Fantastic news for safety and accessibility of riders on London roads, Waymo has announced that they will start driving in the UK next year. Big thanks to the UK Government for their forward thinking approach and support for AVs in the UK bsky.app/profile/pro...

Big news from our partners at @waymo.bsky.social! In 2026, they will expand operations to London, adding more options to the city's transit network.

Fascinating case, and one to follow. Reporting by @pieterhaeck.bsky.social pro.politico.eu/news/206414

Competition enforcement news in the UK today, as the CMA designates Google under the DMCCA (ex-ante rules), for "strategic market status" (i.e. gatekeeper) in search and search advertising. This was expected, and a long time coming, so what's new? www.gov.uk/government/...

Welcome news this week as Germany decides not to support "Chat Control" (mandating scanning devices and messages for possible CSA materials, creating a continent wide surveillance state, and eliminating our digital freedoms). There was a vote coming up next week. @claudiemoreau.bsky.social

📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU. Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.

“It actually doesn’t take much to be considered a difficult woman. That’s why there are so many of us.” ― Jane Goodall 💙 RIP to a real one. My childhood hero

The war of words over the DMA has escalated over the last few days. I already wrote about Apple's recent blogpost suggesting the DMA should be repealed, but there's been a few more developments over the weekend, with Google and the US Government entering the fray

💥Apple is going public on the EU's Digital Markets Act💥 After years of trying to resolve compliance differences behind closed doors, Apple is spilling all the gory details of how the Commission's sausage is being made, and why European users are getting hurt in the process.

I kinda hope they do decide to exclude tech giants, just to see what happens next. Inviting US retaliation by explicitly discriminating against US tech companies, calling into question the legality of the DMA itself, and neutering open-banking all in one fell swoop.

Yea nah, given all the compliance risk and political pressure on this issue, I don't think they will rethink it. As usual, overregulation leads to services being pulled.

Today @chamberofprogress.bsky.social submitted our response to the European Commission’s review of the #DMA. One year in, it’s clear: enforcement is disproportionate, fragmented, and the process for compliance uncertain, leaving European users worse off.

Snake oil sellers gonna sell snake oil.

Big story in the battle between Brussels and Big Tech: The EU is poised to exclude Meta, Apple, Google and Amazon from a new system to share citizens’ financial data, in the face of Trump’s retaliation threats @bmoens.bsky.social & @paolatamma.bsky.social with the news on.ft.com/46tA9Yv

Today we are presenting our proposals to the Council to suspend trade concessions with Israel and to place sanctions on extremist ministers of the Israeli government and on violent settlers. The horrific events taking place in Gaza on a daily basis must stop. Press release: link.europa.eu/nx3DrG

🚨 Will Europe’s banks succeed in neutering open banking? In June 2023, the European Commission proposed the Financial Data Access Regulation (FiDA) — to give Europeans control over their financial data and unlock new services in payments, lending, and money management.

🚨 Will Europe’s banks succeed in neutering open banking? In June 2023, the European Commission proposed the Financial Data Access Regulation (FiDA) — to give Europeans control over their financial data and unlock new services in payments, lending, and money management.

Bad news for EU consumers. Apple just announced new AI features with AirPods, like real-time translation in your ear... Unfortunately, this feature won't be in the EU at launch. thedigitalcurtain.eu#european-use...

🚀Fantastic news for European AI🇪🇺this is a partnership that shouldn't be investigated and slowed down by competition authorities. These investments in AI startups will attract more investment to the sector, and help startups like Mistral scale and compete internationally🌍 www.asml.com/en/news/pres...

So apparently Trump's angry tweets about foreign digital regulations weren't aimed at Europe? Incredible scoop from Ari Hawkins @politico.com‬

Brussels weather doing everything it can right now to emphasise that summer is well and truly over

It's a pity that Macron has taken Trump's bait here, and I wonder if his domestic political situation has something to do with it. I don't think the EU should escalate tensions at this point. Better to address legitimate concerns and dismiss the others. www.politico.eu/article/emma...

Interesting op-ed from the CEO of Europe's leading tech company SAP (primarily enterprise software and increasingly cloud services) in the Economist, on the pitfalls of EU policymakers' approach to competitiveness and building homegrown champions www.economist.com/by-invitati...

U.S. FTC warns Big Tech: don’t weaken encryption or censor Americans to comply with foreign laws. Doing so may violate U.S. law if it breaks promises to users. FTC says that tech companies should ignore any such demands of EU or UK regulators. www.ftc.gov/news-events/...

“By the time you read this article, more newborn babies will have died from starvation in Gaza.” @fbhutto.bsky.social writes about Israel’s genocidal, starvation campaign killing Palestinian children, journalists and more. Read the full article: zeteo.com/p/gaza-starv...

