40 U.S. STATES TO FILE MAJOR LAWSUIT AGAINST FACEBOOK NEXT WEEK: SOURCES

WASHINGTON: A group of US states led by New York is investigating Facebook for possible antitrust violations and plans to file a lawsuit against the social media giant next week, four sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The complaint would be the second major lawsuit filed against a Big Tech company this year. The justice department sued Alphabet’s Google in October. More than 40 states plan to sign on to the lawsuit, one source said, without naming them. The Federal Trade Commission, whose commissioners met on Wednesday, could file a related complaint with an administrative law judge or in district court.

It is not known what the states plan to include in their complaint. One allegation often made against Facebook is that it has strategically sought to buy small potential rivals, often at a big premium. These include Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014.

Twitter expands hate speech rules

PALO ALTO: Twitter on Wednesday expanded its policy barring hateful speech to include “language that dehumanizes people on the basis of race, ethnicity and national origin”, it said in a statement.

The company banned speech that dehumanises others based on religion or caste last year and updated the rule in March to add age, disability and disease to the list of protected categories.

A Twitter spokeswoman said the company had planned from the start to add new categories to the policy over time after testing to ensure it can consistently enforce updated rules.