Welcome to Euracitv’s Tech Brief, your weekly update on all things digital in the EU. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.
“The US is right to go ahead without an investigation,” Europe “should do exactly the same thing”.
– French S&D MEP Aurore Lalucq told Euractiv about the US increase in tariffs on China’s semiconductors, electric vehicles, and other products that was unveiled on Monday.
Story of the week: The US increase in tariffs on China’s electric vehicles (EVs) and other products unveiled on Monday is splitting the EU’s centre-left Socialists & Democrats (S&D) along the lines of a Franco-German divide on whether Europe should follow up with a similar measure. The US Biden administration has announced it will quadruple tariffs on Chinese electric cars (EVs) from 25% to 100% – while hiking tariffs on semiconductors and solar cells from 25% to 50%, on lithium-ion batteries from 7.5% to 25%, and on syringes and needles from 0% to 50%, while politicians from Germany’s governing Social Democratic Party (SPD) were quick to chastise the move, French S&D MEP Aurore Lalucq told Euractiv “the US is right” to impose new tariffs, even without first investigating the amount of subsidies the Chinese government has given its carmakers. Read more.
Don’t miss: The European Commission announced on Monday the designation of Booking, the parent company of online travel giant Booking.com, as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and initiated a market investigation of social media platform X. While the Commission decided not to designate X Ads and TikTok Ads as gatekeepers, it launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s X over its potential designation as a gatekeeper. A Booking spokesperson told Euractiv on Monday the company had been working with the Commission “for some time” and “anticipated today’s [designation] decision,” which it is currently reviewing. Read more.
Also this week:
- Commission probes Meta for violating EU digital rulebook in protection of minors
- France’s TikTok ban in New Caledonia raises legality, effectiveness questions
Before we start: If you just can’t get enough tech analysis, tune in on our weekly podcast.
Today’s edition is powered by CODE
Driving Competition with Open Digital Ecosystems
The EU can take the lead in embedding the principles of openness that spur growth and innovation, both within Europe and around the world. Join the Coalition for Open Digital Ecosystems on 22 May to hear more.
Registrations here →
Artificial Intelligence
New AI tools. Both OpenAI and Google unveiled new AI tools with massively improved capabilities. OpenAI’s new chatbot with improved text, video, image and voice capabilities, GPT-4o, will be rolled out for free on ChatGPT, with some limits. In the same week, Google announced it is rolling out an updated version of its Gemini model to users of its Gemini Advanced paid plan increased AI features on its search engine, based on a Gemini model customised for search.
OpenAI wave of resignations. The AI company’s co-founder and Chief Scientist, Ilya Sutskever, is bowing out, with little explanation. Sutskever said he is working on a new project. He will be replaced by Jakub Pachocki, formerly the company’s director of research. Jan Leike, who co-led with Sutskever a team in the company looking to align AI with human values, also left, simply posting on X “I resigned.” Another two researchers working on safety and governance have quit in recent months, Business Insider reported.
The Apple eyes. Apple released an eye-tracking feature, which uses AI and the company’s proprietary hardware, to allow users to control iPads and iPhones with their eyes. The company said the feature will be rolled out later this year.
Digital diplomacy
French foreign investment. France attracted a record €15 billion in foreign investment pledges during the government’s flagship “Choose France” event, which brought together some 180 CEOs from around the world and some 60 French business leaders at Versailles Palace on Monday. The announcement comes as France has just been named Europe’s most attractive country for investment for the fifth year running, according to auditing firm EY, with 1,194 new and expanded sites, ahead of the UK (985) and Germany (733). Read more.
Bosnia and the Commission. The European Commission signed an association agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina for the Digital Europe Programme on Tuesday. This allows Bosnia and Herzegovina to participate in EU projects deploying digital technologies and set up Digital Innovation Hubs. The agreement aims to boost technology capabilities, support digitalisation, and benefit small and medium-sized businesses in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Digital Services Act
Commission investigates Meta – again. The European Commission initiated an investigation on Thursday into whether Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, has violated the Digital Services Act (DSA) concerning the protection of minors. The Commission is concerned that the two platforms “may stimulate behavioural addiction” and that age verification methods are inadequate, said Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager. The Commission is worried that the platforms and their algorithms could encourage addictive behaviours in children and lead them towards harmful content rabbit holes, which could end up in exposure to inappropriate material. A Meta spokesperson told Euractiv the company has “spent a decade developing more than 50 tools and policies” to protect minors and “looks forward” to sharing details on its work with the Commission. Read more.
Taming Temu. Consumer groups, led by BEUC, are criticising Temu in a complaint published on Thursday, an online marketplace, for breaching the EU’s Digital Services Act. They allege insufficient trader information, manipulative practices, and lack of transparency in product recommendations. In a response, Temu said it is committed to complying with local laws and prioritising consumer safety. They are addressing concerns through agreements with regulatory bodies and are open to improving their service based on feedback, including the BEUC complaint.
Commission-Ofcom cooperation. On Monday, the European Commission and Ofcom, the UK’s Competition Authority, signed an agreement to enforce online safety regulations. The cooperation will focus on protecting minors, promoting transparency, and assessing algorithmic impacts. The cooperation will also include expert dialogues and joint training.
eGovernance
Belgium gets digital identity wallet. The Belgian government joined the small group of countries that have launched digital identity wallets, where users can store documents and submit administrative requests, The Brussels Times reported on Tuesday.
