This is Euractiv’s Tech Brief, your weekly update on all things tech in the EU. Brought to you by Euractiv's Technology team. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.
Hello and a big welcome to our new friends from Public Matters, Open Forum Europe, Eurochambres, and others. |
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| The new Meta-tied DSA body, Council draft hints at e-Privacy review |
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| Welcome to Euractiv’s Tech Brief, your weekly update on all things digital in the EU. You can subscribe to the newsletter here. "I feel that it's kind of correct that tech platforms should carry the bill in terms of setting up these bodies, because they are resource intensive." Appeals Centre Europe CEO Thomas Hughes told Euractiv Story of the week: A new out-of-court body certified by Irish authorities to settle disputes related to the Digital Services Act (DSA) has strong ties to Meta but argues that it is and will remain independent. (Read more) Don’t miss: The Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU suggests a potential revival of the review of the e-Privacy directive in draft Council conclusions dated Wednesday (9 October) and seen by Euractiv. While the first compromise document already suggested reassessing telecommunications privacy to reflect technological advancements, the latest wording emphasises reassessment “with a view to effectively ensuring the confidentiality of electronic communications.” (Read more) Also this week: ITRE MEPs to want specifics on how Commissioner designates will handle cloud, telecoms, competitiveness Draft telecom Council conclusions support ‘horizontal privacy regulation’ that could include Big Tech EU telecoms tower firms unify their voices ahead of legislative debate Child sexual abuse material regulation still at stalemate, despite assurances for encryption One Competitiveness Fund to rule them all – the Commission’s considered R&I overhaul |
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| Today's edition is powered by Google. |
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The Economic Opportunity of Generative AI in the EU
Productivity gains from generative
AI alone could boost the EU’s GDP
by up to €1.4 trillion over the next decade, as estimated in a new report by Implement Consulting Group, commissioned by Google.
Read more here. |
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| Commissioner hearing schedule released. The European Parliament adopted the final schedule for commissioner-designate hearings on Thursday. For tech, the nine commissioners Euractiv identified as having tech initiatives in their portfolio will be questioned on the following: 5 November From 9am to 12pm Michael McGrath, Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law Ekatarina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation From 6.30pm to 9.30pm Magnus Brunner, Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration 6 November From 6.30pm to 9.30pm Andrius Kubilius, Commissioner for Defense and Space Olivér Várhelyi, Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare 12 November From 2.30pm to 5.30pm Stéphane Séjourné, Executive Vice-President (EVP) for Prosperity & Industrial Strategy Roxana Mînzatu, EVP for People, Skills and Preparedness From 6.30pm to 9.30pm Teresa Ribera Rodríguez, EVP for Clean, Just and Competitive Transition Henna Virkkunen, Tech, EVP for Sovereignty, Security and Democracy Commissioner questions. MEPs will ask many questions to get specifics on the commissioner-designate's plans for the priorities mentioned in their mission letters, according to the questions seen by Euractiv. (Read more) |
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| AI scores Nobel Prizes. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2024 to John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton for “foundational discoveries” in machine learning on Tuesday. On Wednesday, it awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry jointly to David Baker “for computational protein design” and Demis Hassabis and John Jumper from Google DeepMind “for protein structure prediction.” Hinton reiterated concerns over the potential of the technology and said, “I'm particularly proud of the fact that one of my students fired Sam Altman.” Some argue that Hinton’s achievements are not in Physics. GPT@EC. The Commission’s directorate-general for Digital Services is piloting the use of homegrown general-purpose AI to help staff with “drafting texts, summarising documents, brainstorming, developing software code and much more,” said the head of the DG on LinkedIn on Thursday. Meta AI everywhere but Europe. Meta rolled out AI features to seven new countries on Wednesday, and plans to roll out to 14 more, the company announced. The company had previously said it wouldn’t do so in light of GDPR obligations. Restructure to secure? OpenAI is looking to restructure as a public benefit corporation to fend off hostile take overs, after raising $6.6 billion last week, the FT reported on Wednesday. Apple Intelligence will roll out on 28 October, Bloomberg reported on Sunday. The firm has said it won’t release the feature in Europe due to concerns over the Digital Markets Act DMA. OpenAI-Hearst deal. OpenAI struck a deal with Hearst, one of the largest newspaper and magazine holding groups in the US, to integrate content from Hearst’s local newspapers into their AI models, Axios reported on Tuesday. Private security officers on AI. The Confederation of European Security Services, an association of private security firms, launched a charter for the responsible use of AI on Friday. |
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| Bad antitrust week for Google. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) considers forcing Alphabet to sell off some parts of its subsidiary Google to mitigate its monopoly within search, according to a court document dated Tuesday describing a “proposed remedy framework” in the Google antitrust case. It is one scenario that is said to be unlikely, among many remedies under consideration. Google apps ruling in US. On Monday, a California judge ruled that Google has to give third-party app stores access to the full catalogue of apps on Google Play, after it lost its case against Epic in December. Google is appealing, saying they are in competition with Apple, for which the Supreme court rejected a similar case. Microsoft said it will let users play Xbox games on Android mobile, Xbox President Sarah Bond said in a post on X. |
