Report from Reuters In Brief – Microsoft is likely to escape a major antitrust fine as the European Commission’s antitrust regulators are expected to accept the software giant’s improved offer to address complaints about the bundling of chat and video app Teams into...
EU Commission Finds TikTok in Violation of DSA Over Ads Repository
Report from Politico In Brief – The European Commission has made a preliminary determination that TikTok has failed to comply with provisions of the Digital Services Act (DSA) requiring advertising transparency. Among the many requirements that the DSA imposes on...
Texas Legislature Passes Bill Putting Age Verification Duties on App Stores
Report from MediaPost In Brief – Texas became the second state to pass a bill that would require app store operators like Apple and Google to verify all users’ ages and then block minors from downloading apps without parental permission. SB 2420, the App Store...
Google Faces Follow-on Shopping “Vertical” Antitrust Lawsuits in Europe
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – Google is facing at least €12 billion in damages claims from dozens of price comparison websites across Europe who allege that the search giant harmed them through years of anticompetitive treatment. The so-called “follow-on” civil...
Anthropic Lawyers Admit Filing a Brief with a Hallucinated Case Citation
Report from Reuters In Brief – Lawyers for the AI company Anthropic submitted a court filing that included a citation “hallucination” created by the company’s AI chatbot Clause. The filing was part of expert testimony from one of the company’s data scientists in...
Japan’s Antitrust Authority Releases Draft App Store Regulations
Report from Kyodo News In Brief – The Japan Fair Trade Commission, the country’s antitrust authority, has unveiled draft guidelines for the new law that will regulate how Google and Apple operate their smartphone app stores and compete with third-party app developers....
Apple Finally Restores Epic Game’s Fortnite to the US App Store
Report from the New York Times In Brief – More than four-and-half years after blocking Epic Games’ highly popular Fortnite gaming app from its app stores in a massive antitrust dispute, Apple has allowed the app to again be in the US App Store. The move came after...
OpenAI Wins Dismissal of AI Hallucination Defamation Lawsuit
Report from Reuters In Brief – OpenAI has won the dismissal of a defamation lawsuit filed by a conservative radio host in Georgia who alleged that the ChatGPT chatbot made false claims that he embezzled money from a gun-rights organization. Judge Tracie Cason of the...
California and Google Cut Funds Pledged to In-State Media Companies
Report from The Hill In Brief – Following California Governor Gavin Newsome’s (D) decision to scale back the state money promised to a new fund to pay California media companies, Google, the one big online company that also promised to contribute millions of dollars,...
Big House Tax Bill Massively Raises Ante in International Digital Tax Standoff
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – The massive budget reconciliation tax and spending bill passed by the House of Representatives includes a tax provision that aggressively penalizes foreign countries that impose “unfair” taxes on US companies, bringing the House...
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EU Commission Believes Meta’s Platforms Violate Law by Encouraging Use
Report from Reuters In Brief – The European Commission has issued preliminary findings that Meta’s Facebook and Instagram breach the EU’s Digital Services Act by using design features that encourage excessive engagement. The findings follow a two-year investigation...
South Korea’s Fake News Law Raises Free Speech Concerns
Report from EuroNews In Brief – South Korea has begun enforcing a “fake news” law aimed at curbing online misinformation. It imposes tougher penalties for users who deliberately spread false information and requires major digital platforms to strengthen content...
UK Ofcom Proposes Rules Directing Largest Platforms to Fight Scam Ads
Report from the Guardian In Brief – Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, has released a set of Online Safety Act (OSA) regulatory proposals headlined by rules directing the largest platforms to combat scam advertisers. The requirements will apply to large social...
French Competition Authority Orders Meta to Agree to Pay Media Companies
Report from Reuters In Brief – France’s competition authority has ordered Meta Platforms to submit a media payments proposal and resume negotiations with French media groups over more than a year of unpaid fees for the use of news content on its platforms. The...
Google and Epic Drop Alternative Settlement so Court’s Plan Will Proceed
Report from The Verge In Brief – The federal court-ordered overhaul of Google’s Android app store practices is set to move forward after Google and Epic Games withdrew their joint request to modify the remedies imposed in Epic’s antitrust lawsuit. The companies...
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