Report from Axios In Brief – Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones announced that he will “fully enforce” the state’s new law limiting minors under 16 to one hour per day on any single social media platform, even as a legal challenge brought by tech industry trade group...
German Court Orders X to Share Platform Data on Hungarian Election Activity
Report from Euractiv In Brief – The Berlin Court of Appeals has ordered social media platform X to give two Germany-based elections researchers access to data related to the reach and engagement with posts related to Hungary's April 12 election. Hungary's Prime...
EU Commission Opens Formal Digital Services Act Investigation of Shein
Report from EuroNews In Brief – The European Commission has announced a formal investigation of Chinese ecommerce platform Shein under the Digital Services Act (DSA), 2022 legislation regulating how digital platforms address illegal and objectional content. Platforms...
Judge Allowing California AG Lawsuit Targeting TikTok’s Addictive Design
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – A California judge has tentatively ruled that TikTok must face the state’s lawsuit alleging the platform’s design is addictive and harmful to children. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Beth McGowen rejected the company’s attempt...
Federal Judge Allows School District Social Media Lawsuit to Proceed
Google Faces Heightened EU Scrutiny of Search Ad Market Conduct
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – Google is the target of heightened scrutiny by the European Commission antitrust officials over concerns that the digital giant may be illegally rigging the cost of advertising on its search engine. A February 9 letter and request for...
Brazil Orders Grok to Stop Sexualized Images
Report from DigWatch In Brief – Brazil has ordered X to stop AI chatbot Grok from generating sexualized images, adding to the global regulatory pressure on Elon Musk’s social media platform and AI chatbot. The directive, issued by Brazil’s National Data Protection...
India Adds Deepfakes to Tightened Social Media Takedown Regime
Report from MediaNews4U In Brief – India has amended its rules requiring social media platforms such as Meta, YouTube and X to remove unlawful material, adding AI-generated “deepfakes” to the regime. The new rules, which go into effect on February 20, bring...
French Retailers and Government Backers Resisting Online Marketplaces
Report from Reuters In Brief – France’s Minister of Small and Medium Businesses says Shein and other online retail platforms will face a “year of resistance" from traditional storefront retailers and their backers in the government. Serge Papin argued that retail...
Federal Jury Finds Uber Financially Liable for Driver Sexual Assault
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – A federal court jury in Arizona has ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million in damages to a young woman who was allegedly raped by her driver in 2023. The decision marks the first time Uber, which has been fighting such claims for a decade,...
Trump Administration Vehemently Rejects “Global Governance” of AI
Report from France 24 In Brief – Speaking at the AI Impact Summit in India, Michael Kratsios, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said that the US “totally” rejects global governance of artificial intelligence. Praising the shift...
Trump Admin Developing Website Showing Content Without National Limits
Report from Reuters In Brief – The US State Department is reported to be developing a government-run website hosted at freedom.gov to give international internet users, including in Europe, access to social media content that is available in the United States but...
California AG Requests Temporary Injunction Blocking Amazon Price Policy
Report from Reuters In Brief – California Attorney General Rob Bonta has asked a state judge to issue a preliminary injunction against Amazon blocking the company from penalizing third-party sellers who offer items on other platforms such as eBay and Walmart for lower...
AI Policy Friction Between Anthropic and the Trump Admin Spills Out at DoD
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – AI policy friction between the Trump Administration and AI giant Anthropic is emerging in a reported disagreement between the creator of the Claude chatbot and the Department of Defense. Claude is the leading AI chatbot...
Irish Data Protection Regulator Using GDPR to Probe Grok-Generated Images
Report from Politico In Brief – Ireland’s data watchdog has opened an investigation into allegations that X’s Grok generative AI tool created potentially harmful, non-consensual intimate images of European individuals, including of children, improperly using their...
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