Google has threatened to discontinue its search engine services in Australia over the government’s plans to force the search giant to pay news outlets for their content. Last year, Australia announced the plans as a way to halt the decline of news firms amid falling revenues during the coronavirus pandemic. But Google hit back, saying it was “deeply … Read more
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is launching a formal investigation into proposed changes to Google’s Chrome browser over concerns that the company could abuse its dominance in online advertising. The investigation will look into proposed ‘Privacy Sandbox’ changes to Chrome, specifically how the proposed phase-out of support for third-party cookies and other functionalities … Read more
China has opened an investigation into e-commerce giant Alibaba over alleged anti-competitive behaviour, regulators announced this week. Despite keeping a relatively low profile in Western countries, Alibaba Group is one of the world’s largest corporations, with offerings span e-commerce, AI, cloud computing, gaming, and financial services. Its success has made founder Jack Ma – a … Read more
The EU Commission has outlined its long-awaited plans to overhaul ageing regulations for digital companies. Under the sweeping plans, the largest tech companies could face hefty fines and the threat of being broken up. The Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act will update the 20-year-old e-Commerce Directive, which regulates digital services in the EU. … Read more
Apple is set to pay $113m (£85m) to a coalition of 33 US states over its decision to intentionally slow the processor speeds of ageing iPhones. In 2017 it emerged that, following a software update, older iPhone models were having their performance gimped, with Apple claiming this was to enable the processor to continue to operate … Read more
Apple has said it will launch a programme cutting the commission it takes from app sales to 15 per cent for developers who make less than $1m annually through its iOS App Store. The ‘Small Business Program’ follows legal action taken by Fortnite developer Epic Games, which in August accused Apple of following monopolistic practices for its … Read more
During a US Senate Commerce Committee hearing, CEOs of Google, Facebook, and Twitter defended a law that shields them from liability for questionable content on their platforms. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act 1996, which protects companies from liability over content posted by users on their platforms (declaring that the company is not a … Read more
According to the Financial Times, the European Commission is due to propose a new set of rules known as the Digital Services Act, which will seek to hold tech companies to higher standards. Under extreme circumstances, offending companies could be excluded from the EU. In an interview with The Financial Times, Thierry Breton, the EU commissioner for international … Read more
Ahead of the publication of its full response to the Online Harms White Paper, the government has laid out some details of its plans to mitigate a range of online harms: from child exploitation to terrorist propaganda. According to the government, online platforms which fail their duty of care to users, such as by not … Read more
The EU Commission has outlined its long-awaited plans to overhaul ageing regulations for digital companies. Under the sweeping plans, the largest tech companies could face hefty fines and the threat of being broken up. The Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act will update the 20-year-old e-Commerce Directive, which regulates digital services in the EU. … Read more