Tuesday Newsday Oct 24 - Oct 30: Meta Lawsuit, WeChat bans, & The UK Online "Safety" Bill

Well, well, well, it looks like it's your lucky day: the stars have aligned so that the internet chefs can offer us a Halloween edition of Tuesday Newsday™! Prepare your palette for some tasty Halloween treats from the internet kitchen as we dive right in:

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41 US States are suing Meta for the alleged harmful effects their products can have on young people's mental health

The company best known for Instagram and Facebook (both of which are horrible for your privacy, btw) is under some serious heat from a coalition of over 80% of the United States. The lawsuit states that Meta designed their products to be purposefully addictive to maximize both revenue and the amount of time teens and young adults spend on their platforms.

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The Canadian government has banned WeChat & Kaspersky from government-owned devices

Due to privacy and security concerns, the Canadian government has decisively banned the Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat and Russian owned antivirus software Kaspersky. They insist that there has been no compromised information...so far. This move comes after multiple governments banned TikTok on official devices earlier this year due to similar privacy and security concerns.

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The UK Online Safety Act is signed into law, despite horrendous privacy implications

This bill effectively outlaws encryption. Despite it previously being ruled unenforceable, King Charles signed it anyway 'cause what good are rules when you're the king? Barring any delays, it's set to go into effect in 2026. We've actually covered this topic pretty extensively, for more context, click here.

Don't buy into the sensationalist headlines, they want to kill encryption for good.

TL;DR

Instagram & Facebook aren't just horrible for your privacy; they're also horrible for your mental health.
WeChat & Kaspersky are probably not the most trustworthy services, especially if you're a government official.
The King of England has possibly signed encryption into oblivion. Who else did you think it was going to be?

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