Report from The Hill In Brief – Meta has announced the appointment of Dina Powell McCormick as its new president and vice chair as it accelerates investment in artificial intelligence and its “superintelligence” initiative. In the role, Powell McCormick will oversee...
TikTok Will Roll Out Age Estimation Technology in Europe
Report from Reuters In Brief – TikTok will start rolling out a new technology-based age-estimation regime across Europe in the coming weeks with the goal of more effectively identifying and removing accounts belonging to children under 13. The new system follows a...
US TikTok Spinoff Deal Backed by President Trump Finally Completed
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...
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,...
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...
Platform Economy Insights produces a short email four times a week that reviews two top stories with concise analysis. It is the best way to keep on top of the news you should know. Sign up for this free email here.
