Tag: eu

Google to Cut Play Store Fees, Allow Developers to Use Rival Payment Systems: All Details

Alphabet unit Google said it will from Tuesday cut fees to 12 percent, from 15 percent, for non-gaming app developers on its Google Play App Store which switch to rival payment systems, as it moves to comply with new EU tech rules. The world’s most popular internet search engine said the fee cut applies only to European consumers while the freedom to use another payment system will eventually be expanded to gaming apps as well. The move underscores a change in Google’s strategy since last year where it now prefers to bow to regulatory and antitrust pressure with offers of concessions rather than embark on lengthy and distracting fights.

The EU rules known as the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which will come into force next year, require tech giants to allow app developers to use rival payment platforms for app sales or risk fines of as much as 10 percent of their global turnover.

Apple and Google are the most affected by this requirement.

“As part of our efforts to comply with these new rules, we are announcing a new programme to support billing alternatives for EEA (European Economic Area ) users,” Estelle Werth, Google’s director for EU government affairs and public policy, said in a blogpost.

“This will mean developers of non-gaming apps can offer their users in the EEA an alternative to Google Play’s billing system when they are paying for digital content and services,” she said.

The EEA includes the 27 EU countries, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

“When a consumer uses an alternative billing system, the service fee the developer pays will be reduced by 3 percent,” Werth said.

“Since 99 percent of developers currently qualify for a service fee of 15 percent or less, those developers would pay a service fee of 12 percent or lower based on transactions through alternative billing for EEA users acquired through the Play platform.”

Critics say the fees charged by Apple and Google at their mobile app stores are needlessly high and cost developers collectively billions of dollars a year, underscoring the two companies’ monopoly power.

Google has been hit with more than EUR 8 billion (roughly Rs. 65,500 crore) in EU antitrust fines in the last decade for anti-competitive practises related to its price comparison service, Android mobile operating system and advertising service.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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Intel Demands $624 Million in Interest From EU After Antitrust Fine Win

The US chipmaker Intel has filed a claim for EUR 593 million (nearly $624 million or Rs. 4,800 crore) in interest from the European Commission, five months after it convinced Europe’s second-top court to scrap a EUR 1.06 billion (nearly Rs. 8,600 crore) EU antitrust fine, an EU filing showed on Monday.

Europe’s top court paved the way for such damage demands last year in a landmark ruling which ordered the EU executive to pay default interest on reimbursed fines in annulled antitrust cases.

Judges said late payment of interest will itself incur interest as well.

Intel in its application to the Luxembourg-based General Court said the Commission, which acts as the competition watchdog in the 27-country European Union, had refused to reimburse the company the default interest.

The Commission returned $1.2 billion (nearly Rs. 9,300 crore) to Intel after its court defeat in January this year.

Intel said its claim is based on an interest rate equivalent to the European Central Bank’s refinancing rate of 1.25 percent beginning from May 2009, and that this should be increased to 3.5 percent from August 2009 to February this year when the EU repaid the company fine, minus EUR 38 million (nearly Rs. 310 crore) in an interest amount paid to Intel by the Commission.

Recently, Intel also said to have announced to frozen hiring in the division responsible for PC desktop and laptop chips, according to a memo reviewed by Reuters, as part of a series of cost-cutting measures.

Intel is “pausing all hiring and placing all job requisitions on hold” in its client computing group, according to the memo sent on Wednesday. The memo said that some hiring could resume in as little as two weeks after the division re-evaluates priorities and that all current job offers in its systems will be honoured.

“We believe we are at the beginning of a long-term growth cycle across the semiconductor industry and we have the right strategy in place,” Intel said in a statement. “Increased focus and prioritisation in our spending will help us weather macroeconomic uncertainty, execute on our strategy and meet our commitments to customers, shareholders, and employees.”

© Thomson Reuters 2022

 

 

 

 

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Elon Musk to Meet EU Industry Chief Thierry Breton Today to Discuss Free Speech, Global Supply Chain Issues

EU industry chief Thierry Breton will meet Tesla boss Elon Musk in Texas on Monday to discuss global supply chain issues and the bloc’s newly agreed rules requiring tech giants to do more to police online content, Breton’s spokesperson said.

The meeting comes weeks after the world’s richest man clinched a deal to buy social media company Twitter for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,40,400 crore) in cash.

The two will meet at 1900 GMT (12:30am IST on Tuesday) in Austin, where the new headquarters for Musk’s electric carmaker Tesla is located.

“Tech and supply chains will be high on the agenda at Tesla with Elon Musk,” Terence Zakka, spokesperson for Breton, said in an email.

“Free speech will also be on the menu between Thierry Breton and Elon Musk. So will EU regulation. Expect exchange on the Digital Services Act and how ‘new’ Twitter will play by European rules,” he said.

Musk secured the deal to buy Twitter last month with a pledge to revitalise the company and expand the number of users by cracking down on spam bots and reducing the amount of moderation to facilitate more “free speech”.

The billionaire’s comments prompted a rejoinder from Breton that Twitter must comply with new EU rules known as the Digital Services Act tackling illegal online content.

In his latest announcement regarding Twitter, Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder said he would significantly increase work ethic standards in Twitter once he officially acquires the social media platform.

“Work ethic expectations would be extreme, but much less than I demand of myself,” Musk said on Twitter on Friday.

The company will be “super focused on hardcore software engineering, design, information security and server hardware,” he added.

Musk previously said that he would like to revolutionize Twitter’s role in public debate as “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”

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Elon Musk to Meet EU Industry Chief Thierry Breton Today to Discuss Free Speech, Global Supply Chain Issues

EU industry chief Thierry Breton will meet Tesla boss Elon Musk in Texas on Monday to discuss global supply chain issues and the bloc’s newly agreed rules requiring tech giants to do more to police online content, Breton’s spokesperson said.

