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☆ TikTok Faces E.U. Inquiry Over ‘Addictive’ Features
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Adam Satariano | More About Adam Satariano | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

European Union regulators on Monday threatened to fine TikTok over potentially addictive features on a version of its app called TikTok Lite, which was released to work more smoothly on slower wireless networks. investigation adds to TikTok’s regulatory challenges as the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on a bill that would order the app’s owner, the Chinese internet company ByteDance, to sell TikTok or be banned. The company is under growing pressure for its links to China, data collection practices and potentially harmful effects on children. They said the features created a financial incentive to spend more time on the app, creating risks for addiction and mental health issues, particularly for children. investigation against TikTok, along with another inquiry focused on a lack of effective age-verification protections and addictive design features.

Persons: TikTok Organizations: U.S, Senate, TikTok Locations: China, Europe

Alphabet, Apple and Meta were told by European Union regulators on Monday that they were under investigation for a range of potential violations of the region’s new competition law. The law requires Alphabet, Apple, Meta and other tech giants to open up their platforms so smaller rivals can have more access to their users. The investigations center on whether Apple and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, are unfairly favoring their own app stores to box out rivals. Meta will be questioned about a new ad-free subscription service and the use of data for selling advertising. The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, can fine the companies up to 10 percent of their global revenue, which for each runs into the hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

Organizations: Meta, European Union, Apple, Google, European Commission

☆ Amazon Scraps Deal to Buy Maker of Roomba Amid Regulatory Scrutiny
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Adam Satariano | More About Adam Satariano | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Amazon said on Monday that it was abandoning plans to buy iRobot, the maker of the self-driving Roomba vacuum, after regulators raised concerns the deal would hurt competition. antitrust regulators warned Amazon that they might try to block the deal because it could restrict competition in the market for robot vacuum cleaners. The Federal Trade Commission was also scrutinizing the deal. Amazon, which will pay iRobot a $94 million termination fee, said in a statement that “disproportionate regulatory hurdles” caused it to step away from the deal, which was first announced in 2022. IRobot’s products, which also include robotic mops and air purifiers, were to join a growing list of connected home products made by Amazon, including Ring home security systems and Echo smart speakers.

Organizations: Amazon, Foods, MGM Studios, European Union, Federal Trade Commission Locations: E.U

☆ Spotify to Cut 1,500 Jobs After Spending Spree
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Adam Satariano | More About Adam Satariano | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Spotify said on Monday that it would cut nearly a fifth of its work force, at least the third round of layoffs this year, as it has struggled to become consistently profitable after spending aggressively to expand beyond music streaming into areas such as podcasting. “Economic growth has slowed dramatically and capital has become more expensive,” Mr. Ek said. “Despite our efforts to reduce costs this past year, our cost structure for where we need to be is still too big,” Mr. Ek added. Despite being the largest music streaming platform, Spotify has long struggled to be profitable because of the terms of licensing deals it has with record labels and music publishers. It struck expensive deals with well-known figures such as former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, as well as Prince Harry and wife, Meghan.

Persons: Daniel Ek, Mr, Ek, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Prince Harry, Meghan Organizations: Spotify

☆ Elon Musk Discusses Perils and Benefits of A.I. With Rishi Sunak
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-02 | by ( Adam Satariano | More About Adam Satariano | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Mr. Sunak said he believed A.I. While he encounters many voters worried about automation and job losses, Mr. Sunak said he believed A.I. By contrast, Mr. Musk, known for predawn social media posts and deliberately provocative statements, appears to thrive more in a state of improvisation and chaos. Mr. Musk has faced criticism for, among other things, allowing racist, antisemitic and hateful speech to thrive on X since he bought the platform last year. Mr. Musk, whose companies include Tesla and SpaceX, in addition to X, was perhaps the biggest name in attendance.

Persons: Sunak, Goldman Sachs, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Musk, Sunak’s Organizations: Conservative Party, Stanford University, Bletchley, A.I, SpaceX Locations: Silicon Valley, Britain

In 1950, Alan Turing, the gifted British mathematician and code-breaker, published a paper in the field of artificial intelligence. His aim, he wrote, was to consider the question, “Can machines think?”The answer runs to almost 12,000 words. But it ends succinctly: “We can only see a short distance ahead,” Mr. Turing wrote, “but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.”More than seven decades on, that sentiment sums up the mood of many policymakers, researchers and tech leaders arriving on Wednesday at Britain’s A.I. Safety Summit, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hopes will position the country as a leader in the global race to harness and regulate artificial intelligence. Governments have been working to address the risks posed by the fast-evolving technology since last year’s release of ChatGPT, a humanlike chatbot that demonstrated how the latest models are advancing in unpredictable ways.

Persons: Alan Turing, ” Mr, Turing, Rishi Sunak Organizations: Safety Locations: British

Meta said on Monday that it will introduce an advertisement-free subscription option for Facebook and Instagram for the first time beginning next month for users in Europe, a sign of how government pressure is leading large tech companies to change their core products. The social networking company said it was complying with “evolving European regulations” by introducing the subscription option in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Starting in November, users will be able to choose to continue using Facebook or Instagram for free with ads, or to subscribe to stop seeing ads, Meta said. The cost will range from 9.99 euros a month ($10.58) on the web to 12.99 euros a month ($13.75) on iOS and Android devices, and apply to a user’s linked Facebook and Instagram accounts. Amazon, Apple, Google, TikTok and others are also making changes to comply with new rules in the European Union, which is home to roughly 450 million people across 27 countries.

