Report from Reuters In Brief – Microsoft is backing Anthropic in its legal challenge to the US Department of Defense (DoD) labeling the AI developer a supply-chain risk and blocking the company’s AI services from being used on any defense contracts. The...
White House Kills Some Utah AI Bills but Several Reach Governor Cox
Report from the Transparency Coalition In Brief – Efforts by officials in Republican-dominated Utah to position the state as a leader in regulating AI faced resistance from the Trump White House, which labeled one AI safety proposal “unfixable” and warned that some...
Meta to Add Digital Services Tax Surcharge to Ad Buys in Six Countries
Report from MediaPost In Brief – Meta has announced that it will soon add a “location fee” to advertising purchases targeting users in several countries to offset the cost of national digital services taxes (DSTs). The policy will begin in May, with full billing...
AI Fears are Powering Bills Regulating “Surveillance Pricing” in US States
Report from Gizmodo In Brief – Democratic state lawmakers are increasingly proposing legislation to curb so-called “surveillance pricing,” a practice in which retailers use data and technology to help set prices, claiming that AI will be used to rapidly change prices...
Meta Proposes Allowing AI Chatbots on WhatsApp in Europe for a Fee
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – Meta has announced that it will allow third-party AI chatbots to communicate with users on its WhatsApp messaging platform for a per-message fee in response to pressure from the European Commission. The Commission...
UK Government Vexed About How to Apply Copyright Law to AI Training
Report from the Financial Times In Brief – The UK government is reconsidering a proposal that would allow AI developers, including giants like OpenAI and Google, to train AI models on copyrighted materials without obtaining prior consent from rightsholders. After a...
Kochava Settles Federal Trade Commission Location Privacy Lawsuit
Report from MediaPost In Brief – Data broker Kochava has reportedly negotiated a settlement with lawyers for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over allegations that the company improperly sold sensitive mobile device geolocation data. The terms of the deal have not...
Polish Antitrust Agency Investigating Allegro for Unfair Logistics Preferences
Report from TVP World In Brief – Poland’s competition authority (UOKik) is investigating Allegro, the country’s leading e-commerce platform, for allegedly breaching consumer protection and competition rules related to the platform’s logistics services. UOKiK said...
Indonesia Sets a 16-Year-Old Minimum Age for Social Media
Report from the New York Times In Brief – In line with a growing number of countries around the world, the Government of Indonesia announced it will ban teenagers under 16 from accessing social media, citing concerns about online harms and addiction. Indonesia is...
Google and Epic Games Modify Settlement Offer and Google Drops Fees
Report from TechCrunch In Brief – Google and Epic Games have proposed an alternative global settlement to end their antitrust dispute to Judge James Donato who was skeptical of the two companies’ first proposal to modify his remedy order. If approved by the judge,...
Florida AG Sues Netflix Following the Social Media Litigation Playbook
Report from NBC News In Brief – Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) has filed a 66-page lawsuit against Netflix, accusing the streaming giant of misleading Florida consumers about its data-collection practices and exposing children and families to so-called...
SpaceXAI Fails to Block Minnesota Law Banning “Nudification” Apps
Report from Politico In Brief – Federal Judge Donovan Frank rejected SpaceXAI’s effort to block Minnesota’s law banning the creation of sexually explicit deepfake images while the company challenges the measure. Frank said the company, then xAI, waited too long to...
Australia Digital Duty of Care Law to Require Algorithm Choice
Report from ABC News Australia In Brief – The Australian Government has released draft legislation to add a Digital Duty of Care to the Online Safety Act of 2021. A key provision is the “My Feed, My Way” initiative requiring social media platforms to give all users a...
Google Updates Gmail Spam Filters for Political Fundraising
Report from Campaigns & Elections In Brief – Google has put in place a Gmail policy that will make it somewhat easier for political campaigns and committees to reach personal Gmail inboxes by allowing eligible political entities to become “verified senders,” bypassing...
European Commission Proposes Age-Based Social Media and Chatbot Rules
Report from the Financial Times In Brief – European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced plans for an EU KIDS Act to create age-based rules limiting minors’ access to social media, AI chatbots and companions, online game and video-sharing platforms,...
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