Anyway, I know it's not news that Trump is hypocritical, but here's my story reminding people that MAGA world insisted that the Biden admin sending impolite notes to Facebook was the greatest threat to free speech, but are completely silent on Trump calling up Murdoch and demanding he kill a story

What's the future of search services in Europe? That's not being hashed out in engineering departments of big tech companies, it's going to be decided in the halls of power in Brussels, where regulators will pick what they want the European internet to look like.

Their no more words to find, we're now living in a world where the LIVE MASS MURDER OF CHILDREN, OF CIVILIANS IS USED AS APPETIZING FOR THE NEW AI MASS MURDER TOOLS❗🥶 #Gaza #Westbank #Palestine #Genocide #ZionistHolocaustinPalestine qudsnen.co/israeli-firm...

A 30% tariff on EU exports would hurt businesses, consumers and patients on both sides of the Atlantic. We will continue working towards an agreement by August 1. At the same time, we are ready to safeguard EU interests on the basis of proportionate countermeasures. → europa.eu/!tPvKn8

It might give you a sense of the White House's own fears that the letters were dated yesterday, but they waited until Saturday morning -- when the markets are closed -- to actually release them.

Shot, Chaser

The median FBI agent today is a lawyer who joined up to prevent another 9/11. The median ICE agent tomorrow will be a dude with a high school diploma who watched guys in masks and full tactical snatching and beating day laborers and wants in on the action. www.thebulwark.com/p/the-americ...

I wonder if this boot-licking is in actuality a desperate play to try and get her released. Wouldn't that be worse than the alternative?

Maybe if the US wasn't sending unlimited military aid to an army committing genocide, it would have enough stockpiles to support an army defending against it.

www.reuters.com/legal/litiga... @reuters.com @reutersbiz.bsky.social @thomsonreutersnews.bsky.social @legal.reuters.com

Cette semaine, la végétalisation des places Flagey et Sainte-Croix a remporté le prestigieux prix « LILA » d’architecture urbaine. 2000 m² d’espaces verts supplémentaires, 60 arbres plantés, un espace public plus résilient face à la chaleur. Putain de dogmatisme écolo.

Great news for UK AI startups and scaleups, the UK's Digital REgulation Cooperation Forum will start a new initiative to provide AI companies in the UK a one-stop-shop for AI compliance with the UK's digital rules and regulations

Following the #DMA workshops in Brussels? Today was Google's turn in the hot-seat (and it was particularly hot, with recording breaking temperatures on the day draining everyone by the end). I did a live thread, which you can read unrolled here: threadreaderapp.com/thread/19399...

The European Commission wraps up its second round of compliance workshops for the Digital Markets Act this week. Read our analysis on the latest with Apple, Google, Bytedance and Meta in the spotlight >> progresschamber.org/insights/wor...

How dare people chant death to the IDF, the most moral army in the world! I can't imagine seeing videos worse than that! #Glastonbury should have definitely platformed IDF songs instead. Here's a good one I prefer over anything @bobvylanlyricaday.bsky.social or @kneecapceol.bsky.social has done:

🇪🇺DMA showdown this week😱: Apple, Google, Meta & ByteDance face EC workshops. What to look out for? 🥅Clear rules or shifting goal-posts? 🤒user harms 👮🏻‍♂️/👨🏻‍⚖️regulator-as-prosecutor 🪓single-market splinters A primer before the fireworks🎇 progresschamber.org/insights/wor...

Murkowski has said publicly she's "afraid" of being "retaliated against" for opposing MAGA. I'm not remotely excusing her vote here, but it's worth saying that Republican Senators are afraid MAGA will kill them if they don't vote for Trump's bills. We're already not a democracy.

Very interesting comments from the UK's CMA head Sarah Cardell at the Capital Markets Industry Taskforce Conference today, noting the UK's particular context and the Government's drive for growth and investment.

Thank you to President von der Leyen for standing up for diversity and free speech 👏👏👏 The use of facial recognition technologies to discourage pride protests in Budapest tomorrow is a deeply troubling attack on fundamental human rights, which cannot stand! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇪🇺 bsky.app/profile/von...

Jaw-dropping reporting by Haaretz www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...

Oh hey, would you look at that, German DPAs want Apple and Google to kick DeepSeek off their AppStores because of GDPR violations. They're asking Apple and Google to gatekeep! But I thought gatekeeping was bad? 🤔

This is where ex-ante "fairness" regulation has led us to. Users might go to Google for search, but not get Google search results. Reporting by @extrabrunch.bsky.social‬

Following up on Monday's short-thread with a few more thoughts on Amazon's DMA Workshop (I followed it on Twitter at the below link) x.com/KayJebelli/...

New paper on the tradeoffs between privacy and competitiveness just dropped, and it's a doozy