Report from Reuters In Brief – The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that online commerce platform Shopify, based in Canada, could face a class action lawsuit in California for allegedly violating state privacy laws. An en banc panel overturned an earlier...
UK CMA Targeting Apple and Google Mobile Systems with DMCC Probes
Report from TechCrunch In Brief – The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has opened investigations of the mobile ecosystems run by Apple and Google under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer’s Act (DMCC) to determine if the two digital giants have...
German Court Appears Likely to Reject Apple’s Challenge to Special Antitrust Standard
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – Apple’s legal challenge to the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) designation that they are a digital company “of paramount significance on competition across markets” appears to face skeptical judges on the Federal Court of Justice in...
Mobile Device Location Data Broker Kochava Settles Privacy Class Action
Report from MediaPost In Brief – Kochava has reached a settlement in a private class action lawsuit that will require the data broker to make several major privacy changes. The agreement filed with US District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill requires the company to...
DoJ Sues to Block HPE – Juniper Networks Deal
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – In its first major merger action since the beginning of the second Donald Trump Administration, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has sued to block the $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE)....
First EU AI Act Rules Come into Force Banning Unacceptable AI Uses
Report from TechCrunch In Brief – The first regulatory compliance deadline of the EU AI Act went into effect on February 2, 2025, with companies required to comply with the rules related to AI applications that are prohibited under the law except with very limited...
Google Faces Skeptical Judges in Appeal of Antitrust Loss to Epic Games
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – Lawyers for Google and Epic Games faced off in front of a panel of US Ninth District Court of Appeals in Google’s challenge of its antitrust loss to Epic Games and the subsequent remedies crafted by Federal Judge James Donato. A jury...
Apple Criticizes New EU DMA Regime that Allows iPhone Porn Apps
Report from The Verge In Brief – Apple reacted to the public introduction of Hot Tub, an iOS pornography app that will be available to iPhone users in the EU through the alternative app store AltStore PAL, by criticizing the European Commission’s regulatory decisions....
DeepSeek Blocked in Italy by Data Protection Authorities
Report from EuroNews In Brief – Italy’s data protection authority, the Garante, has ordered China-based chatbot phenom DeepSeek to block its chatbot in the country after the company failed to address the regulator’s concerns over its privacy policy and data practices....
China’s Response to New Trump Tariffs Includes Threat to Google
Report from the New York Times In Brief – China has included an antitrust investigation of Google in its trade retaliation package responding to the United States’ new 10% across-the-board tariff on Chinese exports to the country. The announcement simply said that the...
California Joins Social Media Warning Label Movement
Report from Politico In Brief – California has enacted legislation requiring social media platforms to display warning labels to users unless the platform has “reasonably determined” that they are over age 17. The required warning label reads, “The Surgeon General has...
Google Makes Another Vertical Search Offer to Comply with the EU DMA
Report from Reuters In Brief – Google has proposed more changes to its search results page to improve the visibility of “vertical” search competitors, such as those specializing in hotels, airfares, or local services, to resolve the European Commission’s preliminary...
Key US House Chairman Questions Who Will Control the US TikTok Algorithm
Report from Reuters In Brief – House Select Committee on China Chair John Moolenaar (R-MI) remains concerned that the deal to transfer control of TikTok’s US assets to US buyers could be problematic if the US platform licenses the content algorithm from China-based...
Italian Publishers File a DSA Complaint About Google AI Overviews
Report from The Guardian In Brief – FIEG, the Italian federation of newspaper publishers, has announced that it has submitted a formal complaint to Agcom, Italy’s communications watchdog, calling for an investigation into Google’s AI Overviews, arguing that the search...
Klarna Sues Google to Win Billions Over Shopping Site Discrimination
Report from Courthouse News In Brief – A Swedish court has begun hearing arguments in a lawsuit brought by Pricerunner, a shopping comparison site owned by Swedish fintech giant Klarna, against Google. The civil lawsuit is one of many being pursued by European...
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