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The Morning Risk Report: Twitter, Facebook Fined by Turkey for Breaching Law Aimed at Curbing Dissent
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A man checks his Twitter account at a cafe in Istanbul, in July. Turkey has fined the platform, and others, $1.2 million for missing a deadline relating to its new social-media law. PHOTO: SEDAT SUNA/SHUTTERSTOCK
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Good morning. Turkish authorities fined five social-media platforms for failing to comply with a new law that civil-rights activists have decried as an attempt to stifle dissent.
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Periscope and TikTok each have been fined 10 million Turkish lira, equivalent to $1.2 million, for missing a Nov. 2 deadline to appoint a country representative, Turkey’s deputy minister of transportation and infrastructure, Omer Fatih Sayan, said Wednesday.
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The new law, which was adopted in the summer and came into force last month, gives the government more power to police content. In addition to having permanent representatives in Turkey, the law also requires social-media companies to take steps to store Turkish users’ data in the country, and execute court orders to take down content.
Failure to comply with the new law exposes operators to a five-step regime of sanctions ranging from fines to being stripped of advertising revenue and being subjected to near-complete access restrictions.
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City workers counted and processed ballots in Philadelphia on Tuesday. PHOTO: MICHELLE GUSTAFSON FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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From Risk & Compliance Journal
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Bribery Victims Prevail in Restitution Claim Against Hedge Fund
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A federal judge approved a restitution payment of more than $138 million to investors in a Congolese mine, bringing to a close a yearslong legal battle over their status as victims of a bribery scheme by hedge fund Sculptor Capital Management Inc.
Final approval for the restitution came Wednesday at a sentencing hearing presided over by District Judge Nicholas Garaufis. The payment is expected to be divided among more than 300 former investors. The sentencing dispels a cloud of uncertainty that has hung over Sculptor’s 2016 settlement with the U.S. Justice Department over bribery schemes prosecutors said the fund orchestrated in Africa.
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T-Mobile acquired Assurance Wireless through its April takeover of Sprint. PHOTO: JOHN NACION/NURPHOTO/ZUMA PRESS
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Federal regulators fined T-Mobile US $200 million after investigators determined its recently acquired Sprint subsidiary had overcharged a national wireless subsidy program for years.
The Federal Communications Commission said T-Mobile will pay the civil penalty and adhere to a compliance program that covers Assurance Wireless, a low-cost mobile brand T-Mobile acquired through its April takeover of Sprint. Assurance serves customers under the federal Lifeline program, which offers affordable cellphone service to low-income Americans.
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Crown Resorts Ltd., the Australian company behind a soon-to-open $1.6 billion casino-resort development, is embroiled in two inquiries, into alleged money laundering and its corporate conduct.
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Gambling authorities are examining the company’s suitability to hold a license for the Sydney casino, and the company is cooperating with a separate probe by the country’s financial regulator, which has the power to impose fines and other penalties. Crown denies any deliberate wrongdoing.
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Lawyers for Chinese-owned video app TikTok clashed with Trump administration lawyers in federal court as they fought to stave off a government-ordered shutdown later this month. Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., didn’t rule immediately on TikTok’s motion for a preliminary injunction to block the government shutdown, set for Nov. 12.
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Voters cast their ballots at the Salazar Park polling location in Los Angeles on Tuesday. PHOTO: ETIENNE LAURENT/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
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California voters approved a measure aimed at tightening internet privacy rules and fortifying the state’s landmark privacy law that went into effect this year.
Residents in the country’s most populous state voted in favor of Proposition 24, which will create a state agency to enforce internet privacy regulations, while attempting to tighten some of the loopholes found in the existing law. Given California’s size and influence, the measure has the potential to set a national standard if other states follow suit. The ballot initiative passed despite criticism that its effect will only marginally be felt by the industry it is aimed to govern.
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At Protective Health Gear, a worker inserts foam nose pieces into N95 masks. PHOTO: GABRIELA BHASKAR FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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A surge of Covid-19 cases and stockpiling of N95 masks in much of the country have put fresh strains on the supply of critical protective gear, manufacturers and health officials say.
While the national supply of protective equipment has improved since the first months of the pandemic, levels at some health-care facilities remain well below what regulators recommend. Many health-care facilities continue to ration and reuse masks, even as manufacturers have raised production, and some state health departments said they expect supplies to tighten further.
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Shoppers at a Hy-Vee store in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, used a self-checkout station last month. PHOTO: ANDY ABEYTA/THE GAZETTE/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Supermarkets are using pandemic-driven changes in shopping behavior to accelerate the shift to e-commerce they have been seeking but have been slow to realize in recent years. Grocers are now devoting more of their floor space to fulfill digital orders in response to customers’ increased food consumption at home and their growing reliance on online shopping.
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BP is in talks to sell its London headquarters to help cover debt, punctuating the crisis facing the British oil giant and its peers as they navigate a pandemic that has decimated demand for oil.
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