US probe finds Cambridge Analytica misled Facebook users on data

Yahoo – AFP, December 6, 2019

Alexander Nix, seen in a 2018 photo taken in London, was CEO of Cambridge
Analytica, a consulting firm that US officials say deceived Facebook users
when it harvested data for voter profiles (AFP Photo/Tolga AKMEN)

Washington (AFP) - US regulators concluded Friday that British consultancy Cambridge Analytica -- at the center of a massive scandal on hijacking of Facebook data -- deceived users of the social network about how it collected and handled their personal information.

The Federal Trade Commission said its investigation launched in March 2018 concluded that the now-defunct political consulting firm "engaged in deceptive practices to harvest personal information from tens of millions of Facebook users for voter profiling and targeting."

The FTC said the British firm, which worked on Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, made "false and misleading" claims when it offered Facebook users a "personality quiz" -- stating it would not download names or any personally identifiable information.

The case created a firestorm over data protection when it was disclosed that Cambridge Analytica was able to create psychological profiles using data from millions of Facebook users through the harvesting of the data.

The personality prediction app was downloaded by 270,000 people but also scooped up data from their friends, and fed into an effort by the firm to predict the behavior of individual US voters.

It was not immediately clear what impact the FTC findings would have.

The FTC issued an order which prohibits Cambridge Analytica -- which closed in 2018 -- from making false misrepresentations on how it handles personal data, and requires compliance with a US-EU privacy agreement.

The FTC reached a settlement earlier this year with Cambridge Analytica's former CEO Alexander Nix and app developer Aleksandr Kogan that requires them to delete or destroy any personal information they collected.

The company claimed in 2018 it had been ruined by "numerous unfounded accusations" that made it impossible to keep the business afloat.

Facebook's own investigation found that some data from 87 million users in the US and elsewhere had been compromised by the firm, and claimed the practices violated the social network's terms of service.

Facebook, which did not immediately respond to a query on the FTC decision, paid a record $5 billion penalty early this year in a settlement with the regulator over mishandling users' private data.

Twitter to ban political ads worldwide on its platform

Yahoo – AFP, Rob Lever, October 31, 2019

Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey announced the short message platform
would bar all political ads as part of an effort to curb misinformation (AFP Photo/
Prakash SINGH)

Washington (AFP) - Twitter will stop accepting political advertising globally on its platform, the company said, responding to growing concerns over misinformation from politicians on social media.

Chief executive Jack Dorsey tweeted that while internet advertising "is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics, where it can be used to influence votes to affect the lives of millions."

But Social media behemoth Facebook looks unlikely to follow Twitter's lead, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg holding to his line that he would let political figures speak freely, and count on voters to judge truthfulness.

"In a democracy, I don't think it's right for private companies to censor politicians or the news," Zuckerberg said in an earnings call with analysts, the transcript of which he posted on Facebook.

Dorsey said Twitter's new policy, details of which will be unveiled next month and enforced from November 22, would ban ads on political issues as well as from candidates.

"We considered stopping only candidate ads, but issue ads present a way to circumvent," he said.

"Additionally, it isn't fair for everyone but candidates to buy ads for issues they want to push. So we're stopping these too."

Dorsey said the company took the action to head off potential problems from "machine learning-based optimization of messaging and micro-targeting, unchecked misleading information, and deep fakes."

Twitter's move comes in contrast to Facebook's policy that allows political speech and ads to run without fact-checking.

Zuckerberg has said political advertising is not a major source of revenue but he believes it is important to allow everyone a "voice," and banning political ads would favor incumbents.

Ads were important to candidates and groups the media wouldn't cover, he said. And it would be hard to know where to draw the line, he said: "Would we really block ads for important political issues like climate change or women's empowerment?"

Dorsey said he disagreed with Zuckerberg's assessment.

"We have witnessed many social movements reach massive scale without any political advertising. I trust this will only grow," he added.

"This is the right thing to do for democracy in America and all over the world," 2016 US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton tweeted.

Twitter's chief financial officer Ned Segal said the move would have little financial impact.

"Since we are getting questions: This decision was based on principle, not money," he said. "As context, we've disclosed that political ad spend for the 2018 US midterms was (less than) $3M."

