PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS GROUP LOBBIES UP: Guarding Against Pandemics, an advocacy group pushing for more investment in preparing for the next pandemic, is ramping up its lobbying operation as it pushes to hike the amount of funding included in Democrats' reconciliation bill or through other avenues. — According to disclosures filed this week, Varun Krovi, a former House Democratic aide and former lobbyist at Invariant, registered as an in-house lobbyist for the group in September. The group hired a team of more than a dozen lobbyists at Ogilvy Government Relations a month later, according to another disclosure filing. The group, which is funded in-part by crypto billionaire and Biden donor Sam Bankman-Fried, previously hired Van Scoyoc Associates in August. — Guarding Against Pandemics has fought for Democrats to provide $30 billion for pandemic preparedness in their reconciliation bill, a number initially sought by President Joe Biden this spring. He later decreased that figure to $15 billion, and the sum included in the version passed by the House last week was slashed even further, to $3 billion, according to figures from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Another $16.2 billion would go toward building out public health infrastructure. — In response to earlier reports that pandemic preparedness funding might be gutted as Democrats sought to reduce the price tag of the bill, Guarding Against Pandemics called the suggestion "unthinkable." The group has also applauded pandemic preparedness provisions in legislation introduced by Reps. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) and Fred Upton (R-Mich.) last week, though that bill faces steep odds in a narrowly divided Congress. DOING IT FOR THE 'GRAM: "Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, has agreed for the first time to testify before Congress , as bipartisan anger mounts over harms to young people from the app," The New York Times' Ryan Mac and Cecilia Kang report. Mosseri "is expected to appear before a Senate panel during the week of Dec. 6 as part of a series of hearings on protecting children online, said Senator Richard Blumenthal, who will lead the hearing." — "Mr. Mosseri's appearance follows hearings this year with Antigone Davis, the global head of safety for Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, and with Frances Haugen , a former employee turned whistle-blower. Ms. Haugen's revelations about the social networking company, particularly those about Facebook and Instagram's research into its effects on some teenagers and young girls, have spurred criticism, inquiries from politicians and investigations from regulators." — "Blumenthal said he would question Mr. Mosseri about how Instagram's algorithms can send children into dangerous rabbit holes" and "would seek a commitment from Mr. Mosseri to make Instagram's ranking and recommendation decisions transparent to the public and to experts who can study how the app amplifies harmful content." ANOTHER SETBACK FOR ISRAELI SPYWARE FIRM: "Apple sued the NSO Group, the Israeli surveillance company, in federal court on Tuesday, another setback for the beleaguered firm and the unregulated spyware industry," The New York Times' Nicole Perlroth reports. "The lawsuit is the second of its kind — Facebook sued NSO in 2019 for targeting its WhatsApp users — and another consequential move by a private company to curb invasive spyware by governments and the companies that provide their spy tools." — "Apple, for the first time, seeks to hold NSO accountable for what it says was the surveillance and targeting of Apple users. Apple also wants to permanently prevent NSO from using any Apple software, services or devices, a move that could render the company's Pegasus spyware product worthless, given that its core business is to give government clients full access to a target's iPhone or Android smartphone." — "Apple is also asking for unspecified damages for the time and cost to deal with what the company argues is NSO's abuse of its products. Apple said it would donate the proceeds from those damages to organizations that exposed spyware."
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