApp users can create personalized stickers using photographs in their camera roll, or they can edit existing stickers using the cut, draw, and crop tools.

Meta also shared on its blog that if, after searching, users do not find the GIF they want, they can utilize Meta AI to create more custom stickers. All of a user’s stickers can be organized through customizable dashboards called a “sticker tray.”  

This AI sticker feature is currently available to iPhone and Android users in the United States.

WASHINGTON — The FBI said Monday it is investigating allegations that sensitive documents from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign were stolen in a cyber intrusion days after the campaign declared it had been hacked by Iran.

The FBI released a brief statement reading, “We can confirm the FBI is investigating this matter.”

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A person familiar with the matter said the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign was also targeted in the suspected Iranian cyber intrusion that is under FBI investigation. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the details of the investigation.

The Trump campaign provided no specific evidence of Iran’s involvement, but the claim came shortly after Microsoft issued a report detailing foreign agents’ attempts to interfere in the U.S. election in 2024. The report cited an instance of an Iranian military intelligence unit in June sending “a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor.”

Politico reported Saturday that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous account. The source—an AOL email account identified only as “Robert”—passed along what appeared to be a research dossier the campaign had apparently done on the Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The document was dated Feb. 23, almost five months before Trump selected Vance as his running mate.

“These documents were obtained illegally” and “intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said.

Vice President Harris’ campaign said in a statement, “Our campaign vigilantly monitors and protects against cyber threats, and we are not aware of any security breaches of our systems.” It declined to address whether it had identified any state-based intrusion attempts.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations, when asked about the claim of the Trump campaign, denied being involved.

However, Iran long has been suspected of running hacking campaigns targeting its enemies in the Middle East and beyond. Tehran also long has threatened to retaliate against Trump over the 2020 drone strike he ordered that killed prominent Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

In its report, Microsoft stated that “foreign malign influence concerning the 2024 U.S. election started off slowly but has steadily picked up pace over the last six months due initially to Russian operations, but more recently from Iranian activity.”

The analysis continued: “Iranian cyber-enabled influence operations have been a consistent feature of at least the last three U.S. election cycles. Iran’s operations have been notable and distinguishable from Russian campaigns for appearing later in the election season and employing cyberattacks more geared toward election conduct than swaying voters.”

“Recent activity suggests the Iranian regime—along with the Kremlin—may be equally engaged in election 2024,” Microsoft concluded.

Donald Trump recounted his assassination attempt in vivid detail and promised the largest deportation in U.S. history during a high-profile return to the social media platform formerly known as Twitter—a conversation that was plagued by technical glitches.

“If I had not turned my head, I would not be talking to you right now—as much as I like you,” Trump told X’s owner Elon Musk.

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Musk, a former Trump critic, said the Republican nominee’s toughness, as demonstrated by his reaction to last month’s shooting, was critical for national security.

“There’s some real tough characters out there,” Musk said. “And if they don’t think the American president is tough, they will do what they want to do.”

The rare public conversation between Trump and Musk, which spanned more than two hours and was overwhelmingly friendly, revealed little new about Trump’s plans for a second term. The former president spent much of the discussion focused on his recent assassination attempt, illegal immigration and his plans to cut government regulations.

Still, the online meeting underscored just how much the U.S. political landscape has changed less than four years after Trump was permanently banned by the social media platform’s former leadership for spreading disinformation that sparked the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress and undermined the very foundation of the American democracy.

Such disinformation has thrived at X under Musk’s leadership, although it was largely ignored during his conversation with Trump save for a passing Trump reference to a “rigged election.”

The session was intended to serve as a way for the former president to reach potentially millions of voters directly. It was also an opportunity for X, a platform that relies heavily on politics, to redeem itself after some struggles.

It did not begin as planned.

With more than 878,000 users connected to the meeting more than 40 minutes after the scheduled start time, the interview had not yet begun. Many users received a message reading, “Details not available.”

Trump’s team posted that the “interview on X is being overwhelmed with listeners logging in.” And once the meeting began, Musk apologized for the late start and blamed a “massive attack” that overwhelmed the company’s system. Trump’s voice sounded muffled at times.

Trump supporters were openly frustrated.

