BT faces £600m claim for historic overcharging on landlines January 17, 2021 A £600m claim has been filed against BT at the Competition Appeal Tribunal that relates to historic overcharging for landlines. The claim could result in payments of up to £500 each for 2.3 million BT customers. The case is being brought by Justin Le Patourel, a telecoms consultant who worked for Ofcom for 13 years. [...]
Tiktok tightens privacy features as online harm laws loom January 13, 2021 Tiktok has tightened its privacy features for young users as the government prepares to roll out tough new rules to improve safety on social media. The hit video-sharing app today said that all users under the age of 16 will have their accounts set to private by default, meaning only approved followers can view their [...]
BT poaches Bharti Airtel executive in digital shake-up January 11, 2021 BT has poached a top technology executive from Indian telecoms giant Bharti Airtel to lead its digital transformation plans. The FTSE 100 behemoth today announced the appointment of Harmeen Mehta in the new role of chief digital and innovation officer. Mehta, who will report directly to chief executive Philip Jansen, will oversee a new digital [...]
Screenshot: Will Sunak save music festival season? January 8, 2021 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: Reporting from the ruins of democracy **A rallying cry to save music festivals **Youtube, Talk Radio and the quagmire of online regulation Media Moment of the Week I usually [...]
GB News promises ‘boldly different’ TV channel as it secures £60m funding January 6, 2021 An upcoming TV channel promising to shake up the rolling news market will start recruiting 120 journalists after sealing the final tranche of its £60m investment. GB News, which is spearheaded by Andrew Neil, today said it had secured backing from Dubai-based investment firm Legatum and hedge fund manager Sir Paul Marshall. The funding round, [...]
Europe lays out new rules that could force the breakup of big tech December 15, 2020 Europe has laid out sweeping new tech regulation that could see big firms face huge fines in a further crackdown on big tech companies. The European Commission today set out two new pieces of legislation as it looks to curb the power of some of the world’s most popular firms. The EU has long had [...]
Fines, bans and directors liable: Government plans Big Tech crackdown December 15, 2020 The government is set to announce sweeping new measures for social media companies, as part of a crackdown on big tech. Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden and Home Secretary Priti Patel will today propose plans to hand Ofcom considerable powers over social media firms. Ofcom handed new powers The regulator will be able to fine companies [...]
EU joins UK in rolling out sweeping new fines for tech giants December 15, 2020 US tech giants could face fines of up to 10 per cent of their revenue under new draft EU rules set to be unveiled today. The regulations, the most serious attempt at reining it companies such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple yet made by the bloc, come amid intense worldwide scrutiny on the role [...]
UK to regulate social media firms such as Facebook and Twitter over content removal December 11, 2020 The UK government will announce plans for a new law next week under which social media companies will have a duty to be impartial and be barred from “arbitrarily” removing comments because they are controversial, according to a report in The Times today. UK ministers will announce plans on Tuesday for a statutory duty of [...]
Ofcom fines BT £6.3m for breaking rules in public sector contract December 11, 2020 The UK’s telecoms regulator has fined BT £6.3m for breaking rules in a Northern Ireland public sector contract between 2017 and 2018. Between April 2017 and March 2018, BT and Eir both bid for a public sector contract in Northern Ireland to provide shared data transfer services. Ofcom has today concluded that BT’s network arm [...]