All news with #digital services act tag

📰 The European Commission fined Google €890 million for violating the EU's Digital Markets Act, finding the company favoured its own services in Google Search and restricted app developers on Google Play. Google was designated a DMA gatekeeper in September 2023 and investigated from March 2024. The fine splits into €460 million for search favouritism and €430 million for app store steering, and Google must comply within 60 days or face further penalties.

🛡️ Cloudflare is contesting Italy’s Piracy Shield, a regulator-run portal that requires rapid blocking of sites nominated by unnamed media companies, after refusing to register and being fined €14 million. The company says the system lacks due process, transparency, and judicial oversight, routinely causes overblocking, and conflicts with the Digital Services Act. Cloudflare has appealed the fine, sought disclosure of enforcement records, and is pursuing remedies in Italian courts and with EU authorities. It warns the scheme endangers global Internet infrastructure and user rights.

⚖️ The European Commission says TikTok may face a substantial penalty under the Digital Services Act after preliminary findings concluded that core design elements — infinite scroll, autoplay, push notifications and personalized recommendation systems — promote compulsive use and can harm minors and vulnerable adults. Regulators say TikTok failed to adequately assess and mitigate risks, pointing to nighttime usage and frequent app openings as ignored indicators of harm. If confirmed, the violations could trigger a fine of up to 6% of global turnover and the Commission has demanded screen-time breaks, adapted recommendation systems and the disabling of key addictive features; existing parental controls were judged insufficient.

🔎The European Commission has fined X €120 million for breaching transparency obligations under the Digital Services Act. A two‑year inquiry found X's paid 'blue checkmark' programme misleading because badges could be purchased without meaningful identity verification, and that its ad repository and researcher access practices lacked required transparency. X has 60 working days to fix the checkmark issue and 90 days to submit plans for ad and research improvements or face further penalties.