Report from Australian Broadcasting Corporation In Brief – Grok, the AI chatbot integrated into X, is facing growing backlash for being capable of digitally altering photos posted on X to depict women, and in some cases apparent children, in revealing clothing,...
New York Enacts Law Requiring Warning Labels on Social Media
Report from Digital Watch In Brief – Governor Kathy Hochul added New York to the list of states that is trying to require social media platforms to display cigarette package-style warning labels that describe their services as employing dangerous “addictive features”...
Google Settles Character.AI Liability Suits Tied to Teen Suicides
Report from Washington Post In Brief – Character.AI and Google have agreed to settle lawsuits regarding teen suicide and self-harm bought by victims’ families in Florida, Colorado, Texas and New York. Character.AI is a role-playing chatbot platform that allows users...
More Enforcement of DMA and DSA Lead EU Digital Policy Agenda for 2026
Report from >Financial Times In Brief – Enforcement of EU digital regulations, including intensifying scrutiny of major US tech companies Google, Meta, Apple and X, is going to mark European digital policy in 2026 and almost certainly bring renewed clashes with the...
Japan Competition Regulator Opens Investigation of AI Search Services
Report from Nippon.com In Brief – The Japan Fair Trade Commission, the country’s competition regulator, has announced an investigation as to whether online search services that use generative artificial intelligence to craft responses could constitute an abuse of a...
New York State Joins California Regulating AI “Safety”
Report from New York Times In Brief – New York followed California and became the second large US state to enact sweeping legislation regulating AI services as Governor Kathy Hochul signed the RAISE Act. The bill establishes a new office within the Department of...
Tech Trade Group Challenging Virginia’s Social Media Teen Time Limit Law
Report from MediaPost In Brief – Tech trade group NetChoice is squaring off in federal court with the State of Virginia to block a law requiring social media platforms to verify users’ ages and prohibit teens under age 16 from using their platform for more than one...
Cloudflare Threatens to Pull Out of Italy After Piracy Judgement and Fine
Report from TechRadar In Brief – Cloudflare, a leading US-based online security service and content delivery network (CDN) provider, is threatening to shut down its operations in Italy after being fined €14 million by the Italian communications regulator, AGCOM, for...
Meta’s WhatsApp Expected to be Added to Digital Services Act VLOP Roster
Report from MediaPost In Brief – Meta Platforms WhatsApp is likely to be classified as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) by the European Commission which will bring it under the strictest regulatory guidelines of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). The DSA...
No Tech “Fair Share” Fees Expected in Commission’s Digital Networks Act
Report from Reuters In Brief – A draft of the forthcoming Digital Networks Act (DNA) indicates that the European Commission will not propose requiring large online platforms and cloud providers to pay new fees to telecom operators. Expected to the released by...
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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