MLex Market Insight

In April, MLex Chief Global Digital Risk Correspondent Mike Swift sat down with Benjamin Wiseman, the US Federal Trade Commission's Associate Director, Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, for a deep-dive discussion of pressing privacy issues for 2024—including child privacy and addictive algorithms, healthcare data, personal data autonomy and unfair use of AI.

Transcribed - Published: 2 May 2024

As 5,000 lawyers, regulators, academics and technologists convened for the International Association of Privacy Professionals Global Privacy Summit 2024, a team of MLex journalists were in Washington DC to chronicle the most important yearly gathering of the world’s privacy community. Covering GPS panels on artificial intelligence, data transfers and an array of privacy issues, and interviewing key regulators on the sidelines of the conference, the MLex team gathered after the conference to share their insights on the event.

Transcribed - Published: 18 April 2024

Polish Justice Minister Adam Bodnar talks about his country's steps to reverse eight years of policies by the previous government. Bodnar, a former human rights commissioner, wants to show European Union officials that Poland has turned the page from the Law and Justice Party. Restoring ties with the EU — and unblocking EU funds that were suspended over a rule-of-law dispute — are top priorities.

Transcribed - Published: 22 February 2024

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen talks about the regulatory and legal fallout that followed her release of documents to the press that detailed internal studies about how Facebook’s algorithm worked. She’s now using her nonprofit Beyond the Screen to push for regulatory change as the company is fighting hundreds of lawsuits for allegedly harming its youngest users for big profits.

Transcribed - Published: 5 February 2024

Even as it surpasses a database of 40 billion faces to train its algorithms, the founder and chief executive of Clearview AI told MLex in an exclusive interview that it isn't going back to doing business in Europe, the UK, Canada or Australia, where the controversial facial-recognition startup has faced regulatory opposition. In the US, however, Clearview has put many of its most thorny legal problems behind it, according to Hoan Ton-That.

Transcribed - Published: 29 January 2024

Australian merger laws are facing a revamp, amid concerns that the voluntary-notification system was being gamed by global dealmakers. But while there’s broad agreement that the voluntary component of the existing regime needs to be scrapped, there are divisions about which model Australia should embrace. The antitrust regulator is campaigning for a formal but speedy model; lawyers are campaigning for a US-style model that would give their clients ready access to the Federal Court of Australia. MLex has covered all the twists and turns of the debate and spoken to key players in the process, including Chief Adviser to the Competition Taskforce Marcus Bezzi and Australian Competition & Consumer Commission Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb.

Transcribed - Published: 14 December 2023

Věra Jourová is a Czech politician and lawyer who has been European Commissioner for Values and Transparency since 2019. She previously served as the EU’s Justice Commissioner. More recently, she has added digital duties after the EU’s digital commissioner Margethe Vestager took a leave of absence. Jourová is now responsible for the enforcement of the Digital Services Act, the EU’s landmark content-moderation legislation. The tragic events unfolding in the Middle East and social-media platforms’ role in spreading disinformation has been the first test for the DSA. Jourová is also focused on the AI Act, which is another initiative that has caught global attention. In an extended conversation with MLex reporters Matthew Newman and Sam Clark, Jourová goes over how she handles meetings with some of the biggest leaders of Silicon Valley to ensure they follow the EU’s new rules.

Transcribed - Published: 1 December 2023

Anu Talus, who succeeded Andrea Jelinek to become the second chair of the European Data Protection Board in May, hopes to build on Jelinek’s work as she focuses on making GDPR enforcement more coherent, efficient and harmonized across the bloc’s member states. In an extended conversation with MLex on the sidelines of the Global Privacy Assembly meetings this year, Talus discussed issues ranging from the EDPB’s highly unusual step of making permanent and EU-wide a temporary Norwegian ban on Meta Platforms targeting users with behavioral-based ads without their consent issued under the GDPR’s urgency procedure, to how she entered the data protection field years ago.

