Trump’s social media accounts and online damage: the tech review of 2021

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This is a year where the friction between technology and politics has reached new heights.

How any social media regulation should be handled, the debate about free speech and censorship and data collection and privacy concerns are all issues that have shaped over the past 12 months.

Here’s a recap of some of the biggest technology stories of 2021.

Mr Trump was banned from Twitter this year (Niall Carson/PA)

– Donald Trump was kicked out on social media

The January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former president Donald Trump – which seemed to be pushing them down the road – was the last straw for social media platforms.

After months of labeling Trump’s posts as deceptive or hiding them from view, Facebook, Twitter and others have banned the former president for posts they deemed inciting violence.

A debate about the power of social media has quickly flared up in life – critics have raised concerns that it amounts to censorship and that cutting off a then -sitting world leader from major forums sets a dangerous precedent, while others have argued that Mr Trump’s unfiltered and often misleading. and explicitly untrue and harmful posts cannot be ignored, regardless of the office he holds.

Nearly a year has passed and the bans remain, and Mr Trump is still looking for a new way to communicate with his supporters extensively online.

Apple continues its war on data collection (Yui Mok/PA)

– Apple continues the data collection war

Following the introduction of its nutrition labels in data collection for apps in 2020, Apple spent 2021 doubling its commitment to better protect user privacy and curb data collection, especially used to target online advertising.

The biggest announcement came in the form of App Tracking Transparency (ATT), a tool that requires app developers, for the first time, to ask users for permission to track them and their activities on apps and websites on outside of themselves.

The tool gave users the ability to grant and revoke permission to track them at any point, something Apple said would greatly reduce third-party data collection.

In addition, the company used its software updates to iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 to introduce new tools to help users hide their IP address and location from gathering unsolicited marketing emails and one that allows them to hide the sites they visit from third-party advertisers, again reducing data collection.

Fortnite makers involved in a battle over payment systems with tech giants (Andrew Matthews/PA)

-Allegations of Apple, Google and anti-competitive practices

Apple may be receiving praise for its approach to user privacy, but regulators spent 2021 raising concerns about how it and Google operate their respective iOS and Android app stores.

In Apple’s case, because its App Store is the only way users can download apps to an Apple device, concerns have been raised about the ability to curb competition by pushing its own services to its rivals and having a monopoly on apps that appear in the store, as well as requiring app developers to use Apple’s payment system for in-app purchases-which Apple takes the a commission.

For Google, critics say its initial loading of Google apps on Android devices is also unfair and anti-competitive and the structure of its payment system, like Apple’s, is unfair.

Both companies defended their practices saying their app stores are set up to provide safety and security for users while allowing developers to grow their businesses by being part of their ecosystems.

Tweaks to the app store rules-loosening some of the payments rules-have also begun to take effect as a sign of the debate in effect.

At the heart of this case is an ongoing legal battle from Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, with the company seeking legal action against US and European companies over the issue after removing the hit game from both app stores in 2020 after trying to introduce its own payment method that goes beyond Apple and Google systems.

That battle is set to resound in 2022.

Online safety bill still hasn’t reached Parliament (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

– Online Injuries and the Online Safety Bill

Government plans to regulate social media and internet firms, holding them accountable for harmful content appearing on their platforms, have continued to converge over the years.

The long -delayed Online Safety Bill has still not reached Parliament, but a joint committee of MPs and colleagues has now urged ministers to adopt the draft Bill to hold tech firms accountable.

Their recommendations, published in December, called for more online harms – such as fraudulent ads and cyberflashing – to be included in the Bill’s scope and for named managers in companies responsible for the crime for to any failures to protect users.

The Government’s response is expected early next year.

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