The European Consumer Organization (BEUC) said Thursday that Meta’s current pay-or-consent strategy in the EU may violate consumer and data protection laws, urging relevant EU agencies to protect consumers immediately. The statement accused Meta of using ambiguous terms and confusing interfaces that do not allow users to consent freely to data collection. The organization also [...]

Pakistan’s National Assembly passed an amendment to the 2016 Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act on Thursday, giving the government the power to regulate social media usage in the country. The amendment includes a punishment for false and fake information presented as follows: “Whoever intentionally disseminates, publicly exhibits, or transmits any information through any information system, [...]

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed a controversial bill into law Thursday that authorizes the government to expropriate private land without compensation in certain cases. The law, the product of a five-year project, repeals the pre-democractic-era Expropriation Act of 1975. In a presidential press release, Ramaphosa argued that Expropriation Act, 2020 aligns the law with [...]

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday mandating the “full and complete release” of government records related to the 1960s assassinations of President John F. Kennedy (JFK), Senator Robert F. Kennedy (RFK) and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK). Several decades have passed since the assassinations, which occurred between 1963 [...]

New York’s Nassau County agreed on Thursday to redraw its voting map after a lawsuit claimed its political boundaries disenfranchised residents of color. Once details are approved by the court, the county will instate a new map including six districts in which Black, Latin and Asian residents constitute the majority of eligible voters. In the [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered its Civil Rights Division to halt all ongoing litigation from former President Joe Biden’s administration and not pursue new cases or settlements, according to multiple internal memos that were obtained by various media outlets on Wednesday. The memos, which were sent to the temporary head of the Civil [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada announced on Thursday that it will hear a landmark challenge to Quebec’s secularism law, Bill 21. The law was passed in 2019 and prohibits certain public sector employees in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols while on duty. Central to the case are Sections 2(a) and 15 of the [...]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on Thursday that France violated Ms. H.W’s right to respect for private and family life, her right to sexual freedom, and right to bodily autonomy by granting a divorce on the grounds that she failed to perform her “marital duty” to have sexual relations with her husband. [...]

US Judge John Coughenour in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order Thursday against Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship for children of non-citizens, calling it “blatantly unconstitutional.” Coughenour found that the executive order would cause irreparable harm to the plaintiff states. The executive order cuts federal funding for providing essential and legally required medical care [...]

Human Rights Watch urged Egyptian authorities on Wednesday to drop terrorism-related charges against Hossam Bahgat, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). Bahgat was briefly detained before being released on bail of 20,000 Egyptian pounds (US$398). He faces three charges which include participating in the activities of a terrorist group, financing a terrorist [...]