Transcribed - Published: 28 November 2023

Approaching his second anniversary as the UK’s Information Commissioner, John Edwards believes the culture change he has led since taking the job at the start of 2022 has the regulator ready for an “agile” spectrum of responses to data protection problems. Sitting down with MLex recently for an extended conversation at the Global Privacy Assembly meetings in Bermuda, Edwards discussed the need for data protection regulators to have a more assertive response to the privacy risks of generative artificial intelligence than they had to the rise of social media business models more than a decade ago. For companies that want to comply with UK data protection law, Edwards said the ICO now has an array of tools and guidance showing that “we’re there to walk with you and to help you” comply with the law. Edwards believes the UK has a unique and important place on the world’s data protection stage — close to Europe in terms of its privacy law but influenced by the US and the Pacific Rim in terms of its interpretation. “We have potential to act as a bridge between different data protection traditions,” he said.

Transcribed - Published: 2 November 2023

Halimah DeLaine Prado is Google’s top lawyer, leading what she describes as an in-house, multidisciplinary law firm within the tech giant. As Google marks its 25th birthday this fall, it has rarely, if ever, been under more legal pressure around the world, including multiple antitrust and privacy trials in the US that could force changes to the crown jewels of its business – search, the Google Play app store and its digital ads ecosystem. During an extended conversation with MLex, DeLaine Prado talked about her hopes that Google can avoid “a race to the bottom” on privacy by nudging the ad industry toward a more privacy-protective future.

Transcribed - Published: 9 October 2023

On today’s podcast we interview a leading European Union lawmaker about the EU’s proposed Artificial Intelligence Act. Eva Maydell, a member of the European Parliament involved in the final talks on the AI Act, discusses how the EU's pioneering bill shouldn’t be made “so burdensome or so uninviting” that AI investors avoid or leave Europe. She describes how the bill could be a "global standard" and how the parliament's approach balances a stress on centralized enforcement and innovation. She also gives a hint on the prospects of finalizing negotiations on the law this year.

Transcribed - Published: 27 September 2023

Sam Levine, the new head of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, says he’s proud of his agency’s recent achievements on protecting the public by using the “very broad, flexible authority” conferred by the law. In an in-depth interview with MLex, Levine says that the FTC Act allows the Bureau to pursue technology companies over privacy concerns, even if practices have been disclosed in a privacy policy. As for generative AI, while the technology may be new, Levine says that the FTC has been thinking about issues involving artificial intelligence for many years.

Transcribed - Published: 5 September 2023

New draft merger guidelines published by the US Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice appear designed to give the two antitrust enforcers a much-needed boost to how they tackle the review of big deals. The 13 principles outlined shed light on the departments’ thinking. However, critics say that the document’s selective use of caselaw, along with its much tighter review thresholds, is cause for concern. What’s more, it remains unclear whether the guidelines will be embraced by the courts.

Transcribed - Published: 28 July 2023

The European Union has new powers to police subsidies handed out by foreign governments — powers designed to ensure that state support doesn’t distort merger activity and public procurement. However, with new powers comes great responsibility — and a solid supply of red tape. The European Commission will also be able to open investigations into state subsidies of its own initiative — yet achieving the goal of a level playing field may yet prove elusive.

Transcribed - Published: 25 July 2023

The ultimately unsuccessful attempt to hire an American competition expert to fill the coveted role of chief economist with the European Commission’s antitrust division has highlighted institutional divisions in the bloc. No-one involved in the Fiona Scott Morton affair has emerged well from the fiasco, which pitted French President Emmanuel Macron against EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. The controversy has also raised questions about revolving doors with Big Tech and whether an American should ever be considered for key roles in the EU executive.

Transcribed - Published: 20 July 2023

There’s a growing sense of frustration and disquiet among European carmakers, as they become increasingly vocal about how EU emissions policies will affect them. While they’re broadly on board with the need to build up the production of electric vehicles, they’re calling for a more flexible and pragmatic approach from the regulators over the timelines for the transition. Above all, automakers fear that jurisdictions around the world that aren’t facing the same regulatory burdens and state-aid restrictions may be getting the upper hand.

