The Latest: Foreign hackers target US senators, aides’ Gmail

A Google spokesman says the company has notified an unspecified number of senators and aides that their personal email accounts continue to be targeted by state-backed foreign hackers. Spokesman Aaron Stein would not disclose further details such as who was behind the attempted break-ins, their timing or who was targeted.

Sonomans predict more meddling from Moscow

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Molly Roberts:

If you don't have a seat at the table, you're probably on the menu - and if you have a seat but don't sit in it, you may be in just as much trouble. That's the lesson Google may have learned when legislators, dissatisfied with the company's offer to send its lawyer instead of a top executive to congressional hearings last week, theatrically answered by installing an empty chair instead.

Responding to leaks, Google denies political bias

Breitbart on Wednesday published leaked video of a town-hall-style meeting with employees shortly after the 2016 election, in which Google executives appeared dismayed at President Trump's win. Google co-founder and Alphabet President Sergey Brin described the results as "pretty upsetting," while Google Senior Vice President of Global Affairs Kent Walker described a global political environment of "tribalism."

Mark Zuckerberg subtly made a case for not breaking up Facebook

The 3,300 word note Mark Zuckerberg published Thursday about Facebook's approach to election interference contained some surprisingly frank insight into why Facebook has made some of the business decisions that it has. For example, Zuckerberg shared that he considered banning political ads all together .

#WalkAway Founder Is Latest Conservative to Spread ‘Facebook Ban’ Disinformation

Right-wing media celebrities are perfecting a playbook against Silicon Valley, one forged by social media stars Diamond and Silk. On Wednesday afternoon, #WalkAway founder Brandon Straka tweeted that Facebook had "banned" him after he posted a link to the fringe conspiracy outpost InfoWars.

Can Mark Zuckerberg Fix Facebook Before It Breaks Democracy?

GOP candidate for Fla. governor spoke at racially charged events - Rep. Ron DeSantis , a gubernatorial nominee who recently was accused of using racially tinged language, spoke four times at conferences organized by a conservative activist who has said that African Americans owe The Urgent Question of Trump and Money Laundering - How Bruce Ohr, President Trump's latest Twitter target, fits a suspicious pattern of behavior on Russia.

North Korea is still making nukes, and the Trump admin is taking a harder line

GOP candidate for Fla. governor spoke at racially charged events - Rep. Ron DeSantis , a gubernatorial nominee who recently was accused of using racially tinged language, spoke four times at conferences organized by a conservative activist who has said that African Americans owe The Urgent Question of Trump and Money Laundering - How Bruce Ohr, President Trump's latest Twitter target, fits a suspicious pattern of behavior on Russia.

Trump accuses Google of RIGGING search results to only show ‘fake news’

Paul Manafort held days of talks with Mueller's team about flipping while jury mulled his fate in first trial Google uses a complex algorithm to decide what a user sees in their search results, though its exact workings are a corporate secret The President unloaded on the tech firm in a pair of tweets on Tuesday morning which promised to 'address' the 'very serious situation'. Donald Trump launched into an attack on Google on Tuesday morning, accusing the web giant of rigging its search results to make him look bad Trump threatened to address what he called 'a very serious situation', though it is not clear how he intends to do this 'In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD.

Heng claims victory as Facebook allows ad depicting Cambodian genocide

Fresno native Elizabeth Heng announcing her run for Congress, against Jim Costa, talks about long-overdue changes in the Central Valley that she envisions happening, while visiting her family's Rasmey Market, where she worked as a child. Elizabeth Heng, the Fresno Republican challenging Rep. Jim Costa in the 16th District, scored a victory Tuesday after blasting Facebook for refusing to approve a campaign ad that featured footage from the Cambodian genocide.

Senators Want To Question Google About Their Plans To Relaunch In China

For almost a decade, Google has been conspicuously absent from China. This includes all of Google's products and services such as search, Gmail, and so on, and to a certain extent even Android where Android devices in China are essentially forked versions of Android with Google's services stripped from it.

Tired of waiting for feds, states set own online political ad rules

U.S. states are tightening rules for online political advertising ahead of the November midterm elections as prospects dim that federal rules will be in place to prevent a repeat of the Russian interference seen in 2016. As political campaigns dump millions of advertising dollars into Facebook, Twitter and Google, states including Maryland, Washington and New York are putting more pressure on tech companies to keep tabs.

Senators grill Google over rumored China search engine

Google refused to confirm if it's truly been developing a censored search engine for China after reports about the project's existence came out , but it might soon have no choice but to come clean. A group of six Democratic and Republican Senators led by Marco Rubio has penned a letter addressed to Google chief Sundar Pichai demanding concrete answers.

Russian Pop Star Emin Agalarov Is Still in Robert Mueller’s Crosshairs Amidst Russia Investigation

The Russian pop star who helped set up the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer promising dirt on then-White House rival Hillary Clinton is making headlines again. But in a testament to how bonkers the news lately, it's not for the Trump-trolling video for his bossa nova cheese-pop single, "Got Me Good," which giddily sends up President Trump's hydra-headed scandals tied to Russian interference in the 2016 election.