Report from Bloomberg In Brief – Google has reportedly made a proposal to European Commission digital regulators to change their search engine's anti-spam policy to downrank news publisher websites that engage in a practice dubbed “parasite SEO”. The move comes in...
Colorado Scales Back Its Big AI Safety Law
Report from Colorado Newsline In Brief – Colorado, which was the first state to enact comprehensive “AI Safety” legislation when it did so in 2024, was set to see it finally go into in go into effect in June, but instead the law has been frozen by a court...
Australia Opens Online Safety Push Against Top Gaming Platforms
Report from DW In Brief – Online gaming platforms Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, and Steam have been directed by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner to explain how they address risks to young users such as child grooming and the spread of extremist content. The regulator,...
Italian Regulator Challenges Booking on Unlabeled Sponsored Links
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – The Italian Competition Authority, which is both an antitrust and consumer protection regulator, has opened an investigation into Booking over concerns that the company’s “preferred partner” and “preferred plus” programs...
Another Publisher AI Copyright Suit – This Time Targeting Meta’s Zuckerberg
Report from MediaPost In Brief – Another coalition of major publishers and authors has filed a class-action lawsuit against Meta and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, alleging the company illegally downloaded millions of copyrighted books and journal articles from pirate websites...
Settlement Between the FTC and Kochava Defines Sensitive Location Data
Report from AdExchanger In Brief – The Federal Trade Commission announced a settlement with data broker Kochava over allegations that the firm engaged in unfair competition by improperly collecting and selling precise geolocation data from hundreds of millions of...
French Regulator Buys Suspicious Products and Reports Online Problems
Report from Reuters In Brief – France’s consumer protection agency, the DGCCRF, reported that it purchased over 600 “high risk” items from seven large foreign-based ecommerce platforms and deemed that 75% failed to comply with EU product safety or labeling standards,...
Utah Prohibits Adult Websites from Discussing or Offering VPN Services
Report from TechRadar In Brief – Utah is implementing a new law imposing a 2% excise tax on online adult content sites with a controversial provision aimed at reducing the likelihood that Utah residents will employ Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) or other digital...
Korean FTC Directs eCommerce Platforms to Revise Unfair User Terms
Report from The Korea Times In Brief – The Korean Fair Trade Commission (FTC), the country’s antitrust regulator, has directed seven major ecommerce platforms to make changes to their customer terms of service to better protect consumer rights and securely handle user...
European Commission Says Meta Failed to Keep Kids Off Its Platforms
Report from the New York Times In Brief – European Commission has announced its preliminary finding that Meta is failing to adequately prevent children under 13 from accessing Instagram and Facebook, potentially violating the Digital Services Act. The EU regulators...
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Australia Enacts New Tax to Force Platforms to Pay Aussie Media Companies
Report from Reuters In Brief – Australia has passed legislation enacting the News Bargaining Incentive, a 2.5% tax on the advertising revenues of large social media and search businesses that do not pay Australian media companies sufficient funds for content showing...
Google Modifies Search Anti-Spam Settings to Address EU Antitrust Concerns
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – Google has agreed to change its search ranking policies in Europe regarding websites that contain third-party content. The change involves Google's “Site Reputation Abuse” policy, an anti-spam initiative the company...
Anthropic Scores a Win in Ongoing Legal Battle with Trump Administration
Report from the Washington Post In Brief – US District Judge Rita Lin has ruled that the Trump administration violated Anthropic’s First Amendment rights by blacklisting the AI company from federal procurement as a supply-chain risk in retaliation for its public...
EU Commission Criticizes Social Media Giants over Ceuta Misinformation
Report from DW In Brief – EU Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, the lead EU commissioner on tech policy, has urged major social media platforms to more closely monitor misinformation following the Ceuta border crisis. European, Spanish and Moroccan authorities...
Apple Aims to Resolve App Store DMA Investigation with Lower Fees
Report from TechCrunch In Brief – Apple has unveiled a new lower-fee commission structure for apps in the EU in a bid to resolve its dispute with the European Commission over compliance with the Digital Markets Act. Apple’s top in-app purchase commission will be...
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