Transcribed - Published: 14 July 2023

New rules designed to curb the European Union’s outbound investment in the name of geo-political security may prove politically fraught, with European business bristling at the announcement. At the heart of these new rules lies the hope that the capital, research, expertise and knowledge of EU companies isn’t used to fuel technological advances that could enhance foreign military and intelligence capabilities. Yet imposing these rules without harming the EU’s economic interests may prove problematic.

Transcribed - Published: 7 July 2023

On paper, the EU’s proposal to pursue a design for a digital euro should be viewed favorably by the bloc’s banks, because the model targets retail consumers, intermediated by banks and payment-service providers. This should allay the banks’ fear of being sidelined by the digital-euro ecosystem. However, the problem may now lie with convincing consumers of the attractiveness of a digital currency.

Transcribed - Published: 30 June 2023

Google is back in the European Union’s firing line over its ad businesses, with the bloc’s enforcer suggesting that the tech giant’s operations may be anticompetitive. But what’s truly radical about this most recent clash is the remedy that top official Margrethe Vestager is putting on the table: a requirement that Google divest part of its services. A forced breakup of a significant company isn’t how the European Commission usually does business. This time, however, EU enforcers can look across the Atlantic to build its case for some old-school trust-busting.

Transcribed - Published: 23 June 2023

The whirlwind tour of Asia by the head of OpenAI has been unfolding against the backdrop of growing concern over the need to regulate generative artificial intelligence. Yet the call by Sam Altman for authorities in Asia to consider a light-touch approach appears in synch with at least some jurisdictions in the region, where policy makers appear both aware of the concerns and determined to harness a technology they believe could boost efficiency and productivity.

Transcribed - Published: 16 June 2023

On today’s podcast we examine the regulatory scramble around the world to meet the challenge posed by artificial intelligence and its many applications. The European Union and the United States are urgently seeking to develop a code of conduct, in a bid to establish “guardrails” for generative AI. Meanwhile, the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, is on a barnstorming tour of national capitals, hoping to convince regulators around the world to rein in the very technology his company is developing. But while there may be some synergy between regulators and industry, the development of AI regulation is still likely to be contentious.

Transcribed - Published: 9 June 2023

Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU has a glorious past, having been used by the bloc’s antitrust regulators to inflict real pain on Big Tech — including Microsoft, Google and Intel. But over the past few years, the tool has lost some of its shine, with lawyers, economists and the companies themselves deploying an increased level of sophistication when challenging enforcement action by the European Commission. Now, the EU’s antitrust regulator is working on changes designed to again showcase the weapon it had previously deployed so effectively.

Transcribed - Published: 2 June 2023

Five years have gone by since the implementation of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation but managers at Meta Platforms aren’t likely celebrate the milestone. On Monday of this week, the tech giant’s Facebook social-media platform received a whopping $1.3 billion fine. The Meta unit was also told to stop transferring personal data from the EU to the US, in what is being described as the most consequential GDPR enforcement action that could be taken. On this week’s podcast, our reporters mull over the impact of the EU privacy regulators’ decision and what the GDPR has meant globally for privacy and data-security legislation.

Transcribed - Published: 25 May 2023

The “Brexit dividend” was the assurance that the United Kingdom’s economy stood to gain from the country leaving the European Union. The theory was that, once unshackled from the EU’s burdensome regulation, the UK be able to apply a light-touch to rules and become a European economic powerhouse. That dividend has yet to materialize, however, with some businesses complaining that the red tape they’re facing in post-Brexit Britain, along with overbearing regulators, is worse than ever. Recent developments suggest the government has its work cut out for it if it wants to change that narrative.

