Google avoids break-up order

A judge in the US has ordered Google to share more data and banned the company from making exclusive distribution contracts following a ruling last year that it had created an illegal monopoly. The US Department of Justice had argued that Google should have to sell its Chrome browser and, if necessary, its Android operating system. The government, said the judge, had ‘over-reached in seeking forced divestiture of these key assets’ and made it clear that the threat to Google’s search engine posed by generative AI was central to his decision not to impose more onerous requirements. Google’s shares leapt following the ruling.

Separately, The European Commission fined Google 2.95 billion euros for its search advertising practices, raising tensions with the US administration, which has been consistently critical of the EU’s treatment of US tech companies.

Artificial intelligence

New presidential executive orders target ‘woke AI’ in the US

AI models will need to be politically neutral and unbiased if companies are to be awarded federal contracts. Artificial intelligence models are trained by scraping data from the internet, but many in the administration are concerned that models have a liberal bias. The move could have wider impacts on AI models, given that many technology companies are trying to win federal contracts. Other executive orders include a new ‘AI Action Plan’ and measures to promote exports of US chips and AI tools.

EU unveils AI code of practice

The European Commission has released a draft code of practice aimed at helping companies comply with the EU’s rules on artificial intelligence. The code is voluntary, but signatories will benefit from legal certainty. They will be required to make publicly available summaries about the content used to train their general-purpose AI models and mitigate the risk of outputs that infringe copyright. AI rules for large language models will become legally binding on 2 August. In a statement the Commission said that the code was ‘co-designed by AI stakeholders’ and ‘aligned with their needs’. Microsoft has indicated that it will sign but Meta has reiterated its opposition to the code, saying that it introduces legal uncertainties and exceeds the scope of the AI Act.

Regulation

‘No compromise’ on EU’s tech regulation

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen has delivered her ‘State of the Union’ speech promising to ‘massively invest’ in digital and green technology. She promised to speed up on the Savings and Investment Union and the Competitiveness Fund, designed to help tech companies source funding from within the EU. Business will be made easier via ‘less paperwork, less overlaps, less complex rules’, she said, along with the promise of a digital euro.

She offered what was seen as a clear rebuke of Trump’s repeated threats to retaliate with tariffs against countries with digital rules or tech taxes. ‘The EU won’t compromise on its tech regulation’, she said.

Data privacy

EU-US data privacy framework survives legal challenge

The General Court of the European Union has dismissed an action for annulment brought against the EU–US Data Privacy Framework (DPF), thereby upholding the framework’s validity. This decision means that companies can continue transferring personal data to the United States under the current system, although the ruling can still be appealed to a higher court. The EU data protection regime imposes strict rules on personal data transfers outside the EEA. In 2022, the European Commission adopted an adequacy decision for the DPF. Philippe Latombe, a French MP, brought proceedings before the EU General Court seeking annulment of the Commission’s adequacy decision.

UK seeks resolution to Apple encryption clash

Concerns over technology trade agreements with the US are likely to force a re-think in the UK government’s demand for Apple to create a ‘back door’, according to officials quoted in the Financial Times. The Home Office issued a ‘technical capability notice’ in January, requiring Apple to enable access to its secure cloud storage system for investigations. The government has long argued that it needs such access for terrorism and child sexual abuse investigations. Apple responded by withdrawing its most secure storage service in the UK and is challenging the decision, with Meta’s support, through the investigatory powers tribunal. However, the UK trade agreement with the US envisages much closer technology cooperation and the US government is known to be unhappy with the access demand. Officials quoted from within the UK government say that a compromise will need to be found.

Connectivity

Vodafone’s satellite plans ‘will ruin the night sky’

Vodafone’s  plans to beam mobile signals from satellites to earth face mounting opposition from scientists who accuse the company of ruining the night sky with oversize satellites. Vodafone has formed a joint venture with AST SpaceMobile, whose satellites cover 2,400 square feet (the size of a tennis court). The sunlight reflecting off them makes them brighter than stars, according to astronomers. The UK Space Agency and international organisations, including the UN, are drawing up plans to tackle the issue, including potential new standards on the size and brightness of satellites, which could be adopted by regulators as a condition of granting future licences to operators.

Content

US ends international agreements to combat fake news

The US State Department has issued a notice to European countries terminating the memoranda of understanding designed to forge a unified approach against malicious information spread by foreign governments such as Russia, China and Iran. The memoranda were part of an initiative led by the Global Engagement Center (GEC), a State Department agency established under the Biden presidency that tackled disinformation spread by US adversaries and terror groups. The GEC was closed by the Trump administration in April. It’s thought that 22 countries in Europe and Africa had signed the memoranda.

In brief

Meta and TikTok won a legal challenge to the way the European Commission charges fees to companies for supervising their compliance with the Digital Services Act. The EU has 12 months to formalise the fee calculation and adopt new implementing decisions.

The UK government has granted the Digital Regulation Cooperation Forum (DRCF) £800,000 from the Regulatory Innovation Office’s AI Capability Fund to develop its prototype digital library for innovators. The funding will enable the DRCF to accelerate plans to create a unified regulatory resource for organisations, freeing them up to focus on innovation while navigating compliance with confidence

France, Spain, Italy, Denmark and Greece will test a new age verification app designed to protect children online, the European Commission said in a statement. The app is built on the same technical specifications as the European digital identity wallet which is due to be introduced in 2026.

Sources: The Financial Times, Reuters, APNews, Euronews, Euractiv, US News, CNN,  TechCrunch, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, Bloomberg, Economic Times, BBC, Politico, Telecoms.com