The Latest from Natasha Lomas
CJEU ruling could open big tech to more privacy litigation in Europe
A long running privacy fight between Belgium’s data protection authority and Facebook — over the latter’s use of online trackers like pixels and social plug-ins to snoop on web users
Twitter is eyeing new anti-abuse tools to give users more control over mentions
Twitter is looking at adding new features that could help users who are facing abusive situations on its platform as a result of unwanted attention pile-ons, such as when a tweet goes viral for a reas
Europe needs to back browser-level controls to fix cookie consent nightmares, says privacy group
European privacy group noyb, which recently kicked off a major campaign targeting rampant abuse of the region’s cookie consent rules, has followed up by publishing a technical proposal for an au
Google won’t end support for tracking cookies unless UK’s competition watchdog agrees
Well this is big. The U.K.’s competition regulator looks set to get an emergency brake that will allow it to stop Google ending support for third-party cookies, a technology that’s current
InfoSum outs an identity linking tool that’s exciting marketing firms like Experian
InfoSum, a startup which takes a federated approach to third-party data enrichment, has launched a new product (called InfoSum Bridge) that it says significantly expands the customer identity linking
Voice AIs are raising competition concerns, EU finds
The European Union has been digging into the competition implications of AI-powered voice assistants and other Internet of Things (IoT) connected technologies for almost a year. Today it’s put o
ProtonMail gets a slick new look, as privacy tech eyes the mainstream
End-to-end encrypted email service ProtonMail has refreshed its design, updating with a cleaner look and a more customizable user interface — including the ability to pick from a bunch of themes
Terraformation gets $30M to fight climate change with rapid reforesting
Every startup is trying to fix something, but Terraformation is tackling the only problem that must matter to all of us: climate change. This is why it’s in such a big huge hurry. Its mission &#
Google ditches pay-to-play Android search choice auction for free version after EU pressure
Google is ditching a massively unpopular auction format that underpins a choice screen it offers in the European Union, it said today. Eligible search providers will be able to freely participate. The
France fines Google $268M for adtech abuses and gets interoperability commitments
France’s competition watchdog, L’Autorité de la concurrence, has fined Google up to €220 million (~$268M) in a case related to self-preferencing within the adtech market which the watchdog
Google’s Gradient Ventures leads $8.2M Series A for Vault Platform’s misconduct reporting SaaS
Fixing workplace misconduct reporting is a mission that’s snagged London-based Vault Platform backing from Google’s AI focused fund, Gradient Ventures, which is the lead investor in an $8.
Facebook’s use of ad data triggers antitrust probes in UK and EU
Facebook is facing a fresh pair of antitrust probes in Europe. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the EU’s Competition Commission both announced formal investigations i
In latest Big Tech antitrust push, Germany’s FCO eyes Google News Showcase fine print
The Bundeskartellamt, Germany’s very active competition authority, isn’t letting the grass grow under new powers it gained this year to tackle Big Tech: The Federal Cartel Office (FCO) has
Europe wants to go its own way on digital identity
In its latest ambitious digital policy announcement, the European Union has proposed creating a framework for a “trusted and secure European e-ID” (aka digital identity) — which it s
UK PM Boris Johnson’s Tories guilty of spamming voters
The governing party of the U.K. has been fined £10,000 by the national data protection watchdog for sending spam. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has sanctioned the Conservative Par
TikTok called out for lack of ads transparency and for failing to police political payola
TikTok announced a ban on political advertising all the way back in 2019. So you’d be forgiven for thinking the ugly problem of democracy-denting political disinformation doesn’t apply ins
Tech giants still aren’t coming clean about COVID-19 disinformation, says EU
European Union lawmakers have asked tech giants to continue reporting on efforts to combat the spread of vaccine disinformation on their platforms for a further six months. “The continuation of
Divido bags $30M to take its ‘buy now, pay later’ platform to more markets
London-based Divido, a white-label platform for retail finance that integrates with e-commerce platforms (but can also support omni-channel) so retailers can offer consumers a “buy now, pay late
EU and Bill Gates make joint push for $1BN to accelerate clean tech
The European Commission has announced a partnership with Bill Gates’ sustainable energy funding vehicle with the goal of unlocking new investments for clean tech and sustainable energy projects
EU’s COVID-19 ‘digital pass’ gateway system goes live
A technical system underpinning the European Union’s plan for a pan-EU “digital pass” for verifying COVID-19 vaccination or test status across the region has gone live today, with a