U.S. Says China Agrees to 'Framework' for Deal to Resolve TikTok Dispute

U.S. officials said that they reached a preliminary deal with China on the fate of the social media platform TikTok that would address one of the biggest points of contention between the world’s two largest economies. Following two days of talks in Madrid, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the two sides had agreed to a “framework” for a deal to divest TikTok from its Chinese owner, ByteDance.

Nvidia Violated Antitrust Regulations in Mellanox Deal, China Rules

China ruled that Nvidia Corp. violated anti-monopoly laws with a high-profile 2020 deal, ratcheting up the pressure on Washington during sensitive trade negotiations. The U.S. chipmaker was found in violation of antitrust regulations after the acquisition of networking gear maker Mellanox Technologies Ltd., the State Administration for Market Regulation said after concluding a preliminary investigation.

Magazine Publisher Sues Google for Creating AI Summaries

The owner of Rolling Stone, Billboard and Variety sued Google, alleging the technology giant's AI summaries use its journalism without consent and reduce traffic to its websites. The lawsuit by Penske Media in federal court in Washington, D.C., marks the first time a major U.S. publisher has taken Alphabet-owned Google to court over the AI-generated summaries that now appear on top of its search results.

Britannica, Merriam-Webster Sue Perplexity for Copyright Infringement

Perplexity AI is the latest artificial intelligence company to be hit with a lawsuit by copyright holders alleging infringement after Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster accused it of misusing their content in its "answer engine" for internet searches. The reference companies alleged, opens new tab in New York federal court on Wednesday that Perplexity unlawfully copied their material and diminished their revenue by redirecting their web traffic to its AI-generated summaries.

FTC Investigating Safety of AI Chatbots Used by Children

The Federal Trade Commission announced it is issuing orders to seven companies including OpenAI, Alphabet, xAI and Snap to understand how their artificial intelligence chatbots potentially negatively affect children and teenagers. The federal agency said AI chatbots may be used to simulate human-like communication and intrapersonal relationships with users, and that it wants to understand what steps these companies have taken to “evaluate the safety of these chatbots when acting as companions,” according to a release.

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Nepal Drops Ban on Social Media After Protests Leave 19 People Dead

Nepal’s government scrapped a days-old prohibition on social-media after the ban sparked deadly clashes between police and protesters that local media reported left 19 people dead and 347 injured. Nepal’s Minister for Communication, Information and Broadcasting Prithvi Subba Gurung announced the government had withdrawn its earlier decision to ban several social media platforms, saying after an emergency Cabinet meeting on Monday that it was “addressing the demand of Gen-Z.”

Former Security Engineer Sues Meta for Violating Privacy Regulations

A former security engineer at Meta’s WhatsApp sued Meta, accusing it of failing to protect its users’ data, violating privacy regulations on multiple continents and firing him in retaliation for filing whistleblower complaints with U.S. authorities. The suit in San Francisco’s U.S. District Court by Attaullah Baig said the retaliation began in 2022, after a series of positive performance reviews, when he submitted internal critiques and proposals for limiting employee access to user data and better protecting accounts from being hijacked.

Judge Postpones Approval of Anthropic's $1.5 Billion Copyright Settlement

The federal judge overseeing Anthropic PBC’s proposed $1.5 billion copyright settlement is concerned class lawyers are striking a deal behind the scenes that will be forced “down the throat of authors.” Judge William Alsup at the hearing said the motion to approve the deal was denied without prejudice, but in a minute order after the hearing said approval is postponed pending submission of further clarifying information.

In Largest Settlement, Anthropic to Pay $1.5 Billion to Authors, Publishers

In a landmark settlement, Anthropic, a leading artificial intelligence company, has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to a group of authors and publishers after a judge ruled it had illegally downloaded and stored millions of copyrighted books. The settlement is largest payout in the history of U.S. copyright cases. Anthropic will pay $3,000 per work to 500,000 authors.

EU Fines Google $3.5 Billion for Abusing Dominance in Digital Ads

The European Union fined Google nearly $3.5 billion for abusing the dominance of its advertising-technology tools, ramping up the threat on both sides of the Atlantic to one of the company’s bigger businesses. The fine is the EU’s second-largest antitrust penalty ever, after another Google fine in 2018, and risks heightening tensions with the Trump administration in the middle of delicate trade discussions.

Warner Bros. Discovery Sues Midjourney for Copyright Infringement

Warner Bros. Discovery is suing a prominent artificial intelligence image generator for copyright infringement, escalating a high-stakes battle involving the use of movies and TV shows owned by major studios to teach AI systems. The lawsuit says Midjourney “brazenly dispenses Warner Bros. Discovery’s intellectual property” by letting subscribers produce images and videos of iconic copyrighted characters, alleges the complaint, filed in California federal court.

French Regulators Order Google, Shein to Pay Fines for Illegal Cookies

French regulators ordered Alphabet Inc.’s Google to pay nearly $379 million in fines and the Singapore-based online marketplace Shein Group Ltd. to pay $175 million for failing to comply with rules on managing cookies. France’s privacy watchdog, known as CNIL, said the penalties were issued as part of its ongoing effort to crack down on businesses that violate the nation’s rules on tracking user data for advertising purposes — such as depositing cookies that trace users’ behavior without their consent or imposing “cookie walls” that give users no choice but to accept tracers to access a service.

Jury Orders Google to Pay $425 Million for Using Tracking Feature

Google must pay $425 million for breaching users' privacy by collecting data from millions of users who'd switched off a tracking feature in their account, per a federal jury verdict. The San Francisco case was brought by a group of users who alleged in a class-action lawsuit that Google "unlawfully accessed their devices and data, including app activity data on their mobile devices" in "violation" of privacy assurances under the tech giant's Web & App Activity setting.

Celebrity Chatbots from Character.AI Faulted for Teen Interactions

Character.AI became one of the world’s most popular artificial intelligence apps by letting tens of millions of users, many in their teens, text and talk to chatbot versions of celebrities and fictional characters. But those friendly chatbots can easily veer into topics unsafe for minors. AI-generated chatbots using the names and likenesses of actor Timothée Chalamet, singer Chappell Roan and National Football League quarterback Patrick Mahomes chatted inappropriately with teen accounts on topics including sex, self-harm and drugs, two online safety nonprofit organizations found.

Despite Garland's Warning, Judiciary Failed to Protect PACER

Several years ago, then-Attorney General Merrick B. Garland invited a group of federal judges to the Justice Department’s headquarters. Once inside a secure room used for handling classified information, the judges were given a grave warning: The nationwide computer system that held court documents, including sealed records about wiretaps, cooperating witnesses and investigative targets, was vulnerable to hackers.

China's 'Salt Typhoon' Cyberattack Stole Info from Almost All Americans

A sweeping cyberattack by a group known as Salt Typhoon is China’s most ambitious yet, experts and officials have concluded after a year of investigating it. It targeted more than 80 countries and may have stolen information from nearly every American, officials said. They see it as evidence that China’s capabilities rival those of the United States and its allies.

Disney Agrees to Pay $10 Million to Settle Child Privacy Suit Over Videos

The Walt Disney Company said it has agreed to pay $10 million to settle a children's privacy lawsuit with the Federal Trade Commission related to videos it uploaded on YouTube mostly during the pandemic. It's the first known case in which a YouTube content provider has settled with the FTC over children's privacy violations since the agency's landmark settlement with YouTube and its parent Google in 2019.

The GigaLaw Firm helps companies of all sizes protect their brands online, using domain name dispute policies – such as the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) – and other legal tools available to copyright and trademark owners on the Internet.