Report from the Washington Post In Brief – Following an announcement from US President Donald Trump that new “reciprocal” tariffs would be paused for 90 days for all countries other than China, the EU announced a similar delay in the 25% tariffs it had announced in...
Trial Finally Begins in Meta Antitrust Lawsuit Filed by Trump FTC in 2020
Report from the Washington Post In Brief – The bench trial pitting the FTC against Meta before US District Judge James Boasberg is finally underway in a lawsuit initiated in 2020 by the first Trump Administration. The regulator’s antitrust complaint alleges that...
Apple and Google Face Regulation Under Japan’s New Digital Regime
Report from the Japan Times In Brief – The Japanese Fair Trade Commission has formally designated three companies as being subject to the new law regulating major information technology companies in the smartphone application market, the American mobile ecosystem...
Google Settles Android Auto Dispute with German Antitrust Regulator
Report from Reuters In Brief – The German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has announced the end of its antitrust probe of Google’s automotive services and maps platform with the company agreeing to changes addressing the regulator’s concerns. “I am delighted that we have...
Google Loses Another Federal Antitrust Case – This Time AdTech Services
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – In the latest in a string of major antitrust setbacks, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema largely sided with the Department of Justice (DoJ) and ruled that Google violated federal monopoly law in the operation of their...
Minnesota Democrats Explore a State Tax on Social Media Companies
Report from CBS News In Brief – Leading Democrats in the Minnesota state legislature are proposing to tax large social media platforms as part of an effort to close a state budget deficit estimated to reach $6 billion. Legislation approved by the Minnesota House and...
EU Commission Continues Ramping Up Staffing for DSA Enforcement
Report from EuroNews In Brief – The European Commission is hoping to hire 60 additional staff members for its Digital Services Act (DSA) enforcement unit, including legal and policy officers, data scientists, and researchers. In its latest report on DSA enforcement...
EU Commission Announces DMA Penalties for Apple and Meta
Report from Politico In Brief – After more than a year of investigations, the European Commission has announced that it has fined Apple €500 million and Meta €200 million for failing to comply with EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). Apple, Google, and Meta were the first...
TikTok Announces Its Own Version of X-Style Community Notes
Report from TechCrunch In Brief – TikTok has announced that it is testing a new feature dubbed “Footnotes” to allow users to add additional context and relevant information to videos to help others better understand certain content. It is clearly modeled on X’s...
Another Call for the EU to Regulate Google Search – Spam Filter Edition
Report from Reuters In Brief – ActMeraki, a German media company, has complained to EU antitrust regulators that a Google anti-spam policy that penalizes websites that sell part of their websites to other companies to improve the search results for the third-party...
Dutch Court Bans Grok from Creating Nude and Partially Nude Images
Report from Reuters In Brief – A Dutch court has ordered AI company xAI to stop its chatbot Grok from generating or distributing non-consensual sexualized images, including depictions of adults or children partially or wholly stripped naked. The preliminary...
Federal Judge Rejects Publisher Antitrust Lawsuit Targeting Google Search
Report from Reuters In Brief – Google has won the dismissal of a proposed class action lawsuit from two news publishers that claimed it monopolized the online news market and exploited its dominance in internet search to extract publisher content without payment. In...
Snapchat Facing an EU Probe for Failing to Protect Minors
Report from Politico In Brief – The European Commission has announced an investigation into concerns that Snapchat is failing to adequately protect children under its authority as the lead enforcer of the Digital Services Act (DSA) for the largest online platforms....
Pressure Grows in EU Parliament for an EU-Wide Digital Services Tax
Report from DigWatch In Brief – The chair of the European Parliament’s subcommittee on tax matters is calling for an EU-wide digital services tax (DST) despite strong opposition from the US. Pasquale Tridico argues that an EU DST would make Europe’s tax system fairer...
Trump Administration “Settles” Social Media Case They Always Agreed With
Report from Reuters In Brief – The Trump Administration has reached a legal settlement that restricts three federal agencies from pressuring social media companies to remove or limit content, ending a legal battle that initially pitted conservative commentators...
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