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...
Sen. Blackburn Proposes Combining AI Regulation with Anti-Internet Priorities
Report from Roll Call In Brief – Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), a leading Republican critic of Big Tech companies, has released a nearly 300-page draft of federal AI regulation. Titled the “TRUMP AMERICA AI Act”, it preempts state AI laws in place of federal...
US Supreme Court Soundly Rejects Broad ISP Liability for User Piracy
Report from the New York Times In Brief – The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that Cox Communications cannot be held liable for copyright infringement committed by its users, even if the company knows some customers engage in piracy and yet it does not cut them...
Tech Trade Group Challenges Chicago’s Social Media Tax
Report from the Chicago Sun-Times In Brief – NetChoice, a digital company trade group, is suing to block the City of Chicago’s new social media tax, arguing it violates the First Amendment and the federal Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (PITFA). The new tax extends...
Big Trial Losses for Social Media Giants in New Mexico and Los Angeles
Reports from CNBC and the Wall Street Journal In Brief – A New Mexico state court jury has found Meta liable for $375 million in civil damages in a lawsuit brought by the Attorney General of New Mexico for misleading users about the safety of its platforms and...
4chan Fined by UK Ofcom for Failing to Protect Children From Pornography
Report from Sky News In Brief – Ofcom, the UK online safety regulator, has fined 4chan £450,000 for failing to prevent children from accessing pornography. The regulator also ordered the platform to introduce effective age checks by April 2 or face additional fines of...
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