Australia has proposed a law to curb anti-competitive practices by major tech companies, including fines of up to A$50 million ($33 million) for suppressing competition or preventing consumers from switching services. The move builds on recent efforts by the Labor government to regulate Big Tech, including a ban on social media use for children under 16 passed last week.
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones highlighted the dominance of platforms like Apple, Google, and Meta, warning that their practices stifle innovation, limit consumer choice, and inflate costs. The proposed law, inspired by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, aims to make it easier for users to switch between services such as social media platforms, internet browsers, and app stores.
The law would empower Australia’s competition regulator to enforce compliance, investigate digital market practices, and impose fines. It prioritises oversight of app stores and ad tech services, targeting practices like promoting low-rated apps and favouring in-house services over competitors. Consultation on the legislation will run until February 14, with further discussions to refine the draft.
Big Tech companies, which dominate Australia’s digital market, have yet to comment on the proposal. Government reports reveal Google controls up to 95% of online search, Apple’s App Store handles 60% of app downloads, and Facebook and Instagram account for 79% of social media services in the country.
Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of MicroStrategy, urged Microsoft to adopt Bitcoin as a strategic reserve during a presentation to the company’s board on 1 December. He emphasised Bitcoin’s potential to become the world’s leading asset within 20 years, surpassing gold and art with a projected global wealth share of $280 trillion. Highlighting Bitcoin’s rapid growth, Saylor noted its annual performance has outpaced Microsoft shares by 12 times, with MicroStrategy shares soaring over 3,000% since embracing Bitcoin.
In his pitch, Saylor framed Bitcoin as a vital asset for Microsoft’s future, claiming it could reduce investor risk while driving share prices to $584 and maximising market capitalisation to nearly $5 trillion. He contrasted Bitcoin’s benefits with traditional financial strategies, urging the board to innovate by adopting the cryptocurrency.
Saylor also introduced Bitcoin24, a product designed to integrate Bitcoin into corporate strategies. He argued that this approach could lower Microsoft’s share risk from 95% to 59% and increase annual recurring revenue from 10.4% to 15.8%. As political and market support for Bitcoin grows, Saylor asserted that Microsoft’s adoption of Bitcoin would secure its position in the digital future.
Meta Platforms announced stricter regulations for advertisers promoting financial products and services in Australia, aiming to curb online scams. Following an October initiative where Meta removed 8,000 deceptive ‘celeb bait’ ads, the company now requires advertisers to verify beneficiary and payer details, including their Australian Financial Services License number, before running financial ads.
This move is part of Meta’s ongoing efforts to protect Australians from scams involving fake investment schemes using celebrity images. Verified advertisers must also display a “Paid for By” disclaimer, ensuring transparency in financial advertisements.
The updated policy follows a broader regulatory push in Australia, where the government recently abandoned plans to fine internet platforms for spreading misinformation. The crackdown on online platforms is part of a growing effort to assert Australian sovereignty over foreign tech companies, with a federal election looming.
Meta Platforms, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is set to face trial in Spain in October 2025 over a €551 million ($582 million) lawsuit filed by 87 media companies. The complaint, led by the AMI media association, accuses Meta of unfair competition in advertising through its alleged misuse of user data from 2018 to 2023.
The media companies argue that Meta’s extensive data collection provides it with an unfair advantage in crafting personalised ads, violating EU data protection regulations. Prominent Spanish publishers, including El Pais owner Prisa and ABC publisher Vocento, are among the plaintiffs. A separate €160 million lawsuit against Meta was also filed by Spanish broadcasters last month on similar grounds.
The lawsuits are part of a broader effort by traditional media to push back against tech giants, which they claim undermine their revenue and fail to pay fair fees for content use. In response to similar challenges in other countries, Meta has restricted news sharing on its platforms and reduced its focus on news and political content in user feeds.
Meta has not yet commented on the Spanish lawsuits, which highlight ongoing tensions between digital platforms and legacy media seeking to safeguard their economic interests.
French startup Linkup is reshaping how AI applications access web content by creating a marketplace for licensed material. Unlike traditional web scraping, Linkup partners with publishers to fetch content directly through integrated systems, ensuring intellectual property rights are respected. The platform caters to developers enriching large language models (LLMs) with high-quality, fresh data.
CEO Philippe Mizrahi highlighted Linkup’s focus on licensing deals that benefit both publishers and AI developers. The service targets business applications, such as corporate insights or sales tools, utilising databases like Statista and news sources.
