Report from the TechCrunch In Brief – The Attorney General of Louisiana has filed a lawsuit against Roblox, a vast platform of user-generated games and interactive experiences, accusing the company of failing to protect children and making the site the “perfect place...
Ohio State Judge Rules That Google is not a Common Carrier
Report from the MediaPost In Brief – Ohio State Judge James Schuck has dismissed state Attorney General David Yost’s lawsuit arguing that Google should governed under state law as a “common carrier’, comparable to a telecommunications company or electric utility, and...
4Chan Fighting Extra-Territorial Enforcement of UK Online Safety Act
Report from the BBC In Brief – The online message board 4chan, where users post texts and images anonymously and face minimal content moderation, has declared it will not pay fines imposed by Ofcom, the UK regulator that is charged with enforcing the new Online Safety...
Amazon Faces “Fair Pricing Policy” Price-Fixing Class Action in the UK
Report from the Retail Gazette In Brief – A UK consumer association is preparing a class action antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that its Fair Pricing Policy has harmed millions of shoppers by pushing third-party sellers using its dominant marketplace to...
Bluesky is Blocking Mississippi Users Rather Than Comply with Age Law
Report from the TechCrunch In Brief – Social networking startup Bluesky, which gained prominence as many progressives users looked for alternatives to X after its acquisition by Elon Musk, has announced that it is blocking users from the state of Mississippi because...
Appeals Court Upholds California Age Limits on Social Media Algorithms
Report from the Bloomberg In Brief – A panel of the Federal Ninth Circuit of Appeals largely upheld California’s “Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act”, rejecting a First Amendment challenge from digital company trade group NetChoice. The measure...
FTC Chair Accuses Google of Employing Partisan Email Spam Filters
Report from the Reuters In Brief – The Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has warned Google that the regulator has received complaints that its Gmail spam filters are treating email from Republicans and Democrats differently, allegedly blocking Republican...
Zalando Loses Challenge to Being Designated a DSA VLOP
Report from the Courthouse News Service In Brief – The arguments of Germany-based Zalando, Europe’s biggest online fashion retailer, that the platform should not be designated a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under the Digital Services Act (DSA), were rejected by...
Comcast Sues to Block Washington State Digital Ad Services Tax
Report from MediaPost In Brief – Digital services and network giant Comcast has sued to block a Washington state law that imposes sales taxes, which vary by county and range from 7.5% to 10.6%, to advertising services, alleging that the measure violates the...
Tech Trade Group Sues to Block Colorado Social Media Warning Label Law
Report from Colorado Public Radio In Brief – Digital company trade association NetChoice, representing social media companies including Google, Meta, Snap, Pinterest, Reddit, and X, has filed suit in federal court to stop a Colorado law that will require pop-up...
Sen. Blackburn Proposes Combining AI Regulation with Anti-Internet Priorities
Report from Roll Call In Brief – Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), a leading Republican critic of Big Tech companies, has released a nearly 300-page draft of federal AI regulation. Titled the “TRUMP AMERICA AI Act”, it preempts state AI laws in place of federal...
US Supreme Court Soundly Rejects Broad ISP Liability for User Piracy
Report from the New York Times In Brief – The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that Cox Communications cannot be held liable for copyright infringement committed by its users, even if the company knows some customers engage in piracy and yet it does not cut them...
Tech Trade Group Challenges Chicago’s Social Media Tax
Report from the Chicago Sun-Times In Brief – NetChoice, a digital company trade group, is suing to block the City of Chicago’s new social media tax, arguing it violates the First Amendment and the federal Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (PITFA). The new tax extends...
Big Trial Losses for Social Media Giants in New Mexico and Los Angeles
Reports from CNBC and the Wall Street Journal In Brief – A New Mexico state court jury has found Meta liable for $375 million in civil damages in a lawsuit brought by the Attorney General of New Mexico for misleading users about the safety of its platforms and...
4chan Fined by UK Ofcom for Failing to Protect Children From Pornography
Report from Sky News In Brief – Ofcom, the UK online safety regulator, has fined 4chan £450,000 for failing to prevent children from accessing pornography. The regulator also ordered the platform to introduce effective age checks by April 2 or face additional fines of...
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