Report from MediaPost In Brief – Google has outlined plans to give publishers more authority over how their content appears in AI-driven search features in response to the consultation by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regarding application of the...
Dutch Court Bans Grok from Creating Nude and Partially Nude Images
Report from Reuters In Brief – A Dutch court has ordered AI company xAI to stop its chatbot Grok from generating or distributing non-consensual sexualized images, including depictions of adults or children partially or wholly stripped naked. The preliminary...
Federal Judge Rejects Publisher Antitrust Lawsuit Targeting Google Search
Report from Reuters In Brief – Google has won the dismissal of a proposed class action lawsuit from two news publishers that claimed it monopolized the online news market and exploited its dominance in internet search to extract publisher content without payment. In...
Snapchat Facing an EU Probe for Failing to Protect Minors
Report from Politico In Brief – The European Commission has announced an investigation into concerns that Snapchat is failing to adequately protect children under its authority as the lead enforcer of the Digital Services Act (DSA) for the largest online platforms....
Pressure Grows in EU Parliament for an EU-Wide Digital Services Tax
Report from DigWatch In Brief – The chair of the European Parliament’s subcommittee on tax matters is calling for an EU-wide digital services tax (DST) despite strong opposition from the US. Pasquale Tridico argues that an EU DST would make Europe’s tax system fairer...
Trump Administration “Settles” Social Media Case They Always Agreed With
Report from Reuters In Brief – The Trump Administration has reached a legal settlement that restricts three federal agencies from pressuring social media companies to remove or limit content, ending a legal battle that initially pitted conservative commentators...
Still More AI Copyright Suits — Encyclopedia Britannica Sues OpenAI
Report from TechCrunch In Brief – Encyclopedia Britannica, which owns Merriam-Webster and retains the copyright on over 100,000 online articles, has sued OpenAI for widespread copyright infringement. The publisher claims that OpenAI unlawfully scraped and used its...
Judge Says Utah’s Lawsuit Alleging Snapchat Harms Kids Can Proceed
Report from Courthouse News In Brief – A federal judge has dismissed an attempt by Snap Inc., the parent company of Snapchat, to block the State of Utah from engaging in civil litigation in state court to enforce consumer protection laws against the social media...
Ecuador Considers Social Media Age Limit to Counter Gang Recruiting
Report from DigWatch In Brief – The Ecuador National Assembly is considering legislation to ban teens under age 15 from social media. The measure broadly covers digital platforms that enable public interaction, messaging, and content sharing, encompassing most major...
Italian Court Scraps 2024 Fine Levied Against OpenAI for GDPR Violations
Report from Reuters In Brief – A Rome court has cancelled the 15 million euro fine imposed on OpenAI by Italy's data protection authority for violations of the GDPR in the development and operation of ChatGPT. The fine was issued in December 2024 over the alleged...
UK Antitrust Authority Investigating Microsoft Business Software Dominance
Report from Reuters In Brief – The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the country’s antitrust regulator, has announced that it will investigate Microsoft's dominance in business software using its powers to oversee big tech. The CMA is opening a "strategic...
AI Hallucination Stories Grab Bag
Context - Within weeks of Chat-GPT’s public release, the fact that chatbots make plausible and realistic sounding stuff up emerged. The AI scientists knew about the phenomenon, which they called “hallucinations”. It appears to be baked into the technology. LLMs don’t...
Texas Supreme Court Facing Online Legal Jurisdiction Question in Yelp Case
Report from MediaPost In Brief – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), with a long track record of aggressive legal action against big online companies, is urging the Texas Supreme Court to reject Yelp’s attempt to block a lawsuit he filed in 2023 alleging that...
Meta Challenges UK Online Safety Act Fees and Fines Regime
Report from The Guardian In Brief – Meta is challenging the methodology Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, uses to determine the regulatory fee and fines structure under the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA). The fees that Ofcom charges regulated firms to fund the...
New York AG Opposes Surveillance Pricing and Electronic Shelf Labels
Report from WRVO In Brief – New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) is calling for state legislation to ban the use of personal data to influence prices, as well as a measure to prohibit grocery stores and pharmacies in the state from adopting digital shelf price...
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