The European Commission fined Facebook about $122.2 million after deciding the company gave "incorrect or misleading information" about its acquisition of WhatsApp during a 2014 merger review, said a Thursday EC news release. The decision focused on Facebook's comments during the EC review that it wouldn't be able to establish automated matching between user accounts of both companies -- statements the company made in the notification form and in response to the commission's request for information. In August, WhatsApp announced it would share some user account information with Facebook, which privacy advocates said violated privacy promises (see 1608250027 and 1609220031). Those groups filed a complaint with the FTC and said the agency would investigate (see 1609070022). The EC "decision sends a clear signal to companies that they must comply with all aspects of EU merger rules, including the obligation to provide correct information," said Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who oversees competition policy. "It imposes a proportionate and deterrent fine on Facebook. The Commission must be able to take decisions about mergers' effects on competition in full knowledge of accurate facts." Facebook blogged it "acted in good faith" with the EC from the beginning and always sought to provide accurate information. "The errors we made in our 2014 filings were not intentional and the Commission has confirmed that they did not impact the outcome of the merger review [and] brings this matter to a close," it said. The EC said the decision "is unrelated to either ongoing national antitrust procedures or privacy, data protection or consumer protection issues, which may arise following the August 2016 update of WhatsApp terms of service and privacy policy."

The FCC approved making broad changes to the Part 95 personal radio services rules for Citizens Band radios; walkie-talkies; radio-controlled toy cars, boats and planes; hearing assistance devices; and more sophisticated apparatus including medical implants and personal locator beacons, said a news release. Most of the devices use low-power levels and don’t require a license. The Thursday vote was 3-0. The FCC modernizes the rules to “remove outdated requirements, and reorganize them to make it easier to find information,” it said. “The FCC addressed more than two dozen proposals submitted by interested parties. Today’s action will result in a more consistent, clear, and concise set of rules that will better serve the needs of the public.” Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Mike O’Rielly said they support simplifying the rules. O’Rielly asked what took so long. “I’m fairly certain ... when the notice for this item was released back in June 2010, no one ever imagined it would be presented at a commission meeting in May 2017,” he said. “Seven years later and no one has a great reason for the delay, though it’s clearly not the fault of the staff.” Over “the decades, CB radio slang has changed, but the FCC’s rules in this area have not,” Chairman Ajit Pai said. The FCC has a requirement that CB makers engrave the serial number into the transmitter chassis of each CB radio. “Whatever the merits of this rule when it was adopted 40 years ago, those merits have faded into memory, just like B.J. and the Bear,” Pai said. “And the costs of complying with it today greatly exceed any benefit from theft prevention and the like.” B.J. and the Bear was 1970s TV show featuring the adventures of a trucker and his monkey sidekick. On a day when the FCC approved the net neutrality NPRM 2-1 (see 1705180029), the rule changes got little respect. “I know you’re all dying to ask about the Part 95 item, so I will promise to make this brief,” Pai joked at the start of a news conference.

Anti-child sex trafficking and public interest groups Wednesday reported (see 1705160078) that Google funded groups and individuals that defended Backpage.com, which has been sued by sex-trafficking victims and was the subject of a nearly two-yearlong government investigation. "Legal scholars and groups supported by Google have written letters and amicus briefs in support," reported Consumer Watchdog, DeliverFund, Faith and Freedom Coalition, The Rebecca Project and Trafficking in America Task Force. "More than half of the 42 signatories of a letter opposing a bill to tackle online child trafficking -- 22 in all -- were either directly funded by Google, or worked at institutions that were funded by the company." The groups seek to change Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which is designed to protect website operators from lawsuits arising out of third-party content. The report said the Center for Democracy & Technology and the Electronic Frontier Foundation defended Section 230 and benefited from Google's funding. Like other internet companies, Google has "long contributed" to organizations like CDT and EFF for their advocacy of privacy, surveillance reform and the open Internet and related issues, a company spokeswoman said. "We will continue to use our technology to combat the tragedy of child sex trafficking, will continue our significant funding of organizations that combat this crime, and maintain our zero-tolerance approach to ads for this illegal activity.” EFF has defended Section 230 "practically since the inception of our organization because it's essential to free speech on the Internet," emailed Legal Director Corynne McSherry. "The suggestion that our advocacy is at the behest of any one organization is ludicrous." CDT didn't comment. Backpage.com has been at the center of Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations probe, which issued a report in January saying the company knowingly facilitated prostitution and child sex trafficking and edited content to conceal evidence (see 1701100001).

