Report from the Chicago Sun-Times In Brief – NetChoice, a digital company trade group, is suing to block the City of Chicago’s new social media tax, arguing it violates the First Amendment and the federal Permanent Internet Tax Freedom Act (PITFA). The new tax extends...
Big Trial Losses for Social Media Giants in New Mexico and Los Angeles
Reports from CNBC and the Wall Street Journal In Brief – A New Mexico state court jury has found Meta liable for $375 million in civil damages in a lawsuit brought by the Attorney General of New Mexico for misleading users about the safety of its platforms and...
4chan Fined by UK Ofcom for Failing to Protect Children From Pornography
Report from Sky News In Brief – Ofcom, the UK online safety regulator, has fined 4chan £450,000 for failing to prevent children from accessing pornography. The regulator also ordered the platform to introduce effective age checks by April 2 or face additional fines of...
Trump WH Unveils National AI Policy Framework to Limit State Power
Report from CNBC In Brief – The Trump Administration has unveiled a legislative framework to establish a national AI policy to set consistent national safety and security standards and preempt state-level AI regulation. The six-part proposal outlines measures spanning...
EU Businesses Warn Brussels of Risks of Digital Sovereignty Mandates
Report from the Financial Times In Brief – Influential European businesses are warning that an overzealous push for “tech sovereignty” by European policymakers trying to reduce dependence on major US tech companies could harm the profitability and competitiveness of...
Federal Court of Appeals Issues Mixed Ruling on California Design Code
Report from MediaPost In Brief – A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a mixed ruling in the long-running litigation battle over the California Age-Appropriate Design Code, keeping some parts of the law blocked while allowing...
Amazon Wins Preliminary Injunction Over Perplexity’s Shopping Assistant
Report from Courthouse News In Brief – US District Judge Maxine Chesney has granted Amazon a preliminary injunction blocking the use of an AI-powered shopping assistant created by Perplexity AI on Amazon’s website. Chesney determined that Amazon is likely to succeed...
Utah Taxes Advertising Revenue of Big, Addictive Social Media Companies
Report from Utah News Dispatch In Brief – Utah’s legislature has passed SB287, a bill imposing a 4.7% tax on the targeted advertising revenues of the largest social media companies. The bill targets digital platforms that generate at least $1 million in targeted...
Microsoft Opposes Immediate Pentagon Blacklisting of Anthropic
Report from Reuters In Brief – Microsoft is backing Anthropic in its legal challenge to the US Department of Defense (DoD) labeling the AI developer a supply-chain risk and blocking the company’s AI services from being used on any defense contracts. The...
White House Kills Some Utah AI Bills but Several Reach Governor Cox
Report from the Transparency Coalition In Brief – Efforts by officials in Republican-dominated Utah to position the state as a leader in regulating AI faced resistance from the Trump White House, which labeled one AI safety proposal “unfixable” and warned that some...
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FTC Settles Ad Agencies to End Group Online “Brand Safety” Standards
Report from MediaPost In Brief – The Federal Trade Commission announced antitrust settlement agreements with major advertising holding companies Dentsu, Publicis, and WPP to end what the regulator alleges was unlawful collusion in setting industry-wide “brand safety”...
US Department of Justice Won’t Help French Prosecutors Probe Musk’s X
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – The US Justice Department is declining to assist French authorities investigating X, describing the effort as a politically motivated misuse of the criminal justice system to regulate online speech in a way that conflicts...
Another Arkansas Social Media Law Blocked by Federal Judge
Report from the Arkansas Advocate In Brief – US District Judge Timothy Brooks has issued a temporary injunction blocking Arkansas Act 900 that was set to restrict minors from accessing social media with certain features. The 2025 law, challenged by the tech industry...
EU President Releases an EU-Wide Online Age Verification App
Report from Bloomberg In Brief – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has introduced a new age-verification app developed by the commission to confirm users’ ages online in a way that also protects their personal data. The app is intended to be a...
EU Commission Tells Google How to Open Android to AI and Chatbots
Report from the Wall Street Journal In Brief – EU antitrust regulators have announced extensive directives they plan to impose on Google to give AI developers full access to Android on phones and tablets in the same manner as Google’s own AI models and services such...
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