Google plans to update some of its service policies to comply with the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA), according to an Aug. 24 blog post.
The Big Tech giant said it had made “significant investments” in various areas to comply with the DSA’s specific requirements.
It plans to expand its Ads Transparency Center, researchers’ access to data and its transparency research; add more visibility for content moderation; create a new Transparency Center for its policies; and conduct more in-depth risk analysis.
The post also expressed that Google has voiced concerns about the “potential unintended consequences” of some of these measures:
“Such as the risk of making it easier for bad actors to abuse our services and spread harmful misinformation by providing too much information about our enforcement approach.”
The EU’s DSA intends to consolidate content regulations across the region and form more specific processes for content moderation online. It also categorized 17 online platforms as “very large online platforms” (VLOPs) and two as “very large online search engines” (VLOSEs).
General requirements for sites in these categories include preventing and removing illegal posts and offering a way to report them; banning targeted advertising based on a user’s sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity or political beliefs; restricting targeted ads to children; and sharing data with researchers and authorities.
Related: Google upgrades search engine with AI-powered enhancements
The VLOPs include Alibaba’s AliExpress, Amazon Store, Apple’s AppStore, Booking.com, Facebook, Google Play, Google Maps, Google Shopping, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia and Zalando.
The two VLOSEs were Bing Search and Google Search.
All the platforms mentioned in these categories had until Aug. 28 to meet the obligations of the DSA. Google called its updates “compliance at scale.”
TikTok also released a statement on Aug. 4 saying it had prepared for the measures. It said it added a new way to report illegal content, gave more information on its content moderation methods, made its recommendation system more transparent and updated its ad policy for teens.
Users took to Reddit to discuss the upcoming implementation of the DSA. Some praised the regulations as “needed” to keep Big Tech in line, while others said the policies limit free speech.
Taking the middle ground, one user argued it’s “too early to make a fair judgment.”
Despite these efforts to make the internet safer, Google took to its blog on Aug. 21 to respond to accusations that ads were tracking the data of children, an allegation published in a lengthy report.
Magazine: Should we ban ransomware payments? It’s an attractive but dangerous idea
Tulip Siddiq has told Sky News her “lawyers are ready” to handle any formal questions about allegations she is involved in corruption in Bangladesh. Asked whether she regrets apparent links with the Bangladeshi Awami League political party, Ms Siddiq said “why don’t you look at my legal letter and see if I have any questions to answer… [the Bangladeshi authorities] have not once contacted me and I’m waiting to hear from them”. The London MP resigned as a Treasury minister in January after being named in several corruption inquiries in Bangladesh. In her first public comments since leaving government, Ms Siddiq said “there’s been allegations for months on end and no one has contacted me”. Last month, the interim leader of Bangladesh told Sky News the MP had “wealth left behind” in the country “and should be made responsible”. Lawyers acting for Ms Siddiq wrote to the Bangladeshi Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) several weeks ago saying the allegations were “false and vexatious”. The letter said the ACC must put questions to Ms Siddiq “by no later than 25 March 2025” or “we shall presume that there are no legitimate questions to answer”. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Staff from the NCA visited Bangladesh as part of initial work to support the interim government in the country. In a post online today, the former minister said the deadline had expired and the authorities had not replied. Sky News has approached the Bangladeshi government for comment. The allegations against Ms Siddiq are focused on links to her aunt Sheikh Hasina – who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh for 20 years. Ms Hasina was forced to flee the country in August following weeks of deadly protests. She is accused of becoming an autocrat, with politically-motivated arrests, extra-judicial killings and other abuses allegedly happening on her watch. Hasina claims it’s all a political witch hunt. Electrocuted on their genitals and mouths sewn up: Inside Bangladesh’s ‘death squad’ jails Ms Siddiq was found to have lived in several London properties that had links back to the Awami League political party that her aunt still leads. She referred herself to the prime minister’s standards adviser Sir Laurie Magnus who said he had “not identified evidence of improprieties” but added it was “regrettable” Ms Siddiq had not been more alert to the “potential reputational risks” of the ties to her aunt. Ms Siddiq said continuing in her role would be “a distraction” for the government but insisted she had done nothing wrong. Cryptocurrency exchange OKX reportedly hired