Twitter's new policy barring political advertising is in contrast to the stand from 

Facebook, whose CEO Mark Zuckerberg has vowed to allow all users a "voice" 

(AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)

The Trump conundrum

Social media platforms have been challenged by President Donald Trump's campaign and its use of ads that contain claims critics say have been debunked by independent fact-checkers.

"Twitter just walked away from hundreds of millions of dollars of potential revenue, a very dumb decision for their stockholders," Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale said.

"Will Twitter also be stopping ads from biased liberal media outlets who will now run unchecked as they buy obvious political content meant to attack Republicans?"

Democrats have stepped up pressure on Facebook to remove political ads, and a group of employees has also called for stronger efforts by the social network to clamp down on "civic misinformation" from politicians.

Other initial reactions to the Twitter announcement was positive.

"Until privately-owned social media platforms can develop and consistently enforce standards to prevent demonstrably inaccurate information in political advertising, this is the right move," said Michelle Amazeen, a Boston University professor specializing in political communication.

Nina Jankowicz, a Wilson Center fellow specializing in disinformation, also welcomed the decision.

"It's great that this move has been made globally and not just within the United States," she said.

"Too often these companies operate in a cloud of willful ignorance about the effects their products have outside our borders."

Jankowicz said the decision could level the playing field by preventing wealthier candidates and groups dominating the social conversation.

"Paid speech essentially quashes some groups' ability to speak out and be heard because they can't compete with the reach that their richer counterparts pay for," she said.

More cautiously, eMarketer senior analyst Jasmine Enberg said it remained unclear how much impact the change would have, given that political advertising is not a major part of Twitter's core business.

"And given the nature of the platform, people, publishers and politicians will still use Twitter to discuss politics organically, meaning that it won't fully solve the problem of misinformation," Enberg said.

Syracuse University professor Jennifer Grygiel also was skeptical, noting in a tweet: "Twitter has promised lots of things in the past that they haven't delivered on.

"We have to wait and see how effective the new political policy will be."

US tech futurist Andrew Yang, upending 2020 White House race

MSN – AFP, 1 September 2019

ALEX EDELMAN US tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang, the son of Taiwanese immigrants,
has gone from virtual unknown to one of the 10 Democratic hopefuls who made the
stage for the party's third presidential debate, set for September 12, 2019

Tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang may not become the next US president, but the clear-headed futurist has mounted a surprisingly vigorous White House bid centered around his plan for universal basic income.

For the past year, the son of Taiwanese immigrants has crisscrossed early voting states like Iowa, calmly but convincingly telling whoever will listen that the automating away of some four million jobs in America's heartland helped elect President Donald Trump.

Yang's message is part dark warning -- the rise of the machines is real -- and part clarion call for solutions to cushion the blow in an era of massive transformational change.

His campaign has gone from a long slog convincing skeptical voters about his pledge to provide every American adult with $1,000 a month, to a solid run for the Democratic nomination that few saw coming, and which puts him in the next nationally televised debate with nine other Democrats.

Yang, 44, has seen his crowds, once numbering a few dozen people or fewer, nudge into the hundreds, sometimes 1,000-plus, and readily sits for interviews with conservative commentators, leading to broad cross-party exposure.

While he has described himself as the opposite of Trump -- "an Asian guy who likes math" -- he is eager to woo Trump supporters, especially working-class white men anxious about their diminishing socioeconomic status.

Come September 12, Yang will be the only non-politician on the debate stage, standing alongside political giants like former vice president Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders.

People have taken notice, including SpaceX and Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk.

"I support Yang," Musk tweeted August 10, a succinct seeming presidential endorsement from a highly visible global entrepreneur.

Yang, whose go-to outfit is a sport coat, dress shirt and no tie, has never held elected office. He is relaxed and direct, a skilled explainer beholden to no political camp.

One year ago he was a political nobody. By February he was the novelty candidate. Today he is outpolling three sitting US senators, a current and former congressman, and the mayor of New York.

"People started catching on to the fact that I was proposing solutions, not sound bites, and that we can actually start solving the problems on the ground," Yang told AFP in Iowa at a Democratic dinner.

"I'm identifying things that politicians only occasionally pay lip service to," like rising rates of suicide and depression, and declining US life expectancy.

His campaign raised more than $1 million from small donors in nine days following the second debate July 31.

Yang gang

The unlikely nature of Yang's candidacy -- "Random Man Runs for President," read one magazine cover -- has only elevated his stature.

