Tech Legal Brief #18 – The EU’s Digital Laws Should Be Simplified. But By Whom?

In the previous Tech Legal Brief, we covered the EU’s proposed KIDS Act, a late attempt to turn back the clock on children’s social media addiction. Creating tech regulations in the EU that protect the rights of citizens, but without angering Trump and his tech billionaires has become a silent art form among EU bureaucrats. However, European courts are not favoring the commercial interests of tech billionaires in the same way. Recent case law in the EU indicates that the days of pointing to algorithms and automatic information processing as a shield against any legal liability for criminal outcomes are rapidly coming to an end.

Additionally, a new study reveals just how much of an influence Big Tech’s lobbying effort has had on the EU’s proposed omnibus package. A recent court ruling against Meta in New Mexico orders the company to pay $25 billion for its misconduct during the Cambridge Analytica scandal, a penalty size that makes the EU’s ambitious regulatory efforts look like a speeding ticket.

Read all about it and more in this edition of Tech Legal Brief, which I deliver as a service to paid members.