former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to advise it over the federal probe that resulted in the firm pleading guilty to several violations and agreeing to pay $505 million in fines and penalties. Cuomo, a New York-registered attorney, advised OKX on legal issues stemming from the probe sometime after August 2021 when he resigned as New York overnor, Bloomberg reported on April 2, citing people familiar with the matter. “He spoke with company executives regularly and counseled them on how to respond to the criminal investigation,” Bloomberg said. The Seychelles-based firm pled guilty to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business in violation of US Anti-Money Laundering laws on Feb. 24 and agreed to pay $84 million worth of penalties while forfeiting $421 million worth of fees earned from mostly institutional clients. The breaches occurred from 2018 to 2024 despite OKX having an official policy preventing US persons from transacting on its crypto exchange since 2017, the Department of Justice noted at the time. A spokesperson for Cuomo, Rich Azzopardi, told Bloomberg that Cuomo has been providing private legal services representing individuals and corporations on a variety of matters since resigning as New York governor. “He has not represented clients before a New York city or state agency and routinely recommends former colleagues for positions,” Azzopardi added. OKX reportedly wasn’t willing to comment on its relationships with outside firms. Cuomo, who is now running for mayor of New York City, also advised OKX to appoint his friend US Attorney Linda Lacewell to OKX’s board of directors, Bloomberg said. Lacewell, a former superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services, was added to the board in 2024 and was named OKX’s new chief legal officer on April 1, according to a recent company statement. Source: Linda Lacewell Related: New York bill aims to protect crypto investors from memecoin rug pulls After the investigation concluded, OKX said it would seek out a compliance consultant to remedy the issues stemming from the federal probe and bolster its regulatory compliance program. “Our vision is to make OKX the gold standard of global compliance at scale across different markets and their respective regulatory bodies,” OKX CEO Star Xu said in a Feb. 24 X post. Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again
United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order establishing reciprocal tariffs on trading partners and a 10% baseline tariff on all imports from all countries. The reciprocal levies on will be approximately half of what trading partners charge for US imports, Trump said. For example, China currently has a tariff of 67% on US imports, so US reciprocal tariffs on Chinese goods will be 34%. Trump also announced a standard 25% tariff on all automobile imports. Trump told the media that tariffs would return the country to economic prosperity seen in previous centuries: “From 1789 to 1913, we were a tariff-backed nation. The United States was proportionately the wealthiest it has ever been. So wealthy, in fact, that in the 1880s, they established a commission to decide what they were going to do with the vast sums of money they were collecting.” “Then, in 1913, for reasons unknown to mankind, they established the income tax so that citizens, rather than foreign countries, would start paying,” Trump said. Full breakdown of reciprocal tariffs by country. Source: Cointelegraph Trump presented the tariffs through the lens of economic protectionism and hinted at returning to the economic policies of the 19th century by using them to replace the income tax. Related: Bitcoin rally to $88.5K obliterates bears as spot volumes soar — Will a tariff war stop the party? Trump proposed the idea of abolishing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and funding the federal government exclusively through trade tariffs while still on the campaign trail in October 2024. According to accounting automation company Dancing Numbers, Trump’s plan could save each American taxpayer $134,809-$325,561 in taxes throughout their lives. US President Donald Trump addresses the media about reciprocal trade tariffs at the April 2 press event. Source: Fox 4 Dallas The higher range of the tax savings estimate will only occur if other wage-based taxes are eliminated at the state and municipal levels. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who assumed office in February, also voiced support for replacing the IRS with the “External Revenue Service.” Lutnick said that the US government cannot balance a budget yet consistently demands more from its citizens every year. Tariffs will also protect American workers and strengthen the US economy, he said. Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle
‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series Story injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game Game 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history MLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup Japan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea Game-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike Bank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway
Cuomo also influenced OKX to make executive appointments: Bloomberg
Trump proposes eliminating federal income tax and replacing it with tariff revenue