Law enforcement
Cyprus vs. Pornhub. Cyprus’ Commissioner for Personal Data Protection is investigating Pornhub for potential violations of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), following a complaint by #StopDataPorn, the group announced on Thursday. The investigation involves visits to Pornhub’s headquarters and collaboration with other European authorities. In addition to GDPR issues, Pornhub faces compliance challenges with the Digital Services Act (DSA). #StopDataPorn also emphasised Pornhub’s exploitative practices beyond GDPR concerns.
Platforms
Council invites Commission to reflect on an influencer law. On Tuesday, the Council in its Education, Youth, Culture and Sport format, adopted conclusions on support for influencers. In the 13-page document, the Council notably “invites the European Commission to reflect on a coherent approach to influencers across all relevant policy areas.” In March, Euractiv reported that the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU is taking a stronger position on the accountability of influencers for content shared online.
Creators sue US government over TikTok ban. Eight TikTok creators are suing the US government over the law that would force the app’s sale or ban, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. They argue it violates their free speech rights, echoing TikTok’s previous legal challenges. The creators stress TikTok’s unique role in expression and information sharing and fear potential new ownership could alter content dynamics and threaten freedom of speech.
Threads’ TweetDeck. Threads, Meta’s text-focused social network, is experimenting with its own version of TweetDeck, a feature from Twitter, now called X, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. In this test, Threads users can pin up to 100 feeds to their homepage, facilitating easy navigation between posts from followed users, recommended content, or feeds centred on specific topics. This layout is exclusively accessible for web users of Threads.
Meta criticism. Meta rescinded a job offer to Paul Raffile, a cyber-intelligence analyst, after he criticised Instagram’s failure to protect children from sextortion during a webinar, The Guardian reported on Thursday. Meta denied the withdrawal was due to his criticism. Raffile argued this showed Meta’s lack of commitment to addressing the issue. He highlighted the rise in sextortion targeting teens on Instagram and Snapchat, criticising Meta’s slow response compared to other companies.
Standards
Eco-design. French telecom and digital communication authorities Arcep and Arcom published jointly a “general framework for the eco-design of digital services,” on Friday in Paris. This general framework was a requirement set in a 2021 law aiming to reduce the environmental footprint of digital technology (REEN). The framework follows four distinct objectives: to extend devices’ lifespan, to promote an environmentally sustainable approach against attention-capturing services, to reduce the resources used throughout the lifecycle of digital services and to increase the transparency of digital services’ environmental footprints.
Telecom
France’s TikTok ban. Experts are questioning the legality and effectiveness of France’s ban of TikTok in New Caledonia, imposed on Wednesday to contain widespread protests that rocked the French overseas territory in the South Pacific. The app ban was presented by the French government as complementary to the state of emergency, declared on Wednesday, and the deployment of armed forces in the overseas territory. Protests erupted before a bill was passed in the National Assembly to revise New Caledonia’s body of people entitled to vote in provincial elections, allowing residents who have lived in the territory for over 10 years to vote. Independence advocates have been criticising this measure saying it would dilute the vote of the indigenous Kanak people. Read more.
Telecom Ministers want a “pro-competition approach,” but not the pro-competition approach suggested in scenarios four and five of the Commission’s February White Paper, wrote the Computer & Communications Industry Association, along with other digital rights and consumer organisations in an open letter published on Thursday. Signatories repeat claims by consumer organisations and MVNO associations that they are concerned about these scenarios as they still entertain the possibility of the “removal of obligations for former monopolist telecom incumbents,” which, they claim, would result in reduced competition on the EU’s telecom market. They also repeat Big Tech’s opposition to the senders-pay initiative and to the possibility of “a potential extension of the [European Electronic Communication] Code to cloud providers.” Traditional telecom operators published a different vision on the future of telecommunications in a paper on 6 May.
German regional court fines Meta with €20m, in case viewed as potentially influencing the “fair share” debate. The Cologne Regional Court ruled in favour of Deutsche Telekom in a lawsuit opposing the German telecom operator to US Meta. Following a contract termination between the two companies and initiated by Meta in 2021, the US company continued sending traffic generated by its users to the telecom operator. Deutsche Telekom announced it would provide its IP transit services against a fee, while Meta considered that according to industry standards, handling the traffic relied on peering, which is settlement free. The Court did not rule whether the interconnection was peering or IP transit, and therefore did not settle the dispute on the senders-pay (or fair share) debate but decided that “the data was sent in the same way as before the termination” of the contract and therefore that Meta implicitly concluded an agreement with Deutsche Telekom. As Meta disagrees with the decision, it is probable that the company will appeal the decision to the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court. It could then later appeal to the Federal Court of Justice. Golem.de has the full story (in German).
What else we’re reading this week:
OpenAI and Google Differ on How AI Assistants Should Behave (Bloomberg)
Tech critic McCourt mounts TikTok bid (Semafor)
Meet the Woman Who Showed President Biden ChatGPT—and Helped Set the Course for AI (Wired)
[Edited by Alice Taylor]
