Antitrust issues… The EU named six tech heavyweights as “gatekeepers” under the Digital Markets Act, a landmark regulation that aims to prevent techies from playing favorites with their own products and unfairly controlling (aka: gatekeeping) markets. On the naughty list: Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and TikTok owner ByteDance. They have six months to comply with the DMA or face fines of up to 10% of their global annual sales (yikes). The DMA includes a ban on exclusive app stores and self-preferencing (think: pre-installed iPhone apps).
Beyond “Yes I am 18+”… A Texas judge stalled a law that would require adult-content sites like Pornhub to verify visitors’ ages. TX is one of six states that have passed laws requiring these sites to ask visitors for ID uploads (Utah also uses facial-age analysis) and 12+ states have similar bills. Pornhub said its site traffic — which, btw, is the US’s 12th highest — plunged 80% in Louisiana after the state became the first to enact age verification in January. That drop led Pornhub parent MindGeek to shutter its service in several states.