#oligopolies

"After eight years of litigation, Europe’s highest court has dismissed Google’s appeal, upholding the European Commission’s finding that Google used its control over Android to make its own search engine harder to avoid. But while that legal battle focused on contracts and market dominance, Google is now looking to shape how trust is established across the Android ecosystem. On July 2, the Court of Justice of the European Union delivered its final judgment in the Google Android antitrust case. The ruling made the penalty imposed by the General Court definitive. One of the most consequential technology competition disputes of the past decade, the case examined whether Google broke the law by using contractual restrictions, including anti-forking agreements, revenue-sharing arrangements, and tying practices, to preserve its dominance over the Android ecosystem and mobile search. The Court dismissed Google's appeal. Yet over these same eight years, Google has shifted how it maintains gatekeeper control. The latest iteration is the company's developer verification system: starting in September 2026, developers worldwide who wish to distribute apps to certified Android devices will be required to agree to it." https://www.techpolicy.press/google-android-antitrust-ruling-shows-the-next-battle-is-over-who-controls-trust/ #Google #EU #Android #Antitrust #Oligopolies #BigTech

"Britain’s public sector has become deeply reliant on a small number of US cloud giants, and analysts warn the concentration is now a strategic risk. Nearly all UK government organisations spend on hyperscale cloud, with the dependency running into billions of pounds a year. Some 95% of central and local public-sector bodies spent on hyperscale cloud in 2023/24, according to a Computer Weekly data dive. Counting software that runs on those platforms, the figure rises to 99% across more than 1,100 organisations. The money is heavily concentrated. Of the £17.7bn spent with major tech suppliers, 55%, or £9.9bn, went directly to hyperscalers or their resellers." https://thenextweb.com/news/uk-cloud-dependency-billion-pound-risk #UK #BigTech #USA #DigitalSovereignty #LockIn #Oligopolies

""Every failed attempt to make children safer online is followed by more surveillance and censorship," he said. "Children have rights too and these policies will harm their free expression and privacy rights, and push them into less regulated spaces. Meanwhile the business models driving harms are untouched." Others questioned whether the measures can realistically be enforced. Mark Jones, an online harms specialist and partner at law firm Payne Hicks Beach, noted that the consultation closed only weeks ago and warned that determined teenagers have a habit of finding ways around restrictions. "A social media ban only helps if it is genuinely enforceable," Jones said. "If large numbers of young people simply circumvent the restrictions, parents will just lose visibility into where their children are actually spending time online rather than reclaiming any control." The political case for the crackdown appears relatively straightforward, but the practical one is less so. The government now has to persuade social media companies to enforce the rules and teenagers not to find ways around them." https://www.theregister.com/personal-tech/2026/06/15/britain-plots-digital-bedtime-after-kicking-under-16s-off-social-media/5255341 #UK #AgeVerification #NannyState #Surveillance #Oligopolies #Censorship #BigBrother #BigTech #Privacy #Anonymity