UK law Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Act 2024 receives Royal Assent The Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Act 2024 has received Royal Assent. It updates the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 with the aim of ensuring that the UK’s investigatory powers framework remains fit for purpose in the face of evolving threats. It follows the Home Secretary’s statutory report…
The European Commission has opened formal proceedings to assess if Meta (Facebook and Instagram), may have breached the Digital Services Act. As regular SCL readers will be aware, Facebook and Instagram were designated as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) on 25 April 2023 under the DSA, as they both have more than 45 million monthly…
The Advocate General has delivered his opinion in Case C-446/21 | Schrems. In 2018, Meta Platforms Ireland started using new Facebook terms of service in the EU. Consent to those terms is required to sign up for, or access, Facebook’s accounts and services. Mr Maximilian Schrems (S) a Facebook user and well-known activist in the…
Last year, the European Commission designated TikTok as a Very Large Online Platform under the Digital Services Act. TikTok Lite is a new app which has been launched in France and Spain and is aimed at users aged 18+. It includes the “Task and Reward Program”, which allows users to earn points while performing certain…
Read More… from European Commission opens proceedings against TikTok regarding Tiktok Lite
UK law UK government announces new law to tackle deepfake creation The Ministry of Justice has announced a new offence for individuals who create a sexually explicit deepfake even if there is no intent to share. Offenders will face prosecution and an unlimited fine and if the image is shared, offenders may be subject to…
Since the introduction of its Children’s code of practice in 2021, the ICO has been working with online services including websites, apps and games to provide better privacy protections for children, aimed at ensuring their personal information is used appropriately within the digital world. The ICO says that there has been significant progress and many…
Read More… from ICO sets out priorities for Children’s Code strategy
UK law Artificial Intelligence (Regulation) Bill receives second reading The Artificial Intelligence (Regulation) Bill has received its second reading in the House of Lords. Committee stage is yet to be scheduled. The Bil is a private member’s bill which would introduce a new body, the AI Authority, which would have various functions designed to help…
The Digital Markets Act regulates gatekeepers (large digital platforms that provide an important gateway between business users and consumers, whose position can grant them the power to create a bottleneck in the digital economy). Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta and Microsoft were designated by the European Commission as gatekeepers in September 2023, and were required…
Read More… from European Commission launches investigations under Digital Markets Act
Ofcom is seeking evidence to inform its codes of practice and guidance on the additional duties that will apply to some of the most widely used online sites and apps, designated as “categorised” services, under the Online Safety Act. Under the Act, all in-scope tech firms must put in place appropriate safety measures to protect…
Find out all about this weeks tech law news round up here…