Report from Bloomberg In Brief – The European Commission and German Government are planning to perform a “stress test” on the major digital platforms on January 31 to determine their processes regarding the upcoming German elections. Meta, Microsoft, Google, Snap,...
Meta Wins Temporary Relief in India from WhatsApp Data Sharing Ban
Report from Reuters In Brief – A two-judge panel of the Indian National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has temporarily halted the Competition Commission of India (CCI) order prohibiting WhatsApp from sharing user data with other services of its parent company,...
DST Act 3 – The Return of Trump and Threats of Tariff and Tax Retaliation
Report from the Financial Times In Brief – President Donald Trump has effectively pulled the United States out of the global corporate tax reform agreement at the OECD negotiated by the Biden Administration in 2021 and backed by 140 countries. That deal tried to...
European Consumer Group Argues Meta Ad-Free Plan Still Violates EU Laws
Report from Reuters In Brief – BEUC, a non-profit organization that represents European consumers, has expressed to EU data protection and competition enforcement authorities that it believes Meta’s latest subscription policy violates consumer and data protection laws...
Trump Blasts EU at Davos on Big Tech Fines
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – US President Donald Trump blasted European Union regulators in his address to attendees of the World Economic Forum annual conference in Davos, Switzerland, which he delivered by video just four days after his inauguration to start his...
CPSC Issues Final Order on Amazon Recall Duties for Marketplace Products in FBA
Report from AboutLawsuits In Brief – The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced its final Decision and Order concluding its administrative litigation with Amazon and outlining the steps the company must take regarding some hazardous products sold...
DeepSeek Chatbot Upends AI Investor and Policy Ecosystem
Report from the Washington Post In Brief – DeepSeek’s AI assistant app and paper describing its technical infrastructure, which claims to have used far fewer and less advanced computer chips than the largest AI developers, undermined the core assumption of top AI...
Italian Regulator Blocks Meta’s Plan to Block Chatbots from WhatsApp
Report from TechCrunch In Brief – Italy’s competition authority announced that it has ordered Meta to immediately freeze a policy change that would ban rival generative AI chatbots from operating on WhatsApp. The order applies to WhatsApp in Italy pending the outcome...
Judge Blocks Texas Law Requiring Apple and Google to Verify User Age
Report from MediaPost In Brief – Federal District Judge Robert Pitman has blocked Texas from enforcing a new state law that requires companies that run app stores, like Apple and Google, to verify the age of users and obtain parental consent for users under 18 to...
Virginia AG Says State Will Enforce Social Media Teen Time Limit Law
Report from Axios In Brief – Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones announced that he will “fully enforce” the state’s new law limiting minors under 16 to one hour per day on any single social media platform, even as a legal challenge brought by tech industry trade group...
German Court Orders X to Share Platform Data on Hungarian Election Activity
Report from Euractiv In Brief – The Berlin Court of Appeals has ordered social media platform X to give two Germany-based elections researchers access to data related to the reach and engagement with posts related to Hungary's April 12 election. Hungary's Prime...
EU Commission Opens Formal Digital Services Act Investigation of Shein
Report from EuroNews In Brief – The European Commission has announced a formal investigation of Chinese ecommerce platform Shein under the Digital Services Act (DSA), 2022 legislation regulating how digital platforms address illegal and objectional content. Platforms...
Judge Allowing California AG Lawsuit Targeting TikTok’s Addictive Design
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – A California judge has tentatively ruled that TikTok must face the state’s lawsuit alleging the platform’s design is addictive and harmful to children. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Beth McGowen rejected the company’s attempt...
Federal Judge Allows School District Social Media Lawsuit to Proceed
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