Google ceases political ads in the EU ahead of October 2025 regulation Meta announces similar halt, citing regulatory burdens Shift signals changing landscape for digital political communication and online transparency Google has pre-emptively ceased accepting political advertisements across the European Union, well in advance of the EU’s Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulation taking effect on October 10. Under the new EU regulation, any ad deemed political must be explicitly identified, including disclosing the sponsor, relevant election or referendum, payment amounts and targeting methods. Advertisers must declare whether their campaign falls under the political advertisement definition by responding…

OpenAI introduces behaviour-based age verification and stricter content restrictions for under-18 users New measures respond to lawsuit and public outcry regarding harms caused by AI interactions with minors Industry debate intensifies on balancing safety, privacy, and freedom in AI platforms OpenAI is introducing stricter protections for teenagers using ChatGPT after a lawsuit alleged the chatbot contributed to the death of a 16-year-old boy. The move comes amid mounting legal and political pressure over the risks generative AI poses to vulnerable young users. In a blog post, CEO Sam Altman said the company will roll out behaviour-based age prediction, which estimates…

Yomiuri Shimbun files ¥2.17bn lawsuit against Perplexity copied about 120,000 articles to power chat answers The newspaper alleges the AI start-up copied about 120,000 articles to power chat answers Case will probe 2018 Copyright Act exception for machine learning Japan’s largest newspaper is suing Perplexity, accusing the AI search startup of copying more than 119,000 articles to train and power its chatbot. Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings said it filed the claim on August 7 in Tokyo District Court, seeking about ¥2.17bn ($15m) in damages and an injunction to stop Perplexity from reproducing or distributing its content. The suit, brought by three…

Executive Summary The publishing industry is undergoing rapid transformation driven by the dual forces of digital platform dominance and the rise of AI-generated content. This shift has provoked robust regulatory responses worldwide, with a focus on antitrust actions against tech giants whose control of data, algorithms, and distribution channels threatens traditional publisher market power and sustainability. Regulatory frameworks such as the European Union’s AI Act institute binding transparency and accountability mandates to curb platform abuses affecting news media [EXT1][EXT2]. Concurrently, publishers face unprecedented challenges in securing fair licensing and compensation for AI training data, leading to landmark negotiations and legal…

Journalists at Politico and E&E News have entered arbitration with management over claims that the company breached AI-related protections in their collective bargaining agreement. It is one of the first significant tests of enforceable AI rules within a newsroom. The PEN Guild, representing journalists at the two outlets, secured contract terms requiring management to negotiate over new AI tools and ensure any AI-generated content meets the same ethical and editorial standards as human reporting. The protections aim to safeguard journalism as AI adoption grows across the industry. The union alleges Politico violated the agreement in two ways. First, by publishing…

Independent media outlets have lodged a formal complaint with the EU against Google’s AI Overview search feature, claiming it misappropriates content and causes significant traffic and revenue losses, sparking renewed regulatory scrutiny in Europe and the UK. Report: Antitrust Complaints Against Google Arise Over AI-Driven Search Summaries Impacting Media Traffic Introduction A significant antitrust challenge has emerged against Google concerning its AI-enhanced search service known as ‘AI Overview’, which summarises search results using artificial intelligence (AI) at the top of the results page. Several independent media outlets have alleged that this service is adversely affecting their website traffic and revenues,…

Google is facing a formal antitrust complaint in Europe from a coalition of independent publishers, who accuse the company of abusing its dominance through its AI Overviews feature. The complaint, filed with the European Commission on 30 June, claims the tool harms publishers by extracting information from their content and displaying it directly on search results pages, sharply reducing user traffic and threatening the financial viability of independent journalism. At the heart of the case is Google’s growing use of AI-generated summaries to answer search queries without requiring users to click through to the original sources. Publishers say this practice…

The UK’s competition watchdog is preparing to impose sweeping new rules on Google that could reshape how search results and AI-generated summaries work, potentially transforming how publishers’ content is used and surfaced. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is expected to designate Google with “strategic market status” (SMS) later this year due to its dominance in search and search advertising. The designation, part of new digital markets legislation, would allow the CMA to enforce a set of binding conduct rules aimed at promoting fairer competition, greater user choice and more control for content providers. Central to the CMA’s concerns is…

Canada is rethinking how it regulates artificial intelligence, moving away from the sweeping framework proposed under the previous government and instead crafting a new set of rules that place copyright and cultural protection at the centre. Evan Solomon, the country’s first federal AI minister, told The Logic the government was not planning to reintroduce the Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA) in its original form. Instead, it will pursue a bespoke regulatory model aimed at building public trust and protecting creators – while avoiding a “Wild West” scenario in which AI development proceeds unchecked. A key focus will be how…

The BBC has issued a legal threat to AI startup Perplexity, accusing it of using BBC content without permission to train and power its artificial intelligence tools. The move, first reported by the Financial Times, marks the broadcaster’s first action in defence of its intellectual property against generative AI firms. In a letter to Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, the BBC demanded the company stop scraping its content, delete any material already collected and proposed a financial settlement. It claims Perplexity’s tools have reproduced BBC content verbatim and serve as direct competitors by diverting users away from its platforms. The broadcaster…