Competition
Apple loses battle over back taxes
Apple will have to repay 13 billion euros to the Irish government over ‘illegal’ tax breaks that The European Commission claimed gave the company an unfair advantage. The ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) overturns a 2020 decision by the general court and backed the commission’s 2016 decision that Ireland had granted Apple unlawful aid.
The case was originally launched in 2016 and was related to the tax treatment of profits generated by the company’s activities outside the US. Ireland is now required to recover the unpaid tax. Authorities had estimated that in 2014 Apple had paid an effective tax rate of 0.005 per cent. EU competition commissioner Margarethe Vestager hailed the ruling as a ‘big win for European citizens and for tax justice’.
Media
Meta could be forced to carry news in Australia
The Australian government is considering what actions to take against Meta if the company pulls news from Facebook and Instagram. Meta announced in March that, with previous contracts from 2021 due to expire, it would not enter into new agreements with media companies to pay for news. The government is considering whether to ‘designate’ Meta under the news bargaining code. This would force the company to enter into negotiations with news organisations or risk being fined 10 per cent of its Australian revenue. Another option under consideration is to influence Meta via the tax system. (See article ‘Does Facebook contribute to diversity in news?’ in this issue)
New report analyses media finance legislation
The center for news, technology and innovation (CNTI) has published a report examining the legislative efforts designed to provide revenue streams for journalism. The report, ‘Enabling a Sustainable News Environment: A Framework for Media Finance Legislation’ reviews 23 enacted or proposed legislative efforts from 2018 to 2024. It looks at seven models grouped under digital interaction (or usage), subsidy and tax before considering the broader impacts of the legislation. The report can be downloaded here.
Sustainability
Microsoft turns to nuclear to power datacentres
The Three Mile Island nuclear plant, shuttered in 2019, in Pennsylvania will re-open to provide power for Microsoft’s datacentres. Big tech companies have struggled to find ways of supplying the increasing energy demands of datacentres while keeping to their climate targets, and nuclear power is a clean and reliable energy source. The Three Mile Island unit will provide 800 MW of power which, under a 20 year agreement, will all be purchased by Microsoft. It is expected to come online in 2028.
Digital economy
Digital trade deal reached without US
Eighty countries have reached agreement on rules governing global digital commerce. The negotiations have been going on in the World Trade Organization for five years. Co-ordinators Australia, Japan and Singapore distributed a ‘stabilised text’ which the EU called ‘historic’. The agreement includes commitments to making customs documents and processes digital, recognising e-documents and e-signatures and putting in place legal safeguards against fraud and misleading claims. The US said that the new text was an important step forward but more work was needed on security concerns. Other countries, including Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey, have also expressed reservations. The accord can only become a formal WTO agreement with the consent of all 166 of the organisation’s members.
AI
UN report calls for global framework to govern AI
The UN Secretary-General’s high-level advisory body on artificial intelligence has released its final report, ‘Governing AI for humanity’. The report notes that ‘whole parts of the world’ have been excluded from the debate over AI governance. Out of 193 member states, only seven are party to recent AI governance initiatives, with 118 are missing entirely, mostly in the global south. The group urges the UN to lay the foundation for a globally inclusive architecture for AI governance based on international cooperation. The report can be viewed here.
Dates for your diary: IIC Events
26 September 2024
IIC Caribbean Chapter, online roundtable
AI ethics and governance, cybersecurity and data protection – implications for the Caribbean
4 October 2024
IIC Australia Chapter, Sydney
Digital Platform Regulators Forum update
8 October 2024
IIC Brussels Chapter
Final countdown – preparing for the NIS2 directive and its implementing Act
16 October 2024
IIC USA Chapter, Washington DC
A two-pronged analysis of the rise and growth of streaming video services around the world
21-22 October 2024
IIC Canada Chapter, Ottawa
4-7 November 2024
Communications Policy and Regulation Week, Bangkok
International Regulators Forum hosted by The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission of Thailand
3-4 December 2024
North America Forum, Washington DC
10 December 202
IIC MENA Chapter
Details of all IIC events can be found here.
In brief
The European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, has resigned ‘with immediate effect’ after his nomination for the new commission term was withdrawn by President Macron. France has now nominated former foreign minister Stéphane Séjourné for the next Commission, expected to begin on 1 December 2024.
Gill Whitehead, who joined Ofcom last year to oversee the organisation’s online safety remit, has stepped down after less than a year in the role. The regulator is currently consulting on a package of draft measures and is planning to begin enforcement of the new rules early next year. Ms Whitehead will continue in her role as chairman of the Global Online Safety Regulators Network until the end of the year.
The faulty security update that led to ‘the world’s biggest IT outage’ arose because Microsoft was unable to make security changes to the Windows operating system. Microsoft said that a 2009 agreement with the European Commission, in which it allowed external security providers to access the core of the system, meant that it was unable to block the update.
Legislation to block children under a certain age from using social media will be introduced before the end of 2024, Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said. The age limit is yet to be defined, but is expected to be between 14 and 16.
A study commissioned by the World Health Organization has concluded that there is no link between mobile phone usage and brain or other head and neck cancers. Led by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, the analysis was described as ‘the most comprehensive review to date’. It concluded that that was no association either with prolonged use (10 years or more) or amount of use (the number of calls made or the time spent on the phone).
A proposal to compel messaging services to scan all users’ images is under being discussed by EU Ambassadors. The technology, known as ‘upload monitoring’, has been proposed by the Belgian presidency of the European Council as a compromise solution to divisions over the Child Sexual Abuse regulation (CSAR), which critics accused of undermining encryption and enabling mass surveillance.
Social media platforms operating in Malaysia with more than 8 million users in the country will have to apply for a licence. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said the move was designed to help combat increasing cybercrime including scams, bullying and sexual crimes. Firms need to apply for the licence by 1 January 2025.
Sources: The Financial Times, Reuters, APNews, Euronews, Euractiv, US News, CNN, TechCrunch, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, Bloomberg, Economic Times, BBC, Politico, Telecoms.com.
