‘Boogaloo’ Lawsuit Against Facebook, Nokia-Ligado Partnership, Congressmembers Fighting with Google CEO
The sister of a federal officer shot on duty says Facebook knowingly radicalized his killers.
T.J. York
January 7, 2022 – The sister of a Department of Homeland Security officer who was shot and killed on duty is suing Facebook parent company Meta, alleging that the company radicalized her brother’s killer through its algorithm.
Angela Underwood Jacobs, sister of Officer Dave Patrick Underwood, filed the wrongful death lawsuit Thursday in California’s Alameda County state court.
The suit alleges that Facebook is aware of and knowingly fails to warn users about its algorithm’s promotion of extremist content, such as the antigovernment “boogaloo” movement authorities say Underwood’s shooter was linked to.
Underwood was shot in May 2020 providing security at an Oakland, California federal courthouse during a protest against the killing of George Floyd.
Steven Carillo was charged with murdering Underwood, and Robert Alvin Justus Jr. was charged with aiding and abetting the murder for allegedly driving the vehicle Carillo fired from.
A federal complaint links Carillo to the boogaloo movement alleges that Carillo and Justus connected on Facebook and used the platform to make plans to meet on the day Underwood was killed.
Jacobs’ lawyers argue that Facebook breached its “duty of care” to users by “aiding the growth of boogaloo groups.”
Typically, Facebook is able to defeat such legal challenges through Section 230’s liability shield for internet companies against content posted by third parties.
Nokia and Ligado partner on edge computing
On Tuesday, Nokia and mobile communications company Ligado announced a commercial agreement to advance Nokia’s Digital Automation Cloud, an application platform which provides edge computing capabilities, with Ligado’s Band 24 licensed spectrum.
Edge computing is a computing paradigm which attempts to somewhat centralize data and its computation.
Industry-leading Nokia DAC makes use of both unlicensed and licensed spectrum to deliver required bandwidth, network availability and security.
The two companies plan to roll out the partnership in the U.S. in early 2022.
Band 24 mid-band spectrum is licensed for terrestrial deployment across the U.S. and increasingly supported by vast network infrastructure such as Nokia 4G/LTE and 5G base station equipment.
Members of Congress hound Google CEO in antitrust fight
Progressive lawmakers Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., told CNBC on Wednesday that they want Google CEO Sundar Pichai to stop trying to “bully” Department of Justice antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter into recusal.
Following Kanter’s November confirmation by the Senate, Google inquired to the DOJ review on whether he should be recused from matters involving Google due to Kanter’s prior work for rivals like Yelp.
Kanter has not committed himself to a recusal but has said he would consult DOJ ethics officials on the issue.
The DOJ has an ongoing antitrust lawsuit against Google, and a recusal would bar Kanter’s involvement with it and any future investigations while responsibility would fall to Kanter’s deputies.
Warren and Jayapal wrote to CNBC that Kanter is not required to recuse himself as he has represented neither Google nor the U.S. federal government, and Google’s argument that he should “distorts federal ethics requirements.”
