Friday, March 29

Tag: EU

EU to slap Google with fresh fine: Report
News

EU to slap Google with fresh fine: Report

The EU's anti-trust regulator is to slap tech giant Google with a new fine over unfair competition practices, sources told AFP on March 15. Brussels has targeted the Silicon Valley firm's AdSense advertising service, saying it restricts some client websites from displaying ads from third parties. The decision in the long-running case, first reported by the Financial Times, is the latest anti-trust salvo against Google, which has already received nearly seven billion euros in EU fines. Two sources close to the matter said the verdict would land next week, most likely on Wednesday. "We are in the process of finalising the AdSense case," EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said earlier this week. In July 2018, the US giant was ordered to pay a record 4.34 billio...
Google, Facebook face over $9 billion fine as GDPR Impact
News

Google, Facebook face over $9 billion fine as GDPR Impact

Its just been a few hours when European Union's (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect and now a news has surfaced that Google and Facebook have been hit with privacy complaints that could carry fines of up to $9.3 billion in total. Austrian privacy-advocacy group Noyb.eu has said that with regard to privacy, Facebook, Google, and Facebook-owned Instagram and WhatsApp are forcing people to adopt a "take it or leave it" approach which eventually demands them to give in to platform's intrusive terms of service. The group has said in its statement, Tonnes of 'consent boxes' popped up online or in applications, often combined with a threat, that the service can no longer be used if user (s) do not consent. Moreover, It is asking regulators in Germany, Austria...
Google Faces Its First “Right To Be Forgotten” Trial in England
News

Google Faces Its First “Right To Be Forgotten” Trial in England

The search engine giant, Google Inc is set for its first battle in a London court over the "right to be forgotten" in two cases. This is the first time that the court in England will be dealing with the matter of Google's personal privacy and public interest. The case is filed by two businessmen (anonymous) who want the search engine to take down the information of their older convictions, Bloomberg reported. One of the men had been found guilty of conspiracy to account falsely, while the other of conspiracy to intercept communications, said Judge Matthew Nicklin at a pre-trial hearing Thursday. The convictions highlighted are old and presently covered under an English law designed to rehabilitate offenders- saying they can effectively be ignored. With a few exceptions, they don’t...
Apple To Pay $15B To Ireland In Back Taxes
BUSINESS

Apple To Pay $15B To Ireland In Back Taxes

American multinational tech giant company Apple Inc has agreed to pay over $15 billion to Ireland in back taxes in 2018. Apple and Ireland agreed to the terms of an escrow fund for the money, said Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, according to the source Wall Street Journal. The EU had earlier launched a fresh crackdown back in 2016 over taxes paid by the iPhone manufacturer. The EU said it planned to refer Ireland to the European Court of Justice for failing to recover the money in back taxes from Apple. The tax deal had allowed Apple to pay almost nothing as taxes on its European profits between 2003 and 2014, said European Union. It also said that Apple's Irish tax benefits were illegal, enabling the firm to pay a corporate tax rate of no more than one percent. Ireland...
Russian Twitter Accounts Promoted Brexit Ahead Of EU Referendum: Times Newspaper
USA

Russian Twitter Accounts Promoted Brexit Ahead Of EU Referendum: Times Newspaper

Russian Twitter accounts posted almost 45,000 messages about Brexit in the 48 hours around last year’s referendum in an attempt to sow discord during the vote on whether to leave the European Union, the Times newspaper reported on Wednesday. The Times cited research from an upcoming paper by data scientists at Swansea University and the University of California, Berkeley, which it said showed accounts based in Russia had tweeted about Brexit in the days leading up to the June 23 vote. The Times said most of the tweets seen by the newspaper encouraged people to vote for Brexit, although a number advocated remaining in the EU. It quoted Tho Pham, one of the paper’s authors, as saying “the main conclusion is that bots were used on purpose and had influence”. The research tracked 156,...