Natasha Lomas
Senior Reporter
The Latest from Natasha Lomas
Meta planning ad-free subscription or tracking ads ‘choice’ in EU, per WSJ — in latest bid to keep snooping
New battle lines appear to be being drawn up in the European Union between Facebook and Instagram owner Meta and regional users’ privacy rights. As it stands, the tech giant is running ads unlaw
Elon Musk’s X headed for ‘rule of law’ clash with EU, warns Twitter’s former head of trust & safety
The former head of trust and safety at Twitter has warned the platform now known as X is charting a collision course with the European Union’s rebooted digital rulebook, the Digital Services Act
Amazon wins interim stay on delivering a public ads archive in early challenge to EU’s Digital Services Act
Amazon has chalked up an early (partial) win in a court challenge related to the European Union’s designation of its ecommerce marketplace as subject to the strictest level of regulation under t
Norway seeks to extend ban on Meta’s consentless tracking ads across the EU
Norway’s data protection authority has asked a European Union regulator to take a binding decision on whether its emergency sanction on Facebook and Instagram tracking and profiling users for ad
Major Big Tech privacy watchdog in EU set to get two more commissioners soon
Fancy overseeing whether Big Tech is playing by European Union privacy rules? The Irish government has posted job ads for two additional commissioners to lead the Data Protection Commission (DPC), whi
Elon Musk’s X removes general option to report misleading info about politics
X (formerly Twitter) appears to have removed an option that allowed users in a handful of markets to directly report misleading information about politics. An Australian digital research group called
Deepfake election risks trigger EU call for more generative AI safeguards
The European Union has warned more needs to be done to address the risks that widely accessible generative AI tools may pose to free and fair debate in democratic societies, with the bloc’s valu
X (formerly Twitter) is worst for disinformation, per EU analysis
X (formerly Twitter) has been called out in the European Union for having the worst ratio of disinformation/misinformation to posts not spreading falsehoods among mainstream social networks. In a spee
Uber Eats and Getir ink tie-up in Europe for speedy grocery deliveries
Uber Eats and quick commerce player Getir have inked a grocery delivery partnership, starting in the U.K. The tie-up, which expands the range of groceries on tap for Uber Eats’ users, is slated
Correcto grabs $7M to build out its ‘Grammarly for Spanish’
The generative AI boom has put a spring in the step of Correcto, a Madrid-based language writing tool startup focused on Spanish speakers that’s today announcing $7 million in seed funding. The
Intel (re)fined $400M by EU for ‘naked restrictions’ dating back to the noughties
Talk about old news: The European Union has reimposed a fine (totalling €376.36 million) on Intel for antitrust violations dating back decades. Veteran tech watchers may recall the chipmaker was sla
Microsoft-Activision: UK looks poised to clear restructured deal
The U.K.’s competition watchdog has signalled it’s preparing to greenlight a restructured proposal for Microsoft to acquire Activision. In an update on its ongoing assessment today it said
UK bolts US ‘data bridge’ deal onto EU-US Data Privacy Framework
The U.K. government has officially confirmed it will piggyback on a transatlantic data transfer deal between the European Union and the U.S. by bolting on an extension that is dubbed the "U.K.-U.S. da
Poland opens privacy probe of ChatGPT following GDPR complaint
OpenAI is facing another investigation into whether its generative AI chatbot, ChatGPT, complies with European Union privacy laws. Last month a complaint was filed against ChatGPT and OpenAI in Poland
Meta targeted for fresh UK gov’t warning against E2E encryption for Messenger, Instagram
Buckle up for another encryption fight: Hot on the heels of securing parliament’s approval for its Online Safety Bill yesterday, the U.K. government is amping up pressure on Meta not to roll out
Untap Health wants to help offices and care homes track risk from bugs like flu and COVID-19
Ever since the pandemic we’ve been told we’ll need to learn to live with COVID-19, while also being warned it won’t be the last pandemic to hit us. Yet health risks aren’t equa
UK opens new chapter in digital regulation as parliament passes Online Safety Bill
Controversial U.K. legislation that brings in a new regime of content moderation rules for online platforms and services — establishing the comms watchdog Ofcom as the main Internet regulator &#
UK’s competition watchdog drafts principles for ‘responsible’ generative AI
An initial review of generative AI by the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) which was announced back in May has concluded with a report containing seven proposed principles to ̶
TikTok fined $379M in EU for failing to keep kids’ data safe
It’s been a long time coming but TikTok has finally been found in breach of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in relation to its handling of children’s d
EU to let ‘responsible’ AI startups train models on its supercomputers
The European Union has signalled a plan to expand access to its high performance computing (HPC) supercomputers by letting startups use the resource to train AI models. However there’s a catch: