Archive for September 2019
Google will pay France €1 billion to end years-long tax probe
Google will pay nearly €1 billion to French authorities to settle an ongoing investigation into its tax practices, according to The Verge. The payment includes a €500 million fine and tax payments of €465 million, still totaling less than the €1.6 billion Google was accused of failing to pay. Since 2016, authorities had been investigating whether […]
US lawmakers step up antitrust inquiry, demanding documents from tech giants
The House Judiciary Committee of the US Congress has called on tech companies to release a wide array of documents and emails relating to possible anticompetitive practices, escalating the federal government’s ongoing antitrust investigation into companies like Facebook, Google, and Amazon. The requests were sent directly to executives like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, […]
France says it will block Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency in the EU
Facebook’s “Libra” cryptocurrency project faced another policy setback on Thursday, with France saying that it would block its implementation in the Europe, according to BBC News. The nation’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, voiced concerns over how the currency could allow Facebook to abuse its dominant position in the market, would threaten the monetary sovereignty of […]
EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager will serve another term, with expanded powers to regulate tech companies
European competition chief Margrethe Vestager, who had been facing the end of her term, will instead return for a another five years, with an expanded role on the new team of commissioners, according to Reuters. Vestager has been behind much of the European Commission’s scrutiny of tech giants, and will now serve as an Executive Vice […]
Despite billions in sales, Amazon Europe received €241m in tax credits last year
Amazon Europe was granted €241m in tax credits last year, despite reporting nearly €30bn in sales, and even as authorities move to collect more taxes from tech giants. The credits could be deducted from taxes owed on future earnings, according to The Guardian. In recent years, tech companies in Europe, many of which are based in the […]
US states launch antitrust probes targeting Facebook and Google
US states attorney generals announced two new antitrust probes on Friday, aimed at large tech companies such as Facebook and Google, according to Reuters. One probe, investigating Facebook, will be led by New York and includes seven other states as well as the District of Columbia. A second probe is expected to be aimed at Google, […]
Hundreds of millions of Facebook users have had their phone numbers leaked
Hundreds of millions of phone numbers from Facebook users have been discovered in an unsecured database online, in the latest privacy lapse linked to the social media company, according to Gizmodo. With a total of more than 400 million records, the database includes 18 million users from the UK, as well as 122 million from the […]
Europe’s mental health websites are selling sensitive user data to advertisers
A new study has revealed that mental health websites in Europe are selling information collected from users, including psychological health data such as answers from quizzes, according to BBC News. The study, by Privacy International (PI), found that the way this information was collected is “neither transparent nor fair” and that many websites are “failing to meet […]
King’s Cross developers halt use of facial recognition technology
The developers behind London’s King’s Cross Central project have halted controversial plans to reimplement facial recognition technology at the site, they said in a statement on Monday. Last month, the developer revealed that its cameras “use a number of detection and tracking methods, including facial recognition.” It was among the first property-owners to admit using the […]
The BBC will launch its own digital voice assistant, called ‘Beeb’
The BBC is developing its own digital voice assistant, called “Beeb,” to rival Amazon’s Alexa, according to The Guardian. Instead of building its own smart speaker or other hardware, Beeb will be available on BBC’s website, its smart TV iPlayer app, and on smart speakers from other manufacturers. Beeb will focus on connecting users to BBC’s existing […]