Tag: european commission

Amazon’s Acquisition of iRobot Faces EU Antitrust Investigation, Sources Say

Amazon’s $1.7 billion (roughly Rs. 13,500 crore) acquisition of robot vacuum cleaner maker iRobot faces a full-scale EU antitrust investigation, people familiar with the matter said, weeks after the US online retail giant won UK approval for the deal.

Amazon announced the takeover in August last year to expand its portfolio of smart devices, which include the Alexa voice assistant, smart thermostats, security devices and wall-mounted smart displays. IRobot made its first Roomba robot vacuum in 2002.

IRobot shares fell about 10 percent, their largest percentage drop since February last year, while Amazon shares trimmed gains after the Reuters story was published.

The European Commission is scheduled to launch a four-month investigation following the end of its preliminary review of the deal on July 6, the people said.

Amazon is unlikely to offer remedies during this initial phase, one of the people said. It has a final shot in the next few days at convincing the EU competition watchdog that the deal is pro-competitive, although the odds against it are high.

The Commission and Amazon declined to comment. Amazon has previously said the vacuum cleaner market is very competitive, with lots of Chinese players.

The UK competition agency in its decision last week backed the argument and said it did not see Amazon using its market power to disadvantage rival robot vacuum cleaner makers.

It blocked Microsoft’s Activision deal while the Commission cleared the deal conditional on Microsoft’s licensing deals with rival streaming platforms.

Antitrust enforcers worldwide have become more wary of Big Tech acquiring smaller rivals, concerned about the accumulation of troves of data by a few companies, and big companies leveraging their dominance into newer markets.

© Thomson Reuters 2023 

Apple unveiled its first mixed reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro, at its annual developer conference, along with new Mac models and upcoming software updates. We discuss all the most important announcements made by the company at WWDC 2023 on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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European Commission Says Companies Deploying AI Tools Like ChatGPT, Bard Should Label Content

Companies deploying generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Bard with the potential to generate disinformation should label such content as part of their efforts to combat fake news, European Commission deputy head Vera Jourova said on Monday.

Unveiled late last year, Microsoft-backed OpenAI‘s ChatGPT has become the fastest-growing consumer application in history and set off a race among tech companies to bring generative AI products to market.

Concerns however are mounting about potential abuse of the technology and the possibility that bad actors and even governments may use it to produce far more disinformation than before.

“Signatories who integrate generative AI into their services like Bingchat for Microsoft, Bard for Google should build in necessary safeguards that these services cannot be used by malicious actors to generate disinformation,” Jourova told a press conference.

“Signatories who have services with a potential to disseminate AI-generated disinformation should in turn put in place technology to recognise such content and clearly label this to users,” she said.

Companies such as Google, Microsoft and Meta Platforms that have signed up to the EU Code of Practice to tackle disinformation should report on safeguards put in place to tackle this in July, Jourova said.

She warned Twitter, which quit the Code last week, to expect more regulatory scrutiny.

“By leaving the Code, Twitter has attracted a lot of attention and its actions and compliance with EU law will be scrutinised vigorously and urgently,” Jourova said.

© Thomson Reuters 2023
 

The Motorola Edge 40 recently made its debut in the country as the successor to the Edge 30 that was launched last year. Should you buy this phone instead of the Nothing Phone 1 or the Realme Pro+? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Airbnb, Rivals to Share Bookings Data With Authorities Under Proposed EU Rules, European Commission Says

Airbnb and other short-term home rental companies will have to share data on the number of people using their platforms under proposed EU rules, the European Commission said on Monday, in a light-touch approach to regulating this sector.

The EU executive’s proposal comes as popular tourist destinations such as Paris, Venice and Barcelona blame Airbnb for aggravating housing shortages by pushing out lower-income residents.

But smaller towns and rural areas want to attract more tourists via online rental platforms, which account for a quarter of all tourist accommodation across the 27-country European Union.

The Commission’s proposal marks an effort to tackle the patchwork of different national laws across the EU regulating Airbnb and its rivals, while trying to balance the interests of cities and rural areas.

“The new proposed rules will help to improve transparency on the identification and activity of short-term accommodation hosts, and on the rules they have to comply with, and will facilitate the registration of hosts,” the Commission said in a statement.

“They will also tackle the current fragmentation in how online platforms share data and, ultimately, help prevent illegal listings. Overall, this will contribute to a more sustainable tourism ecosystem and support its digital transition,” it said.

Reuters exclusively reported on the Commission’s proposal on November 3.

Under the proposed rules, Airbnb and its peers will have to share data about the number of guests and rented nights with public authorities, once a month, in an automated way.

The authorities will monitor their schemes and can put in place penalties for non-compliance.

The proposal will need to be agreed with EU countries and EU lawmakers before it can become law.

The Commission’s proposal is similar to a data sharing agreement which Airbnb struck with EU statistics office Eurostat two years ago allowing public authorities to access quarterly published data on the number of people using its platform and the number of nights booked.

© 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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