EU ANTITRUST REGULATORS
Microsoft stock (MSFT) falls as US targets green card filings for H-1B workers and Italy probes gaming business
Microsoft stock fell nearly 2% as the US targeted Microsoft’s green card filings for H-1B workers, while Italy opened an investigation into Microsoft-owned gaming companies over virtual currencies, consumer protection and gaming practices.
Italy launches EU-backed probe into Microsoft-owned gaming companies
Italy's probe is aimed at Activision Blizzard, among other companies of the Microsoft group, the antitrust authority said in a statement, without naming the others
Polish regulator suspects Google abused dominant position in publisher payment talks
The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection, known by its Polish abbreviation UOKiK, said the charges relate to how Google negotiates remuneration for displaying articles and snippets in its search results, Google News and Discover services.
Paramount Skydance settles with 12 states, clearing hurdle to $110 billion Warner Bros deal
Paramount Skydance has settled with California and 11 other states that sued to block its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, removing a major US antitrust hurdle to the deal. Under the settlement, CNN and CBS would get independent editorial boards, while Paramount would face a $30 million penalty per film for falling short of its commitment to release 30 movies annually. The deal still faces remaining regulatory and closing steps, with Paramount also seeking to avoid a $7 million-a-day fee tied to delays beyond September 30.
Europe's AI firms, playing catch-up, challenge US calls for slowdown
Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei in an online essay urged firms to slow the pace at which they improve AI model capabilities and called for an antitrust waiver allowing leading developers to jointly develop safety measures after researchers warned about the dangers of AI, including that it could wipe out humanity.
Opera loses court challenge against EU exemption of Microsoft's Edge from DMA rules
The European Commission in its 2024 decision said Edge was not an important gateway for businesses to reach users even though it met the quantitative criteria set out under the Digital Markets Act which sets out a list of dos and don'ts for Big Tech.
EU antitrust regulators quiz publishers on Google's AI search opt-out
The publishers' feedback could determine the outcome of an ongoing EU investigation that could result in yet another hefty fine for Google if the proposal fails to address competition concerns and publishers' worries about unfair use of their content.
Google changes spam policy in EU to avert antitrust fine
The EU said that its monitoring showed that Google's spam policy demoted news media and other publishers' websites and content in Google search results, when those websites include content from commercial partners.
Meta offers rival AI chatbots free access to WhatsApp for a month
Meta Platforms is offering rival AI chatbots free access to its WhatsApp messaging service for one month. This move comes as Meta discusses commitments with EU antitrust regulators. The European Commission had indicated it was inclined to order Meta to provide such access. Previously, Meta had restricted its own AI assistant to WhatsApp, later proposing a fee for rivals.
Intel gets $536 million in interest from 1.06 billion euro EU antitrust fine
Intel sued the European Commission for 593 million euros in 2022 after convincing Europe's second-top court to scrap the fine.
EU regulators assess Apple's plan for complying with music streaming order
The iPhone maker risks antitrust charges and fresh fines if its proposal announced last Friday fails to satisfy the EU competition enforcer, which issued its order together with a 1.84 billion euro ($2 billion) fine last month.
European regulators crack down on Big Tech
Apple, Meta Platforms and Alphabet's Google could receive hefty fines by the end of the year for alleged breaches including disparaging rival products on their platforms.
EU antitrust regulator intends to block Amazon's iRobot acquisition: report
The European Union's competition watchdog, the European Commission, plans to block Amazon's $1.4 billion acquisition of iRobot, a robot vacuum maker. Amazon was informed during its meeting with European Commission officials that the deal was likely to be rejected.
Microsoft's OpenAI investment risks EU merger probe, EU regulators say
Microsoft's financial backing for ChatGPT maker OpenAI may be subject to EU merger rules, EU antitrust regulators said on Tuesday, underscoring a similar warning from its UK peer in December.
EU antitrust regulators resume Adobe, Figma probe, deadline February 5
It has said that the deal may eliminate an important rival to Adobe and allow it to restrict competition in global markets for the supply of interactive product design tools.
No formal investigation into AI chips, EU antitrust regulators say
Bloomberg News last week said the EU antitrust watchdog was informally collecting views on potentially abusive practices in the market for graphics process units.
EU antitrust regulators to assess impact of Microsoft's UK Activision remedy
The EU competition enforcer cleared the deal in May after Microsoft agreed to licence popular Activision games such as "Call of Duty" to rival game streaming platforms for 10 years.
EU antitrust regulators rejected Meta offer to curb use of ad data, sources say
Meta Platforms offered to curb the use of competitors' advertising data for its Facebook Marketplace online classified service in an attempt to settle an EU antitrust investigation but it was not accepted by regulators, people familiar with the matter said.
Apple to defend mobile payment system at February 14 EU hearing
The hearing, which senior European Commission and national competition officials, Apple executives and complainants will attend, comes nine months after the EU competition watchdog accused the company of abusing its market power.
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