“Not available????? I planned my whole day around this,” wrote conservative commentator Glenn Beck.

“Please let Elon know we can’t join,” billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman posted.

Ahead of the event, Musk posted on the platform that X was conducting “some system scaling tests” to handle what was anticipated to be a high volume of participants.

Read More: Donald Trump on What His Second Term Would Look Like

The rocky start was reminiscent of a May 2023 social media conversation between Musk and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Republican governor was using the social media platform as a way to officially announce his presidential bid, a disastrous rollout marred by technical glitches, overloaded by the more than 400,000 people who tried to dial in.

Trump’s Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, noted that Trump mocked DeSantis at the time.

“Wow! The DeSanctus TWITTER launch is a DISASTER! His whole campaign will be a disaster. WATCH!” Trump wrote in a message reposted by Harris’ campaign Monday.

Once the interview ended, Harris’ campaign responded with a statement saying, “Trump’s entire campaign is in service of people like Elon Musk and himself—self-obsessed rich guys who will sell out the middle class and who cannot run a livestream in the year 2024.”

Monday’s meeting highlighted the evolving personal relationship between Trump and Musk, two of the world’s most powerful men, who have shifted from being bitter rivals to unlikely allies over the span of one election season.

Musk, who described himself as a “moderate Democrat” until recently, suggested in 2022 that Trump was too old to be president again. Still, Musk formally endorsed Trump two days after his assassination attempt last month.

During their talk, Trump welcomed the idea of Musk joining his next administration to help cut government waste. Musk volunteered to join a prospective “government efficiency commission.”

“You’re the greatest cutter,” Trump told Musk. “I need an Elon Musk—I need somebody that has a lot of strength and courage and smarts. I want to close up the Department of Education, move education back to the states.”

Even before his endorsement, the tech CEO had already been working privately to support a pro-Trump super PAC. The group, known as America PAC, is now under investigation by election officials for alleged misleading attempts to collect data from voters.

Meanwhile, Trump has softened his criticism of electric vehicles, citing Musk’s leadership of Tesla. And on Monday, at least, Trump returned to Musk’s social media platform in force. The former president made at least eight individual posts in the hours leading up to the Musk interview.

Long before he endorsed Trump, Musk turned increasingly toward the right in his posts and actions on the platform, also using X to try to sway political discourse around the world. He’s gotten in a dustup with a Brazilian judge over censorship, railed against what he calls the “woke mind virus” and amplified false claims that Democrats are secretly flying in migrants to vote in U.S. elections.

Read More: What to Know About Elon Musk’s Battle With a Brazilian Judge Over Speech on Social Media

Musk has also reinstated previously banned accounts such as the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and Trump, who was kicked off the platform—then known as Twitter—two days after the Jan. 6 violence, with the company citing “the risk of further incitement of violence.” By November 2022, Musk had bought the company, and Trump’s account was reinstated, although the former president refrained from tweeting until Monday, insisting that he was happier on his own Truth Social site, which he launched during the ban.

Trump’s audience on X is legions larger than on Truth Social, which became a publicly traded company earlier this year. Trump has just over 7.5 million followers on Truth Social, while his mostly dormant X account is followed by 88 million. Musk’s account, which hosted the interview, has more than 193 million followers.

In a reminder that the world was watching, the chat prompted a preemptive note of caution from Europe.

Thierry Breton, a French business executive and commissioner for internal market of the European Union, warned Musk of possible “amplification of harmful content” by broadcasting his interview with Trump. In a letter posted on X, Breton urged Musk to “ensure X’s compliance” with E.U. law, including the Digital Services Act, adopted in 2022 to address a number of issues including disinformation.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung urged the E.U. to “mind their own business instead of trying to meddle in the U.S. Presidential election.”

The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating children’s online privacy law and running afoul of a settlement it had reached with another federal agency.

The complaint, filed together with the Federal Trade Commission in a California federal court, comes as the U.S. and the prominent social media company are embroiled in yet another legal battle that will determine if – or how – TikTok will continue to operate in the country.

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The latest lawsuit focuses on allegations that TikTok, a trend-setting platform popular among young users, and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated a federal law that requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This action is necessary to prevent the defendants, who are repeat offenders and operate on a massive scale, from collecting and using young children’s private information without any parental consent or control,” Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement.

