Report from The Guardian In Brief – Ofcom, the UK online content moderation regulator under the Online Safety Act (OSA), has announced a set of new rules for online sites likely to be used by young people, including the largest social media platforms, search engines,...
Florida Sues Snap Alleging Snapchat has Illegal Addictive Features
Report from The Hill In Brief – The State of Florida has sued Snap, operator of Snapchat, for violating HB 3, a state law enacted in 2024 to protect teens from “addictive” social media features, including though infinite scrolling, push notifications, auto-play...
X Files Lawsuit to Block Minnesota’s Law Banning Deepfake Political Content
Report from Reuters In Brief – X has filed a lawsuit in federal court to block enforcement of a Minnesota state law that bans people from using AI-generated “deepfakes” to influence an election and threatens those who disseminate such content with fines and jail...
The US Wants Digital Services Tax Relief in a US-EU Trade Deal
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent singled out national Digital Services Taxes (DSTs) imposed by some EU member states on the largest digital companies, who are most often US-based, as something the Trump Administration wants to...
Federal Judge Hammers Apple for Violating Her App Store Fees Court Order
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – Federal Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers hammered Apple for violating her 2021 unfair competition ruling related to App Store restrictions, issued an order prohibiting Apple from charging any fees on any in-app sales made by...
Congress Passes Bill Targeting Non-Consensual Intimate Images Online
Report from the New York Times In Brief – The TAKE IT DOWN Act, bipartisan legislation criminalizing the posting online of nonconsensual intimate imagery (NCII) and forcing platforms to quickly take it down has been overwhelmingly passed by the US Congress and sent to...
US Government Challenges AI Act Code of Practice on General Purpose AI
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – The US Government is calling on the European Commission to delay the release of the AI Code of Practice for “General Purpose” AI that is scheduled to be finalized in May to help provide guidance to developers of the largest and most...
DoJ Plans Further Break Up of Google in AdTech Antitrust Case Remedies
Report from the TechCrunch In Brief – The US Department of Justice has informed the federal judge that recently ruled that Google was guilty of “willfully acquiring and maintaining monopoly power” in the digital ad space that it would ask that Google be forced to sell...
Google Makes First Payments to Canadian News Media Companies
Report from the Toronto Star In Brief – The Canadian Journalism Collective, an organization that is distributing some of the funds contributed by Google to pay Canadian news media outlets in exchange for Google being exempted from the media payments scheme created by...
Conservative Activist Sues Meta Over Defamatory AI Hallucinations
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – Robby Starbuck, a conservative activist notable for successfully pressuring companies to change their DEI practices, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Meta alleging that its AI tool smeared him by falsely asserting...
French Retailers and Brands Sue Shein Arguing Unfair Competition
Report from New York Times In Brief – A large coalition of French retailers and brand owners has filed a class action lawsuit against Chinese ecommerce platform Shein, accusing the company of engaging in systematic unfair competition. The plaintiffs are seeking up to...
Twitch Added to Australia’s New Social Media Age Threshold Regime
Report from New York Times In Brief – Twitch, a live-streaming platform that emerged primarily with video-game related content but now features a wide range of material, has been added to the list of digital platforms that must implement age verification and block...
Amazon Settles Gig Delivery Labor Investigation in Italy
Report from Reuters In Brief – Amazon’s Italian logistics business unit has resolved a major investigation brought by the Milan public prosecutor’s office into alleged tax evasion and unlawful labor practices by paying roughly €180 million ($210 million) to Italy’s...
Google Testing Paid Media Relationships Related to AI Answers
Report from TechCrunch In Brief – Google has announced a pilot program with news publishers to test AI-powered article overviews as part of the Google News pages. Participating outlets, including The Guardian, Der Spiegel, El País, and the Washington Post, will work...
India Withdraws Mandate for Smartphones to Include State Security App
Report from Guardian In Brief – India’s government has withdrawn a controversial directive requiring all smartphone manufacturers to pre-install the state-run Sanchar Saathi security app after intense public and political backlash. The Department of Telecommunications...
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