Pressure is growing in New Zealand to strengthen the Privacy Act following several high-profile data breaches. Debate in New Zealand intensified after a cyberattack exposed medical records from the Manage My Health patient portal.
The breach in New Zealand affected about 120,000 patients and involved threats to release documents on the dark web. Another incident forced the MediMap medication platform offline after unauthorised changes were detected in patient records.
Privacy specialists argue that current enforcement powers are too weak to deter serious failures. The Privacy Act allows only limited financial penalties, with fines generally capped at NZD10,000.
Officials are now considering reforms, including stronger penalties for privacy violations. Policymakers also warn that failure to strengthen the law could threaten the country’s EU data adequacy status.
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The European Commission has convened a new expert panel tasked with examining how children can be better protected across digital platforms, including social media, gaming environments and AI tools.
The initiative reflects growing concern across Europe regarding the psychological and safety risks associated with young users’ online behaviour.
Specialists from health, computer science, child rights and digital literacy will work alongside youth representatives to assess current research and policy responses.
Discussions during the first meeting centred on platform responsibility, including age-appropriate safety-by-design features, algorithmic amplification and addictive product design.
An initiative that also addresses digital literacy for children, parents and educators, while considering how regulatory measures can reduce risks without undermining the benefits of online participation.
The panel’s work complements the enforcement of the Digital Services Act and related European policies designed to strengthen protections for minors online.
Among the tools under development is an EU age-verification application currently tested in several member states, intended to support privacy-preserving checks compatible with the future EU digital identity framework.
The panel is expected to deliver policy recommendations to the Commission by summer 2026.
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The European Union’s data protection watchdog has urged stronger safeguards as negotiations continue with the US over access to biometric databases. European Data Protection Supervisor Wojciech Wiewiórowski said limits must ensure Europeans’ data is used only for agreed purposes.
Talks between the EU and the US involve potential arrangements that would allow US authorities to query national biometric systems. Databases across the EU contain sensitive information, including fingerprints and facial recognition data.
Past transatlantic data-sharing agreements between the two have faced legal challenges due to insufficient safeguards. European regulators are closely monitoring the Data Privacy Framework amid ongoing concerns about oversight.
Officials also warned that emerging AI technologies could create new surveillance risks linked to US data access. European authorities said they must negotiate as a unified bloc when dealing with the US.
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Governments, companies and international organisations gathered in India in February for the AI Impact Summit to discuss the future of AI governance and adoption. Participants in India focused on economic impacts, labour market changes and sector specific uses of AI.
Delegates in India also highlighted growing interest in international cooperation on AI governance. Ninety one countries endorsed a declaration supporting shared tools, global collaboration and people centred development of AI.
Language diversity became a central topic during discussions in India. India’s government announced eight foundation AI models designed to support generative AI across the country’s 22 recognised languages.
Debate in India also reflected the growing influence of the Global South in AI policy discussions. Policymakers and experts in India emphasised infrastructure gaps, language diversity and local economic realities shaping AI adoption.
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Businesses across the US and Europe are confronting new privacy risks as AI transcription tools spread through workplaces. Tools that automatically record and transcribe meetings increasingly capture sensitive conversations without clear consent.
Privacy specialists warn that organisations in the US and Europe previously focused on rules controlling what employees upload into AI systems. Governance efforts now shift towards monitoring what AI tools record during daily work.
AI services such as Otter, Zoom transcription and Microsoft Copilot can record discussions involving performance reviews, health information and legal matters. Companies in the US and Europe face legal exposure when third-party platforms store recordings without strict controls.
Governance teams in the US and Europe are being urged to introduce clear rules on meeting recordings and retention of transcripts. Stronger policies may include consent requirements, limits on recording sensitive meetings and stricter data storage oversight.
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Europe is being urged to take a leading role in developing sixth-generation wireless technology as global competition intensifies over the future of connectivity and AI.
Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Wassim Chourbaji of Qualcomm argued that 6G will represent a technological revolution rather than a gradual improvement over existing networks.
The company expects early pre-commercial deployments to begin around 2028, with broader commercialisation targeted for 2029.
Next-generation wireless networks are expected to support physical AI systems capable of interacting with the real world, including robotics, smart glasses, connected vehicles, and advanced sensing technologies.