The meeting comes weeks after the world’s richest man clinched a deal to buy social media company Twitter for $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,40,400 crore) in cash.

The two will meet at 1900 GMT (12:30am IST on Tuesday) in Austin, where the new headquarters for Musk’s electric carmaker Tesla is located.

“Tech and supply chains will be high on the agenda at Tesla with Elon Musk,” Terence Zakka, spokesperson for Breton, said in an email.

“Free speech will also be on the menu between Thierry Breton and Elon Musk. So will EU regulation. Expect exchange on the Digital Services Act and how ‘new’ Twitter will play by European rules,” he said.

Musk secured the deal to buy Twitter last month with a pledge to revitalise the company and expand the number of users by cracking down on spam bots and reducing the amount of moderation to facilitate more “free speech”.

The billionaire’s comments prompted a rejoinder from Breton that Twitter must comply with new EU rules known as the Digital Services Act tackling illegal online content.

In his latest announcement regarding Twitter, Tesla CEO and SpaceX founder said he would significantly increase work ethic standards in Twitter once he officially acquires the social media platform.

“Work ethic expectations would be extreme, but much less than I demand of myself,” Musk said on Twitter on Friday.

The company will be “super focused on hardcore software engineering, design, information security and server hardware,” he added.

Musk previously said that he would like to revolutionize Twitter’s role in public debate as “free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”

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Google, Meta Face New EU Online Rules to Curb Illegal Content

Alphabet unit Google, Meta and other large online platforms will have to do more to tackle illegal content or risk hefty fines under new Internet rules agreed between European Union countries and EU lawmakers on Saturday.

The agreement came after more than 16 hours of negotiations. The Digital Services Act (DSA) is the second prong of EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager’s strategy to rein in Alphabet unit Google, Meta, and other US tech giants.

Last month, she won backing from the 27-country bloc and lawmakers for landmark rules called the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that could force Google, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft to change their core business practices in Europe.

“We have a deal on the DSA: The Digital Services Act will make sure that what is illegal offline is also seen and dealt with as illegal online – not as a slogan, as reality,” Vestager said in a tweet.

EU lawmaker Dita Charanzova, who had called for such rules eight years ago, welcomed the agreement.

“Google, Meta, and other large online platforms will have to act to better protect their users. Europe has made clear that they cannot act as independent digital islands,” she said in a statement.

In a statement, Google said: “As the law is finalised and implemented, the details will matter. We look forward to working with policymakers to get the remaining technical details right to ensure the law works for everyone.”

Under the DSA, the companies face fines up to 6 percent of their global turnover for violating the rules while repeated breaches could see them banned from doing business in the EU.

The new rules ban targeted advertising aimed at children or based on sensitive data such as religion, gender, race and political opinions. Dark patterns, which are tactics that mislead people into giving personal data to companies online, will also be prohibited.

Very large online platforms and online search engines will be required to take specific measures during a crisis. The move was triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the related disinformation.

The companies could be forced to hand over data related to their algorithms to regulators and researchers.

The companies also face a yearly fee up to 0.05 percent of worldwide annual revenue to cover the costs of monitoring their compliance.

EU lawmaker Martin Schirdewan criticised the exemption granted to medium-sized companies.

“Under pressure from the conservatives, an exception rule for medium-sized companies was integrated, this is a mistake. Due to the large number of companies that fall under this definition in the digital sector, the exception is like a loophole,” he said.

The DSA will be enforced in 2024.

© Thomson Reuters 2022

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Google Revamps Cookie Consent Banner for EU Users With New ‘Reject All’ Button for Search and YouTube

Google will introduce changes to the way it handles cookies for users living in the European Union (EU) in order to better comply with guidance from regulators, the company said on Thursday. Google will display an updated cookie banner — a requirement for all websites serving users in the EU — informing users how cookies are used, adding a new button to quickly reject all non-essential cookies. The changes will affect all users in the EU accessing the company’s search engine and video sharing platform YouTube, according to the company

In a blog post explaining the changes to its cookie banner, Google says that regulators including data protection authorities in France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the UK have updated their guidance for compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that deals with the handling of personal information of EU residents. The company says it has worked with France’s Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) to fully redesign its approach to handling cookies on YouTube and on its search engine.

Websites that serve users in the EU are expected to display a banner detailing the cookies are used on the website and offer users the ability to accept cookies that can be used for various purposes, including measurement of ads, showing personalised content and ads, and track users across websites. While many websites (including Google) display these banners, it is quite a tedious process to reject non-essential cookies from websites. Users who browse a lot in Incognito mode (or Private Browing mode on Firefox) are shown the cookie banner on every visit, leading to the creation of browser extensions like I don’t care about cookies.

Google’s updated cookie consent banner with the new ‘Reject all’ button
Photo Credit: Google Blog

 

After overhauling its cookie consent banner, Google will now offer users the ability to click a Reject all button, next to the original Accept all button. Users can also refine their choices by clicking on the More options button, according to Google. The new banner experience began rolling out to users in France earlier this month, and will soon be available to all users living in the European Economic Area, the UK, and Switzerland, according to Google.

According to the company, modifying the way its cookie consent banner works required “deep, coordinated changes” to critical Google infrastructure. Noting that the changes will impact content creators and websites, Google says that the updated design is in compliance with the regulatory guidance, and the company will continue work on its Privacy Sandbox (previously known as FLoC, or federated learning of cohorts) technology that is touted to be a more privacy respecting solution to third party cookies and tracking on Chrome and Android — but there’s no word on when that technology will be launched by the company.

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