The U.S. decided to file the lawsuit following an investigation by the FTC that looked into whether the companies were complying with a previous settlement involving TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly.

In 2019, the federal government sued Musical.ly, alleging it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, by failing to notify parents about its collection and use of personal information for kids under 13.

That same year, Musical.ly — acquired by ByteDance in 2017 and merged with TikTok — agreed to pay $5.7 million to resolve those allegations. The two companies were also subject to a court order requiring them to comply with COPPA, which the government says hasn’t happened.

In the complaint, the Justice Department and the FTC allege TikTok has knowingly allowed children to create accounts and retained their personal information without notifying their parents. This practice extends to accounts created in “Kids Mode,” a version of TikTok for children under 13, Justice said in a press release explaining the lawsuit.

The two agencies allege the information collected included activities on the app and other identifiers used to build user profiles. They also accuse TikTok of sharing the data with other companies – such as Meta’s Facebook and an analytics company called AppsFlyer – to persuade “Kids Mode” users to be on the platform more, a practice TikTok called “re-targeting less active users.”

The complaint says TikTok also allowed children to create accounts without having to provide their age, or obtain parental approval, by using credentials from third-party services. It classified these as “age unknown” accounts, which the agencies say have grown into millions.

After parents discovered some of their children’s accounts and asked for them to be deleted, federal officials said their requests were not honored. In a press release explaining the lawsuit, Justice said the alleged violations have resulted in millions of children under 13 using the regular TikTok app, allowing them to interact with adults and access adult content.

In March, a person with the matter had told the AP the FTC’s investigation was also looking into whether TikTok violated a portion of federal law that prohibits “unfair and deceptive” business practices by denying that individuals in China had access to U.S. user data.

Those allegations were not included in the complaint, which is seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief.

U.S. tech giant Apple Inc. pulled an advertisement set in Thailand after a backlash from lawmakers, influencers and citizens, and calls for a boycott over the short film’s portrayal of the Southeast Asian nation that they deemed offensive.

The 10-minute Apple film titled “The Underdogs: OOO (Out Of Office),” the fifth installment in the comedic series that follows a group of co-workers as they navigate workplace assignments and solve issues with Apple products and features, was online for about two weeks. It was set in Bangkok and Rayong, with the co-workers traveling to Thailand on a low-budget quest to find a new packaging factory.

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As part of their adventure, the protagonists were seen riding in an iconic Thai tuk-tuk, engaging with quirky locals, and staying in a dilapidated hotel in Bangkok. Social media influencers and internet users, however, said the country was grossly misrepresented as underdeveloped and outdated. Apple said it meant no offense and had collaborated with a local production company on the commercial.

“Our intent was to celebrate the country’s optimism and culture, and we apologize for not fully capturing the vibrancy of Thailand today,” the company said in a statement on Friday. “The film is no longer being aired.”

The backlash came as the Thai government seeks to elevate the nation’s status and image as a global tourist destination, with the vital industry being a key driver of economic growth. Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has vowed to make Thailand an aviation and logistics hub, with his administration seeking so-called quick wins to boost the number of foreign tourists and stimulate the economy, the second-largest in Southeast Asia.

Read More: Thailand’s New Prime Minister Is Getting Down to Business. But Can He Heal His Nation?

Foreign tourist arrivals since Jan. 1 have topped 20 million and are set to reach 36 million this year—inching closer to the record 40 million visitors the nation hosted before the pandemic.

The commercial also sparked concerns among lawmakers in the tourism committee of the House of Representatives, which had planned to invite representatives from Apple and state agencies for a discussion on the matter, according to panel spokesman Sattra Sripan.

“Thai people are deeply unhappy with the advertisement,” Sattra said in a statement on Thursday. “I encourage Thai people to stop using Apple products and change to other brands.”

Srettha meanwhile said he had seen some parts of the film and would rather focus on the more positive side. The premier has been courting foreign investments from U.S. companies, including Apple.

“Let’s look at the positive side. Apple has shown a real intention to do business in Thailand,” he told reporters earlier on Friday.