Report from TechCrunch In Brief – The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened investigations of the mobile ecosystems run by Apple and Google under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer’s Act (DMCC) to determine if the two digital giants have...
German Court Appears Likely to Reject Apple’s Challenge to Special Antitrust Standard
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – Apple’s legal challenge to the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) designation that they are a digital company “of paramount significance on competition across markets” appears to face skeptical judges on the Federal Court of Justice in...
Mobile Device Location Data Broker Kochava Settles Privacy Class Action
Report from MediaPost In Brief – Kochava has reached a settlement in a private class action lawsuit that will require the data broker to make several major privacy changes. The agreement filed with US District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill requires the company to...
DoJ Sues to Block HPE – Juniper Networks Deal
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – In its first major merger action since the beginning of the second Donald Trump Administration, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has sued to block the $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)....
First EU AI Act Rules Come into Force Banning Unacceptable AI Uses
Report from TechCrunch In Brief – The first regulatory compliance deadline of the EU AI Act went into effect on February 2, 2025, with companies required to comply with the rules related to AI applications that are prohibited under the law except with very limited...
Google Faces Skeptical Judges in Appeal of Antitrust Loss to Epic Games
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – Lawyers for Google and Epic Games faced off in front of a panel of US Ninth District Court of Appeals in Google’s challenge of its antitrust loss to Epic Games and the subsequent remedies crafted by Federal Judge James Donato. A jury...
Apple Criticizes New EU DMA Regime that Allows iPhone Porn Apps
Report from The Verge In Brief – Apple reacted to the public introduction of Hot Tub, an iOS pornography app that will be available to iPhone users in the EU through the alternative app store AltStore PAL, by criticizing the European Commission’s regulatory decisions....
DeepSeek Blocked in Italy by Data Protection Authorities
Report from EuroNews In Brief – Italy’s data protection authority, the Garante, has ordered China-based chatbot phenom DeepSeek to block its chatbot in the country after the company failed to address the regulator’s concerns over its privacy policy and data practices....
China’s Response to New Trump Tariffs Includes Threat to Google
Report from the New York Times In Brief – China has included an antitrust investigation of Google in its trade retaliation package responding to the United States’ new 10% across-the-board tariff on Chinese exports to the country. The announcement simply said that the...
UK Kicks Encryption Hornets’ Nest by Demanding Apple iCloud Backdoor
Report from the Washington Post In Brief – The UK Government has reportedly issued secret orders to Apple demanding that the company provide a backdoor for security authorities to access users’ encrypted iCloud data. The unprecedented demand, made in January, was...
OpenAI Reaches Defense Department Deal Flanking Anthropic
Report from the New York Times In Brief – OpenAI says it has reached agreement with the US Department of Defense (DoD) to supply AI for classified systems in a manner that the company says addresses its opposition to the technology being misused in autonomous weapons...
Federal Judge Blocks Virginia’s One-Hour Time Limit for Social Media
Report from Reuters In Brief – US District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles has issued a preliminary injunction blocking Virginia from enforcing Senate Bill 854 that imposes a time limit on teens using social media platforms with so-called “addictive” features. Platforms...
FTC Chairman Accuses Apple of News Media Viewpoint Discrimination
Report from the New York Times In Brief – The Federal Trade Commission announced that it sent a warning letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook expressing concerns that the operations of the Apple News may favor certain political viewpoints in a way that conflicts with Apple’s...
PM Starmer Proposes Bringing AI Chatbots Under the UK Online Safety Act
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced plans to bring AI chatbots directly under the Online Safety Act (OSA) to close what he called a “legal loophole” in Britain’s online safety regime and ensure that they are designed to not...
Reddit Fined By UK ICO for Failing to Age Check 13-Year-Olds
Report from the BBC In Brief – The UK’s data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), has fined Reddit more than £14 million for failing to adequately enforce its rules regarding children under 13 accessing the platform. Following an...
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