Europe’s crackdown on Big Tech to ensure smaller rivals can compete and consumers have more choice has been criticised by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump

International News via Reuters:

Elon Musk’s social media company X was fined 120 million euros ($140 million) by EU tech regulators on Friday for breaching online content rules, the first sanction under landmark legislation that once again drew criticism from the U.S. government.

While X did not respond to an emailed request for comment, Musk replied “Bullshit” under a European Commission post about the fine. He also reposted several messages criticising the decision and wrote: “Freedom of speech is the bedrock democracy. The only way to know what you are voting for.”

X’s rival TikTok staved off a penalty with concessions.

Europe’s crackdown on Big Tech to ensure smaller rivals can compete and consumers have more choice has been criticised by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, which says it singles out American companies and censors Americans. 

The European Commission, the EU’s executive, said its laws do not target any nationality and that it is merely defending its digital and democratic standards, which usually serve as the benchmark for the rest of the world. 

EU TECH CHIEF SAYS FINE IS NOT CENSORSHIP

The EU sanction against X followed a two-year-long investigation under the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires online platforms to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content.

The EU’s investigation of ByteDance’s social media app TikTok led to charges in May that the company had breached a DSA requirement to publish an advertisement repository allowing researchers and users to detect scam advertisements.

The European Commission’s tech chief Henna Virkkunen said X’s modest fine was proportionate and calculated based on the nature of the infringements, their gravity in terms of affected EU users and their duration. 

“We are not here to impose the highest fines. We are here to make sure that our digital legislation is enforced and if you comply with our rules, you don’t get the fine. And it’s as simple as that,” she told reporters.

“I think it’s very important to underline that DSA is having nothing to do with censorship,” Virkkunen said.

She said forthcoming decisions on companies which have been charged with DSA violations are expected to take a shorter time than the two years for the X case.

“I’m really expecting that we will do the final decisions now faster,” she said. 

VANCE SAYS EU SHOULD NOT ATTACK AMERICAN COMPANIES

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr denounced the EU’s fine.

“The European Commission’s $140 million fine isn’t just an attack on @X, it’s an attack on all American tech platforms and the American people by foreign governments. The days of censoring Americans online are over,” Rubio posted on X.

Carr said on X that the sanction showed Europe fining a successful U.S. tech company for being a successful U.S. tech company.

Meta and TikTok were charged with breaching DSA transparency obligations in October while Chinese online marketplace Temu was accused of violating rules to prevent the sale of illegal products.

X has between 60 to 90 working days to come up with measures to comply with the DSA, with the time frame depending on the issue.

Ahead of the EU decision, U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on X: “Rumors swirling that the EU commission will fine X hundreds of millions of dollars for not engaging in censorship. The EU should be supporting free speech not attacking American companies over garbage.” 

TikTok, which pledged changes to its ad library to be more transparent, urged regulators to apply the law equally and consistently across all platforms.

EU regulators said X’s DSA violations included the deceptive design of its blue checkmark for verified accounts, the lack of transparency of its advertising repository and its failure to provide researchers access to public data.

The Commission said the investigation into the dissemination of illegal content on X and measures taken to combat information manipulation and a separate probe into TikTok’s design, algorithmic systems and obligation to protect children continue.

DSA fines can be as high as 6% of a company’s annual global revenue. 

($1 = 0.8579 euros)

Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels, Katharine Jackson and Doina Chiacu in Washington, Charlotte Van Campenhout in Amsterdam and Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Editing by Toby Chopra and Louise Heavens

Three months after hitting Google with an unexpectedly high 2.95 billion euro ($3.44 billion) fine, the European Commission on Friday imposed a 120 million euro penalty on Elon Musk’s X

International News via Reuters:

Europe is forging ahead with its crackdown on Big Tech, levying fines on Alphabet’s Google and Elon Musk’s X and opening new investigations, asserting its sovereign right to enforce its laws in defiance of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Three months after hitting Google with an unexpectedly high 2.95 billion euro ($3.44 billion) fine, the European Commission on Friday imposed a 120 million euro penalty on Elon Musk’s X for breaching European Union online content rules.

The U.S. government has pushed back, linking reductions in U.S. steel import tariffs to weaker EU digital rules and ordering its diplomats to launch a lobbying blitz against the laws.

At issue are the EU’s Digital Markets Act, which seeks to rein in the power of Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta Platforms and Microsoft as well as Booking.com and ByteDance, and the Digital Services Act, which forces big online platforms to do more to tackle illegal and harmful content.

EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera has flatly rejected U.S. criticism.

“It is our duty to remind others that we deserve respect. I don’t enter into how they regulate the health standards in the U.S. market. But I am in charge of defending the well-functioning digital markets in Europe and it is not related at all with any type of joint conversation,” she told one event.

At another, she rebuffed those who see competition law as a tool for controlling markets or advancing narrow economic interests.

“It is an essential pillar of open, fair, and sustainable markets. It should never be a bargaining chip in trade negotiations or a tool for protectionism,” Ribera said.