High-capacity uploads and faster processing between devices and data centres will allow AI systems to analyse video streams and real-time data more efficiently.
Qualcomm has also launched a coalition aimed at accelerating 6G development with partners including Nokia, Ericsson, Amazon, Google and Microsoft.
Advocates argue that combining European industrial strengths with advanced wireless and AI technologies could allow the continent to secure a leading position in the next phase of global digital infrastructure.
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Australia has begun reviewing its ban on social media accounts for children under 16, introduced in December 2025. Australia’s eSafety Commissioner is tracking more than 4,000 children and families to assess how the policy works in practice.
Researchers in Australia will analyse surveys, interviews and voluntary smartphone data to measure how young people interact with apps. Officials in Australia aim to understand how the ban affects children, parents and everyday online behaviour.
Early reactions in Australia have been mixed, with some teenagers telling media outlets they bypass age verification systems. Platforms reportedly remain accessible to some minors in Australia.
Meanwhile, the UK government has launched a public consultation on potential social media restrictions for children. Policymakers in the UK are seeking views on bans, stronger age verification and limits on addictive platform features.
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European regulators are examining whether Roblox should fall under the Digital Services Act’s most stringent obligations rather than remain outside the bloc’s most demanding platform rules.
The European Commission began analysing the gaming platform’s reported user figures after the company disclosed roughly 48 million monthly users across the EU.
Numbers above the threshold could qualify Roblox as a Very Large Online Platform under the DSA. Such a designation would mark the first time a gaming platform enters the category alongside social media services already subject to heightened oversight.
Platforms receiving the label must conduct regular risk assessments, submit mitigation reports and demonstrate stronger safeguards for minors.
Regulatory pressure has already begun at the national level. The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets launched an investigation in January after concerns that children could encounter violent or sexually explicit content within Roblox games or interact with harmful actors through online features.
Designation at the EU level would transfer supervisory authority to the European Commission, enabling wider investigations and potential fines if violations occur. Officials are still verifying user data before making a formal decision, and no deadline has been announced for the process.
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The European Commission is preparing more stringent requirements for ageing data centres rather than allowing legacy infrastructure to operate under looser rules.
A draft strategy tied to the EU’s tech sovereignty package signals that older sites will face higher efficiency expectations and stricter sustainability checks as part of an effort to modernise the digital backbone of the EU.
The proposal outlines minimum performance standards for new data centres by 2030, aiming to align the entire sector with the bloc’s climate and resilience goals. Officials want to reduce energy waste and improve monitoring across facilities that have long operated without uniform benchmarks.
The draft points to an expanded role for the Cloud and AI Development Act, which is expected to frame future obligations for cloud providers instead of relying on fragmented national measures.
Brussels sees consistent rules as essential for supporting secure cloud services, AI infrastructure and cross-border digital operations.
The strategy underscores that modernisation is central to the EU’s vision of tech sovereignty. Older centres would need upgrades to maintain compliance, ensuring that Europe’s digital infrastructure remains competitive, efficient and less dependent on external providers.
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Europe is building a federated cloud and AI infrastructure intended to reduce reliance on US and Chinese technology providers and avoid ongoing strategic vulnerability.
The project, known as EURO-3C, was announced in Barcelona by Telefónica and is backed by the European Commission. More than seventy organisations across telecommunications, technology and emerging companies have joined the effort.
Architects of the scheme argue that linking national infrastructures into a shared network of nodes offers a realistic path forward, particularly as Europe cannot easily create a hyperscale cloud provider from scratch.
The initiative follows a series of US cloud outages that exposed the risks of excessive dependence on external infrastructure and raised questions about sovereignty, resilience and long-term competitiveness.
Commission officials described the programme as a way to build a secure cross-border digital ecosystem that supports industries such as automotive, e-health, public administration and sovereign government cloud.
Telefónica stressed that agentic AI, capable of taking autonomous actions, will play a central role in enabling Europe to develop technology rather than import it.
The partners view the project as a foundation for a unified and independent digital environment that strengthens industrial supply chains and prepares European sectors for the next phase of cloud and AI adoption.
They present the initiative as a significant step toward reducing strategic exposure while stimulating domestic innovation.
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