Transcribed - Published: 19 May 2023

With inflation rampant around the globe, antitrust authorities are facing public and political pressure to act against companies seen as using the global trend to ramp up prices. However, a lack of evidence of collusion has left many regulators feeling impotent. In this week’s podcast, we discuss ways in which some jurisdictions are using market investigations or rules on unilateral conduct to combat anticompetitive behavior, in the shadow of high inflation.

Transcribed - Published: 12 May 2023

Microsoft has lashed out at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority over its decision to veto the software giant’s $69 billion acquisition of gaming company Activision Blizzard. Microsoft President Brad Smith called the decision “the darkest day of our four decades in Britain,” warning that the regulator’s red light had shaken the company’s confidence about doing business in the UK. On this week’s podcast, MLex’s M&A team examines the fallout of the CMA’s decision and what it means for the prospects of the global deal.

Transcribed - Published: 5 May 2023

South Korea has been at the forefront of digital-platform regulation for many years now. But since 2022, the country has been trying something new: self-regulation. The concept has been put forward as an alternative to platform-specific legislation and it requires powerful platforms, to create their own rules and standards. Now, in an exclusive interview, Korea Fair Trade Commission Chairman Han Ki-jeong talks about the new direction and what it means for antitrust enforcement.

Transcribed - Published: 27 April 2023

It’s one thing to lose a high-profile antitrust lawsuit targeting a tech behemoth on the merits of the case; having a judge rule against you for missing deadlines is another. Yet a procedural stumble was enough to place the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority on the receiving end of a court ruling that upended its probe of Apple’s mobile browser and cloud-gaming services. The recent ruling of the Competition Appeal Tribunal in Apple’s favor was a reminder that, whatever its motives, the regulator can’t escape statutory obligations over procedure.

Transcribed - Published: 21 April 2023

The trade confrontation between the US and China is reverberating in Japan, where businesses are facing a flurry of regulations imposed as a result of the growing tension between the two powers. It’s a particularly complex issue for Japan, given that China is the country’s largest trading partner and the US its second-largest. The geopolitical concerns have prompted some Japanese businesses to diversify their supply chains; however, given the size of the Chinese market, Japanese companies aren’t expected to walk away from China any time soon.

Transcribed - Published: 14 April 2023

MLex’s data-privacy and security team was out in force at the International Association of Privacy Professionals Global Privacy Summit 2023, held in Washington, DC. And there was no shortage of news for our reporters to cover — including the latest chatter on the pesky chatbot ChatGPT. Perhaps unusually, there was also a degree of optimism on the part of those who believe that democracies are converging on data protection, with hope that the privacy chasm that has endangered the legal flow of data between the EU and the US will be bridged. Our reporters were also able to sit down with the top privacy officials from Canada and South Korea.

Transcribed - Published: 11 April 2023

For antitrust enforcers wanting to get a message out to the world, the American Bar Association’s Antitrust Spring Meeting is a time to shine. This year was no exception — in fact, with Covid-related travel restrictions now a thing of the past, attendance at the Washington DC even was up. US federal and state enforcers were there to remind the antitrust community that they’re nobody’s concierge — with both civil and criminal enforcement now on the cards. Senior European regulators were also out in force at the ABA, with discussion about the UK’s merger reviews and the European Commission’s decision to examine its policy framework on how it applies dominance rules. MLex’s reporters were at the event, keeping an eye out for the trends and an ear to the ground for all of the latest antitrust gossip.

Transcribed - Published: 3 April 2023

Whether it’s the enormous — even subversive — potential of the GPTChat program, or the “Balenciaga Pope” Internet meme, artificial intelligence remains in the news. But in Europe, as in the United States, regulators are playing catch-up — albeit to differing degrees. In the European Union, AI regulation is advancing swiftly, even as it gets caught up in the bloc’s complex legislative processes; In the United Kingdom, a policy proposal is still firmly on the drawing board. The two jurisdictions’ approaches are comparable, yet different in key areas. The UK is opting for light-touch policy; the EU appears set to lock in more specific regulation. But both models are facing a challenge: how to harness the innovative potential of AI.

