Wechat’s Censorship Game; FireEye: Russia Weaponized Social Media

Posted December 1st, 2016 at 12:29 pm (UTC-4)
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Today’s Tech Sightings:

FILE - A WeChat logo is displayed on a mobile phone as a woman talks on her mobile phone in this picture illustration taken July 21, 2016. (Reuters)

FILE – A WeChat logo is displayed on a mobile phone as a woman talks on her mobile phone in this picture illustration taken July 21, 2016. (Reuters)

Report: China’s WeChat Censors Users Abroad

A new report from Toronto’s Citizen Lab says China’s top messaging app WeChat censors or blocks key words and sensitive terms in messages sent from overseas to mainland China. The block affects group chats of three or more users and messages containing terms not sanctioned by Beijing or are linked to Chinese phone numbers.

FireEye: Russia Weaponized Social Media in US Election

Cybersecurity firm FireEye says in addition to hacking and document leaks, Moscow used social media as a weapon during the U.S. presidential campaign in November to influence perceptions. A FireEye analysis of thousands of online posts, links, and documents found material stolen by Russian intelligence being heavily promoted through fake social media accounts and narratives.

A Beginner’s Guide to Beefing Up Your Privacy and Security Online

These days, it’s harder than ever to protect you privacy amid an ongoing rash of cybersecurity breeches and expanded government surveillance. But there are steps you can take to beef up your digital privacy. Writer Andrew Cunningham offers some basic guidelines to help the uninitiated.

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Aida Akl
Aida Akl is a journalist working on VOA's English Webdesk. She has written on a wide range of topics, although her more recent contributions have focused on technology. She has covered both domestic and international events since the mid-1980s as a VOA reporter and international broadcaster.

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