Regulatory Watch
Technology companies may have to bear some of the cost of Europe’s telecoms network, according to Margarethe Vestager, the EU competition commissioner. Describing it as an issue of ‘fair contribution’ she went on to say that companies ‘generating a lot of traffic… have not been contributing to enabling the investments in the rollout of connectivity’. Vestager was less impressed by industry demands to allow more consolidation, saying the arguments were ‘not new’.
Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter is ‘on hold’ until the company provides more evidence on the number of fake accounts on the social media site. The company says the number is ‘less than 5 per cent’, while Musk says the figure could be ’20 per cent or higher’.
Google’s Russian subsidiary has filed for insolvency. It’s thought the move could be linked to fines imposed on the company for failing to remove content the Russian government has deemed illegal, although Russia has said it was not planning to block YouTube, as it has several other social media platforms.
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