September 2024

Google wins appeal against €1.5 billion EU competition fine

Google has won an appeal against a €1.5 billion competition fine from the European Commission in a victory for the Big Tech group as it comes under growing scrutiny from Brussels regulators. The European Union’s General Court said that while it accepted “most of the commission’s assessments” that the company had used its dominant position to block rival online advertisers, it annulled the hefty fine levied against Google in the case. When launching the action against Google in 2019, Margrethe Vestager, the bloc’s competition chief, said that the search giant had imposed anti-competitive res

California Passes Election ‘Deepfake’ Laws, Forcing Social Media Companies to Take Action

California will now require social media companies to moderate the spread of election-related impersonations powered by artificial intelligence, known as “deepfakes,” after Gov Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed three new laws on the subject on September 17. The three laws, including a first-of-its-kind law that imposes a new requirement on social media platforms, largely deal with banning or labeling deepfakes. Only one of the laws will

What We're Learning While Reading State Affordability Plans

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program—established by Congress in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—gives priority to projects that will result in broadband internet access service being offered in areas where service wasn't available before. Given that federal funds will provide roughly 75 percent of the costs to deploy these networks,1 the chances that competing networks will be built at any time in the foreseeable future are very slim.

Analysis