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...
Federal Judge Rejects Google Plan to Comply with Epic Antitrust Remedy
Report from ArsTechnica In Brief – Soon after Google began allowing the first third-party app store to be downloaded through its Play Store, US District Judge James Donato said the company had not done enough to comply with his antitrust injunction and ordered the...
Meta and State AGs Settle Lawsuit for $18 Billion and Design Changes
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – Meta has agreed to an $18 billion settlement with 48 state attorneys general, ending a major federal trial over allegations that Facebook and Instagram harmed teenagers and signaling how the top social media platforms may...
Gig Delivery Driver Regulation Battle Revving Up in New York City
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is backing legislation to require Amazon, FedEx and other warehouse operators in the city to directly employ delivery workers rather than use subcontractors and other non-employees. Backers...
Maryland Tax Court Strikes Down Digital Ads Tax for Violating Federal Law
Report from MediaPost In Brief – In a major ruling in a tax law battle stretching more than five years, the Maryland Tax Court has struck down the state’s 2021 law imposing taxes on the digital advertising revenue of large online platforms and ordered the state to...
UK Continues Legal Efforts to Break Apple Encryption
Report from The Guardian In Brief – Apple has again launched a legal challenge to a UK government order calling for access to customers’ encrypted iCloud data. The move comes a year after the Home Office withdrew a broader request that led to a dispute with...
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