"Once they hear about him... they love him," said Tom Krumins, a 25-year-old in South Carolina who once worked for Venture For America, the Yang-founded non-profit training thousands of young professionals to work for US start-ups.

"As that support continues to grow and as he continues to build his visibility online and in-person presence, he's going to take it by storm."

Yang has released several dozen policy prescriptions, including an ambitious $5 trillion outline to battle climate change.

But his signature plan provides every American 18 and over with a $1,000 monthly "freedom dividend," no strings attached, to counter automation pressures which he says could cause one third of all Americans to lose their jobs in the next 12 years.

Republicans blast the proposal as socialism. But Yang notes that a version of universal basic income has long been in place in conservative-leaning Alaska, where residents get government checks, funded by state oil revenues.

He says his dividend could be funded through consolidating certain welfare programs, implementing a value-added tax, and hiking taxes on top earners.

Not everyone is sold, including the liberal Sanders, who said he prefers a federal jobs guarantee.

"I think most people want to work," Sanders told Hill TV this week. "Part of our humanity is when we are productive members of our society."

Other party rivals have ignored Yang, even as he presented sharp answers in the second debate, when he warned that "wall-to-wall robots," not undocumented workers, were stealing away US jobs.

"Immigrants are being scapegoated for issues they have nothing to do with in our economy," he said.

But he raised eyebrows when he bleakly pronounced: "We are 10 years too late" to confront climate change.

Facebook joins research on social media impact on elections

Yahoo – AFP, April 29, 2019

Facebook is funding independent research that aims to study and help guard
against manipulation of social media in elections (AFP Photo/Lionel BONAVENTURE)

Washington (AFP) - Facebook announced Monday it would make its data available to academics studying the impact of social media on elections, part of an effort to prevent manipulation of social platforms.

The leading social network said some 60 researchers from 30 academic institutions across 11 countries were selected under a review process by the Social Science Research Council and the independent group Social Science One.

Facebook began the research initiative last year after revelations of foreign influence campaigns on the 2016 US election and the Brexit vote in Britain.

It began soliciting proposals last year, and on Monday unveiled its first research grants.

"To assure the independence of the research and the researchers, Facebook did not play any role in the selection of the individuals or their projects and will have no role in directing the findings or conclusions of the research," said a blog post by Facebook executives Elliot Schrage and Chaya Nayak.

"We hope this initiative will deepen public understanding of the role social media has on elections and democracy and help Facebook and other companies improve their products and practices."

The researchers will be granted access to Facebook's internal data through a "first-of-its-kind data sharing infrastructure to provide researchers access to Facebook data in a secure manner that protects people's privacy," Schrage and Nayak wrote.

"Some of these steps include building a process to remove personally identifiable information from the data set and only allowing researcher access to the data set through a secure portal."

Gary King and Nathaniel Persily of Social Science One said in a statement the researchers will seek to move swiftly to help social networks improve their security and integrity.

"The urgency of this research cannot be overstated," they wrote.

"Elections in India are already underway, the European Parliamentary elections will take place in short order, and the US presidential primary campaigns have begun in earnest. Concerns about disinformation, polarization, political advertising, and the role of platforms in the information ecosystem have not diminished. If anything, they have heightened."

Some of the research groups cited are based at Northeastern University, Ohio State University and New York University and Virginia Tech University in the United States; France's Institute of Political Studies; National Chengchi University in Taiwan; Italy's Universita di Urbino Carlo Bo; University of Sao Paulo in Brazil; Germany's Technical University of Munich; the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands; and Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile.

Funding for the research will come from several organizations including the Democracy Fund, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Charles Koch Foundation and the Omidyar Network.

Whatsapp targets fake messages ahead of India mega-election

Yahoo – AFP, April 2, 2019

Whatsapp has launched a hotline in India to flag rumours ahead of the
upcoming election (AFP Photo/NICOLAS ASFOURI)

New Delhi (AFP) - WhatsApp launched a hotline Tuesday allowing Indians to flag rumours circulating ahead of the upcoming election, a major concern in a country where fake news has fuelled violence.

It comes a day after WhatsApp's parent company Facebook removed hundreds of pages promoting India's ruling and opposition parties for violating rules around spam and "coordinated inauthentic behaviour" online.

The spread of viral fake videos and messages on social media platforms has proved incendiary in India, where half a billion people are online but limited digital literacy has helped rumours spread like wildfire.

