WhatsApp probe casts shadow ahead of Meta earnings January 26, 2026 Meta heads into a crucial earnings week under mounting regulatory pressure, after the UK watchdog, Ofcom, opened a formal investigation into WhatsApp’s data handling. This comes just days after Meta paused access to its AI chatbots for teenagers worldwide, Britain’s communications regulator, Ofcom, said it is looking into whether the social media giant provided “incomplete or inaccurate” [...]
TikTok no longer in limbo as it seals US deal January 24, 2026 After half a decade of geopolitical brinkmanship, court battles and executive orders, TikTok has finally secured its future in the US. The short-form video platform confirmed on Thursday that it has closed a deal allowing it to continue operating across the pond, bringing an end to years of uncertainty that began during Donald Trump’s first [...]
Amazon plans new round of job cuts as IMF chief warns of AI ‘tsunami’ January 23, 2026 Amazon prepares a new round of job cuts amid growing use of automation across corporate roles, following a round of redundancies just months ago. The move comes as the head of the International Monetary Fund warned that AI is set to hit the global labour market like a “tsunami”. Speaking at the World Economic Forum [...]
Elon Musk’s Space X in talks with Wall Street banks over mega IPO January 23, 2026 Elon Musk’s aerospace firm Space X is holding early-stage discussions with a flurry of leading Wall Street banks about a potential listing that could rank among the largest market debuts ever. According to the Financial Times, the company is considering Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America for senior roles on [...]
Reeves pulled out of ‘golden age for the City’ speech amid Trump tariff drama January 19, 2026 Rachel Reeves pulled out of a major event at the Stock Exchange, scheduled for Monday morning, where she had been due to claim that her reforms to UK listing rules are “reinvigorating” the City of London and ushering in a new “golden age” for the Square Mile. Reeves had been set to say: “Two years [...]
Ministers to change UK merger rules in bid to speed up deals January 18, 2026 Whitehall is preparing a fundamental reset of the UK’s merger control regime, as ministers seek to accelerate deal-making and strip back some red tape for businesses. The Department for Business and Trade is expected to outline plans this week that would significantly change how the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) reviews takeovers and sector-wide competition [...]
UK inflation faces December bump from travel and food costs January 18, 2026 UK inflation may have edged higher at the end of last year, with Christmas travel and higher duties pushing up prices, economists have warned. Several forecasters expect the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) to have ticked up in December after falling sharply in November. Economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics say they expect inflation to rise to 3.3 [...]
Starmer slams Trump’s UK tariff threat over Greenland January 18, 2026 Keir Starmer has joined European leaders in condemning Donald Trump’s plan to impose sweeping tariffs on the UK and several Nato allies. The prime minister has warned the move risks damaging transatlantic trade and collective security. The US president said goods exported from the UK to the US would face a 10 per cent tariff [...]
Musk-Altman rift widens as judge approves court battle January 16, 2026 OpenAI and Microsoft have lost their final bid to avoid a courtroom battle with Elon Musk, with a US judge ruling that the Tesla and xAI founder can proceed to trial over claims that the start-up breached its original charitable mission. The case, set for a jury trial in late April at the District Court [...]
Big Tech wants to access your health records January 16, 2026 OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT Health this month is set to capitalise a behavioural pattern that has already taken hold. Millions of people use AI chatbots to make sense of symptoms, test results and medical jargon, often even before speaking to a qualified clinician. The difference is that now, as of just last week, the technology [...]