Transcribed - Published: 31 March 2023

The recent European Court of Justice victory for TowerCast has reverberated around the European Union, with the court’s decision suggesting a path for regulators to deal with so-called killer acquisitions. The court sided with an interpretation confirming that a prohibition on abuse of a dominant position is an acceptable avenue for officials wanting to block deals that involve established companies buying startups to shut down any risk of future competition. The decision is now casting a shadow over Illumina’s jurisdictional appeal for its acquisition of Grail — an acquisition that has been vetoed by the European Commission.

Transcribed - Published: 24 March 2023

Last week’s collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank has again focused world attention on the health of US-based lenders and the regulatory framework in which they operate. The US government stepped in to protect deposits, as investors rushed to withdraw their funds — Silicon Valley Bank suffered a $42 billion run in a single day. However, attention in now turning to whether more stringent regulation could have detected the problems sooner. Meanwhile, the Bank of England moved swiftly to stabilize Silicon Valley Bank’s UK unit — a move that suggests the BOE’s resolution powers are working as they should.

Transcribed - Published: 17 March 2023

Once the realm of science fiction, today the prospect of artificial intelligence having a say in our lives is demanding the attention of regulators and lawmakers. In the US, a patchwork of state privacy laws taking effect this year includes the right not to let increasingly sophisticated AI and machine-learning technologies use personal data to make decisions about consumers. Yet for companies planning to deploy AI for the processing of personal data, the impact of these rules remains uncertain.

Transcribed - Published: 10 March 2023

The technology developments for connected and automated cars are intersecting across a number of global policy areas. From privacy regulation, to global trade discussions and national energy policy debates, these breakthrough vehicles look set to not only revolutionize our daily lives, but also global auto markets and the rules that govern them.

Transcribed - Published: 9 March 2023

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the foundational law that underpins the modern Internet, is facing its first-ever review in the US Supreme Court. The lawsuits targeting Twitter and YouTube are set to establish whether the platforms should be held responsible for hosting extremist content. The case could lead to one of the most important court decisions of the first three decades of online commercial activity, with Big Tech lawyers warning that the court’s decision could “upend the Internet.

Transcribed - Published: 3 March 2023

On paper, Meta won its court case against the US Federal Trade Commission fair and square, allowing it to acquire Within, a software company that develops apps for virtual-reality devices. Yet the outcome could have been worse for the US antitrust enforcer: Meta failed in its attempt to convince the judge that the FTC had used “dead letter” law; the tech giant also fell short in its claim that the relevant market for VR fitness apps was particularly competitive. Yet the FTC’s failure to provide evidence to prove the counterfactual — that Meta’s “Operation Twinkie” would have seen the company develop its own VR fitness app — is likely to prompt some soul-searching.

Transcribed - Published: 28 February 2023

US President Joe Biden has sounded a warning to social-media companies: Put child safety ahead of profits. Meanwhile, some lawmakers and policy officials are arguing that the best way to keep children out of harm’s way is to ensure they stay off social-media platforms altogether. For its part, the FTC says that to address the problem, it needs to get a better understanding of the kind of harm children may be suffering when logging on to digital platforms — an understanding that may require the agency to hire staff psychologists.

Transcribed - Published: 27 February 2023

In the first of a three-part podcast series about the US Federal Trade Commission, the MLex panel discusses the high-profile clashes at the very top of the agency. The antitrust world was rocked recently about the very noisy resignation of Commissioner Christine Wilson. Today’s program examines the extent to which the criticisms leveled by Wilson at FTC Chair Lina Khan go beyond the normal cut-and-thrust of US political divisions.

Transcribed - Published: 24 February 2023

Assa Abloy’s move to outflank a US Department of Justice attempt to block the Swedish-based conglomerate’s acquisition of a Spectrum Brands unit has sparked a heated debate. After the DOJ moved to block the deal, amid competition concerns, Assa Abloy announced it was ready to divest two of its divisions to scupper the DOJ’s competition concerns. But its next move was to take those remedies to a court — a move dubbed “litigating the fix.” The tactic is likely to advance federal caselaw and may set the stage for future clashes, as the US’s antitrust agencies strengthen their position on remedies.

