Regulation

Karen Dunn, a partner at the law firm Paul Weiss, has been busy this week. It’s no wonder Virginia federal judge Leonie Brinkema told Dunn she could be on her way just after she opened Google’s defense against ad tech monopolization charges.

We’re moving through witnesses in the Google ad tech trial, including Stephanie Layser, a former consultant and News Corp advertising VP.

Layser bolstered the DOJ’s claim that Google Ad Manager (formerly Doubleclick For Publishers or DFP) dominates the market thanks to its links to AdX. “DFP is a 25 to 30 year old piece of technology. It’s slow and clunky,” Layser lamented. “It takes a long time to load on the page.”

The Virginia courthouse is a stickler about security, so I’m posting on behalf of Lauren Feiner, who sent the following this morning:

The government didn’t say who would be testifying before court adjourned yesterday, but we left off with several industry players explaining the publisher side of the market. Blissfully, the DOJ said we’re running ahead of schedule already. About to say goodbye to my phone, take my last sip of water (neither allowed in the courtroom!) and head back in.

The European Commission fined the search giant in 2017 for promoting its own shopping comparison listings over rivaling services. Now, the top European court has upheld the fine, leaving no further opportunities for Google to appeal.

Google said it had already adjusted its products to comply with the decision, and argues that its shopping approach has “worked successfully for more than seven years.”

Prosecutors for the US Department of Justice said in a hearing Friday that the DOJ will outline what Google should do to reverse its search monopoly status by December, reports Reuters.

Judge Amit Mehta is expected to hold hearings in the spring to determine the final remedy.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission warned this week about “universal” chargers for e-bikes and the like, recommending only using those “tested and approved to work safely with your device.”

Using an incompatible charger can cause the battery to ignite and result in a serious fire. Between January 1, 2023 and May 16, 2024, CPSC received 156 reports of fire and thermal incidents involving “universal” chargers for micromobility products, including reports of serious injuries and property damage.

The agency also warned against specific charger brands.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally found that Google “is using anti-competitive practices in open-display ad tech, which it believes could be harming thousands of UK publishers and advertisers.” The CMA has sent Google a statement of objections today, related to the search giant “self-preferencing” itself for ad tech services. It might be years until a final decision is reached, though. The CMA originally opened its investigation in 2022.

The Competition and Markets Authority announced the investigation after fans purchasing tickets for the Oasis reunion tour were met with unexpectedly high prices. The CMA will look into Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing scheme, which adjusts ticket prices based on demand.

Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) executive director Joel Bamford said that while Microsoft’s hiring of Inflection AI staff “does qualify as a merger under UK law,” the transaction was unlikely to significantly reduce competition in the consumer chatbot market.

Additional details about the shuttered investigation are available here.

AB 1836, which requires studios to get express consent from dead performers’ estates before producing digital replicas of them, passed the state Senate yesterday, reports Variety.

The bill’s passage yesterday came days after California’s legislature passed AB 2602 with similar consent requirements for living actors. SAG-AFTRA released a statement calling the bill a “legislative priority” and encouraging Governor Gavin Newsom to sign it.

The platform posted about the milestone this afternoon, which it crossed after Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered a ban on Elon Musk’s X yesterday as part of an ongoing feud with the platform.

Apparently, enough are headed to Bluesky to drive its iOS app to the top of the Brazilian App Store, as TechCrunch writes.

Durov was released from police custody and transferred to court ahead of a possible indictment, reports The Associated Press.

French authorities arrested Durov Saturday in a preliminary investigation of the relationship between Telegram’s moderation practices and the distribution of CSAM and other criminal content by another unnamed person on the platform.

In a letter sent to Governor Gavin Newsom, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says the benefits of SB 1047 “likely outweigh its costs.” However, he still has concerns about government overreach and suggests maintaining a “laser focus” on catastrophic risks.

Meanwhile, OpenAI’s letter to a California senator says the bill could slow progress, and that AI regulation should be left to the federal government.

We must take on Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Ag, Big Tech, and all the other corporate monopolists whose greed is denying progress for working people.

The site accuses Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes of a “secret order” to arrest its legal representative if X doesn’t “comply with his censorship orders.” Despite the change, “X service remains available to the people of Brazil.”

Justice de Moraes opened an investigation of the platform in April over its reactivation of accounts it was ordered to block. (The site soon reversed course.)