I attended this last night and it was even better than I expected, just superb stuff from @jim.killock.org.uk, @megafreda.eurosky.social and @jmaris.me - and inspired (and inspiring!) breakout room discussions too.

Yesterday we hosted an event on how the UK can build Digital Sovereignty. Our panel explored open source and the Digital Commons in creating a more resilient, transparent and equitable future. Catch up on the event with @jim.killock.org.uk, @megafreda.eurosky.social and @jmaris.me. Watch now ⬇️

TODAY! Really looking forward to the discussions :)

TOMORROW ⏰️ Join our special event on how the UK can build back control over our digital infrastructure, data and tech with open source. Hear from @jim.killock.org.uk, @megafreda.eurosky.social and Jordan Maris discuss Digital Sovereignty. 🗓️ 15 July 🕧️ 6-8pm BST 💻️ Online Register now ⬇️

"Do we really want a president to be powerless to implement the protections for consumers, workers and the environment on which he or she ran?" asks Georgetown's Mark MacCarthy—arguing the Supreme Court result in Trump v. Slaughter "might even have some upsides for a new progressive administration."

The European Commission has joined W Social, a closed-source European platform, weeks after publishing its Open Source Strategy. Megan Kirkwood asks whether the move contradicts the Commission's own goals.

BREAKING: a second select committee has called on the government to trigger the break clause in the NHS contract with Palantir. committees.parliament.uk/committee/81...

As Europe implements policy intended to boost its digital sovereignty, what shape is that sovereignty taking? My latest article looking at the European Commission migrating to W Social, and taking a wider view of what it means going forward

“Unfettered tech boosterism is a vote-loser,” said one person who has been involved in discussions, adding that Burnham’s team had discussed a new focus on ensuring that AI technology worked for British companies and the UK public rather than US tech giants.

What is life after Palantir? Join our special event on how the UK can build back control over our digital infrastructure, data and tech with open source. Hear from @jim.killock.org.uk, @megafreda.eurosky.social and Jordan Maris discuss Digital Sovereignty. 🗓️ 15 July 🕧️ 6-8pm BST 💻️ Online ⬇️ Sign up

Slaughter is an earthquake: SCOTUS has overturned a 90-year-old precedent that facilitated much of modern governance by granting many agencies meaningful independence from the president. Now SCOTUS crushes that independence ... for seemingly every agency except the Federal Reserve.

SCOTUS has just ignored its own precedent to make sure the commissioners of independent regulatory agencies like the FTC, FCC etc. — who go through the same appointment and confirmation process as SCOTUS justices — can now be fired by POTUS as political retribution.

"The President can fire members of the Federal Trade Commission without cause, the Supreme Court has said, overturning a 90-year-old precedent that insulated the antitrust enforcer from the White House" globalcompetitionreview.com/gcr-usa/arti... - well this seems very bad

One of the best things about the Dreaming Against the Machine podcast is @adambecker.bsky.social absolutely cackling down the mic

How will Andy Burnham approach tech policy as UK Prime Minister? Tech Policy Press fellow James Ball reads the clues: skepticism on surveillance, “not now” on digital ID, and likely continuity on Starmer’s under-16 social media ban.

Google and Apple are framing the EU's DMA interoperability mandates as privacy and security risks, writes George Colville of Open Markets Institute Europe. He argues these claims should be assessed by independent experts, not incumbents with conflicting interests.

"The European Commission is set to unveil its preliminary findings as early as next week, stating that AWS and Azure seem to meet the requirements to face the bloc’s Digital Markets Act, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke under condition of anonymity."

What an insightful breakdown of both the policy process and how the harms a social media ban is supposed to fix get completely missed through pursuing the ban approach - great blog @jim.killock.org.uk @openrightsgroup.org

👏🏻👏🏻 “The deepest function of sovereignty is that a government defends its own continued existence and its exclusive right to authorise force. What we watched instead was governments declining to do so, in public, with the world's richest man openly calling for their imprisonment.”

new from me: on this week's riots in Belfast, Musk, and European states openly declining to defend their own sovereignty. What does it even mean to build digital sovereignty infrastructure when states themselves don't want to be sovereign? connectedplaces.online/reports/fr16...

"Palantir’s UK boss Louis Mosley says Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who blocked Mosley’s news contract with the Met Police this week, is “putting politics over public safety.” www.techpolicy.press/palantirs-uk...

A civil society group's successful bid to intervene in Apple's challenge to EU interoperability rules illustrates how enforcement of the Digital Markets Act is being shaped beyond the Commission, writes Megan Kirkwood.

A civil society group's successful bid to intervene in Apple's challenge to EU interoperability rules illustrates how enforcement of the Digital Markets Act is being shaped beyond the Commission, writes Megan Kirkwood.

