The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Tuesday that it’s charging App Annie, the mobile app data provider, with securities fraud, accusing the company of “engaging in deceptive practices” and misrepresenting the origins of its data. From a report: App Annie will pay a $10 million settlement, according to the announcement, although the company has not admitted to any of the SEC’s findings. According to the SEC, the company, which sells estimates on app downloads, usage and revenue, assured app businesses that the performance data they shared with App Annie would only be used in an anonymized way and run through an algorithm to generate performance estimates. But the SEC accuses App Annie and its former CEO and Chairman Bertrand Schmitt of reneging on that promise and using actual performance data to tweak its estimate models between 2014 and 2018. Then, the SEC alleges, the company sold that confidential data to trading firms, and misled those customers into thinking that the data was compliant with federal securities laws.

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Source: Slashdot – SEC Charges App Annie With Securities Fraud in Million Settlement

A Russian court on Tuesday said it had fined U.S. social media companies Facebook and Twitter for failing to delete content that Moscow deems illegal, part of a wider crackdown by Russia on the internet and Big Tech. From a report: The Tagansky district court said Facebook had been handed five fines totalling 21 million roubles ($287,850). Twitter received two fines of a total 5 million roubles, it said. Popular messaging app Telegram had been fined 9 million roubles, the court said. Moscow’s actions to strengthen its control of the internet have included a push to require foreign internet companies to open fully-fledged offices in Russia and to store Russians’ personal data on its territory.

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Source: Slashdot – Russia Fines Facebook, Twitter for Not Deleting Banned Content

Millions of people with eye conditions including age-related macular degeneration, cataracts and diabetes-related eye disease have an increased risk of developing dementia, new research shows. From a report: Vision impairment can be one of the first signs of the disease, which is predicted to affect more than 130 million people worldwide by 2050. Previous research has suggested there could be a link between eye conditions that cause vision impairment, and cognitive impairment. However, the incidence of these conditions increases with age, as do systemic conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, depression and stroke, which are all accepted risk factors for dementia. That meant it was unclear whether eye conditions were linked with a higher incidence of dementia independently of systemic conditions.

Now researchers have found that age-related macular degeneration, cataracts and diabetes-related eye disease are independently associated with increased risk of dementia, according to a new study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. The research examined data from 12,364 British adults aged 55 to 73, who were taking part in the UK Biobank study. They were assessed in 2006 and again in 2010 with their health information tracked until early 2021.

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Source: Slashdot – Millions With Eye Conditions at Higher Risk of Dementia, Shows Research

Twitter has again restarted its account verification process, the company said on Monday. TechCrunch reports: Since launching the revamped verification program this spring, Twitter had hit a few snags which have forced it to shut down verifications more than once. The most recent of these pauses was announced on August 13, when the company said it need to make improvements to both the application and review process. […] Now, Twitter says users who are looking to be verified should keep checking their account settings screen for access to the in-app application. It didn’t detail what, specifically had changed — but hopefully the system will now remain open for good.

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Source: Slashdot – Twitter Reopens Its Account Verification Process After Another Pause

In studies conducted over the past three years, Facebook researchers have found that Instagram is “harmful for a sizable percentage” of young users, particularly teenage girls, reported The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. CNET reports: Research presented in 2019 reportedly found that Instagram makes body image issue worse for one in three teen girls. Teens also said Instagram increased rates of anxiety and depression, reported the Journal, citing internal company documents. On Tuesday, Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, said it stands by its research to understand young people’s experiences on the app. “The question on many people’s minds is if social media is good or bad for people,” wrote Karina Newton, head of public policy at Instagram, in a blog post. “The research on this is mixed; it can be both. At Instagram, we look at the benefits and the risks of what we do.” Newton added that Instagram has done “extensive work around bullying, suicide and self-injury, and eating disorders” to make the app a safe place for everyone. The company is also focused on addressing negative social comparison and body image, said Newton, and is developing ways to “jump in if we see people dwelling on certain types of content.”

The Instagram research is part of a “trove of internal communications” reviewed by the Journal. On Monday, the Journal reported that Facebook exempted millions of high-profile users, including celebrities and politicians, from some or all of its community standards as part of a program called XCheck. A Facebook spokesman said the program was meant to give certain Facebook pages a “second layer of review to make sure we’ve applied our policies correctly.”

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Source: Slashdot – Facebook’s Own Research Shows Instagram Is Harmful To Teens, Report Says