Report from Bloomberg In Brief – The business deal to spin off the US operations of TikTok from Chinese parent company ByteDance has been finalized, likely securing the app’s ability to operate in the American market. The new US-based entity includes Oracle, Silver...
EU Commission Opens DSA Investigation of Grok’s Sexualized Images on X
Report from CNBC In Brief – The European Commission has announced a new Digital Services Act (DSA) investigation of X and its integration of AI chatbot Grok with functionality that allowed users to create and post realistic manipulated images that could include...
South Korea Faces US Blowback After Enacting Online Disinformation Law
Report from Korea JoongAng Daily In Brief – South Korea’s recent amendment to the Network Act aimed at suppressing online misinformation quickly sparked sharp criticism from the United States who argued that it risks chilling lawful speech and creates barriers for US...
Government Pressure Forces Grok to Back Down on “Sexualized” Photo Edits
Report from Reuters In Brief – Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has announced that it is preventing Grok, the AI chatbot integrated into X, from editing images of real people to put them in revealing clothing such as bikinis. The move represents a major...
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...
French Court Rejects Effort to Fully Ban Shein
Report from Wall Street Journal In Brief – Shein scored a win in French court with a ruling that rejected a government effort to fully suspend the ecommerce platform in France for three months. French authorities had sought the shutdown after finding third-party...
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Polish Antitrust Agency Investigating Allegro for Unfair Logistics Preferences
Report from TVP World In Brief – Poland’s competition authority (UOKik) is investigating Allegro, the country’s leading e-commerce platform, for allegedly breaching consumer protection and competition rules related to the platform’s logistics services. UOKiK said...
Indonesia Sets a 16-Year-Old Minimum Age for Social Media
Report from the New York Times In Brief – In line with a growing number of countries around the world, the Government of Indonesia announced it will ban teenagers under 16 from accessing social media, citing concerns about online harms and addiction. Indonesia is...
Google and Epic Games Modify Settlement Offer and Google Drops Fees
Report from TechCrunch In Brief – Google and Epic Games have proposed an alternative global settlement to end their antitrust dispute to Judge James Donato who was skeptical of the two companies’ first proposal to modify his remedy order. If approved by the judge,...
Google Market Testing Vertical Search Remedy to Satisfy EU Regulators
Report from Reuters In Brief – Google is rolling out changes to its general search engine result page in Europe that would give greater visibility to rival “vertical search” services. It is a market test of a plan addressing the preliminary determination of the...
US Department of Labor Releases New Business-Friendly Gig Worker Rules
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – The US Department of Labor (DoL) has proposed a new rule setting standards for employers and workers to determine if a worker is properly classified as an independent contractor or a company employee. The proposal, which has been...
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