With €3 million in seed funding, Linkup aims to expand its team and services, standing out in the growing market of ethical content acquisition for generative AI. Competitors like ScalePost also focus on licensing, indicating a shift in how AI firms source data amid tightening regulations.
Shares of LightOn, Europe’s first generative AI startup to go public, rose by up to 9% during its debut on the Euronext Growth market in Paris. By mid-morning, the stock traded at €10.79, marking a 4.2% increase from its IPO valuation of €10.35 per share.
LightOn, which develops large language models for organisations like Safran and France‘s Space Command, was valued at €62 million in its initial public offering, surpassing the €50 million initially expected.
The listing reflects strong market confidence in generative AI ventures, highlighting their growing importance in Europe’s tech ecosystem.
Alibaba has unveiled QwQ-32B-Preview, a new reasoning AI model designed to rival OpenAI’s o1 series. With 32.5 billion parameters and support for prompts up to 32,000 words, the model surpasses competitors in specific benchmarks, including logic puzzles and maths tests. Available for download under a permissive Apache 2.0 licence, it introduces robust reasoning capabilities but also exhibits limitations like language switching and occasional lapses in common sense.
The model incorporates test-time compute, enabling more thorough problem-solving by planning its steps before providing answers. However, such reasoning processes may result in slower responses. Like other AI models made by companies in China, QwQ-32B complies with local regulatory requirements, including constraints on politically sensitive topics, reflecting national ideological alignment.
Reasoning models like QwQ-32B mark a shift in AI development as traditional scaling laws show diminishing returns. Major firms, including Google, are exploring similar approaches, highlighting the race to innovate AI capabilities globally.
Australia‘s government is conducting a world-first trial to enforce its national social media ban for children under 16, focusing on age-checking technology. The trial, set to begin in January and run through March, will involve around 1,200 randomly selected Australians. It will help guide the development of effective age verification methods, as platforms like Meta, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and Snapchat must prove they are taking ‘reasonable steps’ to keep minors off their services or face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($32 million).
The trial is overseen by the Age Check Certification Scheme and will test several age-checking techniques, such as video selfies, document uploads for verification, and email cross-checking. Although platforms like YouTube are exempt, the trial is seen as a crucial step for setting a global precedent for online age restrictions, which many countries are now considering due to concerns about youth mental health and privacy.
The trial’s outcomes could influence how other nations approach enforcing age restrictions, despite concerns from some lawmakers and tech companies about privacy violations and free speech. The government has responded by ensuring that no personal data will be required without alternatives. The age-check process could significantly shape global efforts to regulate social media access for children in the coming years.
India’s Competition Commission (CCI) has launched an investigation into Google’s gaming app policies following a complaint by gaming platform WinZO. The inquiry will examine allegations of discriminatory practices against apps offering real-money games.
WinZO accused Google of favouring certain categories, such as fantasy sports and rummy, while excluding others like carrom, puzzles, and racing games. The gaming platform filed the complaint in 2022, claiming Google’s updated policies create an uneven playing field, disadvantaging smaller developers.
The investigation compounds Google’s regulatory challenges in India, where it has already faced significant fines for anti-competitive behaviour in the Android ecosystem. A CCI official has been tasked with completing the inquiry within 60 days.
Google has yet to comment on the allegations, as the announcement coincided with Thanksgiving in the US.
A recent investigation revealed that most top-selling mobile games in the UK fail to disclose the presence of loot boxes in their advertisements, despite regulations mandating transparency. Loot boxes, which provide randomised in-game items often obtained through payments, have drawn criticism for fostering addictive behaviors and targeting vulnerable groups, including children. Of the top 45 highest-grossing games analysed on Google Play, only two clearly mentioned loot boxes in their advertisements.
The UK Advertising Standards Authority, which oversees compliance, acknowledges the issue and promises further action but has faced criticism for its slow and limited enforcement. Critics argue that lax self-regulation within the gaming industry enables companies to prioritise profits over player well-being, particularly as loot boxes reportedly generate $15B annually.
Advocacy groups and researchers have voiced alarm over these findings, warning of long-term consequences. Zoë Osmond of GambleAware emphasised the risks of exposing children to gambling-like features in games, which could lead to harmful habits later in life. The gaming industry has so far resisted stricter government intervention, despite mounting evidence of non-compliance and harm.
