March 29, 2025

Government & Policy

apple fco apple fco appeal Apps Government & Policy In Brief

Apple loses appeal against Germany’s special abuse control

Being a staggeringly successful big tech company does have some downsides: Apple has lost an appeal against a special abuse control regime that Germany’s competition watchdog applied to it last year. The iPhone maker can expect to continue to face bespoke competition controls in a major European market, in addition to other similar laws (such

Read More
Alphabet Enterprise Google Government & Policy M&A Security Startups wiz

Google revives talks to acquire Wiz at higher valuation

Google revives talks to acquire Wiz at higher valuation. Update: the deal is done at $32 billion, in cash. Read more here. Google’s parent company Alphabet is again in advanced talks to acquire cloud cybersecurity startup Wiz, a person familiar with the deal told TechCrunch. The two companies were close to securing a deal at

Read More
Government & Policy Pavel Durov Social Telegram

Telegram founder, Pavel Durov, allowed to leave France

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram, no longer has to stay in France. A source told AFP that the investigating judge in charge of Durov’s case has accepted a request to modify the conditions of his supervision. “As you may have heard, I’ve returned to Dubai after spending several months in

Read More
Careless People Facebook Government & Policy Meta Sarah Wynn-Williams Social

Meta takes aim at Sarah Wynn-Williams memoir

Meta won a legal victory this week against Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former employee who recently published a memoir of her time at the company titled “Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism.” An arbitrator ruled that the company has made a valid argument that Sarah Wynn-Williams, who worked at Facebook (now

Read More
eu digital autonomy eu digital infrastructure euro stack Government & Policy Security

European tech industry coalition calls for ‘radical action’ on digital sovereignty — starting with buying local

A broad coalition drawn from across the ranks of Europe’s tech industry is calling for “radical action” from European Union lawmakers to shrink reliance on foreign-owned digital infrastructure and services to bolster the bloc’s economic prospects, resilience, and security in increasingly fraught geopolitical times. In an open letter to both European Commission President Ursula von

Read More
Government & Policy Security

UK’s internet watchdog puts storage and file-sharing services on watch over CSAM

As duties under the U.K.’s Online Safety Act (OSA) related to tackling illegal content came into force Monday, the internet watchdog, Ofcom, said it has launched a new enforcement program focused on online storage and file-sharing services. The regulator said its evidence shows that file-sharing and file-storage services are “particularly susceptible” to being used for

Read More
cybersecurity Department of Government Efficiency Government & Policy Privacy Security U.S. Treasury

DOGE staffer violated Treasury rules by emailing unencrypted personal data

A staffer working for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) broke Treasury policies by sending an email containing unencrypted personal information, according to testimony from a senior government cybersecurity official in a federal lawsuit. Marko Elez, a DOGE staffer working at the U.S. Treasury, emailed a spreadsheet with unencrypted personally identifiable information to two Trump administration

Read More
AI ai censorship Government & Policy

Republican Congressman Jim Jordan asks Big Tech if Biden tried to censor AI

On Thursday, House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) sent letters to 16 American technology firms, including Google and OpenAI, asking for past communications with the Biden administration that might suggest the former president “coerced or colluded” with companies to “censor lawful speech” in AI products. The Trump administration’s top technology advisors previously signaled they would pick

Read More
Binance Crypto CZ Government & Policy Trump

Trump family is reportedly in talks to acquire stake in Binance’s US arm

President Trump’s family has been weighing an investment in Binance.US, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. The investment would come just a couple of years after Binance’s U.S. arm pleaded guilty to violating anti-money laundering regulation. As part of that guilty plea, Binance’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, paid a

Read More
apple icloud backdoor challenge Government & Policy In Brief Privacy Security

UK’s secret iCloud backdoor order triggers civil rights challenge

The U.K. government’s secret order to Apple demanding it backdoor the end-to-end encrypted version of its iCloud storage service has now been challenged by two civil rights groups, Liberty and Privacy International, which filed complaints Thursday. They called the order “unacceptable and disproportionate” and warned of “global consequences” as the access order is thought to

Read More