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The Morning Risk Report: TikTok Targeted by Advocacy Groups Over Children’s Privacy
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A 12 year-old girl spent time on TikTok at home in Ankeny, Iowa, in February. PHOTO: RACHEL MUMMEY FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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Good morning. A group of consumer-advocacy groups filed a complaint against TikTok with U.S. regulators Thursday, alleging the social-media powerhouse is flouting a children’s privacy law and breaking a previous settlement agreement over allegations that it illegally collected personal data from users under 13.
The coalition, which includes Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and the Center for Digital Democracy, is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether TikTok is in compliance with the law and the settlement and to issue additional sanctions.
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They are accusing TikTok of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, known as Coppa, alleging that TikTok makes it too easy for children under 13 to join the app without their parents’ permission. At the same time, TikTok doesn’t obtain parental consent to collect children’s information, according to the complaint, nor let parents review or delete the data it collects.
A spokeswoman for TikTok, which is owned by Chinese parent ByteDance Inc. said, “We take privacy seriously and are committed to helping ensure that TikTok continues to be a safe and entertaining community for our users.” The FTC declined to comment.
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From Risk & Compliance Journal
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SEC Charges Firms Over Statements on Coronavirus Testing Products
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U.S. regulators brought charges against two publicly traded companies for allegedly misleading investors about products intended to help combat the novel coronavirus.
Turbo Global Partners Inc. and Applied BioSciences Corp. were charged Thursday for having issued news releases that contained false and misleading information about finger-prick tests and thermal scanning equipment used to detect the virus, according to complaints filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Turbo Global’s chief executive was also charged with participating in the alleged fraud.
Statements issued by public companies that could influence their stock prices have become a focus of the SEC’s efforts to fight fraud stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
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Agencies Issue Sanctions Compliance Guidance for Maritime Industry
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Three U.S. agencies said on Thursday the global maritime industry may need to develop procedures to avoid being exploited by alleged terrorists and other illicit actors seeking to trade with countries subject to U.S. sanctions.
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In a guidance advisory, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the U.S. Coast Guard noted that malign actors have been using a number of novel, deceptive tactics to enable maritime trade with countries such as Iran, North Korea and Syria.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) exited the Senate subway to vote on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Thursday on Capitol Hill. PHOTO: SAUL LOEB/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
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The U.S. Senate voted to renew a lapsed set of domestic surveillance powers, approving a package that goes further in extending some legal protections to targets of court-approved surveillance than a version passed by the House.The spying tools, adopted originally in the USA Patriot Act passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, allow the FBI to obtain certain wiretaps and to file requests to obtain a variety of business records from companies in connection with national security investigations.
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A federal appeals court revived a lawsuit by Maryland and the District of Columbia alleging President Trump is illegally profiting from his office. The lawsuit alleges the Trump International Hotel and related operations in the nation’s capital have an unfair advantage over competing businesses in the region because foreign-government entities and other customers have sought to use Trump-owned properties to ingratiate themselves with the administration.
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U.S. Sen. Richard Burr will temporarily step down as the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee after FBI agents seized his cellphone in their investigation of stock trades he made shortly before the coronavirus roiled markets. The seizure of the North Carolina Republican’s cellphone at his Washington-area home and a related search of his cloud-storage accounts represents a major escalation of the department’s illicit-trading probe.
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The coronavirus pandemic could push prices for concert tickets higher, a group of senators warned in a letter urging the Justice Department to ensure competition in live events. Many in the concert industry expect a consolidation that could leave promotion giant Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and its Ticketmaster unit with more market share if smaller promoters and venues aren’t able to sustain the lockdowns without staging any events.
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President Trump met with China's President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit on June 29, 2019. PHOTO: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS
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President Trump said he was looking “very strongly” at whether to require Chinese companies to follow U.S. accounting rules to be listed on U.S. stock exchanges, though he expressed concern that such a move could prompt companies to take their listings elsewhere.
The fight over regulation of Chinese companies dates back more than a decade, to when many Chinese companies went public on U.S. stock exchanges by merging with an American shell company. Such “reverse mergers” gave the Chinese companies access to a U.S. investor base with little upfront scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Cyber criminals are launching their malware more quickly once inside the networks of health-care providers. PHOTO: OMAR MARQUES/GETTY IMAGES
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Cyber criminals have adapted their ransomware tactics during the coronavirus pandemic, setting their malware to launch more quickly once inside the networks of health-care providers and other companies, according to security experts.