As hundreds of millions of Indians prepare to vote this month and next, experts say the biggest election in history will also prove an immense misinformation challenge.

Less than two weeks before voting starts, WhatsApp has launched a "tipline" in partnership with an Indian startup that it says will allow voters to submit uncertain or suspicious content for verification.

Pictures, video links and texts will be analysed and debunked if untrue in English and four regional languages, the company said in a statement.

"This combined effort by WhatsApp and industry organisations will help contribute to the safety of the elections, by giving people means to know if the information is verified and deter people from sharing rumors that have no basis in fact," it said.

It follows a major purge of Facebook accounts on Monday by the social media giant, with hundreds of political pages spamming content supportive of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress movement taken down.

Facebook said nearly 700 of these were associated with Congress, whose leader Rahul Gandhi is challenging Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the election. The party said it was investigating the claims.

Another 15 pages shut down for spamming were promoting, among other themes, the BJP and the alleged misconduct of its opponents, Facebook said. One belonged to a news organisation, MyNation, owned by BJP lawmaker Rajeev Chandrasekhar, media reports said.

These pages were followed by 2.6 million users and "linked to individuals associated with an Indian IT firm, Silver Touch", Facebook said.

The company based in Modi's home state of Gujarat developed the premier's personal mobile app and other government projects, Indian media reported.

The WhatsApp tipline follows other security measures taken by the firm in India, its largest global market with 200 million users.

WhatsApp restricted message forwarding in India last year and ran newspaper adverts to counter fake news after a spate of mob killings sparked by hoaxes spread on its messaging service.

In the lead up to the election, YouTube last month said it would start flagging dubious content in news-related videos in India. Its parent company Google is training Indian journalists in verification techniques and boosting stringency over election advertising.

Facebook has also said itwas running its biggest ever election monitoring campaign, with adverts and announcements to help people spot misinformation. It is also working with Indian newsrooms to make false posts less visible.

Twitter to confirm new accounts in spam fight

Yahoo – AFP, June 27, 2018

Twitter is among online platforms under pressure to do more to safeguard against
being used to spread misinformation or promote division (AFP Photo/DIPTENDU DUTTA)

San Francisco (AFP) - Twitter on Tuesday said it will begin asking for email addresses or phone numbers to confirm new accounts as part of a battle against manipulation, particularly by automated bots.

Adding a way to check that a real person is behind new accounts was described by Twitter as being among measures to fight abuse, trolls, and hateful content.

"This is an important change to defend against people who try to take advantage of our openness," Twitter executives Del Harvey and Yoel Roth said in a blog post.

The requirement will be rolled out later this year, and Twitter promised to make sure the change does not harm aspiring users in "high-risk" places.

Twitter recently began taking more steps to clean up spam and automated activity, and "close the loopholes they'd exploited," according to Harvey and Roth.

"We're also now automating some processes where we see suspicious account activity, like exceptionally high-volume tweeting with the same hashtag, or using the same @handle without a reply from the account you're mentioning," they said.

Twitter systems identified and challenged more than 9.9 million "potentially spammy or automated accounts" weekly in May, according to Harvey and Roth.

Twitter last month said that it was stepping up its long-running battle against online trolls, trying to find offenders by looking at "behavioral signals."

The new approach looks at behavioral patterns of users in addition to the content of the tweets, allowing Twitter to find and mute online bullies and trolls.

Even if the offending tweets are not a violation of Twitter policy, they may be hidden from users if they are deemed to "distort" a conversation, Twitter said.

Twitter already uses artificial intelligence and machine learning in this effort but the latest initiative aims to do more by focusing on the actions of certain users in addition to the content.

Twitter is among online platforms under pressure to do more to safeguard against being used to spread misinformation or promote division, as proved the case during the US presidential election in 2016, in which US intelligence says Russia meddled to help Donald Trump win.

Google to show who is behind US political ads

Yahoo – AFP, May 4, 2018

Google announces new rules for placing online US election ads on the social
media platform (AFP Photo/Lionel BONAVENTURE)

San Francisco (AFP) - Google on Friday said that people looking to place US election ads on its platform will need to show identification, and make clear who is paying.

Policy changes being rolled out come as online ad 'duopoly' Google and Facebook strive to avoid being used to spread misleading or divisive ads aimed at voters.

