I’ve been tweeting about latest Facebook breach because it seems to show it’s learned nothing since Cambridge Analytica. It’s refused to answer basic press inquiries. And now, it’s pulled out rest of Cambridge Analytica playbook. This isn’t FB’s fault. It’s ‘malicious actors’ 1/
Facebook failed to keep safe the data of half a billion people. But this isn’t a data breach, it’s ‘scraping’. Which is *exactly* how Facebook responded to me & @_EmmaGH in 2018.
That wasn’t a data breach either. Until it was. 2/
This is the playbook. Ignore, minimise, deflect, re-frame. Here’s the response of @intidc, an actual (ethical) hacker who reported this *exact security flaw* in 2017. Instead of fixing the breach, Facebook blamed it on its users. 3/
This isn’t just chutzpah or an Orwellian disregard for language. This is high high stakes. @ashk4n is the former CTO of the FTC - the body which fined Facebook a record $5bn - & he points out the timing of this breach looks really really bad for Facebook 4/
And this was the Irish DPC yesterday - Facebook’s regulator - in Europe. It hadn’t been able to get any sort of a straight answer from Facebook. Yet if Facebook failed to notify it of a breach - which this suggests - it risks a fine of up to 4% of Facebook’s global turnover 5/
It took Facebook 5 days to publish this. It’s refusing to even acknowledge journalists’s qs. It doesn’t appear to be cooperating with the regulator. And these are not ‘facts’. This is a high-stakes PR op that blames Facebook’s users for their shocking failure to protect them
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NEW: I'm seeking permission to appeal in the Supreme Court. There's no meaningful free expression in this country if after proving your speech is lawful, you're hit with £££ costs: a devastating ruling that will chill public interest journalism
by @_EmmaGH theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/m…
This was filed today in the Court of Appeal. If the Supreme Court rejects it, we believe there’s a strong case to take it to the European Court of Human Rights.
Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights puts an obligation on states to ensure freedom of expression. According to the ruling in this case, it's very far from free: even if you can prove your speech is lawful, it'll still cost you hundreds of thousands of pounds...
It's been a long time but v happy to be back in @ObserverUK today with 2 pieces, both close to my heart. And to launch a new project with @allthecitizens.
1/ An astonishing new claim that MI5 refused to investigate Russian spy's infiltration of Tory party theguardian.com/politics/2023/…
2/ Delighted to profile the fierce & brilliant @pevchikh for @ObsNewReview. If you've seen the Navalny doc, she's the woman sitting by Navalny's side as he calls one of his FSB poisoners & gets him to confess to Novichoking his underpants. theguardian.com/world/2023/jan…
3/ Finally, the story of how the Kremlin captured Britain. And how the UK government covered it up. If you've wondered why no British broadcaster has told the real story behind the Russia Report, please watch this & consider contributing.
My jaw hit the floor when I discovered Boris Johnson left an emergency NATO meeting after the Kremlin’s chemical warfare attack on Britain & flew to an off-the-books meeting with an ex-KGB spy.
In July 2019, Johnson had just been made PM. And @nickhopkinsnews published 2 extraordinary stories about Foreign Secretary Johnson flying from a NATO meeting to a party in Italy at the height of the Skripal crisis.
The party was at Evgeny Lebedev’s villa. The owner of Independent & Evening Standard.
Hopkins’s first story suggested he’d given his security detail the slip to fly to Italy. Then a Guardian reader supplied photos of him leaving: hungover & dishevelled 3/
Thank you to the judge, my stellar legal team & the 29,000 people who contributed to my legal defence fund. I literally couldn’t have done it without you 🙏🙏🙏
I haven't read the judgment yet but what I can say that the last 3 years have been extraordinarily difficult. Fighting this has been a crushing, debilitating, all-consuming experience that I sincerely hope no other journalist ever has to go through. 2/ judiciary.uk/judgments/bank…
The fact that his case was brought clearly shows how our libel laws favour the rich & powerful. I was only able to defend myself because of the incredibly generous support of the public. But this judgment is a huge victory for public interest journalism.
3/