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Tech Policy
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Technology policy, regulation, government action, digital rights, platform rules, AI governance, cybersecurity policy, privacy law, and public-sector decisions affecting technology and the internet.
UK CMA Pushes Apple and Google Toward Outside App Payments
The UK Competition and Markets Authority is consulting on steering rules that would let app developers point users to payment options outside Apple’s App Store and Google Play. The proposal gives developers a July deadline to weigh in and could turn app-store payment links into the UK’s next major platform-policy fight.
Booz Allen Gives OpenAI a Government AI Deployment Channel
Booz Allen and OpenAI are partnering to deploy frontier AI for defense, intelligence, critical infrastructure, and commercial operations. The deal shows how OpenAI’s government push is moving from model access and pilots toward implementation through mission contractors.
Google Play Billing Changes Start June 30: What Android Developers Should Check
Google Play's lower service fees and expanded billing choice start June 30 in the US, UK, and EEA. Android developers should review install-date rules, billing fees, external-payment flows, subscription support, and reporting obligations before switching.
Google Search Console’s AI Toggle Gives Publishers a Real Choice
Google’s new Search generative AI control lets some site owners keep their pages out of AI Overviews, AI Mode, and generative AI features in Discover without leaving regular Search. The tradeoff is visibility: opting out also means giving up links, impressions, and traffic from those AI search surfaces.
Australia’s Social Media Ban Is Becoming a Proof Test for Big Tech
Australia wants to double penalties for under-16 social media age-ban breaches to A$99 million and give its eSafety Commissioner stronger powers to demand evidence from platforms, app stores, and age-assurance vendors. The fight is shifting from account removals to proof that age checks actually work.
NHTSA Brake-Pedal Proposal Gives Robotaxis a Hardware Path
NHTSA wants to update federal braking rules so vehicles built only for automated driving systems no longer need manual brake pedals. The proposal could help purpose-built robotaxis from companies such as Zoox and Tesla, but it does not remove stopping-distance requirements or settle the harder question of how driverless systems should prove safe behavior on real roads.
Open-Weight AI Cyber Gap Narrows to Months, AISI Finds
The UK AI Security Institute says GLM-5.2 and DeepSeek V4-Pro now trail leading closed AI models on cyber tasks by roughly four to seven months. For defenders, that shrinking gap turns open-weight model policy into an operational security issue, not a distant AI governance debate.
AI Is Becoming a 2026 Midterm Issue in Money, Ads, and Data Centers
AI is moving from campaign talking point to campaign infrastructure in the 2026 midterms. Super PAC spending, data-center backlash, and AI-generated political ads are turning model policy into a practical election issue.
Meta’s Virtue AI Hires Move Agent Security Into the Model Lab
Meta Superintelligence Labs is hiring Virtue AI co-founders Bo Li, Dawn Song, Sanmi Koyejo and other team members. The move brings automated red teaming, runtime guardrails, and agent-action security closer to Meta’s frontier AI work as labs race to make agents safer before they reach billions of users.
Instagram Is Making Its Algorithm Controls Harder to Ignore
Instagram is testing new ways to surface its Your Algorithm controls directly inside Feed and Reels. The change gives users more topic-level control over recommendations, but it still does not solve the biggest complaint from creators and users: seeing more posts from accounts they already follow.