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New Straits Times
24-04-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
White House Slams EU tech fines on Apple, Meta as 'economic extortion'
WASHINGTON: Large EU fines on Meta and Apple for breaking competition rules amount to "economic extortion," the White House said, urging an end to "malicious" European regulations targeting US tech giants. The European Commission on Wednesday fined Apple 500 million euros (US$570 million) after concluding the company prevented developers from steering customers outside its App Store to access cheaper deals. Facebook and Instagram-owner Meta was also fined 200 million euros over its "pay or consent" system after it violated rules on the use of personal data. The fines are the first under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into effect last year, forcing the world's biggest tech firms to open up to competition in the EU. "This novel form of economic extortion will not be tolerated by the United States," Brian Hughes, spokesman of the White House National Security Council, told AFP in a statement Thursday. "The EU's malicious targeting of American companies and consumers must stop," he said, reiterating the Trump administration's position that such regulations "enable censorship" and are a "direct threat to free civil society." While not outlining any potential US response, Hughes said the regulations "will be recognised as barriers to trade," suggesting they may be brought up in upcoming EU-US negotiations. President Donald Trump launched his steep levies on trading partners, including the European Union, citing the removal of "unfair" non-tariff barriers as one of his goals. "End the EU's regulatory death spiral!" Hughes said.--AFP
Irish Times
23-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
EU fines Apple and Meta combined €700m
The European Union has handed tech giants Apple and Meta significant fines of €500 million and €200 million respectively, for breaching the bloc's new rules regulating digital markets. The ruling penalised Apple for putting unfair restrictions on app developers who use its App Store. Facebook and Instagram-owner Meta was fined over its 'consent or pay' model of charging users a monthly subscription, if they refused to allow the company to use their personal data for targeted ads. The fines were handed down following investigations launched over suspected breaches of the EU's Digital Markets Act, which seeks to regulate the power of big tech players. The regulations came into force in 2023 and put obligations on tech companies who hold dominant market positions, to allow fair competition. The fines follow two antitrust investigations undertaken by the European Commission, the EU executive that enforces the union's tech regulations. READ MORE The financial penalties on the US multinationals will likely stoke the fire of the trade dispute between the US and the European Union. US president Donald Trump has repeatedly criticising the union's strict regulations on tech firms. The commission decided that Apple was preventing app developers from steering customers to cheaper subscription offers available outside of its App Store system. 'Due to a number of restrictions imposed by Apple, app developers cannot fully benefit from the advantages of alternative distribution channels outside the App Store,' the commission said. 'Similarly, consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers as Apple prevents app developers from directly informing consumers of such offers,' it said. The EU executive ordered Apple to lift the technical and commercial restrictions it puts on app developers who list their products on its App Store. Tech giant Meta was fined over a new model it introduced in late 2023, which required users to pay a monthly subscription fee, if they refused to allow their data to be used by the company to tailor advertisements. The commission ruled that this did not give Facebook or Instagram users enough choice to opt for a service that used less of their personal data, or allowed people to freely consent to how their data was used. EU officials found that the number of Meta users who opted to pay a monthly fee was a fraction of one per cent of the social media platforms users. A senior commission official involved in the investigation said there was a view that Meta's binary choice effectively 'forces users to consent to the use of their personal data for advertising'. It is likely the cases may be appealed to the EU courts by Apple and Meta.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta to seek disclosure on political ads that use AI ahead of Canada elections
(Reuters) -Meta Platforms will ask advertisers to disclose the use of AI or other digital techniques to create or alter a political or social issue ad, the Facebook-owner said on Thursday, aiming to curb misinformation ahead of the Canadian federal elections. The disclosure mandate will apply if an ad contains a photorealistic image, video or realistic-sounding audio that has been digitally created or altered to depict a real person as saying or doing something they did not actually say or do. It also extends to ads that show a person who does not exist or a realistic-looking event that did not happen, alters footage of a real event or depicts an event that allegedly occurred, but is not a true image, video or audio recording of the event. In November last year, Meta said it would extend its ban on new political ads after the U.S. election, in response to rampant misinformation during the previous presidential election. Meta also barred political campaigns and advertisers in other regulated industries from using its new generative AI advertising products in 2023. However, Meta scrapped its U.S. fact-checking programs earlier this year — in addition to curbs on discussions around contentious topics such as immigration and gender identity — succumbing to pressure from conservatives to implement the biggest overhaul of its approach to managing political content. The Instagram-owner also claimed in December last year that generative AI had limited impact across its apps in 2024, failing to build a significant audience on Facebook and Instagram or use AI effectively. Meta has also added a feature for people to disclose when they share AI-generated images, video or audio, so it can label it.