Anthony Whelan’s appointment to lead DG COMP comes at a critical moment for the EU, writes Mark Dempsey. As the Commission pursues a “competitiveness” agenda and considers weaker merger control, the key question is whether EU competition policy will resist corporate concentration or accommodate it.

New from me, on the decision by the @ec.europa.eu to not extend the DMA interoperability requirements to social media, and how this closes off a pathway for mass adoption of open social networks. connectedplaces.online/reports/fr16...

Just as many individuals and organisations are asking for Palantir to be removed from the NHS, the FT reports this...

Writing as part of our ongoing Hype Studies series, legal scholar Hannah Ruschemeier writes that the European Commission’s current 'Omnibus' proposal for the 'simplification' of EU digital regulation perfectly illustrates that AI hype has now arrived at the heart of European lawmaking.

Megan Kirkwood explores the EU's first formal review of the Digital Markets Act, unpacking why future enforcement will focus on strengthening existing rules rather than broadening the law's scope despite calls to expand obligations to cover AI and cloud computing.

> you work at HMRC > you're told you're going to get an AI to improve your working life > get excited > AI arrives, it's Copilot > realise you work at HMRC > go about ruining someone else's day www.theregister.com/2026/04/27/h...

I need everyone to go see this film thanks

Today was a good day

Brazil’s competition watchdog unanimously decided Thursday to open a formal investigation into Google’s use of news content, including in its AI Overviews, without compensation to publishers, reports Laís Martins.

“This latest round of incoherent, comic-book villain worthy statements from Alex Karp demonstrates just how deeply embedded Palantir is in the Trump-Big Tech axis, fixated on US dominance and utterly unsuited to being anywhere near our public services.” www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

LONDON CALLING! Join us for a preview before our official UK theatrical tour! @berthadochouse.bsky.social Bertha's Doc House at the Curzon Bloomsbury Sat April 25 @ 18:00 Sun April 26 @ 16:10 Tues April 28 @ 20:30 "Essential viewing amidst vast AI spending" @forbes.com

"And when the inefficiencies of human thought, deliberation and opinion are cleared aside, we are left asking: who is in charge?" Fantastic deep dive www.newstatesman.com/technology/2...

The UK is seeking to grant ministers wide-ranging new powers to rewrite significant portions of the Online Safety Act through amendments tucked into two unrelated bills, a move experts say could bypass normal parliamentary scrutiny, reports Tech Policy Press UK fellow Jade-Ruyu Yan.

"The regulatory race that matters is not between over-regulation and under-regulation, but between legitimate and illegitimate centralisation." Really insightful comparative piece on AI governance design

We are not in the "AI era." We are in the "source: trust me, bro" era.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has concluded a three-year cloud computing investigation by accepting non-binding pledges from Amazon and Microsoft — and opening a new probe into Microsoft's corporate software dominance, writes Megan Kirkwood.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has concluded a three-year cloud computing investigation by accepting non-binding pledges from Amazon and Microsoft — and opening a new probe into Microsoft's corporate software dominance, writes Megan Kirkwood.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has concluded a three-year cloud computing investigation by accepting non-binding pledges from Amazon and Microsoft — and opening a new probe into Microsoft's corporate software dominance, writes Megan Kirkwood.

"With trade tensions lingering, the Commission said it is discussing with the US plans to set up a “dialog” on digital technologies and markets. Despite such openings, the EU’s executive arm insists the bloc’s tech regulation is not up for negotiation. [...]"

I co-authored a deep dive with Anush Ganesh for SCiDA into what stakeholders actually said in response to the CMA's four proposed conduct requirements for Google Search under the digital competition regime. We looked at all the responses and highlighted key themes so you don’t have to!

www.ft.com/content/2d2b... Ministers consider triggering the break clause in Palantir's NHS contract. They should. Palantir has no place in the NHS. @justtreatment.org @labourlewis.bsky.social @foxglovelegal.bsky.social

"U.K.’s AI Minister Kanishka Narayan has told Patrick Baker on this week’s Westminster Insider podcast there is a 50:50 chance AI as intelligent as humans could arrive in the next five years." Tell me you're captured without telling me...

www.theguardian.com/technology/2... It’s actually kinda comical

Study finds ChatGPT Health did not recommend a hospital visit when medically necessary in more than half of cases. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Have you noticed that digital products and services are getting worse? So have we! Today we are publishing our new report, Breaking Free: Pathways to a fair technological future. vimeo.com/1168468796?f...

OpenAI ”acknowledged in its own research that LLMs will always produce hallucinations due to fundamental mathematical constraints that cannot be solved through better engineering, marking a significant admission from one of the AI industry’s leading companies.” You can’t trust chatbots.