Report from the Toronto Star In Brief – The Canadian Journalism Collective, an organization that is distributing some of the funds contributed by Google to pay Canadian news media outlets in exchange for Google being exempted from the media payments scheme created by...
Conservative Activist Sues Meta Over Defamatory AI Hallucinations
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – Robby Starbuck, a conservative activist notable for successfully pressuring companies to change their DEI practices, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Meta alleging that its AI tool smeared him by falsely asserting...
Oregon Legislature Advances a Forced State Media Funding Bill
Report from the Nelson Star In Brief – Legislation that aims to force the largest digital platform companies, especially Google and Meta, to pay Oregon media companies when the content they create appears in search results or on the companies’ social media platforms,...
Apple Appeals “Extraordinary” Judicial Order That Bans App Fees and Rules
Report from the BBC In Brief – Apple has petitioned the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to block a court order from District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers requiring it to permit all app developers to direct users to external websites for in-app purchases without...
Federal Court Rejects FTC Bid to Overturn Microsoft’s Activision Acquisition
Report from Reuters In Brief – A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s effort to overturn District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley’s 2023 decision to turn down the regulator’s motion to block Microsoft’s $69...
House Republicans Trying to Preempt State AI Regulations in Big Budget Bill
Report from the Washington Post In Brief – The legislative recommendations proposed by the Chairman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee for the big budget reconciliation bill that is designed to carry out the major tax and spending policies of President Trump...
US-UK Framework Trade Deal Does Not Include Digital Taxes (Yet)
Report from Politico In Brief – The framework for a new trade deal between the United States and United Kingdom, which was hailed by both President Trump and Prime Minister Starmer as the first agreement that will forestall much of the tariff increase announced by...
Library of Congress and Copyright Office Firings Attributed to AI Legal Fight
Report from the Washington Post In Brief – President Donald Trump continued his campaign of firing executive branch officials often considered immune to being removed without cause when the White House changes partisan hands, removing the Librarian of Congress, the...
Mississippi Social Media Law Again Being Challenged in Federal Court
Report from MediaPost In Brief – NetChoice, a digital company trade group that has had significant success challenging state laws regulating social media, has again asked a federal judge to block a Mississippi law requiring that digital services verify users’ ages and...
The Kids Online Safety Act is Back, This Time with Apple’s Backing
Report from the Washington Post In Brief – The Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), legislation pressing social media platforms to shield teens from objectionable content, including promotion of self-harm, substance abuse, and sexual exploitation, has again been introduced...
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UK Antitrust Authority Investigating Microsoft Business Software Dominance
Report from Reuters In Brief – The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the country’s antitrust regulator, has announced that it will investigate Microsoft's dominance in business software using its powers to oversee big tech. The CMA is opening a "strategic...
AI Hallucination Stories Grab Bag
Context - Within weeks of Chat-GPT’s public release, the fact that chatbots make plausible and realistic sounding stuff up emerged. The AI scientists knew about the phenomenon, which they called “hallucinations”. It appears to be baked into the technology. LLMs don’t...
Texas Supreme Court Facing Online Legal Jurisdiction Question in Yelp Case
Report from MediaPost In Brief – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), with a long track record of aggressive legal action against big online companies, is urging the Texas Supreme Court to reject Yelp’s attempt to block a lawsuit he filed in 2023 alleging that...
Meta Challenges UK Online Safety Act Fees and Fines Regime
Report from The Guardian In Brief – Meta is challenging the methodology Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, uses to determine the regulatory fee and fines structure under the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA). The fees that Ofcom charges regulated firms to fund the...
New York AG Opposes Surveillance Pricing and Electronic Shelf Labels
Report from WRVO In Brief – New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) is calling for state legislation to ban the use of personal data to influence prices, as well as a measure to prohibit grocery stores and pharmacies in the state from adopting digital shelf price...
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