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UK Anti-Trust Regulator to Launch Two Investigations Under New Digital Markets Powers

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Britain’s anti-trust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has announced it will initiate two investigations this month under its newly granted powers aimed at overseeing the country’s largest tech firms. These powers, introduced as part of the UK’s Digital Markets regime, are designed to encourage investment, innovation, and market growth while ensuring fair competition within the digital sector.

Under the new framework, the CMA can designate firms as having “Strategic Market Status” (SMS), which applies to the most dominant tech companies in specific digital activities. The threshold for SMS status is high, meaning only the largest and most influential companies will be subject to such investigations.

In November, the CMA suggested that Apple could be stifling innovation in the smartphone browser market and indicated it might investigate the duopoly of Apple and Google in mobile ecosystems. The new regulatory powers came into effect this month, allowing the CMA to explore these concerns further.

The regulator confirmed it expects to launch two investigations this month, with more details to be provided in due course. A third investigation is slated to begin after approximately six months. Each investigation will have a statutory completion time of nine months.

The CMA’s investigations will likely focus on issues such as preventing dominant players from suppressing smaller competitors by prioritizing their own services, facilitating easier transitions between digital providers while retaining user data, and fostering competition to drive growth.

This move follows increased scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions post-Brexit, with the CMA now playing a more prominent role in regulating the tech sector. Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged the regulator in October to focus more on growth, with the new digital markets regime aimed at boosting the UK’s appeal to tech companies while ensuring consumers have access to competitive options at fair prices.

 

Google Faces Class Action Over Alleged Mobile Phone Privacy Violations

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Google has been cleared to face a privacy class action lawsuit after a federal judge ruled that the company must answer claims it collected personal data from users’ mobile phones despite their attempt to disable tracking features. This ruling opens the door to a potential trial in August.

The class action, which targets both Android and non-Android users, accuses Google of violating California’s law against unauthorized computer access by collecting personal browsing histories without users’ consent. Users argue that despite disabling the “Web & App Activity” setting meant to prevent tracking, Google continued to capture and store their data.

Chief Judge Richard Seeborg of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California rejected Google’s arguments that it had adequately disclosed its data collection practices and that users consented to the tracking. In his 20-page ruling, Seeborg pointed to internal Google communications indicating that employees were aware that users might find the company’s data practices “alarming.” Google’s ambiguous disclosures about data collection, both within and outside Google accounts, were seen as a potential violation of users’ privacy.

In response to the ruling, Google denied the allegations, asserting that its privacy controls have been transparent and are being misrepresented. The company plans to continue defending its practices in court, calling the claims “patently false.” The plaintiffs’ lawyers, however, have yet to provide a comment.

The trial is currently scheduled for August 18, and this lawsuit follows a similar case involving Google’s Chrome browser, where the company agreed to destroy billions of data records after being accused of tracking users in “Incognito” mode. The legal teams behind both cases have valued the earlier settlement at over $5 billion.

 

Nvidia Faces Setbacks as Major Customers Delay Orders of Latest AI Racks Due to Overheating Issues

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Nvidia is encountering challenges with its new ‘Blackwell’ AI racks, with major customers delaying their orders due to overheating issues, as reported by The Information on Monday. Shares of the Santa Clara-based company dropped more than 4% following the news.

The overheating problems reportedly affect the initial shipments of the racks, which house Nvidia’s chips in data centers. The glitches include issues with how the chips are connecting to each other. This problem has led major customers such as Microsoft, Amazon’s cloud division, Alphabet’s Google, and Meta Platforms to reduce their orders for the new racks.

Delayed Orders and Shift to Older Models

The affected customers, often referred to as hyperscalers, had placed substantial orders for the Blackwell racks, with each company initially committing $10 billion or more. Some are opting to delay their orders until a later version of the racks is available, while others are returning to older AI chip models.

Microsoft, for instance, had planned to deploy at least 50,000 Blackwell chips in a Phoenix facility, but due to the delays, OpenAI, one of its key partners, requested that Microsoft provide older ‘Hopper’ chips instead.

Despite these delays, it remains unclear how much this will impact Nvidia’s overall sales, as the company may still find other buyers for the affected racks. In November, Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang had expressed confidence that the company would exceed its target of generating billions of dollars in revenue from Blackwell chips during its fourth fiscal quarter.

Nvidia and Amazon declined to comment, while Microsoft, Google, and Meta did not immediately respond to Reuters’ inquiries.