The UK may soon reform its competition and consumer laws visa vis digital markets. A United Kingdom (UK) entity has recommended that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative government remake digital regulation in the UK, especially with respect to competition policy. A task force has returned an extensive set of recommendations requiring legislation and … Continue reading Task Force Calls For Enhanced Digital Regulation in UK
Antitrust suits finally filed against Facebook. The U.S. and state governments want to spin off WhatsApp and Instagram. As has been long rumored, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state attorneys general have filed lawsuits against Facebook, claiming the social media giant has pursued anti-competitive practices in violation of federal and state laws. This is … Continue reading U.S. Federal Government and States Ask Court To Break Up Facebook
Further Reading “Facebook failed to put fact-check labels on 60% of the most viral posts containing Georgia election misinformation that its own fact-checkers had debunked, a new report says” By Tyler Sonnemaker — Business Insider. Despite its vows to improve its managing of untrue and false content, the platform is not consistently taking down such … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Development, and Coming Events (8 December)
Further Reading “How Misinformation ‘Superspreaders’ Seed False Election Theories” By Sheera Frenkel — The New York Times. A significant percentage of lies, misinformation, and disinformation about the legitimacy of the election have been disseminated by a small number of right-wing figures, which are then repeated, reposted, and retweeted. The Times relies on research of how … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (4 December)
A second committee gets its shot at social media platform CEOs and much of the hearing runs much like the one at the end of last month. It was with some reluctance that I watched the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing with Facebook and Twitter’s CEO given the other Senate hearing at which they appeared a … Continue reading “Censorship, Suppression, and the 2020 Election” Hearing
Further Reading “Trump fires top DHS official who refuted his claims that the election was rigged” By Ellen Nakashima and Nick Miroff — The Washington Post. As rumored, President Donald Trump has decapitated the United States’ (U.S.) Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Director Christopher Krebs was fired via Twitter, after … Continue reading Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (18 November)
The EU commences with one antitrust action against Amazon while investigating other possible violations. The European Commission (EC) released a summary of its findings in one antitrust investigation against Amazon, finding enough evidence to proceed while also starting the process to investigate another alleged violation by the United States (U.S.) multinational. The EC started its … Continue reading EU Announces One Antitrust Action Against A Big Tech Firm and Previews Another
As to be expected, a plethora of people from the tech world or with tech experience will guide the transition to the Biden Administration. The Biden-Harris Transition has announced the teams that will review the agencies of the United States (U.S.) government with an eye towards the policies and personnel President-elect Joe Biden may want … Continue reading Biden Transition Teams Announced
Under President Joe Biden, the FTC will face most of the same issues presently before the agency. In a Biden Administration, the FTC may tip from three Republican Commissioners, including the chair, to a majority of Democrats if Chair Joseph Simons steps down as has been rumored for some months now, in part because of … Continue reading Biden Administration Tech Policy: Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
The Federal Trade Commission urges Congress to undo three court decisions that have weakened its enforcement powers. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wrote the House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over the agency, asking for language restoring the power to seek and obtain restitution for victims of those who have violated Section 5 of the … Continue reading FTC Asks Congress For Fix Ahead of SCOTUS Decision
Michael Kans 