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...
Appeals Court Rejects Apple Effort to Pause District Court Setting App Fees
Report from 9to5Mac In Brief – Epic Games has persuaded a panel of the federal 9th Circuit Court Appeals to reverse an earlier decision that had temporarily paused action in the district court that will determine the maximum level of fees Apple can charge app...
The Trump Administration’s Shifting View on AI Model Security Tests
Report from the New York Times In Brief – The Trump Administration is weighing a shift in policy to allow federal agencies to review advanced AI models, with officials discussing an executive order to establish an AI working group composed of government leaders and...
Big AI Industry Companies Reach Agreements with the Pentagon
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – The US Defense Department has finalized agreements with eight major US technology companies to deploy their artificial intelligence tools in classified environments. The companies are OpenAI, Google, SpaceX (via xAI),...
Meta Threatens to Leave New Mexico Rather That Create Alternative Platforms
Report from MediaPost In Brief – Meta is warning it may withdraw Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp from New Mexico if a court grants an injunction sought by Attorney General Raúl Torrez requiring major changes to its platforms. Torrez is asking a federal judge to...
Australia Finally Releases Tax Plan for Tech Giants to Pay Media Companies
Report from AP News In Brief – After more than a year of talk, Australia has unveiled draft legislation to require Meta, Google and TikTok to pay a 2.25% tax on Australian revenue if they decline to negotiate agreements to pay Australian media companies for news...
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