Persons: Meta Organizations: Facebook, European, Apple, Google, European Union Locations: Europe, European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland

☆ Microsoft Closes In on Activision Deal After Britain Signals Approval
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Adam Satariano | More About Adam Satariano | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Microsoft scored a major victory on Friday in its long-running effort to buy the video game company Activision Blizzard, as British authorities signaled they would approve the deal after the companies took action that “substantially addresses” remaining antitrust concerns. Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority is the last major agency that must sign off before Microsoft can complete the $69 billion acquisition. The regulator initially tried to block the deal, saying it would undercut competition in the game industry, but reversed course after Microsoft agreed not to purchase a part of Activision’s business associated with so-called cloud gaming. First announced in January 2022, the acquisition has been heavily scrutinized by antitrust officials around the world and held up as a test of whether regulators would approve a tech megamerger amid concerns about the industry’s power. considers that the restructured deal makes important changes that substantially address the concerns it set out in relation to the original transaction earlier this year,” the agency said in a statement on Friday.

Organizations: Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, Markets

☆ Britain Passes Sweeping New Online Safety Law
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Adam Satariano | More About Adam Satariano | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Britain passed a sweeping law on Tuesday to regulate online content, introducing age-verification requirements for pornography sites and other rules to reduce hate speech, harassment and other illicit material. The Online Safety Bill, which also applies to terrorist propaganda, online fraud and child safety, is one of the most far-reaching attempts by a Western democracy to regulate online speech. About 300 pages long, the new rules took more than five years to develop, setting off intense debates about how to balance free expression and privacy against barring harmful content, particularly targeted at children. At one point, messaging services including WhatsApp and Signal threatened to abandon the British market altogether until provisions in the bill that were seen as weakening encryption standards were changed. The British law goes further than efforts elsewhere to regulate online content, forcing companies to proactively screen for objectionable material and to judge whether it is illegal, rather than requiring them to act only after being alerted to illicit content, according to Graham Smith, a London lawyer focused on internet law.

Persons: Graham Smith Locations: Britain, Western, British, London

☆ TikTok Fined $370 Million for Mishandling Child Data
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Adam Satariano | More About Adam Satariano | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

TikTok was fined roughly $370 million on Friday by European Union regulators for having weak safeguards to protect the personal information of children using the platform, a sign of increased scrutiny facing the social media service. The fine of 345 million euros is the first one issued against TikTok by the 27 nation bloc. In a 2022 survey, 67 percent of American teens said they use TikTok, with 16 percent saying they use it “almost constantly,” according to the Pew Research Center. The concerns are intensified by TikTok’s links to China, where its parent company, ByteDance, is based. Irish regulators are separately investigating whether TikTok is unlawfully sending the data of users in the European Union to China, an inquiry that is slated to finish by the end of the year.

Persons: TikTok Organizations: European Union, Data Protection, TikTok, Pew Research Center Locations: China

Those who pay for Facebook and Instagram subscriptions would not see ads in the apps, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans are confidential. That may help Meta fend off privacy concerns and other scrutiny from E.U. regulators by giving users an alternative to the company’s ad-based services, which rely on analyzing people’s data, the people said. Meta would also continue to offer free versions of Facebook and Instagram with ads in the European Union, the people said. It is unclear how much the paid versions of the apps would cost or when the company might roll them out.

Persons: Meta Organizations: Facebook, European Union Locations: United States, Europe

☆ Microsoft Offers British Regulators Changes to Activision Deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Adam Satariano | More About Adam Satariano | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Why It Matters: The offer aims to address concerns over cloud gaming. Under the new terms, Microsoft will give Ubisoft control over licensing deals for cloud gaming services for 15 years. This is aimed at preventing Microsoft from launching titles exclusively on its own cloud streaming service, called Xbox Cloud Gaming. But Microsoft scored a major victory in May, when the European Union approved the deal. The British regulator said it would issue a decision by Oct. 18, the date that Microsoft has set as a deadline to complete its deal with Activision.

Persons: Microsoft’s, Sarah Cardell, ” Organizations: Markets Authority, Microsoft, Ubisoft, Cloud Gaming, Activision, Sony, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, European Union Locations: U.S

What’s the difference between Russia’s internet before and after the invasion of Ukraine? That was the finding of a report published on Wednesday by Citizen Lab, a group from the University of Toronto that studies online censorship in authoritarian countries. The new report was one of the first attempts to quantify the extent of Russian internet censorship since the war began in February 2022. Before the war, Russia’s government issued internet takedown orders to Vkontakte, known as VK, once every 50 days on average. The government also used keyword blocking to censor lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer terms on the site, the report said.

Persons: Vladimir V, Putin Organizations: Citizen Lab, University of Toronto, Lab, Vkontakte, VK Locations: Ukraine, Russian, Vkontakte

A deal to ensure that data from Meta, Google and scores of other companies can continue flowing between the United States and European Union was finalized on Monday, after the digital transfer of personal information between the two jurisdictions had been thrown into doubt because of privacy concerns. The decision adopted by the European Commission is the final step in a yearslong process and resolves — at least for now — a dispute about American intelligence agencies’ ability to gain access to data about European Union residents. The debate pitted U.S. national security concerns against European privacy rights. The accord, known as the E.U.-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, gives Europeans the ability to object when they believe their personal information has been collected improperly by American intelligence agencies. A new independent review body made up of American judges, called the Data Protection Review Court, will be created to hear such appeals.

Persons: Didier Reynders, Merrick B, Garland, Gina Raimondo Organizations: Meta, Google, European Union, European Commission, European, U.S Locations: United States, European Union

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