"Our work on elections goes far beyond improving policies for advertising," Google senior vice president Kent Walker said in a blog post.

"We're investing heavily in keeping our own platforms secure and working with campaigns, elections officials, journalists, and others to help ensure the security of the online platforms that they depend on. "

Google promised last year to make political advertising more transparent.

New policies for US election ads were a 'first step' in fulfilling that vow, according to Walker.

Google said that it will require anyone seeking to buy election ads in the US to prove they are legal residents, as required by law.

"That means advertisers will have to provide a government-issued ID and other key information," Walker said.

Ads will have to clearly disclose who is paying for them, according to Walker.

Google later this year will release a new report showing who is buying election-related ads on the platform and how much money is being spent.

The California-based firm also said it is building a searchable library of election ads bought at Google and who paid for them.

Facebook last year announced that only authorized advertisers would be permitted to run election ads at the leading social network and its photo and video-sharing service Instagram.

In April, Facebook extended that rule to "issue ads" such as hot-button political topics in the US.

"We are working with third parties to develop a list of key issues, which we will refine over time," Facebook vice presidents Rob Goldman and Alex Himel said in a blog post.

"Advertisers will be prohibited from running political ads — electoral or issue-based — until they are authorized."

Political ads will be marked as such, and include information about who paid for them, according to Facebook.

The social network also added a requirement that pages with large numbers of followers be verified, to make it harder for people to use fake accounts to influence politics.

"We know we were slow to pick up foreign interference in the 2016 US elections," Goldman and Himel said in the post.

The updates at Facebook were "designed to prevent future abuse in elections," they explained.

Related Article:

Cambridge Analytica to close after Facebook data scandal

Facebook to verify identities for political ads

Yahoo – AFP, April 6, 2018

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the network will hire "thousands" of new
employees to verify the identity of political advertisers (AFP Photo/JUSTIN SULLIVAN)

Washington (AFP) - Facebook announced Friday that it will require any political ads on its platform to state who is paying for the message, and would verify the identity of the payer, in a bid to curb outside election interference.

The social network, which is under fire for enabling manipulation of its platform in the 2016 election, said the new policy would require any messages for candidates or public issues to include the label "political ad" with the name of the person or entity paying for it.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg said the change will mean "we will hire thousands of more people" and will take place this year ahead of US mid-term elections in November.

"These steps by themselves won't stop all people trying to game the system," Zuckerberg said on his Facebook page. "But they will make it a lot harder for anyone to do what the Russians did during the 2016 election and use fake accounts and pages to run ads."

A separate Facebook statement said the changes would help improve transparency and accountability of the network.

"We believe that when you visit a page or see an ad on Facebook, it should be clear who it's coming from," the statement said.

"We also think it's important for people to be able to see the other ads a page is running, even if they're not directed at you."

To get authorized by Facebook, "advertisers will need to confirm their identity and location," the statement said.

"Advertisers will be prohibited from running political ads -- electoral or issue-based -- until they are authorized."

Facebook made the announcement as Zuckerberg prepares to appear before Congress next week to answer questions about the harvesting of personal data on 87 million users by a British political consultancy working for Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

Facebook to start fake news checks in the Netherlands

DutchNews, March 3, 2017

Photo: Facebook 

Dutch news website Nu.nl and a group of Master’s students from Leiden University are to work together checking facts placed on Dutch Facebook pages, broadcaster NOS said. 

The aim is to weed out fake news which has been placed to deliberately misinform or for financial gain, Facebook’s Europe media chief Patrick Walker told NOS. While it is unclear how many fake news items are doing the rounds in the Netherlands, ‘we hope to find out through this initiative,’ he said. 

Facebook has launched similar initiatives in Germany and France. Posts which readers flag as being potentially fake news will be checked by Nu.nl and Leiden’s Nieuwscheckers group. If both agree it is fake, the item will be flagged as such. 

‘The aim is to give users more context, so they know better what they can trust and share,’ Walker said. Posts which contain fake news will not be removed. 

Elections

Several Dutch newspapers also have their own fact checking sections in the run up to the March 15 general election. The NRC Checkt section on Friday looked at claims by SP leader Emile Roemer that the Netherlands is the biggest net payer into the EU coffers. 

The paper concludes that Roemer is right in terms of the proportion of national income. But Germany pays the biggest single contribution and Sweden more per head of the population, the paper said. 