Facebook is making more updates aimed at further reducing stories from sources that post click-bait headlines, wrote company engineers Arun Babu, Annie Liu and Jordan Zhang in a Wednesday blog post. They said Facebook is taking into account click-bait at the individual post level and at the domain and page levels, seeing whether headlines withhold information or exaggerate it, and testing the updates in different languages. The updates build on work begun last year. "Headlines that withhold information intentionally leave out crucial details or mislead people, forcing them to click to find out the answer,'" the three wrote. There are headlines with sensational language that exaggerate details, they added, such as: “WOW! Ginger tea is the secret to everlasting youth. You’ve GOT to see this!” The engineers said most users won't see any significant changes in their news feeds and publishers that use click-bait headlines should expect distribution to decrease.

Nielsen plans to install close to 15,000 TV audience meters in about 7,000 homes in the 140 markets currently measured by local TV paper diaries, toward its goal of universal electronic television measurement in all 210 local TV markets, it said Tuesday. It said the electronic meters will help fill data gaps that come from using set-top data for audience measurement in local markets. It said the audience meters will be in recruited households that include those viewing through over-the-air broadcasts. In a statement, NAB said it "long believed that over-the-air TV station viewership has been undercounted by measurement companies as multicast ‘D2’ networks gain in popularity and TV antenna sales increase," and the Nielsen announcement "sends a positive signal about the renewed vitality of local and network broadcast television in an era of pay TV cord-cutting and cord-shaving.”

CEDIA CEO and Global President Vin Bruno resigned four months shy of his second anniversary to “focus on new opportunities” in residential and commercial technology, CEDIA said in a news release. Board President Dennis Erskine said the board will meet over the next two weeks to create a strategy and timeline for appointing a successor to Bruno, who had been with Crestron for more than seven years before taking over at CEDIA. Acting President/CEO Tabatha O’Connor, the group’s chief operating officer since 2015, said CEDIA is “in a much stronger position than it was 18 months ago” and is “looking forward to a new phase of success for our global community.” Bruno didn’t immediately respond. CEDIA sold its annual trade show in February (see 1702020055) to Emerald Expositions for an undisclosed sum. In a news briefing in December 2015, Bruno said CEDIA was in talks with Coldwell Banker to involve integrators in the sale of homes valued at over $1 million. Last May, the two organizations announced a home technology certificate program for Coldwell Banker Real Estate agents based on a curriculum taught by CEDIA representatives to help agents represent the value of home technology.

President Donald Trump “deserves credit” for firing FBI Director James Comey, CTA President Gary Shapiro said Friday in an American Spectator blog post that bore the headline: "Firing Comey Proved Trump Acts Like America’s CEO." According to Shapiro, "if you don’t trust someone, if they use bad judgment, or if they are hurting the enterprise, then every day of delay inflicts unnecessary pain on the company or enterprise.” Had Trump waited for the Russian probe to end before terminating Comey, "he might have been waiting years, and in the process allowed further damage to the FBI’s reputation,” Shapiro said. Comey’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election “does not make him immune to criticism or mean we can forget about his past mistakes,” said Shapiro, accusing the former FBI chief of playing “fast and loose with the facts.” Shapiro thinks “comparisons to Nixon’s Watergate scandal are unfair,” he said of the wrongdoing that force President Richard Nixon to resign in 1974. “Trump is no Nixon, this is no Watergate, and Trump did the right thing.” Trump “can solve the situation by offering no resistance to the congressional investigation,” Shapiro said. “He can and should insist the FBI investigation continue with the resources it needs. He can offer to share documents and witnesses on an expedited basis. He can even call for a special prosecutor. If he has nothing to hide, then there is no issue.”

