Stories from Abroad

The European Commission found that Apple breached its anti-steering obligation under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), and that Meta breached the DMA obligation to give consumers the choice of a service that uses less of their personal data. Therefore, the Commission has fined Apple and Meta with €500 million and €200 million respectively. Apple and Meta are required to comply with the Commission's decisions within 60 days, otherwise they risk periodic penalty payments.

Twenty years into the World Summit on the Information Society process, there are still fundamental challenges in meeting universal access goals. This shortfall is ultimately due to the absence of a business case that meets traditional operators’ profitability requirements. While traditional telecom operators have played an important role in bringing billions of people online, many developing countries still face significant hurdles.

Chinese officials acknowledged in a secret December 2024 meeting that Beijing was behind a widespread series of alarming cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure, underscoring how hostilities between the two superpowers are continuing to escalate. The Chinese delegation linked years of intrusions into computer networks at U.S. ports, water utilities, airports and other targets, to increasing U.S.

The United Kingdom is preparing to respond to the series of tariffs President Donald Trump has introduced since taking office. New taxes on everything from pure-bred horses to bourbon are on the table, but the Labour government seems more interested in a conciliatory approach, and it’s considering sacrificing a popular tax on American tech companies to sweeten the deal. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has confirmed that trade talks

Sky has reiterated its commitment to providing broadband services using CityFibre’s network, as the UK’s largest altnet races to secure £1.5 billion of fresh capital. Sky met with lenders to CityFibre, including NatWest and ING, to confirm it would be moving some of its customers to CityFibre’s network in 2025. Sky has 5.7 million broadband customers. Like many rivals, it does not have its own infrastructure but uses BT’s Openreach network. The partnership with CityFibre, which has its own independent broadband network, would allow it to diversify its customer base.

I saw several articles voicing concern about sabotage when two different undersea fiber operators, C-Lion and BCS East-West Interlink, reported breaks in fiber in the Baltic Sea in the same week. There was speculation that Russia was cutting fibers to try to disrupt European broadband. It was eventually reported that the cuts looked like accidents, but conspiracy theorists still like the sabotage story better.

Ontario already tore up a $100 million Starlink deal. Now Yukon is following suit—freezing Elon Musk’s satellite service, cutting Tesla incentives, and logging off X as part of its retaliation against U.S. tariffs on Canada’s auto sector. Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai (Liberal) announced the territory’s next phase of its response to sweeping U.S.

As Myanmar remains shaken by a devastating earthquake, which has claimed more than 3,000 lives, a lack of connectivity is proving to be an obstacle to relief and rescue work. Htaike Htaike Aung, a leading digital rights advocate, is monitoring the situation in the most-affected areas. Myanmar’s Sagaing region, the quake’s epicenter and a battleground between the military and resistance forces, remains under a strict communications blockade.

France’s competition regulator fined Apple 150 million euros ($162.4 million) over concerns the company abused its dominant position in mobile apps through the privacy measures it imposes on developers on its iPhone and iPad’s operating system.

Whether from unintentional damage (common) or seemingly intentional