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...
UK Kicks Encryption Hornets’ Nest by Demanding Apple iCloud Backdoor
Report from the Washington Post In Brief – The UK Government has reportedly issued secret orders to Apple demanding that the company provide a backdoor for security authorities to access users’ encrypted iCloud data. The unprecedented demand, made in January, was...
Judge Tersely Rejects Apple Efforts to Join the Google Search Antitrust Case
Report from The Verge In Brief – US District Court Judge Amit Mehta has summarily denied Apple’s emergency request to stay his recent decision rejecting their effort to halt the Google Search monopoly trial and join the litigation directly to protect their interests,...
Ending De Minimis for China Paused While US Works on Compliance Plan
Report from the Washington Post In Brief – The Trump Administration has amended its executive order that imposed new tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico, and ended the “de minimis” exemption for packages from those countries, by delaying the de minimis change until...
Microsoft Continues Trying to Settle EU Antitrust Concerns with Teams
Report from Reuters In Brief – Microsoft has reportedly offered to widen the price differential between its Office 365 product sold with its chat and video app Teams and its version of the software sold without the Teams as part of its ongoing negotiation to avoid an...
Paris Prosecutors are Investigating X for Politically Biased Algorithms
Report from CNBC In Brief – The Paris prosecutor’s office is investigating social media platform X for using allegedly biased algorithms. The probe by the public prosecutor follows a complaint filed by a lawmaker in Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble pour la République...
Antitrust Activists Push Back on UK Naming Amazon Exec to Head CMA
Report from TechCrunch In Brief – A coalition of voices in the vanguard of antitrust activism against Big Tech have signed an open letter expressing concern with the UK Government’s recent decision to appoint a former Amazon executive as chair of the Competition and...
Macron Uses Paris AI Summit to Call for EU AI Regulatory Pullback
Report from Reuters In Brief – French President Emmanuel Macron’s address to a global AI Summit in Paris called for Europe to recalibrate AI regulation to support innovation and made the case that France, with its AI talent and nuclear-powered electricity generating...
European Commission Adds to their DSA Investigation of Shein
Report from TechCrunch In Brief – The European Commission has formally requested a wide range of information from fast-growing Chinese ecommerce platform Shein as part of its investigation of the business under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The law was enacted in...
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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