Friday briefing: EU says social platforms can be ordered to take down unlawful content worldwide

Facebook will oppose a ruling that says EU laws do not preclude demands that illegal content be taken down in non-EU countries, Kaspersky caught Uzebk intelligence services developing new spyware

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EU says social platforms can be ordered to take down unlawful content worldwide

The European Court of Justice has ruled that social media platforms must act to remove known illegal content and has somewhat controversially found that “EU law does not preclude such an injunction from producing effects worldwide”(TechCrunch).

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that the firm will oppose the ruling. Currently, material that's illegal in one jurisdiction is left online elsewhere unless it contravenes the social network's policies. Zuckerberg also said that Facebook won't help the US and UK put backdoors into its encrypted messaging services but suggests that it could help law enforcement by analysing suspicious activity beyond message contents.

Kaspersky caught Uzebk intelligence developing new spyware

Anti-malware firm Kaspersky has linked the recently-emerged SandCat threat actor to Uzbekistan's State Security Service (SSS) (Vice). Identification of SandCat's intelligence connections and newly developed malware was made particularly easy because SandCat's developers had installed Kaspersky Internet Security on the systems they used to create their malicious software.

Disney may not bring its new streaming service to Amazon's Fire TV

An advertising dispute between Disney and Amazon could mean that Fire TV ends up without access to the new Disney+ streaming service, according to Wall Street Journal sources (The Verge). It's reported that Amazon wants the right to sell significant amounts of advertising space on Disney apps, while Disney opposes this and has threatened to remove all its streaming apps from Fire TV. Disney+ begins its global launch on November 12 but probably won't come to the UK until 2020.

Why sport is the next frontier for Twitch

Imagine you’re watching a livestream of your favourite sport – a football match, say, or a tennis tournament (WIRED). But instead of listening to the official commentator, you provide your own play-by-play analysis of the footage – and thousands of people hang on to your every word. This is the vision of Twitch CEO Emmett Shear, who sees a growing future for what he calls “interactive livestreaming” across the entertainment landscape.

Watch the spectacular new trailer for His Dark Materials

A new trailer reveals the full alternate-universe steampunk glory of the BBC's new adaptation of Philip Pullman's fantasy classic, His Dark Materials, starting with the events of [i]Northern Lights[i] (Gizmodo). The first episode airs on BBC 1 on November 3, a day before US viewers get to see it via distribution partner HBO, and a second season is already in production.

Google’s quantum leap

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This article was originally published by WIRED UK