There's always another way to hack someone's phone

YouTube continues to break new records – this time in settlement sums

The US Federal Trade Commission has voted to fine Google between $150 and $200 million after accusations from advocacy groups that YouTube illegally collected personal information about children.

The settlement would be the most significant civil penalty the FTC has collected in a children's privacy case. It makes the previous record fine of $5.7 million against TikTok (previously Musically) look like pocket money.  The settlement will also end the FTC's investigation into whether YouTube violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting data from children under 13.

YouTube is supposedly planning to ban targeted ads on videos directed at children. But it's unclear if YouTube's decision to do so is related to the FTC settlement. The case might also have significant consequences for other popular platforms used by young children in the United States.

Hackers compromised Jack Dorsey's Twitter account after SIM-swapping

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey got his account hacked on Friday. The attackers, calling themselves the "Chuckling Squad," took over his Twitter account for 20 minutes and used it to broadcast a series of racist messages and bomb threats. Within an hour, Twitter removed the offending tweets and suspended accounts associated with the hackers. The company also stated that its systems were not compromised.

Later, Twitter blamed Dorsey's cell carrier, saying that "the phone number associated with the account was compromised due to security oversight by the mobile provider." Previous targets of Chuckling Squad hacks (including several famous YouTubers) had their accounts compromised after hackers gained control of their phone numbers through SIM swapping.

A SIM swap occurs when a hacker convinces or bribes a carrier employee to switch the phone number associated with a SIM card to another device. This means they will receive any text message containing the two-factor authentication codes needed to log in to an account. (In this case, the hackers didn't even have to log in; you can tweet by sending texts from your phone to 404-40 from the phone number linked to your Twitter account.)

After a bumpy ride since the last presidential election, Facebook is preparing for 2020

Facebook is preparing for the 2020 presidential election in the United States, extending its rules on who can run political ads. The new process for verifying which groups and individuals can place political advertising on the platform is part of the plan to reduce the spread of disinformation online.

Late last year, Facebook demanded that advertisers who were buying political ads disclose the name of the political organisation responsible and that the teams behind the scenes provide their identities. Facebook created the policy after it was clear that Russian operatives had used Facebook ads to alienate voters in the 2016 American presidential election.

Under the new rules, advertisers must also show they are registered with the United States government. This requires submitting an employer identification number, a Federal Election Commission identification number or a government website domain as proof.

Good to know

Gmail launches a feature that shows whether someone is OOO before you send them an email.

Tool of the week: Tailwind

Have you ever heard of an Instagram-pod? A chat with people liking each other's posts to make them prioritised by the algorithm. Well, Tailwind does the same thing, but for Pinterest – and it's a lot more advanced than your own chat group will ever be.

Tailwind lets you schedule pins and create "loops" – reposting evergreen content by pinning the oldest pins on your board back to the top. It also enables you to participate in and create "tribes", where users collaborate to get their content more exposure on the platform.

It sure ain't the prettiest tool I've seen. But it's functional, and it's a great way to step up (or start) a Pinterest presence. And sure, it has some Instagram features too, but they are not very competitive compared to other tools.