Reuters
20-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Meta doubles down on political ads that use AI ahead of Canada elections
March 20 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab will ask advertisers to disclose the use of AI or other digital techniques to create or alter a political or social issue ad, the Facebook-owner said on Thursday, aiming to curb misinformation ahead of the Canadian federal elections. The disclosure mandate will apply if an ad contains a photorealistic image, video or realistic-sounding audio that has been digitally created or altered to depict a real person as saying or doing something they did not actually say or do. It also extends to ads that show a person who does not exist or a realistic-looking event that did not happen, alters footage of a real event or depicts an event that allegedly occurred, but is not a true image, video or audio recording of the event. In November last year, Meta said it would extend its ban on new political ads after the U.S. election, in response to rampant misinformation during the previous presidential election. Meta also barred political campaigns and advertisers in other regulated industries from using its new generative AI advertising products in 2023. However, Meta scrapped its U.S. fact-checking programs earlier this year — in addition to curbs on discussions around contentious topics such as immigration and gender identity — succumbing to pressure from conservatives to implement the biggest overhaul of its approach to managing political content. The Instagram-owner also claimed in December last year that generative AI had limited impact across its apps in 2024, failing to build a significant audience on Facebook and Instagram or use AI effectively. Meta has also added a feature for people to disclose when they share AI-generated images, video or audio, so it can label it.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta vows to curtail false content, deepfakes ahead of Australia election
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Facebook and Instagram-owner Meta Platforms said on Tuesday its independent fact-checking program in Australia would help detect and remove false content and deepfakes, as it aims to curb misinformation ahead of a national election due by May. In a blog post, the social media company said any content that could lead to imminent violence and physical harm, and interfere with voting would be removed, while the distribution of misleading content through its platforms would be curtailed. "When content is debunked by fact-checkers, we attach warning labels to the content and reduce its distribution in Feed and Explore so it is less likely to be seen," said Cheryl Seeto, Meta's Head of Policy in Australia. News agencies Agence France-Presse and the Australian Associated Press will review the content for Meta, Seeto said. Meta scrapped its U.S. fact-checking programs in January and reduced curbs on discussions around contentious topics such as immigration and gender identity, bowing to pressure from conservatives to implement the biggest overhaul of its approach to managing political content on its services. Besides fake content, social media companies are also fighting to contain deepfakes - hyper-realistic videos, photographs or audio generated through AI algorithms that are presented as real. Meta said any deepfake content that violates its policies would be removed, or rated "altered" and then ranked down in its feed to limit its distribution. Users will also be prompted to disclose when they post or share AI-generated content. "For content that doesn't violate our policies, we still believe it's important for people to know when photorealistic content they're seeing has been created using AI," Seeto said. Opinion polls show a close-run election in Australia with the opposition Liberal-National coalition ahead of the ruling centre-left Labor party by a narrow margin. Meta's approach in Australia is consistent with its efforts to prevent misinformation during the recent elections in India, Britain and the United States, Seeto said. Meta is facing multiple regulatory headwinds in Australia with the government planning to impose a levy on big tech firms to compensate for advertising revenue they generate from sharing local news content. Meta and other social media firms must also enforce a ban for users under 16 by the end of this year with the companies consulting the government on how they should roll the restrictions.
