Apple bows to Germany and rewrites its tracking-consent rules, ending a self-preferencing probe
Apple bows to Germany and rewrites its tracking-consent rules, ending a self-preferencing probe

The Bundeskartellamt found Apple held rival apps to a stricter consent standard than its own. The agreed fix, neutral prompts and no double hurdle, applies across almost all of the EU. Apple has agreed to overhaul the way its iPhones ask people for per…

PayPal is no longer refusing to sell. Now the question is whether regulators allow it
PayPal is no longer refusing to sell. Now the question is whether regulators allow it

The Wall Street Journal reported the talks on 14 August. Cara Lombardo, Gina Heeb and Lauren Thomas wrote it. The framing is what changed. PayPal is in talks to sell itself, rather than fielding an offer it has rejected. Stripe and Advent International…

The AI store manager fired its first human. It had to be reminded of its own rules first
The AI store manager fired its first human. It had to be reminded of its own rules first

Luna runs Andon Market, a shop at 2102 Union Street in Cow Hollow. Andon Labs, the safety startup behind it, reported the dismissal on Thursday. Business Insider’s Katherine Li first reported the decision and interviewed the lab. Luna is built on Anthr…

A judge just told Google to stop making rival app stores hard to install
A judge just told Google to stop making rival app stores hard to install

The hearing ran on 13 August in a San Francisco courtroom, The Verge reported first. It was a compliance check, not a new case. A jury decided unanimously nearly three years ago that Google held an illegal monopoly over Android apps. Donato set the rem…

Tesla ended Sweden’s longest strike by buying out every last striker
Tesla ended Sweden’s longest strike by buying out every last striker

The union announced it on 13 August. Its own statement sets the end at one minute past midnight on Wednesday 19 August. The strike began on 27 October 2023 with about 120 mechanics across seven Swedish workshops, Electrek noted. It became the longest i…

France’s under-15 social media ban is struck down two weeks before it starts
France’s under-15 social media ban is struck down two weeks before it starts

The decision lands about two weeks before the ban was due to start, Bloomberg reported. Platforms were to stop creating accounts for under-15s from 1 September. Parliament gave the law final approval on 21 July. The desk covered that final vote at the …

Private US companies can now run cyber operations abroad. State-backed hackers are excluded
Private US companies can now run cyber operations abroad. State-backed hackers are excluded

Donald Trump signed the memorandum on 12 August and the White House published it that night. It runs to five sections. A National Coordination Center creates and manages the programme. Two Program Executive Directors oversee it. The Attorney General de…

Meta removed 756,000 Australian accounts. Its real ask is that Apple does the checking
Meta removed 756,000 Australian accounts. Its real ask is that Apple does the checking

Representatives of Meta, TikTok, Google and Snap give evidence to an Australian parliamentary inquiry on Friday, Reuters reported. Regulators and government officials appear too. Meta went first, and it went alone. On Wednesday it published its enforce…

A Massachusetts teen is charged with killing his mother and brother, and prosecutors point to ChatGPT
A Massachusetts teen is charged with killing his mother and brother, and prosecutors point to ChatGPT

A 17-year-old in Massachusetts has been charged with murdering his mother and younger brother, and prosecutors say that in the period before the deaths he had used ChatGPT to explore what they described as fantasy scenarios about killing his family. It…

Investors sue Selena Gomez, claiming her wellness startup’s app was never built
Investors sue Selena Gomez, claiming her wellness startup’s app was never built

Selena Gomez, one of the most-followed people on the planet, is being sued by investors who say her mental-health startup Wondermind was a hollow promise dressed up as a movement. The complaint, filed against the singer and her mother and co-founder Ma…