Social Media

Meta's "pay or consent" advertising model on Facebook and Instagram does not comply with the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA), the European Commission has said. The Commission yesterday informed the social media giant of its preliminary findings that the binary choice forces users to consent to the comb

Meta has delayed plans to train AI tools on content published by Facebook and Instagram users in the EU following a request from the Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC). The social media giant said last Monday that its generative AI features need to be trained on European data to reflect "the div

TikTok is facing a lawsuit from a new group of French parents who believe the video-sharing platform is not doing enough to protect children online. The Algos Victima collective, backed by lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion, aims to bring together the greatest number of families to bring TikTok before the

Seán Hurley BL examines a recent EU court ruling involving TikTok owner Bytedance. Bytedance Ltd, the multinational company behind the social media app TikTok, recently sought and was denied interim relief to suspend the European Commission’s decision designating it as a gatekeeper unde

The European Commission has opened formal proceedings to assess whether Facebook and Instagram owner Meta may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas linked to the protection of minors. The Commission is concerned that the systems of both Facebook and Instagram, including their algorit

The European Commission has opened a second set of formal proceedings against TikTok under the Digital Services Act (DSA) in relation to a 'task and reward' programme which it says "could be as toxic and addictive as cigarettes". Under the DSA, designated very large online platforms (VLOPs) such as

The European Commission has launched investigations into Google owner Alphabet, Apple and Meta under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The non-compliance investigations announced yesterday will scrutinise Alphabet's rules on steering in Google Play and self-preferencing on Google Search, Apple's rules

TikTok faces a ban in the United States, where the video-sharing platform has over 170 million users, under legislation backed by the US House of Representatives. The proposed Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act would see the platform banned unless there is a chan

The European Commission has opened formal proceedings to assess whether TikTok may have breached the new Digital Services Act (DSA). The move marks the first enforcement action under the landmark DSA, which came into force on Saturday.

A judge has permitted a mass case to proceed against Facebook owner Meta that argues it abused its position. The case, which could be worth up to £3 billion, has been brought by legal academic Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, on behalf of 45 million Facebook users.

Almost three-quarters of people in the State think social media algorithms should be more strictly regulated, according to research commissioned by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and Uplift. A new poll shows that 74 per cent want more regulation while 82 per cent are in favour of socia

The EU has opened formal proceedings against X, formerly Twitter, following concerns about disinformation, poor content moderation and other alleged breaches of the bloc's new digital services law. The announcement yesterday marks the first investigation of its kind under the landmark Digital Servic

Ireland's first draft online safety code should be treated as a model for Europe, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has said. Coimisiún na Meán last week began consulting on the draft online safety code for video-sharing platform services, which sets out measures that design

The Data Protection Commission (DPC) has been ordered to impose a continent-wide ban on Meta's illegal processing of personal data for behavioural advertising on Facebook and Instagram. An urgent binding decision adopted by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) last Friday instructs the DPC to i

Dozens of US states have come together to launch legal proceedings against Meta, alleging that its Instagram and Facebook platforms are harmful to children and teenagers — which Meta denies. A federal lawsuit has been filed in northern California by a coalition of 33 attorneys general, while e