Report from ArsTechnica In Brief – Soon after Google began allowing the first third-party app store to be downloaded through its Play Store, US District Judge James Donato said the company had not done enough to comply with his antitrust injunction and ordered the...
Meta and State AGs Settle Lawsuit for $18 Billion and Design Changes
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – Meta has agreed to an $18 billion settlement with 48 state attorneys general, ending a major federal trial over allegations that Facebook and Instagram harmed teenagers and signaling how the top social media platforms may...
Gig Delivery Driver Regulation Battle Revving Up in New York City
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is backing legislation to require Amazon, FedEx and other warehouse operators in the city to directly employ delivery workers rather than use subcontractors and other non-employees. Backers...
Maryland Tax Court Strikes Down Digital Ads Tax for Violating Federal Law
Report from MediaPost In Brief – In a major ruling in a tax law battle stretching more than five years, the Maryland Tax Court has struck down the state’s 2021 law imposing taxes on the digital advertising revenue of large online platforms and ordered the state to...
UK Continues Legal Efforts to Break Apple Encryption
Report from The Guardian In Brief – Apple has again launched a legal challenge to a UK government order calling for access to customers’ encrypted iCloud data. The move comes a year after the Home Office withdrew a broader request that led to a dispute with...
French Court Strikes Down Social Media Age Limit Over Teen Speech Limits
Report from Politico In Brief – The French Constitutional Court has struck down the country’s new law banning social media for children under 15, a flagship priority of President Emmanuel Macron. The court ruled that the measure disproportionately infringed minors’...
Reddit’s DMCA Lawsuit Against SerpApi and Perplexity Survives Dismissal
Report from ArsTechnica In Brief – US District Judge Paul Engelmayer has largely denied a motion to dismiss from SerpApi, a company accused of conspiring with Perplexity AI to illegally scrape copyrighted Reddit content from Google search results....
European Commission Issues AI Content Notification Rules
Report from MediaPost In Brief – The AI transparency rules required by Article 50 of the EU’s AI Act have taken effect, requiring companies to clearly disclose when users are interacting with artificial intelligence or viewing AI-generated or manipulated images, audio...
More Follow-On Lawsuits for Google Likely After Latest DMA Fine
Report from Reuters In Brief – European lawyers and litigation financiers say that the European Commission’s recent decision to fine Google $1 billion for violating the Digital Markets Act (DMA) may add to the wave of private antitrust lawsuits that the search giant...
More Really Smart Tech People Call for International AI Governance
Report from the Washington Post In Brief – OpenAI and Anthropic have endorsed a petition urging the US government to help create an international regime to slow down and regulate the pace of “automated AI development.” It is signed by over 1,200 “employees of frontier...
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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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