Transcribed - Published: 17 February 2023

As one of Australia’s top antitrust lawyers, Gina Cass-Gottlieb had a reputation for being calm, measured and in control — honing a consensus-based leadership style that appears to have served her well. Now, as the head of the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, Cass-Gottlieb’s sang froid will be put to the test, as the competition enforcer grapples with its criminal-cartel enforcement agenda, while taking on well-resourced tech companies and holding payment companies up to scrutiny. In an extended interview with MLex’s Sydney-based correspondent Laurel Henning, Cass-Gottlieb discusses both how she got to where she is and the way forward for her agency.

Transcribed - Published: 15 February 2023

Why would US automakers be taking such a close interest in privacy policy in the US? The answer is simple: smart cars. The personal data generated by the next generation of connected vehicles means that, as data harvesters, carmakers will be comparable to smartphone makers and app developers. And with state governments developing their own privacy legislation, the auto industry is doing what it can to ensure that the management of the data vehicles collect isn’t caught up in restrictive regulation.

Transcribed - Published: 10 February 2023

Today’s podcast brings together MLex financial-services reporters around the globe to discuss our most recent special report, covering the regulation of crypto assets and policies that address sustainable finance.

Transcribed - Published: 7 February 2023

Google has found itself fighting essentially the same battle in two different courts against two different coalitions of enforcers. In so doing, the search giant is exposing itself to a potential court loss that could see it forced to divest parts of its digital advertising business. Meanwhile, Google is also alone among the tech giants in its adversarial relationship with California’s attorney general.

Transcribed - Published: 3 February 2023

Meta Platforms can expect a bruising 2023 when it comes to data protection enforcement in Europe, with a series of cases taking aim at its business model and the possibility of more hefty fines and settlements on the horizon. And in the United States, the road ahead is just as rough, with the company agreeing to pay $725 million to settle claims relating to its decision to allow apps on Facebook’s platform to access users’ personal data. Yet with the tech company’s access to data now being challenged worldwide, the hefty fines may prove to be the least of the tech giant’s problems.

Transcribed - Published: 25 January 2023

The Year of the Rabbit will play out against an interesting background for Chinese antitrust policy and enforcement. On the one hand, the government will be keen to kickstart the economy, following the abandonment of the zero-Covid policy — leading to enforcement being dialed down. Yet competition policy is likely to remain prominent, as the government moves to create a more competitive environment for businesses. In today’s special podcast to mark the start of 2023, our correspondent, Yonnex Li, ponders what the year is likely to bring.

Transcribed - Published: 20 January 2023

On today’s 2023 preview podcast, our London-based financial-crime reporter, Martin Coyle, walks us through some of the legislative and enforcement changes that lie ahead, both in the UK and internationally. And top of the agenda: the departure of the UK Serious Fraud Office head, Lisa Osofsky, whose tenure had become mired in controversy.

Transcribed - Published: 19 January 2023

The issue of how best to regulate cryptocurrencies came to the fore in 2022, with the spectacular implosion of crypto-exchange FTX prompting plenty of soul-searching. The upheaval appears to have paved the way for what is likely to be the big regulatory story of 2023: how best to rein in the excesses of the new ledger-based technologies. Yet as officials around the globe grapple with the challenge, our London-based reporter Phoebe Seers tells us there’s no clear path forward.

Transcribed - Published: 18 January 2023

With several antitrust battles between the European Commission and Big Tech likely to come to a head in 2023, the next 12 months are likely to tell us something about the legacy of the bloc’s antitrust chief. In this special podcast to mark the start of 2023, Nicholas Hirst ponders the challenges facing Vestager, as she nears the end of what’s expected to be her final term as the EU’s competition commissioner.

Transcribed - Published: 17 January 2023