News - For Consumers
Daily digest of all European digital development news

AI Omnibus: Reject the proposals to undermine transparency in the AI Act
Civil society groups urge EU lawmakers to reject AI Omnibus proposals weakening AI Act transparency. This move risks fundamental rights and enforcement for negligible company benefits.

Partial victory for WhatsApp: ECJ paves the way against data protection fines of millions
WhatsApp scores a win as the European Court of Justice allows direct appeals against the European Data Protection Board. This decision impacts potential multi-billion euro data protection fines for Meta.

MareNostrum 5 grows to adapt to AI: it will have 129 million euros to achieve it
Spain's MareNostrum 5 supercomputer receives €129 million to integrate AI capabilities. The upgrade, co-funded by Spain, Portugal, and Turkey, aims to boost its capacity for AI model training and inference.

EDRi urged the Council to demand a proper scrutiny of the Digital Omnibus proposal
EDRi urges the Council to reject the Digital Omnibus proposal, citing fundamental rights violations and poor regulatory practice. The group demands the Commission resubmit the legislation with comprehensive assessments.

LibreOffice again criticizes Microsoft harshly for its business practices
LibreOffice slams Microsoft's commercial practices, accusing them of hindering interoperability over proprietary interests. This renewed criticism highlights ongoing tensions in the software market regarding open standards.

Digital Sovereignty: ZB MED Launches Fundraising for PubMed Alternative
ZB MED launches fundraising for European OLSPub, a PubMed alternative aiming for digital sovereignty in research data. The project seeks funding to secure independent access to scientific literature.

Big-Tech-Lobbying: Do it first, then better not be regulated
Big Tech lobbies against the EU's Digital Fairness Act, aiming to curb manipulative online design. Google and Meta face scrutiny over practices that steer user behavior.

AI bots on Whatsapp: EU Commission threatens Meta with enforcement measures
EU Commission threatens Meta with enforcement actions over WhatsApp data API access. Brussels deems Meta's conduct anti-competitive, citing restricted rival access.

Siemens CEO Roland Busch’s mission to automate everything
Siemens CEO envisions automating entire factory processes with AI, merging physical and digital worlds. This ambitious plan aims for optimal operations but raises questions about workforce displacement.

EDRi welcomes EU preliminary findings on TikTok’s addictive platform design
EU regulators preliminarily found TikTok breached the Digital Services Act with its addictive platform design. EDRi urges TikTok to swiftly mitigate risks to its 500 million European users.

Behavior scanner in Mannheim: No criminal offenses, but camera surveillance
Mannheim's AI-powered "behavior scanner" surveillance project faces scrutiny. Baden-Württemberg's data protection authority is investigating a section where no crimes were reported since cameras were installed.

The EU threatens to take measures against WhatsApp, which excluded ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI assistants
EU threatens provisional measures against Meta for blocking third-party AI chatbots like ChatGPT on WhatsApp. Meta's policy shift now excludes rivals, prioritizing its own AI.

heise offer: iX-Workshop: IT Law for Admins – Paths to Legally Compliant IT Practice
IT professionals can now learn how to legally run their systems under CRA, NIS-2, and the AI Act. Practical insights for ensuring compliant IT practices are offered in a new workshop.

In 2010 a student from Barcelona was looking for an easy way to edit PDFs. 16 years later, it is one of the most viewed websites on the internet
Barcelona-born iLovePDF offers free PDF editing tools, growing into one of the internet's most visited websites. The platform simplifies document management for millions globally.

Digital sovereignty: 8 European alternatives to the services you use every day
Europe unveils 8 digital alternatives to replace Big Tech, championing private life over surveillance. These homegrown solutions cover search engines to AI, aiming for greater digital sovereignty.

Nextcloud Activates the ADA Turbo: Significant Performance Improvements Arrive
Nextcloud unleashes its ADA Engine, slashing server load and speeding up large installations. This new data access architecture promises significant performance gains for the open-source platform.

Voluntary chat control: Exception rule extended for the second time
EU lawmakers are extending a temporary loophole for the second time, allowing internet services to voluntarily scan user communications. This exemption bypasses privacy rules for combating child sexual abuse, raising proportionality concerns.

An alliance between Ford and Geely sounds like melodic music for Almussafes. The reality is much more complex
Ford explores partnerships with Chinese EV makers like Geely for European production. Talks include technology sharing, potentially impacting its Almussafes plant.

Addictive Design: TikTok illegal in its current form under EU law
TikTok's addictive design violates EU's Digital Services Act, potentially making its current format illegal. The EU's preliminary findings suggest the platform's practices contravene new digital service regulations.

The European Commission says one thing with the Digital Omnibuses, but does something else
EU Commission proposals threaten digital rights by excluding pseudonymized data from GDPR and allowing processing of sensitive personal data. This risks mass surveillance and discrimination, undermining vital data protection safeguards.
