Government & Policy
Technology is deeply intertwined with government and policy, both being regulated by them and augmenting civic infrastructure like voting, social services, the justice system, and state-funded research, as well as exploring the frontiers of civil rights.
Microsoft to face higher competition scrutiny in Germany, including over its use of AI
Germany’s Federal Cartel Office (FCO) said the software giant could face restrictions if the competition authority deems an intervention is necessary.
In September, California Governor Gavin Newsom considered 38 AI-related bills, including the highly contentious SB 1047, which the state’s legislature sent to his desk for final approval. He vetoed SB…
California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed SB 1047, a high-profile bill that would have regulated the development of AI. The bill was authored by State Senator Scott Wiener and would…
Featured Article
In war-torn Sudan, a displaced startup incubator returns to fuel innovation
Businesses need stability to thrive. Unfortunately for anyone in Sudan, stability has been hard to come by for the past year and a half as the country quakes amidst a raging civil war. More than 20,000 people have been killed, and about 7.7 million people have been displaced just within…
X (formerly Twitter) could soon resume service in Brazil — if it’s willing to pay an additional fine. Reuters and other publications have reported on an order from the country’s…
Judge is unimpressed by Apple’s deadline extension request in Epic Games dispute
Apple faces a looming deadline to produce what it says are more than 1 million documents related to recent App Store changes. On Friday, Judge Thomas S. Hixson denied the…
The U.K.s’ antitrust authority has concluded that Amazon’s partnership and equity investment in AI startup Anthropic can’t be investigated under current merger rules due to the size and scope of…
Early sign-ups to EU’s AI Pact include Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI — but Apple and Meta are missing
The European Commission has revealed a list of the first 100-plus signatories to the AI Pact — an initiative focused on getting companies to publish “voluntary pledges” on how they…
Google files antitrust complaint against Microsoft in Europe over cloud licensing practices
Google has filed a complaint with the European Commission (EC), alleging that Microsoft uses anti-competitive licensing practices to strongarm companies into staying on its Azure cloud infrastructure. The complaint relates…
What is going on with Google’s long-touted migration to an alternative adtech stack (aka its Privacy Sandbox proposal)? What indeed. The entire multiyear endeavor to reshape the commercial web looks…
Starting from October 29, GitHub says that all enterprise cloud customers will be able to select an EU region to store all their code.
The White House issued a long-anticipated proposal Monday that would ban Chinese smart cars because internet-connected vehicles pose a national security risk. The proposal, made amid an escalating trade war,…
Speaking Saturday at the UN Summit of the Future, Google CEO Sundar Pichai described AI as “the most transformative technology yet” and announced a new fund for AI education and…
It seems that Elon Musk-owned social network X (formerly Twitter) is backing down from a confrontation with Brazil’s Supreme Court. The New York Times reported on a new court filing…
While it’s fair to say the EU’s antitrust tech enforcement outcomes have varied, one lasting legacy is that some of these major cases served as inspiration for the bloc’s Digital…
Elon Musk, the CEO of X and various other companies with the letter “X” in their names, is in regulators’ crosshairs after skipping testimony this month in an investigation related…
X went back online in Brazil earlier this week, three weeks after Elon Musk’s platform was blocked under orders from Brazil’s Supreme Court. That prompted Brazil’s top court to fine…
This tranche of funding went to startups across 14 states, but there were certain winners that will see the bulk of the expected 18,000 jobs to be created as a…
California’s newest law could land social media users who post, or repost, AI deepfakes that deceive voters about upcoming elections in legal trouble. Governor Gavin Newsom suggests that AB 2839,…
A new FTC report on how social media and streaming sites collect and monetize their hoards of user data doesn’t really feature a lot of surprises for anyone who’s followed…
No, the FAA isn’t fining SpaceX because of Elon Musk’s politics, former FAA head says
Elon Musk is suing the FAA over fines he claims are “politically-motivated.” The former head of the FAA disagrees.
The European Union has opened two “specification proceedings” on Apple under the bloc’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) that will see it instructing the iPhone maker on how to comply with…
A final report by the UN’s high-level advisory body on artificial intelligence makes for, at times, a surreal read. Named “Governing AI for Humanity,” the document underlines the contradictory challenges…
The governing body overseeing India’s popular UPI payments rail is considering increasing its proposed market share cap for operators like Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm.
Palmer Luckey returns to headsets as Anduril partners with Microsoft on U.S. military tech
Palmer Luckey, the Hawaiian-shirt wearing founder who sold Oculus VR for $2 billion before co-founding the military tech company Anduril, is back in the headset business — in a sense.…
A House committee overwhelmingly voted to approve a bill that would require new cars to be built with AM radio at no additional cost to the owner. The AM for…
Hiya, folks, welcome to TechCrunch’s regular AI newsletter. If you want this in your inbox every Wednesday, sign up here. It’s been just a few days since OpenAI revealed its latest…
Google has succeeded in overturning a $1.7 billion antitrust penalty handed down by the European Union back in March 2019.
California governor Gavin Newsom said there are 38 bills on his desk that would create laws around artificial intelligence on Tuesday, but one looms larger than all of them: SB…
Neuralink’s ‘breakthrough device’ clearance from FDA does not mean it has cured blindness
Neuralink, the Elon Musk-owned brain-computer interface company, on Tuesday received “breakthrough device” clearance from the FDA. But this does not mean the outfit has developed a cure for blindness, no…