The Volkskrant looks at claims by D66 leader Alexander Pechtol that the EU’s treaty with Ukraine has been changed significantly by the prime minister’s intervention. The paper concludes that the actual treaty itself has not been altered.

French, international media unite against fake news

Yahoo – AFP, February 28, 2017

AFP's global news director Michele Leridon said media rivalry needed to be put to
one side, because "The core values of our profession are under attack," she
said (AFP Photo/FRED DUFOUR)

Paris (AFP) - A group of 37 French and international media outlets, supported by Google, on Tuesday launched "CrossCheck", a joint fact-checking platform aimed at detecting fake information which could affect the French presidential election.

The new venture includes Agence France-Presse (AFP), the French dailies Le Monde and Liberation as well as Britain's BBC News and Channel 4 and US financial outlet Bloomberg. The project is being run in collaboration with Google and the non-profit First Draft News.

AFP's global news director Michele Leridon said media rivalry needed to be put to one side.

"The core values of our profession are under attack," she said. "We need to respond together, and CrossCheck is a significant step in that direction."

The CrossCheck website (https://crosscheck.firstdraftnews.com) allows the 37 media partners to pool their efforts to expose false political and other claims and establish the facts, First Draft managing director Jenni Sargent told a press conference in Paris.

Each partner could then publish such verifications on their own platforms.

"We find it interesting to collaborate with other editors because we normally work in our own corners and a lone editor cannot respond to all the information circulating," said Le Monde journalist Adrien Senecat.

The new political fact-checking initiative will involve a total of some 250 journalists from the media partners and will cover the two rounds of France's presidential election, in April and May.

Anyone who sees or hears something they would like CrossCheck to investigate can fill in an online form -- anonymously if they wish -- either via the main website or the news partners' own websites.

All the fact-checking will be verified by at least two of the media outlets. If it proves a success the scheme could be continued.

Related Article:

Hounded over Merkel selfie, Syrian refugee sues Facebook

Russia arrests FSB cybersecurity experts in 'US-linked' treason case: lawyer

Yahoo – AFP, February 1, 2017

An employee walks past a glass panel at the Moscow headquarters of Kaspersky Lab,
whose top investigator was among those detained (AFP Photo/Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV)

Moscow (AFP) - Russia has arrested two senior FSB cybersecurity officials and a top anti-hacking expert on suspicion of committing treason linked to the United States, a lawyer involved with the case said Wednesday.

Sergei Mikhailov, deputy head of the FSB's Centre for Information Security, and his deputy Dmitry Dokuchayev are currently in detention along with Ruslan Stoyanov, head of the investigation unit at Moscow-based cybersecurity giant Kaspersky, lawyer Ivan Pavlov told AFP.

Pavlov confirmed the three were charged with treason and said "the case is connected to the United States". But he added that there was no mention of the CIA in the documents related to the case.

News of the arrests followed a flurry of reports in the Russian media over a case which could prove to be one of the highest-profile treason cases to hit the Russian intelligence community in years.

Russian authorities have not confirmed the arrests, but the Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had been informed about media reports on the matter.

A CIA spokesman told AFP the agency has "no comment."

Russian hacking is currently in the spotlight following accusations by the US intelligence community that Putin ordered cyberattacks on American organisations to help get Donald Trump elected president.

Peskov insisted there could be no connection between the US allegations and the reported treason case because Moscow "categorically denies any claims on the possible Russian involvement" in any hacking.

Pavlov -- who is representing one of the defendants -- said court proceedings would likely not to start for a long time.

He said the case involved more than three suspects, without elaborating.

Kaspersky confirmed Stoyanov's arrest last week but gave no details, saying the allegations against him pertained "to a period of time when he was not an employee of the company."

Related Article:

Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, January 8, 2017)

Matthew Ward - January 8, 2017

Matthew Ward

With loving greetings from all souls at this station, this is Matthew. Your calendar year 2017 promises to be exhilarating as the planet rides powerful energy waves along its ascension course. The waves are fields of light, and since light and love are the same energy, you could think of everyone in your world as residents in a boundless sea of love. We offer a meditation that can let you feel as one with this energy: Envision a panorama of exquisite beauty, see yourself gently floating over that idyllic scene, now feel yourself merging with it and savor the blissful sensation the Oneness of All imparts.

