Report from the New York Times In Brief – The Federal Trade Commission has announced a consent decree with advertising companies Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group to allow their $13.5 billion merger after the companies agreed that they would not boycott media...
US Supreme Court Goes Easy on Age Checks for Online Porn Sites
Report from the Washington Post In Brief – The US Supreme Court has ruled that requiring online porn websites to use age verification tools to confirm that users are adults does not violate the First Amendment. Advocates for the porn industry argued that Texas’s...
AI Regulation Moratorium Stripped from Senate Budget Bill in Late Night Vote
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – The moratorium on state laws regulating AI was stripped from the massive budget reconciliation bill carrying the budget and spending priorities of President Trump and the Republicans. A broad 10-year version, backed by AI industry...
Paris Court Pauses French Law Imposing Age Checks on EU Porn Sites
Report from Euractiv In Brief – A French administrative court has paused the implementation of a national law enacted in 2024 that requires all websites displaying adult content to use technical age verification methods to block minors in France from accessing their...
Australia Will Require Age Checks for Search Engines
Report from MediaPost In Brief – The Australian eSafety Commissioner has released the Search Engine Services Online Safety Code that directs search engines to implement technical age verification by the end 2025. Age verification will apply to Australian search engine...
President Trump Says He Will Soon Begin Talks with China Over TikTok Sale
Report from the New York Times In Brief – President Trump has said that he had found a buyer for the TikTok short-video app and will soon begin talks with the Chinese Government to get the deal approved. He previously indicated that the identities of the possible...
Top EU Company Leaders Urge Slowdown in AI Regulation
Report from the Financial Times In Brief – The chief executives of 44 large European companies including are publicly urging European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to initiate a two-year pause in the implementation of the AI Act, warning that unclear and...
Federal Judge Blocking California Law on Online Sale of Suspicious Goods
Report from Courthouse News Service In Brief – US District Judge Beth Labson Freeman is blocking enforcement of California’s SB 1144, a new state law that requires online platforms to take stronger actions against the sale of stolen goods. At a hearing, Judge Freeman...
Final Draft Code of Practice for EU’s Big AI Regulatory Regime Released
Report from TechCrunch In Brief – The European Commission has announced the release of the final draft AI Code of Practice that gives “voluntary” guidelines to AI developers to help them comply with AI regulation under the EU’s AI Act. The code focuses on copyright...
Canadian Regulator Proceeds with Amazon Pricing Policy Investigation
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – Canada’s Competition Bureau has secured a court order to advance its investigation into whether Amazon is abusing its dominant position as an online marketplace provider to push third-party sellers to increase prices on other online...
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Meta Announces Plans to Use Age Verification Tool Developed in Singapore
Report from Financial Times In Brief – Meta has announced plans to adopt a new age-verification credential, AgeKeys, developed by Singapore-based start-up k-ID, as it responds to intensifying global online safety regulation. The reusable, passkey-based credential is...
Apple is Appealing Big UK Court Loss on App Store Pricing
Report from Guardian In Brief – Apple has appealed the 2025 decision of the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) that the iPhone giant violated competition law by imposing excessive App Store commissions on developers, leading to overcharges being passed on to...
Tennessee Sues Roblox for Harm to Children and Teens
Report from Citizen Tribune In Brief – Tennessee is the fourth US state to sue Roblox, alleging that the company lures children into an environment it knows is dangerous but promises is safe, in violation of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). The complaint,...
EU Officials Condemn Visa Bans for European Content Moderation Advocates
Report from Reuters In Brief – Senior officials of the European Union, France and Germany condemned US visa bans imposed on five Europeans, including French former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, that have pressed large online platforms to counter what they call...
Italian Regulator Fines Apple €98 million for App Tracking Data Policy
Report from EuroNews In Brief – Italy’s competition authority has fined Apple 98 million euro for imposing its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework on third-party add developers starting in 2021. The ATT policy requires app developers to gain explicit user...
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