Report from Politico In Brief – French President Emmanuel Macron has said that he supports setting an age limit of 15 for social media platforms in the European Union, and if the EU doesn’t follow through, his government will set that age standard in France. The...
X Sues to Block New York Content Moderation Transparency Law
Report from The Hill In Brief – X has sued the state of New York to block its law requiring social media companies to explain how they moderate some content. The platform successfully challenged a similar law in California on First Amendment grounds last year. New...
Trump Administration Walks Back Revenge Tax After Minimum Tax Deal
Report from the New York Times In Brief – The Trump Administration has called on Republicans in Congress to drop a controversial tax provision dubbed the “Revenge Tax” from the massive budget reconciliation bill. Referred to as Sec. 899, the measure would impose a new...
Second Circuit Panel Rejects Meta Pixel Tracking Tech as a VPPA Violation
Report from MediaPost In Brief – A panel of the Second Circuit Federal Court of Appeals has ruled that web companies don’t violate the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), a 1980’s law designed to keep private the names of videos that customers rented, when a...
Canada Promises to Rescind Digital Services Tax to Boost US Trade Talks
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – The Canadian Government of Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced it is rescinding its digital services tax (DST) that targets the largest US digital companies in a bid to boost trade talks with the US and avoid major...
Another Week. Another State Social Media Teen Law Blocked – Georgia
Report from MediaPost In Brief – Federal District Judge Amy Totenberg has blocked enforcement of Georgia law SB 351, the Protecting Georgia’s Children on Social Media Act. In her 50-page order she says, “The state seeks to erect barriers to speech that cannot...
Google’s Latest Offer to Change Vertical Search to Comply with EU DMA
Report from Reuters In Brief – Google has proposed more changes to its search results to improve the visibility of “vertical” search competitors, such as those specializing in hotels, airfares, or local services, aiming to resolve the European Commission’s preliminary...
Apple and Google Asked to Block DeepSeek Downloads in Germany
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – The Data Protection and Privacy Commissioner of Berlin has announced that she asked Apple and Google to remove China-based chatbot DeepSeek from their app stores due to data security concerns and a failure to comply with the EU General...
Google Agrees to Invest in Legal Compliance in a Shareholder Settlement
Report from Reuters In Brief – Google and a collection of plaintiffs in shareholder derivative litigation alleging leadership wrongdoing that exposed the company to antitrust liabilities have agreed on a settlement that will have the company invest $500 million over...
AU eSafety Commissioner Enters the Chat on YouTube’s Age Limit Exemption
Report from Reuters In Brief – Australia’s eSafety Commissioner is recommending that the Albanese Government not exempt YouTube from the country’s strict social-media age limit of 16 years old despite the government’s initial plan to do so. Google representatives...
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,...
France Considering VPN Regulation to Follow Social Media Age Threshold
Report from TechRadar In Brief – As France continues forward with legislation to impose an age threshold of 15 for social media use in the country, Anne Le Hénanff, the Minister Delegate for Artificial Intelligence and Digital Affairs, said that the government is...
EU Commission Directs Google to Play Nice with Chatbot Competitors
Report from Courthouse News In Brief – The European Commission has announced two “specification proceedings” to direct Google in setting policies related to third-party AI chatbot competitors that comply with its Digital Markets Act (DMA) obligations. One process...
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