Ghana to Address MTN’s Dominance, EU Demands Monthly Fake News Report from Tech Giants, and Companies Suspend Sale of Facial Recognition to Police

Africa

Ghana to address MTN’s growing market power

Ghana’s National Communications Authority has announced plans to take corrective measures against MTN Ghana’s dominant position in the country, it has been reported. Per the National Telecommunications Policy, the NCA is mandated to take corrective measures to ensure any operator designated to have Significant Market Power does not inhibit competition. The measures are aimed at invoking favourable pricing for consumers and improving industry growth. Any operator with 40% share in text, voice, data, and value added services like mobile money is said to be a Significant Market Power. MTN Ghana so far meets this classification, hence the release by regulator. The NCA also acknowledged a dampening of competition and erosion of consumer choice due to MTN’s growth despite investments the telco has made in the industry.

SA’s Life Healthcare suffers cyberattack

The South African branch of Life Healthcare has suffered an online security breach, Tech Central has reported. The cyberattack affected the healthcare provider’s admissions systems and email servers, the report said. Though its business processing systems were hacked, Life Healthcare revealed that its patient care system was not affected. The cyberattack means there will be delays in their operations as staff switch to backup systems. “We are deeply disappointed and saddened that criminals would attack our facilities during such a time, when we are all working tirelessly and collectively to fight the Covid-19 pandemic,” acting group CEO Pieter Van der Westhuizen said. Life Healthcare operates a chain of healthcare facilities around the world.

Europe

Babylon Health’s GP app suffered security breach

Babylon Health has disclosed that its GP video appointment app suffered a breach according to a BBC report. A user alerted the company of the situation after he realised he could access dozens of patient recordings. Babylon says it has since fixed the problem and notified relevant authorities of the breach. The Babylon Health GP appointment app allows patients to speak to health experts via a video call. Users can also purchase drugs via an electronic prescription sent by the health professional to a nearby pharmacy.

EU demands monthly fake news report from tech giants

Facebook, TikTok, Mozilla, Twitter, and Google will be required to provide monthly reports to the EU on their fights against disinformation, a Reuters report has said. The comments come on the heels of foreign actors trying to influence conversations and also the false narratives around the spread of COVID-19. “It really showed that disinformation does not only harm the health of our democracies, it also harms the health of our citizens. It can negatively impact the economy and undermine the response of the public authorities and therefore weaken the health measures,” European Commission’s Vice President for values and transparency Vera Jourova said. The European Commission also called out countries like China and Russia for their alleged efforts at influencing public discourse in other countries.

The Americas

IBM abandons facial recognition tech due to its bias

IBM has announced it will stop providing facial recognition technology for mass surveillance, a BBC report has said. As people are calling for reforms in US police following the killing of George Floyd, IBM sent a letter to Congress saying the artificial intelligence that US law enforcement rely on for surveillance needs to be tested for bias. “IBM firmly opposes and will not condone the uses of any technology, including facial recognition technology offered by other vendors, for mass surveillance, racial profiling, violations of basic human rights and freedoms,” Chief Executive Arvind Krishna said. Eva Blum-Dumontet of Privacy International, however, sees cynicism in IBM’s rhetoric given that it built and marketed those “smart policing” platforms to law enforcement in the first place. Apart from IBM, Amazon and Microsoft have also halted sale of facial recognition software to law enforcement.

Facebook agrees to pay $52m to content moderators suffering PTSD

Facebook has agreed to pay content moderators $52 million as compensation for the mental health problems they suffered as a result of working with the company, it has been reported. This is part of a settlement agreement following a class-action lawsuit filed by moderators. The moderators who had been hired by third-parties had sued Facebook in 2018 for not creating a safe working environment. The suing party alleged that viewing graphic content for the social media company caused them to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder.

Asia

Facebook lands global licensing deal with India’s Saregama

Facebook has announced that it has entered into a global licensing deal with Indian music label, Saregama, TechCrunch has announced. The deal will allow Facebook to use Saregama’s vast music credits for video and other experiences on the social media platform as well as on Instagram. Users will now be able to choose from Saregama’s catalogue to add music to their Facebook Stories as well as to their Facebook profiles. Saregama is one of India’s oldest and biggest music labels with more than 100,000 Bollywood songs across some 25 languages. “We are very proud to partner with Saregama that will allow people on our platforms, globally, to use their favourite retro Indian music to further enrich their content on our platforms,” Facebook India’s Manish Chopra said.

Honda suffers cyberattack on global operations

Japanese car-maker, Honda, has admitted that it suffered a cyberattack that has affected its operations around the world, the BBC has announced. “Honda can confirm that a cyber-attack has taken place on the Honda network,” the company said in a statement. That attack has affected the car-maker’s ability to use company servers and access company email. Cyber-security experts feel it is a ransomware attack, which means Honda can’t access its files because the data have been encrypted by the hackers. Honda, meanwhile, assures its clients that no data has been breached and that it was working to resolve the situation.