Kristine Faulkner, senior vice president/general manager-Cox Homelife, will deliver a keynote on smart home services at Parks Associates’ Connections conference in San Francisco May 24 at 2:15 p.m. PDT, said Parks in a Friday news release. Some 26 percent of U.S. broadband households own at least one smart home device, but increasingly the devices are bought as stand-alone devices, “with the expectation that they will all work together,” said Parks, which pegs annual U.S. smart home revenue at more than $1.3 billion by 2020.

The European Commission's digital single market strategy work won't be expanded to tackle online “fake news” disinformation despite its proliferation over the past year, said EC Vice President-DSM Andrus Ansip during the commission's Wednesday rollout of its DSM progress report. The EC instead plans to coordinate with top internet firms to update voluntary agreements to address fake news, including clarifying what protections the companies can claim when they actively work to flag disinformation, Ansip said. The EC renewed its call in the DSM review for EU institutions to finalize important related legislation by the end of 2017, saying delays “would leave people less protected; unable to use better, faster and cheaper connections; and blocked from access to more online content.” The EC noted its successes in ending pan-EU retail roaming charges and ensuring pan-EU portability of online subscription services. Roaming charges are to end in the EU June 15, and the cross-border services portability mandate is to take effect in early 2018. The EC said it plans to propose legislation in the fall on cross-border flows of non-personal data and legislation in 2018 on access and reuse of public data. The commission also plans to review the 2013 EU cybersecurity strategy and is preparing legislation to address unfair contractual clauses and other trading practices by online platforms. The Computer & Communications Industry Association criticized the progress on the DSM strategy. The EC “came up with the right strategy, but several of its proposals would actually make the situation worse by fragmenting the single market or making digital innovation harder in the EU,” said Vice President-Europe James Waterworth in a statement. CCIA has been critical of EC DSM-related proposals, including its ongoing work on copyright legislation (see 1702240067) and a proposal to implement cross-border levies on VOD services (see 1611180048). The EC “should spend the next two years working closely with industry to come up with the best solutions on new challenges including cybersecurity and removing illegal content from the Internet,” Waterworth said. “It should not hand down solutions but partner with those who make these solutions a reality.”

Google, Facebook and other top internet companies need to demonstrate “substantive and long-term” leadership in combating online extremist content and “fake news” disinformation, said nonprofit group Open MIC Tuesday in a report. Facebook and Google are among the firms that faced claims that news hoaxes were posted unchecked over the past year (see 1703200052). Social media platforms and other internet companies have quickly “eclipsed traditional, old school media as principal sources of news and information for most of the public and have morphed from technology platforms to brokers of content and truth on a global scale,” the report said. Fake news and hate speech also are hurting those companies via a loss of advertising revenue, potential legal issues and increased government scrutiny, Open MIC said, citing a mixture of data analysis and stakeholder commentary. “We must push back against misinformation by encouraging gatekeepers such as Google and Facebook to continue their efforts to combat the problem, while avoiding the creation of any central bodies to decide what is ‘true’ or not,” said World Wide Web Foundation founder Tim Berners-Lee in an a statement included in the Open MIC report. The group noted Google parent Alphabet and Facebook shareholders are preparing to introduce resolutions at the companies' upcoming annual meetings that would require them to provide reports to investors about their efforts to combat fake news and extremist content. Facebook has been rolling out tools aimed at improving its users' news literacy and ability to spot fake news, and Google proliferated its “Fact Check” tool (see 1704070018). Open MIC is the Open Media and Information Companies Initiative. Facebook and Google didn't comment.