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The U.K.’s Online Safety Bill, which aims to regulate the internet, has been revised to remove a controversial but critical measure.

Matt Cardy | Getty Images News | Getty Images

LONDON — Social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok and Twitter will no longer be obliged to take down “legal but harmful” content under revisions to the U.K.’s proposed legislation for online safety.

The Online Safety Bill, which aims to regulate the internet, will be revised to remove the controversial but critical measure, British lawmakers announced Monday.

The government said the amendment would help preserve free speech and give people greater control over what they see online.

However, critics have described the move as a “major weakening” of the bill, which risks undermining the accountability of tech companies.

The previous proposals would have tasked tech giants with preventing people from seeing legal but harmful content, such as self-harm, suicide and abusive posts online.

Under the revisions — which the government dubbed a “consumer-friendly ‘triple shield'” — the onus for content selection will instead shift to internet users, with tech companies instead required to introduce a system that allows people to filter out harmful content they do not want to see.

Crucially, though, firms will still need to protect children and remove content that is illegal or prohibited in their terms of service.

‘Empowering adults,’ ‘preserving free speech’

U.K. Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan said the new plans would ensure that no “tech firms or future government could use the laws as license to censor legitimate views.”

“Today’s announcement refocuses the Online Safety Bill on its original aims: the pressing need to protect children and tackle criminal activity online while preserving free speech, ensuring tech firms are accountable to their users, and empowering adults to make more informed choices about the platforms they use,” the government said in a statement.

The opposition Labour party said the amendment was a “major weakening” of the bill, however, with the potential to fuel misinformation and conspiracy theories.

Replacing the prevention of harm with an emphasis on free speech undermines the very purpose of this bill.

Lucy Powell

shadow culture secretary, Labour Party

“Replacing the prevention of harm with an emphasis on free speech undermines the very purpose of this bill, and will embolden abusers, COVID deniers, hoaxers, who will feel encouraged to thrive online,” Shadow Culture Secretary Lucy Powell said.

Meantime, suicide risk charity group Samaritans said increased user controls should not replace tech company accountability.

“Increasing the controls that people have is no replacement for holding sites to account through the law and this feels very much like the government snatching defeat from the jaws of victory,” Julie Bentley, chief executive of Samaritans, said.

The devil in the detail

Monday’s announcement is the latest iteration of the U.K.’s expansive Online Safety Bill, which also includes guidelines on identity verification tools and new criminal offences to tackle fraud and revenge porn.

It follows months of campaigning by free speech advocates and online protections groups. Meantime, Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter has thrown online content moderation into renewed focus.

The proposals are now set to go back to the British Parliament next week, before being intended to become law before next summer.

However, commentators say further honing of the bill is required to ensure gaps are addressed before then.

“The devil will be in the detail. There is a risk that Ofcom oversight of social media terms and conditions, and requirements around ‘consistency,’ could encourage over-zealous removals,” Matthew Lesh, head of public policy at free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, said.

Communications and media regulator Ofcom will be responsible for much of the enforcement of the new law, and will be able to fine companies up to 10% of their worldwide revenue for non-compliance.

“There are also other issues that the government has not addressed,” Lesh continued. “The requirements to remove content that firms are ‘reasonably likely to infer’ is illegal sets an extremely low threshold and risks preemptive automated censorship.”

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Broadcom earnings, Lululemon CEO steps down, ‘fibermaxxing’ and more in Morning Squawk

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Broadcom earnings, Lululemon CEO steps down, 'fibermaxxing' and more in Morning Squawk

FILE PHOTO: A Broadcom logo and a computer motherboard appear in this illustration taken August 25, 2025.

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

This is CNBC’s Morning Squawk newsletter. Subscribe here to receive future editions in your inbox.

Here are five key things investors need to know to start the trading day:

1. Chip types

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average surged to new closing highs yesterday as investors dove into old-economy and blue-chip stocks. The Nasdaq Composite sat out of the rally, as an 11% drop in shares of Oracle catalyzed the latest wave of worry about artificial intelligence spending.

