Report from Bloomberg In Brief – The Culture Minister of Friedrich Merz’s German Government has revealed that they are drafting legislation for a national digital services tax (DST) targeting the biggest internet companies operating in country, in particular US giants...
Senate Budget Bill Includes Modified “Revenge Tax” to Counter DSTs
Report from the New York Times In Brief – The Senate version of the massive budget reconciliation bill includes a modified version of a tax provision included by the House of Representatives that penalizes foreign countries that impose “unfair” taxes on US companies....
Senate Version of State AI Regulation Moratorium Header to the Floor
Report from Politico In Brief – The budget reconciliation bill that will be considered by the full Senate will likely include a modified version of the 10-year moratorium on state laws regulating AI following a key decision by the Senate Parliamentarian. The...
Federal Judge Delivers Ruling That AI Training is Copyright Fair Use
Report from The Verge In Brief – Federal Judge William Alsup has ruled on summary judgement that artificial intelligence company Anthropic did not break the law when it used copyrighted books to train its AI chatbot without the consent of the authors or publishers,...
Judge Sides with Meta on AI Training Saying Plaintiffs Made Wrong Argument
Report from Reuters In Brief – In an order granting Meta summary judgement in an AI-training copyright infringement case brought by 13 authors, Federal Judge Vince Chhabria delivered an impassioned dissent to fellow judge William Alsup’s order released only a few days...
Apple’s Latest DMA Compliance Bid with New App Store Rules and Fees
Report from TechCrunch In Brief – Apple has announced more changes to its European app developer policies to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and avoid more fines from the European Commission. They expand the ability of developers to communicate with...
FTC’s Ad Company Merger Agreement Prohibits Viewpoint Boycotts
Report from the New York Times In Brief – The Federal Trade Commission has announced a consent decree with advertising companies Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group to allow their $13.5 billion merger after the companies agreed that they would not boycott media...
US Supreme Court Goes Easy on Age Checks for Online Porn Sites
Report from the Washington Post In Brief – The US Supreme Court has ruled that requiring online porn websites to use age verification tools to confirm that users are adults does not violate the First Amendment. Advocates for the porn industry argued that Texas’s...
AI Regulation Moratorium Stripped from Senate Budget Bill in Late Night Vote
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – The moratorium on state laws regulating AI was stripped from the massive budget reconciliation bill carrying the budget and spending priorities of President Trump and the Republicans. A broad 10-year version, backed by AI industry...
Paris Court Pauses French Law Imposing Age Checks on EU Porn Sites
Report from Euractiv In Brief – A French administrative court has paused the implementation of a national law enacted in 2024 that requires all websites displaying adult content to use technical age verification methods to block minors in France from accessing their...
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Utah Promises Not to Enforce Law Against VPN Usage for Now
Report from Engadget In Brief – The Utah Department of Commerce has agreed to temporarily suspend enforcement of the state’s new law targeting VPN use to avoid its age limit for online pornography while a federal court considers a legal challenge brough by Aylo, the...
EU places ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox Under Strictest Digital Safety Rules
Report from EuroNews In Brief – The European Commission has announced that ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox are Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) under the Digital Services Act (DSA), subjecting all three to the EU's strictest online safety rules. ChatGPT is the first...
FTC and State AGs Sue Amazon for Deception Costing Advertisers Billions
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – The Federal Trade Commission and 22 state attorneys general have sued Amazon alleging that the e-commerce giant secretly manipulated advertising auctions on its platform to inflate the prices businesses paid for ads by...
California Judge Won’t Stop Amazon Pricing Practices Before Trial
Report from Law.com In Brief – A California judge has denied the state attorney general’s request for a preliminary injunction against Amazon blocking some of its pricing practices related to its wholesale vendors. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman...
Appeals Court Temporarily Blocks Tennessee Social Media Law
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – A divided Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals panel has ordered a federal judge to reconsider his initial ruling not to preliminarily block a Tennessee law requiring parental consent for minors to use social media. Judge Alice Batchelder,...
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