HARDER TO BACK DOWN

The effect of the U.S. threats, while a shock initially, may be wearing off, said Daniel Mandrescu, a lawyer at Geradin Partners and an associate law professor at Leiden University.

“The EU Commission’s announcement of an official investigation into Meta indicates that the threat of political pressure is rapidly losing its strength – the rule of law is simply not a negotiable matter,” he wrote in a LinkedIn post.

Supporters of European values have the upper hand for now, but the real test still lies ahead, said Rupprecht Podszun, a professor at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and a director at the Institute for Competition Law.

“I was amazed to see this new vigour in EU enforcement. Now, this also comes as an obligation: It becomes harder now to back down. The commitments in the Google Ad-Tech case will provide the litmus test as well as the fate of the Meta AI probe,” he said.

Last month, Google offered to make it easier for publishers and advertisers to use its online advertising technology, defying EU antitrust regulators’ call for it to sell part of the business to address conflicts of interest.

An EU decision on the proposal will likely come early next year. EU regulators on Thursday started an investigation into Meta and could order it to pause its rollout of AI features in its WhatsApp messenger that would block rivals.

($1 = 0.8582 euros)

Reporting by Foo Yun CheeEditing by Mark Potter

The Italian state mint IPZS has begun producing medals that will now have up to twice the financial value of those won at the 2024 Paris Olympics

International News via Reuters:

For an Olympic athlete, the gleam of a medal is priceless, a reward for years of dedication and sacrifice. But with the recent surge in gold and other precious metal prices, these coveted symbols of success now also hold significantly higher monetary value than in the past. 

As the world gears up for the Milano Cortina Winter Games next year, the Italian state mint IPZS has begun producing medals that will now have up to twice the financial value of those won at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

“The medals are tangible rewards for intangible efforts,” IPZS Chief Executive Michele Sciscioli told Reuters.

Gold medals were made of solid gold until 1912. Since then, however, as set out in the International Olympic Committee’s official guidelines, they are made of silver and coated with six grams of pure gold – a combination known as silver-gilt. 

At current prices, the gold medals that will adorn the necks of the 2026 champions will each contain just over $800 worth of gold.

Silver medals are primarily made of sterling silver, and bronze medals, since the latest Olympics in Paris, are made of pure copper, with a very low metal value.

According to Reuters data, gold rallied all year, reaching an all-time high on October 20. Similarly, silver reached all-time highs in early October, with the white metal up over 100% so far this year. 

DISCS OF ICE

IPZS will strike a total of 1,146 medals for the Olympics which run from February 6 to February 22. There will be 245 pieces each for gold, silver and bronze. In the Paralympics, 137 medals will be awarded in each of the three rankings the following month.

First unveiled in July in Venice, the medals have a very clean cut design and represent “discs of ice” made of two halves that join through the Olympic and Paralympic symbols in the middle.   

Matteo Taglienti, IPZS programme manager for the medals, told Reuters on Friday that work with the IOC and local organisers Milano Cortina Foundation had started a year ago, with production kicking off in the past months.

The two halves represent the individual athlete and the network behind their success, made up of family, team and coaches. They also have two different textures, a frosted and a polished one.

The Paralympic medals include braille lettering on the back to identify the discipline.

All of them will have a newly designed inlet that will hide the ribbon, without covering the face of the medal.

Reporting by Matteo Negri and Giulia Segreti in Rome; Editing by Joe Bavier

President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the landslide winner of the October election after her main challengers were excluded, prompting protests

International News via Reuters:

Tanzania’s police said on Friday that nationwide demonstrations expected next week would be illegal, setting the stage for possible renewed clashes after bloodshed during protests over elections last month.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the landslide winner of the October election after her main challengers were excluded, prompting protests that were partly driven by what activists said was a wider crackdown on dissent.

Rights groups, opposition parties and the United Nations have said hundreds of people were likely killed in clashes between the protesters and security forces. The government denies suppressing dissent and disputes those figures as exaggerated.

Police Spokesperson David Misime said they were yet to receive any formal notifications from anyone wishing to hold demonstrations, after social media posts circulated calling for protests on December 9.

“The Police Force is banning these demonstrations, which have been given the name of “unlimited peaceful protests,” from taking place,” he said in a statement.

Misime said those mobilising for protest were among other things, urging participants to seize property, disrupt services at hospitals and to stay on the streets for an unlimited time to paralyse economic activity.

On Wednesday, a United Nations human rights experts group urged Tanzanian authorities and security forces to protect people’s right to assembly and prevent any more violations ahead of the planned demonstrations.

Hassan has promised to investigate the election violence and offered condolences to bereaved families, her most public acknowledgement of the turmoil, which has led to the country’s biggest political crisis in decades.

“We hear there is another one planned … whenever they come, we are prepared,” Hassan told a meeting of elders in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, referring to the planned demonstrations.

The United States said on Thursday it was reviewing its relationship with Tanzania due to concerns over religious freedom, free speech, obstacles to U.S. investment and violence against civilians.

Writing by George Obulutsa; editing by Philippa Fletcher