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| Green light for cyber resilience. The Council unanimously adopted the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) on Thursday, roughly six months after an agreement was reached with Parliament. The CRA establishes a pan-European infrastructure for detecting threats, connecting national cyber hubs. The act will enter into force 20 days after its publication at the official journal. Fending off attacks on AI. OpenAI said it has disrupted 20+ operations and deceptive networks in 2024 so far that tried to use its models, including four that had election-related content. Birthday surprise. Ukranian hackers took down Russian state television and radio stations in an attack on Monday, Vladimir Putin’s birthday, Bloomberg reported, citing an “official in Kyiv with knowledge of the operation.” |
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| Legitimate interest guidelines. The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) affirmed that a balancing test is needed when processing data with the legal basis being legitimate interest, in guidelines released on Wednesday. “The balancing test would hardly yield positive results for intrusive profiling and tracking practices for marketing purposes, for example those that involve tracking individuals across multiple websites, locations, devices or services,” the EDPB said. The guidelines are open for public consultation. Processor responsibilities. The EDPB also adopted an opinion on obligations of processors and sub-processors under the GDPR on Monday. Data controllers should have information about the identity of processors and sub-processors “readily available at all times,” the EDPB said. Industry association BSA said it is concerned that the measure disrupts the existing privacy framework, which is built on the relationship between the two types of firms. |
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| Buying time. The Commission is looking to extend the deadline for online platforms to fullfil transparency obligations under the DSA to 1 January 2025, according to an implementing act seen by Euractiv and reported by MLex. |
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| The Competitiveness Fund. An internal Commission proposal to lump research, innovation, and strategic spending into a European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) in the 2028-2034 budget has experts excited but wary of 'prohibitive' governance needs and 'planning economy' risks. (Read more) The UK’s new office. The UK launched Regulatory Innovation Office to “speed up public access to new technologies,” the government announced on Tuesday. UK R&I inclusion. Peter Kyle, secretary of state for technology in the UK, told Science | Business he wants to work with the EU on artificial intelligence and “stressed” the UK’s interest in being part of the next framework programme. US money in EU defense. US-based entities provided more than 65% of venture-capital money for European defense technology startups in 2024, the Financial Times reported on Monday. |
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| Stalemate, again. The Hungarian presidency of the EU Council is no longer seeking agreement on the latest compromise text on the child sexual abuse material (CSAM) regulation despite assurances on end-to-end encryption. (Read more) Review of product liability directive becomes law. The Justice and Home Affairs Council unanimously adopted the directive on liability of defective products revising the almost 40 years old Product Liability Directive (PLD). This vote comes more than six months after the Parliament green light in a vote in March. It will enter into force 20 days after its publication at the official journal. |
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| US-UK cooperation on children. The US and UK are setting up a joint working group focused on children’s protection online, according to statements on Thursday. Meta protects Moldova. Meta has removed “a network targeting Russian-speaking audiences in Moldova” over violations of its Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior policy, before they were able to build authentic audiences, the company said on Friday. TikTok mental health issues. Fourteen US attorneys general filed lawsuits on Tuesday accusing TikTok of damaging young users’ mental health and collecting their data without consent, NBC reported. Brazil-X-saga over? Brazil’s Supreme Court authorised the return of X after the company met “all the requirements necessary,” including taking down some user accounts and appointing a legal representative for the platform in the country, Bloomberg reported. Engagement for cash. X will be rewarding Premium users for their engagement with other Premium accounts, according to a Wednesday post. |
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| Reunion. Formerly disparate factions of the telecoms infrastructure industry have come closer together, after two firms joined a lobby group in a bid to unify the sector ahead of the upcoming EU telecoms legislation. (Read more) €865 million for connectivity. The Commission announced the completion of its third call under the Connecting Europe Facility Digital programme, with part of €865 millions dedicated to the deployment of 5G, quantum and submarine cables throughout the EU. |
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| Commission welcomes US cooperation in data privacy. The Commission said that the EU and US “have put in place the necessary structures and procedures to ensure” that EU personal data transferred to the US is assured the same level of privacy and security as under GDPR, in its first report of the the Data Privacy Framework (DPF), published on Wednesday. |
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| What else we're reading this week |
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| Silicon Valley, the New Lobbying Monster (The New Yorker) How E-Commerce Is Making China’s Deflation Worse (The New York Times) Tesla's Cybercab Is Here (Wired) |
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| [Edited by Alice Taylor-Braçe] |
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| Thanks for reading. Be sure to spread the word and come and say hello on X. |
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