Attackers previously took more time to scope out a company’s data after infiltrating its network but now launch malware immediately if they determine a firm may need its data back right away to operate during a crisis, according to European police agency Europol.
“Especially if the target is a hospital, government institution or a company operating online more than before because of the Covid situation, they know they have a good way to extort the company,” said Fernando Ruiz Pérez, acting head of Europol’s Cybercrime Center. “They don’t even need to exfiltrate the data. They don’t need to wait.”
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People-counting cameras are being repurposed to meet a surge in demand from employers eager to comply with government guidelines on social distancing because of the coronavirus pandemic. Their use is a concern for privacy advocates, who worry the technology could be changed again to track individuals and monitor productivity.
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Central banker Neel Kashkari says he takes ‘more signal from the bond market’ than the stock market about the future of the economy. PHOTO: ACKERMAN + GRUBER
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Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said he doesn’t expect the economy to snap back quickly from the devastating blow caused by the coronavirus pandemic. An additional three million workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, continuing a two-month trend of historically high claims as the coronavirus pandemic rippled through the U.S. economy.
Three out of four U.S. small businesses have sought federal aid to cope with fallout from the new coronavirus, according to a Census Bureau survey released Thursday, in another indication of the widespread damage caused by the pandemic.
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A legislative proposal in Washington, D.C., for a public-private program to insure against future pandemic-related business losses is facing growing opposition, as insurers begin a push to put responsibility for claims on the government. For weeks, U.S. House lawmakers, insurance brokerage Marsh & McLennan Cos. and others have been pursuing a possible government financial-backstop arrangement that would help insurance carriers provide coverage for businesses during pandemics in years to come.
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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract manufacturer of silicon chips, is set to announce plans to build an advanced chip factory in Arizona as U.S. concerns grow about dependence on Asia for the critical technology. The plans for the plant come as the Trump administration has sought to jump-start development of new chip factories in the U.S. due to rising fears about the U.S.’s heavy reliance on Taiwan, China and South Korea to produce microelectronics and other key technologies.
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Foxconn Technology Group, Apple’s biggest supplier, was the latest global manufacturer whose profit was dented by the coronavirus pandemic, posting a 90% year-over-year decline in the first quarter after it shut down plants in China for weeks during that period.
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McDonald's wants customers to eat in their 14,000 U.S. locations, but only when owners are safely ready to reopen. PHOTO: JEENAH MOON/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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McDonald’s is asking restaurant owners in the U.S. to make dozens of changes to ease coronavirus concerns before reopening their dining rooms, including commitments to clean bathrooms every half-hour and digital kiosks after each order.
The world’s largest fast-food company by sales is also asking its hundreds of U.S. franchisees to enforce social distancing in its restaurants, and either close their public soda fountains or deploy a staff member to monitor them, according to a 59-page dine-in reopening guide viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The guide outlines the challenges McDonald’s expects employees to face as states begin to allow for sit-down restaurant service while upholding social-distancing rules. A three-page question-and-answer section in the guide covers security risks to workers managing resistant customers or loiterers. The guide also shows how complex—and expensive—reopening dining areas will be and raises questions about the cost structure of that business for franchisees while concerns about the pandemic remain.
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FedEx has limited the number of items that Kohl’s and about two dozen other retailers can ship from certain locations, as the delivery company tries to prevent its network from being overwhelmed during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Delta Air Lines said it would remove Boeing 777 aircraft from its fleet by the end of the year, a sign the airline believes international travel will recover slowly from the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, Boeing Chief Executive David Calhoun’s prediction of a major U.S. airline’s demise prompted complaints from some of the plane maker’s biggest customers.
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José Luis Valls speaking in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. PHOTO: MARCELO SAYAO/EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY
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Nissan's U.S. chief, José Luis Valls, is resigning after a year on the job, the company said. The company on Thursday cited personal and family reasons for Mr. Valls’s departure, which is effective June 15. Mr. Valls is the latest in a string of executive departures at the Japanese car maker in the wake of the arrest of former Chairman Carlos Ghosn in 2018.
The high-profile departures include Mr. Ghosn’s handpicked replacement as chief executive, Hiroto Saikawa, who was pushed out by the board after it was found he received improper stock-based performance compensation.
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