Here’s what to know:

  • Oracle shares snapped a seven-day win streak and notched their worst day since January, as the company’s earnings left traders questioning the company’s AI investments.
  • That left a bad taste in investors’ mouths on AI more broadly, with key players such as Nvidia, CoreWeave and Micron also sliding in Thursday’s session.
  • But as AI stocks faltered, investors put money to work in more cyclical names like financial institutions and insurance providers.
  • This morning, shares of Broadcom are down nearly 6% before the bell despite the company beating expectations on both lines yesterday.
  • The semiconductor company told investors that it expects its current-quarter AI chip sales to double from a year ago. It also revealed that its mystery $10 billion customer was Anthropic.
  • Hundreds of miles from Wall Street, President Donald Trump last night signed an executive order establishing a single national regulation standard for AI that curbs states’ regulatory power.
  • Follow live markets updates here.

2. Turning a new leaf

A customer shops in a Lululemon store on April 03, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. 

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

Another day, another CEO departure: Lululemon announced yesterday that CEO Calvin McDonald will step down at the end of January. He will be replaced in the interim by two executives while the Canadian retailer searches for a permanent successor.

Lululemon reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter, but, as CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge notes, the company has been underperforming for more than a year. Shares of the athleisure retailer are up more than 9% this morning.

Costco also surpassed Wall Street’s forecasts for its first quarter, boosted in part by e-commerce growth. The warehouse club said Black Friday was a record-breaking day for its digital business.

3. Wish upon a bot

Disney CEO Bob Iger and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appearing on CNBC on Dec. 11th, 2025.

CNBC

Mickey Mouse, meet ChatGPT. Disney announced a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI yesterday. Under the agreement, users on OpenAI’s Sora video platform will be able to make content that features the entertainment giant’s copyrighted material — including more than 200 characters across the Disney universe.

Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC that the deal gives the company “a way in” to AI and will help it further reach younger consumers. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said there will be limits on how Disney characters can be used in Sora videos.

Yesterday also marked OpenAI’s 10th anniversary. CNBC’s MacKenzie Sigalos takes you through the company’s transformation from a small, nonprofit research lab to the booming business it is today.

Get Morning Squawk directly in your inbox

4. Tanking plans

A satellite image shows the very large crude carrier (VLCC) Skipper, which British maritime risk management group Vanguard said was believed to have been seized on December 10, as well as another vessel, off Port Jose, Venezuela, November 18, 2025.

Planet Labs | Reuters

After the U.S. seized a tanker off Venezuela’s coast, a White House official told CNBC yesterday that Trump is willing to do it again. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also said that the tanker will be taken to a U.S. port where the oil it carried will be seized.

CNBC’s Lori Ann LaRocco found that the tanker in question, identified as the “Skipper,” had hid its location on multiple occasions since last year. Data suggests it has carried sanctioned oil from Iran and Venezuela since 2022.

5. Fiber optics

Smartfood Fiber Pop and Sun Chips Fiber snacks.

Source: Pepsico

Mover over, protein. Fiber is increasingly stealing the spotlight as shoppers focus on their gut health.

Data shows 22% of consumers listed high fiber content as a top-three factor when shopping, compared with 17% four years ago. On social media, the kids are calling it “fibermaxxing.”

As a result, companies such as Coca-Cola and Nestlé are rolling out fiber-focused drinks, CNBC’s Laya Neelakandan reports. PepsiCo also told CNBC that it’s planning to launch high-fiber versions of Smartfood and SunChips next year.

The Daily Dividend

Here are some stories we’d recommend making time for this weekend:

CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Jordan Novet, Tasmin Lockwood, Jennifer Elias, Kif Leswing, MacKenzie Sigalos, Gabrielle Fonrouge, Melissa Repko, Ashley Capoot, Kevin Breuninger, Spencer Kimball, Lori Ann LaRocco, Justin Papp, Eamon Javers and Laya Neelakandan contributed to this report. Josephine Rozzelle edited this edition.

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AI-led tech slide extends into third day as Oracle, Nvidia, fall in premarket trading

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AI-led tech slide extends into third day as Oracle, Nvidia, fall in premarket trading

U.S. artificial intelligence names were in negative territory in premarket trading on Friday, extending losses into their third day.

Oracle was 0.9% lower in premarket trading, paring earlier losses which saw it fall 1.3%. Nvidia shed 0.7%, Micron fell 0.9%, and CoreWeave was down 1.3% at 5:16 a.m. ET.  

Broadcom, which reported a strong quarter on Thursday, was last seen down 5%.

The share price of cloud computing and database software maker Oracle plummeted on Thursday, ending the session around 11% lighter after revenue earnings missed analyst expectations on Wednesday.