Now then, dear family, we shall reply to questions, starting with the one most frequently asked: In short, what about the United States presidency? Energy in Earth’s field of potential pertaining to this is in a state the likes of which is so unusual that we know of nothing comparable. Vibrations around President-elect Donald Trump are even lower than previously, those around most of his choices for top posts are low, and vibrations have remained consistently high around Senator Bernie Sanders. If we knew how this will play out, we would happily tell you, but this unique situation of high and low vibrations wildly in motion, yet coexisting almost in a standoff, gives no indication as to the outcome. What we can tell you is, with vibrations continually rising on the planet, whatever resolution is achieved ultimately will be for the highest good of all.

Please have no fear that Russia or China will start an armed conflict with the United States that could burgeon into a nuclear war. Despite the rhetorical posturing that some of your analysts consider worrisome, none of those countries’ leaders wants to become embroiled in a war that could imperil the world. And, if any other country or rogue group were to send up a missile with a nuclear warhead, ever-diligent crews in spacecraft surrounding Earth will prevent its detonation. This is a good place to answer another question: No, Iran is not secretly developing nuclear weaponry.

We see the UN Security Council’s vote to condemn Israel for building settlements on the West Bank in violation of international law as a sound defeat for the Illuminati. The goal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is in the top ranks of that secret society, never has been to serve the best interests of his people or to make peace with Palestine. In addition to keeping the region destabilized so funds keep flowing in for Israel’s defense, he wants to establish an Illuminati powerbase in Jerusalem from whence to spread their control throughout the Mideast. That will not happen.

Storms and record temperatures are due partially to weather control technology; chemtrails and other toxic pollutants in your atmosphere also have a role in this. So you are right in thinking that the Illuminati, not Mother Nature, are causing anomalous weather conditions as they are responsible for all the contributing factors, factors that are delaying the planet’s return to a moderate climate globally. The prevalence of geophysical incidents does come from two sources: Mining, drilling and fracking to extract fossil fuels is one; the other is Earth’s release of negativity that in part is caused by those environmentally damaging operations.

We have been asked our source of information that Russian President Vladimir Putin is justified in denying his country’s involvement in the hacking of Democratic National Committee emails and those on a personal computer, which is contrary to the United States intelligence agencies’ conclusion that the Kremlin is responsible. Some members of our universal family living among you are in major intelligence agencies around the globe—it was the ones in US agencies who told us they hacked and released the emails—and other members have expertise in tracking hackers’ “footprints.”

Our sources know that Illuminati in those various agencies report false information to breed conflict. The reports given to US President Barack Obama put the blame on Russia, which led to more sanctions against that country; this was in line with the Illuminati’s penchant for retaliation—they misled Obama and created more economic problems for Putin because both leaders refused to join forces with them. FBI Director James Comey knows who the hackers are, why they released the emails and the criminal evidence they contain; he didn’t disclose that information due to threatening pressure from the Illuminati faction behind Hillary Clinton.

So, Illuminati presence still is affecting what goes on in your world; however, their global network has been uprooted, their influence keeps weakening, and their diabolical activities have come to light albeit termed “fake news.” Individuals in top positions in numerous countries are being arrested, losing elections or resigning; more will follow and many in the lower ranks are scattering. Their control of Wall Street and European and Asian stock markets is unraveling and so is their banking empire. They won’t much longer be able to hold onto their vast fortunes amassed illegally and immorally—the forces for good will obtain those and use the monies to end impoverishment.

Expanding renewable energy forms will phase out their fossil fuel industries, free energy sources they have kept under wraps will emerge, and protection of the environment will end wanton destructiveness. Their unjust justice systems will be reformed, prisons-for-profit end, and control of mainstream media in nations with “free press” will meet its end, too.

Healthcare—a maze of global collusion involving pharmaceutical and insurance companies, vaccine and medical equipment manufacturers, and World Health Organization as well as FDA, CDC, NIH, AMA, AHA and related alphabet groups in the United States—will wend its way out of those Illuminati-owned or infiltrated organizations. Toxic therapies will be replaced by long-suppressed safe, natural remedies and proper healthcare will become available to everyone.

