Trudeau cracks down on social media, an international cybercrime gang is taken down, and throwing out the troubled Phoenix pay system … eventually.
First up from Twitter is Canada’s plans to launch a new digital policy to hold social media platforms accountable. The ‘Digital Charter’ as its being call, would help combat hate speech, misinformation and online electoral interference. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement at the VivaTech conference in Paris on Thursday. While the plans are short on details, he warned that there would be “meaningful financial consequences” for any social media company that doesn’t clamp down on online hate and misinformation. The charter is expected to be released at the end of May by Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains.
Next up from Reddit is the dismantling of a notorious international cybercriminal group. An unprecedented investigation involving authorities from at least six different countries helped bring down the group … which is known for infecting computers with a malware called GozNym and capturing online banking details to access accounts. The network has stolen more than $100 million dollars from more than 40 thousand victims. The gang was put together from criminals who advertised their skills on online forums. 10 members have been charged in the US, while five Russian nationals remain on the run – including the creator of the GozNym malware.
And last but not least from LinkedIn, public servants in Canada can look forward to a new and improved payments system … in four years. Canada’s federal budget watchdog released a new report Thursday saying that moving to an entirely new system will still end up being cheaper than fixing the notoriously troubled Phoenix pay system. The IBM-developed system has overpaid, underpaid, and not paid at all hundreds of thousands of employees since first being introduced in 2016. The report says it’ll cost at least $2.6 billion dollars to fix … but a new system won’t be ready until 2023 at the earliest. There are five tech companies currently vying for that new payment system contract.