Oracle plunges on weak revenue

It dragged other AI-related names down with it despite a record-breaking rally elsewhere on Wall Street, suggesting investors are rotating out of tech into other parts of the market.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.26% on Thursday, despite the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 hitting fresh records at the end of the session.

Despite booming demand for Oracle’s artificial intelligence infrastructure, it posted mixed results this week. Revenue came in at $16.06 billion, compared with $16.21 billion expected by analysts, according to data compiled by LSEG.

It followed widespread speculation around the long-term health of the company, with investors cautious about its reliance on debt to execute its AI infrastructure build-out. The broader industry’s circular dealmaking has also raised eyebrows.

“We think recent investor scrutiny on artificial intelligence’s potential and circular GPU deals can be overly punitive to key AI suppliers like Oracle,” said Morningstar Equity Analyst Luke Yang. “Oracle remains a respectable cloud provider that enjoys strong switching costs across its database, application, and infrastructure lineup.”

That said, the firm reduced its fair value estimate for wide-moat Oracle to $286 per share, down from $340. Morningstar’s moat rating refers to its assessment of a company’s durable competitive advantage.

“We lowered our long-term earnings outlook as delivering Oracle’s planned capacity on time now proved to be a harder task. However, we continue to view shares as undervalued,” Yang added.

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CNBC Daily Open: Record high U.S. stocks as investors rotate out of tech

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CNBC Daily Open: Record high U.S. stocks as investors rotate out of tech

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 11, 2025, in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced on Thursday, with both hitting fresh closing records. The Russell 2000 index also ended the session at a new high, following the U.S. Federal Reserve’s quarter-point cut on Wednesday.

But if investors analyze Thursday’s individual stock movements, they will see not all is well with the AI play yet. Oracle shares plunged nearly 11%, a day after it reported weak quarterly revenue, higher capital expenditure and long-term lease commitments. Oracle’s slide dragged down AI-related names such as Nvidia and Micron.

In extended trading, Broadcom shares fell 4.5%. The chipmaker beat Wall Street’s expectations for earnings and revenue, but CEO Hock Tan appeared to have failed to address worries that their largest customer, Google, might eventually make more of its chips in-house. Rising memory prices would also pressure margins, while the company’s chip deal with OpenAI might not be binding.

That’s why the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 0.26% despite other major U.S. indexes hitting records. Putting the two together, that means investors are rotating out of tech into other parts of the market. The S&P 500 financials sector, for instance, closed at a fresh record, buoyed by jumps in Visa and Mastercard.

Even though the AI theme seems to be under scrutiny, other sectors are performing well on the back of a resilient U.S. economy — as signaled by Fed officials on Wednesday — and buoyed by interest-rate cut. So long as nothing throws a spanner in the works, looks like we’re all set for a happy holiday season.

CNBC’s Kristina Partsinevelos contributed to this report.

What you need to know today

New records for U.S. stocks. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average notched fresh highs on Thursday, but the Nasdaq Composite, weighed down by Oracle, underperformed and fell. Asia-Pacific markets advanced Friday, with several major indexes rising at least 1%.

Broadcom’s fourth-quarter results beat expectations. The chipmaker also saw its net income nearly double from a year ago, and revealed that Anthropic is its $10 billion customer. But shares slumped in extended trading.

Disney to invest $1 billion in OpenAI. The media giant will also allow Sora, OpenAI’s video generator, to use its copyrighted characters, under a $1 billion licensing agreement. “We think this is a good investment for the company,” Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC.

Reddit launches legal challenge in Australia. The county introduced a ban on social media for teens under 16, which came into effect on Wednesday. Reddit argues that the law is “invalid on the basis of the implied freedom of political communication.”

[PRO] Where will Oracle go from here? Analysts are re-looking their price targets for Oracle stock after the firm released a disappointing and confusing earnings report on Wednesday.

And finally…

Gen. David Petraeus, Former CIA Director, Fmr. Central Commander and American commander in Iraq.

Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Trump scared Europe with his national security strategy. That’s no bad thing, ex-CIA chief says

White House’s new national security strategy gave Europe a scare last week as it warned the region faced “civilizational erasure” and questioned whether it could remain a geopolitical partner for America.

The strategy was, “in a way, going after the Europeans but, frankly, some of the Europeans needed to be gotten after because I watched as four different presidents tried to exhort the Europeans to do more for their own defense and now that’s actually happening,” David Petraeus, former CIA director and four-star U.S. Army general, told CNBC’s Dan Murphy in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

Holly Ellyatt

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