Screenshot: Will the UK’s live music industry ever recover? October 23, 2020 A weekly column from City A.M. bringing you all the biggest stories and trends in technology, media and telecoms This week: ** Media Moment of the Week: Sky History gets tattoo regret ** Can the live music sector survive this crisis? ** The tide turns against Google Media Moment of the Week This week we [...]
Google hits back at ‘deeply flawed’ US Justice Department lawsuit October 20, 2020 Google has hit back at a major antitrust lawsuit filed by the US Justice Department, branding it “deeply flawed” and warning that consumers would be negatively affected if the government wins its case. US officials today filed a lawsuit against the tech giant accusing it of breaking the law by using its market power to [...]
UK watchdog ramps up pressure on tech giants as it sets one-year ultimatum October 19, 2020 The UK competition watchdog has urged the government to step up plans for a new digital regulator as it warned it is preparing to take action against tech giants such as Facebook and Google. Andrea Coscelli, chief executive of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), said his organisation was “actively considering” potential enforcement cases in [...]
Exclusive: Google buys land for potential UK data centre October 16, 2020 Google has purchased a plot of land north of London which could house the Silicon Valley giant’s first data centre in the United Kingdom. The firm’s data centres house thousands of servers and drives, and provide the infrastructure for Google’s services across the world. City A.M. understands that the plot, in Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, would [...]
EU regulators draw up ‘hit list’ of tech giants to share data with smaller rivals October 12, 2020 European Union regulators have reportedly drawn up a “hit list” of around 20 tech giants, potentially including Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google, to reduce their market power. The internet platforms will be hit with tougher regulations than their smaller rivals under the new rules. They will be forced to share data with competitors and be [...]
Big tech faces break-up as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google accused of ‘monopoly power’ October 7, 2020 Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google have all abused their market power and could face a potential break-up, according to a damning new report backed by US Democratic politicians. In a 449-page recommendation released yesterday, the US House Antitrust Committee set out a roadmap for cracking down on the tech giants. The report follows a 16-month [...]
US senate votes to subpoena tech bosses to testify October 1, 2020 US tech bosses will be hauled in front of congress after a senate committee voted to compel them to testify. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai and Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey will be questioned on reforming Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The act shields social media firms from [...]
The digital services tax is targeting the wrong companies September 21, 2020 Cost-pass-through is a well-established economic theory. It describes what happens when a business changes the price of the products or services it sells following a change in the cost of producing them – be that an increase in procurement or production costs, increased demand, or a tax hike. When the government announced its ban on [...]
Exclusive: Google to pass on digital tax cost to advertisers September 1, 2020 Google will increase the price of advertising on its platforms in the UK due to the Digital Services Tax, City A.M. can reveal. In an email sent to advertisers today, seen by City A.M., the tech giant laid out plans for a two per cent ‘UK DST Fee’ which will be added to invoices from [...]
Social media news consumption drops as trust declines August 13, 2020 The number of people accessing news through social media has fallen in the last year as trust in online platforms has slipped, new figures have revealed. The proportion of Brits using social media sites to stay up to date with the latest stories slipped to 45 per cent in 2020, down from 49 per cent [...]