As significantly as the Illuminati’s stronghold on those critical areas has adversely affected life on Earth, the most effective means whereby they have subjugated generation after generation after generation has been by exploiting every kind of difference among the peoples to create hostility and divisiveness and by starting wars. People worldwide are hungering for peace. The energy of their collective desires has gained unstoppable momentum over the energy of conquest, and battlefield action will wind down incrementally. Industries that make the machinery of war will produce what a cooperative, progressive civilization needs; construction companies with honorable management will rebuild destroyed cities; money formerly spent on warring will go into projects and programs that uplift and enhance life.

Some of those activities are underway, others are beginning, still others are in planning stages, and rising vibrations will be undergirding all the endeavors. You will be seeing evidence of this, but please do not expect the continued unfolding of world transformation to be free from patches of resistance. You are well prepared to deal with those as they arise and help others do the same—beloved sisters and brothers, you have earned PhDs in ingenuity, perseverance and triumphing over obstacles!

Many readers who write to my mother mention that they are in their 60s, 70s or 80s. If you are in that age range, think of the changes you have witnessed as technology exploded in manufacturing, communication, energy, transportation, computers, television, healthcare, space exploration, entertainment, social media—and yes, weaponry. It isn’t necessary, though, to have lived during the decades of innovation and modernization to realize that technology’s role in your world today is rather mind-boggling.

That is the preface, you could say, to our reply to this question: “With vibrations on the planet high and rising, why is there still so much violence, bigotry and greed?” Because technology has far outpaced society’s advancement in conscious and spiritual awareness. In no way are we being critical—many souls have made long strides and there are reasons why many others have not.

With compassion we think of our Earth family who are living in areas of relentless fighting or in crowded refugee camps and grieving the loss of loved ones; those who are living in fear under tyranny or are hungry or homeless in lands of plenty—not all of those souls chose to experience that degree of pain or hardships. It is with sadness that we think of our family who are causing the suffering—the ones who rule with an iron fist or feel they are superior to everyone who is “different” or have the right to kill “the enemy” and those who are entrenched in greed without a thought about the many, many millions who are barely subsisting.

The low vibrations emitted by all those souls’ countless thoughts, feelings and actions are within the collective consciousness; and because it is the collective consciousness that manifests everything that exists on Earth, its proliferation of low vibrations has slowed the pace of society’s advancement consciously and spiritually. This is changing—the light waves sweeping Earth are opening more and more hearts and minds, and everything in low vibratory levels eventually will be done away.

“You said other civilizations are helping us. I don’t see how. They haven’t gotten rid of Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Bank, Big Brother and the rest of the evil Bigs.” Other civilizations arehelping you in every way that universal laws permit. They can cause nuclear warheads to malfunction because Creator decreed that never again will there be nuclear detonations in space. In honoring Gaia’s free will choice that her planetary body and its residents be protected, they built a light grid around Earth to prohibit entry of base entities from other worlds and they divert the course of astral bodies and space debris to preclude collisions with the planet. Along with beaming massive light to Earth and leveling out the impact of geophysical events without lessening the amount of negativity released, they decrease toxic effects of pollutants in your air, land and seas and neutralize toxins in vaccines designed to cause pandemics.

While your “space” family are permitted to help in those ways that you can’t manage yourselves, they cannot interfere with free will of souls on Earth with this one exception—any individual who chooses to launch missiles with nuclear warheads will not succeed. Nor can members of our universal family impose upon you their ideas, although that would be greatly to your benefit—by universal law, each civilization decides the kind of world it wants and must do what is necessary to bring that world into fruition.

However, during this unprecedented era in the universe, souls have the opportunity to complete in one lifetime all third-density karmic lessons so they can evolve and other civilizations are permitted to share their heavy karmic burdens. Many “ETs” wanted to participate in this unique venture and those selected by the Golden Age master planners are helping persons on Earth in that manner and by illuminating the peoples’ pathway to the peaceful world they want.

Dear ones, you are among those who went to Earth to show the peoples that love is the pathway to peace, to joy, prosperousness, mutual respect and life in harmony with Nature. By living your light fearlessly and confidently, you radiate love to everyone around you, and it doesn’t stop there. Love energy is so powerful that it flows around the world, out into the universe and on to the cosmos. In the Oneness of All, everything everywhere affects everything else everywhere else, and the love-light you send forth brings it back in limitless measure—this is the unequalled vastness and power of love.

You are honored, loved and accompanied in spirit by all light beings in this universe.

LOVE and PEACE

Suzanne Ward

Website: The Matthew Books

Email: suzy@matthewbooks.com